Roll a perfect game — Gottlieb’s 1973 King Pin is an electromechanical single-player that brings the ten-pin thrill of the bowling alley to the flippers, and it comes from the celebrated team of designer Ed Krynski and artist Gordon Morison, the partnership behind an incredible run of Gottlieb’s most beloved classics. With reel scoring and a healthy confirmed run of 4,350, it was a popular machine in its day, pairing a universally appealing sport with the company’s reliably satisfying design.
The layout has a distinctive feature that ties beautifully to its theme: a big ten-bank of drop targets, evoking the ten pins of a bowling lane, along with a full four flippers, two pop bumpers, a pair of slingshots, two kick-out holes, and two standup targets. That ten-bank of drops is the star of the show, giving a sharp-shooting player a satisfying wall of “pins” to knock down, while the four flippers open up extra angles to attack them. It’s a clean, target-focused design that makes the bowling theme genuinely tactile — every cleared drop feels like toppling a pin.
King Pin is a fine showcase of the legendary Krynski-Morison team’s craft, pairing an evergreen sports theme with a layout that turns its central conceit into satisfying pinball. Morison’s art brings the alley to life, and that ten-bank of drops gives the game a clear, rewarding objective. For the collector who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its greatest designers, it’s a strike of a find. Work those four flippers, knock down the ten-bank, and roll for the perfect game. Some machines make their theme come alive in the playfield, and this bowling classic bowls a beauty. Nice pins.