Somewhat sparse compared to other Zipper titles. Game does have good ball flow.

Op-pop-pop may be the hardest of Master Zale's designs from the 1960's

The Pros:
Crazy layout with pointy people art and zipper flippers. The Bagatelle from the top can be reached with the huge lane on the left.

The Cons:
The left and the right hand side of the playfield are incredibly hungry. The copy I played would kick the ball from the saucer in the upper left hand side of the playfield, bounce to the right sling and go out the left hand side of the playfield EVERY SINGLE TIME. Successfully making a shot should not punish the player with consistent drain. Adjustments may be needed to each copy of the game...

The Takeaway:
The yellow mushroom target on the left is your priority. This zips the flippers closed. When those flippers are open... YIKES! This game is different and HARD to play. Operators must have loved it. Players, not so much. Then the operator's didn't like it so much... This game does not get the balance right. There are better playing examples of Master Zale's work out there.

This game was made in 1969 and is one of the Bally zipper-flipper games.

WHAT THE HELL "DOES OP-POP-POP" MEAN? I asked quite a few people and nobody seemed to know except for one old timer who believed it had something to do with art.
So of course, this is the day and age of Google and everybody knows Google is your friend. So I researched it. Google revealed that Op-Pop-Pop iiiisssss................wait for it............

A pinball machine made by Bally in 1969.

Ok, so I added the word 'art' to my google search and discovered that indeed 'op-pop' is a form of pop art that was popular at the time of this games release. I'm not quite sure what the extra 'pop' is for though. Perhaps it is meant like 'op-pop' pop art as opposed to say...modern pop art.

POSITIVES: - Zipper-flippers. This is always a positive for Bally games. Who doesn't like flippers that close the flipper gap to nothing?
- It has an interesting playfield. Definitely not the norm for the time period. There are no pop bumpers.
- It's not difficult to get the ball back up to the top. This keeps the rollover portion of the playfield in play the whole game.
- The game actually has some art on the playfield and cabinet as opposed to many EM's that just put weird color patterns.

NEGATIVES: - Drain monster. That left side drain is a killer. On my game, the second the ball goes into the slingshots, it's good night. The other problem I have that is solvable is that my game throws the ball down drain whenever it goes into the trap hole.
- The zipper-flippers are, for all intents and purposes, unusable. There is only one mushroom bumper that closes the flippers and 3 that open it. Essentially, no matter where you shoot, it's only a matter of seconds before the ball hits a closing bumper.
You only collect a bonus on one of the side outs. I know this is supposed to add strategy, but really, on this game with it's super quick ball times, it just adds frustration.

CONCLUSIONS: I've owned this game for a few months at the time of this writing and honestly, I can't wait to get rid of it.
I had a friend come over and play it and he lasted less than a minute with 5 balls. He said to me, "I don't understand how anybody can be good at this game. How could the world champion do any better?" That pretty much sums up my game.

I'm a fan of zipper-flipper games and this one is the worst that I've played. My game has a super clean playfield and it's easy to understand why. There is no chance to wear it down.
This game is nothing but frustration and is not fun.

I'd buy this game only if you can get one real cheap and you have plenty of room so it doesn't take away another game you own.

This is generally considered an "above average" Ted Zale design for the period. It has a repeatable upper bagatelle playfield with rollover which constitute added bonus functionality as it comes out of the triangular upper section. Keeping the ball in play in the lower playfield can be difficult for those that to not understand "zipper flipper" functionality with the small mushroom bumpers. The key is very keen ball control, let the ball rest on the flippers and angle the shots back up the left lane orbit into the upper playfield.

A favorite EM for me, nice roll over targets and it's definitely a very unique table, vanished from the PHOF, I was bummed.

I love mine.. classic for the year . Did some flipper work and its quick game...