The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb, 1980): Faults & System 80 Boards

Is your The Amazing Spider-Man pinball by Gottlieb (1980) refusing to start, losing the displays and sound after a few minutes of play, stuck on ball 1 because the drain never registers, showing a tilt that stays locked at power-up, or dropping half its playfield switches? These are the classic complaints on this machine, and on a Gottlieb System 80 they nearly always come back to the grounds, the connectors and the ageing CPU and Driver boards rather than anything exotic. Here is what owners have actually found on this game, plus a board-compatibility trap specific to Spider-Man that catches people out.

About The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb, 1980)

See it: full photo gallery for The Amazing Spider-Man on IPDB (#2285) — backglass, playfield, cabinet and original flyer scans. Useful for checking your playfield art against a clean original.

Gottlieb released The Amazing Spider-Man in May 1980 as model 653, and built around 7,625 units — a big run, which is why so many survive. Ed Krynski did the design and Gordon Morison the artwork, a pairing responsible for a long list of Gottlieb games either side of the solid-state changeover.

It was Gottlieb's second Marvel licence, after The Incredible Hulk. Morison worked from Marvel's own character style guides, which is why the poses look right rather than approximated, and the cast is unusually deep for a 1980 playfield: Kingpin, the Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, the Black Widow, the Vulture, the Scorpion, the Lizard — and Aunt May.

Technically it is an early and slightly unusual System 80. The cabinet is a 24-inch widebody with four flippers and no centre post, which gives it a faster, more open feel than most games of the period. It carries four six-digit vacuum fluorescent displays, and it was the first Gottlieb machine with an attract-mode light show — the thing every machine does now, starting here. Gottlieb also moved the speaker up into the backbox rather than leaving it in the cabinet floor, which matters when you are diagnosing sound faults and expecting to find it underneath.

There is a good story attached, too: Stan Lee owned one of the first machines off the line, kept it in his Marvel office and later auctioned it, describing the "countless frustrating yet perversely enjoyable hours" he spent on it.

All of which makes it a wanted machine. Pinside's estimate puts a Spider-Man at roughly $2,770–$3,230, noticeably above most System 80 titles — the licence, the artwork and the four-flipper layout all help.

• Manufacturer: D. Gottlieb & Co.
• Released: May 1980
• Model number: 653
• Production run: approx. 7,625 units
• Design: Ed Krynski
• Artwork: Gordon Morison
• Electronic system: Gottlieb System 80 (early, first-generation CPU board)
• Type: solid state, 24" widebody, 4 players
• Playfield: 4 flippers, no centre post, drop targets, pop bumpers, pop-out holes; no ramps, no multiball
• Displays: four 6-digit vacuum fluorescent
• Theme: Marvel — Spider-Man (second Gottlieb Marvel licence, after The Incredible Hulk)

Common faults on Gottlieb System 80

The platform-wide problems first, because every System 80 gets them eventually.

The battery on the CPU board is the big one. Gottlieb soldered a NiCad cell straight to the board, and forty-odd years later it leaks. The electrolyte tracks along the traces and under the IC sockets, and what you can see on the surface is usually less than what is happening underneath. If your Spider-Man still has its original battery, take it off today.

The grounding is the second, and on this machine it is close to a prerequisite. Gottlieb's System 80 ground scheme is one of the worst of the era — grounds daisy-chained through harness connectors that were never rated for it. As they age you get resets, lock-ups and symptoms that follow no logic at all. Doing the ground mods (proper heavy-gauge wire run directly between the boards) is the first job on a Spider-Man, not the last. Chasing anything else first tends to waste a weekend.

Third, connectors. The 0.156" edge connectors and IDC-style pins oxidise, lose tension and stop making reliable contact. On this game specifically, that is the single most productive place to look — see below.

After that: tired CPU logic, a power supply that no longer holds 5 V under load, coil drive transistors failing short, and displays losing segments.

Problems specific to The Amazing Spider-Man

The following come from owners posting on Pinside and Pinball Nirvana — recurring reports rather than isolated oddities. Threads are linked in Sources at the foot of the page.

Half the switches have gone: look at A1-J6

This is the most useful thing on this page. An owner had a machine where pop-out holes 2 and 3 were dead, the pop bumpers did nothing, drop target switches worked intermittently, a star rollover worked and then stopped, and the "Same Player Shoots Again" lamps would not light — a spread of faults that looks like several separate problems.

The switch diagnostic reported codes 1, 40 and 42, with all eight SW42 switch locations reading open. That pattern — whole groups of switches missing rather than individual ones — is the clue. The cause was the A1-J6 edge connector, which carries the switch wiring across to the driver board. Reseating it helped; replacing it fixed it properly. Corroded IDC pins simply were not passing switch closures through.

The full repair on that machine is worth copying if yours is in similar shape:

• Replace corroded edge connector pins with new crimp-style contacts.
• Re-pin A1J5, A1J6, A3J2, A3J5 and A6J1.
• Clean the driver board edge contacts with a pink eraser.
• Run proper 18-gauge wire for ground and +5 V to the interconnect harness.
• Replace the ageing 12,000 µF 25 V filter capacitor.

If you have a scattered, nonsensical set of switch faults on a Spider-Man, start at A1-J6. It is a far more likely answer than a failing CPU.

The CPU board generation trap

A genuine compatibility issue, and one worth knowing before you buy a replacement or a used board. Spider-Man is an early System 80 and shipped with the first-generation CPU board (part number PB03-D102-001), which uses masked PROMs. The second-generation board (PB03-D107-001), as fitted to later games such as Haunted House, is not a drop-in swap — an owner who fitted one found it carried a 669/2 chip that simply would not run Spider-Man.

Their workaround was to combine the Spider-Man PROM 1 and PROM 2 images into a single file, burn it to a 2716 EPROM and fit that in the PROM 1 socket. It works, but it is a reminder to check the part number on any board before you buy it, particularly second-hand. If you tell us which board you have, we will confirm the fit before anything ships.

No sound at all — check the speaker itself

Sound faults on this game send people straight to the sound board, and that is often wrong. One owner with completely dead audio — no hum, no crackle, nothing — measured the speaker and found no reading at all instead of the expected 8 ohms. The speaker had failed open. Replacing it restored sound.

Remember the speaker is in the backbox on this machine, not the cabinet floor. Measure it before you suspect the board — it takes two minutes. While you are in there, check the F5 power supply fuse holder, which the same owner found making a weak connection.

Stuck on ball 1

The game plays, the ball drains, and nothing happens — it stays on ball 1 indefinitely. The outhole switch is not registering the drain. Check its contacts and adjustment first; if it is clean and still not reading, you are back to the switch wiring and A1-J6 above.

Kickers score but will not eject

Another reported pattern: the hole kickers register a score but never kick the ball out, and several targets score inconsistently despite good contacts. In that case the diagnostic solenoid test fired the kickers normally, and grounding the transistor lug by hand fired them too — which points away from the coils and transistors and back towards the board and its ROM configuration. On that machine the root cause turned out to be the CPU board mismatch described above.

Displays and sound drop out mid-game

The game stays playable but the displays and sound disappear after a period of play. This is the classic signature of the CPU losing its way — the processor wanders off and stops servicing the display and sound. Grounds and connectors are the first suspects; if the board is corroded from the battery, it may not be worth saving.

The rest of the list

• Tilt lit or tilt relay stuck at power-up — some machines need the on/off switch flipped several times to boot. Grounds again.
• A coin switch locking the game, leaving blank white displays and needing a reboot.
• The large orange capacitor — replace it if it is still the original.
• Sound going muddled after a few minutes of running, reported alongside power supply capacitors near the transformer needing replacement.
• Pop bumpers locking on or refusing to fire.

Replacement boards that fit The Amazing Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a Gottlieb System 80 game, so the System 80 / 80A / 80B board set applies — but read the CPU generation note above before ordering anything second-hand. We test every board before it ships and support it afterwards; send us the part numbers printed on your existing boards and we will confirm what fits.

• GottFA80_Plus (Light) — all-in-one CPU + Driver + power supply, without sound.
• GottFA80_Plus (Full) — the same board with the sound section integrated.
• Gosof — replacement sound board. Spider-Man is a pre-speech System 80, so the non-speech version is the one you want here.
• Godri80 — replacement Driver board, where the coil drive transistors live.
• Lisy80 — CPU board with web-based diagnostics. Particularly worth it on this game: it shows switch states in a browser, which makes the A1-J6 hunt above dramatically quicker than working through test mode by hand.
• GoPOP80 — pop bumper driver board, replacing the original MA-922 / A-19741. Relevant if your pop bumpers are locking on.

The Lisy80 is built on LISY, a free DIY project by an independent developer — full credit to them, and the project documentation is at lisy.dev.

A replacement board clears several of the faults above at once — a rebuilt supply, fresh drive transistors, and no battery means no future corrosion. What it will not fix is a corroded A1-J6 connector, a dead speaker or a dirty outhole switch. Do the connectors and the grounds as well; on this machine they matter more than the board does.

Installation is Plug & Play, no soldering, with tutorials and free support. Get in touch if you are unsure which board you have.

FAQ — The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb, 1980)

Lots of switches on my Spider-Man have stopped working at once. Where do I start?
The A1-J6 edge connector, which carries the switch wiring to the driver board. Whole groups of switches dropping out — rather than individual ones — is the signature of corroded pins there. Reseat it, and replace it if that does not hold.

My Spider-Man has no sound at all. Is the sound board dead?
Check the speaker first. It sits in the backbox on this game, and owners have found it reading open instead of about 8 ohms. A failed speaker gives you exactly the same silence as a failed board, and costs far less to fix.

Why is my Spider-Man stuck on ball 1?
The outhole switch is not registering the drain, so the game never advances. Clean and adjust it; if it still does not read, the fault is in the switch wiring, which points back to A1-J6.

Can I fit any System 80 CPU board to a Spider-Man?
No. Spider-Man uses the first-generation board (PB03-D102-001) with masked PROMs. The second-generation board (PB03-D107-001) from later games such as Haunted House will not run it as-is. Check the part number before buying, especially second-hand.

How many Amazing Spider-Man pinball machines were made?
Around 7,625, from May 1980, as model 653. It was a large run for a Gottlieb solid-state title, which is why survivors are still reasonably findable.

What is a Gottlieb Amazing Spider-Man worth?
Pinside's estimate is roughly $2,770–$3,230 depending on condition — above most System 80 machines, helped by the Marvel licence and Gordon Morison's artwork. Playfield and backglass condition drive the number.

Should I do the ground mods on a Spider-Man?
Yes, and do them first. Gottlieb's System 80 grounding is poor enough that an ungrounded machine will keep producing symptoms that make no sense no matter what else you replace.

Does a battery-free board keep the settings and high scores?
Yes. Modern replacement boards use non-volatile memory, so settings and scores survive being switched off — with no battery and no corrosion.

Step-by-step diagnosis

1. Powered off, check the CPU board for battery corrosion. Remove the original NiCad if it is still fitted.
2. Do the ground mods before anything else — heavy-gauge ground wire directly between CPU, Driver, power supply and sound boards.
3. Inspect and re-pin the edge connectors, A1-J6 first, then A1J5, A3J2, A3J5 and A6J1. Clean the driver board edge contacts with a pink eraser.
4. Measure the 5 V rail and confirm it reaches the CPU. Check the F5 fuse holder for a weak connection, and replace the old 12,000 µF filter capacitor.
5. Run the switch test and note the codes. Groups of switches reading open point at the connector, not the switches.
6. For sound faults, measure the backbox speaker for continuity (expect roughly 8 ohms) before suspecting the sound board.
7. Never plug or unplug a display with the machine powered on. Test with a known-good display.
8. Final test: start-up, credits, all four flippers, coils, displays, ball advance through to game over. If you are stuck, contact free support.

See also

• Black Hole (Gottlieb, 1981)
• Haunted House (Gottlieb, 1982) — the source of the second-generation CPU board mentioned above
• Volcano (Gottlieb, 1981)
• Counterforce (Gottlieb, 1980)
• Mars God of War (Gottlieb, 1981)
• Panthera (Gottlieb, 1980)
• Circus (Gottlieb, 1980)
• James Bond (Gottlieb, 1980)

Sources & further reading

• IPDB — The Amazing Spider-Man (#2285)
• Pinside — The Amazing Spider-Man, game details and production
• Pinball Rebel — The Amazing Spider-Man (model 653, production figures)
• Wikipedia — The Amazing Spider-Man (pinball): design, licence, features
• Pinside — "Amazing Spider Man Inconsistent Switches" (A1-J6 connector, switch codes 1/40/42, re-pinning)
• Pinside — "Amazing Spider-Man Sound / Other Issues" (dead speaker, F5 fuse holder, outhole switch)
• Pinball Nirvana — "The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb, 1980) problems" (CPU board generation mismatch, PROM/EPROM fix)
• Pinside — Amazing Spider-Man owner forum index
• LISY — the independent open DIY project behind the Lisy80
• OPDB — Open Pinball Database

Own an Amazing Spider-Man? Send us a photo and we'll add it here with credit — get in touch.