This thread needs a poll.

I vote Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (CE) due to theme despite never having played it yet.
I have played Dialed In and it's a great game. I consider it the next in his disaster series of Whirlwind and Earthshaker

You like tough games + you like lawlor + you like widebodies = Willy Wonka.

EDIT: oops, forgot WW isn’t a wide body. It still gets my vote. I’m not keen to either theme but the way Joe coded it made the theme better for pinball (IMO).

Dialed In! It’s one of his best pins. For me his top 3 are
1 and his best pin Banzai Run
2 whirlwind
3 is dialed in
Wonka shoots fine but I don’t think the theme is very well integrated and some of the sounds it makes are annoying.

I love the movie, but Wonka is probably my least favourite theme to ever come out of modern pinball, and I own DI.

I just picked up a Wonka and have a lot of time on Dialed In. Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with either, but, in my opinion, I’d rather have Wonka. Wonka is absolutely gorgeous. It has a solid theme and is a great shooter. I also think it’s misunderstood and you have to shift your mind set to fully appreciate it. It’s not a pin where you work your way through modes with movie clips that tell a story. It’s a scoring pin where you have to complete all kinds of challenges to advance and score well. If that type of pin is to your liking, then you will very much enjoy Wonka.

I had the same predicament.
If you’re sure and truly “love tough games” get wonka, it is the tougher game of the two.

So far my fav Lawlor pin is Whirlwind--I'd go with that one. If you are stuck on a WB look for a nice TZ, probably the best use of the extra space ever.

I will agree with this statement. Wonka is on the tougher side of the spectrum, so take that into consideration.

I’m still blown away every time I start a game at how much was put into TZ. It’s insane. Owned DI and it’s a really fun game and a nice shooter. Wonka did nothing for me but I didn’t really dig too deep into the code. They layout was just ok. Whirlwind is awesome of course and I’m also a big fan of RS. My vote would be TZ but I’m not sure what they’re going for up there. 7500 usd would be the minimum I’d pay for a TZ here because I’d want it to be playing well and we all know how many things can go wrong with them. Edit: Just re-read your question and I answered a question you weren’t asking haha. I’d go Dialed In.

I’d definitely go DI as well. It’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever played, is absolutely packed with cool toys and ramps, the light show is amazing, and it never seems to get old (at least for my kids and I who are very average players at best). I’ve had quite a few pins through our gameroom and if one were ever to be bolted it’d have to be DI. Love the look of WW and have a fair amount of time on it, but something is just missing with it. Theme integration isn’t great IMO if that sort of thing matters to you and neither is the sound/music. Honestly I know you didn’t ask but I’d take a Hobbit over WW any day and it’s a WB although not a Lawlor so doesn’t fit there. Go with DI you won’t be disappointed!

Bought a WW for our rental service because of the theme. My first pinball machine was TZ (still own it after 5 years) and WW has that feel. Its a super smooth shooting game which feels like a Cadillac.