Eclipse is a very rare game and the rarest of the System 80 games to have made it into production (which both Goin' Nuts and Krull failed to do). Having said it made it into production, that needs to be clarified: only 193 complete Eclipse games were actually produced and these would be classed as sample games. These complete games are very hard to find anywhere in the world but it seems more made their way to Europe. Eclipse game kits comprising a playfield and backglass were produced and are more commonly found but, there's no evidence as to how many kits were made and it's unlikely to have been more than a few hundred. Gottlieb printed no promotional flyer for the game/kit and only a B&W publicity photo exists. Eclipse doesn't feature in either the 1982 or 1987 Parts Catalogues: there's simply no reference to it at all. The kits consisted of the backglass, playfield and game and sound proms but no cabinet graphics. Gottlieb reputedly produced the Eclipse kits to appease disgruntled operators who'd bought James Bond 007 games. Bond had bombed with its time-based play and fared little better with the retro-fit 3/5-ball software, so the kits provided a new game for only a small extra investment. It's for this reason that the kits are usually found in a James Bond cabinet/head. The playfield layout is nearly identical to that of Black Hole, however Eclipse has no lower playfield. In the centre of the playfield (instead of the window on Black Hole, there are 4 spot-targets and 4 drop-targets facing out to the sides, with a channel between them. The "gravity tunnel" runs to a kicker that acts as a capture hole when activated. On the right side, a kicking target sits where the ball re-entry gate is located on Black Hole. There are no other difference in the playfield layout at all, and the artwork is also similar to Black Hole - just a change from blue/black to red/orange/pink/yellow and no spacemen! Eclipse even uses the same sounds only prom of the export version of Black Hole. Eclipse has a 3-ball multi-ball mode which is extremely hard to achieve.....but not as hard as finding an Eclipse in the first place. These pictures may be as close as you get! |
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