I guess I'm an ex-club member, thanks to this game. I sold it a couple months back as it wasn't getting played and so I felt it time to move it on. The middle-pop was definitely my favorite feature on this pin.

Let's see, I got Score-Board back in 2012. I paid $225. Guy I got it from wasn't into pinball, he saw it at a garage sale or something and thought it a worthwhile project to try and salvage something so old but never got to it. I got it non-working (first pin I ever bought that did not play), but the GI would turn on when you plugged it in.

My dad (a retired electrical engineer) and I brought it back to life as a project. Oh, what a mess of a machine. Old solder kept coming loose, and getting all four score reels functional was a bit of a nightmare. Had to replace the plastics on the slings with some custom-draws similar to the original (they were horribly warped and beyond salvage). Probably not the best pure project machine to start with, but we did finally get it going, and I probably learned more on that effort than any other pin.

I took a little bit of video before I sold it to show it working, so I'll share that here to add to the collection of middle-pops in action. While I often play terribly, I will defend myself in this case of having to play one-handed thanks to the camera!

Nice Score-Board! My plastics were so damaged and shrunken they were probably half their original size (and I needed IPDB pictures to know what the art on them was).

Hey all,

I am working on an article about middle-pop pins (not sure where it will live yet, probably Pinball News as I've relied on them for several of my other historical articles). But, I need some help. I'd like to include photos of as many of the lower playfields as possible (to give readers a good view of the middle-pop layouts), but I cannot simply take what is on IPDB and cite it, as they do not have permission to re-release provided images. So, I figured a club full of owners would suffice.

As noted, lower playfields in particular showing the middle-pop. Glass off preferred but if it is a low-glare situation do not go out of your way for me. I need the image and your name to cite in the article as being the provider. PM is fine of course. I've got a line (I think!) on some already. Here are the ones I definitely need help with:

Palm Beach (Marchant 1950)
Rose-Bowl (Gottlieb 1951)
All-Star Basketball (Gottlieb 1952)
Majorettes (Williams 1952)
Marble Queen (Gottlieb 1953)
Lazy-Q (Williams 1953)
Hawaiian Beauty (Gottlieb 1954)
Tim-Buc-Tu (Williams 1956)
Derby Day (Gottlieb 1956)
Shamrock (Williams 1956)
Cue Ball (Williams 1956)
8 Ball (Williams 1966)
Millionaire (Sega Enterprises 1977)

As is obvious, the woodrails in particular are a challenge for me. I know some of these are likely just not going to have a photo provided, but the more the better (I think). Also, I'm defining middle-pop a very particular way in the article, so some games discussed in this thread are not included (that doesn't really change the picture needs, but FYI so no one is shocked later). I'll post a link here when it is out of course.

Thanks for reading and to anyone able to help me out, it is most appreciated.

The middle-pop article is now live at Pinball News. Here is the link:
https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2018/08/30/middle-pop-pinball/

While I think I've contacted everyone individually who gave me permission to use photos, I want to express my thanks here as well, and to all of you for the discussion and research contained within this thread. And of course to NicoVolta for convincing me to get off my duff and write it.

I assume that would probably give you the only full Clark middle-pop representation of any museum. Not sure where all the others stand. Pacific Pinball Museum was the source of three of the photos I used, so they might have the largest middle-pop woodrail collection, but I'm not certain. Would be cool if someone could source them all, but that Marchant one has to be a nightmare to find.

If I could play just one that I've not, it would be the Sega Enterprise's Millionaire. I want to see if that flipper placement (angled much more like a typical game) works well with the middle-pop. I think the rest of that space beneath the pop isn't as interesting as Clark's 3" work, but I think some people who don't like the middle-pop games actually don't like the angle on the flippers (it feels too foreign to them). Millionaire might have addressed that. I'm curious about it.

Sorry, the provision of 2(c) means obstructions to the flipper area's field of play. My apologies if I was not clear in that, but due to the lanes segregating the pop bumper from the flippers I disqualified it. Just my personal judgment call of course. Carolina is a fascinating game design; I really hope to try it someday!

I hope everyone is making their own criteria and judging things. It's just for fun after all (or is for me).

No, I laid out my criteria in my middle-pop article and it violates condition two, which mandates the middle-pop be between the lowest flippers.

For those that don't know, the game is Super Hockey (Chicago Coin 1949). The image provided is a crop of the middle of the playfield (I'll attach an IPDB image for those curious about the entire layout).

According to the flyer (http://www.pinball-gallery.com/images/grandes/341-1.jpg) the game has hockey-stick flippers, which obviously those little flippers are not. I saw a 2009 Pinball News article (https://www.pinballnews.com/shows/vierzon2009/index.html) which mentioned the game had flippers replaced with hockey sticks, but it didn't discuss how they were controlled.

As such, I reached out to meSz here on Pinside, who owns the game. He confirmed the hockey-sticks at the bottom are indeed flippers, and so the game has four (the two small ones and those two at the bottom). Looks like IPDB assumed they were slings in the write-up.

So, long story short, the kick-out hole and where it fires the ball is moot (for me), because those are upper flippers, and there is no pop bumper down between the lower ones.

SuperHockeyIPDB (resized).jpg

Oh yes, just meant regarding the aspects I apply in this club. The game is curious. I was very sad to not find a gameplay video.

I've always gone with a definition similar to IPDB's on flippers, "Those thingies that move when you hit the flipper buttons. Some people use these to propel the pinball."

For me, the key factor is if they are user controlled, not the label the manufacturer applied. This could lead into an interesting discussion about what should or shouldn't count as a flipper (A good modern case of discussion would be the upper playfield on WWE, I imagine).

But, that's starting to get away from the topic of this club. For me, these are flippers, and thus the game is clearly not remotely a middle-pop title. My logic is not about the branding, it's about the control. I totally understand if you disagree, I'm just hoping you see the perspective I'm coming at it from.

As for Madame Butterfly, it has an obstruction (lane guides) between the flippers, which compromises the ability to return the pinball into the field of play for the flippers. So for me it's a "no", but I doubt that surprises anyone. Given it's a conversion kit for a flipperless game, I have no idea what the goal there was (I'm more interested in the spring compression bumper version... I've never seen one before).

I am choosing to not be that particular, then (in my own write-up I clearly indicated pop bumper was used to imply active bumper). Middle-thump just sounds strange.

IPDB often classes "automatic flippers" as its own thing, though glancing at your list it seems sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't. It does have its own placement in the glossary though (and one company it appears used the term to describe slingshots).

Don't forget about phantom flippers too. Their electromagnetic pivots are the most crafty.

I assume you're asking others since I addressed it above. I just wanted to note that I am glad you've provided so many interesting cases to look at. I don't see it as a big deal that you and I have different games on our middle-pop list. It will never be as clean as just labeling things System 11 or whatnot. I'm going to step back now to let other voices have the floor, since I think anyone following along knows where I'm falling on this topic by now.