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136-571: The Playboy Mansion , also known as the Playboy Mansion West , is the former home of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner , who lived there from 1971 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hills , Los Angeles , California , near Beverly Hills . From the 1970s onward, the mansion became the location of lavish parties held by Hefner which were often attended by celebrities and socialites. It

272-440: A grotto , and a basement gym with sauna below the bathhouse ). Landscaping includes a large koi pond with an artificial stream, a small citrus orchard and two well-established forests of tree ferns and redwoods. The west wing (originally a servant's wing) housed the editorial offices of Playboy . The main aviary building is the original greenhouse with four guest rooms adjoining. Hefner's personal suite occupies several rooms on

408-646: A reverse merger deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp.—a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In February 2021, the stock of a combined company, PLBY Group, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange as "PLBY". In 1971, Playboy had a circulation rate base of seven million, which was its high point. The best-selling individual issue was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter of all American college men were buying or subscribing to

544-593: A California distributor of pinball replacement parts. In 2006, Illinois pinball company PinBall Manufacturing Inc. produced 178 reproductions of Capcom's Big Bang Bar for the European and US markets. In 2010, MarsaPlay in Spain manufactured a remake of Inder's original Canasta titled New Canasta , which was the first game to include a liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen in the backbox. In 2013, Jersey Jack Pinball released The Wizard of Oz pinball machine, based on

680-515: A Chicago Mansion apartment throughout his first year with the company. While Hefner vowed to "spend more time in Chicago" during meetings in the city following the controversial dismissal of Anthony Jackson (a recruiter then characterized as Playboy's highest-ranking Black executive) in August 1975, his few documented visits thereafter consisted of a November 1975 stay referenced in subsequent press reports,

816-473: A July 1976 trip centered around an awards luncheon for Elton John and a December 1978 holiday jaunt coinciding with one of the magazine's 25th anniversary parties. Although the complex had been put on sale for $ 2.3 million (equivalent to $ 12.3 million in 2024) by late 1976 (increased to $ 2.5 million [equivalent to $ 12.5 million in 2024] a year later), Hefner's apartment and office (including many of his remaining personal effects) remained virtually untouched during

952-511: A Randall business trip) "in an attempt to make it pay its way" as a profitable event facility. During a thwarted attempt to sell the property amid Playboy Enterprises' financial difficulties in July 1975, Senior Vice President Victor Lownes estimated that the publisher only spent three weeks at the Chicago Mansion (including several short business trips, a visit centered around Arnstein's funeral and

1088-591: A ball count wheel, but in some areas that was disallowed, and some games were shipped with a sticker to cover the counters. Pinball was banned beginning in the early 1940s until 1976 in New York City. New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia was responsible for the ban, believing that it robbed school children of their hard-earned nickels and dimes. La Guardia spearheaded major raids throughout the city, collecting thousands of machines. The mayor participated with police in destroying machines with sledgehammers before dumping

1224-449: A brass plate on the door—gifted to Hefner by A. C. Spectorsky, the magazine's influential editorial director—with the Latin inscription Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare ("If you don't swing, don't ring"). An adjacent 20-room townhouse at 1336 North State Parkway (originally built with a connection to 1340 North State Parkway as a residence for Isham's daughter in 1914) was reincorporated into

1360-520: A bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the girl we made popular: the Playmate of the Month . She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl - the girl next door ... we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale , who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she

1496-489: A cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity. In March 2020, Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, announced that the spring 2020 issue would be the last regularly scheduled printed issue and that the magazine would publish its content online. The decision to close the print edition was attributed in part to the COVID-19 pandemic , which interfered with the distribution of the magazine. In autumn 2020, Playboy announced

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1632-495: A former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. Playboy ' s plans were to market itself as a competitor to Vanity Fair , as opposed to more traditional competitors GQ and Maxim . Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake. Furthermore, for its March/April issue, it reestablished some of its franchises, including

1768-411: A grid on the backglass scoring area with spaces corresponding to targets or holes on the playfield. Free games could be won if the player could get the balls to land in a winning pattern; however, doing this was nearly random , and a common use for such machines was for gambling. Other machines allowed players to win and accumulate large numbers of "free games" which could then be cashed out for money with

1904-434: A large 'backglass' in the front. The backglass usually has very stylized graphics related to the game. The playfield is a planar surface inclined upward, usually at six and a half degrees , away from the player, and includes multiple targets and scoring objectives. Some operators intentionally extend threaded levelers on the rear legs and/or shorten or remove the levelers on the front legs to create additional incline in

2040-472: A less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue. Other changes to the magazine included ending the popular jokes section and the various cartoons that appeared throughout the magazine. The redesign eliminated the use of jump copy (articles continuing on non-consecutive pages), eliminating most of the space for cartoons. Hefner, himself

2176-613: A liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities. After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity. By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager —had planned out

2312-406: A long period of deferred maintenance while under Playboy ownership." Under the permanent protection covenant, Metropoulos has further agreed to restore the house and facade to "its original grandeur." The compromise agreement reversed a move in November 2017 by Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz to seek landmark status for the mansion in the hope of protecting the architectural integrity of

2448-507: A metric that dwindled to 55% (6.6 months) in 1973 and 40% (4.8 months) in 1974. Although Playboy Enterprises remained headquartered in Chicago until 2012, Hefner designated the Mansion West as his full-time residence in 1975 following the criminal conviction and ensuing apparent suicide of Bobbie Arnstein, the culmination of an "investigation of drug use in Hefner's mansion" by U.S. Attorney for

2584-477: A middling bowler) was constructed in the annex's basement; following nearly two years of "planning, remodeling, and building," the alley opened in July 1972. From 1971 to 1975, Hefner divided his time between the Chicago Mansion and the Playboy Mansion West. According to a 1979 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission decision, the publisher spent 71% of his time (8.5 months) at the Chicago Mansion in 1972,

2720-487: A move he compares to Babe Ruth 's home run in the 1932 World Series – called out precisely what he was going to shoot for, and then proceeded to do so. Astonished committee members reportedly voted to remove the ban, which was followed in other cities. Sharpe reportedly acknowledges, in a self-deprecating manner, his courtroom shot was by sheer luck although there was admittedly skill involved in what he did. Like New York, Los Angeles banned pinball machines in 1939. The ban

2856-483: A new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan", and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy". Published in December 1953, the first issue was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe , although the picture used initially was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy . Hefner chose what he deemed

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2992-407: A penny. At its peak, Gottlieb produced 400 Baffle Ball machines per day and establishing the company as the first major manufacturer of pinball machines. In 1932, Gottlieb distributor Raymond Moloney found it hard to obtain more Baffle Ball units to sell. In his frustration he founded Lion Manufacturing to produce a game of his design, Ballyhoo , named after a popular magazine. The game became

3128-764: A regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for cartoonists such as Jack Cole , Eldon Dedini , Jules Feiffer , Harvey Kurtzman , Shel Silverstein , Doug Sneyd , Erich Sokol, Roy Raymonde , Gahan Wilson , and Rowland B. Wilson . Art Paul designed the bunny logo. Leroy Neiman drew the Femlin characters for Playboy jokes. Patrick Nagel painted the headers for Playboy Forum and other sections. Playboy features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects

3264-565: A similar stay for a May 1975 backgammon tournament) during the previous year. “After [Arnstein] died, there really wasn’t a lot of reason for going back [to the Chicago Mansion]," Hefner recalled in 2009. “There really wasn’t anything left for me there.” Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the decision to officially "mothball" the Chicago Mansion in September 1975 also coincided with a substantial increase (from $ 7,800 to $ 36,000 per year) in

3400-589: A six-car garage, exercise/game room, large ballroom and restaurant-type kitchen, the residence contained a top-floor dormitory for Bunnies employed at the Chicago Playboy Club and 13 discrete apartments and furnished rooms (most notably the luxurious Blue Room and Red Room guest suites, which shared a common bathroom) that were variously occupied by several employees and friends of Hefner; these ranged from Playmates completing protracted photo shoots to peripatetic cartoonist-songwriter Shel Silverstein (who lived in

3536-464: A six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. Urban legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing. In

3672-611: A smash hit. Its larger playfield and ten pockets made it more challenging than Baffle Ball , selling 50,000 units in 7 months. Moloney eventually changed the name of his company to Bally to reflect the success of this game. These early machines were relatively small, mechanically simple and designed to sit on a counter or bar top. The 1930s saw major advances in pinball design with the introduction of electrification. Pacific Amusements in Los Angeles, California produced Contact in 1933, which had an electrically powered solenoid to propel

3808-413: A spin-off of Playboy ) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos ; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim , FHM , and Stuff . In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to the content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in

3944-426: A video display into the pinball playfield. The reception was initially good with Revenge from Mars selling well over 6,000 machines, but short of the 10,000-plus production runs for releases just six years earlier. The next Pinball 2000 game, Star Wars Episode I , sold only a little over 3,500 machines. Williams exited the pinball business on October 25, 1999 to focus on making gaming equipment for casinos, which

4080-823: Is a modular design where different games can be swapped into the cabinet. It also has a large interactive display as the playfield surface, which differs from all prior pinball machines traditionally made of plywood and embedded with translucent plastic inserts for lighting. In 2017, American Pinball released its first production game, Houdini, followed by Oktoberfest (2018), Hot Wheels (2020), Legends of Valhalla (2020), and Galactic Tank Force (2023). In 2022 Flutter released an online pinball game. That same year Google released an Easter Egg pinball game on IOS. In 2023, Barrels of Fun released its first production game, Jim Henson's Labyrinth. Pinball machines, like many other mechanical games, were sometimes used as gambling devices. Some pinball machines, such as Bally's "bingos", featured

4216-470: Is a separate building on the north side. There are two sidewalks from the fountain in front of the main entrance, running past a wishing well. That on the right leads to the game house and runs past a duplicate Hollywood Star of Hefner. Its front entrance opens to a game room with a pool table in the center. This room has vintage and modern arcade games , pinball machines , player piano , jukebox , television, stereo, and couch. The game house has two wings. On

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4352-582: Is currently owned by Daren Metropoulos, the son of billionaire investor Dean Metropoulos , and is used for corporate activities. It also serves as a location for television production, magazine photography, charitable events, and civic functions. Hefner established the original Playboy Mansion in 1959. It was a brick and limestone residence in Chicago's Gold Coast , which had been built in 1899. Hefner had founded Playboy in Chicago in 1953. After he permanently relocated to California in 1975, his company eventually let

4488-736: Is generally to score as many points as possible by hitting these targets and making various shots with flippers before the ball is lost. Most pinball machines use one ball per turn, except during special multi-ball phases, and the game ends when the ball(s) from the last turn are lost. The biggest pinball machine manufacturers historically include Bally Manufacturing , Gottlieb , Williams Electronics and Stern Pinball . Currently active pinball machine manufacturers include Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball , American Pinball, Chicago Gaming Company, Pinball Brothers, Dutch Pinball, Spooky Pinball and Multimorphic, Inc., as well as several smaller boutique manufacturers. The history of pinball machines varies by

4624-484: Is naked, well washed with soap and water, and she is happy. The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company. In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the US Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4). Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been

4760-534: The 1939 film . It is the first pinball machine manufactured in the US with a large color display ( LCD ) in the backbox, the first widebody pinball machine since 1994 and the first new US pinball machine not made by Stern Pinball since 2001. This game was followed several additional pinball machines, incorporating both existing media properties and original themes. In 2013, the Chicago Gaming Company announced

4896-548: The Playboy Interview, an extensive (usually several-thousand-word) discussion between a publicly known individual and an interviewer. Writer Alex Haley served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr. ; he also interviewed Malcolm X and American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell . The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in

5032-623: The Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $ 18 m ($ 10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon , and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $ 1 billion in 2000 to $ 84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $ 300 million. In December 2009, the publication schedule

5168-639: The sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke , Ian Fleming , Vladimir Nabokov , Saul Bellow , Chuck Palahniuk , P. G. Wodehouse , Roald Dahl , Haruki Murakami , and Margaret Atwood . With

5304-424: The " Gothic - Tudor " style of architecture by Forbes magazine, and sits on 5.3 acres (2.1 ha). It was designed by Arthur R. Kelly in 1927 as Holmby House for Arthur Letts Jr., son of The Broadway department store founder Arthur Letts . It was acquired by Playboy Enterprises (as with the earlier Chicago Mansion, Hefner nominally rented his living accommodations from the company, which also designated

5440-494: The " Playboy Interview". In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973). Christie Hefner , daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009. She said that

5576-402: The "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open. The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success. The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991. The cover price

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5712-408: The 1950s and 1960s were replaced in the 1970s with circuit boards and digital displays. The first pinball machine using a microprocessor was Flicker, a prototype made by Bally in 1974. Bally soon followed that up with a solid-state version of Bow and Arrow in the same year with a microprocessor board that would be used in eight other machines until 1978, which included Eight Ball, the machine that held

5848-570: The 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights, women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment. Playboy was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970. From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the fiction editor at Playboy . During this period

5984-472: The 1980s signaled the end of the boom for pinball. Arcades replaced rows of pinball machines with video games like 1978's Space Invaders , 1979's Asteroids , 1980's Pac-Man , and 1981's Galaga . These earned significantly greater profits than the pinball machines of the day while simultaneously requiring less maintenance. Bally, Williams, and Gottlieb continued to make pinball machines while also manufacturing video games in much higher numbers. Many of

6120-402: The 1980s, pinball manufacturers navigated technology changes while going through changes of ownership and mergers: Gottlieb was sold to Premier Technologies, and Bally merged with Williams. The Video game crash of 1983 made the manufacturers refocus on their pinball sales. A trend started of pinball becoming increasingly elaborate to use more computing resources, following video games. Games in

6256-472: The 1990s closures, virtual pinball simulations, marketed on computers and home consoles, had become high enough in quality for serious players to take notice: these video versions of pinball such as Epic Pinball , Full Tilt! Pinball and the Pro Pinball series found marketplace success and lasting fan interest, starting a new trend for realistic pinball simulation. This market existed largely independently from

6392-540: The 1990s, pinball had made a strong comeback and saw new sales highs. Some new manufacturers entered the field, such as Capcom Pinball and Alvin G. and Company, founded by Alvin Gottlieb, son of David Gottlieb. Gary Stern, the son of Williams co-founder Sam Stern, founded Data East Pinball with funding from Data East Japan. The games from Williams now dominated the industry, with complicated mechanical devices and more elaborate display and sound systems attracting new players to

6528-438: The 2013 videogame Grand Theft Auto V . Playboy Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and online since 2020. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ 1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models ( Playmates ), Playboy played an important role in

6664-594: The Art Institute when the agreement lapsed in 1989. In 1993, the Chicago Mansion was sold to developer Bruce Abrams and converted into seven high-price luxury condos . In 2011, one 7,874 sq ft (731.5 m) condominium was placed for sale at an asking price of $ 6.7 million. According to Playboy Enterprises' SEC filings , Hefner paid Playboy rent for "that portion of the Playboy Mansion used exclusively for him and his personal guests' residence as well as

6800-606: The Bally label. With the death of Steve Irwin , it was announced that the future of this game was uncertain. In 2006, TPF announced that they would be reproducing two popular 1990s era Williams machines, Medieval Madness and Cactus Canyon . TPF, however, was unable to make good on its promises to produce new machines, and in October 2010 transferred its Williams Electronics Games licenses as well as its pinball spare parts manufacturing and distribution business to Planetary Pinball Supply Inc,

6936-536: The Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has published a braille edition of Playboy since 1970. The braille version includes all the written words in the non-braille magazine, but no pictorial representations. Congress cut off funding for the braille magazine translation in 1985, but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan reversed the decision on First Amendment grounds. Europe North America Oceania South America Pinball machine The game's object

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7072-454: The Bunny House was listed for sale for the asking price of $ 11 million. In September 2017, the property was sold to an unidentified buyer for $ 17.25 million. In January 2016, the Playboy Mansion was listed for sale by Playboy Enterprises, Inc. for the asking price of $ 200 million, subject to the condition Hefner be allowed to continue to rent the mansion for life. In August 2016,

7208-589: The Celebrity Poker Tournament, a fundraising party for the Marijuana Policy Project , and an event to benefit research into autism. In February 2011, 123 people complained of fever and respiratory illness after attending a DomainFest Global conference event held at the Playboy Mansion. After an investigation in response to the reported illnesses of the DomainFest attendees, epidemiologists from

7344-556: The Chicago Mansion—from a methaqualone overdose. Hefner's use of the Chicago Mansion had already declined precipitously following his March 1974 breakup with Playmate Karen Christy , who had been domiciled there as his primary companion in the city (Barbi Benton seldom visited Chicago after the acquisition of the Mansion West) since 1971. Attorneys also had likely advised Hefner to keep a professional distance from Arnstein (who

7480-463: The City of Los Angeles which permanently protects the mansion from demolition. The agreement between Metropoulos and the City of Los Angeles, referred to between the parties as a "permanent protection covenant," is binding on all future owners. The agreement protects the mansion from demolition, but still allows Metropoulos to make modernizations and substantial renovations and repairs to the property "following

7616-491: The July/August 2018 issue a reader asked if the print magazine would discontinue, and Playboy responded that it was not going anywhere. Following Hefner's death and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, Playboy was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with Tarana Burke , a profile of Pete Buttigieg , coverage of BDSM , and

7752-529: The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health disclosed their findings at a Centers for Disease Control conference. The disease outbreak was traced to a hot tub in the mansion's famed grotto, where they found Legionella pneumophila , which causes Legionnaires' disease . The 2022 A&E documentary series Secrets of Playboy featured interviews with former Playboy employees who alleged numerous acts of sexual and drug abuse took place at

7888-639: The Northern District of Illinois (and future Governor of Illinois ) James R. Thompson that attracted significant publicity after Arnstein's March 21, 1974 indictment. Arnstein's apparent suicide (which occurred at the Maryland Hotel, situated in the immediate vicinity of the Chicago Mansion) followed the high-profile September 1973 death of Adrienne Pollack—a 23-year-old Bunny and former dormitory resident who may have been involved in drug trafficking at

8024-433: The November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times." David Sheff 's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published in book format. Another interview-type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty Questions ), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs

8160-409: The Playboy Mansion was bought for $ 100 million by Daren Metropoulos, the co-owner of Hostess Brands and a principal in the investment firm C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. Metropoulos intends to renovate and restore the mansion to its original form. In 2009, Metropoulos bought the mansion next door to the Playboy Mansion from Hefner and his ex-wife Kimberly Conrad, and ultimately now wants to join

8296-593: The Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The company's chief creative officer made the announcement on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal. In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times , Playboy was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $ 7 million annually in recent years". However, in

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8432-550: The Red Room during extended stays in his hometown) and longtime Hefner aide Bobbie Arnstein. Located on the second floor of the building, Hefner's personal suite (containing a three-room apartment and bathroom) was prominently connected to the Roman Bath, an "elaborate bathing/sleeping area" designed for marathon group sex sessions that almost always encompassed Hefner, longtime friend/roommate John Dante and their respective paramours; by

8568-407: The United States. The 1975 average circulation was 5.6 million; by 1981, it was 5.2 million and by 1982 down to 4.9 million. Its decline continued in later decades and reached about 800,000 copies per issue in late 2015, and 400,000 copies by December 2017. In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine printed in braille . It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format

8704-498: The ball out of a bonus hole in the middle of the playfield. Another solenoid rang a bell to reward the player. Contact' s designer, Harry Williams, eventually formed his own company, Williams Manufacturing , in 1944. Other manufacturers quickly followed suit with similar features. Electric lights soon became standard on all pinball games, to attract players. By the end of 1932, approximately 150 companies manufactured pinball machines, most of them in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago has been

8840-400: The ball to travel around, such as Williams' Space Shuttle ; "multiball", used on Williams' Firepower ; multi-level games like Gottlieb's Black Hole and Williams' Black Knight ; and blinking chase lights, as used on Bally's Xenon . Although these novel features did not win back players as the manufacturers had hoped, they changed players' perception of pinball for decades. During

8976-439: The balls with sticks and propelling them at targets, often around obstacles. Croquet , golf and pall-mall eventually derived from ground billiards variants. The evolution of outdoor games finally led to indoor versions that could be played on a table, such as billiards , or on the floor of a pub, like bowling and shuffleboard . The tabletop versions of these games became the ancestors of modern pinball. In France, during

9112-434: The birth of pinball in its modern form. By the 1930s, manufacturers were producing coin-operated versions of bagatelles, now known as "marble games" or "pin games". The table was under glass and used Montague Redgrave's plunger device to propel the ball into the upper playfield. In 1931 David Gottlieb's Baffle Ball became the first hit of the coin-operated era. Selling for $ 17.50, the game dispensed five to seven balls for

9248-498: The center of pinball manufacturing ever since. Competition was strong, and by 1934, only 14 companies remained. During World War II , all major manufacturers of coin-operated games turned to manufacturing for the war effort. Some, like Williams, bought old games from operators and refurbished them, adding new artwork with a patriotic theme. At the end of the war, a generation of Americans looked for amusement in bars and malt shops, and pinball saw another golden age. Improvements such as

9384-412: The company's acquisition of the property, $ 15 million was invested in renovation and expansion. The mansion has 29 rooms, including a wine cellar (with a Prohibition -era secret door), a screening room with a built-in pipe organ , a game room, three zoo/ aviary buildings (and related pet cemetery), a tennis/basketball court, a waterfall and a swimming pool area (including a patio and barbecue area,

9520-463: The complex in 1970; acquired in cash for $ 550,000 (equivalent to $ 4.3 million in 2024), it contained a board room, ancillary offices and bedrooms (including an addition to the Bunny dormitory, which could now accommodate up to 30 boarders); a single-lane bowling alley (possibly built for Christie Hefner and featuring a gold-plated ball for the elder Hefner, who largely eschewed the sport after proving to be

9656-426: The creation of a remake of Medieval Madness . This was later followed by three additional remakes of earlier machines. They would announce their first original title, Pulp Fiction , based on the film Pulp Fiction , in 2023. In 2014, the new pinball manufacturer Spooky Pinball released their first game America's Most Haunted . This was followed by a few more themed, original, and contracted titles. In 2015,

9792-416: The decision. The redesigned Playboy , however, would still feature a Playmate of the Month and pictures of women. Still, they would be rated as not appropriate for children under 13. The move would not affect PlayboyPlus.com (which features nudity at a paid subscription). Josh Horwitz of Quartz argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing

9928-451: The early 1970s, it contained "baroque gold spigots and faucets that sprayed and showered" alongside "a tub with chest-high water" and a mirrored alcove with a mink -covered waterbed . Hefner's suite also was connected to three additional rooms that were employed as the publisher's nominal office (notwithstanding his oft-publicized penchant for working in his bedroom's metonymous round rotating/vibrating bed). The Chicago Mansion also boasted

10064-411: The election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said. Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran Jerome H. Kern as interim CEO, who

10200-501: The elements of his magazine, that he would call Stag Party . He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. Hefner eventually raised just over $ 8,000, including from his brother and mother. However, the publisher of an unrelated men's adventure magazine, Stag , contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek

10336-514: The ensuing interregnum. When no buyers manifested, the main building was leased for $ 10 per year as a dormitory (under the imprimatur of Hefner Hall) for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in August 1984; as part of the agreement, the School purchased 1336 North State Parkway outright for $ 500,000 (equivalent to $ 1.5 million in 2024), while Playboy Enterprises formally deeded 1340 North State Parkway to

10472-424: The estate for what he called "an excellent example of a Gothic-Tudor." If designated a historic landmark, Metropoulos would have faced a lengthy process for permitting and review for the rehabilitation of the property. The permanent protection covenant avoided a potentially drawn out and contentious legal action between the City of Los Angeles and Metropoulos for the City of Los Angeles seeking the formal designation of

10608-457: The facility's heyday) and primarily opened thereafter to the public for "occasional charity benefits and business functions" following the concomitant closure of the Bunny dormitory, which had only six remaining residents in the months following the Arnstein affair. During this period, Derick Daniels (who served as president and chief operating officer of Playboy Enterprises from 1976 to 1982) lived in

10744-618: The fair rental value of the publisher's Chicago accommodations—likely in anticipation of 1978 disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and a shareholder group concerning Hefner's potential embezzlement of corporate assets through the Mansion lease agreements—prompting the publisher to only renew his Playboy Mansion West lease thereafter. The contemporaneous sale of the Big Bunny (the company's McDonnell Douglas DC-9 business jet , which

10880-556: The feminist Miss America protest , symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan , which listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women; it compared the pageant to Playboy ' s centerfold as sisters under

11016-417: The flippers faced outwards. These flippers were made more powerful by the addition of a DC (direct current) power supply. These innovations were some of many by designer Steve Kordek . The first game to feature the familiar dual-inward-facing-flipper design was Gottlieb's Just 21 released in January 1950. However, the flippers were rather far apart to allow for a turret ball shooter at the bottom center of

11152-596: The game. Licensing popular movies and icons of the day became a staple for pinball, with Bally/Williams' The Addams Family from 1992 hitting a modern sales record of 20,270 machines. In 1994, Williams commemorated this benchmark with a limited edition of 1,000 Addams Family Gold pinball machines, featuring gold-colored trim and updated software with new game features. Other notable popular licenses included Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure and Star Trek: The Next Generation . Expanding markets in Europe and Asia helped fuel

11288-601: The homes as promotional facilities) in 1971 for $ 1.05 million (equivalent to $ 8.2 million in 2024). Its previous owner was Louis D. Statham (1908–1983), an engineer, inventor and chess aficionado. In early 2011, it was valued at $ 54 million. It sits close to the northwestern corner of the Los Angeles Country Club , near the University of California, Los Angeles and the Bel-Air Country Club . Following

11424-520: The house was in need of renovation: "Everything in the Mansion felt old and stale, and Archie the house dog would regularly relieve himself on the hallway curtains, adding a powerful whiff of urine to the general scent of decay." She also observed: "Each bedroom had mismatched, random pieces of furniture. It was as if someone had gone to a charity shop and bought the basics for each room", and that: "The mattresses on our beds were disgusting – old, worn and stained. The sheets were past their best, too." During

11560-459: The larger companies were acquired by, or merged with, other companies. Chicago Coin was purchased by the Stern family, who brought the company into the digital era as Stern Enterprises, which closed its doors in the mid-1980s. Bally exited the pinball business in 1988 and sold their assets to Williams, who subsequently used the Bally trademark from then on for about half of their pinball releases. While

11696-412: The latter half of the 1980s such as High Speed started incorporating full soundtracks, elaborate light shows and backbox animations - a radical change from the previous decade's electromechanical games. Although pinball continued to compete with video games in arcades, pinball held a premium niche, since the video games of the time could not reproduce an accurate pinball experience. By the first years of

11832-492: The left is a room with a television and a soft-cushioned floor that is surrounded by wall-to-wall mirrors. There is a restroom with a shower. The right wing of the game house has a smaller restroom and entrance to a bedroom. This bedroom is connected to another, which has an exit that leads outdoors to the game house's rear yard. This backyard has lounge chairs and gates on either side. In 2006, Hefner's former girlfriend, Izabella St. James , wrote in her memoir, Bunny Tales , that

11968-402: The location owner. Later, this type of feature was discontinued to legitimize the machines, and to avoid legal problems in areas where awarding free games was considered illegal, some games, called Add-A-Ball, did away with the free game feature, instead giving players extra balls to play, between 5 and 25 in most cases. These extra balls were indicated via lighted graphics in the backglass or by

12104-422: The long 1643–1715 reign of Louis XIV , billiard tables were narrowed, with wooden pins or skittles at one end of the table, and players would shoot balls with a stick or cue from the other end, in a game inspired as much by bowling as billiards. Pins took too long to reset when knocked down, so they were eventually fixed to the table, and holes in the table's bed became the targets. Players could ricochet balls off

12240-414: The magazine every month. On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman . Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg ) became a de facto standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the " Lenna " (also "Lena") image in that field. In 1972, Playboy was the ninth highest circulation magazine in

12376-495: The magazine published fiction by Saul Bellow , Seán Ó Faoláin , John Updike , James Dickey , John Cheever , Doris Lessing , Joyce Carol Oates , Vladimir Nabokov , Michael Crichton , John le Carré , Irwin Shaw , Jean Shepherd , Arthur Koestler , Isaac Bashevis Singer , Bernard Malamud , John Irving , Anne Sexton , Nadine Gordimer , Kurt Vonnegut and J. P. Donleavy , as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko . In 1968, at

12512-437: The magazine. On July 15, Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $ 210 million (the company is valued at $ 185 million). However, Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell. In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $ 6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading. The buyout

12648-466: The mansion as a historic landmark. The original Playboy Mansion was a 54-room 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m) classical brick and limestone residence in Chicago 's Gold Coast district at 1340 North State Parkway which had been built in 1899 (or 1903) for $ 100,000 (equivalent to $ 3.07 million in 2024). Its original owner was Dr. George Swift Isham, a prominent surgeon whose social circle included Theodore Roosevelt and Robert Peary . The building

12784-495: The mansion during Hefner's lifetime. Before the first episode of the documentary series aired on January 24, 2022, Playboy released a statement which dissociated itself from Hefner. On June 21, 2022, a California civil trial jury found that comedian Bill Cosby sexually assaulted 16-year-old Judith Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975. In response to Sondra Theodore 's later claim that Hefner manipulated her into an orgy and hosted prostitution sex parties known as "Pig Nights" during

12920-418: The mansion for a nominal rent to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then donated it to the school outright. The school later sold the mansion, which was then redeveloped for luxury condominiums. Following Hefner's death in 2017, allegations of drug and sexual abuse began to emerge at the Playboy Mansion during Hefner's lifetime. The 21,987-square-foot (2,042.7 m) house is described as being in

13056-501: The mayor, attended the opening of the Playboy Club and was a frequent guest at the parties and so was Jerry Brown , the governor.” According to Hefner friend and fellow pornographer Suze Randall , the Chicago Mansion "had for some time been hired out for large business meetings" (such as a January 1975 convention for the Texas food industry that coincided with Arnstein's apparent suicide and

13192-542: The most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria—bikini, brains, campus, sex, and sports—to develop its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami . In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 yearly issues, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to

13328-399: The new British pinball manufacturer Heighway Pinball released the racing themed pinball machine Full Throttle . The game has an LCD screen for scores, info, and animations located in the playfield surface at player's eye view. The game was designed with modularity in mind so that the playfield and artwork could be swapped out for future game titles. Heighway Pinball's second title, Alien ,

13464-588: The next decade). Additionally, the December 1974 resignation of Robert J. Adelman (then chairman of the Rubloff Company , an influential Chicago real estate conglomerate) from Playboy Enterprises's board in the aftermath of the Arnstein conviction appears to have further estranged Hefner from the local business community, which was long circumspect of his lifestyle. "Things were very different here [in Los Angeles] from Chicago," Hefner later recalled. " Tom Bradley ,

13600-508: The per-unit value of non-business meals, beverages and other benefits received by him and his personal guests". This amount was $ 1.3 million in 2002, $ 1.4 million in 2003, and $ 1.3 million in 2004. Playboy paid for the Mansion's operating expenses (including depreciation and taxes), which were $ 3.6 million in 2002, $ 2.3 million in 2003, and $ 3.0 million in 2004, net of rent received from Hefner. The Playboy Mansion has hosted charity events, including Karma Foundation,

13736-454: The physical pinball manufacturers, and relied upon original designs instead of licenses until the 2000s. After most pinball manufacturers' closure in the 1990s, smaller independent manufacturers started appearing in the early 2000s. In November 2005, The Pinball Factory (TPF) in Melbourne , Australia, announced that they would be producing a new Crocodile Hunter -themed pinball machine under

13872-506: The pins to achieve the more challenging scorable holes. A standardized version of the game eventually became known as bagatelle . Somewhere between the 1750s and 1770s, the bagatelle variant Billard japonais , or Japanese billiards in English, was invented in Western Europe, despite its name. Also called Stosspudel , it used thin metal pins and replaced the cue at the player's end of

14008-404: The playfield, making the ball move faster and harder to play. The ball is put into play by use of the plunger , a spring -loaded rod that strikes the ball as it rests in an entry lane, or as in some newer games, by a button that signals the game logic to fire a solenoid that strikes the ball. With both devices the result is the same: The ball is propelled upwards onto the playfield. Once a ball

14144-491: The playfield. Another 1950 Gottlieb game, Spot Bowler , was the first with inward-facing flippers placed close together. The post-war era was dominated by Gottlieb . Game designers Wayne Neyens and Ed Krynski , with artist Leroy Parker, produced games that collectors consider some of the best classic pinball machines. The introduction of microprocessors brought pinball into the realm of electronic gaming . The electromechanical relays and scoring reels that drove games in

14280-424: The property up for sale for the asking price of $ 28 million. In August 2009, the property was purchased by Daren Metropoulos for $ 18 million. In 2002, Hefner purchased a house across and down the street from the mansion for use by Playmates and other guests who would prefer to stay further from the busy activity of the Mansion proper. That residence was commonly referred to as the Bunny House. In April 2013,

14416-583: The rabbit for its "humorous sexual connotation" and because the image was "frisky and playful". In an interview, Hefner explained his choice of a rabbit as Playboy ' s logo to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci : The rabbit, the bunny, in America has a sexual meaning; and I chose it because it's a fresh animal, shy, vivacious, jumping - sexy. First it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles

14552-504: The remnants into the city's rivers. The ban ended when Roger Sharpe , a star witness for the AMOA – Amusement and Music Operators Association, testified in April 1976 before a committee in a Manhattan courtroom that pinball games had become games of skill and were not games of chance, which are more closely associated with gambling. He began to play one of two games set up in the courtroom, and – in

14688-416: The revival of interest. Pat Lawlor was a designer, working for Williams until their exit from the industry in 1999. About a year later, Lawlor returned to the industry, starting his own company, working in conjunction with Stern Pinball to produce new games. The end of the 1990s saw another downturn in the industry, with Gottlieb, Capcom, and Alvin G. closing by the end of 1996. Data East's pinball division

14824-406: The sales record from 1977 to 1993. The first solid-state pinball is believed by some to be Mirco Games ' The Spirit of '76 (1976), though the first mainstream solid-state game was Williams' Hot Tip (1977). This new technology led to a boom for Williams and Bally, who attracted more players with games featuring more complex rules, digital sound effects, and speech. The video game boom of

14960-455: The second and third floors, and is the most heavily renovated area of the building proper, with an extensive carved-oak decor dating to the 1970s. Otherwise, the mansion proper is maintained in its original Gothic-revival furnishings for the most part. The pipe organ was extensively restored in the last decade. There is also an outdoor kitchen to serve party events. These features and others have been shown on television. The game room (game house)

15096-403: The skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination". Macauley contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984. After reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse , then from Oui (which was published as

15232-476: The source. These machines definitely arrived in recognizable form prior to World War II . The opinions on the relevance of the earlier prototypes varies depending on the definition of the pinball machine, for example: The origins of pinball are intertwined with the history of many other games. Games played outdoors by rolling balls or stones on a grass course, such as bocce or bowls , eventually evolved into various local ground billiards games played by hitting

15368-453: The table with a coiled spring and a plunger. The player shot balls up the inclined playfield toward the scoring targets using this plunger, a device that remains in use in pinball to this day, and the game was also directly ancestral to pachinko . In 1869, British inventor Montague Redgrave settled in the United States and manufactured bagatelle tables in Cincinnati , Ohio. In 1871 Redgrave

15504-438: The tilt-sensing mechanism and the awarding of free games (replays) appeared. Gottlieb's Humpty Dumpty , introduced in 1947, was the first game to add player-controlled flippers to keep the ball in play longer. The low-power flippers required three pairs around the playfield to get the ball to the top. Triple Action was the first game to feature just two flippers at the bottom of the playfield. Unlike in modern machines,

15640-452: The time of Hefner's marriage to Kimberly Conrad , the Mansion was modeled as a more conservative household. The mansion next door is a mirror image of the Playboy Mansion layout, only smaller, and was purchased by Hefner in 1996, which would eventually serve as the home for Conrad and their children, Marston and Cooper, when she and Hefner separated. Hefner and Conrad married in 1989 and separated in 1998. In March 2009, Hefner and Conrad put

15776-506: The time she lived at the Playboy Mansion, a spokesperson for Playboy issued a statement to Fox News Digital in August 2022 saying that "Today's Playboy is not Hugh Hefner's Playboy," and that "We trust and validate these women and their stories, and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences. As a brand with sex positivity at its core, we believe safety, security and accountability are paramount." Soon afterwards, renowned Playmate Jenny McCarthy , who

15912-399: The town of Kokomo, Indiana lifted its ordinance banning pinball in December 2016. The cabinet of a pinball machine is the (traditionally wooden) frame usually shaped like a box, with the playfield laid inside. The 'backbox', 'head', or 'lightbox' is the vertical box atop the cabinet opposite the player's position. It usually consists of a wooden box with colorful graphics on the side and

16048-550: The two properties. The Playboy Mansion and the mansion next door owned by Metropoulos were both designed by American architect Arthur R. Kelly and each estate has a common boundary with the Los Angeles Country Club. In May 2016, Eugena Washington was the last Playmate of the Year to be announced by Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. In March 2018, Daren Metropoulos, the owner of the Playboy Mansion, entered into an agreement with

16184-458: The video game craze of the late 1970s and early 1980s dealt a severe blow to pinball revenue, it sparked the industry's creative talents. All companies involved tried to take advantage of the new solid-state technology to improve player appeal of pinball and win back former players from video games. Some of this creativity resulted in landmark designs and features still present today. Some of these include speech, such as Williams' Gorgar ; ramps for

16320-537: The years. This list is only a small portion of those who have posed. Some of them are: Film: Music: Sports: Television: The success of Playboy magazine has led PEI to market other versions of the magazine, the Special Edition s (formerly called Newsstand Special s), such as Playboy's College Girls and Playboy's Book of Lingerie , as well as the Playboy video collection. The National Library Service for

16456-449: Was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $ 5,000 in 2002. The novel Fahrenheit 451 , by Ray Bradbury , was published in 1953 and serialized in the March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy . An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for

16592-467: Was acquired by Sega and became Sega Pinball in 1994. By 1997, there were two companies left: Sega Pinball and Williams. In 1999, Sega sold their pinball division to Gary Stern, President of Sega Pinball at the time, who called his company Stern Pinball . By this time, Williams games rarely sold more than 4,000 units. In 1999, Williams attempted to revive sales with the Pinball 2000 line of games, merging

16728-563: Was affiliated with Playboy in later time in 1993 and 1994, claimed to Fox News that she did not experience the claims described in Secrets of Playboy and that the mansion had become "almost like Catholic school" by the time she was living there, but also did not speak out against the claims made by the Secrets Of Playboy accusers, stating "I think I went in there in a window of time that was kind of safe, but hearing some of these girls' stories

16864-415: Was almost exclusively employed for commutation purposes by Hefner and his immediate entourage after 1970) also rendered his previous lifestyle untenable due to his disdain of commercial aviation . Beginning in the summer of 1975, the Chicago Mansion was maintained with a "skeleton staff" of approximately 12 security and maintenance employees (having previously burgeoned to a height of 50 staff members during

17000-639: Was completed in March 2011. This is what I always intended Playboy Magazine to look like. — Hugh Hefner , when asked about ending nudity in Playboy In October 2015, Playboy announced the magazine would no longer feature full-frontal nudity beginning with the March 2016 issue. Company CEO Scott Flanders acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available internet pornography and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture". Hefner agreed with

17136-417: Was designed by architect James Gamble Rogers , best known for his work at Yale University and Columbia University . In December 1959, the building was acquired by Playboy Enterprises in a $ 370,000 (equivalent to $ 3.9 million in 2024) cash transaction. The Chicago Mansion's basement, renovated upon occupancy as Hefner's original "grotto", had a swimming pool with a glass wall and attached bar. In addition to

17272-503: Was granted U.S. Patent #115,357 for his "Improvements in Bagatelle", another name for the spring launcher that was first introduced in Billard japonais . The game also shrank in size to fit atop a bar or counter. The balls became marbles and the wickets became small metal pins. Redgrave's popularization of the spring launcher and innovations in game design (playfield bells ) are acknowledged as

17408-416: Was in color, not black and white. Playboy ' s enduring mascot, a stylized silhouette of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie , was created by Playboy art director Art Paul for the second issue as an endnote , but was adopted as the official logo and has appeared ever since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose

17544-439: Was in the early stages of preparing to move to Los Angeles—under the stipulation of not residing at the Playboy Mansion West as a condition of maintaining her role with the company—at the time of her death) for the duration of her legal proceedings, prompting him to spend even more of his time at the Mansion West after August 1974 (as inferred from the dates of newspapers that remained in Hefner's Chicago Mansion apartment for much of

17680-581: Was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders . The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas , Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. Playboy also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as Versace , Vivienne Westwood and Sean John . As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary, MAC Cosmetics released two limited-edition products: lipstick and glitter cream. The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of

17816-402: Was more profitable. They licensed the rights to reproduce Bally/Williams parts to Illinois Pinball and reproduce full-sized machines to The Pinball Factory. Stern Pinball remained the only manufacturer of original pinball machines until 2013, when Jersey Jack Pinball started shipping The Wizard of Oz . Most members of the design teams for Stern Pinball are former employees of Williams. Amid

17952-614: Was overturned by the Supreme Court of California in 1974 because (1) if pinball machines were games of chance, the ordinance was preempted by state law governing games of chance in general, and (2) if they were games of skill, the ordinance was unconstitutional as a denial of the equal protection of the laws . Although it was rarely enforced, Chicago's ban on pinball lasted three decades and ended in 1976. Philadelphia and Salt Lake City also had similar bans. Regardless of these events, some towns in America still have such bans on their books;

18088-403: Was really rough." In 2024, Hefner's widow Crystal would publish a memoir backing allegations that the Mansion was an environment of sexual abuse, and also describing it as a place where she felt "imprisoned." Crystal also told The Guardian that "Hef was on the extreme side of narcissism" and "I had to play mind games to survive." A house inspired by the Playboy Mansion makes an appearance in

18224-454: Was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue. On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $ 5.50 per share offer ($ 122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing rather than from

18360-545: Was released in 2017 and was based on the Alien and Aliens films. Due to internal company issues, Heighway Pinball ceased manufacturing operations and closed its doors in April 2018. In 2016, Dutch Pinball, based in the Netherlands, released their first game The Big Lebowski , based on the 1998 film, The Big Lebowski . In 2017, Multimorphic began shipping its pinball machine platform after several years of development. It

18496-1221: Was the first interviewee for the section. "Rock the Rabbit" was an annual music news and pictorial feature published in the March edition. The pictorial featured images of rock bands photographed by music photographer Mick Rock . Fashion designers participated in the Rock the Rabbit event by designing T-shirts inspired by Playboy ' s rabbit head logo for each band. The shirts were sold at Playboy ' s retailers and auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research and treatment at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS. Bands who were featured include: MGMT , Daft Punk , Iggy Pop , Duran Duran , Flaming Lips , Snow Patrol , and The Killers . The photographers who have contributed to Playboy include Mario Casilli , Ana Dias , Richard Fegley , Arny Freytag , Ron Harris , Tom Kelley , Annie Leibovitz , Ken Marcus , David Mecey , Russ Meyer , Helmut Newton , Pompeo Posar , Suze Randall , Herb Ritts , Ellen von Unwerth , Stephen Wayda , Sam Wu , and Bunny Yeager . Many celebrities (singers, actresses, models, etc.) have posed for Playboy over

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