# Episode 20 - Guest Pop-A-Card 3/30/15

**Source:** For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2015-03-31  
**Duration:** 12m 30s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://foramusementonly.libsyn.com/episode-20-guest-pop-a-card-33015

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## Analysis

Nick Baldridge hosts a casual conversation about Pop-A-Card, a Gottlieb electromechanical pinball machine, with a guest (Ava) who appears to be a family member. They discuss the machine's playfield artwork, drop targets, pop bumpers, backglass restoration, gameplay mechanics, and compare it to sister game Drop A Card. The episode includes personal anecdotes about owning and maintaining the machine.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Pop-A-Card has drop targets that reset when you drain, while Drop A Card (the sister/replay version) keeps targets down for the entire game — _Nick Baldridge explaining the mechanical difference between the two games to Ava_
- [HIGH] Pop-A-Card's backglass was originally missing a lot of paint and was replaced with a new Ron Webb backglass — _Nick and Ava discussing the backglass restoration and new glass installation_
- [MEDIUM] A pinball machine has approximately a thousand wires inside — _Nick estimates wire count in Pop-A-Card: 'There's actually probably a thousand wires in the pinball. Never counted, but there's quite a few.'_
- [HIGH] Ava's highest score on Pop-A-Card was close to 60,000, approaching but not exceeding 100,000 — _Ava recalls her scoring: 'It was like 50,000. It was really close to 60.'_
- [HIGH] Pop-A-Card uses Gottlieb-style pop bumpers with unique placement far apart from each other — _Closing discussion about pop bumper brands and design_

### Notable Quotes

> "On Drop A Card, when you knock down all the drop targets, they stay down for the entire game. They don't reset."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, ~mid-episode
> _Explains key mechanical difference between Pop-A-Card and its sister game_

> "It's kind of weird that the joker is spitting out all the cards, isn't it?"
> — **Nick Baldridge**, ~backglass discussion
> _Discussing the Pop-A-Card backglass artwork design_

> "They're very complicated. And they have a bunch of wires... packed with wires... There's actually probably a thousand wires in the pinball."
> — **Nick Baldridge**, ~internal mechanism discussion
> _Describing EM pinball internal complexity_

> "It's fun to try and get 10 extra balls, isn't it? Yeah, it's fun. It's very difficult."
> — **Nick Baldridge / Ava**, ~gameplay discussion
> _Highlighting Pop-A-Card's challenge and replay value_

> "when you hold them down, they buzz really loudly and it distracts you. It just means I need to rebuild them."
> — **Ava / Nick Baldridge**, ~flipper discussion
> _Identifying maintenance issue with Pop-A-Card's flipper buttons_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Nick Baldridge | person | Host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast, collector and maintainer of Pop-A-Card |
| Ava | person | Guest on the episode, appears to be family member of Nick, plays Pop-A-Card, familiar with the machine's mechanics and history |
| Pop-A-Card | game | Gottlieb electromechanical pinball machine; primary subject of the episode; owned by Nick Baldridge; features drop targets, pop bumpers, red start switch |
| Drop A Card | game | Replay version / sister game to Pop-A-Card with variant mechanics (targets stay down) |
| Gottlieb | company | Manufacturer of Pop-A-Card and Circus; known for specific pop bumper style |
| Ron Webb | person | Artist who created the new backglass for Pop-A-Card |
| Momo | person | Artist who attempted first backglass touch-up before new glass was installed |
| Hugh Cohn | person | Mentioned in opening note from previous podcast episode; Steve Smith expressed concern about his whereabouts |
| Steve Smith | person | Mentioned in opening note; previous podcast guest who discussed Hugh Cohn |
| Circus | game | Gottlieb game mentioned alongside Pop-A-Card as having similar pop bumper style |
| Super Mario Bros | game | One of Ava's favorite games in the arcade collection |
| Police Force | game | Game mentioned among Ava's favorites in the arcade |
| Twinkie | game | Referenced as having different pop bumper style than Gottlieb machines |
| For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast hosted by Nick Baldridge focusing on electromechanical and bingo pinball machines |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pop-A-Card machine mechanics and gameplay, Electromechanical pinball design and engineering, Gottlieb pinball machines
- **Secondary:** Backglass restoration and artwork, Pop bumper design and variations across manufacturers, Pinball machine maintenance and repair, Personal collecting and home arcade setup

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Casual, warm conversation between hosts with clear affection for the machine. Discussion of gameplay challenges and restoration work is matter-of-fact and constructive. No criticism or negative commentary; focus is on appreciation of the game's design and personal memories associated with it.

### Signals

- **[restoration_signal]** Pop-A-Card underwent backglass restoration; original was missing paint, replaced with new Ron Webb backglass; initial touch-up attempt by Momo did not capture artist's intent perfectly due to brush stroke visibility and light diffusion through glass (confidence: high) — Extended discussion of backglass replacement and previous restoration attempt using brush vs. airbrush
- **[gameplay_signal]** Pop-A-Card is challenging; guest has reached scores in 50,000-60,000 range but has not rolled machine (100,000+); completion of all drop targets triggers 'Wow light' and significant playfield cascade; extra ball achievement is difficult goal (confidence: high) — Detailed discussion of scoring attempts, difficulty of achieving 10 extra balls, and reward mechanics
- **[design_innovation]** Pop-A-Card features drop targets that reset upon drain; sister game Drop A Card variant keeps targets down for entire game, making it easier; design difference represents interesting mechanical variant between related games (confidence: high) — Explicit comparison: 'On Pop A Card... drop targets all pop back up... On Drop A Card... they stay down for the entire game'
- **[collector_signal]** Nick Baldridge acquired Pop-A-Card as his first pinball machine; initially kept in living room before moving to arcade garage; machine has remained in collection and is actively played and maintained (confidence: high) — Guest reflects on Pop-A-Card being 'the first game that I ever got' and moving from living room to arcade due to space constraints
- **[restoration_signal]** Pop-A-Card's two-inch flippers have buzzing issue when held down that causes distraction; Nick identifies flipper rebuild as solution (confidence: high) — Guest: 'they're very hard because when you hold them down, they buzz really loudly and it distracts you. It just means I need to rebuild them.'
- **[historical_signal]** Discussion compares Gottlieb pop bumper style (as seen in Pop-A-Card and Circus) to other manufacturer variants; Gottlieb bumpers characterized by unique spacing and placement (confidence: medium) — Host asks about Gottlieb-style pop bumpers vs. other brands; guest notes they're 'kind of far apart' which contributes to unique design

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## Transcript

 What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only, this is Nick Baldrige. Before we get started, a note. In yesterday's podcast, Steve Smith mentioned Hugh Cohn and how he had been unreachable and how he was worried about him. And, you know, we all Knapp Arcade, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. We used to troubleshoot our fictitious problems a few episodes ago. So, Ava, what do you like about Papa Card? I like the playfield. So you like the artwork on the playfield? Yeah. Do you like the gameplay? Do you like all the drop targets? Yeah, those are really cool. The When you complete the sequence and you get the Wow light and then you drain and the drop targets all pop back up Yeah, that's funny Do you know on drop a card which is the replay version of it? It's like a sister game to it On drop a card or brother or brother. It's a family member On drop a card when you complete yes I'm gonna cut that out. No, I think I'll leave that in. On Drop A Card, when you knock down all the drop targets, they stay down for the entire game. They don't reset. Okay... Don't you think that would be a little easier? Yeah, that would be way easier. I think so too. I've never played a Drop A Card, but I do enjoy the challenge of Pop A Card. The So Do you like the back glass? Yeah, it has a queen a joker with cards and a king It's kind of weird that the joker is spitting out all the cards, isn't it? Yeah, he's spitting them out of his And This is a new Ron Webb Back glass the original one was missing a lot of paint Do you like the new one better than what we touched up? Yeah, but it looks a lot different with the new paint. It sure does. Even though Momo a good artist she still didn get it exactly right Well it difficult to paint on glass with know because it like With a brush I know because it like It like smears and stuff Well the problem is when you have a light shining through what you painted Yeah. You can see all the brush strokes. Yeah, and it's hard. So that was our first attempt at a back glass touch-up. And before we had an airbrush. I can only see it when it's light up. Well, you can't see it on that because that's the new glass. It doesn't have any of the touch-ups anymore. You put in a new glass? Mm-hmm. You knew that. I showed you. No, you didn't. Anyway. Let's get back to our Pinball Podcast. Alright, alright. So, um, what's your highest score? Do you remember? It was... hold on, I'm gonna... She's checking the scoreboard. I see. Well, let me ask you a different question. Have you rolled the machine? Have you turned it over 100,000? No. Not yet, huh? I've gotten close to that, though. Yeah? Uh-huh. You get like 60 or 70,000? It was like 50,000. It was really close to 60. Yeah, I thought it was up there. Yeah, it was somewhere in there. That's pretty good. It's fun to try and get 10 extra balls, isn't it? Yeah, it's fun. It's very difficult. So, that was the first game that I ever got. What did you think when I brought it home? I was like, what was this thing? What do you do with it? And he said that it was a pinball machine. And I was like, excuse me? I don't remember you saying excuse me. Yes, I did. Hey, you watch your language. So, um, it used to be in our living room, didn't it? Yeah, we moved though, so now it's in our arcade thing, arcade garage. So, it's a bit better now, isn't it? Yeah. More room to move around the living room. Yeah. Yeah. The living room was crammed. Yep. I had a game underneath of it too. Yeah, that was weird. It was a tabletop game from the 1930s. But so are you glad that we still have Papa Card? Yeah, because I like the pop bumpers and the art and the play glass as I said. Do you like the two-inch flippers? Yeah, except they're very hard because when you hold them down, they buzz really loudly and it distracts you. It just means I need to rebuild them. Yeah. It time but do you ever get tired of playing it At my old house I used to get that I was like um How many times a day would you play it? Once like or maybe twice like every week I played it two or three times a day. That's what I thought. Yeah, and when I got older as the years passed, I was going to say, why don't you find a new play spot? Well, we did. We ended up moving. And now we have a lot more games. Do you find yourself playing pop a card a lot still? Bobby Ellis por las colostrum, So, do you, uh, what's your favorite game down here? My favorite game would probably be Papa Card, Super Mario Bros, and Circus. All three? They're all tied? Yeah. Yeah. Um. And maybe Police Force. And maybe Police Force? Maybe. Okay. Have you ever helped me fix anything on PapaCard? I think I helped you clean the playfield. Yep. And I showed you how the flippers work on that one. Uh-huh. And how to clean the pop-up or switches. Uh-huh. Yep. Drop targets. Uh-huh. Yep. So... And targets. Stand-up targets. Yep. So you've seen quite a bit in that one, huh? What's your favorite one to look inside? I like, um, they're very complicated. Mm-hmm. And they have a bunch of wires. They sure do. Yeah. They're like filled with the bottom to the top. Packed with wires, huh? Yeah. There's actually probably a thousand wires in the pinball. Never counted, but there's quite a few. Closed Caption Knapp Arcade Kaneda Pinball Podcast Thank you for watching I did. I had to, I had, you're right. I had to spray paint. Oh yeah. Yes. So I could re-decal it. But, um, so do you ever get all the targets down at once on Papa Card? One time it was, I was really young and I was sitting on a stool and like I pushed the zipper really hard and it went like bing bing bing zoom zoom zoom bing bing and it the me it's pretty neat when that happens because all the while lights turn on into the playfield turns from kinda white too red yeah it's like it's like a reid and so most of the switches that you had giving extra ball when that happens uh... so the trick is not to drain down the middle You're a good boy. So do you like the Gottlieb style pop bumpers like Papa Card and Circus have? Yeah, I like... Or do you like the ones like Twinkie has? They would probably be tied. I like both of the brands. They're very unique and fun. I agree. That's why I have them. Do you like the red start switch on Pop A Card? Yeah. It's pretty cool and unique, isn't it? Mm-hmm. It's a lot different than some of these modern games where it's just a button like a flipper button, isn't it? Mm-hmm. So, any closing thoughts, Ava, on Pop A Card? I like the pop bumpers, the unique of them, and the... The placement, you mean? Yeah. Yeah, because they're kind of far apart. Closed Caption by The Closed Caption Project Thank you for joining us. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or find me online at 4amusementonly.libsyn.com. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS or Facebook. Thanks again.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: c208da44-180e-4379-bb97-ca63cde83cd5*