Roll a strike — Gottlieb’s Bowling Queen is an electromechanical single-player that brings the ten-pin thrill of the bowling alley to the flippers, and it comes from the legendary team of designer Wayne Neyens and artist Roy Parker, one of the most beloved creative partnerships of pinball’s golden woodrail age. With reel scoring and a confirmed run of 2,650, it’s a handsome, popular EM machine.
The layout is elegantly focused in the classic Gottlieb tradition: two flippers, four pop bumpers, a pair of slingshots, and three standup targets. The strategy centers cleverly on those three standups — they award fifty points each and, crucially, light the bumpers and slingshots, a benefit that persists between balls, so the seasoned wisdom is to hit them as soon as possible to charge up your scoring for the whole game. That carryover mechanic is the strategic soul of the machine, rewarding a player who prioritizes the standups early and then reaps the compounded benefit ball after ball. The four pop bumpers, once lit, keep the ball lively and the points flowing.
Bowling Queen is a lovely showcase of the celebrated Neyens-and-Parker team’s craft, pairing an evergreen bowling theme with a satisfying, carryover-driven layout and Parker’s warm artwork. The bowling motif was a perennial favorite, and this machine translates it into clean, rewarding pinball. For the collector who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its greatest creative teams, it’s a rewarding find. Hit those three standups early, light the bumpers for the whole game, and roll for a high score. Some machines reward a smart opening play, and this Gottlieb bowling gem is one of them. Bowl a beauty and drop a coin.