Gottlieb’s Genie, released in 1979 and designed by Ed Krynski, grants players an Arabian-nights fantasy on an unusually busy solid-state playfield — one boasting a remarkable five flippers, twin drop-target banks (a seven-bank and a four-bank), and a spinner. It’s a bonus-heavy machine through and through, the kind of table where nearly every feature feeds the same escalating goal.
The strategy, as veterans put it bluntly, comes down to two words: don’t tilt. Almost everything on Genie builds bonus, so any decent ball is likely carrying a big number into the count. You attack the upper-left drop targets to build bonus value, shoot the spinner when lit, and — crucially — concentrate on raising the bonus multiplier above all else, advanced by shooting the lower drops and lit star drop targets, with pop bumpers toggling those lower drops between 2X and 5X. You can earn three different extra balls (via A-B-C-D, the white drops, and the red drops), though Genie only lets you collect one per ball, so there’s no point being greedy.
With a max bonus of 29,000 at 5X for a tidy 145K, it’s all about patient, multiplier-minded play. Charming, deep, and distinctively five-flippered, Genie is a rewarding late-70s Gottlieb for collectors who love a pure bonus-building game — just keep your hands gentle on that cabinet.