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The Classic Pinball Podcast
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#48 Caribbean Cruise (Gottlieb) - The Classic Pinball Podcast

PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago42 min listenBy George
From the creator

Dave and George don’t just talk about this rare Gottlieb guts pinball, they actually play a few games. It’s been several episodes since they have played a game during an episode. Bonus feature: The...

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Highlights

  • Caribbean Cruise is a 1989 Gottlieb System 3 made for International Concepts with only 377 units produced
  • The machine had blown inline fuses (a known Gottlieb problem from this era) and a bad bridge rectifier requiring replacement
  • Gottlieb System 3 board sets are reliable and serviceable, comparable to WPC from the 1990s
  • Caribbean Cruise was marketed in the late 80s/early 90s as a franchise opportunity for homeowners to buy six machines for ~$20-30k and resell them for $4-5k each with ~$1800 profit per unit
  • Gottlieb made only two cocktail pinball machines: Night Moves (under Gottlieb brand) and Caribbean Cruise (for International Concepts)
  • The game features smart switches (piezoelectric assemblies) instead of leaf or micro switches, requiring no adjustment and responding to material bending
  • Caribbean Cruise uses Gottlieb's special resistor warming circuit on pop bumpers that increases voltage from ~5V to ~7.5V to create a flasher effect
  • The multiplier on Caribbean Cruise reaches up to 15x but is difficult to achieve even at 4x
  • Caribbean Cruise features a flat top glass (unlike pitched glass on most pinball machines), allowing drinks to be placed on top
  • Dave plans to retrofit the machine onto a 5-inch platform to convert it to stand-up height while maintaining the flat-top glass advantage

Notable quotes

“Godley did, out of all cock-to-table pinball machines, Godley did the best job with them. They really did good themes, good execution, great sounds, and solid board sets.”
Dave
“In fact, the System 3 in this Caribbean Cruise, for reliability and serviceability, is right up there with WPC from the 90s, their board sets.”
Dave
“They were trying to sell us you know so you could not buy us from a distributor you bought it from the actual company you know international whatever they're called there so this company was selling direct to consumer they would make the consumer buy six of them”
Dave
“It would make, you know, $50 a first week, $40 the next week, $30. it would fall off quick because it's pretty much a one-player game as a sit-down thing.”
Dave
“But I chose it more as an appetizer to go check out different islands and see which one I want to fly to. That's what it worked out for me, you know. But I don't like being trapped on a ship and, you know, it might be a nice pretty jail, but it's still a jail.”
George
“you have the glass on top of it is flat so that you can place your beverage of your choice on there and, you know, have Ed instead of having it fall off like a regular table”
Dave
“It's really tough. Okay, so I got it up into the upper play field again. Oh, yes, mystery hole. Mystery hole for George is... Oh, extra ball, I'm thinking. Multi-ball again for you, George.”
Dave (during gameplay)
“The other thing that I remember is my grandfather was a gigantic cruiser. and he said to me early in the week go and tell the steward at your table that you want the captain to come by and have a drink with you”
George

Entities

  • Gottlieb· company
  • International Concepts· company
  • Caribbean Cruise· game
  • IPDB· organization
  • Pinside· organization
  • The Classic Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Ben Heck· person
  • Billy Ocean· person
  • Captain Steuben· person
  • Dave· person
  • Elaine· person
  • George· person
  • Janice· person
  • Led Zeppelin· person
  • Louie· person
  • Paul· person
  • Roy Clark· person
  • Stu· person

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