I had posted a wip of my Nobs table about a year ago on vpf, and have since redone a lot of the table with a lot of help/suggestions from sliderpoint. The vp table is pretty much where I would like it to be, and I’ve actually started building it in Mission Pinball Framework (MPF) as I’m seriously considering making a real machine version. The table is built about like an early gottlieb system 1 would be with digital displays, but still chimes in the cabinet. I’ve gone beyond what the system 1 machines did and added things like high score initials that they never did (although aftermarket replacement brains for them have added it).

Gameplay:
If you play or understand the card game Cribbage, then this will make some sense to you, if you have no idea how cribbage works you will be a little lost but I’ll try to explain the basics.

The 3 main scoring mechanisms in Cribbage are pairs, runs, and 15s. 15s being a combination of cards that add up to 15. Each pair counts for two points (or as I call them in this game “pegs” since the game is usually played with a board and pegs to keep track of score). Each 15 counts two pegs as well. Runs are 3 or more cards in sequence, suit does not matter, and score 1 peg for each card, ie a 4 card run scores 4 pegs. Cribbage is about probabilities and maximizing your count. A lot of cribbage I didn’t see translating very well, but did make the main theme of hands. In cribbage you are dealt 6 cards at the beginning of a hand, you choose your best possible combination of 4 of those cards and discard the other 2 to the dealers “crib” which the dealer gets as another hand when scoring comes. Dealing rotates among the players each hand. After all players has discarded their 2 crib cards the top card on the remaining cards not dealt is turned over and becomes part of everyone’s hand for scoring. That is where the probability comes in, what cards are most likely to come up. In cribbage all the face cards count as 10 when scoring 15s so there is a pretty good chance of a card that counts as 10 coming up.

As you can see on the Nobs playfield there are 4 hands to be completed for pegs through a combination of rollover and drop targets. when you complete one of those hands you are awarded pegs based on that hand and what card is showing on the roto target in the upper right (the “turn” card). So one thing to do in the game is pay attention to what is on the roto and shoot for the most points accordingly.

The 4 color coded hands are as follows:

1. K, Q, J rollovers on the top and the 5 rollover in the left outlane. by itself completeing this hand scores 9 pegs (3 sets of 15 for 2, and a run of 3 for 3)
2. 6, 5, 5, 4 drop target bank on the left side. by itself this hand scores 12 pegs (2 sets of 15 for 2 each, 2 runs of 3 cards for 3 each, and a pair of 5s for 2)
3. A, 2, 3 drop targets and the 2 rollover on the right side. by itself this hand scores a double-run of 3 for 8 (cribbage shortcut for 2 runs of 3 for 3 each and a pair for 2)
4. 6 and 9 drop targets on the right and the 8 right outlane and 7 left inlane. by itself this hand scores 8 points; 2 sets of 15 for 2, and a run of 4 for 4.

(hopefully I counted correctly LOL)

To add more scoring I did a few things that are not necessarily part of a real cribbage game. hitting the roto target scores the value of the up card (face cards are 10), a lit star rollover scores 1 peg (they are lit by clearing other rollovers), hitting a drop or rollover that is the same as the roto scores a pair for 2, hitting a drop or rollover that in combination with the roto adds up to 15 pegs a 15 for 2, and hitting the extra ball stand up target spins the roto and pegs 1.

A game in cribbage is 121 pegs. And games are counted separately from pegs. Playing in 2 player mode also allows for “skunks” and “double-skunks”. A skunk is when one player wins the game (more than 120 points) and their opponent has 90 or less points and counts as 2 games won, and a double-skunk is when the loser has 60 or less points and counts as 4 games won (tournament and local rules differ on these though). High “scores” are kept track of for both the total number of pegs you earn during the match and total number of games won.

Extra balls are awarded for winning a cribbage game, and for hitting the target when lit, which is lit after hitting 6 lit rollovers, either all 6 on the playfield, or can be the same ones after scoring a hand it resets. Of note as well is that when you make the 6 lit rollovers in addition to lighting the target for extra ball it also opens the gate on the right outlane to drain, although that one has a rubber post for potential saves. The left outlane opens once you clear the 5 rollover there, and resets when the hand resets.

I am looking for feedback on play, rules, more ideas for scoring, anything basically is game :)

Oh, and the name of the table “NOBS” is a cribbage turn that applies when scoring your hand if you have the jack that matches the suit of the turn card you score 1 peg for nobs. Also you may notice that while the scoring display keeps track of total pegs for the match (all 5 balls), the individual cribbage games are kept track of on the figure 8 cribbage board around the pop bumpers. And extra pegs do not roll over into the new game, so having a total of 242 pegs doesn’t usually mean you won 2 cribbage games unless you happened to win both with exactly 121 pegs (not very likely).