Lady Luck deals a winning hand — Gottlieb’s 1988 Diamond Lady is a solid-state four-player wrapped in a glittering cards-and-gambling theme, designed by Jon Norris with art by the accomplished team of Constantino and Jeanine Mitchell and software by John Buras. With a confirmed run of 2,700 and an alphanumeric display, it’s a clean, clever late-’80s Gottlieb that packs a surprising amount of strategy into its casino-glamour package.
The layout is genuinely well thought out. There are two flippers, three pop bumpers, a pair of slingshots, six standups, twin spinning targets, big five-bank and four-bank drop arrays, a left-outlane kickback, a two-ball multiball, and a drop target lurking between the flippers. The signature strategic hook is a beauty: hitting all the Diamond drop targets without knocking down any of the Spades drop targets doubles your score — a high-stakes bit of precision that rewards a disciplined shooter and captures the risk-reward spirit of the gambling theme perfectly. Five standup targets are cleverly hidden behind drop targets, and a shortened shooter alley feeds the ball right to the flipper inlane. All the drops reset only at game over, adding another layer of persistent strategy.
Diamond Lady is a smart, stylish Gottlieb that rewards a player who commits to that Diamonds-not-Spades score-doubling challenge, blending the glamour of the casino with a genuinely engaging ruleset. The Mitchells’ art gives it real late-’80s flair, and the multiball adds a jolt of excitement. Chase those diamonds, avoid the spades, and double your fortune. In this machine, the smartest gamble is the one that takes real skill to pull off. Place your bets.