Episode 4 – Spotlight Series – Drop-A-Card and Pop-A-Card
This is the first episode in my pinball spotlight series, I talk about Drop-A-Card (1971) and Pop-A-Card (1972). I cover some of the main differences between these games and a bit about replay vs...
Highlights
- Drop-A-Card produced 2,600 units; Pop-A-Card produced 825 units
- The Card The King was manufactured in August 1971, before Drop-A-Card (November 1971) and Pop-A-Card (March 1972)
- Pop-A-Card is the last Alvin Gottlieb pinball machine with two-inch flippers at the bottom of the playfield
- Add-a-ball games were created to circumvent local laws prohibiting replay wins, as free balls were considered less valuable than free games
- Pop-A-Card has five-digit scoring while Drop-A-Card has four-digit scoring
- There is a mystery around The Card The King flipper length (2-inch vs 3-inch variants exist)
- Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas is the only location with both Pop-A-Card and Drop-A-Card playable
- Morgan spent over 150 hours restoring his Pop-A-Card, including cabinet repair, rubber kit replacement, drop target rebuilding, and flipper reconstruction
- Pop-A-Card and Drop-A-Card are ranked 36 and 46 respectively on Pinside EM100 list
Notable quotes
“I wanted a game that I could tinker with.”
“The guy said, I'll just throw it on a fire.”
“Even if I don't get this pinball machine up and running, I'll learn a lot along the way by trying.”
“Add-a-ball is a bit more fun because winning a free game on a machine that is already set on free play is not as exciting as being rewarded with extra balls.”
“The Flipper Rebuild makes the flippers work like new.”
Entities
- D. Alvin Gottlieb & Company· company
- Pintastic New England· event
- Saratoga Pinball and Arcade Show· event
- Drop-A-Card· game
- Pop-A-Card· game
- The Card The King· game
- Arcade 80s· organization
- Internet Pinball Database· organization
- Pinball Hall of Fame· organization
- PinballMap.com· organization
- Pinside EM100· organization
- David Rick Morgan· person
- Ed Krinsky· person
- Gordon Rob Morrison· person
- Greg Grillo· person
- Jim· person
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