Drop-a-Card

Drop-a-Card, released by D. Gottlieb & Co. in the early 1970s, represents a classic example of electro-mechanical pinball design during the golden age of mechanical pinball machines. The game's theme revolves around playing card imagery, a popular motif in pinball history that resonated well with adult players in bars and arcades.

The machine's gameplay centered around drop targets arranged in card-suit patterns, with players attempting to complete poker-style combinations for scoring. This innovative use of drop targets, which were still a relatively new mechanism in pinball at the time, helped establish this feature as a staple of future pinball designs. The playfield likely featured traditional standup targets, roll-over switches, and bumpers complementing the drop target arrays.

Drop-a-Card's release coincided with a period when pinball manufacturers were pushing mechanical innovation to its limits, just years before the industry would transition to solid-state electronics. The machine's card theme and gameplay mechanics influenced subsequent card-themed pinball games, contributing to a sub-genre that would continue through the solid-state era. While not one of Gottlieb's most famous titles, Drop-a-Card represents an important step in the evolution of drop target implementation and theme integration in pinball design.