ezelljon's ratings

After spending about an hour on it, I really like it. The play action is fast (I dig the ball-locks that are integrated with the habitrails!) and the overall layout, while simple, promotes flow and speed. The existing code shows a lot of potential and the symbiote concept(s) lends itself to unique rules, although it's a Stern so I'm not bothering to really analyze the code until it's at least 6 months post-release. I could care less about the theming although I'll take Venom over geriatric rock bands any day. Location play means I can't really hear the audio, so I'm not rating it here. Not sure if I'd buy it (I'd wait to see what they do with the code), but definitely plan to drop a few bucks in it whenever I come across one.

Love this simple, fun, and inventive table from Zaccaria. You don’t see it often but when you do, give it some love!

This is a fantastic little game with a lot of fun shots and decent flow packed into a small package. There are more features in this machine than in most of the new machines being manufactured today. Cool shots can be made on all four flippers, many across the playfield (e.g. far L flipper to the yellow "skeet" target bank; side spinner shots, R flipper to green standups); very satisfying loop / spinner shots on both sides; pops and slings keep side-to-side action intense but fair IMHO, this is probably because there are limited places to drain; several key shots (skeet targets, jackpot target, drops, and the mystery loop) have a risk/reward feel to them that is, again, pretty fair.

Skeet mode is awesome, multiball is enjoyable, and it's fun to build the bonuses via the various targets. Gameplay overall is a nice balance between controllable and chaotic so games don't get boring if you're playing for fun. In some ways I'd compare it to late EM / early SS games in this sense -- games can be over quickly if you're not careful. You also have to thing about nudging differently as the physics of nudging is very diff. on a cocktail cab.

What's not to like about the playfield art and overall pink and aqua color scheme?

I like the theme as a departure from the super macho pins of the 80/90s and adherence to theme is solid ... callouts, art, animations, music, modes/goals, attract all work with the idea of a wacky caribbean cruise. My kids dig the colors, music, and size of the machine.

The mystery shot tends to puts a pause in the gameplay that might be annoying to some but this is a machine built for bars ... take the 5 seconds to sip on your pina colada.

Besides a grail machine like Joust, I'd say this is the cocktail machine to seek out (at least compared to others I've been lucky enough to play out in the wild).

Most of the parts are relatively findable as they are standard system 3s. It is my understanding that the alphanumeric display board for this one is unique to this game (it's a diff part number than other AN sys 3s anyway), but the other boards are more common.

What I don't like:
Would prefer to build toward multiball in some way, rather than a mystery award. Similarly, the jackpot is a bit too easy to get.
As mentioned by other reviewers, the GI is a little lacking and this is a good candidate for PinStadiums, led strips, etc. I've added 2 pin stadiums and may add a third as well.
The star post at the top of the right hand loop will frequently cause a stuck ball if you don't remove the rubber ring on it.
Replacement glass is unobtainium ... I'm looking for a local place that can cut me a replacement because what I have has been scratched up and generally abused. I think this is a common problem for cocktail pins that were out in the world and, given the rarity of the machine, that wasn't a dealbreaker for me.

I've normed the scores for cabinet and backglass art, as these categories are null for a cocktail pin.

If this scores higher than any other Black Knight, the credibility of all Pinside lists should be called into question. It’s pretty fun, I like the layout and the taunts. The PF art is lame, and the whole thing smacks of cost-cutting. Like, instead of a kickback you get a pseudo kicker. Cheap Sears Roebuck pop bumpers. Airballs galore. So this looks and feels like a Zizzle, other than the big BK toy in the middle. If you can get over that it’s a pretty fun game for a Stern. I’m not even gonna get into the lack of upper playfield other than to say good for Stern for conditioning it’s customers to have such low expectations.

Hard and fast! Dangerous shots and sometimes it’s a little too rough, but it keeps me coming back. The theming is great, I LOVE the pop bumper orchestra stabs and voice work.

This is the best of the CGC remakes so far, although the flippers still feel a little weird compared to the original ones I’ve played. This one less so than MM or AFM. The PF looks great here, in terms of the production quality. As for the gameplay, I think I’m just out of step with George Gomez; all of his shots feel “off” to me and I get a lot of clunking more often than not with his games, and this one is no exception. Maybe it’s my fault? The drac and Frankenstein toys are very cool, and I enjoy the multiball modes in the game and I dig the simple ruleset. A fun location game, but it leaves me wondering why the original demanded such high prices.

I made jokes about this game like everyone else, but it is the only recent Stern I’ve really found myself having that “one more game” feeling. I’m only a location player for Stern games, and I’m not a Beatles fan, but if this was priced in the $3K range I’d consider it if I could disable the music. Great job on the animations, and I love the color scheme and the art is, for the theme, fitting. At $1 a game, it’s a little bit too drain happy on location, but “play better” I guess. I haven’t really played the original Seawitch enough to comment on differences, but I like the magnet, spinning magnet jackpot shot, and other additions to the game. Stern is onto something here: simpler but less clunky layouts and rulesets, but ditch the billion dollar license and lower the animation budget and just make something cool that costs less (like those home edition games).

I love the Dredd comics and character, and this machine is appropriately grandiose and gigantic, like Mega City itself. It's just packed, and the "more is more" aesthetic completely works with this theme.

The artwork and visual design is great, and it unifies the characters and gameplay rules / progression well. The animations and voices are hilarious and nail the humor of the Dredd comics.

The rules are pretty interesting. There are incentives to "flow" and collect crime scenes to earn extra balls and rolling bonuses, there is "risk/reward' in many of the modes and the bonus shot, and the way that mode scores are applied as bonus makes tilting much more perilous. The mulitball and wizard modes are great. The music is pretty annoying and gets old quick ... I get that it is kind of "tongue-in-cheek" butt-rock, if I'm being generous, but it is very repetitive.

At it's core, Dredd is a very flowy widebody, loaded with ramps, habittrails and gimmicks, but it has a geometry that punishes poor shooting. This is what makes it addicting but also, at times, frustrating, and I think it takes a minute to get adjusted to it if you've just played a standard body.

Super fun game with what looks like a decent element of strategy in the rule set, but also seems like a great game for having people over who don't really know anything about pinball and want to have a good time.

Lots to like here and lots of chances taken in the design, layout, and art. The music and call outs get a little annoying after a while, as does battling the ringmaster. Ultimately it has a stop/go feel to the gameplay that I’m not a huge fan of and I can’t tell if it drains cheap or if I’m just still getting used to the unorthodox layout. Still, a very fun work of interactive art.

I really like the layout and some of the innovative stuff going on in the design here, Elwin knocked it out of the park. I’m still not sure I understand the rules entirely, but I really enjoy flipping it on location

Art is great, basically ZY taking Derek Riggs’ art and mashing it out into a PF. Hate that the Sphinx is off center on the PF though, seems like it was supposed to be centered but then it got shifted over in “post.”

Toy/mech/gimmick wise, this game is pretty bare but makes up for it with the center ramp mech, four flippers, the cool pharaoh lock, etc.

Animations are expensive, I guess Stern is learning that the hard way. This one definitely shows the growing pains there. That being said, the muddy N64 animations are so out of place that they’ll be back in style in about 7-8 years.

I don’t like music pins, but Maiden is the band (with a pin) that I like the most, so this is also my favorite music pin, but it’s too bad it couldn’t have been a Judas Priest table instead ;)

I prefer the faster flow of the pro over the LE. Main gripe with game is the art/graphic layout and typography. There’s some stuff you can blame on HBO approval, but then there is just a lack of taste. Can’t complain, the novels are also pretty ugly judging by the covers. Would be a prime candiate for a compete overhaul of the PF and BG art; PF looks like a treasure map from a coloring book. I’ve seen local independent pro wrestling flyers with better Photoshop skills on display than the back glass. Yikes. Would never put one in my house because it looks so god awful, but I love to play it on location.

Excellent fast and flowing game, with gameplay that matches the theme. I’m not really a fan of the military industrial complex but the game is fun enough to make me forget about how terrible the 80s were.

This great looking game completely sucks. You'll be immediately disappointed by the cheap drains, ball hopping, dumb gimmicks, and overall terrible geometry. If you get the hang of it, you'll be treated to a set pattern of modes that are generally uninteresting and be confused by sudden high scores for seemingly no reason. This game is on location everywhere, and generally not set up very well. This game will do more to turn casual players off of pinball than any other game in the last 20 years.

A fantastic Sys 11 game with a fun layout and design by the great Steve Kirk. I love the unique 5-bank target upper PF, and the rest of the table is loaded (3 spinners, 2 horseshoes, ramps, bank targets, diverters ...) lots to shoot for.

I'd call it something of a "friendly" game in terms of ball time and drains, but that's not a negative. You can have intense, high-scoring games on it and your non-pinhead friends or kids can still get the hang of it and have fun on it. If it's too easy for you, tighten up some of the shots and crank up the incline a little. And it's been said a million times, but the music is the best in the history of pinball. I love how immersive it is and how the instruments build as you lock balls for multiball.

Love the artwork style and design (the runes are a nice touch) and the theming is fine ... yeah it's cheeseball adolescent power fantasy stuff but that describes 90% of pinball themes. Nostalgia isn't really a factor for me but I do feel the art direction and design of the game has aged a lot better than some of the cheese out there.

This machine awakened me to the awesomeness of Williams System 11s and now my life goal is to own all of them.