Gottlieb

Gigi

Pinside Rating

This game received 14 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.012 _/10

8.012

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #83 in the Pinside EM Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.098

Artwork: 8.385

Sounds/Music: 2.277

Other Aspects: 7.853

Pinside staff rating

None of the Pinside.com staff have rated this game. Sorry, no rating from us.

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Found 15 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 15 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.701/10

11 months ago

MRM

MikeyMcs

Pinside member

3y 27,500 11 9

When I was a kid I loved bumpers on a pinball machine. The more the better. So, along comes Gigi with fourteen of ‘em! Jackpot! The only downside is that so many bumpers leaves little room on the playfield for other features.

All one needs to do to light the “speshuls” on the playfield, and lock in an end-of-game bonus, is to light one chevron set of the bumpers, either red or yellow. The red ones are regularly achievable. However, one could wait for the seasons to change before lighting the yellow ones. Don’t look for high scores here. The bumpers only score one point, whether lit or not. So, a four-digit score is a feat.

Gigi is ingenious, beautiful, and maddeningly difficult. And did I mention that it has a lot of bumpers?

MikeyMcs edited previous rating on May 24, 2023.
MikeyMcs currently owns this game.

5.946/10

3 years ago

DRK

Seahawk53

Pinside member

Highlands Ranch, CO

10y 39,250 29 3 8

GiGi is a very slow playing machine, but that is what we had back in 1963. The artwork is nice and especially the misspelled Special as
Speshul. Game objective is straight forward but game play itself is pretty difficult. I consider myself a petty good player but struggle to get the bonus over 30 at best. The outlanes will eat you alive! I own a very pretty example of this machine.

Seahawk53 has owned this game in the past.

7.769/10

3 years ago

KOJ

koji

Pinside member

Surrey, BC

6y 112K 2,658 14 65

Pretty incredible game.

The art is amazing and eye catching. Lots to look at.
This machine must be set up and tuned perfectly to be enjoyable. You want the bumpers to activate on a hair, including when the ball travels off the guides on the sides.

As with most games of this era, skillful nudging is a must, but this also allows for some control with the flippers, I feel like I can control the ball more than the majority of 2" early 60s games.

Complete a series of the yellow or red bumpers to advance (probably the first implementation of an end of game scoring bonus). Completing an advance lights an alternative side rollover 'Speshul' for the current ball (or both rollovers in 3-Ball setting).

This means deck is a blast to play, and has a massive 1 more game appeal for me.

koji edited previous rating on June 01, 2023.
koji has owned this game in the past.

9.189/10

4 years ago

JSH

John-H

Pinside member

Norman, OK

4y 38,150 19 10 37

One of the most iconic games of the 1960s, Gigi has stood the test of time and is a playable piece of modern art - pop art, of course, but modern pop abstract art nonetheless. I'll never play every pinball game in the world but of the ones I have, Gigi is #1 in the "just one more game" factor. "I only needed one more bumper!" "I had all the red bumpers but couldn't get that 'speshul.' One more try."

Each time all the red or yellow bumpers are lit, one advance is added to the end-of-game bonus. The end bonus became standard in pinball but here you have it for the first time.

But of course, if you hit a yellow bumper the corresponding red bumper turns off, and vice versa. The yellow bumpers are dastardly to finish - I've only done it once after owning the game 6 years. *little edit - 2nd time a few days ago* It's tempting to try when a lot of them are lit - but for high scores it's best to focus on the red ones. I do - maybe - wish lighting the yellow bumpers added 2 advances.

Seminal game and very pretty.

"Conan! What is good in life?" "When you have the speshul lit in Gigi and you hit the ball up the rollover for one free game and it falls right back down for another." "No Conan."

*Wife approval* "I think I'll play this one more time." Poor wife didn't know her random quotes from playing these games might wind up in nerdy reviews someday.

John-H edited previous rating on January 25, 2020.
John-H has owned this game in the past.

7.967/10

6 years ago

SAL

Scottflips

Pinside member

6y 44,400 27 34 23

With fourteen playfield bumpers there's always something to shoot for. Since the object of this game is to either light all of the red or all of the yellow bumpers, the smart money is on the red bumpers that can be more easily reached off of the flippers.

Completing all of the red (or yellow), lights the side lanes alternately for a special, plus it adds a 100 point bonus to your game that's awarded at the end of the last ball. It's a difficult special to achieve and it's dangerous, too. The side lanes empty the ball into the middle of the flippers, which have a dangerously wide gap and can be a real drain monster.

My game does not have a post in the middle, which many people add to provide longevity. The lack of a post makes this game frustrating at times, but also much more rewarding when you score a good game.

It's tough to get over 1,000 and even tougher still to light all of the yellow bumpers. In all the years I have owned the game, I've only had the yellow bumper sequence lit once.

The Marilyn Monroe figure in the backglass is part of the game's appeal, but the clowns and the humorous writing and signs on the playfield are really the stars of the show.

Scottflips currently owns this game.

6.276/10

7 years ago

RHO

spiroagnew

Inactive member

11y 121K 982 161

Gigi is one of the toughest wedgeheads going. Lighting all the coloured bumpers scores you an advance and nets an end of game bonus. I'll be damned if I can get all the bumpers lit on a consistent basis. Other than the bumpers, there isn't much going on in the game. Your objective is working on those bumpers, and nothing extra is added to take away from that (except two top standups which add little to the game being tucked away at the top). The Roy Parker artwork is a bit of a miss here. Too many clowns.

9.048/10

7 years ago

MAT

rattmuscle

Pinside member

Honor, MI

8y 35,600 102 18 9

One of my favorite wedgeheads. A lot going on for a '63 pin. Very addictive play. Good luck finding one for sale. Will never sell mine.

rattmuscle currently owns this game.

6.674/10

8 years ago

???

PBW

Inactive member

Unknown

8y 2,500 6

'THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE BELLS ' sorry that was droll , Gigi a great little teaser game with lots of what we man like , flashing lights basically , flashing light buzzers and bells and we will throw our money at it , it really is a horrid game that make you keep coming back for another challenge , I think she deserves to be a little higher in the rankings , a great 63 game .

PBW

8.749/10

9 years ago

NW

nick-the-greek

Inactive member

Pensnett, Brierley Hill, Uk

11y 24,400 354 17 6

Great art, unique playfield design, very hard to beat, keeps you playing just one more game. This is what EM pinball games are all about. Another early sixties icon from the master pinball artist and the Rolls Royce equivalent pinball company. They don't come any better.

nick-the-greek currently owns this game.

8.293/10

10 years ago

ZUL

Caucasian2Step

Evil McBooty

12y 163K 1,455 51 1011

Considering the vintage of this deck, there is quite a bit of game in it.

The Pros:
This has to be one of the best looking EM's I have ever laid my eyes on. Roy Parker has earned his distinctive reputation with this art pax. It looks fantastic! The ruleset requires shots to be made up and down and all across the PF. With the yellow and red bumpers always switching, priorities change at a moment's notice. The game rarely ever stops and when it does, you have to ask yourself... OK, what next? Go for the Speshul? Wayne Neyens will keep you guessing with this design at every turn. I thought Snow Derby/ Queen was the first game with a bonus count. Gigi proved me wrong by 10 years. Nudging skills will need to be activated on this game to get the high score on this layout.

The Cons:
Finding one. Really. Hoarding pin-collectors have scoured the planet for any copies of this game and IF (as in a big IF) you can find one, consider yourself lucky. Deep pockets help too. The top standups are lucky rebounds off the pops. This game must be fresh and fast to play as it should, but then again, what pinball game isn't like this? Many times, pops that are scored are by chance and sometimes the EM tech can't keep up with the action of scored/ lit bumpers. Platinum Blondes make me cry too.

The Takeaway:
Gigi is the epitome of a simple, but never easy pinball game.

This pinball game is Maurice Chevalier approved.

7.832/10

10 years ago

TSG

TheShameGovernor

Pinside member

Omaha, NE

11y 60,650 494 6 36

Gigi is almost perfect. Almost. The layout and concept are great - light all bumpers of the same color to advance your bonus. The beauty of it is lighting one color turns off the corresponding bumper of the other color. So simple. So frustrating.

The flaw holding it back involves the unbalanced scoring (or too balanced to be more accurate). The upper yellow set awards the same bonus advance as the lower red one. While this makes sense at first, and most players wouldn't notice it after a few games, the problem becomes much more pronounced after extended play or home use. Ultimately, completing a set of red bumpers is easier than yellow because they are closer to the flippers and less obstructed. Over time, one begins to focus on completing red over yellow (less risk, same reward), and the game becomes too concentrated on the lower half of the playfield. Had Wayne Neyens and Co. made the yellows worth 2 advances, or made it a requirement to complete 2-3 of each set, we would be talking about something really special. As it stands, it is merely one of the greats - just not the greatest - and that's good enough.

Really though, at the end of the day no matter how many good or critical things I can blabber on about, what Gottlieb has gifted us is a pinball machine where Marilyn Monroe is about to be gangbanged by a bunch of homeless clowns.

Theme = 6/6

9.486/10

10 years ago

BLM

wizardblom

Pinside member

's-heer Hendrikskinderen

11y 56,650 411 8 19

Have this machine over 13 years now, sometimes it it's a dust collector and don't get played much. Other times it gets played for hours in a row. Simple ruleset almost impossible to get the speshul, very unforgiving game.

wizardblom has owned this game in the past.

8.314/10

10 years ago

GM

BallyWizard

Inactive member

London

10y 34,150 2 24 98

Life was much simpler back in 1963 and Gigi is living proof of this. The game has the simplest yet most challenging rule set. Light all seven bumpers of either red or yellow colour. Thing is when you hit 4 red it will turn off 4 yellow. The bumpers basically alternate between the same number either on or off. This can lead to some ultra frustrating games.
I recently sold mine, but still miss the game as it is very addictive.
The game also features an end of game bonus, wher you get 100, 200 or 200+ 1 replay, 200+2 replays or 200+ 3 replays. By turning on a set of bumpers you will get one bonus, thing is you can only turn on the bumpers once per ball. This means you'd need to light one set of bumpers with each ball. I owned the game 18 months and never achieved this.
It's a cool feature getting that bonus once the game is complete. Just awesome for a late 1963 game.
The backglass is stunning unless you have a phobia of clowns. The girl featured is so obviously Marilyn Monroe that it can't be anyone else.
There are some risquÃ© bits of art on the top of the Playfield like a small jack in the box looking straight in between the girls legs and the phrase "come play with me" written close to her feet.
The game is unforgiving. Not easy and the angle if the sling shots to the outlines simply makes it a bit of a drain game. The gap between the small flippers is immense.
A tough unforgiving game, which is very pleasing to the eye.

BallyWizard edited previous rating on July 18, 2013.
BallyWizard currently owns this game.

9.299/10

11 years ago

???

cjmiller

Inactive member

11y 46,050 181 33 13

With Gigi either you "get it" or you don't. It's a game for Old School pinheads who know how to flip and nudge, and don't need a lot of gimmicks. It'll drive you crazy, and it's very unforgiving, but it'll also keep you coming back for more. If you win a game on Gigi, you've earned it.

The artwork is a weird mix of clowns and showgirls (with a couple of daschunds thrown in for good measure)--don't even try to make sense of it, just go with it. The flippers are a mile apart, the side lanes are brutal, and the mix of pop and dead bumpers want to make you scream. Rules? There's only one rule--light all the reds or all the yellows. That's it, now go do it. Pure pinball without all the gimmicks.

A brilliant game.

cjmiller currently owns this game.

8.935/10

11 years ago

SS

Shapeshifter

Pinside member

13y 150K 10,468 8 144

This is a beautiful looking pin and considering it was made in 1963, it is also a really fun game. Light up either all 7 red or all seven yellow pop bumpers. Not as easy as it sounds. Addictive. All time classic game. Very mellow hypnotic game. Really, it is an astounding game and first ever to feature a bonus. Trying to get 5 advances will keep the very best players on their toes.
Update. I think with all games it is essential to play a game in excellent condition, otherwise a game can feel lifeless. Playing a Gigi that is dialed in, in a dark room is a surprisingly addictive, sensual experience. Getting all seven yellow or red pop bumpers lit is always satisfying, even if the yellow it usually needs luck to do it. It also looks beautiful when all 7 are lit. Then trying to get a double speshul is again infuriatingly addictive! Add in the fact that getting 5 advances is near on impossible, but possible, just adds to longevity.
For some reason no other game in pinball makes me smile like this game does. And no other game seems as satisfying when collecting the bonus at the end of the game.

Shapeshifter edited previous rating on September 27, 2015.
Shapeshifter has owned this game in the past.

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