Machine Description

Gottlieb's 'Crossword' pinball machine, released in 1959, represented an innovative fusion of popular word puzzles with pinball mechanics during the golden age of electro-mechanical pinball machines. The game cleverly incorporated a crossword puzzle theme into its playfield design, making it stand out among its contemporaries and appealing to both pinball enthusiasts and word game fans.

The machine featured a playfield designed to mimic a crossword puzzle grid, with various scoring positions and targets arranged in an intersecting pattern reminiscent of newspaper crosswords. Players would aim for letter-marked targets and combinations that would light up corresponding sections of the playfield, creating an engaging blend of skill-based pinball action and word-game strategy. The scoring system was designed to reward players for completing 'words' through specific shot sequences.

As an electro-mechanical machine of its era, Crossword utilized relay-based scoring and chime units typical of late 1950s pinball technology. The artwork and cabinet design embraced the crossword puzzle theme with newspaper-style graphics and typography common to puzzle publications of the period. While production numbers are not definitively known, the machine was part of Gottlieb's successful run of themed games during the late 1950s, when the company was at the height of its creative and commercial success in the coin-operated amusement industry.