Hit the Deck
Gottlieb, 1978Found a Gottlieb Hit The Deck wedgehead. It is different than others I have seen in that it has a white digit (in the correct faux digital style) for the 10s and appears to have a sample serial number. Am I out in left field? I'm thinking so....but I'm no expert.20150504_200549.jpg20150504_200536.jpg
FWIW, my sample Hit the Deck had the red digits on all the reels, and was about 20 serial numbers ahead of yours.
Maybe some of the reels didn't get printed correctly?
Quoted from DirtFlipper:Maybe some of the reels didn't get printed correctly?
Or the reel got replaced during it's life.
LTG : )™
Quoted from Carl_694:But the "s" means it's for sure a sample, right?
The 'S', as well as the serial number value itself (70's sample games are in the 01001-01100ish range, with the 'S' following). Production Hit the Deck games are numbered in the 03200-03500 range or so.
It doesn't appear faded to me. No other numbers look like that on any other reel. I.suspect either a manufacturer error or someone cleaned it improperly. In the former instance, there's no way I'd replace it. That's history there. Heck, it's a sample of a very rare game. Sounds like dirtflipper is the only other owner of such a game.
they were trying to simulate a red digital display, why would they make it white? my guess is that that reel was replaced at one time. with either cleaned wrong or sun bleached reel
Neptune @ 270 and HtD @ 375 plus the number of samples made makes them hard to find but not impossible.
what does the rest of the machine look like?
Quoted from DirtFlipper:I believe the production numbers include the samples (so 270 and 375 inclusive).
are you sure? I have been told they did not count them but others said they did count them.
I have been told they made anywhere between 50-100 samples
How did that all work? Why have two meters, did one display something the other didn't? What was the reason for sample games? Did they sell for less, or only offered in certain areas? Where do babies come from?
Quoted from boilerman:they were trying to simulate a red digital display, why would they make it white? my guess is that that reel was replaced at one time. with either cleaned wrong or sun bleached reel
Neptune @ 270 and HtD @ 375 plus the number of samples made makes them hard to find but not impossible.
what does the rest of the machine look like?
Cabinet is excellent for its age, and the backglass looks to be near perfect (haven't looked at it from the rear yet as I just got the machine yesterday). Playfield has some wear at the kickouts and a bit of planking near the pops, but overall seems it will be presentable when cleaned up. Needs new legs (or rust removed) and the coin door has some surface rust on it. The guts are remarkably clean. Owners said they'd had it in their basement since the early 80s, but they clearly didn't take the time to replace the ball or otherwise clean the playfield. It's unfortunate because it looks like a very low-play game based on the counter (though I can't be sure that's been working, of course)
I agree it's odd with the white display. Who knows what happened. The pictures make it look less white than it actually is (it's really quite "white" not faded in appearance). I obviously need to remove the reel and get a closer look to determine further. Still, a very neat find. I'm not a huge EM guy (have a Kings & Queens, Gottlieb Quartette, Big Indian & Top Card), but really like the look of this machine. The art package is crazy cool.
Quoted from boilerman:are you sure? I have been told they did not count them but others said they did count them.
I have been told they made anywhere between 50-100 samples
I'm "pretty sure". Steve at PBR now has the full Gottlieb engineering documents, so he might be in a position to definitively know. But I think it accounts for the sometimes 'odd' number of games in the counts. The reported serial number spans on games also seem to come up short ~100 or so games, but if you factor back the samples, then it matches the reported count.
I've seen sample serial numbers beyond 01100, so they may have made 150-200 in some instances.
Quoted from presqueisle:How did that all work? Why have two meters, did one display something the other didn't? What was the reason for sample games? Did they sell for less, or only offered in certain areas?
One meter counts coin drops, the other counts game starts. The delta is 'free games' (at least that's how I remember it). So one meter might read 80,000, and the other 60,000, indicating that of the 80,000 game starts, 20,000 didn't need a coin drop (i.e., they were replays). (I've got a sample Quick Draw, and that's about what the two meters read.)
Sample games were introduced to locations ~6 months ahead of production, to get additional play testing (I base this on looking at the date codes on the score motor casings between sample games and production games of the same title). Based on operator reports (they had a form to fill out; I've got a copy of one somewhere), Gottlieb could then tell how well the game was doing, how easy/hard it was to win games, if any additional bugs existed that needed to be addressed. Then adjustments could be made prior to production. Sometimes the changes were pretty significant, including artwork changes. The 50's/60's games seemed to have more changes between sample and production games than did the 70's games though.
It's a fun exercise to spot any differences between sample games and production ones. Some are fairly noticeable, others are quite subtle, and the later games usually don't have any.
Quoted from DirtFlipper:There are other sample Hit the Deck games still kicking around.
One behind me 
Quoted from DirtFlipper:One meter counts coin drops, the other counts game starts. The delta is 'free games' (at least that's how I remember it). So one meter might read 80,000, and the other 60,000, indicating that of the 80,000 game starts, 20,000 didn't need a coin drop (i.e., they were replays). (I've got a sample Quick Draw, and that's about what the two meters read.)
Sample games were introduced to locations ~6 months ahead of production, to get additional play testing (I base this on looking at the date codes on the score motor casings between sample games and production games of the same title). Based on operator reports (they had a form to fill out; I've got a copy of one somewhere), Gottlieb could then tell how well the game was doing, how easy/hard it was to win games, if any additional bugs existed that needed to be addressed. Then adjustments could be made prior to production. Sometimes the changes were pretty significant, including artwork changes. The 50's/60's games seemed to have more changes between sample and production games than did the 70's games though.
It's a fun exercise to spot any differences between sample games and production ones. Some are fairly noticeable, others are quite subtle, and the later games usually don't have any.
Thanks for the history on that DF!
Are the inserts on the playfield yellow or red? I've seen them both ways. I think sample games have red inserts like the add-a-ball version "Neptune". The regular production has yellow inserts.
Quoted from Carl_694:Mine are yellow.
your production pf was more than likely swapped into the sample cab. i think all sample HtD had red inserts
does the arch have a serial # on it?
Quoted from boilerman:i think all sample HtD had red inserts
My sample game had yellow.
Quoted from jodini:Just played one at the pinball store today! Fun game!
Hmm...
Congratulations, Carl_694. Hit the Deck is among my favorite wedgeheads. What's not to love in a John Osborne design, an eye-popping art package and a double entendre for added measure? The only thing missing from this thread is the eye candy.
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Lexington, SC