| John Youssi and Mark Sprenger outdid themselves on this one. In fact,
that's Youssi as the jester with the food & drink. You've got to hand
it to the them for taking a strange theme and making it come to life.
The artwork is full of fun details, like a pair of the Jokerz spying on
the players' cards and communicating by walkie-talkie! The King
bears a striking resemblance to Kris Kringle, and his Queen (or is that
his daughter...or granddaughter?!) definitely gets your attention. The first three cards in the King's hand are actually on a rotating disc behind the glass...when you get the ball in the "draw poker" lock on the playfield, this disc spins and stops on some semi-random combination of cards. An award is then given depending on the outcome. The card wheel is on a stepper motor with a built-in optical encoder so that the game's software knows what poker hand is dealt. Pretty nifty! |
