How about Haggis Trident?

Out of the Sterns, Rush is most fun to me.

Trident? You mean Fathom?

Haggis Trident would be fricking glorious!

I played Rush Pro tonight after a few months had passed since the last time I played it on location. I didn't think much of it the first time, but tonight I thought it was great. Really good layout.

Anytime there's a ramp shot AND a nice orbit out of the upper flipper, it's a plus for me. Can't wait to try Premium.

Haha! Yes! That’s what I get for posting a message when I’m sleepy.

I guess technically Fathom was announced in 2021, but it really should be in this list based on shipping. I would choose it over everything on the poll beside Bond and Rush.

Same here. I remember getting blasted posting about how much Rush sux as a band and was shocked they got a game. I only played a couple games games and didn't click with me but I was at Arkadium and had a bunch of other games I wanted to tryout instead. Thankfully the music was turned down and getting drowned out by the Oilers game on the big screen.

So on the pro it’s a dead end shot that kills flow… but on the premium it’s often a dead end shot to the Time Machine to kill flow

Got it

Bond would win *if* they could just get it out of the gate. The code needs improvement and they keep pushing back the shipping dates...so it may not even qualify for 2022.

Lol in my opinion actually the pro is a lot faster and flowier that dead end shot is a nice return to the flipper and you can catch it most times. Much faster than the vuk return. I was worried about not having the return from the premium but after having the pro I am glad I went pro. Not a big fan of the other features on premium to make me upgrade. I think Borg makes great pros. This game flows awesome when you get going

No I agree. The dead end shot is fine to me. Just funny when someone says it doesn’t flow as well when the premium features a pseudo bash toy up the center.

Not being jerky here fellas, but it’s not complicated.

Game of the year is just that, the best game of the year. It doesn’t mean it’s a blockbuster or even desired. It simply means it is the best game of the year that came out compared to the other releases. It is a title that goes to the game that competes with other games of the year, not previous years or any other category beyond that scope.

I think this list is pretty much it for this year. I can't see any more announcements from Stern when they can't even get Bond out. I have a Queen on order and I'm shocked to see it got 3 votes. Still think TNA doesn't qualify. That's like putting a vault edition on the list...it should just be new games.

Haha - sure, you could look at it that way….but when the ramp is down, it signifies something. Nothing lit to collect, but bash to qualify MB. When up, you know you’re gonna get something meaningful. It has 2 different states & there’s a level of satisfaction to raising the ramp to get your mode or combo jackpot. At the end of the day, like most Borgs, the differences are subtle. Pro’s fine if you like what it’s got.

Out of all those, I'd choose SW Prem re-run.

Rush wins kinda by default, since nothing else stands out, except maybe Weird Al but nobody has played it.

I like Rush, both the machine and the band, but can't quite love it. The playfield feels just slightly off. The double right inlane skews the layout, with the flippers and the right slingshot crammed so far to the left. The time machine doesn't work as a bash toy since it's narrow and off-center. The upper flipper shots and overall flow are like an uncanny valley of trying to be an Elwin layout but not quite getting there. The rules structure is boring, just play songs like every single other band pin ever. The time machine multiballs feel tacked-on and grindy; others like AIQ, Godzilla, Led Zep, Star Wars do a much better job of blending distinct multiballs into the overall progression.

But that all said, it is pleasant and upbeat and colorful, that's what it does right over all the other generic dark and brooding band-rock pins. I guess the depth of the game is in manipulating all the colored-record multipliers into the song scoring, which I haven't gotten much into playing on location (although another viewpoint is that that's like an uncanny valley of trying and failing to be like AIQ's gems.) I might own a Rush eventually if I found one at a good price. Actually, it seems like exactly the machine I'd want to temporary-trade for, anyone got one in Virginia?

It doesn't seem super popular cause of the band/theme, but Rush seems to be the better game. I want to love Bond but it seems really basic

I think Rush wins a lot of stuff, although long term I think Bond will be regarded as the better game.

Weird Al deserves to win a few categories, but it just won't be seen by enough people.

My favorite so far is aliens… everything about it is amazing my buddy hasnt had any problems or anything so far and it just is so fun to play.. the call outs the audio the shots the art .. all the things on the playfield from the movie.. bumpers and the ball lock at top.. I love it.. prb gonna try n get one..

Rush is top dawg pretty easy. A different theme and it’s a top 10 game

Toy Story 2nd. It’s a wonderful shooting game with fun quirky code, but of course the world under glass was a disappointment for
The price.

TL;DR: agree that this hasn’t been a great year

I like Rush better than I used to, but it’s still Rush.

I am ambivalent on Borg games. I just don’t think he can execute a “through the pops” shot like Lawlor can. When you hit it on Rush, it’s like meh. But on Lawlor games it’s satisfying.

That being said, TS4 is no Wonka or POTC. It shoots fine and looks okay, but it’s not worth that price tag.

I have not played Bond or Weird Al yet, but P3 is such a funky platform that I’m not as excited as I should be (because out of all the music pins, Weird Al needed one ages ago).

How was Rush a “letdown”?

Easy choice for me as Rush Pro is basically my favorite pin ever. I played some Bond Pro at my local place and seems like it will be fun but I don't like the shots as much as Rush Pro. TNA is great although not up there with Rush, albeit a very different type of game. Wasn't crazy about Weird Al, I think I just don't like having the playfield be a screen that's always changing, I just found it distracting. Toy Story was ok, not bad, not great. I haven't tried Spinal Tap or Queen so can't comment on those.

What a weird list. BIASED OPINIONS INCOMING.

Queen isn't shipping, doesn't count.

TNA is the best game on the list, and came out years ago, doesn't belong.

Spinal Tap is by Homepin, and everything they touch is garbage, instantly disqualified from discussion. I have never hated a pin more than Thunderbirds just from touching it—the flipper buttons are designed to be painful to your fingers to keep you from spending time realizing the game is trash. Only smart design decision they ever made. I hope to never be in the same room with Spinal Tap.

That leaves the only real choices as:

Bond
Rush
Toy Story
Weird Al

Toy Story is apparently pretty fun. Don't care, I will never vote a game that looks like that to game of the year. It looks like it should be spitting out tickets to pay for a cheap plush toys at the prize counter for sugar-hyped 8-year-olds at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Bond is too new, and too raw. Nobody is happy with the code, and maybe that changes next year, but you can't win game of the year with shit code. It's in the fine print, look it up. I don't make the rules.

Down to Rush and Weird Al. I haven't played either. I dunno. So we'll do it like this:

Rarehero thinks Rush is the best band of all time. I saw Weird Al at the Hollywood bowl once and it was awesome. My opinion wins.

Weird Al, game of the year. I'll probably never play one, I don't think I know a soul who owns a P3 and I find the entire LCD screen concept somewhat baffling all these years later, I've never once actually enjoyed playing on it.

Here's hoping 2023 is a better showing is what I really think. For these prices none of those games are worth it.

Drained for the P3 should be added to the list.

Ayce Gogi in West Hills has a Weird Al. Might be time to give the P3 another chance, there's a lot of creative people working on games for it.

Nobody is flipping Scooby-Doo in 2022, leave it for next year. Announcing a game is one thing, shipping them is when they're real.

Not clear if Drained is shipping or just been shown.

I should check it out. I did just give it game of the year.

I just fundamentally don't believe in the concept of the P3. I've played it multiple times, multiple games, and nothing has ever changed my mind. Every single title saves the 'real' mechs for the top of the playfield because you can't put holes in the rest. The graphics are what they are, some are okay, a lot are ... look they're mostly not great, let's not pretend otherwise.

It's one thing when you have dated looking so-so graphics on an LCD. Stern, the big dog in all this, has a lot of games with not great graphics, a lot of eh 3D models etc. But you don't play on their screen. You're watching the playfield.

The real issue is I just don't want to be flipping over an LCD. I don't like it. It's not why I play pinball. I have a garage full of arcade games, I own gaming PCs and consoles, I can play video games whenever I like. When I play pinball I'm there for the kinetic, analog, physical experience.

I'm even glad Pinball Bros took the screen out of Alien's playfield. I never cared for it either.

If anyone finds it fun don't take it personal, that's just my take.

Rush is good but still in the shadow of Maiden, and im more of a rush fan. Im going to have to say Weird Al. Such a cool new game and its packed. With that said I dont own any 2022 pins. 2021 was a much better year IMO. Im probably in the minority but I even like Zepplin better than Rush. At first look Rush hands down look like the better pin. For some reason I just enjoyed playing Zepplin more.

Maiden wasn't released this year...

It wasn’t being implied that it was

Fair enough, it's not for everybody. I really like the P3. I have had great fun with the games I have played, there is a great community of people around it and I love that it allows anyone to create games for it.

I guess if blockbuster 3D video game style graphics are your thing then you are going to be disappointed but I love some of the artwork and graphics that people are starting to create for the P3. Nick's latest game shows the kind of quirky and niche artwork styles that games for the P3 can support because they don't have to appeal to everybody. For me, having a playfield LCD means you have a larger canvas on which to create graphics.

Again, I'm actually the opposite, I find non-P3 pinball boring now because I find that I don't become immersed in the game as much as I do when playing the P3 and the options for exploring the narrative of the game are so much more limited without the interactive playfield display. This is probably what I find most exciting about the potential of the P3, it is so much easier to communicate a story that a player can become involved in (and also to tell the player how to progress through that story). This means that types of pinball games which can be created for the P3 are much more diverse and the goals of a game can become about so much more than just scoring points.

Anyways, that's just how I feel about it, I certainly don't expect everyone love the platform like I do. In fact, I have sold all my non-P3 games. If you have tried it and don't like it that's fine, I just think it's a shame when people (not you) dismiss it outright without first getting to know the system a bit.

No really good games released this year. And like 10 people outside of Canada and the US are interested in Rush as a band. Meh.

Okay so first thing, I think you missed Haggis Fathom Mermaid edition no? Which by the way, is really really good.

But my choice is Rush.
With the more polished code, this game is a sleeper imho.
Initially I also did not like it because I didn’t really have a strategy at all because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
So because of that, ball times were short with some nasty drains.
Now, it’s amazing.
It’s rare where I enjoy playing a game by myself to try and reach wizard mode AND a game to play for score and play for dollars against my buddies.
This is one of them and it plays fast.

If you can crank that shot from the right flipper through the pops and then combo up the side ramp with the upper right flipper, you’re in combo heaven
It’s a rush!!! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
In general, it gets my respect because it’s got fair but relatively a few tough shots to hit on a consistent basis,
-the shot through the pops
-the right ramp
-the scoop and side tamp with upper right flipper.