Sputnik 1 – the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 and two years later Gottlieb entered the space race with “Universe”.
“Universe has an enigmatic quality. The game was released in October 1959, two years after Sputnik 1 placed the first human in orbit and a year and a half before U.S. pioneer astronaut Alan Shepard’s historic suborbital space mission.
ACRATEONSTILTS
It’s an iconic homage to American scientific ingenuity, perhaps presciently imagining the first moon-landing to occur a decade later, with its playfield astronaut in ceremonial zero- oxygen equipped attire.
The Mr. Pinball List & Price Guide bestows upon this low production game (only 1,150 made) the coveted “$” icon, designating the game as among the few “significantly collectable” games. The magnificent Roy Parker backglass and playfield art alone is certainly noteworthy.
Indeed, the color pallet and comedic characters, coupled with the highly desirable space-age theme, is a reliable recipe for a successful art package. Add in the backglass animation, which is well-integrated into gameplay, and there’s really nothing in late 1950s pinball which features this impressive array of wonderful aesthetic elements, apart from perhaps Miss Annabelle.
Let’s get going with the restoration. First an overview of the initial condition.
Cabinet Repaint
The cabinet was too far gone. Had to repaint. Looking to achieve that “not so perfect” quick factory finish with “less than perfect” alinement and overspray using custom-made card stock stencils from the original graphics.
Gottlieb design these games in-house but relied on outside companies to provide the artwork for the playfields and the painted cabinets. Back in the day, the cabinet maker simply supplied Gottlieb with cabinets that had various abstract graphics painted on. Gottlieb worked on up to six games a year and never really knew which one would be their next release, so they just used the available cabinets. So there wasn’t much coordination between the playfield and backglass graphics, which were provided by Roy Parker.
Parker was a commercial artist who worked for Advertising Posters, a printing company in Chicago. Chicago was and still is the epicenter of pinball manufacturing. Advertising Posters handled the art for Gottlieb as well as Gottlieb’s major competitor, Williams.
Parker was the artist for 290 Gottlieb machines, providing the artwork for every Gottlieb pinball machine up to his death in 1966.
Other pinball machines featuring the artwork of Roy Parker: https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/roy-parker
The bottom line is you don’t see many pinball machines from this era that have cabinets that match the graphics of the theme. Later in the late 60s and beyond, machines started having more design coordination with the theme.
Cabinet Restoration
- Removed 1970s “woodgrain” contact paper.
- Filled holes.
- Rebuilt back corner with epoxy.
- Made stencils out of poster board to recreate the “overspray” look of the original brass stencils.
- Colors used: Montana Gold Shock Yellow Lite, Montana Gold Shock Red, Montana Gold Shock Blue. Montana Gold are low-pressure spray paints that dry very fast and almost never run. They are less likely to force their way under tape and stencils. You apply them closer than you would with regular spray paint. The “Shock” colors are their most popular stock colors. Keep in mind the paint on the original cabinet yellowed over time.
List of Parts Needed:
- Backglass – Shay Arcade
- New electric cord
- Flippers – four active (https://www.pbresource.com/flippers.html)
- Plunger spring – have in stock
- New plastics set – Shay Arcade
- Rubbers – The Pinball Resource
- Light bulbs (or LEDs) – Comet Pinball or Pinball Resource
Leveling Playfield Inserts
Repair Log
Stardate 01:
Put everything back into the newly painted cabinet to see what’s what after replacing the electrical cord and cleaning up some of the units in the head.
Pleasantly surprised to see the game spring to life! Score reels, flippers, bumpers, and score motor all seem to be working.
Ball release switches were misaligned. This is the area where a mystery phone cord was attached. Unscrewed switch stack and re-screwed.
The “advanced relay” in the head keeps firing. Perhaps something is stuck on?
The “Trip Unit” in the head seems to need some work. Doesn’t want to return very fast. Weak spring?
Stardate 02:
Did some more cleaning of the head units. The credit unit seems to be working fine. Cleaned the trip unit some more and triggered some of the “advance” switches. Singles and fives seemed fine. 10 – 15 triggers caused the unit to go continuously. So whatever that relay controls will need some attention. Otherwise, everything seems to be working except on advance rollover — so I’m continuing to beautify – cleaning the playfield with some Green cleaner, Napha and Novus 1 and 2.
Trying to avoid using a magic eraser since it takes off whatever clear coat is left. Hope to successfully make a playfield protector.
Stardate 03:
Problem with the “Advance 10” and “Advance 15” rollovers. First thought it was a mechanical issue with the trip unit. Cleaned and lubricated. Then traced the wires on the schematic looking at what was keeping the hold relay on. Turned out to be a dirty contact – “2C” on the score motor. Cleaned it with alcohol and a cotton swab. Works!
Now just to work on the playfield cosmetics.
Stardate 04:
Playfield lights are out and the game tilts unexpectedly. Changed the fuse but that did not fix the problem. Going to look at the tilt relay…
Found one loose wire on the relay bank for “Number 1”. Resoldered that connection.
Found a loose wire at the fuse holder that powers the playfield lights. Snipped off the wire. Added a new piece and replace all three fuse holders while I was there. Looked like there was one original and two upgraded ones (at some point).
Fixed the issue? I thought it did until it returned. Something is loose. Power can come on and off via vibration and the tilt triggers. I banged around and tried to find something that would make the power cut off or come back on. Wiggled every wire, every mech. It must be one of the relays…I’ll have to check on the Tilt relay again…
Stardate 05:
Ok now everything is crazy. Hold relay won’t hold. The game won’t start. Found a disconnected wire on the score motor. Reattached that. I think I need to pull the relay board so I can get a better look at the contacts/switches on the score motor.
Fixed – 1 Amp fuse for the reset bar was blown. Now back to the weird tilt issue…
Figured out why the power wasn’t getting to the reset bar and starting a game – PURPLE WIRE top left relay next to the transformer. Very tricky getting the switches right – not much play.
Tilt still happens randomly…
The tilt problem is fixed. The balls were getting jammed up in the ball through, raised the back of the game and fixed that.
“1” light socket wasn’t lighting – soldered the base. Fixed.
The game won’t cut power to the solenoids at the end of the game. Match lights don’t light at the end of the game. Going to look at the ball trough switches and match relay.
Everything is working now. Needed some leveling from side to side and adjusting the ball #5 switch in the ball trough to get the match relay to fire and end the game.
Note: Yellow Dot flippers (hot/stronger than the original) from The Pinball Resource are recommended for the lower flippers by many owners. Steve Young at PBR also offers “warm” or Orange dot flipper coils that are between yellow and original in strength.
Resources:
- Gottlieb Universe by ANDREW KOTSOPEY –
- Gottlieb Universe – Burton, Ohio, United States
- 1959 Gottlieb Universe | EM Pinball Hangout | Pinside.com
- Pinball Parts – The Pinball Resource – https://www.pbresource.com/pfplayfw.htm