Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box was an electro-mechanical pinball machine released by D. Gottlieb & Co. during the early 1970s, arriving during a pivotal era when pinball was still a dominant form of coin-operated entertainment. The machine's theme capitalized on the popular children's toy of the same name, bringing a playful and surprising element to the arcade scene.

The gameplay design featured classic EM-era elements including pop bumpers, drop targets, and rollover lanes, all themed around the jack-in-the-box motif. The backglass and playfield artwork likely incorporated colorful circus and toy-themed imagery, consistent with the whimsical aesthetics common to pinball machines of this period. The scoring system utilized the traditional mechanical wheel counters characteristic of electro-mechanical machines.

While not necessarily one of Gottlieb's most famous titles, Jack in the Box represented the solid engineering and reliable gameplay that made Gottlieb machines popular with operators during the electro-mechanical era. The machine emerged during a time when pinball manufacturers were beginning to experiment with new features and technologies, though still firmly rooted in mechanical systems rather than electronic ones.