Spirit of 76

'Spirit of 76' was based on Bally's 1974 'Flicker', a prototype, and may be the first digital (non-relay based) pinball machine put into production. Or, that distinction may belong to Allied Leisure's 1975 'Rock On'. The playfield was so unattractive that very few were sold. Interestingly, the playfield design appeared previously on Gottlieb's 1972 'Flying Carpet'. This game was presented at the 1975 Music Operators of America exposition (MOA) held in Chicago on October 17-19, 1975 (Per Cash Box dated Nov-1-1975 pages 45-46). It was formally announced in Cash Box dated Nov-8-1975 page 38. The manufacturer flyer states the sounds are produced by an "electronic amplifier and quality speaker" yet shows a game having a chime unit inside its lower cabinet, but possibly the large box in the center of the cabinet is a speaker box to accompany the chimes. There are no holes in the cabinet walls for speaker grills. All of the surviving games for which we have received reports have the chime units, no mention of the large box. These games may or may not have grills mounted in the rear sides of the cabinet, presumably used for sound distribution when they are present, although the chime unit is in the front of the cabinet. The legs are different than the standard size in that they cover almost the full length of the cabinet corners, stopping short of the bottom edge of the metal playfield side rails. All of the playfields have handwritten labels on their undersides. Pictured here is a game (serial number 00109 located on the inside of coin door) with a playfield having unique star-rollover buttons instead of the wire rollovers used on all other known examples. The cabinet was described as made of pressboard. The cabinet legs are standard size, having the tapered "bolt end" covering only the lower half of the cabinet corners. The cabinet is painted entirely white and has no cabinet grills or speaker. We do not know how many of 'Spirit of 76' were produced, but with so few of them in evidence, more information is needed to assess if this 109th game is a prototype. The manufacturer's flyer refers to this game as "The Spirit of '76" while the score card omits "The" from the name. The backglass shows the production name further omits the apostrophe, as "Spirit of 76". In the Files Section is Service Manual PN498 containing a diagnostic procedure for which its expected results are provided in two separate documents: PN498-A1 - Addendum I - for games numbered 002-019. PN498-A2 - Addendum II - for games numbered 020-onward. We are seeking PN498-A1 Addendum I.