# Episode 275 - 1935 Gottlieb Liberty Bell **Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2015-12-11 **Duration:** 9m 21s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-275-1935-gottlieb-liberty-bell --- ## Analysis Nick Baldridge analyzes the 1935 Gottlieb Liberty Bell payout game, detailing its gameplay mechanics, the mint vendor disguise used to avoid gambling regulations, and playfield design. He compares it to Match Play and discusses the clever regulatory workaround of including a mint vending function to make the machine appear non-gambling. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Liberty Bell was designed by Gottlieb to honor Charles Fay, inventor of the original slot machine Liberty Bell — _Nick Baldridge, citing IPDB documentation_ - [HIGH] The mint vendor was invented by Edmund Fay and made of cast aluminum, actuated by solenoid — _Nick Baldridge, citing IPDB and historical documentation_ - [MEDIUM] Match Play (the game discussed the previous day) offered up to 20 coins as payout value — _Nick Baldridge, reference to previous episode_ - [HIGH] The mint vendor was used primarily on slot machines but could be adapted to other devices like pinball — _Nick Baldridge, describing vendor design flexibility_ - [HIGH] Other 1935 Gottlieb games like Plus and Minus also had mint vendors, which can cause misidentification — _Nick Baldridge, citing IPDB notes_ ### Notable Quotes > "to disguise the straight-up gambling nature of this particular machine, Gottlieb put a mint vendor on the front of the game" > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~2:30 > _Explains the regulatory workaround strategy that defines Liberty Bell's design_ > "it's just such an obvious ploy to completely skirt the letter of the law, but it's not actually skirting the spirit of the law, which is to prevent having gambling devices" > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~3:15 > _Critical commentary on how manufacturers exploited legal language to operate gambling machines_ > "David Gottlieb put Liberty Bell on this game in honor of Charles Fay, the inventor of the original slot machine, Liberty Bell" > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~4:00 > _Establishes the historical connection and naming rationale for the game_ > "Its view window was supposed to permanently display five packages of mints to give the impression that the vendor was always full" > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~5:30 > _Details the theatrical design of the mint vendor as part of the regulatory disguise_ > "I think this is a cool piece, but I feel like the gameplay of match play would be a bit better than this game" > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~12:30 > _Personal assessment of relative gameplay quality between two similar payout games_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Nick Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only podcast, pinball historian specializing in EM and bingo games | | Liberty Bell | game | 1935 Gottlieb electromechanical payout pinball machine | | Gottlieb | company | Major historical pinball and gaming machine manufacturer | | Charles Fay | person | Inventor of the original slot machine, the Liberty Bell, for whom the Gottlieb game was named | | Edmund Fay | person | Inventor of the mint vendor mechanism used on Liberty Bell and other machines | | David Gottlieb | person | Founder/designer at Gottlieb, chose to honor Charles Fay in Liberty Bell game design | | Match Play | game | 1935 Gottlieb payout game discussed in the previous episode, similar to Liberty Bell | | Plus and Minus | game | 1935 Gottlieb game also featuring mint vendor, can be confused with Liberty Bell | | For Amusement Only | organization | Podcast focused on EM and bingo pinball games | | IPDB | organization | Internet Pinball Database, referenced for historical game documentation | ### Topics - **Primary:** Regulatory circumvention in vintage pinball, Mint vendor mechanism and design, 1935 Gottlieb payout games - **Secondary:** Playfield design and gameplay mechanics, Historical pinball engineering, Comparisons between Liberty Bell and Match Play - **Mentioned:** Cabinet design and construction ### Sentiment **Neutral** (0) ### Signals - **[historical_signal]** Documentation of how Gottlieb used mint vendor technology to disguise gambling machines as legitimate vending devices to circumvent anti-gambling laws (confidence: high) — Detailed explanation of mint vendor function and its role in legal gray area; IPDB documentation cited - **[design_innovation]** Edmund Fay's mint vendor mechanism, originally designed for slot machines, was adapted for use on pinball machines (confidence: high) — Cast aluminum solenoid-actuated vendor; leaf blade switch design; view window for display - **[historical_signal]** Analysis of Liberty Bell playfield layout with dual-area design, skill shot mechanics, and match-play payout structure (confidence: high) — Detailed playfield description; comparison to Match Play from previous episode - **[restoration_signal]** IPDB-documented Liberty Bell example lacks mint vendor; speculation about whether it was removed due to player/operator preference or repurposed to another game (confidence: medium) — Nick notes vendor's large footprint may have made it unpopular at locations; questions motivations for removal - **[community_signal]** Detailed archival documentation and analysis of obscure 1930s pinball mechanics by specialized podcast community (confidence: high) — Deep technical breakdown of leaf blade switches, solenoid operation, cabinet modifications across similar games - **[historical_signal]** Gottlieb deliberately named Liberty Bell game to honor Charles Fay, inventor of the original slot machine (confidence: high) — Direct citation that 'David Gottlieb put Liberty Bell on this game in honor of Charles Fay' --- ## Transcript What's that sound? It's For Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to For Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. Talking about payout again tonight. Wanted to talk about another Gottlieb payout game. This time, it's 1935's Liberty Bell. Liberty Bell is a pretty interesting game. Let's go over the gameplay here. You put in your money and you get ten shots. With your first shot, ideally, you'll land in the uppermost pocket, right at the top of the playfield, which is marked as a skill hole. It's worth 5,000 points. With your additional balls, you're trying to land in two identically valued pockets. littered throughout the playfield. If you do those things, then you will earn a certain amount of coins. Now this game doesn't mention how much you earn, but I'm sure it's fairly similar to yesterday's topic, match play. Up to 20 coins was the value on that one. Now, on this one, there's a couple of interesting notes. The first is, to disguise the straight-up gambling nature of this particular machine, Gottlieb put a mint vendor on the front of the game. Now, this was a common tactic for folks who were trying to show that the games were, in fact, not gambling. You earn something every time that you put in money. In fact, its primary function is to vend you a roll of mints. It's not to play a game. That's just, that ancillary No one cares about that They just want the mints obviously This is one of my favorite little tricks along with the skill lane in later Bally One Ball horse race games where there's no skill at all involved. It just captures four balls. This ranks right up there because it's just such an obvious ploy to completely skirt the letter of the law, but it's not actually skirting the spirit of the law, which is to prevent having gambling devices. So, in this case, the vendor itself is of particular interest, and that's because David Gottlieb put Liberty Bell on this game in honor of Charles Fay, the inventor of the original slot machine, Liberty Bell. IPDB also notes that in addition the mint vendors carried the Liberty Bell design this can lead to misidentifying other Gottlieb games that also have this mint vendor as an example they say to see another game from 1935 Gottlieb's plus and minus now the mint vendor was actuated by a solenoid and it was made out of cast aluminum It was invented by Edmund Fay and was used primarily on slot machines, although its design allowed for its use on other devices such as this pinball machine. Its view window was supposed to permanently display five packages of mints to give the impression that the vendor was always full. Pretty neat idea. Now, looking at the playfield, there are again two separate areas, however, you enter from the same spot every time. There's not actually a way to enter the lower playfield area straight off the plunge. Now the playfield design has a Liberty Bell up at the top right underneath the skill shot which instead of being called the skill hole is called the skill shot and arranged in a horseshoe pattern pointing up, you have the various trap holes, and then on the lower playfield where the values repeat, you have a horseshoe pointing downwards, there is a way to get a dead ball there's a trough down at the bottom marked out so you want to be careful about that ideally you'll have balls in a few different matches since you have 10 shots to try and get this done if you discount one that goes in the skill shot then you're down to nine. One ball there's no way to match, but the other eight you could use to match. So those are pretty good odds, although the playfield design makes it so it's rather unlikely that even with eight tries or nine, you know, just giving it to you there, nine tries, that you'll actually get matches. Now, I had talked yesterday about the cabinet design of Match Play. This has the same cabinet graphics on the left and right hand side as on Match Play, but the cabinet design itself is slightly different. The payout drawer, instead of being lockable, is not lockable, and the front of the game is extended a bit. Now, I'm not sure if that was just to contain additional hardware, or why exactly. It needed to be extended. The coin slot is on the left, and you've got a lifter and plunger on the right. Current is carried to the mint vendor by a little cutout in the bottom front of the machine in which are mounted three individual leaf blade switches They don have contact points it just the blades themselves which carry the current And when you plug the mint vendor in, it basically has three other leaf contacts, and they just nestled together, and through the use of pressure, the electricity has a path to flow. Now, the one pictured on IPDB does not have the mint vendor attached, and who knows why that is, if it was removed from the location because they didn't like it, didn't care for or didn't need it, or if it was removed to put on another game, which is certainly a possibility. Now the mint vendor, as shown on the promotional image or on the flyer, is humongous. So I could see why someone might want to remove that, because it takes up a huge amount of real estate in an area where you kind of need to stand. It doesn't come out as far as the coin slide, but it comes out pretty far, and it's right beside the lifter and plunger. I mean, directly beside. So I think this is a cool piece, but I feel like the gameplay of match play would be a bit better than this game. It's hard to say without having played either, though. So, there is that. Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com, or you can call me on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS-1, 724-246-4671. You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter, at bingopodcast. you can follow me on instagram at bingo podcast as well or you can listen to us on our website which is for amusement only.libsyn.com thank you very much for listening and i'll talk to you next time _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 4224b4a2-0b54-43e6-a368-f997b4ea0f0a*