Quoted from Otaku:

[Bored and it's late, so let's stir up some discussion.
This originally supposed to be kind of short but I got intrigued, so here's something to kick off the thread. At the end I even edited in the portion comparing art of two completely different games, whoops. All with reason, though...]
Maybe one day I can afford one of these. "Grail" seems to not be a good fit for this game since everybody wants it, but that's basically what it is to me. Honestly, it's probably a lot of people's general grail. It is our Addams Family basically.
I've pictured one in the lineup many times though but my teenage budget never complies. I'm still hoping I'll find a good project one out there someday. It seems like all the Atlantis games out there have been scooped up, placed highly, loved and resold, it would be refreshing to find one for cheap the same un-glorified way you find any other project machine if at all possible, just an old machine sittin' dirty without the popularity or hype surrounding it. Maybe one day.
[... Rambling time, honestly didn't try to make it this long, I promise! ...]
I love being the first one to tend to a project machine in 30+ years especially if it's a desirable one, just "it" having no idea of it's modern worth and being treated like any other machine desirable or not would be for half of it's life wherever it was stored, and finally getting to bring it back up to speed again of how great it still can be with a nice going-through and light restoration. Diamond in the rough sort of thing. Feels so original and natural, like a reality check of how long even these usually-always-shined-up-and-new-looking popular machines have been around, just like the rest of the machines that aren't as up there on the pinball spectrum and have a lot more non-restored examples floating around.
The history and age behind it gets kind of blurred in a way when it's dubbed as the "newest, greatest thing" and everybody wants one and new parts like playfields are coming out but it's already been around for 41 years. I find it rare to see a dirty project Atlantis these days. It's exactly like those classic Mustangs out there. You see them so much looking perfect and in these times you almost get a idea of "recent" before "old", even though they are clearly not recent things, just things that became specifically very relevant again yet still lived a very full past life so many decades ago.
Excuse my rambling, I ramble when I get tired and since I wasn't there when these machines were doing their intended purpose sometimes I have a bit of a time crisis going on on my head and I get a thought and try way too hard to explain it. It's just crazy how relevant this machine is after so much time, basically. Even if the historic/EM desirability of it all went away, it would still be a great game, too. It's one of those games even non-EM people will include in their large DMD collection. Not your typical EM. Not many things can be that old and still so widely popular, preserved, and owned in such a small community compared to things like music and cars! (which were much more produced in the first place) Same goes for El Dorado, it's like the sister game sitting in the exact same situation up there at the top. They are both incredibly sought out and expensive now, but at the same time not even very rare with decent production numbers, expensive solely because they are just really great widely-enjoyed games. Certainly modern trends even outside of the EM community... but still 40 something years old. See how this can be a little mind-boggling?
[Going off on a tangent: I think the late 60's - 70's Gottlieb art style also just jives really well with a lot of the art styles of today and stays pretty "current", similar to that simplistic "metro" style that's in right now, with the bright pastel-y colors. The early 60's games and earlier show their age a LOT more in this regard IMO. Compare something like Gottlieb's Corral from 1961 to Gottlieb's Domino only 7 years later. I find Corral's backglass to be "historically cool" while I actually genuinely like the art from Domino's backglass and feel it could pass today as "retro" and "cool" to anybody, almost reminds me of comic book art (which has also stayed similar), come to think about it. On Google Images I found the typical comic book girl who looks stunningly like the girl on the Domino backglass. Anyways, I'm sure that's all up to personal opinion though, but I'm trying to make a point. It's something about it where you can tell which is clearly older, and not just in pinball. I don't think it was just Roy Parker vs. Art Stenholm either, just really "art of the time" I guess and what period their influences came from. Basically: Which would you rather hang in your living room? Overall, this is just another great reason I think Atlantis stands up so well today and that is why I wrote this bit.]

One day I'll find a good Atlantis project in a barn or warehouse somewhere. I found my Sky Jump (my personal grail, and also generally very desirable) like that and it was as great of an experience as I thought it would be. Something about those high-end popular titles that I've only ever personally played in high-end condition in homes (also gives a false reality that they're always that problem-free, lol) 100% of the time previously coming in really rough and covered in the proof that they were also out there and doing their thing even back then like any old normal game makes for a great, fun restoration and a look back in time. Makes me look at it even prouder than if it was perfect and came that way.
It's just very interesting to me how Gottlieb wedgeheads of that era all basically started in the same place at the same price and decades later the pinball fan community and the games did the rest in regards to desirability, some being duds, some being considered greats and being held very highly, but they were all equal and part of "the norm" long ago.
(Photo credit to Marc)

Quoted from MikeO:

I originally posted this story on RGP about 6 years ago. Seems like a decent time and place to repeat it.
This story is just too small of a world not to share with all of you.
First off, let me state that Gottlieb Atlantis is my desert island EM
game. And I live in the Kansas City area.
So I have my exceptional keeper Gottlieb Atlantis (I’d owned this game for 12 years) up for sale this summer because I found an even nicer example of the game. I’m asking a premium price and it’s been on Mr. Pinball for a couple of months and I get an email from a guy in Boston asking if it’s still available. I respond that it is and give him my phone number.
We get talking and it turns out this will be his first game. I ask why Atlantis and he explains of all the games he played he remembers it the most from the game room at the dorm from when he
was in college.
I respond that is where I got hooked on this game in the dorm game room as well at the University of Michigan.
There’s a short silence and then he asks “Which dorm?” I say South
Quad.
“When were you in the dorm?” I answer Fall of 1974 through Spring of
1977.
“Which floor did you live on?” I answer the top/8th floor.
“Which wing?” I answer the front wing facing the west.
“Which room?” I answer the second from the end.
It turns out I moved out of the dorm in the spring of 1977 and he
moved into the dorm in the fall of 1977. He moved into the same room I moved out of and we both got hooked on the same actual Atlantis game in the dorm game room.
By the way, he did buy my game.

Quoted from gearheaddropping:

Would anyone have any interest in a Wade Krause repro Atlantis playfield? I have one still in the shipping crate (from 2017) I am thinking of selling.