Gottlieb’s Sinbad, released in 1978 and designed by the legendary Ed Krynski, is one of the company’s earliest solid-state machines, arriving on the new System 1 hardware that Gottlieb debuted with Cleopatra. Wrapped in a swashbuckling Arabian-fantasy theme, it features four flippers, multiple drop-target banks, and a clever spinning target whose two sword-faces are oriented to create the illusion of crossed swords as it whirls.

The scoring is classic Krynski-era Gottlieb: clean, geometric, and built around the bonus. The drop-target banks increase your bonus multiplier, though completed banks only advance the multiplier if the lower ones are already down — so there’s a satisfying order to the climb. The maximum 15K bonus is collected once all the drops are down, at which point they reset and the whole rewarding process begins again. The spinner and star rollovers advance the bonus, and completing the purple bank lights an extremely valuable extra-ball lane, well worth chasing.

Handsome, well-balanced, and historically significant as one of Gottlieb’s pioneering electronic games, Sinbad is a treat for collectors who appreciate the elegant design of the early System 1 era. For players who love a methodical bonus-building game with a dash of high-seas adventure, it’s a charming and rewarding classic from a true master of the craft.