Stern
The Simpsons Pinball Party Pinside Rating
This game received 867 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.447 /10
The Simpsons Pinball Party
Score breakdown
Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:
Game Design: 8.554
Artwork: 8.481
Sounds/Music: 7.96
Other Aspects: 8.577
Pinside staff rating
This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 9 of us have rated this game.
Found 494 ratings (with comment) on this game
There are 494 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 11 of 20.
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Bradenton, FL
8.295/10
9 years ago
Kettering
TSPP is a very fun game and has a lot going for it with an incredibly deep ruleset, unfortunately for me it is a little too deep and I just cannot get my head round all the stuff to do. I'm sure it will click one day and I will change my rating accordingly but currently this game just doesn't do it for me.
9.080/10
9 years ago
Real love this game. Playfield is packed with all sorts of challenging shots. Love the upper playfield. Stern did a excellent job of turning the show into a pin. Great call outs and music. Definitely want to ad this pin to my collection.
9.500/10
9 years ago
My wife and play the heck out of this game several times a week at a local pizza parlor. The amount of variety is a bit limited, but what is there is fun and solid. Some tricky shots on it too.
Cletus, though, is the devil.
Cletus, though, is the devil.
7.975/10
9 years ago
Melville, SK
I've played this a number of times at the local arcade. The first few times was a blast. After coming back repeatedly, it seemed that the flow of the game gets interrupted with too many obstacles. It's fun but it doesn't keep me coming back anymore due to the lack of flow.
9.460/10
9 years ago
Very fun and challenging pin for the whole family. Very deep game with a large ruleset.
7.509/10
9 years ago
I have played this game a lot out in public venues, and have had a hard time figuring out If I like it or not.
On one hand, the rules are pretty fun, the shots challenging, the sound effects are great, and the music is Danny Elfman, so there's nothing to complain about there. I love the 'couch' multiball, and I find the upper playfield challenging and fun. I love that the pop bumpers are the powerplant towers.
The downside is that this playfield is SUPER narrow and crowded. The ball doesn't have a lot to do except be ricocheted right back at the drain most of the time. For an advanced player, this may not be a problem. There is a lot of challenging shots on this game, and If you own your own machine and keep it up in good condition, you can probably be really good and reliable in your gameplay.
Out in the wild however this machine suffers from some pretty big problems. I was at a public place yesterday and dropped about $5 worth of credits on a machine that was just slightly leaning to the left. The problem with this is that all the playfield elements come out to about the center of the lane, so any time the ball lost momentum, and slid down those ramps, it would slowly lean left, and drop it straight down the drain. Likewise, the left outlane was eating balls like crazy. The upper playfield had a weak flipper, so multiball was impossible, and because the general layout is so claustrophobic and 'blocked' there isn't really any way to have fun at that point.
I have played lots of games that have non finctioning elements to them in the wild, (pirates ship feature, tron disc, LOTR balrog, etc...) And while those elements make the game impossible to progress, I still find myself having some level of fun with the other ramps and features. With simpsons though, It just isn't fun unless everything is working properly.
On one hand, the rules are pretty fun, the shots challenging, the sound effects are great, and the music is Danny Elfman, so there's nothing to complain about there. I love the 'couch' multiball, and I find the upper playfield challenging and fun. I love that the pop bumpers are the powerplant towers.
The downside is that this playfield is SUPER narrow and crowded. The ball doesn't have a lot to do except be ricocheted right back at the drain most of the time. For an advanced player, this may not be a problem. There is a lot of challenging shots on this game, and If you own your own machine and keep it up in good condition, you can probably be really good and reliable in your gameplay.
Out in the wild however this machine suffers from some pretty big problems. I was at a public place yesterday and dropped about $5 worth of credits on a machine that was just slightly leaning to the left. The problem with this is that all the playfield elements come out to about the center of the lane, so any time the ball lost momentum, and slid down those ramps, it would slowly lean left, and drop it straight down the drain. Likewise, the left outlane was eating balls like crazy. The upper playfield had a weak flipper, so multiball was impossible, and because the general layout is so claustrophobic and 'blocked' there isn't really any way to have fun at that point.
I have played lots of games that have non finctioning elements to them in the wild, (pirates ship feature, tron disc, LOTR balrog, etc...) And while those elements make the game impossible to progress, I still find myself having some level of fun with the other ramps and features. With simpsons though, It just isn't fun unless everything is working properly.
6.360/10
9 years ago
I think it could be better if the PF wasn't so crowded. The animations could be a bit better and the rules are a bit hectic.
The PF does have a number of interesting features, including a mini TV that displays various info during play, an upper PF that really isn't very exciting and the only purpose I found was to get a ball lock by shooting into the couch. There is a giant Homer that lights up and spins but I ended up not really paying much attention to it.
The artwork does fit with the theme. But it does make finding the objectives a bit harder among the artwork.
Unfortunately, I was frequently having my games cut short by the outlanes... I don't know if it was setup properly or if maybe I was just having bad luck, but it seemed like the kickers/slingshots were very persistent on shooting the ball straight into the outlanes.
I would like to see what the Data East version is like compared to this.
The PF does have a number of interesting features, including a mini TV that displays various info during play, an upper PF that really isn't very exciting and the only purpose I found was to get a ball lock by shooting into the couch. There is a giant Homer that lights up and spins but I ended up not really paying much attention to it.
The artwork does fit with the theme. But it does make finding the objectives a bit harder among the artwork.
Unfortunately, I was frequently having my games cut short by the outlanes... I don't know if it was setup properly or if maybe I was just having bad luck, but it seemed like the kickers/slingshots were very persistent on shooting the ball straight into the outlanes.
I would like to see what the Data East version is like compared to this.
6.668/10
9 years ago
Good concept if you like the Simpsons, funny comments and sound. The game is reasonably fun with some good shots. The PF and layout are the biggest problem. The bumpers are out of place and the mini PF in the upper left is an utter waste of space. You rarely get up there and when you do it is just not much fun.
Overall it is still a decent game but I thing it is greatly overrated.
Overall it is still a decent game but I thing it is greatly overrated.
9.660/10
9 years ago
One of my favorite games. There are so many different ways to play this game, it never gets old to me. You can play the modes, secret stash, Otto hurry ups, itchy and scratchy, and more. The animations are the best ever, I can't wait for it to be done in full color, that will put it over the top. Bottom line; to me this is a top ten game.
9.000/10
9 years ago
Lots of really good shots. Simple yet very gratifying upper playfield. Overall just a fun pin to play either if you're just banging the ball around or trying to get deep into the rule set. It does help to be a Simpsons fan but apparently not too big of a fan or you'll pick it apart for accuracies.
8.740/10
9 years ago
Melbourne
Who ever made this game is a genius, its made for the walk up players who just love the theme and want to see whats inside the game, they will be able to identify what to do,with Homer and Bart calling your shots out, and for the hardcore of hardcore players this is the machine you want, with Comic Guy starting up all your hurry ups, tv modes, itchy and scratchy just to name a few, my favourite is the tree house awards, the Springfield Elemantry mystery spot is just insane, same with alien invasion, I haven't seen Pretzel multiball yet but hope one day to, its a great game it really is something special, when I first got it I found it very confussing with all that's going on in it, Dare devils etc, but gave it time and took some good advise off other pinsiders and got the jist of whats going, I personally don't think this game has the super fun factor, because Im a huge simpson fan, but its a great game none the less and will make you a better player and keep you aware of whats going on ,on the playfield. Definatly don't want to tilt and loose your dare devils because they can really pump your score up at the end of a ball when playing well.
8.810/10
9 years ago
This one was really fun. I've always loved the Simpsons and the designers did a great job incorporating it into a pin. I love that it had so much going on, but also think the playfield was a bit crowded. The upper level didn't do anything for me.
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