Lucky Joker
About This Machine
Lucky Joker, manufactured by J. H. Keeney and Company, is an electro-mechanical rolldown game — not an early pinball machine. Period trade coverage (Cash Box, August 10, 1963) places its production between July 1962 and June 1963, making it a product of the EM era's later years rather than its beginnings.
The game's defining mechanic is its array of 25 trap holes set on a platform slanted toward the rear of the cabinet. Balls that miss the holes roll along the back wall, where a hidden metal "kickerbar," triggered by either flipper button, can knock them back onto the grid for another scoring attempt. Because the number of open holes shrinks as more balls score, players must repeatedly time their kicks to land in the dwindling number of available holes, adding real strategy to what might otherwise look like a simple rolldown game.
Construction-wise, Lucky Joker features a laminated plastic playfield and a wood-framed backglass that hinges open for service access. No designer or theme has been documented, but its inventive kickerbar mechanism makes it a notable example of rolldown game design from the early 1960s.
Images (1)
Technical Details
- Notable Features:
- Trap holes (25), Ball kicker (1). Backglass in wood frame hinges open for service access. Laminated plastic playfield. The array platform of 25 holes is slanted towards the rear of the game, and any balls that miss the holes will settle along the back wall of the game. Along the length of the back wall is a slot in the wood hiding a metal rod " kicker bar". When non-scoring balls settle along this wall, the player can press either " flipper " button to pulse this kicker bar outward, kicking these balls back onto the grid area for possible scoring. The more balls that have already scored, the fewer holes remain available, and the player may have to repeatedly kick the balls back into play until they can score. A strategy is possible when a non-scoring ball rolls along the back wall, allowing the player to time the kick with a desired available hole.