GNR LE

LTG : )

Punchy the Clown. The clown abides.

The Pinball Circus

I know you're looking for a gameplay assessment, but as an owner of both, Lebowski has been a royal pain in the ass. The list of issues with my Lebowski is long. None of them super serious, but all of them just shouldn't be there for a $12.5K pinball machine. It's like a Rolls Royce body with Hyundai innards. But I think they've upgraded some components in recent times (I got mine early 2020).

People seem to have chipping/pooling with their GnR, but I don't (so far, knock on wood). Only issue I had is the flippers were misaligned. Didn't like how it played, raised the flipper angle a bit, now I love how it shoots. It's not Stern flipper power now, but it's also not supposed to be. It's something other GnR owners should look into if they think their flippers are mushy -- raise their angle a little bit.

since you compared to JJPs GNR. it's no contest. TBL all the way. Now if you compared it to the DE version, it would be a more even competition.

This is a tough one. I have both. The only two NIB games I have ever bought. I have a small collection. GNR LE gets played way more and is a more impressive marvel of a machine. Big Lebowski though is just something special and rare and really really well executed (but starting to show its age let’s be honest). If I could only keep one it would be Lebowski because it’s just so damn special but I definitely do play GNR more.

I'd say go for something different and get a TBL. I've personally found the GNR layout kinda boring when I played it (it is a beautiful light show!)

Or maybe go for a Wonka, I see it's on your wishlist and it's awesome. I'm getting one next week.

If you don't like Spooky flippers, you're going to hate JJP flippers.

I have both and you are making me choose, so it's TBL! Two totally different experiences though. It's hard to rock out with TBL.

No problem, atleast you've tried them, they drive me nuts. I loved my DILE but it still suffered from the JJP sluggish flippers, like my Wonka and WOZ. I'd still vote TBL though, awesome movie and great game.

I don't care for the GnR rulesets. I love the layout, I love the lights, I love the world under glass, etc. The rules are horrid. I played one game, got six multiballs somehow, scored very little and then the game ended. I started a second game, got three multiballs on ball one, and then with the balls trapped on the flippers I just walked away. I couldn't stand it. I was in love with that game when it came out and I couldn't wait to play it. I finally get my chance to play and my opinion turned immediately.

If the rules were to ever change, like a difficulty setting to make multiballs special instead of something that's guaranteed, I'd probably love it a lot more. If all of the scoring wasn't located in one shot, I'd also probably like it more.

I dunno.

You played one game. Surely you mastered the rule set. Valuable review….

Person played game. Had no idea what they were doing. Didn't like me it.

Yup super deep.

I played one full game and one-third of another game. I had 9 total multiballs. I didn't like that. I crushed the multiball modes and didn't seem to get good points for doing so. I didn't like that either. I was very excited to play the game and within 4 balls I did a full 180. I read the rulesets afterwards and discovered that the vast majority of your points come from a single shot to collect a song jackpot. The flippers also felt weak and sluggish, forgot that part.

If you like it, that's awesome and nothing else should matter. Maybe I'll try it again sometime but I'm in no rush. I would like to be able to have my opinion as much as I let you have yours.

Yeah LOTR was worlds above Hobbit at the time. I know there was an update for Hobbit but I've yet to play that.

I also don't love the feel of JJP flippers. I owned DI for two years and even though the flow was great, the modes were great, the big bang was awesome, collecting sim cards was brilliant, everything else was under-whelming. It was a little too upbeat, the music was annoying, the flippers weren't snappy, the multiball modes were terrible, the sim shot was more luck based than skill based, and you were FORCED to play multiball if you didn't cancel it or if you lost a ball.

I feel like all the JJP games I've played had similar issues as DI. JJP puts together a solid product (minus playfields) and good to great themes, but they could use some help on rulesets and flippers imo.

You are free to have an opinion, but to think an educated opinion is worth the same weight as someone who has first impressions is what it is.

This is less about defending GNR LE and more a critique of the cascade of game reviews that are all so "well informed" and similar.

- I played a few balls
- Didn't know what I was doing
- It sucked

If you think that should carry equal weight with someone who has hundreds of games under their belt, go for it.

I got 9 multiballs. It sucked. That alone made me hate it.

Do you have an opinion? You should post it. I won't argue or pick it apart. The OP asked for feedback so that's what I did.

Side note worth mentioning: I have not yet given this game an official review or rating on pinside. I only do that when I play a game a few dozen times or more for the very reason you mention, but it's going to take some time for me to give this game another shot.

That is fair! First impressions are what they are. A game that gave a super poor first impression for me was WPT. I did not know how the callouts for the poker hands went with the game (as there is the drop target poker and the "ramps poker hands" running concurrently most of the time).

Seemed like stuff was just happening.

Then I watched a 30 minute or so tutorial and thought "I should give that game another chance". I bought one years ago. Still the best bang for the buck pin from that era if you like games with deep rules.

I should probably get off my ass and actually try to do even something like one game review a month, starting with games I have owned.

I felt EXACTLY the same. TH was a shitfest of multiball with a wide open layout. IT SUCKED. One of my most hated regretful purchases ever.

I find the mb in GnR nothing like TH. There is real strategy to the stackable 2 ball mb's. They are a means to get something else - not a real special achievement in a traditional mb sense. The 2 ball mb's are not special.

It's the songs that are more akin to traditional mb's. The risk/ reward elevates the challenge to strive for a huge jackpot. You need those 2-balls to set it all up.

It's all about the rules. If you understand what you're trying to do, the 2 ball mb's really represent modes to set up killer song value. To consider it as a jackpot inducing achievement like Stern games is completely off the mark. But I get it that it would suck if you think they are supposed to be like a Stern mb.

Hard to explain, but spending time until it made sense took away any comparison as a mb shit-fest. It has a real specific purpose for setting up for a killer game.

Plus the LE layout is awesome. i would never consider an SE. That upper pf is what makes the layout great.

You need to own both of you can .. any one know how many have been made ?

I'm guilty of honeymoon posting.

I have since sold my GnRLE since my previous gushing comment. It was really fun at first, but the gameplay got stale.

It became tedious until it was no longer fun to play and I had to let it go.

I've never had a chance to play the big labowski but have been able to play gnr at my neighbors and after a good number of games I have no interest in playing it even on free play. Granted I'm not very good at pinball and I love JJPs but this one ain't it.