Auckland
Hey guys, what you think was Pinball's greatest year??
I think its hard to go past 1993..so many great releases with Indiana Jones, Star Trek,Twilight Zone,Dracula,Whitewater,JudgeDredd.....
(Topic ID: 176)
New Westminster, BC
one would have a very robust pinball collection if it was from 1993.i agree with you on 1993 as well. dont forget creature from the black lagoon was produced then too cant forget tales from the crypt or jurassic park either.
I'm not going to stab at a year but mention an interesting movie I just got done watching. It's called "Tilt - The Battle to save Pinball". My wife found it for me at the library as it has a lot of info about the Pin2000 machine(s). I can't wait for the CRT's to come on Monday so I can install it in this guys Star Wars Episode One and bring home my Revenge from Mars. I'm pretty sure he's going to pick the one with the higher serial number as mine.
Yep for sure! 92-93 were the best years of pinball for production! When the norm was 4-5000 machines produced and you pump out more than 20,000 with AF! That was the peak of pinball as well,but its so hard to pick just a particular year. Everyone is going to have their own opinion of course, and favorite machines. '96 Scared Stiff and TOTEM '97 CV and MM and NGG. For me it would be any system 11 machine from the 80's-90's. 
see, I can't even pick just one year!
North Salt Lake, UT
You forgot Rocky & Bullwinkle in that 1993 list! Tee'd Off was also a good game ("Did anybody actually teach you how to play this game?" and "You look like you need some serious help" were some of the fun quotes), and wasn't High Speed II: The Getaway also from 1993?
Agreed, probably the best recent year of pinball production!
You Cats got it all wrong,
it has to be the greatest event in the history of pinball
the transition Years 1976-to- 1977 the start of solid state & death bell of EMs
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?yr=1976-1977&sortby=date&searchtype=advanced
just look at the numbers off the ipd
Alkmaar
If I really have to choose one year, it would be 1993 just because of those great wide body games.
But I still remember 1991 vividly, though: introduction of the Dot Matrix Display on a T2 in some arcade on holiday. Man, that was such a great experience. Seeing all those dots making up entire movies. Wow!
3 years later
Quoted from dangermouse007:Hey guys, what you think was Pinball's greatest year??
I think its hard to go past 1993..so many great releases with Indiana Jones, Star Trek,Twilight Zone,Dracula,Whitewater,JudgeDredd.....
Don't forget Arnon Milchan, another '93 gem!
Yep.....really old thread. Maybe someone thought 2012 or 2013 will give 1993 a run for its money?
I don't.....1993 still rules.
I've only owned 6 machines so far but four of them ran from 92-94 with two being 93's.
2013 will be. Several new manufacturers should debut their first pins and we will have real choices.
Quoted from robin:But I still remember 1991 vividly, though: introduction of the Dot Matrix Display on a T2 in some arcade on holiday
How come you guys get to go on holiday, and all we get is a holiday?
1993 was the first year I thought of, but for some reason 1972 and 1980 also came to mind.
Yes, I know it was a different time. But 1979 is hard to ignore. Flash, Globetrotters, Kiss, Gorgar, Paragon, Star Trek. Over 90000 units sold among them.
1992. When pinball games started to have a story and ending and made them worth playing. Before that. I never gave a shit about pinball. I appreciate some of the older games now, but if it wasn't for the advancements in software by 91-92, I would have never given it the time of day to get to this point.
1991, 2, 3, 4, etc...
Damn you Street Fighter II!!! (II CE, II Turbo, etc...)
*shakes 'Ryu-style' taped fist in air*
I could have been playing sweet, sweet, NEW DMD pinball the whole time!
Oh well,
At least I got to play Black Knight; all the way through to Whirlwind, when they were brand spanking new.
yea, SF 2 was the shit back then. OMG did I spend a ton of quarters into it. Well at first anyway. Once your good at it, everyone else pays for your games to play against you. 
I love dmds. But, you have to give credit where its due. This list is just Bally alone. Gottlieb had Black Hole plus others in this time frame. Ill take 1981 followed by 1980. The Bally list from 81 still makes a stellar collection 30 + years later.
Paragon, 1979
Harlem Globetrotters On Tour, 1979
Nitro Ground Shaker, 1979
Silverball Mania, 1980
Space Invaders, 1980
Rolling Stones, 1980
Skateball, 1980
Xenon, 1980
Flash Gordon, 1981
Eight Ball Deluxe (8BD, EBD), 1981
Embryon, 1981
Fireball II, 1981
Rapid Fire, 1981
Fathom, 1981
Centaur, 1981
Medusa, 1981
Elektra, 1981
Vector, 1982
Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man, 1982
This year, right now, Tron, Avengers, Xmen, Transformers NIB, Woz will certainly be delivered this year, is predator ready? Stern will probably have Star Trek ready soon, feel free to argue....
Quoted from Astropin:1993 was also the year I got married.
Awesome, that was my sophomore year of High school, good times!
2013 will be. I'm an optimist but think there is some sound logic behind this. Game technology is finally advancing past where it was in the 90's (color changing LEDs, LCD screens, Internet connected play, perhaps some clear LCD play field glass on one of the jpop machines).
Also, 2012 set it up really well with the production of good games by Stern and growth in the market attracting new blood like the predator boys.
Quoted from TigerLaw:2013 will be
And it looks to get better every year after for a while too. Bring in the new!
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