From StrategyWiki, the video game walkthrough and strategy guide wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Box artwork for Straight Flush.
Box artwork for Straight Flush.
Straight Flush
Developer(s)Taito Corporation
Publisher(s)Taito Corporation
Year released1979
System(s)Arcade
Japanese titleストレートフラッシュ
Genre(s)Action
Players1-2
ModesSingle player, Multiplayer
LinksStraight Flush ChannelSearchSearch
Straight Flush marquee

Straight Flush is an arcade game that was released by Taito Corporation in 1979; it runs on its own dedicated hardware (a Motorola M6800 microprocessor running at 2 MHz), and the player must use a single button to launch a ball towards a paddle at the bottom of the screen, with a rotary controller to direct the paddle left and right for rebounding the ball into 31 multicoloured Playing-card symbols (which alternate after each round in this order: hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades). Regardless of colour, the regular symbols' point value starts at 20, and is increased by 20 after each round - but if the ball hits the (indestructible) larger symbol in the centre of the formation and causes its colour to change, it is worth 10 times the regular ones' current value. If the ball hits one of the five face-down cards in the screen's top-left corner and causes it to turn over (revealing either "10", "J", "Q", "K" or "A"), it is worth 300 points; however, if it hits any already-overturned card again for 50 more points, this shall cause its colour to change from red to green (or vice versa). After all five cards in the top-left corner have been overturned you will receive a 2000-point bonus (however, if all five cards are the same colour, then you will be awarded a 6000-point bonus instead) and the yellow broomstick-riding Joker who had been sitting static behind the cards shall start flying around above the paddle (hitting the overturned cards also has no effect at this point) - and if the ball hits the Joker for 1000 points he will turn red as he is temporarily frozen (but regardless of whether he is frozen or not, he shall eventually return to his original position after the cards are overturned again). Furthermore, if the ball hits all five of the face-down cards in the screen's top-right corner and causes them to turn over (revealing either "B", "O", "N", "U", or "S", and their point values are the same as those in the top-left), you shall receive a bonus (which starts at 4000 points, and increases by 1000 after each subsequent time you earn it, up to a maximum of 9000) as a dice appears at the top of the screen and begins rolling back and forth (a pair of indestructible bumpers, which are worth 10 points if the ball hits them, shall also appear above the paddle); if the ball hits the dice and makes it explode, you will receive a random bonus of either 500, 1000 or 2000 points, as the cards are overturned again and a row of fifteen blocks (which are worth 100 points every time the ball hits them, and both their top and bottom halves take two hits to destroy) appears at the top of the screen for a certain amount of time (however, if the dice is not hit after a short period, it will disappear as the cards are overturned again). Lastly, as in Field Goal, if the player should manage to destroy a certain amount of symbols without losing a life, the paddle will shrink - however, if they should lose a life, it will return to its original size (the bonus for overturning all five cards in the screen's top-right corner will also be reset back to 4000).