JOKER POKER was the third System 1 game and as such is a simple affair with chimes: no electronic sounds here! (Gottlieb even produced 820 electro-mechanical versions of the game.) Don't be fooled by the apparent simplicity though: this is one of Ed Krinski's finest designs and you will be hard pressed to find any game that provides more fun than this one. Just look at the prices the game commands and you will see just how highly it is rated!

The gameplay revolves around the 15 drop-target, which represent a 10, 2 Jacks, 3 Queens, 4 Kings, and 4 Aces and a Joker. In 3-ball play, the key drop-targets are the 10, Queens and Aces/jack, as with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd balls respectively, one must hit all of these targets to obtain the 5x bonus multiplier. In 5-ball it is similar, with a set of drop-targets the key on every ball of the game. Some of the shots are quite risky, especially on the Kings, as the ball will happily drain down the right-side outlane. Completing the Aces/Joker target bank or the A-B-C rollovers lights the top right purple target for Extra Ball which can either be hit from the left flipper or from the right on the "backhand" if a fast-moving ball is timed right. Completing the Aces/Joker and Kings target banks lights the right rollover for Special.

The single mini-flipper at the top of the playfield gets over-looked by many novice players but it's well placed for the skilled player to attack the Aces/Joker and even to get the ball back up to the top rollovers.