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In the mid-1980s, there was a short-lived trend where Gottlieb attempted to make pinball machines with similar themes (even mechanics in some cases) to the ones that Williams & Bally were creating. Monte Carlo was Gottlieb’s answer to Williams’ Millionaire, for instance, and Gottlieb cashed in on the Top Gun craze by releasing Gold Wings while Williams released F-14 Tomcat. The Gottlieb machines of this era have their dedicated fans, and a few of them are on par with their competition. But the biggest outlier to the rule is the two science fiction pinball machines of 1986: Gottlieb released Genesis a few months before Bally’s Strange Science, but I vastly prefer the former machine, and fully understand why it has the following it does.
Though Genesis shares similar concepts to the 1927 film Metropolis, both involving the creation of a robot, the art is symptomatic of 1980s Gottlieb trends with a live-action photograph backglass and startling color contrast throughout the playfield. The layout and its rules, however, are startlingly ahead of their time, strongly resembling the “hit each shot 3 times” idea later popularized by Brian Eddy’s Attack from Mars. While the rules are simple, scoring constantly increases over the course of the game as body parts are completed, and starting multiball compounds the playfield multiplier to result in even higher scores. Genesis is a standout 1980s Gottlieb pinball machine and one that sees frequent use in tournaments as a result.
Assemble a robot by collecting four body parts and then shoot the lifeforce generator to witness its creation. Very loosely inspired by the 1927 silent film, Metropolis.
The playfield of Genesis has two orbits and two ramps, one on each side of the playfield, with the center occupied by top lanes, bumpers, a vari-target, and a 3-bank of drop targets. The left orbit can be lit to collect a BRAIN letter and alternates with the right orbit on slingshot hits, and is the most consistent way of sending the ball to the top lanes besides plunging the ball. The left ramp collects ARMS letters and sends the ball to a saucer that releases the ball shortly below the vari-target into the bumpers; the saucer is where left ramp shots are registered.
The vari-target is also called the lifeforce generator on the playfield and accounts for four positions, awarding increasing points (up to 40k) based on how hard it was shot, and the inlanes can light the vari-target for “spot letter” with a strong shot (one letter in all parts if they are at equal amounts of progress, otherwise one letter in the part that is closest to being completed). A strong shot to the vari-target is also required to activate the lifeforce generator when the white light in front of it is flashing.
Game Over - Genesis (pinball music)
The center drop targets are another method of collecting body parts, but must be completed in order from left to right. Completing the drop targets will always award one letter in all body parts but returns from these targets can be dangerous. Behind the drop targets are four pop bumpers, which score 1k per pop, and three top lanes that collect letters in BODY once the three lanes are unlit (being a Gottlieb table, the goal is to unlight the lanes, not light them all up).
The right side of the playfield is occupied by the right ramp, which collects LEGS letters and is in a mirrored position to that of the left ramp, sending the ball into the right side of the bumpers, where it is generally more likely to hit them. The right orbit collects BRAIN letters when lit by hitting the slingshots, and, unlike the left orbit, sends the ball directly into the bumpers, bypassing the top lanes. Balls that exit the bumpers out of this lane also give credit for the right orbit shot.
Along with the standard slingshots and flippers, Genesis features two kicker targets above the inlanes that can cause ball control to be slightly more difficult on this machine than others of its era. One kicker target is lit at a time for 10k and changes with slingshot hits. These are also where the special is collected, once the robot has been successfully assembled and brought to life.
Scoring on Genesis is very balanced but increases over the course of the game as more and more body parts are completed. Players who complete at least one full body part set typically average a minimum of 2M, and as the game goes on, it becomes easier to score large amounts of points quickly, upwards of 20M if you’re willing to put in the patience and effort.
Body parts are the main source of scoring on Genesis as they increase the playfield multiplier with each one completed in the current robot cycle. The cycle consists of four parts that are collected by hitting different playfield shots:
Duplicates of the same body part can be scored, but only award 50k points instead of advancing the robot cycle. Duplicate letters also don’t apply to the end-of-ball bonus.
Collecting three (or four) unique body parts in a cycle, on the same ball, will award an extra ball. The background music also changes with each body part completed, when multiball starts, or when the lifeforce generator is lit.
Once all four body parts have been completed by spelling them out, the lifeforce insert at the vari-target will be lit. Shooting the vari-target with a strong shot will collect the end-of-ball bonus at its max of 130k, and bring the robot to life with a stunning light show as it is revealed on the panel above the flippers. Then, special will be lit at the kicker targets (alternating with slingshot hits) and a new cycle will start, but the player will keep their playfield multiplier from before!
There are two ways to spot letters in body parts on Genesis without aiming for their respective shots as described above:
Starting multiball on Genesis has a bit of luck to it as it can start at either the left or right ramp, and which ramp is chosen by the machine has no known rhyme or reason to it. Lighting the lock is thankfully simple – just complete a body part in the cycle that hasn’t been collected yet, then shoot whichever ramp has flashing lights surrounding it. Plunge the ball to start multiball; while a ball is in the plunger, electricity will start coursing throughout the table as represented by the light show and sounds.
The lock can’t be lit during multiball, and if the left or right ramp shot that completed ARMS or LEGS also happens to be the lock shot, the ball will automatically be locked. More than one ramp can be lit for lock at a time if two body parts are completed before hitting either ramp to lock the ball.
The biggest benefit of multiball is the “multi-multiplier” which doubles the playfield multiplier described below. Repeatedly sending balls to the bumpers and vari-target during multiball can result in massive points in the late-game, even though their values seem comparatively low during single-ball play. Multiball can also make it safer to aim for the center drop targets and collect body part letters.
Every new body part that is completed during the current robot cycle increases the playfield multiplier, to a max of 16x (32x applying the multi-multiplier described above to it). The playfield multiplier won’t increase when the player collects duplicates of the same part during the robot cycle where one was collected.
The playfield multiplier doesn’t quite apply to everything – it won’t apply to the 50k scored for completing a body part, end-of-ball bonus (even when it is scored by completing the robot), or the compensation scores for extra ball or special. However, it will apply to the scores for the following:
Both extra ball and special are worth 500k if they are disabled. Though these compensation scores can’t be multiplied by the playfield multiplier, they are worth going for and present themselves naturally over the course of the game if the player is focused on completing robot cycles.
The extra ball lights are slightly confusing as there are two of them, so I’ll do my best to explain them. The left light has an outline around it saying, “next part awards extra ball”, and this light starts flashing when you’re one body part away from collecting the extra ball. Once the next body part is collected (that hasn’t been scored in the current cycle), extra ball will instantly be awarded and the right “shoot again” light will start flashing.
Special lights at the left kicker target when the robot is completed with a shot to the lit lifeforce target, or on some settings it lights as soon as the four body parts are completed. The special alternates between kicker targets with slingshot hits and disappears if the ball drains before collecting it.
The end-of-ball bonus resets as soon as you complete the current robot cycle, but 10k is awarded for all body part letters that have been collected in the current cycle, meaning the maximum bonus is 130k. This negligible bonus is also scored when the lifeforce target is hit to complete the current robot cycle.
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