Williams

Pinbot

Pinside Rating

This game received 476 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.920 _/10

7.92

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #98 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.846

Artwork: 8.051

Sounds/Music: 7.463

Other Aspects: 8.064

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 6 of us have rated this game.

7.916

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Found 263 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 263 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.611/10

2 years ago

AAA

Greenfun13

Pinside member

2y 37,150 93 6

This might be a biased review based on the fact that I grew up with this machine and still own it! (been in the family for 27 years!!) I have spent countless hours playing this pin and have never gotten tired of it! It is a classic system 11 game and has an awesome 80s space theme going on with even better sound effects and music to match. Everyone that comes over and plays it always loves it! It has a somewhat simple ruleset, but can drain balls like crazy so it keeps you coming back for more trying to get to the sun!

If you get a chance to play a PinBot, I highly recommend it!

WE CONTROL THE UNIVERSE!

8.138/10

2 years ago

T V

Olddragon

Pinside member

11y 66,050 636 4 9

This is a sentimental favorite.

Not a lot of shots but it certainly gets an 'A' for originality. The one shot that is unique is opening the visor with one hit and it is still satisfying after all these years. Love the speech and the game is very atmospheric. Can you get all the planets?

This is a pin that I will always play when I see it.

8.430/10

2 years ago

RY

Ryguy80

Pinside member

Spring Valley, WI

2y 51,550 303 2 17

Another 80s classic. One of the more colorful playfields of it's time. The opening and closing of Pinbot's face to give it's ability to see was pretty revolutionary for it's time. Trying to travel across all the various planets was challenging. Really good flow, but perhaps repetitive in completing the color matrix to open up Pinbot.

Ryguy80 edited previous rating on February 15, 2022.

9.159/10

2 years ago

VIL

climbingsim

Pinside member

Calgary, AB

2y 20,000 2 17 6

Great game!

climbingsim currently owns this game.

9.740/10

2 years ago

???

Clough95

Pinside apprentice

Richfield, MN

3y 10,000 9 16

Another Williams classic and gets a lot of plays out of my collection!!

Clough95 currently owns this game.

9.600/10

2 years ago

TSE

thetylander

Pinside member

9y 54,800 56 10 50

My incredibly high rating may mess up the pop 100 list.
Oh well, pop lists are destined to constantly change. A baby yoda machine comes out and everyone loves baby yoda, so it ends up in top 10. Then people get sick of baby yoda and the baby yoda machine drops down the list.
Certain games have staying power, mainly because they are expensive and have priced themselves out of the hands of the average collector, some are as rare as a Vikings fan in Green Bay Wisconsin, others have top 100 staying power simply because it’s an awesome game.
12,001 units made should speak volumes on why Pinbot is a great game.
It was everywhere back in the day and was always eating quarters.
I won’t go into my fandom of creators Barry Oursler and Python Anghelo, but let’s be honest, these two were a dream team if there ever was one! Artwork? Awesome! Playfield design? Perfect!
These two put out some of the greatest hidden gem machines, along with Joe Joos and Bill Pfutzenreuter, whom they both frequently worked with.
So why buy one?
It’s still cheap.
It’s a great game.
There are plenty to go around.
One might say I have a biased view of Pinbot because I own one. Not at all! I would never score Pinbot any lower regardless of ownership. It is truly a key game that entered pop culture, became a part of 1980’s nostalgia, and is eternally cool to boot!
The investors and scammers are too busy flipping medieval madness, Addams Family, Attack from Mars, and Twilight Zone to care about most Williams System 11 games. They left this machine for us real pinball collectors… so far… but they are coming. They already took Whirlwind and a couple others.

thetylander currently owns this game.

2 Pinsiders starred this!

7.402/10

2 years ago

MRA

Lablaw

Pinside member

South Hadley, MA

5y 30,650 2 2 20

Pinbot is a one of a kind. The corkscrew, bagatelle, locking the balls in the eyes. Still while it has alot of unique things, I just can't get into as much as others do.

9.326/10

2 years ago

DWL

DavidLee

Pinball Outpost

6y 50,300 97 27 40

After playing the game for a a few weeks, I now "get" everything have decent strategic senses about what I should be shooting for and when to get big scores. The sounds when the helmet (?)_ opens and closes are awesome. The music is great -- really sets the mood and pace for the state in the game. The shots are fun, including the plunger shot into the vortex. By the way, to get "big" scores the biggest trick is to get the ball into the Vortex and hit the 100k skill shot. The multiplier goes up every time you hit the vortex, so you can get 1 million points on the plunge, and you can replunge after hitting the ramp and having the ball drop into the shooter lane.

DavidLee currently owns this game.

7.783/10

2 years ago

???

Pinthul

Pinside apprentice

Unknown

3y 9,000 2 4 7

A nice, older table. Definitely harder than todays standard, you notice it was built to make money. Still a lot of fun in a bigger collection and I would always love to play a game or two. The raising center piece is always a blast.

9.422/10

2 years ago

GSL

Pin-Gerg

Pinside member

St. Louis, MO

2y 21,000 19 20

My favorite pin of all time! Will never get old, pinbot is #1 in my book all day!

Pin-Gerg currently owns this game.

9.158/10

2 years ago

???

denzo

Pinside member

Unknown

3y 10,150 48 6

Excellent gameplay! The Matrix shots - Open visor - lockball feature is definitely one of the most challenging gameplay of alltime pinball history. Many of newer, modern, "complex" (?) pinball machines are boring against Pinbot.
Artwork is an art.
The only missing thing is a ball-saver function.

5.802/10

2 years ago

DLG

Chief_G

Pinside+ Frequent

Midlothian, VA

4y 53,550 79 3 38

Don’t know how this made top 200 machines. Not very fun!

Chief_G has owned this game in the past.

9.937/10

2 years ago

NK3

nk3graphix

Pinside member

Joliet, IL

3y 23,650 7 3 10

My favorite game growing up and still is. Game rules are simple to understand but near impossible to master. Lighting is spectacular, but on that note, when the multi-ball is achieved, lighting goes into overdrive and makes it difficult to see the release of the multi-ball. Only other negative is the unforgiving right drain. That being said, I wouldn't change a thing for in my opinion, this machine from '86 is superiors to just about all the new games.

nk3graphix currently owns this game.

8.924/10

2 years ago

KOJ

koji

Pinside member

Surrey, BC

6y 112K 2,652 14 65

WOW! I've played this one a fair amount at locations and tournaments, but you really need to play this in a dark room without the noise of other machines obscuring the sound and music.

It is absolute an experience. A masterpiece of mechanics and creativity, and really about as good as pinball gets... it's the whole package here folks.

koji edited previous rating on March 09, 2023.
koji has owned this game in the past.

8.328/10

3 years ago

RAT

Rodent

Inactive member

3y 77,300 702 10

One of my top three games of the 80s, and still calls to me today even after a day out playing recent introductions with tons of new features not available back then. I've had to work a few repairs, but this had held up quite well given its age. If something ever happened to this pin, I'd definitely be looking for another Pin*bot to fills its empty place

9.141/10

3 years ago

JPG

goodypin18

Pinside member

5y 41,050 97 7

Always wondered why this title got such a high ranking in the Top 100 and now I know. I played one a couple years ago at the local pin bar and fell in love with it so much that when the operator replaced it with something else I bought it from him. Now that I’ve owned it for awhile I feel like it can give it a true ranking. First, theme integration especially for the time is incredible. Space themes were huge in the 80s and Williams nailed this one with the sounds and light show.

This game is hard. It can be brutal at times and a drain monster. But that one game where you cash in makes you keep coming back for more. I still to this date have only broke 10 mil once! (I’m not good at pinball) Playing this one in the dark is the only way to go here.

9.940/10

3 years ago

DRS

DoranS

Pinside member

Rocky Mountain House, AB

4y 21,500 1 9 7

Was one of my first pins and will always stay in my collection

DoranS currently owns this game.

8.632/10

3 years ago

BMA

Mechulus

Pinside+ Frequent

Atascadero, CA

4y 36,900 41 3 12 1

Pro: Instant nostalgia for any child of the 80s. Great music and theme. Locking the 'eyes' for multiball is always exciting.

Con: The outlanes are RUTHLESS on this game (seriously, consider offset posts). 'Solar Value' carries over from previous games, causing whatever player happens to score it to get millions of points depending on multiplier. Not a great game in a competition setting. 80% of the game is played from the right flipper.

There were a lot of these made, so often times you can pick one up for only $2200 or so. Worth it for the lower price.

Mechulus currently owns this game.

8.920/10

3 years ago

BJO

Toine79

Pinside member

Affligem

4y 42,050 314 6

Pinbot was my first introduction to pinball at the age of six on the NES game console.
At the age of 16 there were no longer Pinbots available in the Belgian arcades.
Managed to buy one last year and did a full restore.
Played it now for several weeks and It is a classic. Pinball release in 1986 and still in top 100 all time.

Gameplay is solid and rules are easy to play but hard to master.
It is true that Pinbot is a drainbitch but it helps you to train nudging.
Replaced all bulbs with leds including the flasher and It is a beautiful lightshow also with the nice clubby music. Nice combination.
I do like the artwork on the playfield and who does not like the space theme?
Is this a keeper in a small collection, do not think so but it is definitly in a larger collection.
For me it is a classic pinball that keeps me playing one more final game after my 10 final games.

Toine79 has owned this game in the past.

9.070/10

3 years ago

JLC

RdRnr77

Inactive member

Tyrone, GA

3y 27,900 1 14 7

One of those games that never seems to grow old

RdRnr77 currently owns this game.

9.120/10

3 years ago

ACE

ranchero

Pinside member

10y 35,800 86 35 6

Just a great classic Williams pinball. For a game from this era it is hard to find better

7.904/10

3 years ago

RAD

DumbRecords

Pinside member

Springfield, IL

6y 49,400 14 8 29

Pinbot was the first game I remember playing as a kid. I couldn't play very well but I remember being very curious about the visor, what happens when it opens up?? I couldnt get very far at all in the game so it always was a mystery to me until I got into pinball as an adult. Now that I've played much more complex modern games, I still appreciate this game for being so groundbreaking for its time. The art and sound package is still amazing. The creativity and originality still carries intrigue. I still prefer this over the sequels as the original was just so perfectly executed. However it's still a challenge to play! It has really taught me to guard the outlanes. This game will always be special to me and mine will never leave my collection. I got it pretty beat up but have spent a lot of time touching up the playfield and making it nice.

DumbRecords has owned this game in the past.

7.220/10

3 years ago

BTB

Brianbertsch

Inactive member

East Lansing, MI

3y 15,500 7

My first pin. Will always be a fan of Pinbot!

8.204/10

3 years ago

BOB

Boberino77

Pinside member

Strongsville, OH

3y 22,650 2 1 7

This game is always a lot of fun. The upward helix at the beginning is always a challenge to maximize points, and the PinBot "contraption" is very memorable and unique. I really like the theming, and it's very unique and has that "futuristic from the past" vibe. This game doesn't necessarily hold up to modern pins, but is a classic none the less and is always a highlight of any location.

7.364/10

3 years ago

EJH

ehex9

Pinside member

Saint Albans Town, VT

3y 46,650 5 7 179

A simple but classic game. Great for its time!

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