Lucky Hand
About This Machine
Lucky Hand, designed by Ed Krynski with artwork by Gordon Morison, was manufactured by Gottlieb in June 1977 near the close of the electro-mechanical era. It is the add-a-ball version of the design; the replay version is Gottlieb's 1977 'Jacks Open', and an add-a-ball edition built for export to Italy was sold as 'Lucky Card'. Production is confirmed at 626 units, with Gottlieb's sales sheets showing all 610 recorded sales going to the domestic market.
The heart of the game is a nine-bank of drop targets tied to a progression ladder of "Shoot For" inserts on the playfield. Play opens with "2 Jacks" lit, and completing each lit step resets all nine targets for the next step. When Royal Flush is lit, knocking down the five red A-K-Q-J-10 targets resets the bank and fires a trip coil whose trip arm immediately drops the four black targets, leaving only the five red targets standing; completing them scores a WOW. Each WOW resets and re-trips the bank in the same pattern, so the sequence can repeat until the end of the game.
The single-player wedge head layout has other distinctive touches: there are no slingshots, and open-elbow inlanes let the ball pass from inlane to outlane and back again. Krynski's clever trip-arm mechanism and Morison's playing-card artwork make Lucky Hand a fine showcase of late Gottlieb electro-mechanical design.
Images (22)
Technical Details
- Theme:
- Playing Cards
- Model Number:
- 415A
- Notable Features:
- Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (3), 9-bank drop targets (1) with trip arm. Open-elbow inlanes allow ball to pass from inlane to outlane and vice-versa. No slingshots. Wedge head. The playfield shows a progression ladder of "Shoot For" inserts notifying the player which of the nine drop targets to hit to advance the ladder. Game play opens with the "2 Jacks" lit on the progression ladder. Achieving each step on the ladder when lit resets all drop targets for the next step. However, when Royal Flush is lit, hitting the five red A-K-Q-J-10 drop targets for this not only resets all targets but a drop target trip coil mounted on the drop target chassis operates a trip arm having four trip arm wireforms to immediately drop the four black Q-J-K-Q targets, leaving only the five red A-K-Q-J-10 targets to complete to score a WOW. Scoring the WOW resets all nine drop targets and again trips the four black ones to leave only the five red ones up, to score another WOW with them, and this pattern will repeat until the end of the game.
Credits
- Designer:
- Ed Krynski
- Artist:
- Gordon Morison