Kinda like women, which is better? cant answer that.

Every one has there opinion. I like Jacks open or atlantis. I really like the card themed wedge heads.

I'd put in a vote for the Big Hit, 1977 Gottlieb. Especially for those that love baseball.

Bally Traildrive!

Okay, I'm admittedly more interested in solid state pins, but I'd really like to appreciate EM pins more. (In fact, I started a thread about it a while back: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/help-me-appreciate-em-pins ) However, this seemed like a good place to ask; what makes these particular EM games any better than the others? This is an honest question. I'd really like to understand EM pins better.

Thanks to anyone who is willing to expound,
Ryan Claytor
Elephant Eater Comics
www.ElephantEater.com

Fast Draw - horse shoes rule!

Close second - Mata Hari EM

Fireball - king of all EMs

I'm partial to Atlantis too.

Joker Poker sure is pretty. Fast and fun, too.

I actually have found myself liking small flipper EM's better than "standard" ones. Fireball, Kings and Queens (Ball walker kickouts in the middle of the PF is awesome.), King of Diamonds (Roto-target is awesome, as is the layout and rules), Atlantis (Only EM I know of with the 2-targets-down-at-same-time rule, and the bagatelle on the right side).

For multiplayer games, 300 is a good one.. best bonus counter ever.

So hard to pick just one, but some of my personal favorites:

Fireball
Nip-it
300
King of Diamonds
Wizard
Pro Football
Grand Prix
Doodle Bug

#1. Fireball
#2. Slick Chick
#3. El Dorado/Solar City/Target Alpha
#4. Abra-Ca-Dabra
#5. Atlantis

"Best EM Pin"

< Mine>.

Second would be <Yours>.

Ken

Id reverse the order Ken but your point is taken

--Jeff

Couldn't pick just one if my life depended on it, but a few favorites:

Melody - Awesome AAB version of Sing A Long

Slick Chick - Amazing early wedgehead

Lady Luck (WMS) - Challenging Blackjack game

Majorettes - Nothing else quite like it

Wizard - Just a great overall package

So many good EM's, these are just the tip of the iceberg

I Like many games, but jacks open, quick draw and Atlantis are my favs.

Fast Draw, Centigrade 37, Lawman/Sheriff/Atlantis

Would Love to see more ratings for EM pins.

Grand Prix
Fireball

Thanks ohemio re: Big Hit. Love launching the ball from the flipper. Have added green LED lights. Looks and plays great!

I only have one pinball machine so I guess my pick would be my Williams Casanova, the art work is just remarkable for such an old machine. The sounds of all the mechanical parts working together is what I like and remember these machines should sound like; thats where it all started anyway.
Working on these electrical/mechanical machines has been a lot of fun for me.

Rodney

Fireball and C37 seem to get the most love. Can't forget El Dorado and its many clones either.

Early 60's. Gigi, Slick Chick and Majorettes - all 3 great artwork and addictive gameplay.

Mid 1960'. Buckaroo, Kings & Queens, Sing Along, Ice Revue, Crosstown.

70's - Atlantis, El Dorado, Jacks Open, C37.

A ton of others not mentioned as well.

Best?

Tough one. Can't answer as would need them all in home

Klondike / Yukon, because it is a pinball and a poker machine in one! + great artwork and colours.

I have played so few EM games I don't feel qualified to say what is the best. I have owned Williams Klondike, Bally On Beam, I own Gottliebs C37 and Golden Arrow. Of those four, I rate them in this order...

C37 (I play it more than any other game in my collection)
Klondike (Beginning to regret selling it)
Broken Arrow (Just picked it up and I really like the additional bell for the 10,000 point shots)
On Beam (Amazingly complicated mechanically and cool looking game and backbox animation, but this does not translate to great gameplay, but I did really like the short flippers in this one) Glad I sold it, helped me buy C37.

If you want to appreciate em pins more, get a broken one and learn how to repair it. Once you have repaired it, learn how to play it. Flipper skills and nudging change dramatically from SS/DMD to EM. There is a definite player benefit to learning the difference. It will make you a better player all around. Once you have learned to play your game well, it will become easy to decide if you like it or not. The way it went for me, I started looking for different features in an EM.

Klondike was my first EM (also my first pinball machine period). It had some great features like the up post between the flippers and the slot reels in the top. You don't have a direct shot to any of the upper playfield area features so you have to learn to bank shot the ball to get it up above the pops to hit the slot reel targets. There are direct shots to advance the slot reels but those generally are sucker shots. After playing Klondike, I started to look for games with different features. I found On Beam and it had a cool backbox light animation and the add a ball feature actually spit the ball back out to the playfield between the flippers rather than sending the ball to the shooter lane. The animation is cool, but really did not enhance the game for me. I do think that the add a ball kicker is a great feature and surprising all the time. Then I decided I wanted a game with some drop targets or a spinner shot or both! I got C37 and the drop targets are a great strategic part of the game. Definitely adds fun to the gameplay. Then I got Golden Arrow. It has a rare Gottlieb feature, the 10,000 point shot! I am still working this one out. It needs a good shop job and the steppers and spinners all need a good cleaning.

I keep looking for games with features I havent played yet. Gobble holes, bonus counters, MultiBall!

I wonder what I'll find next???

Hope this adds a little to your thought bank for EM games. Give it a try. I bet you'll like it!

I'll vote for card whiz

Gottlieb Surfer. I'd say Surf Champ, but Surfer shows more artwork on the backglass. I also thing that Chicago Coin had a lot of under-rated EM's

+1
It is certainly my favorite EM...
Maybe not even the best EM ever but it certainly has the most features of a 4 player EM.

C37...Queen of all EMs

Quickly followed by Fast Draw and Atlantis

Don't forget "Big Indian".

IMHO (i only play on 70' Gottlieb pinballs) :

4 players : Surf Champ - Vulcan - Close Encounters
Wedgeheads : Centigrade 37 - Atlantis - Jacks Open

Best? I don't know. The one I have the most fun playing is Abra Ca Dabra. Really like the variety of Atlantis and best art, for me, has to be C37 even though I'm not crazy about the way it plays.

My all time favorite is Bally Wizard! The game looks great and plays great. I am lucky enough to own one that plays like it just came out of the box. Most of the ones i have played at shows are pretty slow unfortunately, but if you play fast one, your opinion of the game would change.

There are other ems that i like a lot too. Aztec, Majorettes, Space Mission, Grand Prix and a friend of mine owns a Bally Amigo that I feel is a very underrated game.

I like hearing that, I love the artwork but it did not look very exciting, will have to give it a second try.

Maybe more like a pinball and a slot machine. Now Joker Poker is what you described, and I can't believe it hasn't got more love here. The artwork is in a class all by itself, and the game play is excellent. Maybe it's because nobody else here has one. I love my Fireball and Klondike, but this Joker Poker is just plain sexy.

DSCN1490.JPG

Slick Chick
Kings n Queens
Atlantis
c-37
Buckaroo
World Fair
Ice Review

Desert Island pin : Slick Chick, WHY : 2" flippers, big gap between flippers, Being able to effectively "Nudge " it a must. Rewards skilled shooting and ball control . Great rules set, Gobble hole rewards you with multiple (5-7) Specials. Looks great, plays fast when set up properly.

Brian Lenker
Madison Hts, MI
586-344-0721

The aussies and their silly words
slot machine = pokie I think

I think there is a tendency to like what you grew up with. I have restored 60's games and agree the wide gap and difficulty can make them hard to beat, but don't always enjoy the frustration of always draining so quickly. 70's games (and I mean basically Gottlieb in my case) have slightly longer ball times with bigger flippers and a less ball gobbling gap between them. I've said it before, but for now anyway, Atlantis is a good mix of difficult, but once in a great while rewarding game play. And yes, if more of us could have access to EM Joker Pokers, we might know of it's greatness!

I'll admit it doesn't have some of the features that I love on other EMs, like spinners and holes, but it does make up for it with it's greatness.

If you like drop targets, then this is the game for you.
DSCN1570.JPG

Fast Draw is my favorite EM (so far).
Why? Of course, the neat feature is, drop all 10 drop targets and the center horseshoe targets start resetting for 5000 points each, as long as you can keep hitting them. Aside from that, the playfield is fun to play on. There's 4 inlanes. Lots of nudging to keep the ball out of the outlanes because the rebound off the drops tends to go towards the opposite outlane.
You can play the upper playfield for safety and build bonus and points up there with good pop bumper action and kick outs worth up to 4K. Or you can test your skill with the drops.
"Speed Count" bonus rapidly counts down after each ball with max bonus on ball 3 of 45K.

I also have really enjoyed Fireball. Great skill shot, and because of locking balls, you can plunge quite a few balls in a game. Always fun to get multiball. My favorite shot is hitting the captive ball to the top. If 2 balls are locked, one is released into play and the other goes back to the shooter lane where you can plunge it right away for 3 ball multiball,or save it in reserve. The game gets wild. But at other times you can be careful and deliberate, when the zipper flippers are closed.

I love smacking down 13 drop targets with 2 inch flippers on a fast, open, playfield on Pop A Card.
Lots of nudges for outlane saves. It's very challenging to hit the lower stand-ups off the flipper when they're lit for WOW. It's also fun to hit them by nudging the ball off the sling shots.

Also enjoy Centigrade 37.

Many others I know are good but haven't got enough time on them yet.

I-din, I bet your fireball is feeling neglected because of all the attention you give Joker Poker. Why don't you let it go somewhere it will really be loved????