Gottlieb's Hot Shot from 1973

Rack 'em up! with Gottlieb's Hot Shot.

Card and pool themes were very common in the 60's and 70's with all the manufacturers.  Hot Shot nails the theme perfectly, and if you're a fan of drop targets, you're going to love this!

The 2 player version of this game called Big Shot has been emulated on pretty much any digital platform you can think of via the excellent Pinball Arcade software.  Check it out if you haven't already.

So the objective is pretty straight forward.  There are 2 banks of 7 drop targets.  Solids on the left, Stripes on the right. The 8 ball is scored via the kick out hole just below the bumper.

Knock down the whole bank of either solids or stripes plus the eight ball, and go for the Special by hitting the alternating targets either side of the bumper.

You can also score big points on the last ball of the game with triple bonus automatically lit, which can make things very interesting in multi player games.

There's really nothing bad to say about this game.  It's a target shooters dream.  If you like the digital version, you'll love the real thing!

1984 Black Pyramid from Bally/Midway

1983/4 was a dark period for pinball.  So how does Black Pyramid stack up?

This game was released at the time when video was king.  You know something is up when production runs from Bally are around 2000 units compared to the late 70's when they were pumping out 10,000+ of most titles.

So due to the lower numbers, some cost cutting measures were in order.  Crappy chipboard cabinets with pealing decals instead of painted designs. The speech board has been dropped, plus pretty much zero innovation on the playfield.  Black Pyramid could have been released back in 1979 and probably would have sold 10,000 units.

So, if you don't care about all the nerdy stuff above, what is the game like?.

Well the one in the video was immaculate.  For whatever reason it has had very little use, and you could tell by how smooth it played and how tight everything felt.  On the night it was played constantly for hours and everyone raved about it.

I have a feeling if this particular game was in lesser condition it probably wouldn't have received so much love, as there's really not much going on with a swing target in the middle, and some inline drops on the right.  The other main shot is the left lane up to the top saucer. 

It's not a bad game.  I wouldn't say no to one if the price was right (crazy cheap).  Keep it for a little while and flip it.  It's an attractive looking game.  I don't mind the art at all, so it's not like it would be hard to move on.

Pointy People! - Williams Love Bug from 1971

The late Christian Marche was the king of the "Pointy People" an art style known as Cubism which was popular back in the late 60's, early 70's on Williams and Bally games.

I don't mind the pointy people art in small doses.  1972 Williams Swinger is a favourite of mine.

Anyway.  Love Bug is a great little single player Add A Ball version of Doodle Bug, and the 4 Player Dipsy Doodle.

Even though the playfield may look a little sparse, there's actually a fair bit going on with 5 snappy bumpers, a kickout hole, a bunch of standup targets, rollover buttons and lanes, Up Post between the flippers, Ball return gate to the shooter lane, and of course the Doodle Bug!, which is a captive ball below the playfield that gets smacked back and forth.

So lighting 1 2 3 4 will light the Extra Ball target which is located in the middle of the bank of three stand up targets above the doodle bug.  The 2 outside targets in the bank of 3 will start the doodle bug feature which will constantly score the lit value until you either lose the ball or roll over a button or hit a certain target to switch it off.  Oh, so I'll just trap the ball while the doodle bug is going, and clean up?.  Nope, not gonna happen because there are gaps between the flipper and slingshot so you cant trap the ball.  Sneaky!

It's a really cool game, and I have seen people walk up to play it without expecting much.  20 minutes later and they are still there playing :)

The game in the video had a bit of an issue where the ball kept on bouncing back into the top hole all the time, making it a bit easy.  However, I played it recently and it's much better :)

Gottlieb's Black Hole from 1981

Ah, good old Gottlieb System 80.

Cant say I've had the "Pleasure" of working on one of these, but from what I understand, once you take care of the necessary ground mods etc, they are just as reliable as anything else out there. In saying that, there's always the option of aftermarket "all in one" boards which is a great thing.

Now on to Black Hole.  To me this is a better game than Haunted House which came out the following year.  Don't get me wrong, I do like HH but find it a little "clunky" to play with all those flippers, and it feels a little slow and plodding compared to BH.

Black Hole is an awesome package.  Spinning disk in the back box surrounded by infinity chase lights which look stunning in a dark room.  Great looking playfield with some super tight shots, and lower playfield that messes with your mind as it's upside down. Then you have the challenge of achieving multiball which will take some time to master.

The sounds and lights are also fitting to the theme. The export models miss out on the spinning disk and speech.  But from what I understand, these can be retrofitted.  I know for a fact the spinning disk definitely can, as the game in the video has it.

1992 Gottlieb Super Mario Bros

Nintendo meets pinball in Gottliebs 1992 Super Mario Bros

It's unfortunate that Gottlieb machines from the 90's get such a bad rap amungst collectors. The build quality under the playfield is pretty awesome, and the reliablility of the board set has proven itself over the last 20 odd years.  I have owned a couple in the past, and they gave me little trouble at all.  

One which I had owned and kind of regret parting with is Super Mario Bros.  I think the main reason I still wish I had it, was because it was in such great condition. I got hold of it back in 1995, so it only spent 3 years out on location. These days it's very difficult to find one without a trashed cabinet and worn playfield. 

The game itself is a Nintendo/Mario fans dream. They really nailed the theme perfectly with appropriate art, fantastic sound (although it did get a little repetative) Plus really great dot matrix display animations that included the video mode where you'd use the flipper buttons to play a mini Mario game running across the screen jumping the gaps.

The light show was pretty cool as well. There's 4 prominent clear dome flashers on the playfield, and when I owned the machine I put cellophane over the lamps to add a little colour. Of course now you can simply purchase the coloured flash lamps :)

It's not a difficult game by any means. There's a kickback on the left drain, a drop target that acts as an up post between the flippers.  Plus if you happen to start "Invincible" mode, it's almost imposibble to lose the ball for around 30 secands or so.  But in saying that, it still provides a decent challenge. It's very cool when you finally get the "777" on the slot machine for 200 Million, and the "catch up" feature in multi player games where you could be coming dead last on your final ball and all of a sudden be awarded catch up where your score gets boosted up to whatever the current leaders score is, makes for some interesting times :)

So it's a thumbs up from me. If you ever get the chance to play or purchase one, don't overlook it.

1965 Gottlieb Cow Poke

It's time to head back to the 60's and take a look at Gottlieb's Cow Poke from 1965

First up, I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of 2" flipper games from the 50's and 60's.  Sure, they have amazing art and they obviously paved the way for the awesomeness of the 70's and beyond.  But those little flippers which more often than not feel like hitting the ball with a wet noodle just doesn't do much for me at all.

Of course there are exceptions to the above, and I could rattle off a bunch of said games that I actually do rate.  Gottlieb's Cow Poke is one of them.  

Cow poke is the less common "Add A Ball" version of "Buckaroo" and the main objective is to light 1 through 7 by spotting the numbers on the Roto Target in the middle of the playfield.  Of course they weren't going to make it easy for you, so the lucrative number 4 is the toughest to spot, as it only takes up one position on the Roto Target.  So it's nice if you can get the 4 early in the game.

It's a real nudgers game because of the 2 rollovers and post between the flippers.  It makes for some great saves!  Another great addition to this game is the mechanical back box animation where the horse kicks the cowboy.  Very cool, and you could imagine the game would have pulled in a lot of coins back in the day just because of that.

Be sure to visit next week, where we'll skip forward around 30 years, and check out Super Mario Bros :)

Rod

Klondike, Williams 1971

This weeks game is Klondike from Williams Electronics 1971

Ever thought about what game you'd like to add to your collection from your birth year?.  For me it's 1971, and Klondike would have to be high up on the list.

Designed by Norm Clark with Christian Marche providing the art, Klondike is a killer game that has a lot going on considering the year of release. With 5 pop bumpers that provide some great action, 3 kickout holes, an up-post between the flippers, a bunch of stand up targets, and of course the main feature of the game a 3 reel slot machine at the top of the play field.

The object of the game is to line up winning symbols on the reels and collect the awards from the centre kick out hole.  Awards range from 500 to 5000 points depending on what combination of symbols appear on the reels.  There's no need to keep your eyes on the reels.  It's best to watch the award lights and then nail the centre hole when there's a decent award lit.  Another good strategy is to go for the 2 upper kickout holes to light the bumpers for higher scoring.

It's great when you have the post between the flippers in the up position.  Of course the "Down Post" rollover button is positioned in such a place where it's kind of hard to miss.  But that's half the fun!

Backglass art is a little hit and miss for me.  I like it, but with a lot of pinball art in the 70's, they seem to choose a really weird colour palette.  I mean, a pink horse?.  Hmmm it's not as bad as the pink Jolly Roger on Gottlieb's Buccaneer I guess.  

I think the theory is that they used weird colour choices because they wanted it to stand out in a crowd of competing machines, and if they used more natural colours, it wouldn't achieve that.  

Thats my theory anyway, and I'm sticking to it! lol

Until next week

Happy Pinballing!