Play a cool tune — Gottlieb’s Blue Note is an electromechanical single-player wrapped in a music-and-singing theme, evoking the smoky, sophisticated world of a jazz club, designed by John Osborne with art by the masterful Gordon Morison. With reel scoring and a scarce confirmed run of just 229, it’s a genuinely rare and characterful Gottlieb.
The strategy has real texture. The skill shot rewards plunging into the ABC lane lit green for a tidy 10,000, and completing the ABC lanes lights the extra ball at the saucer — a valuable prize worth chasing. The blue-note targets have a clever inversion: they score 500 when lit and a fat 5,000 when unlit, rewarding a player who knows to hit them at the right moment. And the spinner strategy is a nice bit of depth — the right spinner sets the value of the center spinner, so the savvy player works to keep that center spinner pegged at a thousand points a spin for maximum scoring. With five pop bumpers, eight standups, and two spinning targets, there’s a busy, rewarding field to work.
Blue Note is a scarce, smartly designed Gottlieb that packs genuine strategic depth into its jazzy package, with that unlit-target scoring quirk and the linked-spinner mechanic giving a thoughtful player plenty to master. With only 229 built, it’s a real find for the collector who prizes rarity, and Morison’s art brings the cool jazz-club theme to life. Plunge for the green ABC lane, hit those blue-note targets while unlit, and keep the center spinner ripping at a thousand a spin. Some machines reward knowing their secrets, and this Gottlieb jazz gem is one of them. Play it cool and drop a coin.