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Gottlieb Joker Poker pinball. An interesting design, and only made in a 4 player version (no 2 player, unusual for Gottlieb pinball). One bank of five ace drop targets, one bank of four king drop targets, one bank of three jack targets, one bank of two queen drop targets, and a single ten drop target. Pretty cool pinball design really. Two pop bumpers, one slingshot, two 3″ flippers. They made 820 Gottlieb EM Joker Poker pinballs.This game was very successful for the Bally company. It was initially released in 1981 as a full upright pinball with a production of 8,250 games. This version of the game in its third release had a run of 8,850 games. This cabinet was a unique design for Bally, as was used in a few other games like Pac-Man pinball. Designed by George Christian with art by Margaret Hudson, the pool-themed game is a classic. The basic object here is to hit all seven drop targets representing pool balls. The eight-ball drop target then pops up. Upon hitting it, “deluxe” lights up behind where the drop targets were. Making “deluxe” increases your bonus upon completion of the ball and advances the deluxe hold-over feature on the backglass. Hitting the in-line drop targets awards points and specials. The same is true if you shoot the left ramp to the top.Wayne Neyens and Roy Parker again teamed up to create this pretty late-‘50s pin with an animated backglass. 950 units were made. The playfield has two gobble holes, which award 100,000 points for each rollover completed. If all six rollovers are made, a replay is awarded and the gobble holes are special holes. The main feature of the game is advancing the lightning ball backglass spelling. Each time you make the three colors on the playfield via rebound rubber or rollovers, the unit advances one step. If you are skillful enough to complete the lightning ball spellout, a replay is awarded, and each time you make the three colors to advance the letter, another replay is added. It’s not an easy task to complete. There’s always beating the game by scoring or matching. This game was somewhat retro as it has backglass light scoring, since Gottlieb already used reel scoring.Here’s a 1977 Stern ‘Pinball’. This was Stern’s first solid state machine and marked the beginning of a long and interesting history for the company. Designed by Mike Kubin, it’s a fast game that has some wicked out-lanes and very quick ball times. There are no mini-posts above the out-lane guides which make controlling the ball near the out-lanes very difficult. Stingray, the game made by Stern following ‘Pinball’ also lacked these posts, but games made thereafter had the posts which dramatically improve the player’s ability to control the ball and avoid the out-lane. This game has a basic rule-set. Knock down the 5 drop targets twice in one ball to score the special. The saucer on the right side of the playfield awards a somewhat random award and the spinner shot on the left is a very satisfying shot to hit.This “special edition” game was produced to recognize the fact that this game, when initially released two years earlier, was the biggest number production game ever made in the contemporary era, with a total production run of 20,270. This game was produced in 1,000 examples. Pat Lawlor designed the machine with John Youssi getting accolades for the artwork. Gadgets abound in this machine, which is augmented by the gold detailing over the standard unit. The main theme here is to complete all 12 parts of the house panel. Doing so brings you to the ultimate level of excitement. Multi-ball options abound as well as “Thing”, consisting of just a hand, grabbing the ball in the upper-right corner of the machine. A magnet under the play field provides strange ball play as well as Thing “flipping” the ball remotely if hit. The sounds and art are fantastic representations from the movie of the same name. This game is #3!This Williams machine fabricated in 1955 is a strange game that really is more of a toy. A player gets to operate a remote-controlled bulldozer around a big sandbox for 120 seconds using two remote controllers in synthetic gravel. It appears the idea for this machine was to cater to the under-12 market as no rewards, extra time, or extra plays were programmed into the electromechanical boards within the machine. No scoring and no prizes! This machine was often confused with Williams’ Crane (1956) because it has a sign on top of the game that says, “Be a sidewalk engineer.” Ten cents allowed adults a two-minute break to get a quick snack while a child was entertained. I don’t think this would be the case in today’s thinking…Big Brave is a two-player electromechanical machine. 3,450 units were produced. Ed Krynski designed the machine and Gordon Morison was in charge of the artwork. This game was a typical Gottlieb game of the era. It has drop targets, resetting targets, bonus feature, double bonus option, and a special. Making the B I G rollover lights the pop bumpers. Hitting all five drop targets awards 5,000 points. Hitting the last drop target left when the B I G is hit awards a special. The vari-target, as it was called, was an exclusive Gottlieb design. As you hit the target – depending how hard you hit it – would result in bigger point values. It will then reset to be hit again and again. A four-player version of this game, Big Indian, was also produced.This is the next-to-last machine Williams made under the Bally moniker and the first game made to “reinvent” pinball in a last-ditch effort to save Williams from ceasing pinball manufacturing. 6,878 machines were made. George Gomez designed the new platform with Greg Freres and John Youssi designing the art package. This is Star Wars; the last games from Williams were the most technologically advanced games pinball has ever known. The incorporation of a reflecting video monitor with interactive playfield video feedback is revolutionary. The top of the playfield is mostly hidden from view except for a few selectively placed spots which light on occasion. This machine consists of nine different modes which must be conquered to proceed to the ultimate mode, that being the destruction of Mars. A very different game that sold well. However, Williams pulled the plug on pinball and thereafter focused on slot machines.This pinball had a run of 1750 units. Designed by Ed Krynski with artwork by Art Stenholm, this 2 player four flipper game has no specials. The object of the game is to score a lot of points by advancing the yellow and red multipliers up to 100x where up to 500 points could be hit. Hitting the 100x level resets the hit column back to 1x. Extra balls are awarded if the roto spin target is hit when the star is in position. The use of the four flippers in the game makes one feels that the machine has two playfields in one. The new design pop bumpers, and auto ball lift are in early use here as well as the ball count meter. A challenging game that’s hard to beat!!!
