Which machine?
I love Gottliebs, but they are not highly valued games
I cannot see that it would be worth any companies effort to remake them

King of Diamonds was remade in 2010. 55 machines were made and sold. Been tried. Did not succeed.

That was an EM, though. And a number of years before the big pinball boom.

Gottlieb had some decent solid state and DMD titles. However, I'm not sure that I really see someone paying NIB prices for them.

Stargate, Super Mario Bros, and possibly Freddy might be good theme candidates for brand new designs, rather than exact true-to-original remakes.

I wouldn't mind seeing a game based on SG1, SGA, and/or SGU.

Sorry @forceflow, he didn’t specify and I kind of assumed a little that when you say Gottlieb, it is synonymous with Wedgehead in my mind, simply because the consensus of us players at the time in the last throws of Gottlieb’s death spiral was they sucked, but SG was their best DMD machine hands down, and I would think about a remake of that.

I’d love to see a remake of Spirit. It’s so rare, I’ve never gotten to play one in all the pinball shows I’ve been to. TX Sector would do well too. Not all of that Gottlieb era were bad.

Lots of good games if they used different modern electronics.

Give me Haggis Fathom ME style remake of Haunted House with several multi balls, callouts, and modes and I'll give you a blank check.

It looked horrible with that faded playfield overlay, and the "baseball game" cabinet. The mechanicals were fairly well executed, but the cosmetics turned me off.

Or black hole… but that failed reentry part would need a slight modification in my mind lol.

Spirit or Krull would be my picks.

Nah, the brutal nature of Black Hole is what makes it so good lol. Plus you're in the black hole down there, you need to escape...or you die!

My comment is a bit tongue in cheek, it was the lack of fanfare and the momentary false hope it all has as it drains unceremoniously and starts the bonus count. You were always surprised by the immediacy of the end, especially after keeping the ball alive for what seemed like an hour on the lower table, yet you didn’t qualify for reentry!?!

Yes! More edge connectors, grounding issues and interconnect harnesses please!!

Sorry, I have Gottlieb solid state PTSD.

This is a head scratcher of why its so expensive. Kind if cool but not that exciting

Haunted House is the only Gottlieb re-make I would be interested in...

Spirit looks awesome, has a lot of interesting shots, but it hardly ever drains. I played it at a show one year, and I eventually just had to let go of the flippers and let it drain just so I could end a never-ending game and walk away.

Didn’t stern just do diamond lady?

Actually, one of the rumors floating around a couple of years ago was a resurrection of the Gottlieb name for a new manufacturer. I do not know of anything more than this.

Yeah I never understood the Spirit love either. It's a weird layout and looks nice, but eh. And I've played one a dozen or so times at Game Galaxy.

There are a lot of Gottlieb games that I think have a good layout just shit rules and often shit audio. I don't think people have that much demand for those old games though. Maybe for a few key licenses, but Super Mario is a trash tier game unless you're putting it on route (at which point it rules). Haunted House is one of the few I could see people maybe thinking about getting (though the BOM would cause sticker shock)

Yeah Mr Breadcrumbs talked about it frequently

The overlay was bad.

The one I've played at Flippers OBX has ripples in the overlay. Yikes.

Game plays fine, but you have to wonder, of all the classic games, why KOD? It's not a great game and that's being charitable.

Plenty for sale cheap.

None fetch high dollar.

Would not make business sense to remake any Gottlieb, SS or EM.

Would cost more to make than it would sell for! lol

Wow, really? "KOD" is super fun, and a very popular EM title.
But Herb does have a "thing" for it, and for "Kings & Queens".

A better answer to "why KOD" would be; probably not the most inexpensive game to reproduce.
Maybe he just wanted to use up all those crappy overlays he made!

7

Seems like the roto target would have been expensive unless he had a box of NOS. At least compared to tackling a game with more common parts like drop targets.

Not saying it isn't popular but the game kind of sucks. Most of those roto target games do. You have a giant spinning mech in the middle of the playfield, doesn't really give you a lot else to do. It really doesn't feel like much of a skill game, more of a luck box. Wail on giant rototarget until you drain.

And I'm with Trey in that I can't imagine that roto unit was cheaper than drop target banks, which most (much better) gottlieb offerings have.

That's neither here nor there. His timing was awful; there simply wasn't a flood of moneyed newbies buying everything in sight which he needed to support it. The hobby was still mostly crusty old men who didn't see a reason to buy a fancy $5K chinese version of a game they could still find in original condition for $600. Plus a recession was just about to hit.

If he had released the same project 10 years later I'm sure it would have done much better.

Yeah, and with a real playfield.

This 100% was not from him

I also heard about it before then, but he mentioned it frequently once he heard of it. Anyhow, let's not derail.

Really?

KOD is a great game. Lot of shots to remember and rebounds to learn. These modern playing pinheads have a very “direct” playing style. It’s flip flip flip, every shot has to be the game winner when the skill in playing Gottlieb wedgeheads is knowing when to nudge, not flip, and when you better flip, else drain. Not all flips in a wedgehead are targeted. Some are timed and executed just to keep the ball in play. The designers knew all the rebound angles, and they purposefully made shots and flipper placements based on how difficult it would be to get a direct shot ANYWHERE.

Once you start playing wedgies like us old farts, the nuance, the timings… it’s a very personal playing experience. And we can also remember a pinball machine with not a single jackpot, combo, or hurryup in sight, and the longest rule in the ruleset is “when lit”. Historically, I can remember when hitting a side lane shot on Subway with the bumpers lit was worth 450 points, the maximum amount you could score with one shot, IF you were lucky enough to get the target for an extra 50 by shaking the crap out of it while it hit the top rubber. That was very satisfying back in 1965, so what changed? Seeing as it takes 33 average scoring balls on a Subway to turn it over, the skill required to get 28 extra balls to do the deed is not a pinball achievement worth pursuing?

On KoD you never shoot the roto targets unless you need the card and the direct shot for the card is in the left or right out lane. Or unless it completes 2-9 or A-10 and lites Special. Shoot for points on it only when A - 10 is available in the far right or far left target positions, never in center. These are the things you learn to make these games worth buying and keeping going. Right now I can get to MOR on MBrLE fairly regularly. I don’t turn over KOD or Subway anyways near as much. Which is the greater pinball accomplishment? I get satisfaction from both.

Have you ever played for knocks @crazylevi? Maybe you need some adjustment to your approach of wedgies, and a mentor (like Vic Camp) or JR on here to teach you how to enjoy playing them. Or not, I can already feel the hate swelling inside you, but maybe it’s me, so apologies in advance.

Gimme a break dude I'm practically an honorary boomer. I've probably owned 100 Gottlieb EMs.

I just don't love KOD. So sue me!!!

Come on by any time if you want to get your ass kicked on a REAL skill game...say, volley, Dimension, Bank Shot...

What... Whoa Nellie doesn't qualify as a remade Gottlieb?

Well, then does the AAB Diamond Jack do anything for you? Because that would explain your KOD disdain and I can relate to that.

Not a fan!

I don't like the playfield layout.

Fire Queen...now that's a fun Gottlieb EM worth re-making

Wouldn't sell, but it's a better game than KOD

Yeah, for me the challenge in these 2" flipper games is simply getting the ball going north-south while the game is doing it's best to send it east-west and into the outlanes. 2-3 flips to hopefully just get the ball going the way you want it, then aimed flips for points...

And CrazyLevi if you are ever in Phoenix, please look me up, I offer a wonderful resort package to my friends and family, nice guest rooms, private suite, pick your own citrus trees, swimming pool, 10 well maintained pins, located on 1.2 acres in San Tan Valley Az, all at no extra charge.

Ok then, noted. How about the rest of my wedgies- Bank a Ball, Central Park, Subway? Any of these crazylevi keepers? Funland? Which is NOT a keeper in my book, that’s one I own and will be moving on in trade or sale for my Bank a Ball.

I've owned and played a Central Park, the others not so much. I like CP.

For 2" flipper games, I like Melody. That doesn't seem especially hard to make with off the shelf parts.

Target Pool is alright for trying to sharp shoot with baby flippers.

Target Pool, 4 square, dimension are among my favorite 2 inch flipper games. I LOVE 2 inch flipper games with inlanes, there aren't many of them.

Pop/Drop a card is also great fun. I just love the wide open playfield and the art/colors, and it's fun to get a WOW off of a sling. Melody as stated is a good one.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm just not a huge fan of the 60s games. Most of them feel a lot more luck than skill, you often rarely get to use your flippers in any kind of controlled manner.

I've always wanted to try Dimension/2001. And I've heard so many people hype up 4 Square that I feel like I have to play it now.

Also agreed re 60s games. I love most 70s EMs

Even top dollar “accessible” games like Robo-War and TX-Sector would be tough sells in the remake department because they’re such niche collector titles.

I feel like this has changed. Games that once had very small but impassioned followings could sell to a mass audience at a Stern Pro price these days if they were done well.

A lot has changed over the past few years. Thanks really to the tournament scene / explosion of quality streaming, I bet they could sell a ton of those classic hard to find gottliebs, or of course rare Sterns like Quicksilver and Stargzer if they were redone and could be bought new.

Yeah but you've seen the price disconnect people have on single level games. Star Gazer has 3 drop target banks. It'd be a premium game and people would hem and haw while saying "no, not like this"

I really enjoyed 2001 when I got to play it recently, 2" flippers with inlanes (italian bottom?) is a lot of fun. I enjoy 3" flipper games without inlanes, Jumping Jack's one of my favorite 2 player EM's, but I struggle with the short flippers when there's slings right on top of them... just hard to catch and do anything with the ball.

Wish there were more places to play EM's in public. That's by far the best part of visiting the Pinball Hall of Fame, tons of good EMs there.

True. But maybe bond 60th has reset expectations a bit.

If Beatles were released today at $8K I bet the response would be a lot better!

I heard the rumors, but it is not one of the new companies I brought up. Haunted House & Black hole would be the top 2 to do first. Never really liked Spirit, demand for pink Panther, & a bunch of others. Improved sound, speech, & rule sets would help out a lot with remakes.