(Topic ID: 186961)

Mirco Spirit of 76 for sale - THE first solid state pin?

By wayout440

6 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 35 posts
  • 10 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by KenLayton
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 6 years ago

Huh. Never heard of this one myself. Kinda cool, in a historical way I guess.

ebay.com link: Mirco Games 1975 Spirit of 76 pinball machine Very first Solid State EVER in NJ

#2 6 years ago

I just saw this in person the other day at Classic! For sure a rarity and a curio. Yes, it's the first Solid State. I'm curious if anybody ever saw one back in the day, or operated it, and can say how it did and how reliable it was.

I guess they were depending on the SS novelty to sell it, they sure didn't put much time into the art and the playfield design looks like a Bally home pin.

#3 6 years ago

Does anyone sell an LED kit for this game?

#4 6 years ago

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#5 6 years ago

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#6 6 years ago

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#7 6 years ago

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#8 6 years ago

I was curious about what's under the hood. I didn't see any schematics on IPDB, but it looks like a manual is in the cabinet...perhaps there are schematics in it. Somebody's going to need them if they are going to attempt to get it running.

https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/spirit-of-76-mircogames/stories/the-birth-of-solid-state

#9 6 years ago

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#10 6 years ago
Quoted from wayout440:

I was curious about what's under the hood. I didn't see any schematics on IPDB, but it looks like a manual is in the cabinet...perhaps there are schematics in it. Somebody's going to need them if they are going to attempt to get it running.
https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/spirit-of-76-mircogames/stories/the-birth-of-solid-state

I'll just send the boards out to Clive at Coin op and wait patiently!

Looks like the flippers are all Bally EM parts.

#11 6 years ago

Ha! I KNEW that layout looked familiar! FC isn't a bad game to play. They basically ripped this off and added inlanes.

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#12 6 years ago
Quoted from CrazyLevi:

I just saw this in person the other day at Classic! For sure a rarity and a curio. Yes, it's the first Solid State. I'm curious if anybody ever saw one back in the day, or operated it, and can say how it did and how reliable it was.

Levi, is that the original cabinet art or was it painted over? I see light blue cabs and dark blue cabs on IPDB, but no real artwork. Just odd that they would release this so bare and plain, when there were a ton of EM's that preceded this title with awesome art.

#13 6 years ago
Quoted from CrazyLevi:

Yes, it's the first Solid State.

It's generally accepted as the first, but Allied Leisure Rock On is also a contender (released in September, 1975). There wasn't a release date available for Spirit of 76 other than the year, so it's unclear if Rock On or Spirit of 76 was released first.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4862

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2294

#14 6 years ago

In case anyone was wondering, yes - that is the original cabinet. No artwork, just blue paint.

The spider web of wiring under the playfield is also normal, and so is the scotch tape attached to it. I've never seen one of these actually working, and with only 127 built I wouldn't think too many still exist.

An interesting piece of pinball history for sure!

#15 6 years ago
Quoted from CrazyLevi:

Ha! I KNEW that layout looked familiar! FC isn't a bad game to play. They basically ripped this off and added inlanes.

I had a FC a year or two ago....drain central. I think that is the most unforgiving outlanes ever...worse than Jubilee.

#16 6 years ago

Looks like someone replaced the original shooter assembly with a williams assembly.

And a chunk was cut out of the leg to accommodate it

#17 6 years ago
Quoted from Colsond3:

Levi, is that the original cabinet art or was it painted over? I see light blue cabs and dark blue cabs on IPDB, but no real artwork. Just odd that they would release this so bare and plain, when there were a ton of EM's that preceded this title with awesome art.

I have no idea and I didn't look the cab over closely when I was there but looks original based on other pics I've seen. I know it's lame but look at the whole "art package" of the game, clearly they didn't put much time or thought into it. I'm sure this whole project was put together as cheap and quickly as possible.

This game is from the Mark Clayton collection by the way, a great guy and upstate NY collector of a ton of stuff. Among the other stuff I've seen pulled from his warehouse is an NIB Chicago Coin Soundstage, an Empire Strikes Back, a Sexy Girl, and a digital proto Bally Bow and Arrow. Some of this stuff is still available I believe. Whenever I see some cool rare shit at Classic I always know it came from Mark's stash.

#18 6 years ago

Yeah, overall the game is kind of meh art wise. Definitely a nostalgic and historic item. I would take the Soundstage...that game is awesome. I missed out on one last year or the year before. I know people that have dealt with Mark...supposedly a great guy with a very interesting collection.

#19 6 years ago

Looks like no EOS? Solid state flippers in 1975?

#20 6 years ago
Quoted from zacaj:

Looks like no EOS? Solid state flippers in 1975?

Wow you are right! And microswitch rollovers too.

#21 6 years ago
Quoted from zacaj:

Looks like no EOS? Solid state flippers in 1975?

Viza War is the same way...that came out a year later (1976).

#22 6 years ago
Quoted from ForceFlow:

Viza War is the same way...that came out a year later (1976).

Still uses dual coils though, right? Not pulsed, I assume

#23 6 years ago
Quoted from zacaj:

Still uses dual coils though, right? Not pulsed, I assume

It uses coils with only a single winding. The high and hold/low voltages are controlled by logic on the MPU.

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#24 6 years ago

Check out the wiring harness. Almost all the same color. Good grief!

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#25 6 years ago

Link to service manual (no schematics)
http://arcadearchive.com/pinball/spirit76/SpiritOf76.pdf

"The CPU appears to be a Motorola 6800, with a single 6820 used for I/O. The program memory seems to be stored in ten 512 x 4 bit bipolar PROMs That's no more than 2 ½ Kbytes of program memory. RAM is a whopping 256 bytes, using two 2112 static RAMs. The CPU, score LED's, backbox displays, and lamp and solenoid drivers are all contained on the main board. The cabinet contains the power supply, and EM-style chime unit, and a mystery.

The mystery is about the sound. Page 21 of the manual shows a "special sound effects board", and the flyer makes reference to electronic sound effects. However, in all the games that I have seen (um, two), there is no sign of this board, or any wiring for it. The mystery is, did this sound module ever made it into production?"

- http://arcadearchive.com/pinball/spirit76/spirit76.htm

#26 6 years ago

The sound effects board looks cool, as does it's subwoofer

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#27 6 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

The sound effects board looks cool, as does it's subwoofer

And if the boring game play doesn't make you go to sleep, the white noise generator will help. LOL

#28 6 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

The sound effects board looks cool, as does it's subwoofer

And there's a chime unit in this thing too.

#29 6 years ago

The flipper mechs are not original. Allied used thier own mechs like they did in their Shaker pins.

The route op I worked for bought a Mirco Spirit of '76 and Allied Dyn-O-Myte. Both earned well for the first month then slid off a cliff. Bally SS pins rocked in the cash box.

#30 6 years ago
Quoted from MrBally:

The flipper mechs are not original.

Aw, that's disappointing. I saw the bally coil, but didn't realize the whole assembly was swapped out. I wonder if the original parts were kept in a box somewhere with the game.

Quoted from MrBally:

The route op I worked for bought a Mirco Spirit of '76 and Allied Dyn-O-Myte. Both earned well for the first month then slid off a cliff. Bally SS pins rocked in the cash box.

I'm not surprised. Once the newness factor wore off, there wasn't a whole lot about those games that could hold a player's attention. Despite the the huge industry shift those first SS games started and the interesting SS platforms they were built on, the games themselves were one trick ponies, unfortunately.

#31 6 years ago
Quoted from MrBally:

Allied used thier own mechs like they did in their Shaker pins.

Wait, is this an Allied game? I'm confused...

#32 6 years ago
Quoted from zacaj:

Wait, is this an Allied game? I'm confused...

No, he was saying Allied Leisure used their own mechs on their games, like Mirco Games did on Spirit of 76.

Here are the original flipper assemblies for Spirit of 76:

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2294&picno=55717&zoom=1

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#33 6 years ago
Quoted from ForceFlow:

No, he was saying Allied Leisure used their own mechs on their games, like Mirco Games did on Spirit of 76.
Here are the original flipper assemblies for Spirit of 76:
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2294&picno=55717&zoom=1

Those aren't williams?

#34 6 years ago

I believe that Jeff Frederiksen, who developed the prototype boardset for Bally's Flicker, went on to design the boardset for this after his engineering department lost the contract to design Bally's solid state boards, and the two designs are very similar.

#35 6 years ago
Quoted from ForceFlow:

No, he was saying Allied Leisure used their own mechs on their games, like Mirco Games did on Spirit of 76.
Here are the original flipper assemblies for Spirit of 76:
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2294&picno=55717&zoom=1

Those look like Williams flipper assemblies of the 1976 era.

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