Star Race (Gottlieb, 1980): Faults & System 80 Replacement Boards

Is your Gottlieb Star Race refusing to start, showing missing digits, resetting mid-game, or lighting everything except the playfield? On a Gottlieb System 80 wide body those symptoms usually come down to three things: a NiCd battery that has been leaking on the CPU board for decades, grounds carried through tired connectors, and a power supply past its service life. Modern replacement boards, battery-free and Plug & Play, put the game back in service.

About the Star Race (Gottlieb, 1980)

See it: full photo gallery for Star Race on IPDB · owner gallery on Pinside

Gottlieb released Star Race in October 1980 and built only about 870 of them. John Buras handled the game design and software, Gordon Morison the artwork — the same artist as on Circus, released four months earlier. Gottlieb sold it to operators with the line "GOTTLIEB'S RACE THRU SPACE TO PINBALL PROFITS! SUPER-NOVA PLAYFIELD!".

Like Circus, it is a genuine wide body, a cabinet style Gottlieb used only a handful of times on System 80, and it is a heavy machine at around 278 lb with legs. Four flippers work a playfield built around top lanes, return lanes, drop targets, a pair of vari-targets and a collect-bonus saucer. The vari-target is the mechanism worth knowing: a spring-loaded target that reads how hard you hit it, scoring by depth rather than simply registering a hit.

How it plays

The scoring turns on the bonus multiplier, which tops out at 5X. You build it by advancing both the yellow and green side lights, which means working specific combinations in the top lanes rather than simply hitting everything. The vari-target is the route to an extra ball. Be warned that the centre drain is the one that gets you, largely because of how the ball comes off the upper left loop — the standard advice is to shoot up the middle unless you are down to your last drop target, in which case finish the centre bank.

How rare it is, and what one is worth

Star Race is genuinely scarce. At roughly 870 units it is about half the production of Circus, and the Museum of the Game census ranks it 1 out of 100 for how often it appears, with only a single known example among that site's active members.

Prices are where the sources part company, and it is worth knowing why. Pinside works from asking prices and estimates $1,940-$2,260, with a median ask near $2,100 across 14 historical listings. PinballPrice tracks completed eBay sales and shows yearly averages of about $1,300 for 2017, $1,295 for 2014 and $1,200 for 2013, with individual auctions at $750 and $1,106. Sellers ask considerably more than the auction record supports, which is common for a game this thin on the ground: with so few sales, one unusual result moves the average. Treat both as a range.

Star Race specifications

• Manufacturer: D. Gottlieb & Co.
• Released: October 1980
• Production run: approximately 870 units
• Game design and software: John Buras
• Artwork: Gordon Morison
• Electronic system: Gottlieb System 80
• Cabinet: wide body, 4 players, around 278 lb with legs
• Display: alphanumeric
• Playfield: 4 flippers, top lanes, return lanes, drop targets, vari-targets, collect-bonus saucer
• Bonus multiplier: up to 5X
• IPDB: machine #2353

Common faults on Gottlieb System 80

The battery first, always

The CPU board carries a NiCd battery to hold settings and scores, and after forty-five years it has almost certainly vented. The residue does not stay where it started: it wicks along traces and climbs into the connector pins, and it keeps working long after the battery itself has gone. That is why cleaning alone fails — residue transfers back out of an old housing into fresh pins, so clips and housings should be replaced together. If the battery is still fitted, take it out before anything else.

The chip map

Knowing what sits where saves hours. The processor is a 6502 at U1. Three 6532 RIOT chips — combined RAM, I/O and timer devices — occupy U4, U5 and U6 and handle switches, lamps and displays. Battery-backed memory is a 5101 static RAM at Z5, and the game ROMs live at U2 and U3. One generational detail matters if you are weighing up a repair: on System 80 the EPROM is soldered down, where System 80A and 80B have it socketed, so a ROM-level fix on an original Star Race board means desoldering. Around the core, Z1 (4528) and Z4 (4081) build the reset signal while Z2 (7474) and Z3 (7404) build the clock — no clock or no reset means no boot, whatever state the CPU is in.

A test fixture turns guesswork into a reading. Run one and the fault comes back as a flash or digit code: no flash points at the CPU, one flash at the 5101 at Z5, and two, three or four flashes at the RIOTs at U4, U6 and U5 respectively.

Grounds and the power supply

System 80 distributes ground by daisy-chaining it through connectors, from the power supply to the CPU to the driver board. As those connectors age their resistance rises and the ground reference drifts above 0 V, at which point logic that expects a clean zero starts misreading its own signals. The symptoms look unrelated to each other — random resets, coils locking on, displays misbehaving — which is what makes this fault so frustrating to chase.

The fix, the ground mod, replaces that trust in connectors with heavy wire, typically 16 AWG: the backbox lock ground straight to the power-supply frame, the negative lead of C1 on the power supply to the frame, the same from C1 on the CPU board, the driver ground plane to the frame, and optionally doubled +5 V and ground lines in the CPU-to-driver connector. Adding a single wire at the connector is a partial job, because it leaves the daisy chain through the CPU board's own J1 in place.

On the supply side, the orange filter capacitor is the notorious part. Originally 6,800 uF at 25 V, these are unreliable enough that most restorers replace them on principle, typically with 10,000-15,000 uF at 25-40 V. Do not go wildly above that: too much capacitance is said to strain the bridge rectifier. For identification, the green-and-yellow wire (54) goes to the negative terminal and the red-and-black wire (200) to the positive.

Driver board

The coil transistors are the wear items, and failures like Q53 and Q54 cracking or melting at power-up are typical; Q53 drives the knocker. A quick way to separate board from machine is to ground a transistor tab with the game on: if the coil fires, the fault is upstream on the board rather than in the coil or its wiring.

Star Race-specific problems owners report

Displays with missing digits or segments

This is the most common Star Race complaint and it is usually a connector, not a display. System 80 display wiring uses IDC feed-through pins, sometimes with two wires sharing a single contact. As those loosen you get the signature symptom: wiggle the loom and a segment drops out, or the digits flicker and show garbage characters. Reseating the wires with a proper IDC tool works better than substituting crimp pins, which fit this connector style poorly. Where battery residue has reached the CPU board's display connectors, the pins themselves need replacing rather than cleaning.

Every digit works except the number 1

This one catches people out because it looks like a dying display and is not. If a digit goes blank whenever the score needs a 1 there, while every other numeral draws correctly, the fault is on the board. The h segment — used only to draw a 1 — is driven from Z16 pin 10, and a failed 7404 in the digit strobes section blanks it. One owner fixed it by swapping the 7404 at Z17; Z24 and Z26 are the other positions in that section to check.

Playfield lights dead, a clicking mechanism, and no start

A Star Race owner described a specific and instructive cluster: every light came on normally except the playfield, the credit display showed nothing while the other displays worked, the game would not start, and something in the upper right clicked repeatedly on each attempt. He cleaned every cable connection between the boards and fitted a full set of new fuses, and none of it helped.

That is worth remembering, because the instinct with dead playfield lights is to blame fuses. When new fuses and clean connectors change nothing, the driver board and its lamp circuits are the place to look, and the repeated clicking suggests a coil being driven and released as the game tries and fails to complete its start-up. Work through the driver board with the ground-the-tab test above before suspecting the CPU.

Vari-targets out of step with each other

Owners of vari-target games notice that two targets on the same machine behave differently, and the cause is usually mundane: spring tension, and contacts that need cleaning. Worth knowing what correct looks like, because it is easy to misdiagnose — a working vari-target registers the hit and lets the ball roll away under its own momentum. It does not kick the ball out, and one that seems to be throwing the ball harder than its neighbour probably just has a tighter spring.

Parts, playfield wear and documentation

With 870 built, parts are the real constraint on a Star Race restoration. NOS playfields and backglasses do surface occasionally, and unpopulated or partly populated playfields circulate among collectors, so it is worth asking around before writing a game off. Owners report the typical wear spot as touched-up paint about eight inches above the centre drain, often hidden under mylar — predictable, given that the centre is where most balls end up. Get a manual before you start: general System 80 knowledge will not tell you how this playfield is meant to behave.

Replacement boards compatible with the Star Race

All of these fit System 80, which is what Star Race uses. We test boards before they ship and support them afterwards, and we would rather confirm your configuration than have you order the wrong thing: contact us with the references from your boards.

• GottFA80_Plus (Light) — all-in-one CPU, driver and power-supply board, without sound.
• GottFA80_Plus (Full) — the same board with sound integrated.
• Gosof — replacement sound board, with or without speech.
• Godri80 — replacement driver board, which is where the lamp and coil faults above usually live.
• Lisy80 — CPU board with web-based diagnostics.
• GoPOP80 — pop bumper driver board, replacing the original MA-922 / A-19741.

Installation is Plug & Play, with no soldering, and every board runs without a battery. Tutorials and technical support are free.

A note on LISY. LISY is a free, independent DIY project by its own developer, documented at lisy.dev — credit goes there. It is not our project; the Lisy80 above is a board we stock, test and support.

Step-by-step diagnosis

1. Look before you measure. Power off, inspect the CPU board for battery residue around the chip positions and connector pins, and remove the NiCd battery if it is still fitted.
2. Check the 5 V arrives. Measure at the power supply and again at the CPU board; a rail that sags under load behaves exactly like a failed chip.
3. Do the grounds. Ground mod in 16 AWG: backbox lock, power-supply C1 negative, CPU C1 negative and driver ground plane, all to the power-supply frame.
4. Refresh the supply. Replace the orange filter capacitor with 10,000-15,000 uF at 25-40 V, watching the polarity on wires 54 and 200.
5. Re-pin, do not just clean. Replace corroded Molex clips and housings, especially on the CPU-to-driver link.
6. Read the fault code. With a test fixture: no flash the CPU, one flash the 5101 at Z5, two, three or four flashes the RIOTs at U4, U6, U5.
7. Displays. Never plug or unplug one powered. Reseat the IDC pins with the proper tool. If only the numeral 1 is missing, look at Z16 and the 7404s at Z17, Z24 and Z26 instead.
8. Coils and lamps. Ground each driver transistor tab with the game on to decide whether a dead lamp row or coil is a board fault or a machine fault.
9. Mechanisms. Set the vari-target springs to match, clean their contacts, and fire every coil from the test menu.
10. Final test. Start-up, credits, all four flippers, drop targets, saucer, displays and sound. Still stuck? Get in touch — support is free.

FAQ — Star Race (Gottlieb, 1980)

My Star Race has missing digits or missing segments on the displays.
Start at the connectors, not the display. System 80 display wiring uses IDC feed-through pins, sometimes with two wires in one contact; if you can wiggle the loom and watch a segment drop out, that is your fault. Reseat the pins with an IDC tool rather than fitting crimp pins, which suit this connector poorly.

Every digit works except the number 1. What is that?
That is a known System 80 fault and it is on the board, not the display. The h segment, used only to draw a 1, is driven from Z16 pin 10, and a failed 7404 in the digit strobes section makes those digits go blank instead. One owner cured it by swapping the 7404 at Z17; Z24 and Z26 are the other positions to check.

The battery leaked onto my Star Race CPU board. What needs replacing?
Both the board and the connectors. Residue wicks along traces and into the pins, and it transfers back out of an old housing into new pins, so replace clips and housings together rather than cleaning them. Remove the NiCd battery first, whether or not the game currently runs.

My Star Race resets at random or drops out under load.
Two usual causes. First the grounds: System 80 daisy-chains ground through connectors, and as they age ground drifts above 0 V and the logic misreads its own signals. Do the ground mod. Second the power supply: the orange filter capacitor, originally 6,800 uF at 25 V, is notoriously unreliable and is normally replaced with 10,000-15,000 uF.

The playfield lights are dead but everything else comes on, and it clicks instead of starting.
An owner reported exactly that combination on a Star Race, along with a blank credit display, and found that cleaning every board-to-board connection and fitting new fuses did not fix it. That points away from fuses and towards the driver board and its lamp circuits. Ground a driver transistor tab with the game on: if the load fires, the fault is on the board.

The vari-targets on my Star Race behave differently from each other.
That is normally spring tension and dirty contacts rather than a fault. A vari-target should register the hit and let the ball roll away on its own; it is not meant to eject the ball. Clean the contacts and adjust the assemblies to match.

Which replacement board should I choose for a Star Race?
GottFA80_Plus replaces CPU, driver and power supply in one board, Light without sound or Full with sound built in. If only one board has failed, the Godri80 driver, Gosof sound board or Lisy80 CPU cover it individually. Send us your board references and we will confirm the right one before you order.

How rare is a Star Race, and what is one worth?
Gottlieb built about 870, roughly half as many as Circus, and the Museum of the Game census ranks it 1 out of 100 for how often it turns up. Prices depend on which figure you trust: Pinside estimates $1,940-$2,260 from asking prices, while PinballPrice's completed eBay sales average nearer $1,300.

See also

• Circus (Gottlieb, 1980) — the other 1980 System 80 wide body
• Panthera (Gottlieb, 1980)
• Counterforce (Gottlieb, 1980)
• Time Line (Gottlieb, 1980)
• James Bond (Gottlieb, 1980)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb, 1980)

Sources

• IPDB — Star Race (#2353)
• Pinside — Star Race specifications
• PinballPrice — Star Race sales
• Museum of the Game — Star Race census and weight
• Kineticist — Star Race features and strategy
• Pinside — Star Race with problems (playfield lights, clicking, credit display)
• Pinside — Star Race project (playfield condition, parts)
• Pinside — System 80 digits cannot display 1 (Z16, 7404)
• Pinside — System 80 display connector problems
• Pinside — replacing the orange filter capacitor
• Pinside — System 80 ground mod
• Pinside — driver board (Q53/Q54)
• Pinside — Gottlieb vari-target operation
• Pinitech — System 80 tester (chip map, flash codes)
• Great Plains Electronics — QuickScan80 manual
• lisy.dev — the independent LISY project

Own a Star Race? Send us a photo and we'll add it here with credit — get in touch.