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Episode 73 - Gottlieb System 3: The End of an Empire
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 23 min listen
Support the show: https:/ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast In this episode we discuss the final chapter of Gottlieb as a pinball manufacturer. The prevailing narrative around these games is that they're...
Highlights
- Gottlieb System 3 is widely regarded by many pinheads as the worst era of pinball machines by any manufacturer ever
- John Borg designed the controversial pointy-boy flippers while at Gottlieb before jumping to Data East
- Lights Camera Action (1989) was the first System 3 game and the first game with modes, beating Adam's Family by two years
- System 3 increased lamp drivers from 64 to 96, a significant improvement in capacity
- Gottlieb used lithium coin-style batteries instead of alkaline double-A batteries, making them more reliable than competitors
- System 3 could power 32 solenoids by default, compared to System 80's limit of nine
- Gottlieb continued using 24-volt flipper power in System 80 before jumping to 48 volts in System 3
- Gottlieb was the last major manufacturer to transition from electromechanical to solid-state electronics in the late 1970s
Notable quotes
“Gottlieb went from having the best art, the best layouts, and the best reliability to maybe having the worst in all three of these categories by the end of their run in 96.”
“It almost looks like intentional sabotage... He's like, I got leap. His one project, make the worst flippers of all time and then leave the company.”
“Gottlieb wanted to ride it out because they were the fucking kings... and so they're promising like this is a simpler system this is better... everybody else meanwhile was already working on the next thing”
“My biggest gripe is that it's just like you can catch anything on these flippers. It's so easy to stop the ball.”
“They beefed it up so that standard they could have 32 which is a big big improvement... that is uh they were shooting for the moon without [checking themselves]”
“Having it screen printed underneath the playfield, genius... this is the best feature that nobody has copied, and it's an awesome idea and should come back.”
“everything's different... it's like when we saw the Spanish pins or like, especially the Sega, the Japanese Sega, everything's different. And I don't know why.”
“It's an ode to these games and the talented individuals that worked on them under crazy time crunches”
Entities
- Coca-Cola/Columbia Pictures· company
- Data East· company
- Gottlieb· company
- Stern· company
- Williams· company
- Pinball Renaissance· event
- Adam's Family· game
- Bone Busters· game
- Lights Camera Action· game
- Pastimes Arcade· organization
- Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
- Alan· person
- Alex· person
- Ed Krinsky· person
- John Borg· person
- John Burrus· person
- John Norris· person
- Larry DeMar· person
- Steve Young· person
- System 3· product
- System 80· product
