Like OP, I was never exposed to pinball when I was a kid, and came to it later in life in the mid-90s. Back then the DMD games were cheap and plentiful, so my collection was basically nothing older than a couple of System 11s.

However, the long involved ball times of modern games starts to become a chore - I don't usually have 20-30 minutes to blow on one game all the time and I just want to bat a ball around. So I guess I got "too much work fatigue" on modern pins. Also, as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate variety more, and the oddball machines that no one seems to like much.

So I've been looking at simpler games. I picked up a nearly destroyed Abra Ca Dabra and plan to do a full out resto on it and slap it next to my AFM.

Whoa Nellie BJM - just an example of newly produced EM style game.

It was my search for a Backglass monitor for my virtual pin cabinet that led me to my first EM find. and for $100, I fell deep into the world of pinball.

Even with an EM, there is more to gameplay than just keeping the ball from draining. Every EM I have had to pleasure to work on and play has been well worth it in my opinion.
No one can "sell" you on liking EM's, just pick one up from CL and dive in. You won't be disappointed. frustrated at times, maybe, but never disappointed.

Convince me why I should pay $6000-$8000 for a new machine themed after has-been rock stars or worn out movies from the 70s or 80s.

It's all a conspiracy. Us EM loving pinheads keep it low and quiet. This helps keep the prices down. If everyone finds out how much fun and skill needed, boom there goes supply. It's like fight club.

Seriously if you played a well maintained EM that's all it would take. Sure there are some dogs but there are also some amazing games. Most shows have EMs set up and playing like crap. They play slow and your lucky if there level.
It's like any pinball table, you can't play one or two games and form an opinion on the whole.

Try watching the Pinburgh finals and see some pretty awesome play on good machines

I was born the same year as you. I am by no means an EM guy. In fact I don't even really like them very much. Growing up, my dad routed games and we always had a random assortment of arcades and pinballs taking up room in our garage. My dad never liked having EM's because they were too much hassle for him, but every once in a while one would just kind of fall into his lap, and it would take up room in our garage before he would eventually sell it. Now most of my best memories are playing newer pinballs and I don't think I could even remember any of the EM's we had, I think toledo was one of them. Anyways, the whole point to my story is, the only real memorable thing to me is the sound of the chimes echoing against the crickets chirping on a summer night. Sometimes I'll fire up an EM on the pinball arcade and those chimes just bring me back. So I'm going to say if anything, theres something magical about those sounds on a summers eve, and I would like to have at least one in my collection just because of that
'

Those games are really pretty much a hybrid SS/EM. They have elements of both in them. Some of the System 1 games are pretty good players, once you get the board issues they seemingly all have corrected.
That said, System 1 games just pale in comparison to the Bally/Williams SS games of that era. The System 1 games come off as crude and unsophisticated in comparison. Gottlieb just was late to the SS party, for a variety of reasons, and then stumbled badly when they finally did get going on them, and they never caught up.

Variety is the spice of life! That applies to pinball machines. I have machines from EM to the very latest Stern, and lots in between. I've got 90s, I've got SS from the 70s, all kinds of odd crap. Sometimes I want to play the most complex game with difficult rule intricacies and scoring strategy. And other times I want to earn a special, or get an extra ball knock on an AAB to keep building score.

EMs are a wonderful part of this hobby. They are a giant logic circuit built out of leaf switches! All they are doing is moving electrical power around that circuit to the right spots, and they are amazing. When something goes wrong, you are can actually trace out what is happening in the circuit. I may be slow at fixing them, but it is a lot of fun. And playing them is a wonderful experience. Just last night I was overjoyed at knocking free games on my 4 Square. Yes, all of the games are free, but having a good enough game to knock a special is a blast.

Easy to do, and difficult to master. The best EMs always leave you right to the spot that you ALMOST did it... one more game and you will have it. Ok, maybe two...

Only other thing is they are dialed in and set up well. Lots of EM's at shows or in the wild play like crap, just from neglect. When I am done with mine, they are snappy, steep and fast. Sometimes really short games.

EMs are way more challenging and they hone your skills. Try playing a modern game and record your best score. Then play an EM for a while. Once you have the EM somewhat tamed, go back to your modern game and I bet you will kill it.

I was born in '83. Playing a machine with rebuilt pops and flippers really(!) makes a difference.

Working on an EM is exactly what DaveH says above, tracing the flow of current is fun and easy to do compared with a solid state. "So it goes from the switch to the board and then something happens and the transistor is grounded and the coil fires" changes to: "So it goes from the switch to the coil and it fires."

EMs are MUCH simpler to work on. And I have worked on all eras of game - not every manufacturer, but quite a few. I don't like the black box nature of solid state games (for repair).

As to the games being slow? The fastest game in my collection is the 1963 Chicago Coin Twinky. 2" flippers. I have solid state and a DMD. The problem I have with modern games is the stop and go nature. Of course, I grew up in arcades playing the modern games of the day, and I like those, too, but EMs are all about hitting one of several goals.

And once you understand how to fix them? You can certainly add 'mods' to add new goals, features or abilities. I don't approve of that, typically, but there are folks who do it. It's all about adding steppers or switches to do what you want. It makes more sense when you have fixed a few.

One of the folks I interviewed talked a bit about how you can think of EMs as DC if it helps to visualize the repair. I think this trick is handy for folks who are just getting into EM repair.

I will add that I have some EMs where certain shots may not be made in an entire game. Can't say that about any modern game. I like the challenge of hard shots more than the challenge of repeating them 50 to 100 times.

And once there was a time when using the plunger correctly was critcal.

THIS.

Every few months we get hyped for the latest Stern and when it's released 9 out of 10 times it's just a "standard fan" with different toys - inlanes at the top, pops in the corner, orbit, two ramps, side targets and slingshots.

Every EM is different (excepting for AAB and 2-player versions of course) and is uniquely challenging. You won't find Roto-targets on a DMD and I can only think of one with a Vari-Target.

Ripley's. It was implemented very well. I like that game because although it is licensed, it really makes it's own theme and the layout is very unique.

And Safecracker.

And Badcats....

You either like EMs or your a neck bearded mouth breather.

Love the artwork and back glasses, new Sterns based on TV series and films are piss poor......

Cause they are pretty and the chimes just sound cool...my MoonFlight

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Another thing is competition. DMDS are great if you are playing with yourself a lot on a regular basis. But when two or more players are involved EMs with their short ball times are the only way to go.

You are absolutely right, no need to look into EMs. Boring and slow, no challenge, just like everyone says. No fun, weird artwork, only appeal to old men that smell funny. Please do not try and play them. You certainly must have better things to do. Leave the oddballs alone and stick with the cool kids. Single player games make no sense at all, probably a sin. Avoid at all costs. Everyone will point at you and laugh. Full of mold and mice droppings. Schematics are impossible to read, they are not reparable. No parts, no one to help. Ignore them and spend the money on LEDs. You mother said "No!".
Don C.

Wait a minute... I like EM's and I have a neck beard...and a back beard....and butt beard. Sasquatch.

I was thinking of RBION, but suspected there were a few others - thanks. Burying that Vari-Target is an awesome feeling and I wish it was used more often. Maybe it's a patent/licensing issue?

Do you wear skinny jeans? If no you're in the EM club!

Well said

Who put the speakers in the pinball machine? There's no speakers in pinball! Just the sounds they make get quite annoying.

Smart people who wanted to make pinball more exciting!

I think we just concluded the opposite.

EMs sound like doorbells and rotary phones.

These are all beautiful, but most of all they make money...fast!

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If you don't like EMs, then you are just a young punk. If you do like EMs, you are cool and wise beyond your years.

That must be Bob?

Bob, yes!

Antique furniture is outdated and over rated.

I only shop at IKEA!

You should have played AbraCaDabra at Logan Arcade when I had that thing singing. If someone didn't like that, they'll never come around to EMs. I'm not sure if its still there or not. When I left, I was trying to get the flippers back up to snuff and didn't have the right pawl. Kind of split unexpectedly.

I've now owned flipper games from every decade they were made. From the 40s all the way up to some of the most recent models. What I really wanted to know is what my daughter and her generation would prefer to play. Well that didn't take long to figure out. She won't play the DMDs but she can step right up to the two inch flipper models and hang with the rest of us.

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I'd like to see someone do some mock up art under the heading 'if (insert modern title) was an EM'. What would a Twilight Zone EM look like, I'd say pretty awesome! Re-theme project perhaps...

I started with just DMD's but now i prefer SS's from the 80's, give it a few years and I'll be a fan of EM's.

OP, I'm at the ripe age of 24, and I grew up playing the alphanumeric generation of games in the arcades. There were DMD titles out there, but they didn't seem to be as common as games from the System 11 lineup as I grew up. I have absolutely no nostalgia for EM games, yet these are the titles I tend to gravitate towards the most at shows or other people's collections. For me, it's the allure of what could be done with switches and relays, or the heartfelt artwork, or the charming sounds of chimes.

Playing an EM is sorta like camping. You sleep on the ground, in a tent, in a sleeping bag, with the most basic accoutrements, and sometimes you have to convince yourself you're enjoying it; but all the while, there's something really down to earth about it, so real, and so pure, so simple.

You must have seen this in the other thread...

No way! I swear I didn't. Looks like my kind of bed, though!

I agree, listening to someone playing SOME of the DMDs is akin to kids watching Saturday morning cartoons on full blast when you have a hangover. Having said that, there were some good ones.

When the U.S. gets popped by an EMP, I'll still be playing my EM's (using a generator) while all of the DMD snobs are jumping off of buildings...

You know, I (kind of) had the same mindset as the OP here until just last weekend. I've always loved how the EMs looked, but hadn't really played many and didn't seem to care too. Anyway, I ended up going to the local arcade, and they have a gorgeous Amazing Spider-Man. Well, I ended up walking up to it, and for some reason, it all finally clicked and I absolutely loved it.

So, OP, everything these folks are saying really does ring true. The game was absolutely slower, but in a good way. I wasn't on edge trying to score a million points, instead I was focused solely on making specific shots. And something about the entire feel of the gameplay was softer (also in a good way). Something about playing it just felt good, and made me want one in my living room as a relaxation game.

Amazing Spider Man isn't an EM.

Well, I feel like a complete idiot now. I had assumed it was with its lack of modern SS features. I suppose I have more pinball history lessons to brush up on

Let us know when you become PinballMan.com

Hahaha, touché, good sir. Touché.

Thank god I only offer pinball designs, and not knowledge

You sound a lot smarter than those guys that say all EMs are the same. Someday I'd like to play them all too!

I kid, obvz.

I never really sought after EM's until very recently.

I've gone to many shows and some people bring some pretty interesting EM's to show off and I can't help but play them. At the York show, I had a great time playing a ''Surf Champ'', plenty to shoot for and a battle all the way.
To me, they're very interesting from a time long gone.
Once you get an EM going there is no better feeling and it makes you appreciate them and how they sing. The most iconic thing in pinball (imo) is those chimes, dings, donks, pops- the EM sounds, THAT is pinball.

A good EM can be very addicting, it's all about how much you can get away with, because you are fighting for every inch while playing one. I actually feel bad for those that dismiss them or don't get it.

I used to dismiss them, until I actually played one. They are fun and addicting, that's for sure.

Odin's journey is the norm. In my 25+ years in the hobby, I too have traveled that road, ultimately replacing most of my modern games with electromechanical ones. I suspect that there are few enthusiasts who have owned several EMs and who have purged their collections for solid state games exclusively. In fact, I have never known of anyone following that path.

Succinctly stated. . .EMs are for lovers. . .

lovers of challenging gameplay, lovers of accessible rulesets, lovers of Americana, lovers of inspired original artistry, lovers of clangs, dongs and chimes. . .lovers of mechanical ingenuity, clicking score reels, humming troughs and backbox animation. . .lovers of the ability to fix the game oneself, lovers of games that DON'T NEED A SINGLE MOD, lovers of available cash to buy more EMs because they don't break the bank.

Locate a fellow collector in your town with some EM games which are correctly tuned. You're in Chicago so that's an easy task. Activate your favorite song on your smartphone headphones (I was born in 1959, so I cue up some vinyl on my Marantz turntable). Suspend your reality. Forget about mindless bash toys and LEDs. Spend a few hours there, with a Gottlieb Atlantis, Gottlieb Queen of Hearts or a '72 Bally Fireball or any dialed in EM. Note that you can actually have a conversation while playing a game because EM machines are friendly that way (no needless call-outs). Your new EM friend is likely to be more entertaining than a predictable and repetitive call-out. Funny how human interaction adds to the pinball experience. Then return and do it again with a beer in hand. Report back to us here in this thread when your line-up has transformed into something wonderful.