Joker (Gottlieb, 1950) VP9 v1.0
IPD No. 1304
New VP9 build of Gottlieb's Joker released in December 1950. Joker was designed by Wayne Neyens with art by Roy Parker. Only 850 units were produced so this game is rare to find today. I chose to do Joker because it informs how flipper game design was evolving in its early days to incorporate ever more skill into the game play. The flippers are still reversed, but now at the bottom center of the playfield. The mix of dead bumpers and POP bumpers provides faster action than previous games did. The game has two sequences, Aces with the top bumpers and Jokers with the side lanes and contact switches. The two sequences are interconnected by the fact that making all aces scores 2 to 5 points based on how many jokers have been made before the last ace is made. Plus making all aces resets the scoring kicker back to 50,000. This begins adding tradeoffs in game strategy that may be taken. Replays can be made on high score or points, along with a special which lights when making 15 points or more. This is the time period where you could still earn many replays in a single game.
IPD No. 1304
New VP9 build of Gottlieb's Joker released in December 1950. Joker was designed by Wayne Neyens with art by Roy Parker. Only 850 units were produced so this game is rare to find today. I chose to do Joker because it informs how flipper game design was evolving in its early days to incorporate ever more skill into the game play. The flippers are still reversed, but now at the bottom center of the playfield. The mix of dead bumpers and POP bumpers provides faster action than previous games did. The game has two sequences, Aces with the top bumpers and Jokers with the side lanes and contact switches. The two sequences are interconnected by the fact that making all aces scores 2 to 5 points based on how many jokers have been made before the last ace is made. Plus making all aces resets the scoring kicker back to 50,000. This begins adding tradeoffs in game strategy that may be taken. Replays can be made on high score or points, along with a special which lights when making 15 points or more. This is the time period where you could still earn many replays in a single game.
