Win A Card

Win A Card is a 1961 electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine manufactured by Alben of France, a company that produced pinball machines from 1958 to 1964. Rather than an original design, its playfield is a close copy of D. Gottlieb & Company's 1960 game Wagon Train - a common practice among some European manufacturers of the era who adapted successful American designs for their own markets.

The two-player game features two flippers, three pop bumpers, two slingshots, and two roto-targets, with a maximum displayed score of 1,999 points per player. Its playing-card theme is built around a roto-target that alternately displays red and black cards from 10 through Ace; each player's hits light corresponding suits on their side of the backglass (spades and hearts for Player 1, diamonds and clubs for Player 2), with card status carrying over from ball to ball within a game. Completing a backglass straight flush awards a replay, up to two per player.

While little is known about the specific artist or designer behind Win A Card, its clever adaptation of a scoring theme around a shared roto-target - built on a layout borrowed from an established American hit - makes it an interesting example of how European manufacturers of the early 1960s built on existing pinball designs.