Here’s a piece of late-’80s arcade history with a wink in its eye — Data East’s 1989 Playboy 35th Anniversary commemorated the magazine’s milestone with a celebrity-licensed four-player designed by Joe Kaminkow and Ed Cebula, with Kevin O’Connor art. With a confirmed run of 2,338, it’s a clean, no-frills early-Data East machine: two flippers, three pops, two slingshots, and a straightforward layout built around a saucer-lock multiball.
The core strategy is direct and easy to grasp: lock two balls in the saucer, then hit the right ramp to start multiball, the centerpiece of any strong game on this machine. It’s a tidy, accessible lock-and-launch structure that gives newer players a clear goal and a satisfying payoff. The community has also handed this one a famously cheeky bit of strategic “advice” — borrowing the old WarGames sentiment that the smartest play might just be to walk away — a tongue-in-cheek nod that’s become an affectionate running joke about the machine’s modest depth and its, shall we say, of-its-era theme.
Playboy 35th Anniversary is very much a product of its moment, a glossy licensed tie-in from the period when Data East was churning out approachable, theme-forward machines for the route. It won’t tax a tournament veteran with deep rules, but it’s a fun, fast, historically interesting piece for the collector who appreciates the breadth of the Data East catalog and the era’s celebrity-license boom. Lock your two balls, drive the right ramp, and ride the multiball. Whatever you make of the theme, the lock-and-multiball loop is a perfectly enjoyable way to spend a few credits.