mwthatch's ratings

This game will probably end up better rated than Godzilla over the long run if it was only based on game play. The theme is OK, but they made it better by adding the attack from Mars vibe. For now Its not as good as it could be because the callouts suck. Listening to a stoner say the same stupid crap on a loop is annoying. Once they get the band or get some good voice actors to make actually good callouts the game will be a lot better.

The upper playfield is very good, well used and a shot you want to take and keep alive for important mode completions. This is a very good game for flow, speed and shot selection.

The expression lighting is great, not as good as GNR lighting obviously, but still great.

Wonka is a fun game, but it is not very fast and it does not have a lot of flow. A lot of thought went into the game, but at times I feel like I am at a casino with the sounds it makes.

This is such an amazing game. I was worried that there would be too many multi-balls like some were suggesting, that is complete garbage. Try getting all the way through one of the long songs without any multi-balls and let me know how that goes for you. The multi balls are amazing and trying to get the power cord with the MB's going is a fun challenge. Amazing Lights, sound, rules and the intellectual property is amazing. I do not care if JJP or Stern puts out the best game, I just want them to compete. Stern needs to step up their game. I love fun pinball, Stern can learn a thing or two about the innovation that GnR came up with. The lights and triggers of using the ball rolling over the playfield is an amazing accomplishment.

This game is going to remain king for a very long time

This game is amazing. The importance of having a intellectual property to make a machine that has all the integration is a big deal, add to that the obvious fact that the designer and Slash cared to make this machine one of the best ever.

GNR will be a top 10 pin for the next 10 years at least. The CE has amazing sound and is a beauty. The light show is so amazing, it is hard to fathom what they accomplished in the build out. Some songs light show are better than others, but with time... I expect they will all be amazing.

All these recent bogus rating coming in against Avengers premium since it become #1 are an overtly transparent attempt to hit a game that is probably the best game of 2020 (Full disclosure, I have not played GNR yet). These ratings that are 5-7.6ish ratings have only one purpose, to knock down thee ratings of a truly great game.

This is a legit great game. Only flaw is that the code is at .94 and they still have work to do on the callouts and the animation. The flow, shots and fun factor are amazing.

Batman 66 is one of the most underrated games in pinball. I love this game and the rule set just gets better and better.

I have had this game for a year or so and always come back to it because it truly is a great game.

Love the minor villains and the 4 major ones that you get to battle against.

Sparkey is a great toy. The game is fun and will be a keeper for a long time to come.

Good game, bit over rated compared to new pins....

**** Update after playing almost every day for the past two months. The game is great! They have made improvements in the callouts, but they still can do more. Still can not figure out why they thought the "trophy room" was a good idea. I did not know that the Avengers ever went out to avenge for "trophies"? If the "trophy" was the head of the bad guy.... then it works, but a gold cup? Cant see Bruce Banner or Hulk giving anyone a tour of his "trophies" after he destroyed a city. Hulk would love to show of the head of a conquest, but not some silly pee wee soccer trophy. If they have to make the "trophy" PG, then at least show the defeated bad guy in chains, or after some nice combo shots make the "trophy" upgraded Iron man armor, Dr. stranges cloak of levitation, Thor gets the hammer "Storm Breaker", every avenger had something that they tried to get to make them more powerful, make those the "trophies". Also the trophy room animation is hard to see and wasted space for most of the game. Again, things that can be improved, and I think they will improve them.

I just started playing the Battle Royal mini game you can chose before game starts. It is fun and I beat it in a day, but that is what you would expect from a mini game. I still have only been able to get 4 gems in one game, so I have a long way to go to beat this game. Love the shots and the code. Little things like spinning the disk with the Dr. Strange gem (can't remember which gem it is) before you hit the shot, can give you up to 7X on the subsequent shot is brilliant. The way it ticks down from 7X on the "STRANGE" disk is very well thought out.

The game shoots great and Keith did a fantastic job, Keep Coding, improve the animations, add more call outs and this game will stay top 10 for the next 20 years. Code at this update is at .94

I did notice a difference with the Pin Monk fans on the flipper strength and fade issues seem to have been fixed, but then again maybe I am just getting better at the shots and it was never an issue?

***** End of update *****

Have been playing the game since delivery, a little less than a month ago.

An honest review on this game is that will be a very special game... once they finish coding it. Its a great game now, but it still lacks in a couple of areas.

AIQ has some things that they need to improve on past the .91 code, and I hope that they take the time to make better. I love the flow and shots, as most anyone who loves pinball would appreciate the skill of Elwin in the way he put it all together. The Avengers callouts are... nothing special. I appreciate the comic book feel of the game, but that should give you more latitude in animation? it would also be nice if the Avengers have just a little bit of personality. Thanos is great, but everyone else is very boring. I think I would rather invite Thonos over to my house for a BBQ instead of any of the Avengers if all I had to go on was the callouts in this game.

The Shots are a lot of fun and the rule set is fun and fairly deep already. I feel like flipper fade might become and issue after playing the game for an hour or so (tells you that I think AIQ is a fun game), becuase I cant seem to hit the back center ramp as easily. Maybe its becuase I am not ready to join the ranks of the pro players... or maybe there is a little fade in the flipper power as the coil gets hot? Not sure, but I did notice in the update that they increased the flipper power to the max, so maybe there is something to it?

I am going to be putting on a couple of computer fans on the coil and see if that changes anything. I am not sure if the coil heat is even a problem, but for $100 its an easy fix. Found a company for spike systems that puts computer fans on the coil to keep it cool.

Not sure if AIQ is a good as JP, but its damn close. The T-Rex makes JP a better game at this point, but if they update the code and make the Avengers something more than a bunch of boring dorks, AIQ will be as good or even better than JP.

Interesting to look at what JJP is able to do with GNR because of the latitude Slash granted in building the pin. in Contrast Marvel makes Stern dance on a tight rope. Stern may need to work extra hard to make AIQ the great game it has the potential to be.

I am rooting for Stern to be able to pull it off, because the layout and flow of this game deserves great code and call outs.

Played a pro at the Musem of Pinball today. It was a lot of fun. The angle and flow of shots were great! I love the mag lock avengers tower shot and the ramps were very satisfying to shoot. I have an LE on order and can see that this could be one of Elwins best games.

I was only able to play 4 games (because I am the freaking pinball Musem).

I have been playing TMNT for a couple weeks now and want to give it an honest review. The pin Is without a doubt super fun and playing the different turtles is pretty cool because you kind of decide if you want to play more to place the ball on skill shots or have quick multi balls. Having the four turtles to choose from is amazing. Sometimes I will jump on Leonardo and just try to hit the lair for 30 min, and then go for the training shots. My kids will go for the Donatello Ramp for multi ball. If I am playing buddies for points, I will go for Leo or Mike. I love the Game. You get four different sets fo rules from the start. Brillian game.

Where TMNT is truly amazing is the team up a vs players modes. I am positive that this will become standard on games in the future, because now I can play my wife, 5 and 10 year old and everyone is having a great time rooting for their team. TMNT will always be able to say they did something new and everyone will race to copy their great idea.

The playfield is a little more crowded than other games, but somehow it works and the flow is still really good and fun. I love my TMNT. This will be one of those games that actually did something new and there is no reason that every pin in the future will not figure out a way to copy the great ideas on teaming and cooperative play.

Honestly an amazing game. Love my Elwin flow games, MMR, Wonka (for my kids) but this game is one that will stay bolted to my floor. The Code is great, but if they continue to update the code further... this will be a top 10 game for the next 10 years.

This is a great game! I was wanting to get a new game and took a chance and purchased an LE. It does not play fast like a lot of the new Sterns that have come out, but the variation of shots is pretty amazing. Love the elevator and having the balls hold over so that you can steal others balls that they captured in previous games. It is for sure my kids and wife favorite game. It almost feels like the sounds and music is more like a modern slot machine in vegas. They did a great job on the game!

This game is a good game an deserves to be in the top 50 games, but no way it is a top ten game. The game gets boring so quickly.

This is a super fun game. The rule set is deep and the code updates make it a lot of fun. Not even to code 1.0 and it is great.
Do not like some of the hangups in the game. The gravestone gets the ball hungup on slow shots, also the plastic ramp on the shooters lane can catch a ball to start the game and hang it up.

Great game! Glad they took the time to build it right. The lighting is legit, hats off to the quality and feel of the powder coat.
this is the best version by far for MMR

IM is an amazing game! The flow on all the shots is very well designed and using 4 flippers runs the risk of trying to add gimmicks that may not work and don't belong. With IM, they were able to make all of the flippers work and rewarding.

The thing that makes this game so much fun is the speed and flow that can be achieved via your pure shots. So many games slow the shots down and limit the continuation and flow with stops. IM does not do this. I am not a fan of IM music, but the game itself overcomes the theme that I personally do not care for.

This game is amazing and deserves high marks. Look forward to many more Keith Designs!

I just received the Royal machine, but have had MMR in the past that I sold. The Royal was worth the wait (COVID slowed it down by a few months).

I often question the ratings with Chicago gaming company because all their machines are in the top three. That being said, MMR does undoubtedly deserve a top 5 spot no question. MMR is very fun and so far ahead of its time. The fact that MMR can maintain its position regardless of so many new machines it is competing against is amazing. Monsters and Mars (both of which I own) in my opinion are great games, but the should not always be in the top 3-5 compared to the new machines being released.

MMR has a ton of great shots that do not feel cheap or slammed together even know the shots so close together. The Castle shots should get old because of how repetitive it may feel, but the shot is always fun because of the spacing of other shots so close together.

The quality of the Royal is top notch and Chicago Gaming has honestly done a great job on this end product.

This is a great game, I have owned it since it first came out and was one of first Premium owners to get machine. The game layout is amazing and it will be a top 10 for many years to come. The only problem with the game is the quality controls was weak. The T-Rex Jaw fell off after about a week and the guardhouse feels apart as well. Not a big deal to fix and it only needed the screws tightened to keep that from happening. Just a basic quality controls would have prevented this problem.

The T-Rex is a great toy, premium/LE is way better than Pro for the reason.

Love the game

Love AC/DC, just never connect with this came

Have a bunch of great games in collection and DP is probably the most fun to play. it is fast and the flow is smooth (One little thing needs to be fixed in the code to make it more smooth, I detail below, if anyone from Stearn is reading.

My only problem with this game is that sometimes the audio cuts out and I hear nothing. Looked it up and can't figure it out. There is also a simple code fix they need to update on the far left lane shot. fun shot if you hit it hard enough to go all the way around the playfield and end up on the right flipper. If you don't hit that shot hard enough, it does not make it up the ramp to the sword and is stuck at the bottom of the ramp. Need to manually send in a ball to take care of issue. Seems like... when the ball stuck kicks in, all they would need to do is make that ramp Pop 100% a couple of times instead of just partially popping up and down.

Other than that, this game has the some of the best game set rules. Super fun to hit the villains and realize which villains to fight depending on what friends you have to fight that specific villain with. Love the Katana sword shot. Great game!

The game is great, I have some drain issues that I need to figure out... Just purchased NIB last week. Can see why everyone has loved it for so long. The rule set seems simple, but it is timeless none the less. The game is fun but it is not a top three game. Maybe a top 20 game, but not top 3

This is a fun game, I purchased NIB Special and I do love the open play field. That said, this game is over hyped. It does not compare with the new games out today. It sure seems like Chicago Gaming company makes sure that all three of their games are 1,2 and three. I own all three of them and I like them, probably influenced by these ratings to buy all three of them. I like the games... but not as much as the people putting out these ratings.

Fun game, glad that I have it, but it does get repetitive.