Gottlieb’s Hollywood Heat, released in 1986 and designed by John Trudeau, is a stylish cops-and-crime machine soaked in mid-80s Miami-Vice cool. With four flippers, twin drop-target banks, two ramps, a captive ball, and a three-ball multiball, it’s a busy, rewarding table — and it sports a clever quirk in its lone pop bumper, which is physically isolated from the ball in play and can only be triggered by the captive ball.

The scoring is built around multiball and the “PIN BALL” letters. You start multiball with three shots — two locks up top, then the ramp — and during multiball both drop-target banks are linked, with a “remote trip” feature where dropping a target on one set knocks one down on the other. The smart play is to work the upper playfield to swiftly build the drop value. Spelling PIN BALL via the top lanes and ramp lights the Special, worth a massive 500K when set to points — effectively a super jackpot. Building your playfield multiplier via the top lanes and yellow targets is crucial, since it multiplies switch values during multiball.

There’s real depth for the dedicated, from the risky-but-rewarding “Hot Shot” ramp (best set up with a post transfer to the left flipper) to the extra ball worth 200K that lights after maxing the drop value. Sleek, fast, and full of neon-noir atmosphere, Hollywood Heat is an underrated Trudeau machine that rewards aggressive multiball play. For collectors who love an 80s action theme and a deep drop-target ruleset, it’s a genuinely cool find.