Gottlieb Pinball Classics is an odd game. To be fair, all pinball games on modern systems do seem like odd creatures, but this one is that touch geekier than others. The relevance lies in the name: who, or what, is Gottlieb you're probably asking. This is where I thank the gods for Jimmy Wales. Gottlieb was an arcade game company, who manufactured, among other things, pinball tables right from the 1930s to the late 1970s. Amongst the pinball enthusiasts – apparently they do exist – the company is something of a celebrity, notable for introducing in 1947 the first game with player-controlled flippers, titled Humpty Dumpty. The name echoes pinball's past – and that's not all: the British developer, System 3, is named after a generation of 'solid-state' machines produced in the late 80s. And Gottlieb themselves, after some corporate buyouts and a few name changes, went on to make videogames throughout that decade. It's a small world.

Pinball Classics, to get back on track, is a pinball game made from the ground up with the enthusiasts in mind. It contains seven distinctive tables from the company's history, all of which are, we're told, very cool indeed. The nostalgia factor doesn't stop there: as well as letting you try your hand at classics real-world tables, the game provides you with original advertising market and table biographies, to entertain your interest in their history.

Its merits, as a pinball game, appear to be solid, although obviously there isn't much room for gameplay innovation in the genre. You play pinball, and that's about it. Information on Wii extras is light on the ground, but perhaps you'll recreate the spring plunger action and it's likely that tilting the table with a shake of the controller will be a feature. Otherwise, all you have to do is flip those flippers, and keep the ball zooming about. In other format's versions of the game, there were multiplayer options, so we're assuming they'll carry over onto the Wii title. Unlockables and spin-off gameplay modes are present, but it's nothing too radical.

The consensus appears to be that if you're someone who knew what Gottlieb was before having to look it up on Wikipedia like this writer, you're probably going to be interested in Pinball Classics. If you don't have enough space in your garage for big, clunky cabinets, this might just be the next best thing. Aren't you glad you learned something today?