Anyhow, Mr. Borg HAS been quoted on record as saying this [Walking Dead] is his best design ever...

as per https://creditdotpinball.com/tag/john-borg/

The man knows his pinball and pinball design. I agree.

The myth of TWD prison magnet and pops stdm drains keeps going. Frankly, one doesn't see many posts about it on TWD threads any more from the many many new owners and compared to all the machines now sold. It long ago was shown to not be a significant issue with a well setup machine for almost everyone (as often noted and discussed in TWD threads). And there were simple fixes made available for those who preferred those options.

I see the TWD playfield design as spiritual successor to XM and MET. Lyman infers similar; lots of similarities, some differences. Personally, I really don't like dead end bash features beyond bash toys in playfield designs such as the KISS starfield area or MET inline drop targets. YMMV. OTOH I really enjoyed the double playfield feature in TWD LE/Prem where a ramp alternatively turns into a bash toy during certain limited gameplay (not too often either). I also really like the woodbury shot; it's a straight shot but challenging to many people (and me) and a relatively unique design element. People should think about what they like vs don't and post it up. It becomes easier to understand why some people prefer certain machines.

LOL. How is that different from what I posted? (Hint, read more than the first sentence you quoted). Flipping the wording around still results in the same thing I said. So what's your point?

If you would have looked at earlier posts you would find one that says the pin design wasn't fixed and it drains stdm from the pops and prison magnet. That is very different from what I responded with, as well as what you posted above.

And fwiw, leveling the machine may not necessarily be the answer (it's true if you get the nuance of what I mean).

I essentially said this already just a few posts earlier, and yet that hasn't stop some posters from immediately regurgitating the same old discounted and addressed misconceptions.

I'd guess I have even less than a 1 in 20 occurrence, maybe one instance in every 8-10 games, and that's with no nudging either. I don't even bother to be prepared to nudge a prison magnet captured ball.

These themes seem evident to you, but I think other members miss it in discussions here. I see xmen and MET elements in TWD with improvement tweaks as well. On only a pure shot perspective I really enjoy the TWD shots and design. I see TWD as the spiritual successor of MET and XM. And as noted by many, the coding is awesome too.