Diamond Jack

"This is not pinball at its finest"

Diamond Jack is your average, run of the mill pinball table. There is nothing special, nothing great, or nothing particularly awful about it.

GAMEPLAY--6
The gameplay is not very complex. There are numerous bumpers and paths for you to take. The one feature that sets it apart from other pinball tables (every table has a feature that is different) is the addition of playing cards to knock down.

GRAPHICS--5
The screen at the top of the table always shows the high scores and/or your score. The area above the scoreboard is a photo of a woman holding a Jack of Diamonds in a casino. Yes, it is a photo.

The playing field itself is fancily decorated with playing cards, quite obviously this game’s theme. The colors are kind of drab and dull. There are not many flashing lights (one of my favorite things in pinball) on the table-they are only used for special occurrences in the game.

MUSIC--N/A
SOUND--2
This is a waste of a category. There is no music in Diamond Jack. There is only one sound byte. That sound byte is of good quality though. “Do you have the Jack of Diamonds?” sounds as you begin play with your first ball. Even with the quality of the sound, one sound byte warrants no higher than a two.

CONTROL--2
At first glance, I could tell there was not going to be a Control rating of higher than six. There were only two flippers, and I prefer games with more. On top of that, the buttons did not move the flippers well. They were not sticky or anything. The flippers just did not want to respond. To be perfectly honest, the flippers stopped working partway through my playing, and we had to get the pinball table’s owner to mess with the wiring to make it work. Not very good durability.

FUN--7
In spite of these horrendous control issues, the game still makes itself. Knocking over the playing cards is entertaining. The object of knocking down the cards is to get a decent poker hand. I love pinball with an object. Occasionally, the Jack of Diamonds will pop up in the center of the table to knock down for extra points.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
For a mediocre pinball table, this is quite difficult. Yes the control had something to do with it, but there is another very important reason. Getting a great poker hand is next to impossible. You have to have perfect aim to knock down the cards you want to, otherwise you are bound to knock down numerous other cards next to, or in the path of, the card you are aiming for.

REPLAY VALUE--LOW
Despite the fact that it was fun, and it had a high challenge, I never want to play it again. Why? The flippers are too much of a hassle for just an average game. If the game was spectacular, I would suffer through the flipper hassles, but it is not, so it is not worth it.

CLOSING STATEMENT
If at all possible, play a different pinball game. This one is average enough to warrant a play if you can find a table with the controls working properly. If you cannot, stay far, far away.

OVERALL--5

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/22/00, Updated 07/18/01