Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty is an electro-mechanical table released by Gottlieb in October 1947 that is often credited for inventing the flipper.

As with other pinball games of the era, the objective is simple enough: shoot balls onto the table to hit the various bumpers to score points. However, Humpty Dumpty had six red “flipper bumpers,” two inches long, located around the perimeter of the playfield; by pressing two “super sensitive control buttons”, players could make the flippers kick the ball back up the field. As the player advanced, lights on the backglass show Humpty Dumpty falling off of a castle wall, to the amusement of the King and his royal court.