yea, tell that to the magic girl owners.

How far of shitty code? Like magic girl unplayable code? Or just shitty rules like Barb wire? there are plenty of games with shitty code and nice layouts. We have seen how well those do. try getting more than $1000 for a waterworld sometime.

LOTR's layout isn't all that spectacular and same cookie cutter design we have seen at least 20 other times, but the code makes up for it's boring ass played out overused design.

So I say from history, and everything we have seen in pinball. Code trumps layout.

that's untrue. Even in old games, it's the rules that make or break. Gottleibs dragon is a piece of shit, because it's uneventful. Nice art, and layout is meh...but it's all around boring. But a game like Alien poker is awesome because of the rules package. Layout isn't all that original, and many games have similar layouts, but the rules are different than most. Same with Medusa. Again it's code is what makes it hold up over time.

One could even say for EM's. Most EM's look the same. Very very subtle differences in layouts. But some are way more fun than others due to the rules. Super soccer/300 are some of my favorite because of the bonus ball buildup/cash out system. Royal guard was a blast because of the color matching bonus point system. But others i've played with similar layouts but nothing really special to the rules, fall flat.