Gottlieb’s El Dorado: City of Gold, released in 1984 and designed by the legendary Ed Krynski, is a solid-state reimagining of Gottlieb’s earlier electromechanical hit El Dorado, bringing its gold-rush treasure-hunting theme into the System 80 era. With four flippers and an enormous arsenal of drop targets — a five-bank and a towering ten-bank — it’s a target-shooter’s paradise wrapped in the lure of striking it rich.
The scoring rewards accuracy and light-watching. Each drop is worth 500 points, but a lit drop pays a full 5,000 — and the center rollover and lower-left standup shuffle which rollover is lit, so the mantra is simple: shoot the lit one. The deeper strategy lives in the drop banks: completing the bottom-right target bank advances the bonus multiplier, completing the entire top set of drops lights hold bonus, and clearing the upper drops twice lights an extra ball at the lower bank. Plunging for the upper-right lanes can net a few quick bonus advances, though you’ll want to watch the feed at the bottom.
Generous with targets and satisfying to clear, El Dorado: City of Gold is a fine example of Krynski updating a classic for a new generation of hardware. For collectors who love big drop-target banks and a treasure-hunting theme — and a connection back to one of Gottlieb’s beloved EM games — it’s an engaging and rewarding machine that still glitters. Stake your claim and dig for that city of gold.