TheJerol's ratings

What can I say? The best of the System 1 games and a masterpiece of classic game design from Ed Krynski. Gordon Morrison’s art package is timeless and classic.

I am fortunate to own a pristine version of this game, which plays fairly fast. This game rewards patience and accuracy. You WILL want to play “just one more” game as you never quite get all the sets of drops or worse — you do, except for the 5x bank. Three and five ball play offer different experiences with most people favoring the five ball mode (where every bank gets its turn). Try to get some time on this deck — there are many out there and it’s worth your time.

The alternate ROM (which zeroes out bonus after it’s collected) is a must for this game, in my opinion. Being able to repeatedly collect the bonus via the right sided return lane makes the game a one shot affair. I set it up steep and fast and find the game challenging. When the ball is on the left flipper and I don’t have a bonus multiplier I tend to bounce it off the stand up targets on the right (the L-L-Y targets) into the drops rather than zeroing out my bonus via the collect shot. The theme is an absolute winner for me and if you haven’t checked them out yet, see the CPR alternate original series backglass and plastics — fantastic additions for the Star Trek fan.

My pinball tastes tend to favor “Classics” style games — drop targets and spinners without safe returns to the flippers — so this machine pushes all the right buttons for me. I love Seawitch and this game is that pin on steroids. It’s faster, prettier and has a much deeper ruleset that continues to evolve. Add to that the best sound on any pin I’ve ever played (other than maybe TNA) and it’s about as good as it gets for me.

Scared Stiff is a great themed, fun pin that features easy to make shots and one of the easiest to achieve "wizard modes" of the era. And therein lies its only flaw: the game is a bit too easy. I am by no means a greatly skilled player, but I got to Monster Multiball (completed the Stiff-O-Meter) on only my fourth game. Spider Mania is more difficult to achieve, but just involves shooting the right ramp followed by the Spider hole over and over again and certainly isn't worth the trouble other than to say you accomplished the feat.

Still this game has great "flow" and is a pleasure to shoot when set up correctly. The callouts are adult-themed but some of the best in pinball history, IMHO. It would be a great pin to have in any collection and certainly is a very "beginner friendly" pin that most people can enjoy regardless of skill level.