Can't go wrong with the top 25 pins really. If you have the dough for MMr, do it

I like MM/MMR more than CFTBL. I have them both in my current line-up. CFTBL is a great pin art and theme-wise, and it's a fun player too, but I find it pretty linear in the way I approach it every time I step up to it. The 2 ball multiball in CFTBL is pretty unique and also may not be everyone's cup of tea. I have more fun with MM as a total package. Every shot on the playfield gets hit pretty much an equal amount on your way to Battle For The Kingdom, and there are some fun things in the rules like the Hurry-Ups, Barnyard Multiball, and I do like the Multiball Rules and how you get progressively more balls involved in multiball when you have more madnesses completed when you start the multiball round. The loudness and amount of excitedness also varies in the speech of the King of Payne when he exclaims "Multiball" at the start of the multiball round depending on how many madnesses you completed. If you only complete one or two madnesses you get a farily humdrum "multiball..", but if you complete them all you get him yelling "MULTIBALL!!!!". That's pretty cool attention to detail.

You really should play more machines before deciding, there are so many great ones and your personal preference might be flow vs depth vs theme or vice versa. I agree that you can't really go wrong with the top-25 machines, but if you can only have one it better be to your liking. I have MMR and it's great, but I also love other machines and often find myself playing more AC/DC or LOTR than MMR (varies from week to week)...

Owned both...still own Creature.

MM just gets super boring after not very long. Too many up the middle shots. Watching the castle explode for the thousandth time, etc.

Creature is a timeless classic and is still a challenge after owning mine for almost twenty years.

I prefer CFTBL but since you have already owned it I would go with something different. You can always get another CFTBL down the road if you decide you really miss it.

While I own and love top games like MM, MB, AFM I find I like and play more CFTBL, LOTR, WH20.

MM(r) is fun, but if I had to do it again, I'd put $8k towards 2 or 3 cheaper pins.

I love cftbl and have a nice highly modded one with color dmd, mike d mod, topper and tons more , but I had to sell it due to lack of room and im really really regretting it . Such great theme integration and lots of cool unique shots and features. If set up right its not a easy pin by any means. Ive only gotten super jackpot a handful of times and never with a full multiplier. Plus I believe I sold it way to cheap considering everything on it .

Honestly CFTBL vs MM is no contest. CFTBL is a great game, but MM trounces it in most categories. It's #1 for a reason. (And for a gameplay discussion, there is no point in delineating between remake and original, since they play identically). Flow, sound, music, rules depth, modes, and toys all favor MM.

Having said that, I highly recommend you get out there and play a bunch of pins!! Just because a game is #1, it doesn't mean it will be your favorite! Play Monster Bash, play Metallica, play White Water and Centaur and Funhouse and Wizard of Oz and ACDC and Twilight Zone. The rankings are just an aggregate of thousands of subjective opinions. Form one of your own!

CFTBL is a better game to me. I wouldn't get a MM, because I fear it would become boring. I never get bored of Creech....

If you're in Riverside, it is less than a 4 hour drive to Vegas. Go check out a bunch of machines at the Pinball Hall of Fame

http://www.pinballmuseum.org/

(including many of the top ranked titles), then decide what to get (or a few from which to choose). For the price of a nice CFTBL or a new MMR you should be able to swing most of the top 100.

I love CFTBL, but man you're saying you've only ever owned one game and now that you have the opportunity to buy a game again you want to get that same exact game? I love variety as much as I love CFTBL, get something new.

CFTBL is super fun, but it gets a little boring just starting a 2 ball multiball over and over.

Grab another CFTBL! It is a masterpiece!

In all honesty, all pinball machines get boring after a while. It's like tapping the same ass over and over again. That is why you either have a larger collection so you are not playing the same game or you trade/rotate out what you have regularly.Variety is the spice of life and definitely applies to pinball.

Played MM plenty but never got the appeal. The trolls are cool but that's it. Castle mech is repetitive and the humour was tired after one play through.

Creech on the other hand is the perfect fit of theme vs. pinball, just cool... Also 2 ball multiball for me is the icing on the cake.

I would say play both and go with your gut feeling.

Maybe the rules that make going for castles so valuable are a little repetitive, but damn the castle has to be one of the MOST interesting toys in pinball. It's got a jump shot over a moat into a swinging target for the wall and a jump shot into the drawbridge that turns into a straight shot to bash the gate that turns into a regular shot. It also explodes. It's like the least repetitive interactive toy in pinball.

Oh also there is some elitism to MM lovers, to the tune of "yeah but one day it will click and you'll be hooked". That's also nonsense...

Whatever floats your boat. It's just a mech that stops the ball dead to me, the exploding thing is cool. The trolls are the appeal. I ummed and aahed over buying a MMR and TH for all of 1 minute, for me the popups are the appeal to MM so went for the hobbit as there are x2 of them.

Both awesome games. I am lucky enough to own both MM and CFTBL. Can't go wrong either way. MM will cost you more, but it's an incredible pin.

A CFTBL modded with upgraded speakers and a subwoofer, Jeff's lighted speaker panel and MikeD's video mod just puts so much icing on the cake it would be hard to pass up. Without those mods, I can see going either way.

I've own my Creech since 1992-I've had 6 or 7 MM's since then. Creech has legs, MM doesn't.

There are PLENTY of different ways to score big on that game.

TAF is another great game, no doubt. Personally if it were me I'd lean towards something you haven't had before. If you can't find much pinball near your location, download the Pinball Arcade app -- it has almost every top table available for purchase. Of course a simulation can't totally compare to playing the real thing, but it can give you a very good idea of what a ton of different pins are like.

Also, just to be realistic, a lot will depend on what you can find for sale in your area. If you hold out for the exact game you want in a certain price range, you could be waiting months if not years depending on the title. It's best to form a list of games you're interested in, and keep an eye out for what becomes available.

I think you may be very close to the Museum of Pinball in Banning:

http://www.museumofpinball.org/

You may want to contact them, I don't think it is open all the time but they have events on every so often.

Well I think your username says it all - Rokablly - it must be creature or otherwise you should have named yourself Kingofpain

But seriously, I think you can't go wrong on both. Not to compare... both great machines, I have a Creature, no MM, but I played MM a lot. MM is really different with the toys (castle, trolls, dragon) and multiball modes, Creature is a more nostalgic pinball, just a lot of ramps and shots. No bashtoys, just shots to be made.

If you only have limited place and cash consider this:
MM is a fun machine but pricewise very hard to get for the price a nice Creature goes. In that way I think Creature is a grow diamond. There will be more MM's on the market within time as MMR can still be bought. There will be no more Creatures, some may get a second life and be restored and saved from the trash, but the amount is Creatures is fixed.

You really can't go wrong with any major title as long as you get it for a decent price. It's not so much spending money as just tying up your money - you get it back or more when it comes time to sell. It's a crazy market.
(disclosure - I said the same about the housing market)
That said I'm a big fan of Creech over the long haul

Both great games!!

But MM is played and loved more in my gameroom.

Where it really boils down to, what is YOUR preference?
Different strokes for different folks.

Have all 3 CFTBL > MM > TAF

All great games and all worthy of putting a ColorDMD in them.

Sure, just rub it in, rub it in.

I also have all 3 - CFTBL, MMR, TAF

The difference here is.....I can't pick which one I like best. I don't think I truly have a favorite between them. Some times I'll favor one or another but it comes in waves. I don't think you could go wrong with any of the above.

BUT I would definitely get more play time in. Every time I go to a show, to someone's house, to a museum - I find a machine I never expected to love.

I have all three - MM and AF get played more when people come over. CFTBL is a bit more difficult to play and novice users tend to give up on it. It drains easily. I have PinballMikes upgrade in it so it has some flash appeal.

I personally like MM the best. I haven't found it boring but have only owned it for 10 months. CFTBL second and AF third.
But that's me. YMMV

Agreed. For guests / non pinheads MM is wonderful. This is why it kicked butt on route and became such a highly regarded game. What you have to do in Creech is not obvious. TAF is in the middle.

.

Throwing out another tip-top tier 90s B/W isn't really throwing a curveball. You can say you're deciding between TZ, STTNG, TAF, CFTBL, AFM, MM, MB, IJ, and WH20 and you'd have people saying any one of them was the best game of all time. You can't really go wrong with any of the good games of the era you're looking at, even the ones that aren't considered the "best".

It is not about just getting multiball going...it is about setting it up and then optimizing it. Not at all easy to do.

1) Jack up the jackpot value by lots of bumper hits. I like to do this enough that I first get a good Move Your Car going (a great mode by the way).

2) Start multiball after jackpot value is at a decent value (at least around 75K - 100K).

3) While in multiball get the multiplier maxed by making left ramp shots and lighting CREATURE letters.

4). Find girl.

5). Get jackpot.

6). Hit bumps enough to lite super jackpot.

7.) Get the super jackpot.

This is not easy to do at all for most players. Especially on a Creature that is cleaned and polished and playing fast.

Two ball multiple is a feature not a bug.

It is funny so many people rag on that -- it is what makes the game have great long term value. Loose one ball and you are hosed. You have a chance to earn it back briefly...but if not you have to start it back up again.

You have to get out and play more pins. There is no other way to figure out what pins are the best. MM is fun but it's not #1 on my personal list. Games I think I am going to like and get a lot of hype from others don't always do it for me. Games that don't seem all that great turn out to be fantastic fun once played. Theme is not always important but price is. If a game is expensive, I expect more from it than a cheaper game. I see no reason to get a $8000 pin that is the same amount of fun as a $4000 pin.

This^

I find CFTBL super challenging.

MM not as much. Fairly simple.

Yep very hard to do especially on my freshly refurbished one . Got it the other day with a 3 times super jackpot and it was awesome and only time ive did it