Documentation
GottFA1 PLuS — User Manual
Gottlieb System 1 FPGA Replacement Board · Software Version 7.00
Download PDFGottFA1_PLuS can damage your pinball machine if installed or configured incorrectly. This is a community project with no commercial backing. The author accepts no liability for any damage that may result from its use. Proceed at your own risk.
Introduction
GottFA1_PLuS is a single-board replacement for virtually all active electronics in a Gottlieb System 1 pinball machine. One board replaces four:
- Main CPU Board
- Power Supply
- Driver Board
- Sound Card
Quick Start
- Using the game list in Appendix A, identify the correct S1 DIP switch position for your machine and set it on the GottFA1_PLuS board. This tells the board which ROM image to load from the pre-loaded SD card.
- Remove the original Gottlieb System 1 MPU from the machine and seat the GottFA1_PLuS board in its place. The connector layout and mounting holes are identical — no mechanical modifications are required. See Section 3 for full installation details and important connector orientation notes.
- Turn S2-Dip1 to ON, then power on the machine. This triggers a one-time NVRAM initialisation for the selected game. The board will run through its boot sequence — the game will start automatically when complete.
- Once the first boot is complete, power off the machine. Turn S2-Dip1 back to OFF, then power on again. The board is now configured for normal play.
- Enjoy your game.
Installation
GottFA1_PLuS uses the same connector layout and mounting holes as the original Gottlieb System 1 MPU. No mechanical modifications are required — the board seats directly in place of the original.
If you choose to use the integrated soundcard instead of your original sound board, run two speaker wires from the GottFA speaker connector to the cabinet speaker.
Before connecting the wire harness, always double-check the orientation of connector A2 J1. This connector has no mechanical key — it can be inserted either way. Installing it backwards can damage the board and your machine. Verify the pin-1 marker on the board aligns with the correct wire in the harness before applying power.
DIP Switch Settings
4.1 — S1 · Game Select
S1 selects which ROM image GottFA1 loads from the SD card. The mapping between switch positions and game numbers is described in Appendix A.
4.2 — S2 · Board Options
| DIP | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dip 1 | Init NVRAM | When ON, clears all NVRAM for the selected game during boot. Use on first power-up or to perform a full factory reset. Turn OFF after initialisation. |
| Dip 2 | Freeplay | When ON, press and hold the Credit button for more than two seconds to simulate a coin insert on the left chute. |
| Dip 3 | LED Displays | When ON, refreshes the display at LED-optimised timing. Use this setting if your displays are LED replacements. Original tube displays may ghost slightly. |
| Dip 4 | Slam Disable | When ON, disables the Gottlieb slam-tilt detection. Recommended for most installations. |
4.3 — Integrated Soundcard Options
These switches mirror the function of the original Gottlieb Multisound board option switches.
| DIP | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dip 1 | Sound / Tones | Selects between digitised sound samples and tone-chime emulation — same behaviour as the original Multisound board. |
| Dip 2 | Attract Sounds | Enables Gottlieb attract-mode audio. The original board fires attract sounds approximately every 8 minutes. |
| Dip 3 | Background Music | Activates the onboard MP3 player for background music during gameplay. See Section 6.1. |
4.4 — Gottlieb DIP Banks
The Gottlieb DIP banks (S1–S8, S9–S16, S17–S24) behave identically to those on the original MPU. Refer to your machine's manual for game-specific settings. For a clean first start, use the defaults below:
| Bank | Recommended Default |
|---|---|
| S1 – S8 | All OFF |
| S9 – S16 | All ON |
| S17 – S24 | DIP19 OFF — all others ON |
DIP16 and DIP24 have no function on the original MPU but are used by GottFA1_PLuS. DIP16 controls background music behaviour (see Section 6.1.1). DIP24 enables Attract Mode (see Section 7).
Boot Sequence
On power-up, GottFA1_PLuS runs through three boot phases. Progress is shown on the playfield displays.
If the SD card cannot be read, the red 'SD Error' LED illuminates and Player 4 shows ERROR. Verify the card is seated correctly and is not a SanDisk model — SanDisk cards are not compatible with GottFA1.
The ROM indicated by S1 is loaded from the SD card and executed. When the game is running normally, the 'Active' LED illuminates.
Integrated Soundcard
GottFA1_PLuS includes a full soundcard emulation. You can use either the integrated soundcard or your original sound board — the choice is yours.
The integrated soundcard supports two emulation modes:
- Gottlieb Multisound card (Totem and later games)
- 3-Tone Chime Board (early games — can also be added to games that originally had a chime board)
6.1 — Background Music
With Soundcard DIP3 set to ON, the onboard MP3 player streams background music during gameplay. To add your own music:
- Use a standard microSD card (up to 32 GB).
- Create a folder named 02 (zero-two) in the root of the card.
- Copy your MP3 or WAV files into that folder.
GottFA1 plays the files in random order during gameplay.
6.1.1 — Music Resume Behaviour (DIP16)
| DIP16 | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| ON | Music restarts from the beginning of a track each time a new game starts. |
| OFF | GottFA1 remembers the playback position and resumes from where it left off at the start of the next game. |
Attract Mode
GottFA1_PLuS (software v0.98 or later) supports a fully customisable attract mode for System 1. Attract mode is toggled on and off using Gottlieb DIP switch #24.
A set of ready-made attract configuration files is available on the author's repository server at www.lisy.dev.
7.1 — Configuration File Syntax
Attract actions are defined in a CSV file. The file is looped continuously — when the end is reached, playback restarts from the top. GottFA1_PLuS is compatible with the LISY1 attract syntax, with support for two commands:
| Example | Effect |
|---|---|
| time 2 s | Wait 2 seconds |
| time 500 ms | Wait 500 milliseconds |
| Example | Effect |
|---|---|
| lamp 5 on | Turn lamp 5 on |
| lamp 12 off | Turn lamp 12 off |
7.2 — Converter Tool
Once your CSV is ready, convert it to a binary file using the Attract Converter tool — available to download on droptargets.ca under the GottFA1_PLuS board page. The resulting .bin file must be embedded into the ROM image on the SD card.
Example — converting 005_attract.csv for Charlie's Angels:
7.3 — Creating a ROM File
Each game requires a ROM image file on the SD card. GottFA1_PLuS reads this image during boot to run your selected game. To create a ROM image you will need three things:
- System ROMs — the two Gottlieb System 1 system ROMs required by every game:
u5_cf.binandu4_ce.bin - Game ROM — the game-specific CPU ROM file for your title (filename varies per game)
- Filler files — blank padding files (
1K, 2K, 4K, 6K, 7K) used to align the image to the correct size. These contain no data and are available to download on droptargets.ca under the GottFA1_PLuS board page, included in the blank ROM zip file.
ROM files for Gottlieb games are not supplied with GottFA1_PLuS and are not available from Drop Targets. You must source these yourself — copyright restrictions apply.
Example — Charlie's Angels (game ROM: 425.cpu)
To build the ROM image without attract mode (Windows command prompt):
To build the ROM image with attract mode included — see Sections 7.1 and 7.2 for creating and converting the attract CSV file:
When adding attract mode, the 4K filler is replaced by the 005_attract.bin file — which must be exactly 4096 bytes. The 7K filler remains to pad the end of the image correctly.
Writing a New SD Card for Main Board
If your SD card becomes corrupt or stops working, you can write a new one to get back up and running. The GottFA1_PLuS SD card image is available to download on droptargets.ca under the GottFA1_PLuS board page. Download the image, unzip it, then follow the steps below to write it to a new microSD card using Win32DiskImager.
SanDisk microSD cards are not compatible with GottFA1. Use any other brand of 128 MB or larger.
Steps — Win32DiskImager
- Insert your microSD card into the card reader. Note the drive letter assigned (e.g. E:) — visible in Windows Explorer.
- Download Win32DiskImager from the Sourceforge project page and install it.
- Launch Win32DiskImager. Select the unpacked GottFA1
.imgfile. - In the Device box, select the drive letter of your SD card. Double-check — selecting the wrong drive will overwrite your hard disk.
- Click Write and wait for the process to complete (progress shown on screen).
- Click Exit, then safely eject the SD card.
Appendix A — Supported Game List
The table below shows the full list of supported Gottlieb System 1 games and the S1 DIP switch settings required to select each one.
| # | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | Short Name | Full Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | OFF | OFF | OFF | OFF | cleoptra | Cleopatra |
| 1 | ON | OFF | OFF | OFF | sinbad | Sinbad |
| 2 | OFF | ON | OFF | OFF | jokrpokr | Joker Poker |
| 3 | ON | ON | OFF | OFF | dragon | Dragon |
| 4 | OFF | OFF | ON | OFF | closeenc | Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
| 5 | ON | OFF | ON | OFF | charlies | Charlie's Angels |
| 6 | OFF | ON | ON | OFF | solaride | Solar Ride |
| 7 | ON | ON | ON | OFF | countdwn | Count-Down |
| 8 | OFF | OFF | OFF | ON | pinpool | Pinball Pool |
| 9 | ON | OFF | OFF | ON | totem | Totem |
| 10 | OFF | ON | OFF | ON | hulk | The Incredible Hulk |
| 11 | ON | ON | OFF | ON | genie | Genie |
| 12 | OFF | OFF | ON | ON | buckrgrs | Buck Rogers |
| 13 | ON | OFF | ON | ON | torch | Torch |
| 14 | OFF | ON | ON | ON | roldisco | Roller Disco |
| 15 | ON | ON | ON | ON | astannie | Asteroid Annie and the Aliens |
Want a copy of this manual to keep handy?
Download PDFGottFA1_PLuS_UserManual.pdf · Manual v6 · Rev 1.00 · SW v7.00