Do I have room for another pinball machine? Not really. Do I not have enough stuff going on in my life right now? Not really. I don’t know what possessed me to grab this 1961 pinball machine about a tic-tac-toe playing robot but I made an offer, it was accepted and drove up to Manchester and grabbed it.

Provenance and Initial Observations

This machine is now 60 years old. It’s older than me. The seller was an older guy in Manchester, classic Yankee, lean and wiry – I only mention this because he helped me move the thing out of his basement. The guy obviously worked with his hands all his life and had some muscle.

I wish I had the presence of mind to take a picture of the owner and where the machine was when it was found but I get too anxious and excited in these situations – trying to evaluate the machine, trying to decipher the comments from the owner, trying to decode what is being said to be helpful vs. cover up any flaws.

Only information about the machine I could get was that his brother had it for a while and then he had it. Now they were converting the basement of the small house into more living space. Maybe a family member was moving in. Makes sense as New Hampshire is suffering from a major housing shortage.

So the pinball machine had to go. Even though in the days before video games and cell phones, the kid in the neighborhood all enjoyed coming over to play the machine.

I observed a few curious features. One the front legs were propped up giving the playfield a very slight angle. I figured the flippers were rather tired and maybe have trouble getting the ball back up to the top of the playfield. the owner also mentioned that sometimes two balls come out instead of one – don’t know if this is typical or something to fix – have to research that.

There also was no on/off switch. This might be typical of the era. I’ll have to do more investigation.

There were also some holes cut into the bottom of the cabinet. I don’t know why but I’ve seen this before when people can’t figure out how to snake the power cord out of the head.

The owner had little knowledge of how the machine is assembled. I showed him how the Jones plugs in the back attach and how to remove the bolts on the head. I think they moved the machine into the basement fully assembled as he was surprised that I would be able to be it into my SUV.

I’m thinking this machine has never been cleaned or waxed in the past 55 years at least. But the playfield was in great shape, I didn’t see any wear. The backglass had some flaking at the top but wasn’t bad.

All of the mechanical parts seemed very “tired” and will need rebuilding but the game powered on and actually played so that’s a good start.

Plus it is only a one-player so there isn’t a lot of score reels to deal with. Overall the machine is kind of cute in size. So much lighter than modern machines or even four-player machines like my Bally Hang Glider.

About Egg Head

“Egg Head” is a pinball machine from December 1961, manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Co. The design is attributed to Wayne Nevens with artwork by Roy Parker.

It’s really the fantastic artwork that drew me to the machine along with the unique grid of pop bumpers.

Roy Parker was a commercial artist who provided all the artwork for the Gottlieb company from 1930 to 1966.

“Dave Gottlieb had stipulated that Roy Parker work exclusively for Gottlieb. Parker’s last artwork for Gottlieb before his death was Mayfair in 1966″

Parker was our Artist until he passed away December 18, 1965. He was employed by Reproduction Graphics until they burned down for the second and last time. It was then that we went to Advertising Posters and started doing business with them but with the stipulation that they would hire Parker and that he would work solely for Gottlieb.

Wayne Neyens – Gottlieb’s pinball designer

If you think about the time frame of this machine, it was released one year before President John F. Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the Moon” address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, on September 12, 1962.

You don’t hear the term “egg head” that much anymore. It was the “nerd” or “geek” of it’s time. The average joe didn’t work with technology like we do today, so the pop-culture idea of scientists was these mysterious guys in white lab coats creating futuristic inventions like modern-day Merlins.

And of course, scientists would be creating amazing robots to do their bidding. These were the days when a mechanical machine that could play Tic Tac Toe seemed as far-fetched as landing a man on the moon.

“The word egghead is a very informal, slightly insulting name for an intellectual. … The word originally meant “bald person,” but it came to mean “smart person” in Chicago-area slang, particularly among newspaper reporters around 1918.”

– Vocabulary.com

Egghead is an anti-intellectual term that probably would appeal to a lot of the blue-collar patrons of pinball machines back in the day. After all these machines were intended as low-cost entertainment for the masses, a bit of distraction from the daily grind in an era with fewer distractions.

The tic-toe mechanic was pretty cool and innovative for 1961. X and O selectors are hard to hit, a chance to hit the rollovers buttons as a skill shot to select. I love the backglass as well as the playfield art; futuristic robot, mixed with wholesome 50/60s characters. The tic-tac-tic board on the playfield (showing x or o in each of the 9 positions) backlight through a stenciled vignette) is frankly neato for a 60s game, or in any era for that matter. Probably the one of, if not the, first dynamic insert set up. The rules set I very intuitive and completing a line is a challenge. For me it’s all about getting the ball up past the first pop bumper (row 3 middle) and hopefully parlay that up to the 1st and 2nd rows.

So for the fun factor, and innovation found in my favorite cabinet style, you have to show some love and respect for Egg Head.

Review from Brobra on Pinside

Egg Head is probably considered a rare title these days when you consider that only 2,100 were initially produced. How many of these 60-year-old machines still exist? Especially in good condition and are actually playable?

I really think at some point these old pieces of Americana will be appreciated for the works of art they truly are — they were made to attract attention and pocket change from the public. They had to have interesting artwork, tantalizing lights, and glowing plastic.

I think too often pinball players concentrate on things like scoring and competition, overlooking the beauty of the object. One of these old machines would look great in an office or corner of a study, as an accent piece. I think someday they will leave the basements and become object d’ art and Roy Parker machines will be especially sought after.

Consider the storyline of the backglass. The genius but far from studly brainiac “Egg Head” scientist concocts a way to attract attention from the beautiful babes at the Robotics Lab by making his tin man perform parlor tricks like playing a game tic tac toe.

Right now this sixty year old machine qualifies as a “true vintage” piece. In forty years it will be an antique. Vintage pieces have a nostalgia value for those who remember these objects from their youth, but then it reaches antique level and they become more and more rare and exotic.

Beyond the artwork, what attracted me to Egg Head is the older mechanisms. The balls on Egg Head don’t automatically shoot out, you have to physically move a lever to get the next ball. It’s kind of like the Model T of pinball machines in that aspect.

I like the aesthetics of the single score reel (plus less maintenance) and the beautiful glow from the playfield provided by the pop bumpers.

In Part II we begin the restoration process.