Something I’ve noticed for myself, and it’ll be different for everybody, is I need a bit of humor or fun factor/ light heartedness to fully enjoy a pin at home. Location can be different as I can’t always hear what’s going on. The other thing I need because I’m rubbish is a pin that you don’t lose too much progress when you lose a ball. I know a lot of people aren’t keen on TMNT but for me it’s just fun, you don’t lose progress towards the main modes when you drain and you don’t have to complete the modes to qualify for Final Battle, you just have to have played them, it only affects your score and not progress if you fail them. I love the layout of Elvira HoH and many would say it’s better for a new player than TMNT but the fact you lose all progress on the Haunts when you drain actually makes it very hard to progress through modes for a new/ casual player.

I’m also new to pinball so if I improve, no doubt my preferences could change dramatically but for now a fun factor and ease of progression on modes are probably my top criteria so based on that and on getting a bit of variety in layouts

MM- my favourite 2 flipper fan layout
TMNT- my favourite >2 flipper game
DP- my favourite ‘other’ not quite a fan layout