Uploaded March 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
For your consideration, we have here a 1985 Gottlieb Rock pinball machine in action.
This game smacks of genuine mid-80's cheese, but the gameplay is really quite fun. There's a lot to shoot for and hitting the spinners to send the ball to the top left or right is satisfying and fun. Spelling "ROCK AND ROLL LIVES" is challenging and results in lighting the extra ball loop in the middle of the playfield, which is also fun and satisfying to hit.
Trying to get the top left drops to level 4 is really, really challenging and means there's never a lack of things to shoot for.
The lack of multiball kinda baffles me, considering the era this was released, and the lack of speech is a real lost opportunity, especially considering the theme. I realize pinball was in a serious lull in the mid-80's and cost-cutting was the rule, but speech and multiball would have taken this game to the next level, in my opinion.
It's still an under-rated and often-forgotten game from a definite dark time in pinball.
Rock was designed by John Trudeau. For more information about this game, see here: ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1978
For your consideration, we have here a 1985 Gottlieb Rock pinball machine in action.
This game smacks of genuine mid-80's cheese, but the gameplay is really quite fun. There's a lot to shoot for and hitting the spinners to send the ball to the top left or right is satisfying and fun. Spelling "ROCK AND ROLL LIVES" is challenging and results in lighting the extra ball loop in the middle of the playfield, which is also fun and satisfying to hit.
Trying to get the top left drops to level 4 is really, really challenging and means there's never a lack of things to shoot for.
The lack of multiball kinda baffles me, considering the era this was released, and the lack of speech is a real lost opportunity, especially considering the theme. I realize pinball was in a serious lull in the mid-80's and cost-cutting was the rule, but speech and multiball would have taken this game to the next level, in my opinion.
It's still an under-rated and often-forgotten game from a definite dark time in pinball.
Rock was designed by John Trudeau. For more information about this game, see here: ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1978
