When set up properly, it's a gem that has you coming back to get another 'wow'!

For some unknown reason, I always just love the gameplay on Hit the Deck. I've rolled it several times and double rolled it once.

one of the best and last EM out there loved it when I had it

Gets old quick. Wish it had other features besides roll overs and standing targets

this version is only slightly better than its AAB cousin, the playfield has to much crap on it, there is no flow and it is way to easy to beat this game. not fun, not a keeper for me.

I have waited a while before rating this game. So far for me it is superior to other late 70's games like Blue Note and Strange world. And it's as good as any 70's em I have played.

Art. For a 70's games this is as good as Gottlieb achieved in this era. Cabinet has a really vibrant orange that really pops. And the girl is cute.

Gameplay. Well DC means a real quick game. Rules are great. Take out 7 cards of same suit to light joker. Take other 7 cards out to light the KO holes for specials. Try and play your joker when all cards lit as every rollover then scores 5000. At this point it's a specials and scoring extravaganza! The rest of the game it stays like this so at this point can really score big. KO holes scores 5000 points throughout game. It is possible to make any shot on the p/f from the flippers with a little nudge and bounce off here and there.

Overall. Could end up being my favorite 70's game. Will update another time. And of course only 375 made and love the faux red score reels. And finally whilst you can have some really big high scoring games, most of the time it's the usual story of being near but not near enough. And just when I think it is easy it gives me a bad beating!

Takeaway. A real fun, colorful game.

Fun game. I can see why they never produced a lot of these. Once you get it into replay mode, you can really rack up the free games. There are not a lot of "shots" to make. Mostly try to get it to the top and hope for the best.

Hit the Deck is another game on the cusp of EM/SS from Gottleib that shows how stuck in the past that company was at the time. Fortunately, the game is not a bad player.

The Pros:
A crazy layout that does more without spinners and drop targets than any other Gottleib than I can think of at the moment. John Osborne packed this table tight! Two sets of lanes at the top require good plunger skill shots and nudging from the get go. The 9,10 and J targets are what you are shooting/nudging for. They are almost impossible to hit once the ball passes them down the PF. Standups at the bottom require tricky shots from the flippers. The art package is another Morrison great. The salmon-cabinet is way sweet!

The Cons:
For a game with so much to do, it gets down to upper pf rollovers pretty quickly. Shooting the ball up there past the pops is nearly impossible due to the configuration of pops, rubber posts around the lanes and that saucer in the middle of the PF. Do not, I repeat, do not shoot the ball anywhere near the yellow bumper.

The Takeaway: A good playing game from Gottleib. If this deck had been produced just a few years earlier, it might have been a great seller. Instead, this game is known for trying to fool pinball players into thinking this was a SS game. It was insulting at the time, now collectors go ga-ga for it. Pinheads are funny...