One day, my oldest sat down next to me as I worked on my very first custom chip set (which is now on month 7 waiting to ship) and said, 'wouldn't it be cool to make a Joker Poker themed set'. After months of rehabilitation, we had a working solid state JP in our very home. Finally, the time was right, and I was able to purchase my own Joker Poker. They would focus on Joker Poker for hours, ignoring the bells and whistles of more modern machines around them. They, also, decided that this was one of the best games offered. When my daughters were old enough, I took them to PinFest and to our local pinball museum. For someone like me, seeing them transform a bucket of bolts into a vintage computer was amazing. Originally an electro-mechanical machine with no computers on board, they adapted it to their 'System 1' computer and released a second version controlled by transistors and CPUs. One thing that set this machine apart from all the others is that Gottlieb decided to experiment with this game. This made for a great novice play experience and a long-lasting replay-ability. The rules of the machine itself were easy to understand, yet hard to master. Built in 1978 by the historic Gottlieb company, this pinball machine had so many of the elements I love in a single game.