splattii's ratings

I think there is value in this pin from a cost vs features perspective. I have this in a collection of 12 machines

Pros
- The funniest callouts I've heard to date. Really entertaining and adult oriented. Could be re-themed to SKI SCHOOL (1991) and it would sound intended.
- Overall sounds is great. Music is subjective, but sound quality in general is good
- 5 Missions or challenges and multi ball. 5 missions are significantly more enjoyable than trying to achieve multiball or use the lift
- Pretty fast game
- Looks impressive in a game room because of the hill and ski lift
- The gap between flippers is large which forces players to learn how to use the middle save post near the drain hole. This can be avoided over time by learning where NOT to shoot

Cons
- The gap between the flippers might be off-putting to some
- The ski lift is a cool feature and rather impressive in execution. The problem, which might be changable in settings but I haven't found it, is that after every drained ball you have to wait while the ball at the top of the hill rolls down to drain. It's really annoying after a while to the point I purposely try to avoid using the ski lift. I prefer speed in games and don't want a 10 second delay after a ball drains
- I'm not sold on the layout. I feel like the sum of the parts is less than the individual parts. A lot of cool shots but it doesn't flow well.
- The ski lift can be hit on the first shot of each ball pretty easily. That being said, as mentioned above, it might not be worth shooting after a while so this problem would resolve itself or become less of a con if the ball remained on the hill after a drain

Overall an impressive game for the price. On the surface more impressive than most System 11 games but after digging in you realize it's more style over substance. Don't get me wrong, with so many of these machines being really close in quality and features one must really nitpick in reviews to help differentiate, but this is still a pinball machines which makes it great and a good one at that.

The most underrated game on pinside simply because it's identical to Centaur inside of a different cab. It's half the price and an entire point lower allowing the buyer to save a couple grand. Makes no sense. I own one of these and an Eight Ball Deluxe. When people want to debate the best flat / single level playfield game, especially from the 70's and 80's, I don't see how this one doesn't come out on top. While Eight Ball Deluxe might have a bigger following, Centaur was well ahead of its time and more so brings something to pinball many tables don't, being unique. In my humble opinion, and it took a bit of getting used to (it's a pain to work on as the heads are so small), this cab is better than the original as it just adds to the overall package. Black and White playfield looking like it was drawn by H. R. Giger, a built in reverb unit that can be adjusted and creates the best 80's vocals in pinball, 5 ball multiball, so many things to shoot for, so many ways to get to multiball, the way multiball begins.... so awesome and so essential. The only thing it's missing is a spinner and an outer loop shot. This thing drips in awesome factor, screams 80's and might be the closest thing to a heavy metal pinball machine. Simply awesome and amazingly enough worth the price of admission, even at the price of the original cab. Hall of Fame level game especially when considering its release date

It knows what it is and does it well, doesn't pretend to be a video game like modern machines, instead it plays fast and hard. 3 great spinners, killer sounds, a ramp shot that never gets old and some of the best buildup/music cues I've heard in pinball. This should be top 100. Might not be deep, but it's a great stress reliever and sometimes you don't want or need a deep ruleset, you just want to play. I used to think Cyclone was the best System 11 game but since brining one of these home Cyclone hasn't been getting as much play.

The pinball machine that made me understand 'flow'. Overlooked would be an understatement. I play this over my Eight Ball Deluxe almost every time, starting to make me wonder about selling EBD which is insane.

The game that made me love spinners. The game that made me love orbit type shots. The game that reminds us that you don't need a million toys and a bunch of ramps to enjoy pinball. The same way a good steak just needs some salt and pepper, a good pinball game needs a layout that doesn't get old, makes sense, and has tons to shoot at... and Blackout is it.

80's all day, sound effects that scream arcade, and while some people don't like the background soundtrack, frankly I find it sinister, dark and brooding. The theremin like effect the spinners have on the sound is incredible and imo is one of the highlights, especially the pulsating sound it makes after you light up the right spinner after knocking down the targets twice. All three spinners effect the sound once activated.

I remember when I first got this game, the entire time I kept trying to get Blackout. Why not? It's cool as hell and made me feel good, but it's only after playing this almost daily now for a long period of time have I come to realize BLACKOUT isn't what I'm after, it's nice, but I'm really after the bonuses from the spinner lanes.

Killer game. Won't leave my collection. Probably the best of the Williams System 6 offerings. While FIREPOWER (the game this is compared to most often) is an absolute blast to play, this is a superior pinball machine in all other aspects (layout, rules, gameplay) and is also a blast to play as well. Really underrated, and essential 80's machine for a collection.

I guess you could say this is Stern's answer to Jungle Lord. I'd take lightning every day of the week over Jungle Lord. What lightning has going for it are two things, 1) It's very fast, especially if you remove the gates at the top of the ramps 2). It is not a drain monster. The upper playfield is where the action is at even though the lower playfield still has plenty to shoot at. Not the best game on planet earth but in a collection a damn good one. The primitive Battlestar Galactica voices put it over the top. If this game wasn't so rare it would have a much higher ranking.

Edit: I've come to enjoy the bottom level more than the top and now understand the importance it plays. It's a shame it's so obscure

Edit #2 : After playing the new code (which is better than the original) I would highly recommend upgrading. With that being said as time has passed I'm finding myself playing Lightning less and less. I've since added games like Blackout (Williams) and Centaur (Bally) to my lineup, and as a result Lightning is seemignly passed by fairly often and might be time to send it to a new home

Out of all the EM machines I've been lucky enough to own, this is the one I kept and play most often. While I'm a fan of drop targets I find the 80's machines do those better (see Monte Carlo), so while I understand there is a drop target version of Hi-Deal under a different name, frankly I'm not interested. This is one instance where the standup targets are better suited IMO as they force the ball to rebound quicker and it improves the overall speed of the game. As far as EM's go this has everything you need to be honest. A bonus/kickout hole, spinner, standup targets, upper lane bonus etc.. I play this fairly often. I like the backglass, I think the playfield works for the period, and while the theme doesn't make a lot of sense, it doesn't have to.... it just needs to play well. There's something to be said about pins with original themes as opposed to bigger brands. It's when creativity needed to come out and in this case it just works. Two thumbs up. Can find these for a nice price, they're built like tanks and will give you 100's of hours of fun. Worth adding to any collection

I've owned this for about 6 months now. I've owned 13 machines over the years, my current lineup; Fireball Classic, Cyclone, Lightning, Monte Carlo, Hi-Deal (EM) and Motordome. I'd say Monte Carlo is easily the best shooter game of the list. If this had some call outs it would put it over the top. Sure the backglass sucks but I spend most of my time looking at the playfield. With LED the playfield is pretty attractive in person, especially freshly waxed. The ramp shot value is uneven but doesn't take away from the game. Got this cheap and didn't expect much from what I read online. Happy to own it, very cool machine. Lots to shoot at; drop targets, 2x ramps, kick-out holes, multi ball, spinning roulette wheel in the middle of the playfield. System 80b are undervalued.

Beautiful playfield and backglass. I don't think pictures do it justice, it stands well alongside any modern game imo.

When I first started playing this one I had a blast. The smaller flippers felt like they were getting in the way at first, but once I learned how to use them they became rather fun to play with. The drop targets are the obvious appeal of this one and knocking them down is just plain fun.

The big miss on this one is around the resetting of the drop targets. They don't reset until the ball drains which turns the game into a borefest once you've mastered knocking them down. On a 5 ball game I can clear them at least 3 of the 5 times which then turns this into a 2 shot game.... well, 1 shot with 2 options, both being kickout holes on opposite sides of the playfield. The other problem I had with this game is the scoring rules are out of wack. The kickout holes are worth as much as all the drop targets combined and frankly they're just as easy to hit. It should have been the other way around.

As a 4 player game it's a blast and was a favourite of friends when they'd come over. Unfortunately due to space I had to part with mine, but I hope I'll run into one again at some point so I can knock down the green monkey's one last time

edit: Almost half a year later and I don't miss this at all. Was fun but frankly there's nothing to do other than drain your ball once the dropdown targets are cleared. If these reset this game would be a classic

While it might not have the bells and whistles of other machines, it has a giant spinning disc that turns what one would think to be an open and easy playfield into an unpredictable one. If I could only keep one pin in my collection this wouldn't be it, but as part of a 4 or 5 machine collection this gets as much play as anything else. Multi-ball is easy to achieve and makes the game a blast. I prefer the SS to the EM but I understand and respect why some prefer the other.

Ending up finding this while picking up another pin and managed to get it for a nice price. Truth be told I wasn't as thrilled as I should have been at the time as (much like Comet) the playfield layout didn't really impress me too much. After getting it home and playing it for a few weeks this has become my favourite machine in my current lineup, something I would never have expected. I understand this gets a small knock for not having multi-ball, but frankly it wouldn't work with this layout and I find multi-ball more of a gimmick on most games as opposed to a nice feature. Yes, in some cases like Fireball it's an incredible feature, but in other games like ARENA I'm not sure it makes sense. In Cyclone's case I'm happy they passed on it. This game has enough variety to keep me entertained, and while I was initially worried that one drop target wouldn't be enough it pops back up often enough that it gives me something to shoot at. My only gripe with this one is the terrible duck sounds. You'd think they could have got those down pat but they suck. I play this one daily and enjoy it. If it was my only pin I might want to move on after a while, but in a lineup of a few pins I can't see myself ever parting with this one. The theme is also good for friends and family

Not a fan of Star Trek as a brand but really enjoy this game. Isn't the most complicated layout but my machine plays fast which makes it enjoyable. Simple rules, bumpers that really pop and the ball seem to stay away from the drain lanes enough to where I can go for a while without getting too frustrated. I still have a way to go before I can say I mastered this table, but for now I can say I'm enjoying this table a lot more than I thought I was going to based on the layout before I bought one used. I'm not sure this machine is worth the current price tag, but that's mostly the fault of the brand and not the game itself. Had this game been a random design as opposed to a franchise theme it would probably go for a lot less and would probably be considered underrated.

Very underrated game. One of the best EM machines in my eyes. Cool and unique backglass animation, spinning rotor deck in the middle is a blast and trying to get a full hand keeps people coming back. I haven't been able to get 5 hands on 5 balls but I'm closing in on 2 full hands. Only minor complaint about this one is that the backglass doesn't reset after you hit your goal. Outside of that it was arguably ahead of its time and more enjoyable than some of the SS games I've played. You can't help but to take a step back and marvel at the work it must have taken to build this thing in its day.