John-H's ratings

One of the most iconic games of the 70s. These demand a larger price than most games of the period. There's a reason common games like this are expensive and rare games are sometimes not. This game deserves it.
It looks great. Not Paul Faris' best art but good.
Sounds are fun. This is very early solid state so making it play a tune was big. My wife loves the tunes from these early games.
And now, the playfield and actual play. This game is simple enough to have its EM version, but there were many solid state games that didn't have this much to do for a few years afterward. This game was really ahead of its time. Just an absolute total package. It's quite difficult, but not unfair - you'll know you missed the shot. You have to learn the playfield.
Absolute blast.

*wife approval* She asked me to get it. 10/10.

Underrated pin, probably because it was surrounded by so many great ones from this period and it's just not going to stand out. This is a great choice for a budget buyer. Actually if you want one game, this is a great choice, but even if you have a lot this isn't bad. The left rollover shot is fun. I like this game more than many others from the time period.

*Wife approval* We're lucky to have a great example of this game at an arcade not too far away. She plays it once or twice each time we go there. I'll play it 3 or 4 times. She's a huge fan of early Bally SSs so I'm a bit surprised she doesn't play it more but it's ok, she gravitates to others.

Ok, why doesn't this game have a "3" sort of theme? Or maybe if you lit 3 bumpers, then a 4th one would light, to signify d'Artagnan...(I only read the Classics Illustrated version of this).

Anyway...theming is always a bit of a stretch with these older games, so let's get to how it plays.
And it plays great. Wow is this game addictive. Simple, but addictive.

The 1 bumper is your skill shot, as it's very difficult (but possible) to get it from the flippers. This game has some interesting angles, and the reverse flippers probably work better with it than you might think at first glance. Those straight rubber rings at the middle sides can be used for bank shots towards the middle bumpers and, rarely, the top one. The game starts with the 1 advance lit, and each time you complete the bumpers you get another advance. The bumpers do not have to be completed in sequence - thank you Gottlieb, since this game is pretty difficult already! The two lower ones are pop bumpers, which were still quite new at the time.

The kickout hole randomly spots a letter A through D, and I wish it did it a little more often but that's probably just because I haven't yet found a way to land the ball there a lot. Those A through D rollovers will have you nudging like mad. This game is just very playable from top to bottom.

On ball 5 those 4 lower slingshots light for 500,000, as do all rollovers, which is huge in this game. Hey, I thought extra stuff being lit on ball 5 didn't start till the 70s! I need to read up!
*edit* According to the flyer and the schematic, it should be doing this on ball 4. I don't think I'll be in any particular hurry to fix that though as it's not exactly a drastic error that my game seems to have.

This is a very fast-paced game for a woodrail. Great fun and very addictive.

*Wife approval* "These flippers are funny," she says approvingly. I tell her that many people aren't fans of this layout - the old reverse-flipper games. "What? Why not?"

That wife is nothing if not unpredictable, so you can skip to the end for her comment if you like.

Actually let's just do this review taking her into consideration from the start.

*Wife approval* "Can you find this one?!" She's absolutely bonkers over this game, and I did not see that coming at all.
First off: the funny tunes. Note to manufacturers: more funny tunes.

I did not predict that she'd have much interest in this. She kind of likes hockey ("who's Bobby Orr?") so the theme was sort of ok. It's that symmetrical playfield and straightforward objectives that drew her in. The four flippers also helped. Those two top flippers aren't necessary to hit everything but they're great just for fun and they can kill you if you make a bad shot and it goes right over to the other outlane! And this game plays fair - you make good shots, you do well; you make bad shots, there goes the ball. It can give you a great game once and a bad one the next but never feels like it cheated you.

Pass this up if you prefer a more complicated ruleset. In my small but beloved collection I have EMs with more complicated rules.

Great bang-for-the-buck game.

I already rated Royal Flush, so I'll just put a few other comments here...

I can't immediately think of another game that looks so simple but gives you so much to think about. Do you try to get more jokers, or go for more bonus hands? Which drop targets are safe shots from which flipper, and which ones will rebound straight to those mean outlanes? How early should I try to get a bounce into that right lane for the ball return gate?

One game on this can make you feel like a wizard and the next will make you hope no one was watching. Gottlieb sold tons of these since it's hard enough to be a quarter muncher, but so addicting. Good to learn skills on too.

For potential owners, many people seek out Card Whiz over Royal Flush since it has two fewer sets of score reels to worry about for maintenance, a bit more art on the backglass, and a bit of novelty since it's rarer. But you can't beat the name recognition - it's kind of like "I have a Royal Flush" vs. "I have a Card Whiz...it's the two-player version of Royal Flush."

This is a classic and it should really be higher in the Pinside EM Top 100.

*Wife approval* 10/10. First game where I've seen her have "just one more try" before she has to walk out the door.

Quite a rare beauty here. Despite its dynamite theme, this is not one of the better-known woodrails, and very few still exist. This is too bad, as it plays as good as it looks.

I won't say the art is among the best of the period but it's very, very close. The green/orange/purple color scheme looks fantastic. The jack-in-the-box where the small points are displayed is typical Roy Parker silliness. For sounds there are three distinctive bells, which is as good as sounds got in the period.

The only place I'm knocking the game a little is on the lighting. The numbers 1-12 are lit to start the game, and turn off as you score them. Since there's no real general illumination, as you progress the game gets really dark. This is common for woodrails, but very noticeable here.
I believe this is the first game with four inward-facing flippers, obviously a staple in later games.

Scoring replays is of course the main focus here. Three ways to do that: on total score, what I call the small points score, and the "special when lit" when all the numbers are out. Ball times are long on this game for a woodrail, and replays aren't overly difficult. Play gets a little frenetic as you're keeping track of what to do next! The center drain has a neat little feature, randomly spotting none or up to three numbers for you.

Finally, the main feature: the four center kickout holes. They change direction - so cool - at every 10,000 point step and with the Up and Down rollover buttons. One hole is lit for 500,000, traveling up, so a 2 million shot is possible starting from the bottom one! All your main points will come from the lit kickout hole.

Rockettes is gorgeous and an absolute blast to play, certainly good enough to convert your friends who may think woodrails are too old-fashioned to be fun.

*Wife approval* "Gosh this is really addicting." And she loves the kickout holes. Yay!

One of Williams' few one-flipper games of the period, this is a tough one to rate. Maybe it's best just to break it down in categories.
Art: Super. Colorful and fun, and the theme is such a neat 1950s futuristic fantasy.
Sound: 3 bells is as good as it got then. Very nice (and not too loud).
Gameplay: Ok yeah it's hard to say. Very unique and very fun. It's great to try to get that extra ball. Difficult too, as is getting all the numbers. The single flipper is an impulse flipper too - it flips and goes back down even if the button is held, and there's no place to hold the ball anyway. The lower right slingshot keeps the ball in play otherwise. Nudge all you like, but you don't have much control in this game. Ball times still aren't too brief.
This playfield will need to be precisely tuned. From the lower left kicker lane, the ball has a tendency to bounce off a bumper and go back in the lane. And you'll be playing with the glass off if the upper kicker and habitrail aren't just right, as the ball will get stuck there.
This is more of a period piece than a player, but what a piece it is.

One more note: these unusual Williams games weren't popular at the time and very few still exist. (Thunderbird, Rag Mop, and Nine Sisters come to mind, none of which I've seen. I don't know any other similar games offhand.) It makes me wonder what people will think of games like Spy Hunter 50 years from now.

*Wife approval* She really got a kick out of the impulse flipper. "This is neat!" But she seemed a little hesitant to say anything negative, knowing this was a rare and special game. "I kind of miss having a flipper on the right side."

I've been a little hard on this game in the past for it being on the easy side. That hasn't changed, but my perspective has, based on a certain second opinion.

I do remember being a kiddo and putting a quarter into Firepower and Black Knight (the first pinball games I remember playing) - and Sorcerer, a few years later - and watching that quarter last all of 30 seconds. So much for that! My valuable quarters all went to Pac-Man and such instead. I grew up thinking pinball is for grown-ups, which of course it largely is.

But now...
*Wife approval* "This might be my favorite! It has all these things to do!"

And she's right. And it's not like I'm some tournament wizard anyway. Yes I prefer the more difficult games. The wife likes them too, but it's nice to actually be able to play! And that moving target really has her hypnotized.

Space Odyssey is easy enough where it's hard to see how it possibly could have been profitable on location, but its sales numbers (along with Space Mission) say it must have been worth it. *edit* Increase the angle a bit, new rubbers, try not to abuse the kickout holes and it presents a good challenge.

And yes the historical backglass is neat. Fun game.

What a pretty game. Lady Robin Hood is my favorite of the fairy tale series - the first 7 Gottlieb games with flippers. None of these show up very often, but since Lady Robin Hood had almost as big a production run as Humpty Dumpty, but lacks its historical desirability as the first flipper game, you'll see this one for sale more often.

Let's get the negative stuff out of the way. There's only one kickout hole here and I'm guessing that wasn't a popular decision since the next several games all had at least two. The backglass animation - the target on the backglass blinks several times, along with the target bumper, when the bumper is hit - is simply not as fun as watching Humpty Dumpty fall or seeing the Jack 'N Jill rhyme spelled out. And this isn't necessarily negative, but you'd think that kickout hole would be easy to reach with the way the rubbers point right to it. Nope, the ball loves to just miss it. You'll need nice springy rubbers at the bottom too to get another chance.

The game is a nostalgic blast to play overall. Spell T-A-R-G-E-T to light the kickout hole for special. The letters can be hit in any order and it seems you'll always be just one or two away, making this quite addictive. A random playfield special occasionally appears at either "A" or "R" also. And achieving specials by score seems to have just the right difficulty.

This is a gorgeous piece that belongs in a nice living room more than an arcade. And it's a fun step back in time. As with Humpty Dumpty I'm rating this based on its time period rather than today, but again I'd rather play this than most newer games.

One last observation: the game here came with the original 1 1/8" balls. You wouldn't think there would be much of a difference between those and the regular 1 1/16" ones but there sure is. The larger balls play like lead weights and it's easy to see why Gottlieb made the switch.

*Wife approval* "I love it! It's so fun!" The woodrails seem to have a fan in this young lady.

Maybe underrated? I think the artwork really gets your imagination going. "A Pinball Journey Into the Future And Past" - love it. 5 bumpers are fun. Kind of hard to figure out what you're supposed to be doing right away. The late 70s Williams sounds don't get old.

And, of course, the banana flippers. I've seen the blue ones and the whitish-yellow ones and have no idea which is original. The blue ones look great. If I owned this I know I'd be using normal flippers 90% of the time but I'd want the curved ones to use sometimes, and certainly for visitors. They take getting used to, I suppose, which I haven't been able to do in the few times I've played this at shows. The wife got a huge kick out of them though.

Evocative, fun game with a very low price point. Not the best from the period but hard to criticize.

*Wife approval* "Save the banana flippers!" she says as a rallying cry, after I tell her only two games had them. "Why do you like these so much?" I ask. "Well, I like bananas, and I like flippers..."

What a tough game to rate - you must keep in mind that at the time this game absolutely revolutionized the industry. No other innovation in pinball made such a huge sea change, with the arguable exception of electronics.

The art is so cute and colorful. Not Roy Parker's best - in particular I'm comparing the playfield to the one on Cinderella just a few months later - but very good. I love the backglass animation (but don't we feel a little sorry for Humpty Dumpty?) Wonderful how the bells feel integrated with the animation.

In 2020 this game isn't going to knock anyone's socks off - but 2020 isn't 1947! This is fun and I hope every pinsider gets a chance to play early flipper games like this. The kickout hole bonus is great - how did it take so long (1963 with Gigi) to have an end-of-game bonus?

It's wonderful and I'm glad that, for a game of this vintage, many are still around.

*Wife approval* "Wow! How fun!" She's hooked. Love it.

*edit* I always wind up editing these things at least once for some reason. Anyway, let's be fair and rate this from a 2020 standpoint and give it a 6/10. Some people would think that's still high; I'd say it's still more fun than most games from any era.

This is my favorite of the "standard" Bally SS games. Lots of fun here.
Since the layout is basic and not exactly unique it helps to be familiar with the theme and Bally seemed to do as well as they could have at the time. The kickout hole bleeps sound especially "bionic." The bonus countdown is really fun.

I'm not sure how long this would last in a home lineup. It's a bit easy. It's a lot easier to get those 5 drop targets twice for an extra ball than it is to get the 4 drop targets on the 1979 Star Trek 3 times, for example. The up-post is easy to get and easy to keep there. But it's fun and hasn't gotten old at the arcade, anyway. I'm not sure six people played this at once even in 1978.

Fun and neat and great bang for the buck.

*Wife approval* "This sounds a lot like your Star Trek!" And she lost interest shortly thereafter. I'm just barely old enough to remember the cool show and she wasn't born yet, so yeah, I do think nostalgia helps a bit here.

Super cute game here, lots of fun. Very family-friendly and nothing too serious. The theme is a real winner.

Borrowing a couple of things other people mentioned - the double score feature does seem a little too important, but I can't really think of anything else to criticize and it's not so bad. The game does seem to be right in between the alpha-numeric and DMD periods, although it reminds me of Gottlieb's other game, Genesis. Surf 'N Safari has more charisma though.

It might be a bit easy but even skilled players should have a nice time trying to complete everything. Nice mix of shots. All the big ramps make the ball a tad hard to follow sometimes. I really like this one though.

*Wife approval* "Can we try to find this one?" On the wishlist.

Based on the best scene in the movie Tommy...that scene was electric, with the frenzied crowd, the mad interchange of long shots and closeups of Tommy and the Pinball Wizard, and now we have this 1976 EM game and...ok.

Do I wish I liked this game more, for the sake of pinball history or something? No, not really. It might be my mom's favorite game, but I don't mean that in some critical way.

It's fun, but not necessary, to hit the drop targets with the side flipper. Double flippers are always pretty fun. This game is just awfully easy though (and I'm definitely not Tommy). It's not a bad game either, sort of fun, good enough where it would probably be remembered even with a generic theme.

I see this game for sale very frequently and I think that has to do with more than the high production number. I'll pass, but respectfully so.

*Wife approval* "What game is that?" I'm putting words in her mouth here, but she's played this game at a convention and then much later at an arcade, and didn't remember it. Outside of knowing its significance in pinball history, there you go.

I'm more of an EM guy and I gotta say this is far and away my favorite of the newer games. Outstanding.

One of the big turnoffs of newer games is how opaque the rules are. Not here. You'll need to figure out a few things (Captain's Chair, away team, etc.) but for the most part the game guides you along very well - and in a fun way! - with lights pointing the way.

I'm a big Trek fan but I still haven't seen any of the new movies besides the first one, but it doesn't feel necessary. I'm sure I'd get more out of it, but it's fun anyway. Love the Prime Directive one. "Hi Christopher, I'm Nero" is genuinely creepy. And the game does not get bogged down with endless DMD animations. Looking at you, basically every game newer than this one.

THIS LAYOUT THOUGH is where the game is and it is awesome. It's fast, but it's as fast as you want it to be. You can try for as many combos as you want (I love the secret ones) or you can slow the pace down. But if you're an android like Data you could keep the ball in constant motion.

Ok, downsides: you're going to want the left kickback and the fiber optics that the LE games have. The backglass is boring.

Overall though this is my favorite game made since, oh, about 1990. Engage! (Oh wait wrong Star Trek. And this is second to Attack from Mars for newer games. Anyway close enough.)

*Wife approval* "Why do you like this game so much?" she asks. She's not annoyed; she genuinely wonders why I'm so bonkers over it. "Because look *moves fingers in arrows around the playfield* if you play perfectly the ball never stops, and blah blah..." She loses interest and plays something else, but comes back to this one sometimes. Can't win 'em all.

For better or worse, this is (arguably) the most iconic pinball game of the 70s. Everyone knows this game.

I'll start with the good stuff. The art is just fantastic. If you walked into an arcade in 1979 you'd know if this game was there within 5 seconds.

The sounds are terrible. Oh wait you mean the pinball game...really, it's fine for the time. I can't actually tell which songs they're trying to emulate, but it's fine.

The game doesn't play all that bad and it's fun to try to fill the grid but there just isn't much here. The spinners are slightly difficult to nail but it's fun when you really get them.

In the end it doesn't matter what I think - the game is massively popular (colossal bonus!) and priced accordingly. And I really don't think I'm being too critical. If you're a KISS fan this game is a grail collectible.

*Wife approval* She hasn't played it but I've shown her pictures. She just thinks it's silly. Actually she might have played it at a convention when we were dating and we both forgot about it. The gameplay itself is forgettable. Anyway, she's too young for the band to have any significance, and when I was a kid I asked my parents who these KISS people were in the t-shirt ads in my comics.

Have at it though, KISS fans. You could have done worse than this one. Rock art gem, not a lot after that.

There were a number of 70s EMs with a single horizontal bank of drop targets or spot targets at the top of the playfield, and Jacks Open is on top of all of them. I like games where you don't have to read a training manual to know what's going on, so here you go. Just remember to try to get 3 upper rollovers for the points bonus, since that's not obvious at first. I'd be a little concerned that the basic game objective would get a little old over time, but focusing on having the 3 rollovers done and then clearing the bank for points helps.

The art is a little odd but nifty. Cool late EM. Gotta be careful trapping the ball as it's easy to forget about those outlanes.

*Wife approval* "Wow this is addicting." Ha ha, thumbs up.

This is actually my favorite bowling-themed pin. I like it a lot more than Strikes and Spares, which is about 1000 times more popular. To each his own I guess. (Does Laser Ball count? If so I like that one more, but anyway...)

The artwork isn't exactly flashy but it looks like a scene straight out of a bowling alley in 1975 - go figure! Not the most complicated game in the world either. But wanting to get that third strike keeps drawing me back, and it's always good when there's no mystery about what you're supposed to be doing. Big drop targets are always fun.

Maybe could have used a spinner? But it doesn't really feel like there's too little to do. Great bang for the buck game.

*Wife approval* "Do you think we might be able to get this one?" That's music to my ears!

Williams did a great job on the sound here. Everyone knows it's the first pinball game with speech, but it seems like few people notice how well it's done. Yeah there are "only" 7 words, but at least you can tell what he's saying, and it even sounds like you'd think a demon would. Contrast this with Gorf, for example, or later pinball games where you can't tell what the heck they're saying. It's surprising to me anyway that the first game like this had more than just one or two words. Neat heartbeat sound too.

Art - the whole theme - all very well done, but this isn't exactly family-friendly if that's a consideration. You prooobably noticed that though.

Fun game; simple and addictive. A bit drainy at the sides. Super neat and fun magnet at the snake pit. Nice little light show when Gorgar is hurt. It's kind of easy to keep shooting the saucer. But the spinner is neat when lit and it's just a good game overall. Should be high on a bang vs. buck list.

*Wife approval* "Ew. That's creepy." Won't be taking one of these home >_>

Fun game and obviously very popular. Its cute theme draws in new players but I wish the game were in turn a little less opaque about what to do. It's very addicting once you figure it out though, and the funny bigfoot is great.

I'd guess it's a pretty reliable game considering its age, but I'd hate to have to remove the approximate 5000 parts to work on anything. The bigfoot grunts get annoying. Hard to fault this for anything though. Well planned and executed throughout.

*Wife approval* "Did you see the ball do that?" This is a favorite of hers at the arcade, although her entire objective is to make the ball go on the rolling left habitrail.

Sales numbers don't always tell the story but for this one they do. And despite the high production numbers for this and Card Whiz, I rarely see them for sale. That's a good game there - lots out there and people want to hold on to them.

The backglass is pretty neat and so is the cabinet; the playfield is sort of okayish as far as the art goes. Nice strong Gottlieb chimes. Love the joker on the bumper.

I'm more of an EM fan but I guess I can just say this: if you don't like a game like Attack from Mars, for example, you're probably never going to like a DMD game. And if you just outright dislike this game, you're probably never going to like an EM. And I'll love any EM that gives you different choices of how to go about playing it, like this one does.

*Wife approval* "Do they have Royal Flush?" Whenever I'm headed to a show or somewhere that has pinball games, this is the only one she asks about. Her #1 favorite, and she was introduced to it as a kid on some PC game. 10/10.

Probably the most well-known and iconic EM. Kind of like how Galaga seems to be for arcade video games, if you ask a random person to name an EM there's a good shot this would be it (if they could name one of course). Prices on these are accordingly reflective of that - justifiably so.

There's a reason for this. Several reasons actually. Lots of EMs, including ones I like more, have great artwork, but I can't name any that just stun you like this one does. The playfield is just as good as the backglass, if not better with how well that spinner is integrated.

The skill shot is fantastic and so is the multiball - just outstanding how they did that. Zipper flippers are always fun of course.

That spinner.

I could wax poetic but I'll just stop and say the game is too random.

*Wife approval* "Wow! O_O This is cool!" She likes it more than I do and I can't even really say I disagree.

My favorite pool-themed game and one of the best of the 60s. It looks like it would get old but it simply does not.

That unusual green color really makes this game stick out in a room. This isn't the most fun artwork but I like the guy putting an LP on the player and the funny plastics on the left. The backbox animation is super neat but please be warned those little pool balls are known to be very fragile. The lights behind the balls on the backglass turn off for an extra animation too.

Great mix of easy and hard shots on this symmetrical playfield. That 8-ball target just dares you to hit it the whole game. Top notch game here and I always hope to see one at shows.

*Wife approval* I'll have to remember to return to edit this part - been awhile since I've seen this game but her uncle just revived one from the dead. She thinks the name "Bank-A-Ball" is funny so we're starting off well.
- She finally got to play it and it's a hit. "This is neat!" Scored over 800 on her first play too - not bad. Got a kick out of the lower left plastic.

Here you have one of the most fun games of the 70s, cleverly disguised as a boring game no one would be interested in.

The only reason this isn't on my wishlist is my lack of space. This is a sorta sorta kinda mix of Lightning Ball and Cleopatra and it plays at least as well as either of those. (I feel certain the blue, yellow, and green colors were taken from Lightning Ball on purpose.) There's a ton of fun (and grrrr frustration) in trying to light more than one drop target bank on one ball.

Not the most enthralling theme in the world but at least it's G-rated. Might hear some not-G-rated speech before long if dad keeps missing shots to the upper rollovers. Fun game and looking forward to seeing it again at a show.

*Wife approval* "I think I remember this one!" That's pretty good praise from her, after she dutifully accompanied me to a couple of shows with hundreds of games.

This is a fun and different one. It's wide - it feels like it was silly putty and someone stretched it out sideways, so it has quite a different feel to it. Everyone knows how this was supposed to have a bowling theme at one time, but somehow in my head I think I like it this way better.

Nothing deep here but I'm oddly drawn to it. Neat how both the upper and middle rollovers are synched, and the side kickout holes are fun. If I owned it I sure wouldn't like how that one drop target bank seems like it's about 3 inches from the flipper. I'd be scared of those targets breaking all the time.

Williams sounds of that time are always cool. The art isn't great but it's ok. Nothing special here but I always play it a few times.

*edit* I'm not going to mess with the numbers, but I think I like this more than a 7.0. This would be a great bang-for-the-buck game.

*Wife approval* She hasn't said a word about it, but she always seems to put a bunch of quarters in it.

This game is one where we really have to put it in context. In April 1979 Star Trek had seen a short-lived TV series and an awesome animated series (uh oh my nerdiness is showing), and would see a so-so movie released in December. And electronics were still so new that any sort of tune was pretty novel, so Bally had fun with what they had. So let's "enter the time warp" back to then.

The playfield is outside the standard Bally one of the time. No problem; the standard one was fine but I'm glad they were a little inventive. Try to spell B-A-L-L-Y and get the drop targets for a bonus multiplier or extra ball. There are two ways to get an extra ball with standard rules, so it's arguably a bit easy, but I'm not going to complain. It's really fast with a new wax on it and those solenoids pound with a thump much harder than other games of the period seem to.

The pro way of playing this would be to raise the bonus multiplier and keep shooting the plunger return. The game gets legitimate criticism for that shot being worth too much, but I've seen that ball voodoo its way back out too many times to say it's an easy shot. *little edit* My scores have been up a little lately after focusing more on the upper left shot - the rising bonus, top of the playfield, and extra ball pay off. Points for there being a few different ways to play this game.

The backglass isn't great but I love the cabinet, and I love the things on the playfield like "jump to hyper space" and "proceed at warp speed." It's fun to use your imagination on this table. Very fun overall.

*Wife approval* "Doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo!" She'll sing the little "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam" tune to herself. "This is fun!" Solid fun game.

I'm not the biggest fan of newer DMD games but I'll always put a few quarters in this one at the arcade - another one we're lucky to have there. The Daleks are a blast. I'd wonder about this game's appeal to people who aren't fans of the show (I am). Non-fans may get a kick out of how all the doctors have different "powers" that affect the game, but these are so minor I hardly notice them unless I take the game I'm playing seriously. At least none of them seem unbalanced, but I'll admit I've never paid strict attention.

This would probably be a better as a home game than in an arcade setting. But it's always fun. Before the newer reboot Doctor Who was pretty obscure for us US fans. At general sci-fi conventions the Trekkies would point at Whovians - "wow, those guys are nerds!" So I'm glad the show got such a well-developed game.

*Wife approval* "Ha ha ha! Yay!" - whenever she gets the Daleks going for multiball. This is one of her favorites.

The best pinball game ever made.

There may be other games that beat Sing Along in one particular factor. I think Gigi, for example, tops it in the "just one more game" feeling. The actual gameplay of North Star may be more fun...it's close. The "wow factor" you feel the first time downing a saucer in Attack From Mars is hard to top. But put everything together - theme, playfield layout, art, fun factor, etc. - and here you go.

As you light more numbers, the game "sings" to you more as the ball hops along the kickout holes. This game makes you happy when you play it. The newest players will love it and it's maddeningly difficult for the vets too.

My #1 favorite game and the best overall pinball game made.

*Wife approval* "Wow, this game IS good!" 10/10. Usually when I'm all blah blah blah about this or that pinball game, I'll hear lots of "oh that's nice sweetie," etc. So that comment, during her second game on it, was something special. Just like Sing Along.

I've tried and tried to get into this one and it just doesn't grab me. Life is not fair because I know many people are going nuts wanting to play this, and there's one in an arcade not far from me. (I can't believe the owner lets it sit there like that, but on the other hand I thank him because people get to play it. With that said, I don't think I've ever seen a stranger on it.)

Ok this is a lame review but that's all I've got. I'll give it a few more quarters next time I'm there. The theme is cute, nothing wrong there.

*Wife approval* She may have played this once during one of our early trips to the arcade, but I haven't seen her on it since.

My pick for the best game of the modern era and I'm surprised the production run wasn't higher. The art isn't spectacular but it's fine, and just having the hilarious rubber aliens on the playfield makes up for how the game doesn't jump out and capture a casual viewer right away. The saucer is just outstanding.

I can't think of anything else that hasn't been covered already. The color DMDs are nice but it's fine without them. Too bad the prices on these are waaay high but there's a reason for that.

A blast for everyone - noobs, vets, kids, adults (with the caveat that, in general, pinball is a game for grownups, and too difficult for younger kiddos).

*Wife approval* "Oh, that looks fun." And as of this writing she's played it maybe once or twice, if that. No interest at all. Oh well, sometimes, it's just like what are you going to do.

Let's say a slight little la-la-la and pretend that tiger ramp shot isn't so easy to repeat and doesn't throw the game balance off...

This is a VERY fun game, too cute and funny, and I love seeing a backglass animation on a game that wasn't made in the 60s. "Meow meow meow meow!" I love the odd sort-of-vari-target. The seafood table could do without the "spin again," but that's a minor quibble.

Prices on these seem to have gone up a lot over the last few years, but I guess that's true for most of these. On the wishlist.

*Wife approval* "Whoa, this game is about cats!" No further comment needed.

Hmm, is this game or Jungle Lord my favorite of the 2-level Williams magna-save games? Very fun and doesn't seem to get old. Some players might knock it for its lack of speech but I like it as it is with the jungle sounds.

I find myself getting slightly annoyed with the tight left shot for multiball, which kind of reminds me of the center-left shot by the upper flipper on Demolition Man. It can be a bit aggravating for a whole game to feel like it's dependent on one tight shot like that when the playfield is expansive and fairly open otherwise.

Gotta mention the art. The playfield is fantastic. The backglass, well, you know.

Hadn't seen this since I was a kid (and only once or twice then) till a visit to an arcade in Tarpon Springs, FL. Let's learn to make that one shot and rate this as one of the better, but lesser-known, games of the period.

*Wife approval* Lizards. 0/10.

Nice to see Spooky Pinball hit this one out of the park. Super fun game. Love the top rollovers and the in-line drop targets for multiball. Great lightshow, fun shots, just a great overall package. I would have liked to see a little more to it but I'm not going to be a fuddy duddy.

The sounds are the real star of the show here as this game just rocks your senses. If I owned one I think I'd try to figure out how to make it surround sound with extra speakers.

Very lucky to have this at an arcade not far away.

*Wife approval* "This is awesome!" Here's where most of her quarter roll goes when we go to the arcade. Her favorite modern pinball game. It's been at the arcade over a year now too so this game has held her interest.

This whole game is going to depend on whether or not you like one feature: how the vari-targets don't score until you get the ball in their respective kickout holes. I think this is great as it lets you try to pin a var-target further than your first shot did - at the risk of losing the ball and watching your opponent cash in the points instead. The vari-targets can be pretty hard though so I often found myself going for the rollovers instead.

This is a great two-player game and very fun by yourself too - *if* you like vari-targets and add-a-balls. It's a bit on the easy side so expect games to last a bit. If you can find one, of course. Doubt I'll see another.

The art is very fun and cute and this game gets bonus points for how the add-a-balls are lit by the bunnies on the backglass. Too cute. I kinda wish I'd kept this one, but after I sold it to a friend he in turn sold it to two brothers who drove 13 hours one way for it (I guess they'd played it in college when it was new) so it found a good home.

*Wife approval* Not really applicable since I hadn't met her yet, but she would have gone bananas over the bunnies.

I'm writing this assuming the game has had a center post added between the flippers. As I said over at IPDB, without a center post this game is like a schoolyard bully holding a ball up out of a kid's reach. We've all played some games with some big flipper gaps (Fashion Show comes to mind for some reason) but this one is just mean. Anyway, with that said...

Aloha is almost two different games: a really fun two-player game and a really dull one-player game. Even by myself I usually play it as two-player. The risk / reward with the bonus and gobble hole is great with a friend but pretty boring by yourself. The side rollovers to raise the red and yellow bonuses aren't easy shots either. The skill shot and upper bumpers are great. No free game except on score.

Very, very pretty game. The playfield is just as nice as the backglass. I wonder why there aren't lights behind the girl in the center of the backglass. Can't criticize the look otherwise. It sounds like a carnival when the bonus is high and you get that lit gobble hole.

This is an outstanding and gorgeous two-player game with great sounds - and that's it.

*Wife approval* "No, you should keep it!" That's her on the couple of times I've thought of trading it. And she loves the ding-ding-ding-ding-ding double bonus. Pretty thin ice though. *little edit* Just cleaned mine up and got everything nice and just pop-pop-pop...I can't let go of one of the prettiest games ever.

One of the most iconic games of the 1960s, Gigi has stood the test of time and is a playable piece of modern art - pop art, of course, but modern pop abstract art nonetheless. I'll never play every pinball game in the world but of the ones I have, Gigi is #1 in the "just one more game" factor. "I only needed one more bumper!" "I had all the red bumpers but couldn't get that 'speshul.' One more try."

Each time all the red or yellow bumpers are lit, one advance is added to the end-of-game bonus. The end bonus became standard in pinball but here you have it for the first time.

But of course, if you hit a yellow bumper the corresponding red bumper turns off, and vice versa. The yellow bumpers are dastardly to finish - I've only done it once after owning the game 6 years. *little edit - 2nd time a few days ago* It's tempting to try when a lot of them are lit - but for high scores it's best to focus on the red ones. I do - maybe - wish lighting the yellow bumpers added 2 advances.

Seminal game and very pretty.

"Conan! What is good in life?" "When you have the speshul lit in Gigi and you hit the ball up the rollover for one free game and it falls right back down for another." "No Conan."

*Wife approval* "I think I'll play this one more time." Poor wife didn't know her random quotes from playing these games might wind up in nerdy reviews someday.

The first game I owned, several years ago, and I'd like to find another one. I doubt I'd change anyone's mind, but over the years I've grown to like this one more than Firepower, which is obviously much more popular and has a (somewhat) similar playfield. Despite the lack of multiball there's more to do here.

I like to drop the first two or three drop targets so I'm not accidentally lowering the bonus constantly, then try to get the aces and maximize the jackpot from the top rollovers. This game sure does love to let you get that jackpot maxed and have one or two drop targets left...oops there goes the ball -_-

Sounds and game speech didn't get better than this in 1980. The voices are so funny. Yup I'd love to get this game again.

*Wife approval* She hasn't played this one but I know for sure the voices would crack her up. The sequential drop targets would probably annoy her. But this would be a keeper.