To OP, I would definitely put at least one EM in your line up and give it a little time. Don't get bored and bail...your feeling about the game will change if you grab a decent EM. Unfortunately, there are quite a few bad ones out there (sounds, play quality, etc.) Like others have said, do your research first, and play a few to see which you like before buying.

I always try to keep at least one (or two, or three, or four) EM's in my collection. Even when playing my BF, BH, BSD, POTO or other games I've had in the past, I love jumping onto an EM to "take a break." As many other posters have said, the rule set is often simplistic on an EM, but very challenging to accomplish. It's nice sometimes to get 10 points off a pop bumper hit, instead of 10 million.

I would recommend a Gottlieb wedgehead. Even a player's condition game has excellent chimes, and these are amongst the smoothest playing EM's you will ever come across. Even when I'm pounding my DMD and SS games, I'll jump onto my Sure Shot for a quick game or two (or three). The goal - hit all the rollovers to light the rack of billiard balls in the center of the PF. Trust me...on this game, more difficult than it sounds. Mindless fun. I also have a cherry Bally Hokus Pokus, which is excellent to play. Three spinners that you can hit all day, easy rule set, and one of the better Bally EM games (chimes, colors, layout, etc.).

Give an EM a chance. One in your collection is always good for the older crowd or relatives when they come over also. That was what they grew up with, and they often don't want to be bothered with newer games with complicated, deeper rule sets.

That is a nice friggin example of that game...looks fantastic!

I couldn't agree more with ZNET. A lot of Pinsiders bash on EM games, or throw out the either/or argument. Why can't you have both EM and SS/DMD's in your collection? I always have. As I said in my earlier post, and I'm sure odin will back this up...it's great to have a choice in your gameroom. Sometimes I wonder into mine because I only have a few minutes, and that is definitely when I jump on an EM. You can't play a 5 minute game on BF, BSD or many SS or DMD games. Someone else above said it best...if you have a ball last for 2 or 5 minutes, it feels like a major accomplishment. EM games are not VERY forgiving.

My take on why certain pinballers bash EM games, say they are "trash" or not worth anything...because they are dumb asses. They must be impervious to the fact that without Humpty Dumpty (at least moving into the era of the flippers) or any subsequent EM game designed and manufactured, the industry and hobby would have never evolved into the solid state or DMD era. So without EM games, they wouldn't have their exciting line up of blindly-LED'd, boring, generic, similarly-laid out and crappy Stern games like Avengers, Iron Man and Spider-Man.

Not that I totally hate those games, I would buy ONE of them for the right price, as my line-up is always a little diversified. However, I don't need to pay $16k for what is essentially 3 of the exact same DMD game, with the only differences being a different tiny ramp, a different PF toy and different artwork.

I have an IM at my shop, which I play all the time. I have to say...the game gets boring quick, it is built cheaply and just doesn't hold my excitement. On the other hand, I can play several games in a row on my BH, and even backing it up to my Hokus Pokus EM for purposes of this thread, without getting bored at all. I love all games of all eras, so just my thoughts.

Hopefully he is...cab is just a little faded (LOL). I would still snatch that up in a Gorgar heartbeat if I was within 50 miles or so. You don't see that game too often, and the PF and BG actually look like they're in pretty decent shape.