Buckaroo

Pinside rating

This game received 30 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.100 /10

8.1

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #56 in the Pinside EM Top 100.



Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.117

Artwork: 8.347

Sounds/Music: 2.322

Other Aspects: 7.968


Pinside staff rating

None of the Pinside.com staff have rated this game. Sorry, no rating from us.

Your Rating?

You need to be logged in before you can rate pinball machines. No account yet? Registering only takes a sec!


Found 22 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 22 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 1.

List options






9.816/10
5 months ago
Played buckaroo on my buddy's virtual pin and fell in love with it. Got lucky and picked one up the real game about an hour from my house, got it home and can't stop playing it. The artwork, sounds, gameplay, and layout keep bringing me back for another game. Nudging is your best friend in this game and when done right you can rack up some points and grab a few saves. Definitely one of my favorite EM games.
10.000/10
7 months ago
Wow. Got to play this today. Incredible. Best EM I’ve ever played, and I also played ‘Majorettes’ at the same session and was really drawn to Buckaroo. The horse kicking the cowboy is hysterical. Artwork is second to none, and this game will suck you in. The number combos on the spinner and the illusive number 4 will keep you coming back. Fabulous!
6.809/10
7 months ago
played at the pinball hall fame in vegas ok game
6.534/10
2 years ago
Classic Gottlieb with roto target and animated back glass!
7.464/10
2 years ago
I never got tired of this game . back glass has spot for the kicking horse.
8.592/10
3 years ago
I played this game back in the seventies and forgot about what a great machine it was. The rules are straight forward andis a great game for a novice or for a skilled shotmakers The lighting is not great, but the backglass makes up for it. Someday, if I found one, I wouldn't hesitate in buying this machine.
6.041/10
4 years ago
This IS the same as "Cowpoke"! [Thanks to Spiro for comment there.] The horse-kick EB knock is the part we remember best. Tough play (unless the tilt is WAY loose), but a great theme EM game!
6.846/10
5 years ago
Buckaroo is a fun game to introduce people to a simple ruleset. The horse action is terrific and the playfield is nice and colorful. The game itself doesn't keep me coming back to it too much, though...
8.022/10
5 years ago
Love trying to hit the “4” on the rotowheel to score 4 replays at once when you have it all set up.....
7.034/10
6 years ago
Everything I've said in my review of Cow Poke, the add-a-ball version of this game, holds true. Less points because the add-a-ball Cow Poke is the superior game--it's an add-a-ball after all...it adds an extra element of strategy. Still, a good game of risk-reward packaged in a nice western theme.
5.388/10
7 years ago
Buckaroo has a interesting and innovative backglass with "animation", and it comes with a does of Western humor too. The center spinning target (?) is a neat addition, and the art is corny but made me chuckle several times. Fun game play with a theme that'll make many grin (and I'm not big on the Western theme either).

This would be a great addition to my future hypothetical collection. I'd recommend traveling to play this one if you get the chance.
8.660/10
8 years ago
Here’s a wedgehead that is extremely popular and is a must for any collectors who seeks Gotttlieb wedgeheads. Tough game to beat and not so player friendly. I remember playing this game on location back in the 1960’s and took a lot of quarters from me without giving back many replays. Good money maker for vendors because as a player the game would almost always get you close to beating it for replays which in turn made you want to play another game. An attractive backglass animation along with beautiful vibrant coloring throughout entire game. Another wedgehead that is a simple game to understand the rules. Making ABCD top arch rollovers lights center rollover for SPECIAL. Having the 5 point spin dead bumper at the center of the top arch makes it a little tricky to get the ball to go through the center rollover SPECIAL when lit,so a player must have good shaking skills which is a requirement with any EM game. The pop bumper arrangement isn't the greatest and doesn’t keep the ball in play in pop bumper area to long, especially having the left and right 10 point dead pop bumpers in the corners which seem to die the ball out a little . I still get a thrill though when I have the top arch center rollover lit for SPECIAL and get that center pop bumper to knock the ball up and down through the center top rollover SPECIAL (pop,pop). The games best feature is trying to make all seven numbers buy shooting at the roto spin targets and even the best EM players find this difficult to accomplish which makes this game challenging. I have this game in my collection and when i do play it, i know it will be for more than just one game unless i beat it bad on my first try. The ball spends most of its game time at the lower section of the playfield and the main objective is to try to hit as many roto spin numbered targets as you can. A player can win a replay for the (1,2,3,4) (2,3,4,5) (3,4,5,6) (4,5,6,7) or that almighty quadruple win for the sweet sounding pop,pop,pop,pop, when a player has the 1,2,3( )5,6,7 and makes the number 4 to complete the 1 thru 7 sequence. Every time i am finished playing this game the palms of my hands are red and sore from shaking the game so much trying to beat it by score or SPECIAL. This is one game that puts up a good fight against a player even when a player is trying very hard to compete against it.
9.000/10
8 years ago
Beautiful game! I am the lucky owner of a totally restored Buckaroo. Bought it before I ever played one (had it shipped). Didn't like the randomness at first, thought 2" flippers were the ugly cousins of my 3" flipper games. Thought the Roto target was impossibly hard to aim for/hit. Waa waa waa. Nothing about my previous statements do I feel are true now. Some may say the animation is cool, but a non playable gimmick, the Roto is cool but takes up too much space, the art is awesome but...

This pin is fun and it's a stunner. Lucky me.
6.101/10
9 years ago
I had the opportunity to play this machine at the Pinball Expo Sydney Nov 2014. I did so knowing that this is a highly rated machine but it did little for me. In fairness this was no doubt partly because the machine I played was poorly tuned and this obviously affected gameplay. I had three games but that was enough no comeback. I also thought that the backglass animation novelty was slapstick and seen once and that's it as distinct from many other game animations that are often mesmerising.
6.668/10
9 years ago
Buckaroo was inspired (copied) from Flipper Cowboy where a heroical cowboy shoots at a shooting target on the backglass. Buckaroo gives a ridiculous impression of a cow hand. On the playfiled we have the copied roto-target which eventually gives 4 replays with one shot at the 4 when completing 1-7. Flipper Cowboy was an add-a-ball machine awarding extraballs instead. Overall however there's not much more to shoot at and other tables offer more to aim as well as more goals, e.g. Happy Clown or KOD.
9.662/10
10 years ago
Everything about this games says fun!! The backglass with its animation is cool and the playfield is nice artwork as well. The layout is tight but still challenging. The cabinet artwork doesn't really match the theme. Excellent game to play though. The western theme runs deep.
7.125/10
10 years ago
I like the theme and animation in the backglass. I have played this EM several times trying to like it but it really does nothing for me. The gameplay is average at best. Kings and Queens or Bank-A-Ball are tons more fun.
8.426/10
10 years ago
A classic 2' flipper game , Not a big fan of roto targets , but it works with this game, back box animation is sweet, a tough game to beat, you will never dominate this game, this is a MUST own for any true Gottlieb EM collector.
8.743/10
10 years ago
If it were all about the roto target then this game wouldn't rate that highly. The elusive 4 the 7 numbers in a line, but it's not. The game is much more than that completing A-B-C-D lights corresponding bumpers for 10 when lit and also a special at the top centre roll-over. The centre roto target takes up so much room that the game flow is a bit cramped for my liking, just like KoD. On the other hand the temptation to go for those numbers and hear the four replays in a row on . 4 is very special and also very rare. Roy Parker (God rest his soul) was a wonderful artist and really did sum up the joyous feeling that must have been running through all Americans after the Second World War and especially in the hey days of the 1950's and early 60's. His art is magnificent and it is possible that no other machine is as representative of this than Buckaroo. The animation is fun, but not the be all and end all of this beautiful game. I like playing mine, although I prefer to look at it's twinkling lights on a dark cold evening and listen to the sound of those flashing 44's. Magic sheer magic.
8.507/10
11 years ago
I have many other early pins where I prefer the art but the gameplay is very addictive. Just get 7 numbers in a row but number 4 is hard to get. If you get 1, 2, 3, and 5, 6, 7 and then nail 4, you get 4 credits which is a great feat. On my list if I see a nice one for sale.
7.420/10
11 years ago
Buckaroo is about as classic as a classic Gottleib pinball game gets.

The Pros:
A nice layout with short shots that require accuracy and good ball reflection contol from the flippers. The flipper layout at the bottom of the PF combined with the pops and the lanes at the top of the PF mean that nudging and english skills need to be activated from the moment the ball is plunged until it's on the way out. Watchin' Skeeter gettin' hoofed in the buttocks is ALWAYS entertaining. Roto targets are way righteous! Art packages like this are the reason why people say... Roy Parker is the MAN!

The Cons:
Your ball time can be really short once the ball passes down by the roto-target. The activation of the roto-target happens quite often, to the point of "luck" becoming a determining factor of a game between equally matched players. Plaid cabs are weird.

The Takeaway:
There are other EM games that I prefer to this one, but I have to give propers to the the incredible art package, animations and good layout.
9.662/10
11 years ago
The best out there. I've been looking for a long time for one of these old guys. Classic art and play.
There are 22 ratings (that include a comment) on this game. Currently showing results page 1 of 1.

You too can add your own comment by rating this game! Click here to rate this game!

Over the years

Visualizing this game's rating and rank over the years

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/buckaroo/ratings and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.