Vic Camp Pinball: 1977 Gottlieb Jacks Open (game play instructions)

Here is a game I never played growing up because in 1977 when it was manufactured I was 21 yrs old and by this time extremely addicted to playing 6 card bingo pinball machine only, which I played daily.

Man did I miss out on this game back then. I have been blessed though to have found a Jacks Open that has never been on location and is a real nice looker. I think Gottlieb again did an awesome job with this game figuring out how to incorporate playing sets of poker hands on a EM pin game. I like the idea of shooting for a pair of jacks, 3 queens, full house and of course the best hand in poker a royal straight flush.

Card games ruled the pinball industry for decades and Gottlieb magically again came up with a terrific, challenging and fun player.

The best way to score your highest score possible is to only make any 3 top arch rollovers at onetime. Making all 4 top arch rollovers reset the top arch rollovers and the target value drops form 4000 points per target to 1000 point per target. The dead sling shots just above the flippers and double side out lanes adds a nice touch to making the game not so easy to beat especially the 5000 point side out lane can really piss a player off if they get trapped into loosing the ball next to the return lane.

Rich deep vibrant coloring throughout entire machine makes an attractive eye catching lure to the average person. Back glass artwork looks like the people are floating through the sky on a piece of broken land. I also like the cabinet design with the King of Diamonds head and club, spade, heart and diamond symbols.

What more can I say about this late 1970’s drop target Gottlieb wedge head except that is astronomical !

My highest score ever is 298,560 in 2003 with 15 replays which max the credit wheel still stands in my high score book. You can’t go wrong having this wedge head in your collection, that’s for sure.