Sopranos

South Park, Party Zone, Playboy (Stern)

All depends on the setup, but here's a few easier ones IMO

Scared Stiff
LOTR (long ball times, easy to see some of the games' finer points, difficult to get to end).
TSPP (same comment as LOTR)
Monster Bash

South Park is easy IMO.

I'll tell you what. My first machine was BSD, and that thing just kicked me in the nuts until it didn't hurt anymore. Having a machine like that at home made me a much better player.

Scared stiff is good fun w easy shots. Monster bash too. These r pricey tho! I think go w mustang!

Congo if it is set up easy.
Monster Bash if you can spare the cash.

+1000

Same story for me, Bsd was my first, shadow my second they literally have made me a better player

Super Mario Bros.

AFM is pretty easy in my opinion

Another vote for South Park, very easy game (but still satisfying, imho).

I have one game- Star Trek The Next Generation. It is BRUTAL, constantly kicks me in the nuts.

I'm not very good either, but STTNG is making me better.

Good luck!

Scared Stiff and LOTR

Stargate

Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle is the easiest pin in my collection, which includes MB... my MB plays very difficult (pitch is set to 8.3 degrees though, with no ball saver).

AFM and MB and SS are all terrific games that are pricey because they are sought after. But then there are people who say they don't like them because they are too easy/not deep enough ruleset. I am starting to wonder if there is a generation gap kind of thing at work here, where guys who used to play video games for hours on end (whether Playstation or X-Box) expect pinball game rules to be so deep as to take hours to complete, whereas others (like me) don't devalue a game if the wizard mode can be achieved without investing an hour or more to play a single game.

Anyway, if you can afford it Scared Stiff is one of the best games ever made and is very enjoyable for novices. Once you get to and complete the stiff-o-meter a few times, you can always set your sights on achieving the more difficult spider wheel multiball.

I had a Fish Tales as my first. It was brutal, but I loved it. Didn't realize just how hard it was until I had a Dredd, a Bad Cats, and a Getaway. It forced me to become a better player. I think getting a difficult machine can actually be fun, in a way.

Police Force is always a favorite even for the novice player, lots of easy shots and good light show

I second Sopranos. Easy to start both main multi-ball modes, and nearly everything stacks so you will be completing a lot of objectives without even knowing it. Then you have the safe that is fun to bash on and rewards you pretty well.

POTC

Congo is a perfect machine for new players. WCS94 is pretty simple, but super fun. Going up in price, TAF is also a fun game for new players. If you can afford it, MB is the best one of all. Stay away from BSD and Shadow. Great games for advanced players only.

The OP made clear that he's looking for a game on the more forgiving side, which The Shadow is not! But I'm a decidedly non-advanced player and have been very happy for the past few months with The Shadow as my first and so-far only pin. So I wouldn't say that The Shadow and BSD are bad for beginners across-the-board, just that you'd want to be aware of what you're getting into (and know that even if you enjoy them and eventually get decent at playing them, they may cause frustration for your kids and/or guests).

Nascar is simple and fun.

LOTR is a deep game and difficult to see to the very end. But it's a great game that you can learn the shots on and see a lot of modes with some practice. (I own AC/DC and can see how it could be discouraging)

1. Get a highly rated pin and close all the outlanes and put the difficulty on easy. They're rated higher for a reason.

2. Watch some papa tutorial videos and pinball 101 and learn the basic flipper skills.

Addams Family!!!

+1. My first pin, and I'm happy about that. It made want to step up to a challenge once I was ready instead of the game making me feel like I wasted my time.

Biased here but My Big Guns would work-
fast, fun, and not deep enough to drown in.
Enough space to practice good flipper skills.

I see this a lot, but MB really isn't an easy game. It may be easy on TPA, but it's nowhere near the same as playing on a real machine. Monsters of Rock is a lot harder to achieve than the Mansion Tour on Addams, for example.

Breakshot.

Question: is the bounce pass in your repertoire? Before I knew how to do that, I hated ACDC.

South Park on my location and Addams are extremely popular with regular non pinball players.

BDK, Transformers, and LOTR

I'm also going to vote LOTR. It can be setup fairly easy. Close the outlanes down a bit, set everything to easy. Maybe even get down more and unsolder the coils in the slings. These will all make the game much easier. Then you can concentrate on how to make a shot. How to hold the ball, decide where you want it to go, and put it there. As you are able to make the ball go where you want it to, work on a few skills like dead flipper bounces. Once you can do that, add the slings back in and try to still control the ball. When you have a game at home you can do crazy stuff like this. And the good part about LOTR is you can continue to make it more difficult as you get better. If you like the theme, it is a fantastic game. And a good one to learn how not to flail.

Surprised no one mentioned TOM.Gorgeous pin with lots of flow,but fairly easy.IMO

Here are 9 easier than the normal pins - for bad players--

No Fear
Term 2 and 3
Monopoly
South Park
High Speed (terrific pin to make anybody better at all pins).

Older:
Bally Kings of Steel
Williams Flash
Stern Meteor

Flip away at these skill creators....and you shall conquer others in no time.

MB, SS, FT, MM, AFM, WH20 are good pins for bad players from the dmd era. If you were to go pre dmd, Id say WW, ES, BOP, Diner.

Play better!

Any game can be made easier. The only ss I play with any frequency is a complete butt kicker, so I find that sugestion amusing. Not wrong but amusing

Fish tales? Seriously? You got the front legs all the way up and the rears all the way down? Sorry.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Data East Star Wars, with the new 20th anniversary code.

It's not difficult with a simple rule set, and it has a lot of fun things on it like the Death Star and R2D2, plus good sounds.

It's definitely the best Star Wars pin, at least until Stern's new one, maybe...

Viper Night Drivin' is VERY forgiving as well. I list it first because no one has mentioned it yet. I'd play one first, though. Its primary appeal for me is as a car-themed game because that's one of my hobbies. Plus I like novelties like its rarity, black lights, and use of glo-balls.

Stargate is a very cool and relatively easy game, although if you really dig into it, it has deep rules and a lot to offer to all levels of players. It is engaging to pinheads and non-pinheads alike, so it is my top choice for you.

Super Mario Bros is a hit with anyone who comes over who wouldn't normally gravitate to pinball. It's worth having in your collection. My 6 y/o son and his friends have declared it the best game in the collection numerous times.

Creature is pretty easy.

Non-pinheads seems to like it best from my pins.

(upside, when you want to score big .... there is more to it so when you are getting better it still will please you)

I would say South Park or stargate

Both Theatre Of Magic and Tales Of The Arabian Nights are quite forgiving.

My TOTAN seems to kick me on a regular basis. It is much harder in person than TPA.

White Water would be another pin that is fairly easy. Great shots. Fun multiball. Bigfoot and Wet Willie. What more could you ask for? It has a great layout, very cool ramps and is very unique.

I have one for sale, but of course that does not help you in London.

Cool topic here. I'm very new to the hobby, but for me it's got to be Theatre of Magic. I believe a beginner will enjoy the game because it's very forgiving and there are a lot of shots besides just shooting the box. I would think vets would come back again and again to this game because of the flow and also to see if they can beat the game. Whoever said this game was nothing but box, box, box was dead wrong.

I very much enjoy Fish Tales, Creature, and No Good Gofers, but from my personal experience, I can really struggle at times with each. With Theatre of Magic, you typically have a decent game.

I just played ten Fish Tales games and only had one score that was worth anything to me.

The good thing about TOM is it tells you which shots to shoot as you play which I seem to like.

I like how they are telling you which shots to hit, and also to hurry up!!!

Must of had regular flipper bats on it.