Hoist the black flag — Gottlieb’s Buccaneer is an electromechanical single-player wrapped in a swashbuckling pirate-adventure theme, and it comes from the legendary team of designer Ed Krynski and artist Gordon Morison, the partnership behind an incredible run of Gottlieb’s most cherished classics. With reel scoring and a healthy confirmed run of 3,812, it’s a handsome and popular woodrail-era Gottlieb.
The strategy is a classic bit of EM wisdom, and it’s delightfully single-minded: plunge the center lane as often as possible, and then it’s spinner, spinner, spinner all day. That lone spinning target is the machine’s scoring engine, a wonderfully repeatable money shot that rewards a player who keeps feeding it. Rounding out the layout are three pop bumpers, two passive bumpers, a pair of slingshots, and two standup targets, giving the ball plenty of lively action up top while the spinner does the heavy lifting on the scoreboard. It’s a clean, focused design that rewards finding that one great shot and riding it.
This Buccaneer is a fine showcase of the celebrated Krynski-and-Morison team’s craft, pairing a swashbuckling pirate theme with a satisfying, spinner-driven playfield and Morison’s warm artwork. (Note that Gottlieb produced an earlier machine of the same name, so collectors should mind which Buccaneer they’re chasing.) For the collector who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its greatest creative teams, it’s a rewarding find. Plunge that center lane, then rip the spinner over and over, and plunder the high seas. Some machines reward finding the money shot and never letting go, and this Gottlieb pirate classic is one of them. Raise the colors and drop a coin.