AlexF's ratings

I bought this game off a friend who told me how good it was. He didn't lie. Super fun game with multiple ways to win. It can be brutal but I figured out a pretty good strategy for popping a replay fairly often. You still have to fight for it. It's tough enough to keep you interested but beatable enough to make you keep trying. Always the first game I play when I walk in to the game room.

I was recently reunited with this game after foolishly let my first one go. Just as frustratingly fun as I remembered.

As mentioned in another rating to do well you really need to collect the T and E early on. If you haven't by ball two you feel the pressure mounting. Making it back up to the top is doable but challenging. Part of what makes it so fun I think. The top rollover is worth 500 points but not as easy as you'd think to collect. It takes a very skilled plunger shot and then when it's up top you are sort of faced with the dilemma of trying to collect the T and E kickouts first, as they are so crucial. This game really polishes your nudging skill as you try to influence the balls subtle trajectory to get all the letters needed.

By ball four the game helps you a little by allowing you to collect the lower letters via the switches behind the drop targets. What's interesting is that sometimes you want the drops up and sometimes you need them down. You can manipulate that but it isn't easy. After all the letters are collected the special is lit. You need to shoot the two drop targets to collect so it's crucial to get them back up. Lot's to do to complete the tasks needed to win a replay through collecting all the letters. Playing for score may be a bit easier but not is satisfying.

Great game that keeps me coming back for more.

Fun early Gottlieb wood rail. Neat theme with nice Roy Parker art. I like the multi color geometric cab art. Has that classic wood rail nostalgic warmth.

Challenging gameplay is good with many ways to win. Each lit pop also lights one of the planes engines on the backglass. It's a neat effect that is well implemented as more running engines help you advance to more cities. Light all the pops for a replay, advance your plane to Tehran for replay or knock out all the lit numbers then get the kick out for replay, or achieve score threshold for a replay. Many ways to do it but none are easy. Four flippers with opposed positions set up to give this game great flow. Quick ball times make this one borderline maddening. Keeps you pushing the start button hoping you can beat it on the next one.

Beautiful George Molentin artwork. Backglass and playfield have pirate girl eye candy to spare. Cabinet art is mediocre. Not a bad player for a 2 player wood rail. Quick ball times. Fun skill shot to try and get center lane when moon is lit. Have to to get the rollover to light the 10 point pops. Nice gobble hole risk/reward shot when lit for 10x.

Classic wedge head with possibly the best backglass animation ever. Art is good with a nice western theme. Fun and challenging player with a lot of nostalgic appeal. Very satisfying when you can manage to light up 4 numbers in a row for an added ball. A game that can definitely draw you in for one more try.

Frustratingly addictive game. Simple but challenging rules will keep you playing it again and again. Single player game but fun to stand around and play with a group of friends or family. Fun to see the building anxiety of getting so close to the end. Seeing someone light the star makes you want to as well. Artwork isn't exceptionally interesting but has that nice wood rail era nostalgic warmth to it. Small footprint makes it easy to find a spot for it.

This is a game that caught me by surprise. I bought it on a whim and it turned out to be one of my favorites. Art package is cute with a a very retro football/chearleader theme. The cabinet art is pretty blah with just angular shapes and lines and would have been nice if they could of incorporated the theme better. Backglass animation is always a plus in these old 60's games. This one may not be the most interesting to look at but it is nicely incorporated into the gameplay. This is one of the best implemented AAB games I have played. Gameplay is a lot of fun with multiple ways to try to extend your play. The thresholds are just right, very challenging but achievable. It's exhilarating trying to win that next ball to keep the game going. Coming up short just makes you want to press start again.

Update: I bought this game a second time and still find it fun. For some reason the art seems more charming the second time around and gameplay still holds up. The AABs are rewarded fairly easily at first with an outhole drain, and this game has some big ones. As you progress advancing gets a bit harder. Try to get every AAB threshold before your down to that last ball. My goal is to roll it but seems impossible.

A very interesting game with it's unique mod cabinet, great Molentin art package and fun shooting gallery type animation. The gameplay is not perfect but good. It has an interesting layout and is very challenging to achieve the special. Heavy importance on your plunger skill shots. The layout makes it very hard to get the ball back up through the top lanes but very satisfying when you can. My only criticism to the gameplay is somewhat consistent and ending scores rarely have a large variance. With that said this game just oozes charm. It's just fun to look at and the animation always makes me smile.