Not to be confused with Jacks to Open (Mylstar Gottlieb, 1984), a remake of this electromechanical game. Jacks Open is the replay version, while Lucky Hand and Lucky Card are add-a-ball versions whose differences are explained at the end of the guide.
On the plunges, get the ball through 3 of the lit top lanes, but avoid the 4th one to keep the drop target value high. Drop targets score 1,000 points plus 1,000 for each unlit suit from the top lanes. The lit lamps in the center of the playfield show what combination of cards is needed to score 5,000 points and advance to the next level, but don't go straight for level completion; try instead to hit as many drop targets as possible before completing a level, because at the max level, not all the drops reset each time.
Score 5,000 points when lit, or 500 when not lit. The drop target value in the lower table is equal to 1,000 points, plus 1,000 for each unlit suit. Completing the 4 top lanes resets them, which reverts the drop target value to 1,000 points, and instantly advances the drops to the next level, unless they have already been advanced to the top level and the special is lit.
The top lanes also light various other lanes around the playfield: the heart and club light the upper side lanes for 1,000 points instead of 100, and the diamond and spade light the out lanes for 5,000 points instead of 500.
The yellow ones score 100 points and are always lit. The blue bumper scores 100 points, or 1,000 when lit, and it is lit by advancing the card hands to level 2 (completing the Two Jacks).
Each target down scores 1,000 points, plus 1,000 for each unlit suit from the top lanes. Be sure to hit only one target at a time whenever possible, as if you hit two at the same time, you won't get score credit for both of them.
Hitting all of the targets that correspond with the lit hands of cards in the playfield will score 5,000 points, advance the level, and cause the entire bank of drop targets to reset. The levels are:
Since targets are an exhaustible resource (at least to the extent that after reaching level 5, not all of them pop up anymore), it's more efficient to hit the targets that do not correspond with the lit card hand, to ensure that as many points as possible are squeezed out of the first four banks of drops. The truly most efficient way to get score out of the targets is to collect three top lanes first so that every target is worth 4,000 points before going to town on them at all, but it's very difficult to get a ball up to the top lanes on any time other than the plunge, so making a top lane on the ball 1 plunge and picking off 2,000 point targets is usually sufficient.
Score 100 points, or 1,000 when lit. The left lane is lit by collecting the heart, and the right lane is lit by collecting the club.
Jacks Open has a conventional in/out lane setup, except that the wireforms separating the in and out lanes are cut off at the corner on both sides. This means holding up a flipper for a catch is dangerous, as the ball might end up rolling back up and through an out lane. Conversely, there is a peg in the out lane that can allow for an out lane ball to be nudged back into play onto the in lane wireforms.
Out lanes score 500 points, or 5,000 when lit. The left is lit by collecting the diamond, and the right is lit by collecting the spade.
The in lanes score 100 points or 1,000 when lit, and are lit by completing the first level card hand (the two jacks).
There is no end of ball bonus, bonus multiplier, or extra ball opportunity. All drop target and top lane progress carries over from ball to ball.
The Special available at drop target level 5 is a Wow instead. Wow can be set to extra ball or 50,000 points. Up to 5 Wow extra balls can be held at any one time.
After completing the top lanes, all four will relight- resetting the per-drop-target value- but, one of the four lanes will be lit for Wow. The Wow will move between lanes each time a pop bumper is hit. Rolling through a lane where the Wow is not lit will forfeit the Wow chance until all four top lanes are completed again.
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