Gottlieb


Gottlieb was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is best known for creating a vast line of pinball machines and arcade games throughout much of the 20th century.

History

Gottlieb's main office and plant was at 1140-50 N. Kostner Avenue until the early 1970s, when a new modern plant and office were opened at 165 W. Lake Street in Northlake, IL. A subassembly plant was also built in Fargo, ND.
The company was established by David Gottlieb in 1927 with his brother Sol, and initially produced only pinball machines. In October 1932 the company moved to a factory four times the size of its previous one. It later expanded into various other games, including pitch-and-bats, bowling games, and eventually video arcade games
Like other manufacturers, Gottlieb first made mechanical pinball machines, including the first successful coin-operated pinball machine Baffle Ball in 1931. Electromechanical machines were produced starting in 1935. The 1947 development of player-actuated, solenoid-driven 2-inch bats called "flippers" revolutionized the industry, giving players the ability to shoot the ball back up into the playfield for more points. Flippers first appeared on a Gottlieb game called Humpty Dumpty, designed by Harry Mabs. By this time, the games also became noted for their artwork by Roy Parker.
In the late 1950s, Gottlieb made more widespread use of numerical score reels, making multiple player games more practical than the traditional scoring expressed by cluttered series of lights in the back box. Score reels eventually appeared on single-player games, now known as "wedgeheads" because of their distinctive tapered back box shape. By the 1970s, artwork on Gottlieb games was almost always by Gordon Morison, and the company had begun designing their games with longer 3-inch flippers, now the industry standard.
The company made the move into solid state machines starting in the late 1970s. The first few of these were remakes of electromechanical machines such as Cleopatra, Joker Poker and Charlie's Angels. By that time, multiple player machines were more the mode and wedgeheads were no longer being produced. The last wedgehead was T.K.O. and the last single player machine was Asteroid Annie and The Aliens.
Gottlieb was bought by Columbia Pictures for $47M in 1976. By 1979 it had approximately 650 employees. Gottlieb released Q*bert in 1982, which would become immensely successful and is an icon of the golden age of arcade games. In 1983, the year after the Coca-Cola Company had acquired Columbia, Gottlieb was renamed Mylstar Electronics, but this proved to be short-lived. By 1984 the video game industry in North America was in the middle of a shakeout and Columbia closed down Mylstar at the end of September 1984. A management group, led by Gilbert G. Pollock, purchased Mylstar's pinball assets in October 1984 and continued the manufacture of pinball machines under a new company, Premier Technology. On 1985, certain assets of Gottlieb/Mylstar's video game division were sold to JVW Electronics, a Chicago-based electronics company founded by three former Gottlieb/Mylstar executives: John C. Von Lessen, William Jacobs, and Ron Waxman. As a result of this a number of prototype Mylstar arcade games, which were not purchased by the investors, were never released. Premier did go on to produce one last arcade game, 1989's Exterminator. Premier Technology, which returned to selling pinball machines under the name Gottlieb after the purchase, continued in operation until the summer of 1996.
Gottlieb's most popular pinball machine was Baffle Ball, and their final machine was Barb Wire.

Licensing and rights

The 1965 machine Gottlieb's Kings & Queens is the one played by the title character in the 1975 rock opera movie Tommy about a psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute pinball wizard. Today, Gottlieb's pinball machines, as well as the "Gottlieb" and "D. Gottlieb & Co." trademarks, are owned by Gottlieb Development LLC of Pelham Manor, New York. Most of Gottlieb and Mylstar's video games are currently owned by Columbia Pictures.

Gottlieb video games

Published

No Man's Land - licensed from UniversalNew York! New York! - licensed from Sigma EnterprisesReactor Q*bert Mad Planets Krull Juno First - licensed from KonamiM.A.C.H. 3 - laserdisc game; published under Mylstar nameUs vs. Them - laserdisc game; published under Mylstar nameThe Three Stooges In Brides Is Brides - published under Mylstar nameQ*bert Qubes - published under Mylstar nameCurve Ball - published under Mylstar nameExterminator - published under Premier Technology name

Unreleased prototypes

Gridlee - licensed from Videa, Inc.Argus - a.k.a. Videoman, Protector and GuardianInsector Arena - Early-development stages of Wiz WarzQuizimodo Knightmare Faster, Harder, More Challenging Q*bert - developed under Mylstar nameScrew Loose - developed under Mylstar nameTylz - developed under Mylstar nameVideo Vince and the Game Factory - developed under Mylstar nameWiz Warz - developed under Mylstar name

Gottlieb pinball machines

Source:

Pure mechanical pinball/bagatelle machines

Incomplete list:Bingo Bingo Ball Baffle Ball Stop and Sock Mibs Baffle Ball Sr. Play-Boy Play-Boy Sr.
  • Whizz-Bang Five Star Final Five Star Final Jr. Five Star Final Sr. Cloverleaf Brokers Tip Big Broadcast Big Broadcast Sr. Speedway Scoreboard Black Beauty Firestone Jungle Hunt
  • ''Par-Golf''

Electromechanical pinball/flipperless machines

Incomplete list:Relay Sunshine Baseball Playboy Humpty Dumpty #1 Miss America Lady Robin Hood Jack 'n Jill Olde King Cole K. C. Jones Bank-A-Ball #34 Buffalo Bill Knock Out Triplets #40 Minstrel Man Disc Jockey Happy Go Lucky Skill Pool Queen of Hearts Quartette Quintette Gold Star Sweet Heart Dragonette Diamond Lill Hawaiian Beaty Lady Luck Frontiersman Southern Belle Wishing Well #107 Classy Bowler Rainbow Derby Day Harbor Lights Ace High Silver World Champ
  • Brite Star Contest Criss Cross Picnic Rocket Ship Queen of Diamonds Sweet Sioux World Beauties Around the world Dancing Dolls Flipper Spot-A-Card TexanFoto Finish Corral Cover Girls Flipper Clown Olympics Liberty Belle Rack-A-Ball
  • Sunset Flying Chariots Gigi Slick Chick Sweet Hearts Swing Along North Star Bowling Queen Bonanza Happy Clown Ship Mates World Fair Kings & Queens Sky Line Paradise 2 player game Cow Poke Bank-A-Ball Central Park Cross Town / Subway - last machines with manual ball liftDancing Lady Hawaiian Isle Rancho Hi-Score Sea Side Hit-A-Card Sing Along Super Duo Super Score Surf Side Four Seasons Domino Fun Park Fun Land Paul Bunyan Royal Guard Hi-Lo Airport Road Race
  • Groovy Aquarius Batter Up Flip-A-Card Snow Derby 2 player game Snow Queen 4 player game Dimension
  • PlayBall 4 Square 2001 #298 Lawman Sheriff
  • Star Trek
  • Astro Flying Carpet #310 Jungle King Kool Outer Space 2 player game Jumping Jack /Jack In The Box Jungle King Wild Life Jungle Pro Pool Pro-Football Big Shot 2 player game
  • Hot Shot 4 player game High Hand King Pin Top Card 1 player game Big Indian #356 Far Out 4 player game Duotron 2 player game Magnotron 4 player game Sky Jump Spin Out Super Soccer #367 Quick Draw Fast Draw #379 Abracadabra #380 Spirit of 76 #381 Spin Out Pioneer #382 "300" #388 Atlantis El Dorado Buccaneer Surf Champ Card Whiz 2 player version of Royal Flush Royal Flush 4 player version of Card Whiz Sure Shot Bank Shot Target Alpha Volley Solar City Bronco 4 player game Golden Arrow Fire Queen 2 player game Jet Spin 4 player game Super Spin 2 player game Mustang 2 player game Genie Team One Vulcan 4 player version of Fire Queen Cleopatra Fire Queen Gridiron Jacks Open Lucky Hand Jungle Queen 4 player version of Jungle Princess Jungle Princess Pyramid Strange World Neptune Sinbad Eye Of The Tiger Poseidon Hit the Deck Joker Poker Close Encounters of the Third Kind Dragon Gemini Rock Star Blue Note T.K.O.
  • ''Space Walk''

System 1 Pinball Machines

Cleopatra #409 Sinbad #412 Joker Poker #417 Dragon #419 Solar Ride #421 Charlie's Angels #425 Close Encounters of the Third Kind #424 - 9,950 Solid State games and 470 Electro-Mechanical games madeCount-Down #422 - 9,899 Games made Pinball Pool #427 - 7,200 Games madeTotem #429 - 6,643 Games madeThe Incredible Hulk #433 - 6,150 Games made, a few of these games had System 80 electronics to test the new System 80 platform as model #500. Genie #435 - Wide body game. 6,800 Games madeBuck Rogers #437 - 7,410 Games madeTorch #438 - 3,880 Games madeRoller Disco #440 - Wide body game with bright neon colors. 2,400 games madeAsteroid Annie and the Aliens #442 - Only 211 games made

System 80 pinball machines

Panthera #652 The Amazing Spider-Man #653 Circus #654 Counterforce #656 Star Race #657 James Bond 007 #658 Time Line #659 Force II #661 Pink Panther #664 Mars God of War #666 Volcano #667 Black Hole #668 Haunted House #669 Eclipse #671

System 80A pinball machines

Devil's Dare #670 Rocky #672 Spirit #673 Punk! #674 Caveman #PV810 Striker #675 Krull #676 Q*bert's Quest #677 - based on the Q*bert video gameSuper Orbit #680 Royal Flush Deluxe #681 Goin' Nuts #682 Amazon Hunt #684 Rack 'Em Up! #685 Ready...Aim...Fire! #686 Jacks to Open #687 Touchdown #688 Alien Star #689A The Games #691 El Dorado City of Gold #692 Ice Fever #695

System 80B pinball machines

Bounty Hunter #694 Chicago Cubs Triple Play #696 Rock #697 Tag-Team Pinball #698 Ace High #700 - never producedRaven #702 Hollywood Heat #703 Rock Encore #704 - conversion kit for RockGenesis #705 Spring Break #706 Gold Wings #707 Monte Carlo #708 Arena #709 Victory #710 Diamond Lady #711 TX-Sector #712 Big House #713 Robo-War #714 Excalibur #715 Bad Girls #717 Hot Shots #718 Bone Busters, Inc. #719

System 3 pinball machines

Lights...Camera...Action! #720 Silver Slugger #722 Vegas #723 Deadly Weapon #724 Title Fight #726 Car Hop #725 Hoops #727 Cactus Jack's #729 Class of 1812 #730 Amazon Hunt III #684D - conversion kitSurf 'N Safari #731 Operation Thunder #732 - last Gottlieb machine to use an alphanumeric displaySuper Mario Bros. #733 - Based on the Super Mario Bros. video game by Nintendo; first Gottlieb machine to use a dot-matrix display. It was one of America's top ten best-selling pinball machines of 1992, receiving a Gold Award from the American Amusement Machine Association.Super Mario Bros. - Mushroom World #N105 Cue Ball Wizard #734 Street Fighter II #735 - based on the Street Fighter II video game by Capcom; in 1995-1996, pinball machines were produced under the name Capcom, originally were made in the Gottlieb factoryTee'd Off #736 Gladiators #737 Wipe Out #738 Rescue 911 #740 World Challenge Soccer #741 Stargate #742 - based on the Stargate movieShaq Attaq #743 - starring Shaquille O'NealFreddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street #744 - based on the A [Nightmare on Elm Street] movie seriesFrank Thomas' Big Hurt #745 Waterworld #746 - based on the Waterworld movieMario Andretti #747 - starring Mario AndrettiStrikes 'n' Spares Barb Wire (pinball) #748 - based upon the Barb Wire film and comicBrooks N' Dunn #749 - This game was entering production just as Gottlieb shut down and ceased operations. Two prototype machines supposedly exist, although some claim the design never proceeded past the whitewood stage. Playfield components, such as plastics, ramps, mechanisms and Translites were produced for the games about to enter production; enough for about 10 games to exist. Only buggy prototype software exists and was never completed.
Gottlieb was last to introduce a solid-state system, and last to cease manufacture of electromechanical games. The first version of Gottlieb's solid state pinball hardware was called System 1, and had many undocumented features. Designed and developed by Rockwell International's Microelectronics Group of Newport Beach, CA with circuit board manufacturing and final assembly in El Paso, Texas. Likely it was rushed to compete with the new solid-state games from other manufacturers, particularly Bally. An entirely new platform was produced in 1980, System 80, which was refined in System 80A and System 80B. Following the System 80 platform, a new platform named System 3 was first released in 1989 and was used until the company's closure.