Vic Camp pinball: 1973 High Hand (Game Play Instruction) part 1

This Gottlieb wedge head is a tough game to beat by Score or Special for a free game. Most other Gottlieb wedge head collectors also would agree that this game is not player friendly and a seasoned player will have some very low scoring games and way too many ball drains. For sure it is a challenging game and will test the skills of any seasoned EM player, but when they do have a great game and beat the game good it is quite rewarding. If you do not shake and nudge this EM than you going get your butt kicked by this stunning looking of a machine. It feels like yesterday i was playing this game on location back in 1973. Here's a game that requires a EM wedge head player to use all of his skill and experience to beat it good. Knocking down all four drop target banks isn't so hard to do. A player must know the shot from the ball shooter rod into both center top arch rollovers to get a good chance at knocking down the red Jack of diamonds or the black Ace of spades, which are the harder drop targets to knock down. I like the playfield artwork with the four suits of cards in a circle directly in view of the player and looks real nice when they are all lit up. Attractive black and red colored drop targets with sparkling gold colored lettering really brings out the eye catching vibrant colors of the playfield too. The cabinet with the red/black spade, diamond, club and heart symbols stand out nicely on the white base coat with the webbing design flowing throughout. Making the kick out hole for SPECIAL or points can be made many different ways and not just with a flipper shot, but requires a skilled EM wedge head player with many games under his belt to accomplish getting the ball in that kick out hole. There are those, not so friendly side out Special rollover lanes that a player has to beware of, if not can cause some sour low scoring games without much ball play. The High Hand in my collection had it back box wiring altered been to converted the game to play like an ADD A BALL game. The backbox credit wheel which has an added switch to the wiring and the ball count unit was rewired differently too. The game added free balls on the credit wheel instead of replays. Yes, that's right a player could be awarded free balls (up to 15 free balls) through the credit wheel instead of replays. I have had some thrilling, long lasting, great playing games having my High Hand play like an ADD A BALL reaching a high score of over 400,00 points and countless free balls ,which isn't easy to do and only happen once in awhile, for even the better EM players. This is a must wedge head for any EM pinball collector that is very good player and likes a challenging game to beat by score or SPECIAL. Update: I have rewired my High Hand back to a replay game and is now playing like it did when it left the factory.