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Complete Gottlieb Genie

The gameplay in these early SS games of the late 70s and Early 80s is limited by modern standards. But the artwork is phenomenal.

Bally was always the benchmark for me. You just don't see many early SS Gottliebs in the UK at shows or meetings. But looking on the net, Gottlieb produced some stunning artwork during this period.

Other than @Poibug 's - there is literally no mention of anyone owning a Genie on Pinballinfo, before I took a punt on this one.

It has opened my mind

Has that Flash Gordon comic style.
 
This came today. The famous Pascal 3 in 1 board plus piggyback sound card...

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This replaces all 4 of the original boards - voltage, mpu, sound and driver.

The board had inscribed on it what each pin of each connector does, which was extremely handy when diagnosing my switch matrix problem.

Mucked about for a while with a dead switch column. There were only 4 "switches" and 4 diodes in it, but Gottlieb does things differently. One of the 4 switches is actually triggered in 10 different places on the playfield ! So there are ten parallel leaf switches that feed a single diode in the diode bank. Two of the other three dead "switches" had multiple triggers too.

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The previous owner had tried to fix this - the manual had been annotated.

It transpired that the mpu connector, which was a corroded shambles, had also been pinned in the wrong order. The return from the dead column had been wrongly inserted into an unused strobe line.

Anyway, that is fixed now. Everything seems to work. When I have finished and I know the game is solid and 100% functional, I may have a go at rebuilding the original boards to see if I can get them going reliably.

Replaced a couple of missing rubbers and finally had a couple of proper games. It is hideously sloppy and slow. Every link has masses of play in it. But repairing stuff like this is the most satisfying thing for me.

Will be good to see how she plays when I have rebuilt the mechs. Looking to replace the worn moving parts in

5x flippers
3x pops - unfortunately these have wpc style hard-wired lamps you need to de-solder
1x slingshot
1x saucer kickout

Will replace the high voltage switches

Eos
Flipper
Pops (maybe, If they are too far gone)

When is a slingshot not a slingshot ? When it is in a Gottlieb. The lower playfield of this game has some remarkable similarities with Paragon. Weird lower left pop bumper (removed from Genie to assess wear), two lower right flippers, asymmetric slingshots. But with the Genie, the right slingshot has no mech in it, it is fake ...

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Some inserts are dished, so a playfield protector will deal with that. The one in my Paragon works a treat

This pop bumper works, but is very worn ....

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Seriously, now ya have that, change some pins and it'll 95% work
 
Wow. This game really is the worst condition one I have ever bought. No maintenance for years. Broken coil stops, missing tilt Bob, innumerate dead lights, ball swirls ...

Thanks to @Moonraker and @pinballmania I have got to the bottom of the weak flippers. I had done full rebuilds of all 5 and polished the cab flipper switches with my dremel. Still weak. I was ready to burn the thing.

The flipper rebuilds required removal of split pins, I broke my flat punch so used a vice instead. These Gottlieb flipper mechs are simply ludicrous. Full of weight and inertia. Far heavier and less responsive than Williams and Bally mechs from the late 70s

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The mini pf uses EM flipper mechs, so I had to order from Steve Young in America.

It was all down to the old em style relays underneath the playfield. The flippers get 25v from the bridge rectifier via the game over relay and the tilt relay. These things are user serviceable and are uncovered. You remove them using hairpin clips, it is all very quaint.

One in place, one removed

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Courtesy of the dremel, these damned relays are now cleaned up, resurfaced, polished and the flippers are ok. I tried an uprated coil from @philpalmer so I can see a way to sort this now. With uprated coils (using the eos to control power), steeper playfield angle via extra long feet ... I will get this thing playing properly.

Put new drop targets in the two banks and gave the mechanisms a clean. These things are ridiculously over-engineered. Similar to Bally ones. The larger bank has 7 drop targets and 2 solenoids to reset it !

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Both solenoids actually work ok, but had been toasted at some time giving these nice looking coil sleeves ...

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Rebuilt the missing tilt bob, again requiring parts from the USA as it is a bit weird ...

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This game has 2 normally closed slam tilt switches so many folk disable these to avoid hassle.

The Playfield looked awfully drab, but is actually coming up nicely. IPA and magic erasers deal with the ball swirls. Novus 2 combined with elbow grease gives a nice polish.

There is hope for this game.
 
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I’m so glad you got this @DRD as your giving it the love it deserves. Great shop log.
 
No Pressure David, but we're all hoping to play this at your place in January!!!

That is the plan @DanLewell . This title has never been used in the Pinball League before. So it would be good for someone in our area to get a high score on it. The same thing is true of my Transporter The Rescue - that also needs some work to get it league ready.

I never do full game strip downs. I tend to do them mech by mech so I rebuild what I have dismantled and refurbed on the same day so my memory is fresh. The problem with this is that you don't get a single consolidated parts order.

What might frustrate Genie is that when I dismantle mechs, I keep finding very nasty surprises.....

  1. Threadlock was used in the 2" flippers and the bolt sheared off in one. So I now need a new flipper shoe plus bolt.
  2. The end stop in the slingshot bracket was detached from the rivet
  3. The toasty coils on the drop target mech
  4. Other coils will not accept replacement coil sleeves as a few have obviously been hot in the past
  5. The bulb holders are in an awful state and are not like Bally ones. Bally bulb holders are individually mounted, these damned Gottlieb ones are custom made brackets that might take 5, or 10 bulbs. Naturally there are no connectors, so a 10 bulb array has about a dozen wires soldered to it
  6. Even the damned ball plunger is loose where it is attached to the chrome rod !
I am doing a recce now, looking in obvious places for broken parts and will need at least one more Steve Young order from the states.

Fingers crossed.
 
In the immortal words of BK2K
You can do it, you can do it!!

Hopefully you'll get the parts sorted but if not then someone on here will save the day I'm sure.
 
Spent some more time on the Genie today.

How about these ?, the rebuilt flipper mechs for the 2" flippers in the mini Playfield. Talk about old school. These things use the same coils as the 3" flippers used in the game ....

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I have been through all the remaining solenoids today looking for damage. The slingshot and saucer kickout are both knackered, the rest are OK.

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The fibre links in the slingshot and saucer kickout are both very worn. I found it impossible to remove the split pins as they were seized. They broke my flat punch. Even a hardened steel nail and a lump hammer would not shift the wretched things.

So I replaced with new bally - Williams plungers that I had in stock. The plungers are the same size, but have different links. These blue links were easily removed, and then replaced with the correct fibre ones ...
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Saucer kick outs in these late 70s games (Gottlieb and Bally) are massively over engineered ...

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One of the riveted axles was loose so I tightened it with my vice ...

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I gave this a bit of a Polish with Solvol Autosol ...

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Unfortunately Gottlieb used chromed steel throughout the game so you cannot really remove the pitting. Bally games from this period use a solid alloy so you can polish out the corrosion (even when disgustingly pitted) and leave a nice shine

Made a further order from Steve Young. Unusually, after you have made one order he seems to trust you. So my second order has just been sent out and I am due to pay it within 10 days of delivery.
 
Sunk some more time into the Genie today.

What a filthy b1tch this game was.

Stripped the Playfield. IMG_20181216_1904476.jpg

Treated her to a new spinner. Note the unusual Siamese posts used in these old Gottliebs...

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This was the most fùcked up flipper mech that I have had the misfortune of refurbing. Loose end stop. Shagged eos. Brass liner that I needed to bend to remove ...IMG_20181216_1110184.jpg

The Playfield protector requires the complete removal of all three pop bumpers, including desoldering the lamps ..

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Filthy metal in the tumbler...

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Filthy plastics, most of these are being replaced...
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Crappy playfield plastics, all of which are being replaced ...

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This Genie is going to be immaculate.

What was wrong with the plastics?
 
The lane guides are cracked. The Playfield plastics are cracked/ gouged. The posts have gone cloudy.

I could have cleaned them up and made the best of it. But when I get the bit between my teeth ....
 
With that art package I completely get it - any more close up before and afters on the playfield?
 
The pf was miserable and dull. It has a genuine shine now. Hard to photograph it with the lighting in my shed unfortunately. It is the 13th game, there is room for 12 so it is hard to move it around
 
IMO Dave it is better with a metal spinner, I used a wms one from fp or defender.Unless you don't want it non.original.I have some plastics somewhere
 
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@Poibug , thanks for the suggestions. I can see that the plastic spinner is quite inefficient, But I will keep the game close to original. I have polished the copper actuator wire and will cheat using some gt85 (this is Teflon, not wd40 type oil)

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Removed the pop bumpers which is always a horrible job as you need to de-dolder the lamp holders.

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I reprofiled and polished the heavily pitted high voltage switches employed by the pop bumpers and slingshot with my dremel.

First using foam cleaner, then ipa with magic eraser (for ball swirls), then novus 2 - I atracked the sad playfield. It now has a shine.

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I have cleaned the wire ball guides in situ, using solvol autosol. Likewise the metal posts as removing them would have damaged the playfield artwork. The myriad of rollover switches were removed and cleaned with autosol. All playfield (low voltage) leaf switches have been cleaned with ipa, I have adjusted all the switch gaps.

This is the filthiest plunger I have had the misfortune of touching. It is so worn that the chrome rod and the aluminium knob are actually separating. New ones on order from Steve Young.

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Dismantled and cleaned this lot in the ball trough. It was not too bad actually so I wonder whether a previous owner had a half ****d attempt at refurbing it, then gave up on the whole game. The coil had been toasted, but worked fine. This game had obviously suffered from locked on coils all over the place in the past.

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I had left the flippers in place to stop the heavy cams below the playfield flapping about. But when I have removed all five, the playfield protector can now go on.

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Hopefully in the final straight.

Playfield protector is on. Pop bumpers reinstalled.IMG_20181221_1558513.jpg

Only one area needs trimming.
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I have put thread lock on the retaining screws for the flippers. How ridiculous these things are, look how much weight each one has.

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New drops, pop skirts, pop caps, rebuilt mechs.
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New Lane guides and rubbers.
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Most bulbs and/ or holders were iffy. These two attachments for my Dremel sorted them. The wire brush cleaned the bulbs. The round sandpaper thing cleaned out the bulb holders.
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Final bits arrived from the USA today. Installed the shooter rod, 5x flipper bats, new plastics, new speed nuts.
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Needs fine tuning, but is basically finished. Maybe change a couple of coils. Mess about with flipper angles - that sort of thing.

Plays really well and it looks a good game to me. You have to work hard to get extra balls, and there are a couple of ways of securing them so I hope that Pascal's boards gives out a decent amount of points for extra balls when used in league play.

@DanLewell - all ready for you! Now you need to get your Atari going.
 
Fantastic build thread @DRD I had the pleasure of playing it at your house in January. It got me fully motivated to get cracking on mine. Im just starting the strip down and first Steve Young order. I realised yesterday that the saucer parts have been pinched from my machine. Could I possibly trouble you for some under playfield pics when you have a moment so i can try and find what Im missing. Cheers Dave
 
@Kilgore ...

Do you mean the bonus-scoring saucer at the top right of the playfield?

What bits are you missing ? - could you send me snaps of what you have got above and below the pf and I will try to fill in the gaps.

D
 
@Kilgore ...

Do you mean the bonus-scoring saucer at the top right of the playfield?

What bits are you missing ? - could you send me snaps of what you have got above and below the pf and I will try to fill in the gaps.

D

Thanks @DRD ive dropped you a DM
 
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