Joker Poker
Gottlieb, 1978
Joker Poker EM
Gottlieb, 1978Recently picked up the SS Version of Joker Poker and finding it difficult to walk away. I found a Gottleib Sys 1 thread but nothing game specific, so here it is. I am actually enjoying the EM style chimes with this machine -- they compliment gameplay well.
Used to have one. Regret trading it. Definitely one of the best pins of that era. It has that "one more game" thing in spades. Love this game.
In the club! I'm in the process of finishing up the restoration. I hope to have it finished within the next two weeks. The game was ROUGH but solid.
It has a new playfield and backglass by Classic Playfield Reproductions, new plastics, drop targets, posts, lane dividers, pop bumper bodies, lamp sockets, etc from Pinball Resource. All the metal has been re-plated or polished. The cabinet had the bottom replaced and fixed any visual imperfections. Pinball Pimp stencils were used for the repaint. The lamp insert board was dirty and was swelling in certain parts. I was able to cut the swelling down with a razor blade, sand it down and refinish it with a white tinted shellac based primer.
Pretty much what's left to do is clean the transformer board and harness, rewire the lamp insert panel with new ground braid and lamp sockets, install the Boston Pinball LED displays, fix some pins on the coin door harness and install the harness on an NOS coin door body. The old boards are out and it will be powered by Pascal Janin's PI-1/X4 board. I expect to play it soon!
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Quoted from tktlwyr:In the club! I'm in the process of finishing up the restoration. I hope to have it finished within the next two weeks. The game was ROUGH but solid.
That is one of the nicest restorations Ive seen. . . of any machine!
Excellent Work! 
video says a lot for Joker Poker .I know I'm not a great player and think i suck but watching these top players struggle on Joker Poker makes me smile a little. I'm not sure anyone can ever master JP. Game play starts at 1hour 18 min mark
Quoted from Frippertron:Used to have one.
I had a couple of these. Both versions as I played both at different locations when they were new.
What are the rule differences between the EM and the SS? I forgot. Which is the better player? I know the EM commands a higher price due to rarity.
Got lucky and this was my first pinball machine when I got into the hobby just over 2 years ago.
Quoted from Frippertron:What are the rule differences between the EM and the SS? I forgot. Which is the better player? I know the EM commands a higher price due to rarity.
Double-bonus on the EM vs 5x bonus on the SS, and I do not believe the drop targets reset during a ball on the em.
Quoted from Frippertron:What are the rule differences between the EM and the SS? I forgot. Which is the better player? I know the EM commands a higher price due to rarity.
Here is something I saved that I ran across a long time ago, not sure of the source.
"The EM and SS Joker Pokers are like playing two completely different
games as far as the rulesets go. With the SS, the 5x bonus is
achieved by knocking down the appropriate lit target bank. With the
EM, double bonus is achieved when the ABC rollovers are scored and
unlit. The points scored per DT are different between the two styles
too. With the EM, the ace and king DTs are worth 1000pts., while all
others are worth 500pts. With the solid state, all DTs are worth
500pts., and once a bank is cleared and resets, the DTs are worth
5000pts. On the SS, you are always spotted a lit bonus, depending on
the ball in play (ie. ball 1 spots 1000, ball 2 spots 2000, etc.
during a 5 ball game). With the EM, you are never spotted a bonus.
There are a couple of other little nuances, but the biggest difference
is the resetting of the DTs. On the EM, the DTs won't reset during a
ball in play. So, once all of the DTs are down, the only thing left
to shoot for are the ABC rollovers for double bonus, the extra ball
target, or the special rollover, provided that these things haven't
been achieved yet. It makes the PF seem very vacant when all the
drops are down. However, with the SS, the ace, king, queen, and 10 /
jack DT banks reset once a specific bank is cleared (ie. once all
three queen DTs are dropped, they will reset, all four kings are down,
they reset, etc.)."
Is the kings coil supposed to fire immediately upon startup? The reason I as is I recently picked up a joker poker and the coil for the kings did not work. The coil was burned up so I replaced that and the coil would lock on on startup. I replaced the remote mounted transistor and added a resistor and swapped the driver board with another that I was not sure was fully functioning.
Quoted from OTTOgd:Yeah, awesome game. One of the best, imho.
I still have to install my CPR.
What sucks about this job are all the straight screws Gottlieb used. I replaced them all with phillips head.
Quoted from Deez:One of the best machines ever made in my opinion. A perfect ruleset.
Rules are not perfect (though they are very good!). A and C in the outlanes serve no purpose. Completing ABC lights Extra Ball and/or Special (depending on 3 or 5 ball game) but that doesn't carry over to the next ball. So if the ball drains down an outlane and you complete ABC, you never get a chance to actually shoot for the lit Extra Ball/Special 
I have often wondered how the rules could be rewritten to better incorporate the A and C outlanes....any suggestions?
Quoted from woz:I have often wondered how the rules could be rewritten to better incorporate the A and C outlanes....any suggestions?
I have the EM version, but I do like how the DTs reset on the SS version once a set has been completed.
Anyways, one way draining and tripping the C (on the EM version anyways) could make a difference is if the A & B
were already tripped, not only the C scores 5,000 points, but what ever complete card set/s had been completed
during that ball's play, those bonus points would be doubled..
Quoted from woz:Rules are not perfect (though they are very good!). A and C in the outlanes serve no purpose. Completing ABC lights Extra Ball and/or Special (depending on 3 or 5 ball game) but that doesn't carry over to the next ball. So if the ball drains down an outlane and you complete ABC, you never get a chance to actually shoot for the lit Extra Ball/Special
I have often wondered how the rules could be rewritten to better incorporate the A and C outlanes....any suggestions?
The lights being lit DOES give you 5,000 points. Many games give you an outlane scoring opportunity.
Question to those who did the CPR PF SWAP ... anything of note to be aware of? Swap is on my to do list.
Thanks
Mike Geib
FYI this is the actual NOS playfield that I had scanned (and then redrawn by David Eisner) for the CPR repro.
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1306&picno=47848
The detail in the playing cards is ridiculous 
Quoted from Mopar:I have the EM version, but I do like how the DTs reset on the SS version once a set has been completed.
Anyways, one way draining and tripping the C (on the EM version anyways) could make a difference is if the A & B
were already tripped, not only the C scores 5,000 points, but what ever complete card set/s had been completed
during that ball's play, those bonus points would be doubled..
That makes sense - with the EM you are rewarded for completing the ABC sequence by getting a double bonus...with the SS you get no additional reward apart from maybe 5000.
I wonder if Gottlieb made the EM playfield and rules first (highly likely I would imagine) and as they were going to use the same playfield for the SS, not worry about trying to incorporate the A & C outlanes fully into the rules.
Quoted from michaelgeib:Question to those who did the CPR PF SWAP ... anything of note to be aware of? Swap is on my to do list.
Thanks
Mike Geib
Aside from the straight headed screws, some of the dimpling is off causing alignement issues.
Quoted from woz:That makes sense - with the EM you are rewarded for completing the ABC sequence by getting a double bonus...with the SS you get no additional reward apart from maybe 5000.
I wonder if Gottlieb made the EM playfield and rules first (highly likely I would imagine) and as they were going to use the same playfield for the SS, not worry about trying to incorporate the A & C outlanes fully into the rules.
If I ever get around to getting one (or more) of the LISY1 boards it would be fun to set it up with basically the EM rules but with drop target reset on bank completion and 5x bonus. Lots of possibilities with those boards, make it switchable modes in the menus.
Quoted from Don44:Is the kings coil supposed to fire immediately upon startup?
Anybody?
Quoted from Don44:Anybody?
Not sure if it what you are asking, but when I start a game all the drops pop into the up position, Kings included.. Each time a ball drains all of the drops reset into the up position. If you are asking if the King drops pop up when you power on -- Id have to start the game and pay attention next time I am around it.
Quoted from Vic_Camp:What are the correct factory size legs for Joker Poker?..........27" ?
Yup, same as all the deep body Gottlieb games starting in about 1976 with Spirit of 76.
Well, I finished the restoration today. This week I cleaned the transformer board, new sockets/wiring on the lamp insert panel, Boston Pinball LED displays, coin door installed (frame is temporary while the other is getting polished), most of the metal in the cabinet was re-plated in nickel-chrome, all new hardware and topped of with Comet sunlight frosted LEDs in the backbox/GI.
http://www.classicplayfields.com/store-backglass.html
I bought one from them and have it it my game, looks great as my old one had looks of flaking.
I added this Joker Poker to my collection a few months ago. It came out nice after many hours of restoration. I have to say it is one of the top players around for the time period. I haven't stop playing since I got it. Keeps you wanting to play another game.
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Quoted from plowpusher:That looks very nice and 945,730 is one hell of a good top score .
Actually my highest score to date is over 1 million. I played it for days straight after completion of the fine tuning adjustments on it. The playfield on this game is in very nice condition. There is hardly any top arch wear marks.
jppf28 (resized).JPGjppf3 (resized).JPGQuoted from ckcsm:Vic, I love mine also. I had to do alot of work to shop it out. I also bought a new backglass from CPR at the York Show last year.
I like the challange of a different drop targets to shoot for for each ball, definitely makes you play one more.
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Your game looks to be in excellent condition. The front of the cabinet looks like new. Is it all original?
Quoted from Vic_Camp:Your game looks to be in excellent condition. The front of the cabinet looks like new. Is it all original?
Lots of touch ups and an automotive clear coat that I used a matt additive to try to make it look like a factory lacquer finish.
20170922_155706 (resized).jpgIt's hard to find fault with either version, in my view. If the solid state version was never created, the EM game would nonetheless still rank among the very best EM multiplayer titles, I suspect.
As much as I like the SS version, I prefer the sensibility of the EM version. The EM's backglass composition is more appealing to my eye, with its cluster design of score reels as opposed to the symmetrical design on the SS.
The larger-sized array of playing cards on the EM backglass adds dimension, which is arguably more interesting.
Likewise, the EM reels simply look better than the vacant black abyss of the SS counterpart when the game is turned off.
Last, the EM's backbox better displays the backglass with its artistic graphic on the lower horizontal. The absence of that graphic on the SS disjoints the head from the cabinet, diminishing the aesthetic value, in my opinion.
There are few titles in which I would want both the EM and SS versions. Joker Poker is one such title. Each version possesses distinct attributes.
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Ashland, OH
Brampton, ON