Humpty Dumpty (pinball)
Encyclopedia
Humpty Dumpty is a historically important pinball
machine released by Gottlieb
on October 25, 1947. Named after Humpty Dumpty
, the nursery rhyme character, it is considered to be the first pinball machine to include flippers — invented by Harry Mabs — distinguishing it from earlier bagatelle
game machines. Humpty Dumpty had six of these flippers, referred to as "flipper bumpers" by the company. However, unlike modern pinball tables, they faced outward instead of inward and were not placed at the bottom of the table near the main outhole. Like all early pinball tables, Humpty Dumpty was constructed with wood
and had backlit scoring in preset units of scoring rather than mechanical reel or electronic LED
scoring.
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
machine released by Gottlieb
Gottlieb
Gottlieb was an arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was established by David Gottlieb in 1927, initially producing pinball machines while later expanding into various other games including pitch-and-bats, bowling games, and eventually video arcade games .Like other...
on October 25, 1947. Named after Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English language nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an egg and has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture...
, the nursery rhyme character, it is considered to be the first pinball machine to include flippers — invented by Harry Mabs — distinguishing it from earlier bagatelle
Bagatelle
Bagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past wooden pins into holes...
game machines. Humpty Dumpty had six of these flippers, referred to as "flipper bumpers" by the company. However, unlike modern pinball tables, they faced outward instead of inward and were not placed at the bottom of the table near the main outhole. Like all early pinball tables, Humpty Dumpty was constructed with wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
and had backlit scoring in preset units of scoring rather than mechanical reel or electronic LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
scoring.