I added a reoccurring theme.

- Pharoah (SS - Williams - owned)
- Black Pyramid (A# - Bally)
- Stargate (DMD - Gottlieb)
- Iron Maiden Premium (LCD - Stern - own)

Bonus: Cleopatra (EM - Gottlieb)

Let’s do some obvious themes with:

-BK
-BK2K
-Medieval Madness
-BKSOR
-Magic Castle (Zaccaria version)
Also considered: Game of Thrones

Or

-Haunted House
-Bone Busters
-Monster Bash
-Ghost Busters
-BSD
Also considered: Stern Dracula, most of the Spooky games

But theming leads to imperfect collections…

You totally cheated and did 3 Williams in a row. And then 2 Gottliebs!

You can't break the rules of a made up pin game that doesn't matter, bro!

Safe Cracker
Airborne
Swords Of Fury
Halloween
Solar Fire

That's pretty eclectic....

Oh man. You’re right, I’m a dirty cheater.

Having the alphanumerics as a separate category is a bit of a struggle. They seem like the most anemic category. Or the one that has passed me by.

Here’s a more honest attempt:
-Black Hole (SS - Gottleib)
-Pulp Fiction (A# - Chicago Coin)
-CFTBL (DMD - Bally)
-Beatles (LCD - Stern)
-TNA (Spooky)

That covers music, horror, single-level, cool movie theme, and lots of art styles. Maybe would sub in Elton (it’s freaking great) or Jaws (which feels like it was made just for me and based on one of my favorite movies.

All my games are electric. Still haven't pulled the trigger on any of those early non electric games yet.

Do Bally and Williams count as separate manufacturers for this excercise? Or the same?

OK, I'll play. These are all machines I currently own.

Williams- Jumpin' Jacks

Stern- Nine Ball

Bally- Radical!

Data East- RoboCop

Midway- The Shadow

What does A# mean in this context?

1933 World's Series by Rock-Ola
1951 Globe Trotter by Gottlieb
1980 Nine Ball by Stern
1993 Twilight Zone by Midway
2023 Labyrinth by Barrels Of Fun

Alpha numeric

I have one up in the corner of the garage I watch Hawaii 5-0 on every afternoon. It's like going on a trip and never leaving the farm.

This is a good thread. So i only have 5 spots to fill for my underwater themed room in my AirBnB- heres my 5:

1977 Nautilus (weird EM, plays like a flipped Gottlieb Atlantis with a spinner)
1980 Seawitch (because, Seawitch)
1989 Bally Atlantis (underrated, and Fathom is too similar to Seawitch in my book)
1992 Creature of the Black Lagoon (fits the theme and its an ass kicker)
2024 Jaws (by default, i dont think theres another LCD that would fit the theme)

Punchy The Clown
Sittin Pretty
Godzilla
Kingpin
Labyrinth

LTG : )

OK, I'll play....

SS = Fathom - Bally (don't have)
A# = BK2000 - Williams (don't have)
DMD = Game Of Thrones - Stern (got it)
LCD = Alien - Pinball Bros version (got it)
Wildcard = P3 System w/ Weird Al - Multimorphic (got it)

Later,
EV

I like these dumb little hypotheticals. I've never owned any of these and all my current games are from 88-91 so I probably don't know what the hell I'm doing.

SS: Centaur (Bally)
A#: Banzai Run (Williams)
DMD: Tales from the Crypt (Data East)
LCD: Labyrinth (Barrels of Fun)
Bonus: Pulp Fiction (CGC)

I don't like the recency bias of those last two but I keep driving 90 minutes to play them every few weeks for some reason...

In my line up:

Future Spa
Robowar
Dirty Harry
Halloween
Black knight LE

part of my 5 month old, quickly expanding collection:
Future Spa
Laser War
Ripley’s
No Fear
Iron Maiden

* have others in collection but think these are very eclectic with one A+*

I'll go with games I don't currently own:

SS - Paragon
A# - whirlwind
DMD - Breakshot
LCD - stranger things
(Wild Card)
DMD - stern star trek

“ I'm trying to space out my ears.”

I’ve got a lot of space between my ears.

- (1)SS- Paragon (Just got)
- (1)A#- Torpedo Alley (Had)
- (1)DMD- STTNG (Have)
- (1)LCD- Jurassic Park (had)
- (1) EM-Abra Ca Dabra (technically not in a category above, but as an EM I deem it more eclectic)

ss. Sorcerer ( 85 Williams )
A#. Transporter the rescue
DMD Dr. who
LCD. Deadpool pro
Bonus Alien Star

But If I had to only have 5 solid states that would be ok too.

Alien Star and Deadpool…2 of my faves and want both!

SS - Medusa
A# - Defender
DMD - Attack From Mars
LCD - Jurassic Park (Stern)
Wildcard - Pulp Fiction

I'll try to meet the criteria from my collection,

SS - Star Light - williams
A# - Class of 1812 - Gottlieb
DMD - Star Trek - Stern
LCD - P3/Heist - Multimorphic
Bonus - Alien Star, Fathom, TNA, Stars.. take your pick.

Here's an eclectic subset of five from my collection.

The first three (SS, A#, and DMD) are my first pins from 12+ years ago. If I had to downsize right now, these five would be the last to go.

- SS - Future Spa (Bally)
- A# - Pinbot (Williams)
- DMD - Jurassic Park (Data East)
- LCD - Beatles (Stern)
- Wildcard - Houdini (American Pinball)

Orbitor 1 , Stern
Hyperball, Williams
Galactic Tank Force
Haunted House, Gottlieb
Pinball Circus, Bally/Williams

For me, a killer collection from those selections:

Gamatron - Pinstar (Have)
Swords of Fury (Have had) - this was the hardest for me, i find SS more enjoyable than alphanumeric
DMD - Creature From Black Lagoon (have)
LCD - Maiden (have)
Bonus - either Tropic Isle (EM) or Quicksliver have both, and would really struggle to choose, with high hand very close behind

Different manufacturers across the different categories? Tough.
From my collection that has to be:
Flash (Williams …my only SS)
Genesis (Gottleib…A#)
AFMr (CGC…cheating?)
Godzilla (stern)
Scooby (Spooky)

If I don’t limit to my collection:
Medusa (Bally)
Class of 1812 (Gottlieb)
TAF (Williams)
Godzilla (Stern)
EJ (JJP) or R&M (Spooky)

I started back into hobby with NIB Stern’s and love them BTW but changed my direction after playing in a couple classic tourney’s.

As the OP mentioned, a row of modern Sterns was what I “thought” I wanted but it quickly reminded me of my car buddies that only have the latest and or one marque.

To me, variety and uniqueness are what keeps things spicy. I was addicted to Bond/FF/IMDN for 3 months but now find myself on RBION more than any game

LTG is always invited to my arcade. Quality lineup.

From my collection past and present..

Firepower
Bride of Pinbot
Creature from the black lagoon
Stranger things pro
Mad Max custom build

Very hard to narrow down as I have 3 flip a coins all but Lcd category, maybe I'll cheat and have two go's!

Defender
Black Knight 2000
Attack from mars
Stranger Things pro
Jaws custom build

Bugger it, I'm not satiated, one more go...

Blackout
Pinbot
Dracula custom build
Black Knight SOR pro
Alien

Currently in my Gameroom.

Gottlieb Astro
Gottlieb C 37
Gottlieb Black Hole
Pinstar Gamatron
Bally Eight Ball Deluxe 81

Swords of Fury: ‘88
Torpedo Alley: ‘88
EATPM: ‘89
Party Zone: ‘91

I have a soft spot for System 11s with their weird themes and creative use of music and sounds. And I don’t like 40 minute games on the regular.