Personally I don't know the game well enough to comment on the gameplay, but I have played it and got the 13ball multiball... the flippers aren't strong enough (or at least weren't on the game I had) to move more than about 3 balls at once, so when you get loads landing on the flipper at once, half of them simply drain... the 13 balls rapidly goes to about 6... I'f you're attracted by the 13 ball multiball, but not actually had it when you played it, then you'll probably be dissapointed in how that actually works in the game...

The fact that it's space travel themed, I will own one of these today. Happens to be one of my wife's favorite movies. Is the 13-mball a gimmick, perhaps.. but that doesn't take away from it being a well done pin. I haven't seen one for less than $1800

As pinballslave said, it could have been THAT pin. Any flipper trying to keep 13 balls is going to be tough. I don't know the size of the coil on that (nor can I comment on SEGA pins in general). I do know Data East tend to be slightly weaker. Could you put a bigger coil on it? possibly, I just don't know the logistics.

I would imagine this would be a nightmare to implement because I guess the drivers and the coils would all need boosting... I'm no electronics expert at all... better to say I'm an electronics moron!! so can only guess at the problems you'd encounter... It's certainly funny to see 13 balls all crowding around the flippers as they struggle to move, and if the game is good fun apart from this, then it would be worth getting if the theme is your bag... I'd just not get the game based on the 13 ball multiball...

I'm sure the ratings section here will give some good informative reviews on gameplay...

Add Apollo 13 to the thread title and you'll most likely get more responses. Several here have the Pin.

It's in no way a one trick pony. It's pretty deep. It's got TONS of modes, 2 and 3 ball Multiball modes, a GREAT video mode, and cool toys - the rocket, and the rotating Moon w/ magnet....shaker motor! A hidden divertor behind the loop that sends the ball up to the wireform on certain modes...divertor on the ramp shot for a variety of outcomes and combos. Sure, the 13-ball is the big gimmick, but it doesn't define the game.

Very hard game to master and plays fast, the shots are all tight and there's no room for slop. The 13 ball thing was just a gimmeck to get people to keep playing it when it was on location. Personally I never try to achieve it when I'm playing it, I'd rather try to get trough the various modes. Great game and one of the hardest I think.

John P. Dayhuff
Battle Creek, Mi.
269-979-3836

Fun game with a good theme. 13 ball is a gimmick, the rest of it is fun. The shots are tight and for me that translated to miss them a lot. My youngest loved "Apollo Fir-teen".

I brought mine to the Texas Pin Fest this year and it was always getting played. Much more popular than I expected. If it helps, I sold it there for $1800.00 It was good condition, not a professional restore. It was torn down and shopped/cleaned with a few imperfections etc.

Unique parts for A13 are hard to find. If you buy it, I found a guy that has several plastic sets etc. I enjoyed having it but let it go due to my limited space in the game room.

Happy to chat with you if it will help.

Chris

I am in total agreement with John on this one....

I had a HUO, and it was in NIB shape...

the 13 ball is a total gimmick, but, also could be a nice reward if you have your game difficulty settings on hard or extra hard, you will rarely see 13 ball that way and if you want 13 ball you have to really work for it........Hard settings....this is where the gameplay comes to life...

As John said the shots are super tight, ( all of them are)... if your a flailer, then this game will brick all day long...the ramp shot is at an angle where your wont be hitting it over and over, you have to, catch, line up, and take your shot...

the extra ball/mode start hole is a bitch !..super tight and right off the end of the left flipper..

and BTW set your flipper coil pulse to HARD in settings..this makes the game more bareable during 13 ball, and regular gameplay....

the audio grated on me after a bit and was one of the deciding factors in letting it go, (as well as throwing the cash twords an AC/DC BIB at the time)...although it fits well to the theme overall it just wasnt for me....

The moon magnet is very cool, not overly exciting, but cool none the less, satisfying is probably the word to use here....

the video mode is a ton of fun as well..great dots and just a neat game overall...not to mention on the rareish side as far as production....

it is a players game, with settings on hard..it is gimmicky on default...

I had A13 for about year. Funny game and good modes that are tied nicely to the movie. I liked it a lot and would buy one back if available. Sounds & Music also pretty good and according to movie.

13 ball multiball is funny for novice players, it is very funny to see their reaction when they get that first time, priceless !

Moon & Rocket are also quite nice toys and worked well at least in my machine.

Forgot about video mode, I love lunar lander so that was a nice bonus.

No stacking but pretty deep. 13 ball is a novelty. I have my BLASTOFF letters set to "Extra Hard" which makes that happen so seldom that it doesn't overdo it. & Yes, it beats the shit out of the flippers, but in reality if you're trying to hit the 13 ball jackpot, you do so by shooting the rocket
shot so it actually is advantageous to purposely drain several of those balls to get them out of the
way if you're shooting for score. For those of you that haven't seen it, when 13 ball is activated,
5 balls are auto-fired from the shooter lane, then the post on the upper 8 ball trough drops
and the rest of them all drop into the playfield like-- well it reminds me of Centipede (the
arcade game) lol. The moon magnet is a super cool toy too. The modes don't stack but
they don't always come in the same order and as the mode lights cycle you can use the
ball shooter switch to lock the flashing mode so you do have some control. I think it's a
very cool game. Also, there is a rumored 2nd video mode, I can confirm that it exists but I've never
seen it: only when playing multi-player games, occasionally when you light the mystery,
one of the six random awards shows up as "The Craw.". It's never awarded it to me
yet but it's definitely there.

Not a bad game. I agree with other people that the 13 ball isn't really needed or a goal. It happens and it's kind of neat.

You don't need to set 13ball multiball to extra hard. set it to extra easy so when newbies come by they can get it. then when YOU get it, and it starts to count down, just press the game's ball shooter lever, and 13 ball will abort.

Nope, no sympathy for newbies. They have to earn it too. And when all the BLASTOFF
letters are lit, there is no way to abort it anyway.

I haven't owned one, but I play maybe half a dozen games of Apollo 13 on location every two weeks or so. I really enjoy it. Yeah, the 13 ball thing multiball is kind of a silly gimmick, and if I could control the settings, I would make it harder to get, but even after tons of plays, I still find it thrilling when all those balls come flying down the playfield. It's crazy!

Other than the 13 ball multiball, I think it is a really fun game. I enjoy most of the modes, the shots for the most part are pretty tight and challenging, and I really like the rocket ramp shot. The video mode is the only part of the game that I really don't care for, but I am not a fan of video modes in general. The audio on the game is the weakest part for me. It isn't bad, necessarily, just kind of uninspired.

I would like to own one someday.

Damn, what kind of trough does this thing have? Why have I never seen one for sale. Seems rare.

Apollo 13 has a Nice lOOk-n Apollo 13 .. He almost offered it 4-Trade a Month ago but backed out..

Personally, I kinda dig Apollo 13...and that's not solely because I'm really into the space exploration theme and that sorta stuff (outside of pinball, I enjoy astronomy).

The 13 ball multiball is definitely the most noteworthy feature of the pin, but not the only feature. Lots of the shots wind around the playfield (I like the one that slingshots around the moon...great nod to the movie), lots of stuff to shoot for, and they did a lot of stuff with the dot matrix animations for a theme that doesn't lend itself to stuff like humor (the astronauts throwing up is pretty ridiculous).

PS: Rascal_H. It isn't too far from the truth. Apollo 13 is kinda rare. They pop up from time to time, but they don't really last too long around here. Collectors gobble them up.

There are 5 balls in the main trough and then 8 stored in the upper left of the playfield. They're on a "membrane" sensor (no switches or optos). As you lose them during the multiball, the game launches them up the wireform and a trap door opens and loads them into the upper trough for the next go.

Ah, very cool. Thanks for the info!

Trying to remember but there's also some sort of overflow trough opposite the main trough, right?

I bought one at auction that had a million problems, and I went through and fixed them all. I had to buy a new membrane switch (ouch- Marco) and fix the moon, the driver pcb, and a bunch of nagging problems. I thought it played ok- not great, not bad. The shots just didn't feel that smooth to me. The playfield art is horrid. Really nice sound package and theme/toys though.

Didn't come together as a keeper for me, although I bought it planning to add it to my perm collection. They seem to pop up fairly cheap, actually. I sold mine for $1500 about a year ago. There was another for sale for $1400 when I sold mine. Once the gimmicks wore off, I found myself going months without the desire to ever turn it on.

Yeah, it's not the greatest game in the world...but for me its all about bang for the buck. I got mine at a price that I couldn't say "no" to...so - on that level, I really enjoy it for what it is. To be honest, I haven't really played it much as I just finished fully shopping it out and it's still in my garage. I might drag it into the house and jam on it a bunch this weekend!

still have a bad taste after owning a exfiles not a fan of sega played alot and they all had a cheap feel and game play is horrible

That price didn't age well.