Down the rabbit hole — Gottlieb’s Alice in Wonderland is an electromechanical single-player that tumbles into the beloved world of Lewis Carroll’s fictional characters, designed by the pioneering Harry Mabs, a genuine giant of early pinball, with art by the legendary Roy Parker, whose storybook illustration gave Gottlieb machines their unmistakable charm. With light-based scoring and a confirmed run of 1,000, it’s a scarce and delightful woodrail-era piece from pinball’s formative years.
The layout is a genuine window into early design, with an unusual and eye-catching configuration: a remarkable six flippers, a whopping ten passive bumpers, and two kick-out holes. That’s an extraordinary number of flippers and passive bumpers for the era, promising a wildly bouncy, unpredictable game where the ball caroms off cushion after cushion — a chaotic, energetic playfield that demands sharp reflexes and active nudging. The Mabs-and-Parker pairing gives it real pedigree: Harry Mabs was a founding visionary of the modern flipper game, and Roy Parker’s warm, whimsical artwork was the perfect match for Carroll’s fantastical characters.
Alice in Wonderland is a wonderful piece of history for the collector who treasures the deepest roots of the hobby and the legendary figures who planted them. That unusual six-flipper, ten-bumper layout makes it a genuinely distinctive play, all bounce and chaos and storybook charm, while its scarcity makes it a worthy find. The beloved theme was a natural fit for Parker’s illustrative gifts, and the whole machine radiates the wonder of its source. For anyone who loves pinball’s pioneering era, it’s a treasure. Ride that wild field of bumpers, work the flippers, and follow the white rabbit. Some machines are a piece of the foundation, and this whimsical Mabs-and-Parker classic is one of them. Curiouser and curiouser.