Most people that buy a pinball machine like it so owners are heavily biased in favor of the game -- I really don't think there's a lot of nefarious review pumping to keep the value of their game up. I have a TNA and my family loves it. I'm still hesitant to rate it because I have little idea how it stacks up to any other machine I haven't owned, maybe I'd like Fish Tales even more -- I don't know. Combine this with the fact that pinball is super subjective and the ratings become fairly useless outside of entertainment value. I admit I still look at how people rate games and I'll often check to see if people still own their "bolted to the floor" game a year later (not usually), but in the end I doubt it helps me at all. Now sometimes the written reviews can be mildly helpful as you might find that their reasons for liking or disliking a game match your own taste. It's better than nothing at least . . . maybe.

Honestly, if you're not a picky person the odds are you'll like most pinball machines in the top 100 whose theme doesn't offend you. Best thing to do is decide what style of game (short vs long ball time, flow versus stop and go,modern, solid state, EM) you want next and then narrow down the list accordingly. Then if you can't play them pick one from that list that has the most compelling theme.