This game is rated on the low side and I understand why, but it's not fair. This is a DIFFERENT game. To own this game you need to already have an established collection of pins or you need to be someone who loves bowling and/or pitch and bat but really isn't a pinball fan or baseball fan.
First, this is a very classy arcade machine in a rather loud and colorful cabinet. The mechanism and playfield in this machine is absolutely drop dead gorgeous and tough looking, simply the finest. The playfield looks like a brand new just oiled down bowling alley. The machine stands taller than any other standard size cabinet pin that I have seen. So tall in fact, that there is a second set of leg mounts to mount the machine lower for kids (A first that I have seen). This is a machine that Matt Dillon (James Arness) would feel right at home with.
Second, this is a pitch and bat bowler. Weird? Yes. But how does it play? Fantastic. This game emulates a bowling alley very well even going so far as to have operative ball returns. The larger pinball emulates the feel and momentum of a real 16lb bowling ball with the flipper acting as your arm. The game is simple to learn but difficult to master. It has three different bowling games built in and a patented tournament mode where players can compete for a prize payout every week. If you ever wanted to feel like a millionaire with your own bowling alley in your home, you cannot come any closer in the space required by this machine. Can you curve the ball? No. This is a hand/eye coordination game. Can you bowl fast? How about a game every three minutes? Get your game on!
Third, it has an authentic sound, nothing loud or annoying and not one but two magnificent DMD displays. The larger pinball lands with a thud, emulating the drop sound of a real bowling ball onto the lane, into the ball return, and down the ball return to the flippers. Again, it's like having your own automatically scoring, pinsetting, and ball return bowling alley in your own home.
Finally, is it a "real" pinball machine? Well, yes and no. It certainly has bowling "pins" and the pinballs are larger than usual, but this is first and foremost designed to be a bowling emulator under glass and it succeeds marvelously. There is no "exciting" gameplay here, no multiball jackpots, no screaming callouts, no spinners, no ramps, just a nice relaxing game of bowling without having to rent shoes, trudge out into the snow, or put up with obnoxious players (other than the ones you invite over yourself). If you love bowling and pitch and bats, then you'll love this. If you want to bowl in your home but don't have the space for a bowling alley or ball bowler, then you'll love this. If you like pinball and it's your only pinball machine, you'll soon feel like getting a mainstream pinball machine because you'll know that you're missing out. For pinball machine number 13 in your collection though, it can't be beat. Lastability is it's only downside, because the gameplay is understandably shallow, just like most bowlers.