Vic Camp Pinball: 1969 Gottlieb Spin a Card "Game Play" (part 1)

My uncle had this game in his home back in the early 1970's. I played it there and at my local candy store which was 50 feet from my house on Summer Ave in Newark NJ.

This game is simple to understand the rules and very player friendly. A nice feature Gottlieb had on the playfield was having the two kick out holes toss the ball back into the pop bumper area, rather then towards the flippers which was more common. This feature is a nice treat for the player and i like the fact that the ball does stay up in the pop bumper area longer than most wedge head games, almost always hitting red /white stand up targets J, K, 4 OR 5 stand up target.

The spin feature action located on the back glass is for sure the best feature this wedge head has to offer and so cool when you need just one card to light the SPECIAL and get the needed card through the spin kick out hole feature. Once the SPECIAL is lit either on the fan target or out hole the fun begins.

The wedge head has nice vibrant coloring throughout entire game including plastics and the back glass artwork and is for sure has that late 1960's "Hippy Days" theme.

The game has only ten cards to light for Special, but isn't easy to do especially getting the red or white Ace, which always seem to be the last card a player needs to light SPECIAL. It's a somewhat difficult game to beat for high score with just the center rollover awarding a player 500 points and just 200 points for the spin kick out holes and stand up targets/rollovers valued at 100 points each.

The game looks better on a corner position or end of a line up of wedge heads. Sometimes i wish they just made the backbox shape like all the rest of the wedge heads, but is nice that it is different.

It's a challenging game to work on mechanically because of all the spin relays and spin units etc. I have this awesome game in my collection and I am constantly wanting to play it because i enjoy the pop bumper arrangement, which seem to allow the ball to stay up in the top portion of the playfield longer than most EM games. Its brother game Hearts and Spades(add a ball)is also a fantastic player.

Games like this one made Gottlieb the leader in the pinball industry from the 1950's through the 1970's and still today could be the best EM's that EM collectors look to add to their collection. This is a wedge head for sure...even though it doesn't look like one. Just play a Spin a Card and you'll know what i mean.