Its official!!! Only one...

[Retropin]

A few weeks back I sent some pictures of my 1957 GTB WORLD CHAMP to Jay Stafford at IPDB.org. After many emails over this last weekend, it has now been made official and recognised as the "lost" EXTENDED PLAY prototype.
Game was an initiative by GOTTLIEB to try and circumnavigate  the restrictive laws regarding pinball and gambling. It was at the time perceived that won games were in fact gambling and so GTB came up with the idea of having a machine that would award BALLS, and at the end of a played game, automatically restart a new game, or as they put it " Extended Play".
Jay emailed me the text from the 1997 Games Room magazine article that featured this game. Since this article came out, all trace of the machine's whereabouts had been lost.
Here's the text..


Anyone familiar with the backglass of Gottlieb's August,
1957 World Champ will, no doubt, notice something
peculiar about this example (see page 11). Unlike
most of the 2,300 game's in World Champ's production
run this one has a "free game" window which registers
balls rather than games! The word "BALLS" appears on
the towel which is being thrown into the ring by the
downed fighter's trainer. It's factory original. And so is
the credit unit, which goes from 0 to 125 in 5 ball increments!
Incredible! But true.
The game carries two separate serial numbers. The first
is absolutely standard: A 55266 WC. Establishing the
game as a World Champ and placing it close to the middle
of the run of known serial numbers. The second number
gives us some clues to the game's provenance and reason
for being. That number is VT SPEC 55266. Since the
game was purchased more than ten years ago from a collector
in Maine, our best guess is that this World Champ
represents part of a special run (SPEC) made for the
neighboring state of Vermont (VT).
Perhaps some of GameRoom's Vermont readers can
confirm this hypothesis, but it looks to us like this was an
early, ifnot the earliest, attempt to get around local prohibitions
against the awarding of free games. Another
unique feature of this World Champ further supports that
possibility.
At the end of each five ball game, if anything but 0 appears
in the "BALLS" window, the game shuts offmomentarily
for about five seconds and then automatically
resets, starting a new five ball game. This process is repeated
at the end of every game until all credits have been
used. What Gottlieb created for the Vermont pinball
player of the late Fifties was a special version of their typical
5-ball game, rigged for "continuous" play, as long as
credits remained in the "BALLS" window. Everything
else about this World Champ is standard Gottlieb. Playfield
design and features. Ways to attain specials. Match
feature. The works! So is this marvelous aberrancy truly
an example ofthe world's first Add-A-Ball pinball? Well
... the answer is yes! And no!
In reality, this special run ofWorld Champ is a protoAdd-
A-Ball. Different by degree from the typical 5-ball
single player of the time. But different as well from the
true Add-A-Balls which followed. To begin with, balls
can only be accumulated or "spent" in five ball increments.
That is to say the stepping unit registering balls is
standard Gottlieb of the period. The only difference is the
sequence of numbers screened on the credit wheel. Instead
of 1,2,3,4,5,6... "games," World Champ's reel
reads 5, 10, 15,20,25,30 ... "balls."
When you "win" and hear that characteristic Gottlieb
"crack," the stepping unit moves just one notch from 0 to
5. Yes, you've won five extra balls. But the only way you
get to play them is when the machine automatically resets,
the credit unit returns to 0, and you begin a new and
standard 5 ball game. It's a clever and probably effective
ploy. Awards denominated in "balls" which can only be
collected and played one traditional, five ball game
at a time. The only thing that makes this World
Champ different from any of the pre-Flipper, five
ball replay games are the numbers printed on the
award reel and that automatic restart feature.
It was these subtle modifications that gave Vermont
operators just the legal loop-hole they
needed. For if challenged on the issue of awarding
free games, they could point to the fact that the
player was just playing off the skillfully won "extra
balls" he or she had accumulated during this extended
game of "indeterminate" length. And if a
dubious "John Law" required more proof ... then
where was the replay button? The additional ball
count unit which was required to make the final
step from a traditional five ball game to a true Add-
A-Ball was still part of the future.
This interesting example, this Odd-A-Ball World
Champ, pointed in the bold new direction that Gottlieb
was already moving.


Funny thing is that I had been chasing an intermittent GAME OVER light.. sometimes it would come on and then another it wouldn't. Wasn't until I read the article that I realised it only comes on when there are no BALLS in the credit window. At the moment, my game doesn't automatically roll over to a new game ( you have to press the START button) but im about to fix that as soon as I get the chance.. you can hear the DELAY UNIT clicking 4 times after a game.. scanning for an open or closed switch that tells is that credits are still available.
Anyway, after 20 years, the game has been found in Australia. It is confirmed by the serial numbers and differences only to this machine that there was only ever ONE made. The Extended Play idea was canned and GTB later moved onto the ADD A BALL feature.
Game has its own listing on IPDB as it is a single unit.
This machine now is by far my rarest game in my collection, an extra bonus is that it is regarded as one of GOTTLIEB's finest titles.
IPDB listing is here..
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=world+champ&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick#6247

Am I happy chap??? ....You bet I am!

[The pinballist formally known as Dean Morgan]

Wow that is awesome, well done on the find and having such a rare game in your collection.  How did it come to be in Australia?

[Steevsee]

Absolutely incredible!

Not too many people get their very own special page on the pinball database.

Well done Gav.

[Caveoftreasures]

That was a dam good read and it could not have happened to a nicer bloke and top forum member.
Well done Gav.  You have a very cool machine indeed.
The pin designers of the time were definately thinking outside the box. Way cool.

Gav, you should be the first to rate your game on IPDB and give it a score ! That score will stay forever unchallenged because only YOU have one so give it a 10 if u want ! Why not !

[Crashramp]

Fantastic story Gav! Absolutely awesome to find so much detail about the history of this particular game not to mention a nice bit of history about Gottlieb's tactics to overcome the gambling laws of the time and the role your game played! Very cool.  

[tonyt]

Great story Gav and glad this game is in great hands.

[shedpinball]

That is awesome mate congrats , could you post a couple of pics when you get a chance .

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Cool

[Strangeways]

Incredible !

It seems pinball karma is alive and well. Thrilled for you to own something so rare and desirable. Obviously a game to hold on to. I remember this game missed my Container (With Greg) by 2 days, and you had to wait almost another year - the wait was well worth it.

I particularly like the way GTB tried to work around the gambling issue. It sounded like they had some good ideas to circumvent the BS law at the time. Post some pictures mate - this was not the game with the plastics that looked like bacon ?

[Retropin]

Haha! Most woodrails that have been played have plastics that somewhat resemble bacon. The type of plastic used just crinkles up and dies. In all honesty, these ones aren't too bad. The ones on ROCKET were so buckled that the ball couldn't travel below them..LOL. Clay did a write up on his Pinrepair guides and the artwork for these is available for download as a PS file. Which is good as it saves me drawing them up
Ive just realised that I spent all weekend taking pics, cataloguing them, sending off to Jay, explaining them in detail etc.. but I haven't got a pic of the entire machine!

Ill take some more pics and post them soon.
Cheers all!!

Gav

[ddstoys]

Very cool Gav that two rare photo games now if I'm not mistaken ;)

[Retropin]

Very cool Gav that two rare photo games now if I'm not mistaken ;)

Yeh, this and a 1948 Genco TRIPLE ACTION which is on its back in pieces in storage. This though is by far the king.
I couldn't get into the game when I got it and have made an attempt to sell her in the past. I got really low balled on the offer though. Potential buyer knew what it was, I had a fair idea, but wasn't sure and buyer made an offer that was laughable.
Wasn't until I was actually working through the game on the weekend that I came across something. The REPLAY jacks are housed in a timber block and none are inserted to award free games. Jay pointed it out and suggested that it was almost as if GOTTLIEB deliberately didn't want this feature to function. This got me thinking and after a read up on how the game should ACTUALLY play ( LOL) I went and did some repair work.
To get replays in the game, at the start you have ROUND 1 lit. You then have to get 3 knockdowns by either going over the lit rollovers or hitting the WHITE stand up targets. On the 3rd knockdown, the SPECIAL insert that pertains to that round is lit ( Red inner circle around gobble hole) and if the ball is shot down the gobble hole you get a free game.
Mine wasn't lighting up the Specials so I looked at the stepper unit for this.
There are 5 sprung contacts here on a wiper disc. One of the contacts had the top deliberately bent over which made it shorter than the rest and so never meeting the brass contact buttons below it. I straightened the sprung contact out to match the rest and then I had the SPECIAL operational in the game.
What GOTTLIEB used to do with a prototype is deliberately disable some of the games features. If they didn't need it to be operational for whatever they were trying to determine, they would disable it.
Game was made in 1957. Game counter has some 9000 games on it and for all that time. you could never have won a SPECIAL.No wonder I couldn't get into the game.. I could only get a free game by getting 16 knockdowns... something only achievable by using your finger!!!

[Homepin]

Stunning story and well done on having a very collectable piece of memorabilia!

[pinnies4me]

What a great story Gav, congratulations!

[ktm450]

Very cool mate!