Average Fun Rating:
Replay wheel maximum: 9
Sound: 3 chimes, knocker. Design by: Ed Krynski Art by: Gordon Morison Notes: 'Spirit of 76' introduced a larger (taller) Gottlieb coin door than games that preceded it, thus the cabinet was deeper as well, making the front legs shorter.
The 2-player version of this game is Gottlieb's 1976 'Pioneer'. A special 2-player Add-a-ball version, Gottlieb's 1976 'New York', was made in celebration of the 1976 lifting of the laws that had banned pinball in New York.
Wayne Neyens told the story at Expo 2005 of back when 'Spirit of 76' was being produced, he and a few colleagues were enjoying after-dinner conversation with Judd Weinberg, the president of D. Gottlieb and Company. While Wayne's colleagues predicted a production run of 2,500 games, or 3,000 games, and other numbers in this range, Wayne remained silent. Judd noticed this and asked Wayne to give his prediction of how long the run would last. When Wayne confidently stated the number would be 10,000 games, an amused Judd promised that if it went that high, he personally would deliver one of the games to Wayne's door. Wayne says that the serial numbering of 'Spirit of 76' began at 3001, and it was serial number 13000 that was stamped on the machine that Judd delivered to Wayne in recognition of the 10,000th game produced. It was the only game that Wayne owned but is now with the Pacific Pinball Museum.
According to Gottlieb production run data identified by Wayne Neyens as handwritten by Bob Malvasio, Gottlieb made 268 Sample games in 1975, then made 10,300 Production games in 1975-76, and 1 game in 1977, for a total of 10,569 games of 'Spirit of 76'. This would account for the known Sample games all having serial numbers that precede 3001, the acknowledged starting number of Production games. Photos in: The Complete Pinball Book, page 309
All About Pinball, page 65
Encyclopedia of Pinball Volume 1, page 229
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book S-Z
Pinball Machines (Eiden-Lukas), page 127
Pinball Portfolio, page 86
Pinball! (Sharpe) page 112
Pinball An Illustrated History, page 70
Owners List URL: //www.pinballowners.com/owners/2293 (External site) Documentation: 2 MB PDF Installation Procedures and Game Operation Instructions (Manual) (Availability limited by copyright) [D. Gottlieb & Co.] 1 MB JPG Schematic Diagram (continuous) (Availability limited by copyright) [D. Gottlieb & Co.] Images:
(click to zoom)
| Flyer 884x1123 | Backglass 800x907 | Playfield 800x1145 | Playfield* 937x686 [Rick Romanin] | Upper Playfield* 1024x686 [Rick Romanin] |
| Backglass 808x686 [Rick Romanin] | Cabinet - Front 780x686 [Rick Romanin] |
Illuminated Playfield* 903x686 [Rick Romanin] | Cabinet - Left 1024x686 [Rick Romanin] | Upper Playfield 640x480 [Ken Hall] |
| Inside Cabinet 480x640 | Under Playfield 480x640 | Backglass 640x480 | Upper Playfield 640x480 | Lower Playfield 640x480 |
| Plastic Shield Set 830x627 | Instruction Card 1024x766 | Illuminated Playfield 960x1280 [Miroslaw Adamczewski] | Pop Bumpers 1024x768 [Miroslaw Adamczewski] | Playfield - Ball View 1024x768 [Miroslaw Adamczewski] |
| Playfield - Detail 1024x768 [Miroslaw Adamczewski] | Star Rollover 1024x768 [Miroslaw Adamczewski] | Illuminated Backglass* 1024x768 [Marco Albus] | Illuminated Front View* 1024x1365 [Marco Albus] | Plastic Shield Set 1200x963 [Jean-Pierre Renault] |
| Backglass 1200x1089 [Steve Corley] | Backbox - Left 705x1181 [John Gray] | Backbox - Right 811x1125 [John Gray] | Cabinet - Right 1139x529 [John Gray] | Inside Backbox 1200x900 [John Gray] |
| Sample Game - Illuminated Backglass* 1200x1087 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Illuminated Playfield* 1200x1756 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Illuminated Playfield* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Illuminated Playfield* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Illuminated Playfield - Downfield View* 1200x1691 [Steve Smith] |
|
Sample Game - Illuminated Playfield - Downfield View* 1200x1360 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Illuminated Upper Playfield* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Illuminated Lower Playfield* 1200x892 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Instruction Card - 3 Ball* 1200x858 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Serial Numbers* 1200x1602 [Steve Smith] |
| Sample Game - Backbox - Left* 1200x2477 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Cabinet - Left* 1200x741 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Cabinet - Front* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Cabinet - Front View* 1074x2500 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Cabinet - Rear* 1200x2106 [Steve Smith] |
| Sample Game - Inside Backbox* 1200x962 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Under Playfield* 1200x1600 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Under Upper Playfield* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Under Upper Playfield - Detail* 1200x1600 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Under Upper Playfield - Detail* 1200x1600 [Steve Smith] |
| Sample Game - Under Middle Playfield* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Under Lower Playfield* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Inside Coin Door* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Inside Cabinet* 1200x1600 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Inside Cabinet* 1200x671 [Steve Smith] |
| Sample Game - Inside Cabinet - Front* 1600x1200 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Inside Cabinet - Rear* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Ball Roll Tilt and Pendulum Tilt* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Total Play Meter* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Sample Game - Chimes* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] |
| Sample Game - Inside Cabinet - Relays* 1200x900 [Steve Smith] | Illuminated Backglass 1200x1123 [Jean-Pierre Renault] | Cabinet - Front View 842x1600 [Jean-Pierre Renault] | Cabinet - Full View 1110x1600 [Jean-Pierre Renault] |