Ride with the legend of the West — Gottlieb’s Buffalo Bill is an electromechanical single-player wrapped in a western and historical theme celebrating the famous frontier showman, from the celebrated hand of designer Harry Mabs, a genuine giant of early pinball, with art by the legendary Roy Parker. With light-based scoring and a scarce confirmed run of just 500, it’s an uncommon and charming early Gottlieb.
The layout is elegantly minimal in the classic early-EM tradition: two flippers and two scoring bumpers. It’s a lean, stripped-down design, the kind of clean, elemental playfield that defined pinball’s formative years, when the fundamentals of the flipper game were still being refined. Those two scoring bumpers are the heart of the action, rewarding a player who keeps the ball alive and works them for points, all in service of the frontier-showman theme. There’s a pure, honest simplicity to a machine like this, a reminder of how much fun lived in the earliest, most straightforward layouts, when keeping the ball in play was the whole game.
Buffalo Bill is a lovely piece of history for the collector who cherishes the deepest roots of the hobby and the legendary figures who planted them. Harry Mabs was a founding visionary of the modern flipper game, and Roy Parker’s warm artwork gave Gottlieb machines their storybook charm. With only 500 built, it’s a scarce find, and the Buffalo Bill theme celebrated one of the great legends of the American frontier. For anyone who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its founding masters, it’s a worthy find. Work those scoring bumpers, keep the ball alive, and ride with the showman. Some machines are treasured for their rarity and their legendary makers alike, and this Gottlieb western gem is one of them. Join the Wild West show and drop a coin.