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Post-Pinfest Gottlieb Revue

MajesticPinball

MajesticPinball

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Jan 11, 2018
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Essex
It's no secret that I love Gottlieb games however I find it rather difficult to explain where the love comes from if I'm asked... perhaps it's a little nostalgia, perhaps I just love an underdog, but I think mostly I just love that they are generally outright weird and really push the boundary when it comes to unique playfield designs, although admittedly not all were good concepts! I overheard quite a few people in passing during Pinfest say that they had never seen or even heard of some of the Gottlieb's that were there - especially the System 80b machines. Then thinking about it there aren't really any 80b games available to play anywhere publicly that I'm aware of other that what's at SWL, so I guess that it makes sense that peoples exposure to them is going to be a lot lower than other games so I understand that to some people they can seem a little alien.

Where my curiosity lies however is what folk who went to Pinfest thought of them - good, bad or neutral... is there anything that took you by surprise? A game you've previously never given a thought but ended up really enjoying? Was there any Gottlieb there that you had never heard of? And dare I ask... Is my mission to help spread the love for Gottlieb's beautifully strange and unique games and quashing their horrible reputation making any progress? :rofl:

James
 
I had a go on most of them, think one was locked up in a four player game that someone just left but standouts for me were probably Tx Sector and Victory.

The backglass of Tx Sector seemed different to what I had seen in press photos of the machine but even set against the loud din of PinFest ambience the call-outs still made the PinHead nerve-receptors tingle. The whole conceit of the ball ‘’magically’ materialising from different parts of the playfield is undeniably class.

Victory similarly had that interesting premise of the ball progressing to different parts of the playfield, completing different stages of a race.

I’ve discovered despite loathing driving in real-life and having no interest in cars or motorsport outside of a spectator’s curiosity due to my wife’s life-long connection with F1, that I actually quite dig driving themed pins.

Played Hot Wheels, Mustang another whose name I’m forgetting and now Victory and have enjoyed them all.

So yep, Gottlieb are a breed unto themselves but certainly still have something to offer to the incoming pinball fan. Thanks for being one of the custodians of keeping their legacy alive within the UK pinball scene. After all, Gottlieb is as important to the history and development of this fine leisure activity as any of the big players.
 
I'm your best buddy but I'm not biased.

TX has been in my house since January and has left since Pinfest.
I have no nostalgia for any pins except fient memories of seeing them so I kinda put 80bs in the classics category and early solid state even though often they're newer than that.
But for my journey of discovery in the pinball world I didn't like classics for quite a while. As soon as TX was here I started to appreciate it and it opened the door to other classics and 80bs.

There's something ace about Tx with its music, and sound effects. The way the spinner sounds is satisfying, even more so considering how they're worth top points. Such a simple game but I kept playing it, more than Theatre of magic which arrived the same day .

I can't say much more about 80bs as I need to set up Genesis and Arena then get back to you😁
But I have a feeling I'll love Genesis.

If you ignore 80bs, I think the older Gottliebs are great games and I struggle to differentiate them from the competitors. All those companies made cracking games in that early solid state era.
 
These are the Gotts I've owned over years (* means still have them)

Black Hole is my favorite , followed by Genesis (really glad James has given it so much love)


Bad Girls​
Big House​
Big Hurt​
Bonebusters​
Buck Rogers​
Buckaroo​
Cactus Jacks​
Caveman​
Class of 1812​
Cleopatra​
Countdown​
Cue Ball Wizard *​
Devil's Dare​
Diamond Lady​
Excalibur​
Eye of the Tiger​
Flying Circus​
Force 2​
Genesis​
Gladiators​
Gold Wings *​
James Bond 007​
Kingpin​
Lights Camera Action​
Mario Andretti​
Mars God of War​
Monte Carlo​
Nightmare On Elm Street​
North Star​
Operation Thunder​
Pink Panther *​
Raven​
Rescue 911​
Rock​
Rocky​
Roller Disco​
Sinbad​
Spirit​
Straight Flush​
Super Mario Bros.​
Surf 'n Safari​
The Incredible Hulk​
Time Line​
Torch​
Totem​
TX Sector​
Wipeout​
 
I really liked them. Thought gold wings' layout around the left "outlane" was really original. My brother, who isn't much of a pinhead, also enjoyed their quirkiness.

In any case it was great to have them there as they're otherwise so hard to find! I had never played any of these titles except tx sector at Dave's.
 
Got to love them, I like my Gold Wings. Got lucky and have a topper for GW arriving shortly😎
Wasn't there but watched some footage and saw there was a nice Gottlieb line up but what happened to Robowar, sure you had one.
Still have mine😎

I also like the fact that they are shorter so I can put them on the wall opposite my other pins and the gap is ok, just. So that means I can fit a few more pins in🥳
 
I really loved Gold Wings, the layout is mad.
I feel people go mad for modern games that appear to do new things (like Godzilla), then you look at old games like Goldwings and realise most of its been done before. Maybe layouts just got stale in the DMD era and onwards with all the fan layouts and people forget about the older games?

Fubar said:
I had never played any of these titles except tx sector at Dave's
Click to expand...

If we're still friends after the drunken courtyard pizza and you come to our event in Nov,, Arena and Genesis will be there thanks to James. 😉
 
As you know James, I've got that bug too, although did let a few go last year for change around after many years. Kept TX, Robowar, Excalibur and Bounty Hunter plus a couple of 80A's; Alien Star and Super Orbit. For me it's the music, simplicity of rules and brutal game play... get them pitched high and they really kick ****, giving you that one more game appeal.

It's great to see you enjoying Victory and Arena so much and sorry I didn't suggest Raven and Hollywood Heat to you when they went to a friend in Harrogate. If he ever wants to move them on I'll let you know.

FYI I've also had (that I can remember):

Deadly Weapon - Wasn't so keen
Spring Break - Fun game with ultimate cheese
Diamond Lady - Wasn't so keen but plenty of cheese
Hot Shots (my source in Croatia has more of these) - Really fun with loads of drops but music grinds on you a bit.
Bone Busters - Decent game
Gold WIngs

Only ones I'd like to try are Lights Camera Action (stupidly passed on one years back) and Eldorado City of Gold. I'm sure none of these exist in the UK.... been looking a long time.
 
Well, as I said on @MajesticPinball’s Facebook, I was really looking forward to playing some System 80b Gottliebs in real life and they were one of the highlights of my day at Pinfest 😍

It is a shame that there wasn’t a RoboWar (hint hint for next year), but I absolutely loved Genesis and enjoyed Tx Sector - although, interestingly, I didn’t enjoy Tx Sector as much as the virtual iPad version. I think it massively benefits from being able to hear the music and sound effects.

@steve brum I keep making plans for a trip to Electric Circus just to play Black Hole. I’ve never played one and it’s one of my grails. As @David_Vi says, the radical variation in playfield design is part of the appeal of these machines.
 
OK I’ll balance out this Gott love fest by saying the main issue I have is they are on the whole fugly as hell 😂
Some of the photo translites are an absolute aberration - though I quite like them in a bad way .
The backbox design will do your head in sat amongst other machines.
Oh and the stripey wiring colour coding irks me too 😁

I do like some of the off grid playfield design 👍 , which means they are always interesting to have a few games on , though I personally find the Gott flippers are akin to using a couple of small flappy baguettes .
Owned Surf n Safari for a time - a lot of fun , but looked like a happy meal toy and had to go.

Peace out ✌️
GrizZ


 
M4carp said:
Got to love them, I like my Gold Wings. Got lucky and have a topper for GW arriving shortly😎
Wasn't there but watched some footage and saw there was a nice Gottlieb line up but what happened to Robowar, sure you had one.
Still have mine😎

I also like the fact that they are shorter so I can put them on the wall opposite my other pins and the gap is ok, just. So that means I can fit a few more pins in🥳
Click to expand...
I had never played a gold wings before so that was my first and I kept on going back to it, I loved the extra flipper on the left and the ball bouncing between the 2 against the apron.

Noo I've never managed to find a Robowars, but it's on my hit list for sure! Did you buy your one from @stumblor ? If so that was my TXs import twin 😂

Them being shorter is an absolute godsend, means I can move them in my car and not have the seats crushing me up against the windscreen 😂
 
Sven Normansson said:
I played them all. Cream has to be Genesis. Didn't care for Arena but oddly liked Millionaire. I'd like to have played a Spirit again.
Click to expand...
Ah they fooled you, Monte Carlo and Millionaire came out at the same time, apparantly there was someone working at either Gottlieb or Williams who would leak future concepts to the other company. Spirit is a wonderful game I think, very tough to start multiball though
 
MajesticPinball said:
I had never played a gold wings before so that was my first and I kept on going back to it, I loved the extra flipper on the left and the ball bouncing between the 2 against the apron.

Noo I've never managed to find a Robowars, but it's on my hit list for sure! Did you buy your one from @stumblor ? If so that was my TXs import twin 😂

Them being shorter is an absolute godsend, means I can move them in my car and not have the seats crushing me up against the windscreen 😂
Click to expand...
Yes it is, lovely one and the flippers are nice and snappy on it unlike Gold Wings which are good enough for that game.
I did fit Jim’s mpu in both and new 5v boards, been solid😎
 
JMP said:
As you know James, I've got that bug too, although did let a few go last year for change around after many years. Kept TX, Robowar, Excalibur and Bounty Hunter plus a couple of 80A's; Alien Star and Super Orbit. For me it's the music, simplicity of rules and brutal game play... get them pitched high and they really kick ****, giving you that one more game appeal.

It's great to see you enjoying Victory and Arena so much and sorry I didn't suggest Raven and Hollywood Heat to you when they went to a friend in Harrogate. If he ever wants to move them on I'll let you know.

FYI I've also had (that I can remember):

Deadly Weapon - Wasn't so keen
Spring Break - Fun game with ultimate cheese
Diamond Lady - Wasn't so keen but plenty of cheese
Hot Shots (my source in Croatia has more of these) - Really fun with loads of drops but music grinds on you a bit.
Bone Busters - Decent game
Gold WIngs

Only ones I'd like to try are Lights Camera Action (stupidly passed on one years back) and Eldorado City of Gold. I'm sure none of these exist in the UK.... been looking a long time.
Click to expand...
No worries mate, Raven is probably last on my list, if I'm ever a millionaire with a house big enough to fit all my collection that's when I'll give in a get a Raven 😂 Hollywood Heat however looks and sounds amazing. I love that they reused the ramp with a captive ball and bumper under it in Teed Off as well 😂
 
M4carp said:
Yes it is, lovely one and the flippers are nice and snappy on it unlike Gold Wings which are good enough for that game.
I did fit Jim’s mpu in both and new 5v boards, been solid😎
Click to expand...
Glad it's gone to a good home, would be good to get it back next to my TX at a show sometime, I'm sure the pair have a lot of catching up to do 😂
 
Sgt GrizZ said:
I like some of the off grid playfield design 👍 , which means they are always interesting to have a few games on , though I personally find the Gott flippers are akin to using a couple of small flappy baguettes .
Click to expand...
This sums it up for me, the playfield layouts are mostly very interesting but the flippers are just bad making hitting any of those interesting shots extremely challenging. I doubt I'll ever own one but I'll always have a few games on them at shows.

I do love those standup target kickers though ( I think most people don't even notice them, they never get mentioned ) and wonder why they aren't still used today? Maybe there's a patent on them?
 
I think the pre System 3 flipper mechs are beautifully designed, they're robust, chunky and funky and I find barely ever wear at all thanks to the extra bushing and FAT link/cranks but even after being rebuilt I always wish they just had a bit more uumpffff!

I will say I'm not a huge fan of the mega pointy Pokémon (catch them all) flippers of the System 3s though, they never feel all that good.
 
I loved the gottlieb bank.
Top gun Goldwings was such a weird but fun layout, and the siren was hilariously loud.

TX shone a bit more brightly in the classics room, that game is an absolute vibe when it can be heard. One of my favourite games.

Seeing @MajesticPinball activate the robot on Genesis was a great moment. I like the feel of the ramps on that game. They aren't very rejecty, and look awesome.

I do find a lot of Gottliebis have an annoying issue in balancing - like how TX could make its spinners not quite as strong and encourage the other half of the game (building levels toward smultiball and big transports), Victory is really good but I wish the first checkpoint wasn't the hardest shot, Arena is fun but the scoring is stupidly dominated by the plunge, Monte Carlo is a lot of fun but has a random shot that awards a stupid amount of points.

MajesticPinball said:
I will say I'm not a huge fan of the mega pointy Pokémon (catch them all) flippers of the System 3s though, they never feel all that good.
Click to expand...

Though transformed by a system 1 coil stop (A-17908G, only a fiver per flipper)!

Speaking of, I did this for my game Stargate, which massively improved it. Before, there wasn't a feed you couldn't trap.
 
MajesticPinball said:
Then thinking about it there aren't really any 80b games available to play anywhere publicly that I'm aware of other that what's at SWL,
Click to expand...

Thanks for the mention James! :D

Unfortunately we've only got Genesis as a system 80B to play although we've had Gold Wings in the past along with system 3 games Stargate (two of them), World Challenge Soccer and Class 1812.

Our main forte is system 80A with Spirit, Pink Panther and Rocky all available to play, with Haunted House and Mars God Of War being worked on slow time that may eventually get added to the line-up one day (need to swap transformers on both games). Past games have been The Amazing Spiderman and Haunted House (three of them).

Then we have the lone system 1 game, Sinbad and the odd guest appearance by The Incredible Hulk.
 
There was a Gold Wings and Genesis side by side from new in my local arcade. Enjoyed Genesis but Gold WIngs was one of my top pins of the 80s. Absolutely loved it. Shame didn't get to see almost any of the later 80s Gotttlies in the arcade at the time. Operators seemed to favour Bally/Williams **** and evev Data East from that era over Gottlieb.
 
robotgreg said:
There was a Gold Wings and Genesis side by side from new in my local arcade. Enjoyed Genesis but Gold WIngs was one of my top pins of the 80s. Absolutely loved it. Shame didn't get to see almost any of the later 80s Gotttlies in the arcade at the time. Operators seemed to favour Bally/Williams **** and evev Data East from that era over Gottlieb.
Click to expand...

I think James is keen to try get that Goldwings, it would look great given the Majestic treatment like his others. And of course I should be able to borrow it at some point 😁
 
David_Vi said:
I think James is keen to try get that Goldwings, it would look great given the Majestic treatment like his others. And of course I should be able to borrow it at some point 😁
Click to expand...
Yes, needs James' touch but seller is asking too much...
 
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