For Home Use, AAB are great. No thrill in winning a free game that is already free.

i agree Gerry, i finally figured out how to disable the match at the end of game, what is the point if im not paying for it.

Like all other aspects of pinball, 'each to their own'. 2 sides of a coin.
Playing to achieve replays. Or playing to reach a high score.

Now earning an extra ball on a replay pin is kind of cool.
If a poll was added I think it would end up 60 to 40 in favor of Replay. IMHO.

i get knockers whether match is on or not

I like the AAB, esp. at home. I have a GTB Gold Strike (AAB version of EL Dorado [and Target Alpha, Seven Up, Solar City, City of Gold...]). The AAB is like a sudden death mode when you're down to the last ball. If you get that WOW lit, you can rack up a bunch of balls (with a loud knock for each) and 'restart' your game. I had the high score for many years at 817k (have to keep track of the 100k's) until a friend edged me out at 846k--and the game almost ended earlier several times. Unfortunately, there were witnesses present.

An aab adds a cool diversity of play in a lineup.

I agree with^^^^, but think 100% would appreciate the different play in a collection.

i seldom track score actually- but i did the board thing and its kinda fun. new people seem to like it as they beat there scores and progress into the nights play.

i put my vac and wax dates on it-

There are games where replay better than AAB and vice versa, due to specific rules.

I like a mixture of both but AAB certainly have longevity as long as set up just right i.e not too easy.

Bank Shot is a good AAB as it scores all the way to 1 million due to the novelty mode.

Difficulty of getting the add-a-balls is key, if they are too easy to get games get incredibly long and can be boring.

A game like Melody is a good one, the extra balls are tough to get, you won't go forever on it no matter how good you are, but it's that challenge that makes it great.

This needs to go into EM forum!

Melody is super tough to roll - never got close.

My collection is half and half right now. My latest acquisition is a Pop-A-Card. Thanks Egyptrus! I have been playing it exclusively lately. Some AABs are better than others but this one is pretty good. My goal has been to try and roll it and haven't yet. It is currently set up for extra balls at 20K and 40k. After the freebies run out it gets pretty hard. Knocking an entire bank down to light the Wows isn't difficult but cashing in on them is. There is a lot of pressure as you know once that ball drains the bank resets and you lost your chance. As StevenP says that last ball is exhilarating and frustrating.

I had Drop-A-Card too a short time ago. It was a lot of fun too. Cracking a special still feels good to me. DAC and PAC are different enough I could see having both in a collection.

I'm an AAB fan but would never shy away from a good replay game either. Klondike is a nice one because you can have the best of both worlds. Replay, AAB or both at the same time.

Dunno about other games, but Gold Strike has a white square on the backglass to write in the high score. And that box no longer contains my initials.

Melody is an amazing AAB. If you are interested in rolling Melody, lighting the pop bumpers is the key. It took me a few years, but I was able to finally roll it in 2013. That's when I knew it was time to pass Melody to the next owner.

Get those pop bumpers lit and do your best to keep sending the ball back up to them! Of course, getting a few AAB doesn't hurt either.

Good luck!

Marcus