Love for Gottlieb's

[Pinfan]

People who know me know i love Gottliebs, especially System 80's. They dominate in my collection.

I love Gottliebs game play,artwork,build quality,displays and vividness. Their pop bumpers and drop targets by far have the best feel and operation.

Gottlieb was #1 from the inception of the flipper all the way through during the entire em period up to the close end, 76-77, where bally were up and coming with some great titles and the SS pins.

Beside a few titles like Spring Break (1987), Diamond Lady (1988) and Hollywood Heat (1986) my love for Gottlieb stops at 1984 ! The last game i would own would be a Eldorado city of gold which was built at the end of 1984.

Would never own a system 3 !  Just don't like any of the system 3's ! No offense to system 3 owners.

I love every aspect of these beasts, Gottlieb pre 1984, except one !

Gottlieb and their f@#ing flat head screws ! They shit me to tears ! 

Now i know the reason why they were used and that is that apparently the Gottlieb factory ordered an abundance of flat heads during the em period and as a form of cost saving they continued to use them until they were all gone.

Annoying to work with and the only downfall of these beauties !

[Strangeways]

Without a doubt, you have the best System80 collection in Australia. From the first day I was fortunate enough to see a Rocky, Haunted House, Spirit and Black Hole against that wall, I was astounded at how good they looked together. Even more impressive was the condition they were in. The last time I saw a Haunted House next to a Spirit was in 1983, and they NEVER both worked at any given time.

System 80s were rare in Australia purely because of the reliability of the platform. Operators were already burnt from the System 1 games and didn't want to take any risks with System 80s. The only title that was a hit was Black Hole.

Nowadays, System 80s are VERY sought after, and for a time, a restored Haunted House would fetch $5500. Within the last 5 years, many Haunted houses have changed hands and the value has dropped. But I'm sure it will increase as the supply of projects cease.

Personally, I had to have a Haunted House and a Spirit - purely to relive the summer of 1983, and have BOTH titles working perfectly. I would consider a Black Hole (US Version) and maybe one of the obscure titles such as Circus, Devil's Dare ot Q-Bert's Quest. I do have a Force II which I look forward to restoring in earnest.

I think every collection should have a System 80, and thankfully (mainly due to Clay's guides) they are easy to repair and restore. Pascal Janin and Ace from Ni Wumpf produce quality boards for these games, and PBR have plenty of NOS and repro parts - so there are "no excuses" for not owning one !

System 3 - VERY robust platform. Some games play as well as any Bally Williams. I really liked my Street Fighter II and there are two really cool titles - Freddy Nightmare on Elm Street and Stargate.

There's no doubt Gottlieb were the best EM manufacturers, although I've warmed to 1971-77 Bally EMs lately. But there's no argument with single player EMs.

 

[pinnies4me]

I know what you mean about those flat head screws!! 

I understand the passion for these games, as I have it too. Although I did appreciate my System 3 Stargate, and miss it too now. That game holds it own with all but the best B/W DMD's.

Never had an EM, but have a couple of System 1's and love them - they were still EM in style until things went System 80. Love my Black Hole and Spirit, these are fascinating games and extremely good players. As Nino said, the guides have made these games way more accessible. Both games have all original boards but with the mods are super reliable.

Big  for Gottlieb!!!

[Retropin]

...oh i hear you!... looking forward to getting my AMAZING SPIDERMAN  restored... has been on the back burner for so bloody long now

.. and sys3?...... is a SUPER reliable system.. one of the best

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I love Gottlieb EM's, the art, the feel
I also like Gottieb Sys1's, those big blue displays, the deep 'Dwap Dwap Dwap, Doop Doop Doop' sounds

[ajlaird]

I enjoy my Gottlieb System 3 machine, and there is at least one more I would love to own.

[MartyJ]

Marcos games are in awesome condition and a blast to play, ESP Rocky!

[Strangeways]

Marcos games are in awesome condition and a blast to play, ESP Rocky!

Best Rocky I've ever seen. The repaint was professionally done with the right colors and semi gloss finish. NOS plastics and the Backglass looks cool !

Is a pleasure to play.

I still think Spirit is the hardest SS machine to master. Multiball is almost impossible on a 3 ball game. Although I like Rocky, Haunted House and Spirit have the same "supernatural" theme. The artwork is stunning on Spirit and the backglass has to be right up there with the best on any game.