1984 · Gottlieb
Touchdown
Known for Football lanes, Pass targets and Defenders. Dark blue night sky, stadium floodlight bloom and distant city skyline silhouette.
- Year
- 1984
- Maker
- Gottlieb
- Type
- Solid state
- Display
- Alphanumeric
- Players
- 4
Known for
- Lane
Football lanes
- Target
Pass targets
- Target
Defenders
On the playfield
Hole 1
- Bottom saucers saucer
Targets 3
- Pass targets
- Defenders
- Extra ball target
Lanes 2
- Football lanes
- Bottom lanes
On the backglass
Who and what
- man Enormous american-football player, close-up bust filling the frame, white jersey with blue and yellow shoulder stripes, blue helmet with blue face-mask and mylstar brow plate, mouth open, eyes wide, both bare hands raised open-palmed in front of his face
- man Second football player at the right edge, red helmet, white jersey with blue number 75, head tilted down
- man Referee at far left, black cap, black-and-white vertically striped shirt, both arms raised overhead
- creature American football in flight, brown pebbled leather, white laces, red motion streaks
Setting
- Dark blue night sky
- Stadium floodlight bloom
- Distant city skyline silhouette
Text on it
- TOUCHDOWN
- BALL IN PLAY
- CREDITS
- MATCH
- GAME OVER
- A Gottlieb PINBALL GAME
- MYLSTAR
- 75
- TM
- All Rights Reserved
- Mad-Style Enterprises Inc.
How it plays
-
Modes 2
- Run
- Pass mode
Made by
- Design
- John Trudeau
- Art
- Larry Day
Reference
Linked terms
- Football lanes also called Football
- Pass targets also called Pass
- Defenders also called Defense targets
- Bottom saucers also called Lower saucers
Playfield vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Playfield
- green
- blue
- yellow
- red
Fingerprint: Touchdown: green football field with white yard lines and large numerals, round TD touchdown discs up center, arched blue sky panel with exploding orange footballs and stars, four yellow pop-bumper caps with helmeted-player silhouettes, vertical letter columns P-A-S-S left and Q-U-A-R-T-E-R right, two painted footballers in yellow helmets.
The most memorable element is the painted American-football field layout itself: green turf with white yard lines, big 10-to-50 numerals and round TD touchdown discs running up the centre. Second is the arched top panel packed with exploding orange footballs against a deep blue starfield, over four yellow pop-bumper caps printed with a black helmeted-player silhouette. Third, the mirrored side lettering: round P-A-S-S targets down the left lane and Q-U-A-R-T-E-R down the right, with a single B round and a single L round below them. Fourth, the huge gold three-striped V of chevrons dominating the lower apron between the two slingshots.
Setting
- Green turf football field with white yard lines
- Deep blue starfield arch across the top of the playfield
- Pale grey cabinet and side rails
- Cream instruction card on the lower apron
Symbols
- Playing-card-style suits removed; instead round letter inserts p, a, s, s
- Round q, u, a, r, t, e, r letter inserts
- Td touchdown discs
- Footballs
- Star badges
- Chevron stripes
- Yellow/red lane guide arrows
- Red circular defense arrows
- Blue dome lamps
- Small green football shape on the lower-right apron
Notable shapes
- Arched top opening framing the starfield
- Four identical round yellow bumper caps
- Large gold v of nested chevrons
- Long narrow angled guide rails forming a wide v into the lower field
- Triangular blue-tinted plastics flanking the lower field
- Elliptical orange target holes on the lower left and lower right lanes
Art motifs
- Yard-line grid
- Touchdown targets
- Four-star progression
- Pass and quarter accumulation
- Score-multiplier badges
Themes
- American football
- Gridiron
- Touchdown
- Sports
- Score attack
Title on it
- Touchdown
Text on it
- F O R T Y
- SPECIAL MULTI
- PASS
- QUARTER
- DEFENSE
- B
- L
- ACTIVATE PASS
- AND FLASHING
- TD
- 50
- 40
- 30
- 20
- 10
- SHOOT AGAIN
- HOW TO PLAY
- TOUCHDOWN
- 5 BALLS PER PLAY
- Score touchdowns by passing yardage with the sphere targets
- Get further yardage with the sphere targets by activating the PASS feature
- 1) Complete either set of P-A-S-S spot targets
- 2) Land ball in flashing hole near flippers
- 3) Hit the sphere target that is now lit for PASS
- SPECIAL
- Completing the P-O-O-T-B-A-L-L red letter sequence lights one SPECIAL lane. Use right flipper button to enable the P-O-O-T-B-A-L-L lights.
- EXTRA BALL
- Every third touchdown activates the EXTRA BALL target
- Kottlieb
- 1 REPLAY FOR EACH SCORE OF 400,000 POINTS
- 1 REPLAY FOR EACH SCORE OF 1,100,000 POINTS
- 3 REPLAYS FOR BEATING HIGH SCORE TO DATE
- A 32942
- A 29213
- START
- READY
- TILT
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Other | Two painted american-football players, one on each side lane, both in yellow/gold helmets with dark face masks, gold shoulder pads and gold uniforms with white socks; the left figure leans forward in a running stance, the right figure mirrors it running inwards, both drawn in flat cartoon outline with heavy black contouring. |
| Other | Small black silhouetted helmeted-player heads printed on the four yellow pop-bumper caps, and on the round td discs and the gold v apron, used as repeated emblem motifs. |
| Other | Numerous painted orange-brown american footballs, some exploding into yellow starbursts, scattered across the blue upper arch. |
A late-1960s/early-1970s electro-mechanical football (gridiron) themed playfield photographed with its cabinet, photographed head-on with strong reflections on the glass. The field is a green turf rectangle marked with white yard lines and large cream numerals 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 running up each side of a central dashed centre stripe, with round illuminated TD (touchdown) target discs set into the turf. At the top an arched dark-blue sky panel is crowded with orange and yellow exploding footballs, stars, and puffy cloud bursts; four round yellow plastic pop-bumper caps carry a black football-player silhouette logo, flanked by five vertical lane guides lit by red and yellow bulbs, and small star badges spell F O R T Y. Two red-hooped targets marked SPECIAL MULTI sit either side of the bumpers. Down both side lanes run vertical columns of round letter targets spelling P A S S (left) and Q U A R T E R (right), with round B and L inserts below them, plus arrows reading DEFENSE and yellow banners reading ACTIVATE PASS AND FLASHING. Two painted footballers in yellow helmets and pads, one per side, appear in running poses flanking the mid-field. Lower down two red-tipped white slingshots, a round SHOOT AGAIN hole, and a large gold V of chevron stripes span the apron area, which carries a large 'Kottlieb' maker's logo with a flower/star emblem, plus a cream HOW TO PLAY instruction card and the cabinet front with START and READY buttons.
Backglass vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- red
- yellow
- blue
- brown
Fingerprint: TOUCHDOWN in red slab-serif with yellow keyline, colossal close-up football player reaching for brown spinning football, blue face-mask helmet with MYLSTAR, hands cross-hatched catching, tiny referee at left edge, dark blue night sky
A giant American-football player reaching up with two oversized cross-hatched hands to catch a spinning brown leather football that hangs at the top right, its white laces clearly drawn. The word TOUCHDOWN in huge red slab-serif capitals with a thick yellow keyline runs the entire width across his face and chest. A tiny black-and-white striped referee with both arms thrown up stands at the far left edge, dwarfed by the player. The hero wears a blue face-mask helmet whose brow plate is lettered MYLSTAR, and a white jersey showing a blue shoulder number. Green alphanumeric score windows are inset into the artwork, and one brown oval bezel on the right reads GAME OVER.
Setting
- Dark blue night sky
- Stadium floodlight bloom
- Distant city skyline silhouette
Symbols
- Football
- Helmet and face-mask
- Stadium floodlights
- Stars
- Referee stripes
- Gold star emblem beside the copyright line
Lettering
- Extra-bold condensed slab-serif capitals, red fill with thick yellow keyline and heavy black outline
Themes
- American football
- Sports
- Touchdown
- Ball catching
- Stadium
Title on it
- Touchdown
Text on it
- TOUCHDOWN
- BALL IN PLAY
- CREDITS
- MATCH
- GAME OVER
- A Gottlieb PINBALL GAME
- MYLSTAR
- 75
- TM
- All Rights Reserved
- Mad-Style Enterprises Inc.
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Man | Enormous american-football player, close-up bust filling the frame, white jersey with blue and yellow shoulder stripes, blue helmet with blue face-mask and mylstar brow plate, mouth open, eyes wide, both bare hands raised open-palmed in front of his face |
| Man | Second football player at the right edge, red helmet, white jersey with blue number 75, head tilted down |
| Man | Referee at far left, black cap, black-and-white vertically striped shirt, both arms raised overhead |
| Creature | American football in flight, brown pebbled leather, white laces, red motion streaks |
A transfer-lit backglass with cream and blue borders, dominated by a colossal close-up of an American-football player in a white jersey with blue and yellow shoulder stripes, a blue face-mask helmet with a small MYLSTAR label on the brow, and a brown pebbled leather football with white laces arcing across the top right as though flying at him. His two bare hands, drawn with heavy cross-hatching, are raised open-palmed in front of his face to catch it, mouth open and eyes wide. Across the whole middle sits the huge title TOUCHDOWN in fat slab-serif capitals, bright red fill with a thick yellow keyline and a black outline. Two small figures flank the art: at far left a referee in a black cap and black-and-white striped shirt with both arms raised, and at right a second player in a red helmet and white jersey with the number 75 visible. The background is a dark blue night sky with stadium light bloom. Rectangular score windows are cut into the glass, with green alphanumeric displays, and brown oval instruction bezels run down the right side.