# Episode 276 - 1935 Gottlieb Plus and Minus **Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2015-12-12 **Duration:** 7m 4s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-276-1935-gottlieb-plus-and-minus --- ## Analysis Nick Baldridge analyzes Gottlieb's 1935 payout game Plus and Minus, a follow-up to Liberty Bell that featured positive/negative-labeled playfield holes, a Liberty Bell mint vendor, and an early stepper-based payout mechanism. The episode focuses on the game's mechanical design, regulatory workarounds (the mint vendor to avoid gambling accusations), and tilt mechanism, while acknowledging uncertainty about the exact gameplay rules. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Plus and Minus was the follow-on game to Liberty Bell and reused the same Liberty Bell graphic and mint vendor — _Nick Baldridge, episode opening_ - [HIGH] The game had 10 balls and each playfield hole was labeled with either a positive or negative value and a picture — _Nick Baldridge describing playfield design_ - [HIGH] The mint vendor served as a legal workaround for gambling accusations by ensuring players received something (mints) for every coin inserted — _Nick Baldridge explaining regulatory mechanism_ - [HIGH] The game used a needle tilt mechanism similar to Looney Tunes cartoons that would void scores if triggered — _Nick Baldridge describing tilt mechanism_ - [HIGH] The payout system used a brass tube to hold coins from the coin slide, with a solenoid that both dropped coins and stepped a stepper unit when matches were detected — _Nick Baldridge analyzing IPDB photos of intact payout setup_ - [MEDIUM] The stepper design in Plus and Minus was an early version before Gottlieb fully refined stepper design — _Nick Baldridge comparative analysis of stepper technology_ - [HIGH] The exact gameplay goal and matching rules for Plus and Minus are unknown — _Nick Baldridge acknowledging documentation gaps_ ### Notable Quotes > "Now it's called Plus and Minus because each hole labeled on the playfield that can trap one of your balls, and you have 10 on this game, is labeled with either a positive value or a negative value." > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~1:00 > _Explains the core design concept and naming of the game_ > "You couldn't argue that you were gambling because really what you were doing was buying mints and you got the opportunity to win back the money that you paid for the mints. Who wouldn't love that?" > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~4:30 > _Highlights the clever regulatory workaround mechanism used by Gottlieb during the era of anti-gambling pressure_ > "The needle tilt mechanism which are very cool. They remind me of older Looney Tunes cartoons but they're essentially an arrow that says okay on one side and if it moves to the left it'll say tilted." > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~5:15 > _Describes a distinctive mechanical feature with cultural reference_ > "I would love to have one of these early payout games. This one in particular is really beautiful as is Liberty Bell, especially because of that fancy tilt mechanism. And the mint vendor just takes the cake." > — **Nick Baldridge**, ~9:00 > _Expresses collector appreciation and highlights appeal of the machine's design features_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Nick Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast; expert in electromechanical and bingo pinball history and mechanics | | Gottlieb | company | Historical pinball manufacturer; produced Plus and Minus and Liberty Bell in 1935 | | Plus and Minus | game | Gottlieb payout game from August 1935; follow-up to Liberty Bell; featured positive/negative labeled holes and mint vendor | | Liberty Bell | game | Gottlieb payout game preceding Plus and Minus; shared graphics and mint vendor mechanism with Plus and Minus | | Matchplay | game | Gottlieb game that used the same cabinet graphics as Liberty Bell and Plus and Minus | | For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast hosted by Nick Baldridge covering electromechanical and bingo pinball history and mechanics | | IPDB | organization | Internet Pinball Database; referenced as source for photographs of Plus and Minus machines | ### Topics - **Primary:** Electromechanical payout game design and mechanics, Gottlieb historical game development (1935 era), Regulatory workarounds and gambling law compliance in early pinball, Early stepper and tilt mechanism technology - **Secondary:** Pinball collector appreciation and preservation, Documentation gaps and historical research challenges ### Sentiment **Neutral** (0) ### Signals - **[historical_signal]** Deep analysis of 1935 Gottlieb payout game mechanics, stepper technology, and regulatory compliance features (confidence: high) — Episode dedicated to technical breakdown of Plus and Minus mechanisms, stepper design, and coin payout system from IPDB documentation - **[design_innovation]** Mint vendor mechanism designed as legal gambling workaround, ensuring players received tangible goods for every coin (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge's explanation of mint vendor function: 'You couldn't argue that you were gambling because really what you were doing was buying mints' - **[design_innovation]** Early electromechanical tilt mechanism using visual needle indicator with 'okay' and 'tilted' states (confidence: high) — Description of needle tilt design and comparison to Looney Tunes cartoons - **[design_philosophy]** Analysis of pre-refined stepper design in Plus and Minus, indicating Gottlieb was still developing stepper technology in 1935 (confidence: medium) — Nick Baldridge: 'the stepper unit that's shown in this picture you can tell is before Gottlieb really got the design of steppers down cold' - **[restoration_signal]** IPDB photographs of intact payout setup enabled detailed mechanical analysis and documentation of functional systems (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge references IPDB photos to analyze and explain payout mechanism in detail - **[collector_signal]** Nick Baldridge expresses strong collector interest in early payout games, particularly Plus and Minus and Liberty Bell for their mechanical beauty (confidence: high) — Quote: 'I would love to have one of these early payout games. This one in particular is really beautiful' - **[historical_signal]** Uncertainty about exact gameplay objectives and matching rules for Plus and Minus despite detailed mechanical knowledge (confidence: high) — Nick Baldridge: 'I have no idea what your goal is. If you're trying to get 100 points... I don't know.' --- ## Transcript What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. Tonight I wanted to talk about yet another Gottlieb payout game. This is August of 1935's Plus and Minus. Plus and minus was the follow on game to Libertybell and in fact it used the same libertybell graphic at the top of the playfield and the same libertybell mint vendor which as I mentioned in last episode caused some confusion as to the actual title of this game. Now it's called plus and minus because each hole labeled on the playfield that can trap Knapp one of your balls, and you have 10 on this game, is labeled with either a positive value or a negative value. Now, unfortunately, I have no idea what your goal is. If you're trying to get 100 points, if you're trying to get a specific value, if you're trying to get matches on either positive or negative, I don't know. but what I do know is that the playfield has a variety of holes each of which is labeled with both the number again either positive or negative and a picture now I assuming because each hole has a picture that this is actually a matching game Similar to Gottlieb two previous efforts But I have no guarantee of that Down at the bottom of the playfield, there's actually a free play hole and if you land in that the ball actually just returns to you, similar to the ball return on a ballybingo. Now the cabinet on this game used the same cabinet graphic as Libertybell and Matchplay before it with the stripes. The wood itself is much lighter than the colors used on the previous two efforts. Now let's talk mechanisms. I mentioned at the top of the episode that this game had the same Libertybell mint vendor that the previous game did. So every time that you put in a coin, it would actually give you a roll of mints, whether you wanted them or not. The reason for this is so that you got something for every coin that you put in. You couldn't argue that you were gambling because really what you were doing was buying mints and you got the opportunity to win back the money that you paid for the mints. Who wouldn't love that? Now this game has a needle tilt mechanism which are very cool They remind me of older Looney Tunes cartoons but there essentially an arrow that say okay on one side and if it moves to the left it'll say tilted if it's tilted then uh... your score is void and you don't get your payout now I mentioned in yesterday's episode that I didn't know how the payout functioned exactly but luckily there are a ton of pictures of plus and minus on IPDB this person has an intact payout setup and i can tell you exactly how it works there's essentially brass tube that each penny or nickel goes into straight from the coin slide and that tube contains all the money which is used to pay out Now the way it works is when it detects a match then the game will activate this gigantic solenoid which apparently has two functions it will allow a coin to drop and also step a stepper now the stepper unit that shown in this picture you can tell is before godly really uh got the design of steppers down cold yes it a stepper as you might Fast vario Kind cortex Knapp golden sullaphony altijd knights tip This is obviously counting the number of coins that is paid out and it will stop at a preset amount based on which two items on your playfield you matched. I think it's super cool. I would love to have one of these early payout games. This one in particular is really beautiful as is Liberty Bell especially because of that Fancy tilt mechanism. And the mint vendor just takes the cake. Who doesn't love mints? And the way it's designed, it's supposed to give the appearance of always being chock full of mints. 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-BINGOS1, 724-246-4671 You can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at bingopodcast. You can follow me on Instagram also at bingopodcast or you can listen to us on our website which is foramusementonly.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: 8119290f-3cdc-4ce2-9247-e55a4a9a327a*