Edit History

Theme read off the game's name and subject.

theme

Theme

Fantasy

description

*Gorgar* is a single-player [[technology-generation:electromechanical]] pinball machine assembled by [[manufacturer:mambelli]] — the [[location:italy/fc/cesena]] firm of [[corporate-entity:l-v-mambelli]] — not as an original design but as a *conversion kit*, rebuilding [[manufacturer:gottlieb]]'s 1973 *[[model:jungle-life]]* under borrowed livery. The name it borrowed carried real weight: [[manufacturer:williams]]' 1979 *[[model:gorgar]]* had broken ground as the earliest pinball machine to speak aloud, its playfield pulsing with a heartbeat that quickened as a ball stayed in play.^[1] That original was a four-player [[technology-generation:solid-state]] game with a vocabulary of only seven words;^[2] Mambelli's namesake is its plain inverse — a mute single-player electromechanical cabinet dressed in the [[theme:fantasy]] monster artwork of a celebrated later hit. Reclothing an older Gottlieb chassis in the artwork of a newer American machine was the Cesena firm's habit rather than a single stunt. It reworked a Gottlieb *[[model:tiger]]* into a Mambelli *[[model:buck-rogers]]* finished in backglass and playfield art taken from Gottlieb's own solid-state 1980 game of that name,^[3] and turned a Gottlieb *[[model:space-orbit]]* into a *[[model:kiss-2]]*^[4] — each a one-player conversion dressed up as a flashier, later machine.

1.

Museum of the Game (Arcade Museum) — https://www.arcade-museum.com/Pinball/gorgar

This game was the very first talking pinball. As you play, the sound effect of a heart beating is played in the background and the longer you keep the ball in play the faster the heart beat gets.

2.

Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #1062

Type: Solid State Electronic (SS) [...] Players: 4 [...] It had a vocabulary of seven words

3.

Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #4999

This is a conversion kit for Gottlieb's 1975 'Tiger'. The backglass and playfield art are from the 4-player Solid State Gottlieb's 1980 'Buck Rogers'

4.

Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #5002

A source indicates that this is a conversion of Gottlieb's 1972 'Space Orbit'.

model_relationship

Target machine

Jungle Life (Gottlieb 1973)

Relationship type

Conversion kit

License status

Unknown

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)

tilt.it gives no year; lineage per the source line: Conversion kit for (Gottlieb's 1972) 'Jungle Life', with art after Williams' 1979 'Gorgar' (ipdb 1062). Exactly the L & V Mambelli pattern IPDB documents for its two known machines: Buck Rogers 4999 ('a conversion kit for Gottlieb's 1975 Tiger' with Gottlieb Buck Rogers art) and KISS 5002 ('a conversion of Gottlieb's 1972 Space Orbit' with Bally KISS-style art) - tilt's same page lists 'Kiss (kit for Space Orbit)'. Maker: L & V Mambelli, Cesena (catalog CE l-v-mambelli).; sold as a conversion kit.

corporate_entity

L & V Mambelli

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)

game_format

Pinball

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)

name

Gorgar

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)

player_count

1

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)

slug

gorgar-mambelli

status

active

technology_generation

Electromechanical

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)

title

Gorgar

TILT.IT — https://www.tilt.it/flipper_pinball/ipdb/mambelli

Gorgar (kit for Jungle Life)