Doodle Bug
The add-a-ball version of this game is Williams' 1971 'Love Bug'. Also released in a 4-player version as Williams' 1970 'Dipsy Doodle'. An earlier game having a captive ball scoring feature similar to the Doodle Bug is Bally's 1938 'Paramount'. A solid-state game having this feature is Williams' 1981 'Solar Fire'. The common "Over The Top" backbox version has four actual score reels plus one dummy reel. The 100,000 digit is a silkscreened "1" that is lit from behind when earned. The playfield has a light red background with a dark red circle at each outlane and under the pop bumpers. The backbox pictured in the manufacturer's flyer has an actual score reel for the 100,000 position, as evidenced by the part number visible just underneath the "1" on the reel. This game has five actual score reels plus one dummy reel. Its playfield art is the light red background with the dark red circles. Pictured in this listing is a production game from France with an actual score reel in the 100,000 position, just like the flyer game. It has a silkscreened 1,000,000 light in place of the words "Over The Top" although the bulb sockets to light it were not fully wired by the factory. There are no match numbers on the glass or on the backbox insert. The playfield is pink and has large circles in a light shade of purple at the outlanes and under the pop bumpers. The cabinet has serial number 65420 and its pink color has faded white. We believe this game to be Early Production and have marked it as such. An operator later added a yellow rollover button to its playfield to help advance the 1-2-3-4 target sequence. The current owner added a large bell and knocker as there were none, and replaced some 1970's Gottlieb-style pop bumper caps with ones similar to what was used in production. No paperwork accompanied this game except for its Instruction Card and Score Card shown here. We show additional playfield pictures of the same game shot with a different camera showing darker shades of color, but the owner confirms the playfield is actually pink with light purple circles.
