So - I've had GoT Pro setup in my gameroom for about a week now and have put many plays on it. I thought I'd share some thoughts on it since there just aren't many reviews out yet and a lot of people are hungry for more information.
RULES
The game rules are wonderful and diverse with a ton of strategy already baked into the code. Playing each house really makes a difference in your gameplay strategy. Lane and playfield multiplers are AWESOME. The display often shows the current multiplier value for each lane with a series of five "1x" icons at the bottom of the display (not sure how high they go - the most I have seen is 8x)". I won't go through the game rules as they can be found elsewhere. I do love the rules as they are and am looking forward to more callouts and animations, but I don't think there needs to be much more done for the core ruleset. It is very solid for launch code.
LAYOUT
This pin plays fast, for sure. Maybe not quite as fast as IM, but close. Shots are satisfying. Left orbit and left ramp are easiest with the dragon shot being the hardest. The Dragon kicks the ball out at various speeds depending on where the ball is when the solenoid fires - sometime it comes screaming out, sometimes not; it's pretty cool how it varies in speed.
A solid hit on the yellow "gold" standup can lead to quick drains - faster than your eyes can follow sometimes!
Battering ram is a cool shot and I like the dull "thud" that kicks out of the sound system when you land a successful hit. You do have to hit it pretty squarely to actuate the mech up to the door switch, so there is some risk/reward with it. It's an important shot if you plan on turning on the playfield multipliers (which, of course, you want to do).
I am not getting any airballs with the exception of when the drops happen to reset when a ball is on top of them. There really aren't any "clunky" shots or ball hang ups - but there are a lot of ricochets if you don't hit your shots solidly, causing many side drains. Once you get better at making the shots you will experience FAR less outlane drains. Butter smooth gameplay when hitting your shots solid.
SOUND
The SPIKE system has MUCH better sound than the SAM system. The stock speakers sounds much more robust with noticeable separation of stereo sound. I bought one of the those Polk SW10 subwoofers that were recently on sale and it works great for GoT. The music and voice work is fantastic - the Hound did some great callouts that really thunder with a subwoofer attached.
I am a big fan of the series and really enjoy all the voice callouts ripped directly from the show - very reminiscent of the excellent job Stern did with callouts on LOTR.
There are some really good musical scores for each house. Not just instrumentals either - some epic chorus music, too. So far, the main theme song hasn't drove me crazy 
LIGHTING
Lighting is just fantastic. The seven RGB LEDs are well utilized during modes and I always know what to shoot for, even when fighting for multiple houses at the same time (the DMD is split in half when fighting for two houses simultaneously, making it very clear how close you are to completing each mode). The RGB LED in the action button is great, too - it is lit the same color as your selected house so you don't forget during gameplay (so, in fact, there are eight RGB LEDs on the pro - not seven).
The insane epileptic flash-bomb sequences ARE over the top, but I dig them. It makes you REALLY want to hit the hurry-ups as fast as you can to shut them off. Obviously some will hate this and some will love it - but I bet this is the direction Stern will be going in the future. Regardless of how a players feels about it, it's really something to behold and gives you the feeling of "hey, that's awesome that these lighting effects are included in the lowly "pro" model
BUGS
Very, very fews bugs in the current code.
The only noticable annoying bug I encountered was during the "mystery" sequence; I purchased "Start Targaryen" at the store. Since the ball was already cued behind the up-post under the dragon, the software was confused (I guess). After I waited about two minutes; a ball search never initiated. I had to pull the glass, stick my finger in the dragon shot and bump the ball upwards towards the switch to register a hit, then the post released and gameplay continued. Odd, though, I wonder if a ball search sequence hasn't been programmed yet?
Zero resets since I installed 1.15 - I had one reset with 1.10.
PRO vs.LE
I would have loved to buy a premium or LE, but I only had enough budget for the Pro. I am not at all dissapointed in that decision (until the hot reviews come out for the LE - my family and I all love it. I really expected the playfield to be kind of bare looking based on the early renders Stern released - but it is not.
I bet the Castle and lighting on the LE will be amazing. The right ramp on the pro is probably the least utilized shot - so I doubt the addition of the Castle upper playfield will slow the speed of GoT LE down too much.
Those worried that too much was cut out on the pro should rest easy - this is a really fun pin! Incredible light show, sound and rules right out of the box. I would say this is my favorite Steve Ritchie pin, at least relative to how I felt about his other titles during their "honeymoon" period.
-PC
Christchurch
Kitchener, ON
Des Moines, IA
