Past Times Pinball History Ep 27: El Dorado Variations

TL;DR

Past Times documents El Dorado playfield reuse across six Gottlieb variants 1975-1984

Summary

Key Claims

• Gold Strike was released in 1975 as an Addall version of El Dorado with lead designer Ed Krinsky and artwork by Gordon Morrison

  high confidence · Host directly states game details with specific credits

• Gottlieb released three versions of the El Dorado playfield in 1975: El Dorado, Gold Strike (Addall), and Lucky Strike (export)

  high confidence · Host explicitly lists the three 1975 variants

• Two four-player versions followed: Target Alpha and Target Alpha featuring Canada Dry

  high confidence · Host describes the subsequent four-player releases

• Solar City was released as a two-player version of the El Dorado layout

  high confidence · Host mentions Solar City in the chronological sequence

• El Dorado City of Gold was released in 1984 under Premier using the same playfield

  high confidence · Host provides year and manufacturer for final variant

• Gottlieb reused the playfield for Fast Draw/Quick Draw on Amazon Hunt a year before El Dorado variants

  medium confidence · Host provides comparison but context of timing is compressed

• Bally reused playfields in the 1960s with Campus Queen, Sheba, Gator, and Alligator

  medium confidence · Host references Bally's historical practice as industry precedent

Notable Quotes

• “three versions as a single player they then followed that up with two four player versions one target Alpha and the other one A variation Target Alpha featuring Canada Dry”

  Past Times Arcade host @ mid-episode — Clearly outlines the variant release strategy for El Dorado across player configurations

• “it's not the first time that Gottlieb reused playfields they reused the playfield for Fast Draw Quick Draw on Amazon Hunt a year earlier also not the first time any company has done this Valley did in the 60s”

  Past Times Arcade host @ late-episode — Contextualizes playfield reuse as standard industry practice, not unique to Gottlieb

• “come on into Pastimes Arcade play Gold Strike as well as some of these other beautiful wedgeheads”

  Past Times Arcade host @ outro — Invitation to visit arcade and experience the featured games; uses period-appropriate terminology

Entities

Topics

Sentiment

neutral(0.5)— Host presents historical facts in educational/archival tone without judgment. Enthusiasm is evident in invitation to play machines but content itself is informational rather than evaluative.