Touchdown

Released during the golden age of electro-mechanical pinball machines, Gottlieb's 'Touchdown' captured the growing American fascination with professional football in the mid-1960s. The machine arrived at a time when the NFL and AFL were competing leagues, just prior to their historic merger agreement, making it particularly relevant to the sports culture of its era.

The playfield design featured classic football imagery including goalposts, yard markers, and player illustrations rendered in the distinctive artistic style of the period. As an electro-mechanical machine, it utilized mechanical score reels and chimes to recreate the excitement of scoring plays. The gameplay likely incorporated football-themed objectives such as advancing the ball down the field through various shots and targets, with special scoring for 'touchdowns' and 'field goals'.

While not among Gottlieb's most famous titles, 'Touchdown' represented an important entry in the sports-themed category of pinball machines that helped broaden the appeal of pinball beyond traditional arcade audiences. The football theme would prove enduring in pinball design, with numerous manufacturers releasing gridiron-themed games in subsequent decades.

Production numbers for 'Touchdown' are not well documented, but as a mid-1960s Gottlieb title, it would likely have seen a production run of between 1,000 to 3,000 units, typical for that era. Today, surviving examples are considered collectible, particularly among enthusiasts of sports-themed pinball machines and electro-mechanical era games.