Pick the best or most influential pin of the decade

I wanted to post a thread of retrospective of the last 10 years which have been incredible *to say the least.*

I started collecting 15 years ago and there was one manufacturer making something like 3 pins a year. No doubt that the decade in 2000-10 was a dark time for pinball, there were some great pins like SM, LotR, Tspp to name a few and some other notable pins like PotC, FG, TDK (ok I'm reaching).

It's always darkest before the dawn: Starting 2010 didn't seem like the start of a new era in pinball with (if I am correct) one pinball designer working John Borg who opened the decade with BBH, Iron Man and Avatar (good pins but not the stuff we'd associate as renaissance of pinball).

There's something happening here what it is ain't exactly clear: Anyway something happened (I am pointing to JJP and specifically Woz 2013) I don't know when it began but I am going to say it hit the ground in this decade. WoZ pinball the first new widebody in a long time, 5 flippers, many magnets 2 upper PF, toys such as melting witch, orb, flying monkey, color changing LEDs it was like a pinball from the past and the future at the same time.

Top dog shows its still got bite: I will also point to Stern with Tron (and with the LE narrative) although there have been LE pins before like Avatar, SM, LotR and what not to me it seems like Tron LE 2011 was the start of premium and followed by AcDc (first color changing LEDs) with the LE along with Tron gaining value and the flood gaits were open. Money going into Stern and Stern beginning to make more and better games year after year. Hiring more and more designers and programmers up to I don't know who many name designers are there at Stern.

Who are these guys? some really high and some really low point with boutique and startups. TBL, Predator, MG, Alien (boo) and some high lights Spooky, AP.

What is old is new again: lest we not forget the top3 games of all time. Let's not forget CGC who bring us MM, AFM and MB remake this decade.

New kids on the block in an industry filled with Boomers and old guys we have guys who come out of nowhere Scott Danesi and Keith Elwin, Zombie Yetti to name a few.

I am going to name my picks for Pinball of the decade.

Most influential game of the decade:
Woz a widebody, full color changing lights, LCD display, several toys, 5 flippers multiple magnets, deep rules, solid construction. it was a combination of past and future all in one.

Most influential company of the decade:
Stern. I know this is not something most people would say but Stern is making more games than all the other companies combined, has hired tons of new talent and brought back old talent to pinball.
Runner ups JJP and CGC both have made some unbelievably great pins (CGC true was standing on the shoulders of giants but they managed to improve on the best) and JJP ahs pushed the pinball into the 21st century kicking and screaming.

Most influential boutique pinball Spooky and specifically TNA. I can't say because I have not played ACNC but to me TNA is the stuff with Scott on the design, code and music he's renaissance man and maybe will lead to others to follow in his footsteps.

Toy if the decade (for me) I am going all in on Hyper loop on SW. I know this was a rehash of an old toy but I am going with this as my killer app and the main reason I bought SW premium.

Theme of the decade (so many to pick GB, TWD, WoZ, AcDc can go on) but I am going with the mother of all themes: SW

Unlicensed theme (game) would go with TNA (could go with others but this game just has a special quality that is hard to ignore).

Sorry I'll try to give that a listen, didn't know.

AcDc has 11 (?) color changing inserts so it might be the first game with color changing inserts. I really love that like on AcDc there will be pink for Rosie etc.. It just brings something to pinball that was not seen before. Woz might be the first with full color changing inserts.

TNA is just something special especially since it was done almost as a one man show.

Look at 2000-2009 you might have 30 pins (?) that were like RBION, CSI, Sopranos, FG, Shrek, T3 whatever but aside from LotR and Tspp (SM?) they weren't really that great. But this decade we've IDK 60+ pins of sometimes great quality.

Great point about Pinside. I was a member 15 years ago but can’t recall much about it, maybe I looked at the top100 list bet don’t think there was much of a forum. I really got back involved with Pinside around 2012 when X-Men and Woz was being discussed, must admit that I wasn’t around when Iron Man, Tron, AcDc, Transformers were announced and discussed.

Without Pinside, I think it’s possible that pinball landscape would look quite different today. It seems like most of the owners of the boutique pins are represented here, Skit-b, Zidware to the Spooky pins.

Regarding some of the observations:

Metallica yes the full package ticks all the boxes, theme, art, code, gameplay. I think AcDc deserves mention as well but is lacking in the art package otherwise it’s outstanding as well, leading to Iron Maiden. Maiden is not really a pin that I was interested in due to the band which was relatively unknown to me but the layout, art, code it’s another complete package and you know what it actually got me to love the music.

Alien is another great pin which I have played several times, I’m not sure it’s completely all there and it’s a shame the game didn’t get a full run with support like other games have, I said it’s a shame JJP didn’t do Alien instead.

JJP PotC is a great pin but again it’s too bad that it was not fully sold to an extent like Woz has been. It’s not my favorite pin but the toys and layout are interesting and innovative. It’s great the people who do own it, I’m curious if anyone knows how many PotC and how many Alien pins were made.

I’ve not played Oktoberfest yet hopefully can find one locally, lots of arcades have Stern, JJP and CGC but AP is not well represented.

Just a correction from a few posts above neither Tspp or LotR are from this past decade.

I think DI has a great theme, guess people have different opinions but I will agree that in general game like SW or DP or JP have more mojo behind the casual audience. I would say that other pins like WhiteWater, TAF, The Shadow, BSD have somewhat of mediocre themes but they are well loved.

Great point it’s the decade of the special edition. Oh you like MMR but it’s not get a topper and a large screen. Let me see how much money can we charge? Woz not yellow enough let’s see what can be done for that?

I’d also like to call it the era of the cash grab as shown by Beatles Diamonds or SW toppers or Supreme home pin.

Wrong it’s the Ruby Red with RadCals!

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Forgot to nominate the mod of the decade witch vs monkey? Tron Arcade or Eli ramp light?

However I’m going with the bank drain we know as Color DMDs soon to be lessened by the rise of LCD games.

Agree, had a chance to buy one but didn’t mind passing. One time was playing and goal was to tee up and start 5 multiballs at one time like ok, so every shot is being lit for something but I have no idea what. It’s deep but almost in the way that I don’t care. Give me AFM with 6 inserts to light at the bottom and I’m happy.

I do like somewhat the choose your adventure path but think ST or SW are somewhat better especially SW where the modes seem more unique. PotC seems like hit so and so character insert (yawn). But I will say PotC has a lot of innovative toys and the like the way the out lane save works, but the code is not my cup of rum.

I’ll add a poll just trying to get a list together.

I am going to try to list the pins that were made this decade and then I'll add a poll. I may forget some small batch pins so you can remind me if them. I am not sure if I should include all the Stern home pin so I am just going to list as Home Pin (I believe there was SW, SM, Avengers, not sure if also Transformers). A am not going to list separate versions (except one instance which will be SM Vault which is not an exact remake.)

Just remind me if I missed any and I'll add to this lists so far 48 that could be production games and another 8+ that are small batch and 4-6 home pins. So somethink like 60+ pins this decade.

small batch:
Nemo
Wrath of Olympus
Magic Girl
Supreme
The Big Lebowski
Mafia
Thunderbirds
P3 Lexy Lightspeed etc..

Stern (33)
BBH
Iron Man
Avatar
Rolling Stones
Tron
Transformers
Ac/Dc
X-Men
Avengers
Metallica
Star Trek
Mustang
The Walking Dead
WrestleMania
Kiss
Game of Thrones
Whoa Nellie!
Spider-Man Vault
Ghostbusters
Pabst Can Crusher
Batman 66
Aerosmith
Star Wars
Guardians of the Galaxy
Deadpool
Iron Maiden
The Beatles
Primus
The Munsters
Black Knight: Sword of Rage
Jurassic Park
Elvira House of Horrors
Stranger Things

Stern Home (6)
Transformers
Avengers
Star Wars
Spider Man
Iron Man Costco edition
The Dark Costco edition

Spooky (4)
America's Most Haunted
Rob Zombie
TNA
Alice Cooper

JJP (5)
Woz
The Hobbit
PotC
Dialed In!
Willy Wonka

CGC (3)
MMR
AFMR
MBR

AP (2)
Houdini
Octoberfest

Heighway (2)
Full Throttle
Alien

Poll added...

OK added

I was going to just pick 10-12 pins but didn't want to leave anything important off.

updated with Domino and Jetsons (I forgot) before: 66+ may be missing some still

one pin (on average) every 2 months.

small batch: (11)
Cosmic Carnival
Jetsons
Domino
Nemo
Wrath of Olympus
Magic Girl
Supreme
The Big Lebowski
Mafia
Thunderbirds
P3 Lexy Lightspeed etc..

Stern (33)
BBH
Iron Man
Avatar
Rolling Stones
Tron
Transformers
Ac/Dc
X-Men
Avengers
Metallica
Star Trek
Mustang
The Walking Dead
WrestleMania
Kiss
Game of Thrones
Whoa Nellie!
Spider-Man Vault
Ghostbusters
Pabst Can Crusher
Batman 66
Aerosmith
Star Wars
Guardians of the Galaxy
Deadpool
Iron Maiden
The Beatles
Primus
The Munsters
Black Knight: Sword of Rage
Jurassic Park
Elvira House of Horrors
Stranger Things

Stern Home (6)
Transformers
Avengers
Star Wars
Spider Man
Iron Man Costco edition
The Dark Costco edition

Spooky (4)
America's Most Haunted
Rob Zombie
TNA
Alice Cooper

JJP (5)
Woz
The Hobbit
PotC
Dialed In!
Willy Wonka

CGC (3)
MMR
AFMR
MBR

AP (2)
Houdini
Octoberfest

Heighway (2)
Full Throttle
Alien

If we include all the LE's + Pro combos would be over 100 pins.

I agree with Woz, I also think it's great but can see why some people don't like it (same with DI).

I think WoZ (JJP) and CGC (to a lesser extent) put pressure on Stern and that Stern is still the king of the hill but maybe with 70-80% of the market instead of 100% at the start of the decade. I don't think the boutique and small batch pins matter all that much as likely Stern will sell more pins in one month than Spooky sold in 5 years.

I see CGC making a pin like AFM (one of the best pins ever) and selling in the pro/premium/LE price of a Stern (a little more than a pro but a little less than an LE). But the big problem with CGC is running out of pins they can sell for $8300. Sure there is another 5-10 expensive titles but will people spend $8300 for a CFTBL, White Water or TOM remake?

JJP has to be the biggest threat to Stern but they seem to have higher BOM and long time between titles (like CDC) so if they have a bad title they have to suffer for tens of months before the next whereas Stern can do one every 304 months like clockwork.

I agree 100%

interesting in this poll, I left a bunch of titles on like X-Men and most of the Stern and all of the Spooky, CGC and AP pins. But 40% votes going to JJP pins (Woz, DI and PotC only no other votes for any other JJP title yet).

No game that is not from JJP or Stern got more than 4 votes (so far even the CGC remakes) and JP got the most of any Stern (although I think it's more of a flavor of the month). Houdini is the highest vote getter that is not Stern or JJP but I do think Stern votes are being split with all their great pins.

I just bought SW premium comic art and has been all I've been playing lately, I have to force myself to play my other pins just so they are not sitting un-played. But to me SW premium/LE has the best theme (how can it not it's SW original trilogy with good asset use) and has the best toy (IMO) Hyper Loop.

I hated woz on location and at convention but was early code and not well maintained location. I actually thought it was bad. But I played one in a home with complete code and a changed my mind think it’s one of the best games of all time.

My vote went to WoZ for the most influential pin LCD, color changing inserts and influential because it led to JJP being a serious competitor for the home collectors and might have led Stern to step up their game bring back old designers as well as new designers like Keith.

I think AFM LE is better game and ST premium is (currently) my favorite of the decade but Woz is the more influential.

Looking at the poll ST and Iron Man are my favorite pins that have not got a single vote (yet).

5 flippers!