Don't even know how.

I have, but then stopped because it mostly doesn’t matter. I dont care about the ratings, but I do read them if I am unfamiliar with the game and I am potentially in the market for it. Its nice to know if there is an annoying sound or feature. But I can also look up gameplay videos of most games and that tells me most of what I need to know.

I look at them from a business standpoint.

If I think they are fun. They usually go on to do good for me.

LTG : )

Yes, but only if I play it all the time at my favorite location or it's in my house. Don't like the I dropped a buck in it at a loud barcade, so here's my 4.5 rating with "I just couldn't get into it" comment.

Great idea!

No, a game for me is either fun or not
And I hate comparing EMs to SS games from the 80's, to WPC era DMDs, to Stern DMDs, to LCD era

Pinball machines are like women, they all have something beautiful about them

I do rate games but only those I’ve owned
The reason I do it is to help others with what shots they may like or dislike plus must have mods and what to look for when buying rather than just state how great I think it is to boost its rating etc
All my reviews follow the same formula
I have had messages stating they have helped somebody and that is good enough for me

No
Biggest waste of time in the world.

Top 100 is silly, will always change, is based on opinion not fact, and just serves to start arguments among the most opinionated crew on earth, pinheads.

oPINionSIDE

Wouldn't even know where to start. I also don't think that highly of myself to assume anyone is interested in my thoughts on a pinball machine. Play it yourself and find out.

I have not, ever.

I haven't in a long time. Mainly because I haven't put time on any new games in awhile.

There are games I have rated without playing too much and I think that's ok. If I don't like a game as much as the 60 other pins I could be playing than it deserves a lower rating. Plus a lot of the rating system has to do with art and lighting, which don't take a lot of plays to rate.

However, I have made a habit of updating reviews if playing more helped.

I review games from time to time as I think reviews are useful when done thoughtfully. Contrary to the rankings controversy there is good information to be mined from the review comments.

I will not review games that I own concurrently as I do not want to inject bias into the review.

I do, but only for my own amusement. I get angry flags from other members if I crap all over their most treasured toy. Not sure what that angry flag is supposed to do.

I did when I first joined, but after I saw the whiny pinsiders who flagged my honest reviews and actually posted in threads about it, I just decided to delete and will not rate any more machines on this site. Too many adult babies who can’t handle others not liking their precious games around here.

I rate games for myself to see which game I like more than another game.

The entire idea of rating is the rater puts his own opinion in. Pinside can then interpret the data. I think the rating system is pretty good. Best example is Godzilla. Not my favorite but when you go through the owner's thread and people that play the game, they all love it.

<---look for the ratings logo.

I did at one point, but I don't like the pinside review system at all. It reminds me a lot of traditional video game scores, where even a pretty crappy game (in the grand scheme of things) is still going to score at least a 7/10. What are we even doing?

When I eventually realized it was mostly owners of games trying to justify their purchases and/or an attempt to prop up the value of their game I stopped looking at it entirely.

There's extremely few people who have well articulated and thought out opinions that interest me.

Only when i have put a lot of time on them. If I’ve only played a game or two, then no. And if I haven’t actually played them, definitely not. There are a ton of games I played decades ago that I don’t even remember what they were like.

It's nice that some people take it serious and don't want to review until they feel like they really know the game

Too bad that is offset by the avalanche of people who have an agenda with the game, or don't take reviews as seriously.

No.

I think you will find most people rate honestly. Just look through the ratings and you will see. The genuine raters far offset the haters.

Nope, could care less.

Could or couldn't

No, don’t read or write reviews.

This thread inspired me to add another review. Interestingly, my rating was within 0.004 points of the average.

Yes, when I have too many, the one with the lowest rating gets the boot.

Both "could care less" or "couldn't care less" are correct Boop!

On topic: I like the idea of rating games, but I've owned exactly one (playing) game, which I've got over 2000 games on. There's no other game that I have anywhere close to comparable experience with - the closest is the TNA at Lyons Classic Pinball, which my kids and I have poured at least $40 into. I feel like I should have similar in-depth experience on 5-10 different machines before I start rating them as superior or inferior to each other.

People can rate how they want, but really shouldn't be done as a way to force a rank. Review the game individually according to the categories presented. Then they can be compared afterward. Also, just because I like a game better than a game that scores higher according to my scoring, there's no need to adjust, that's ok

One issue is that the machines that I know well enough to give a fully-informed review are usually games that I particularly enjoy playing. I am much less likely to try to review a game that I can barely stand to play. So there is a sort of selection bias going on there.