Destroy the castle, now do it again, and again, and again,and again, and again,and again,and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and if you get bored of that we can destroy the spaceship, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again, and again , and again, and again and again and again and again, and again, and again, and again, because it's my #1 and #2 list of things I like to do over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... can I please have my votes back? Please.

This is a cool thing to watch. We all have our fav's. I would hate to see TAF knocked out for nostalgia reasons. I am a strong LOTR fan here over Met. I know that is not popular as Met is a great pin but LOTR is a final 4 pin for me until it goes up against Pirates. That is a tough draw.
Thanks for doing this.

LOL tp , what are you trying to say ?

By the way any good places to play pinball in W.B.? We bought a property near there.

Yea my house.

Can a 12 pack get me entry?

An awesome Lord of the Rings done up with tasteful mods is such an epic game. I believe the right mods on this game make it unlike anything else on the market. Loading it up with the LCD DMD, the palantir eye, the ring of fire mod, the new LED orthanc tower and the 3D LED mount doom make it so much more EPIC.

I predict its POTC and MM in the final....be an epic battle....all time classic vs. modern day pin....I wish IJ didn't have to go against AFM in the elite 8....thats a tough choice.

Whenever we run these it's always amazing how well it aligns to the top-100, which people say is completely inaccurate.

I hope they do someday! Fave game of all time. Easy call for me. And MMR is in my house now.

What’s your technique for destroying the castle over and over? I realize it’s repetitive, but it’s such a risky shot that every time I shoot later in the game, I get an adrenaline rush. I still can’t get to the wiz mode, because my castle shots drain too often.

favorite is all subjective....like many have said theres no clear winner....I will say that MMR is just pure pinball bliss with simple rules to understand yet not an easy game to beat....POTC on the other hand has such a great layout, fully loaded with features and mechs, and a million ways to play the game so it never gets stale....its the perfect modern day pinball game

It has CIU modes which are pretty unique.

My technique is not to play it to often, yes I get an adrenaline rush when I destroy the castle, but do I always wanna roll over and do it again? Sure she's sexy but most times I just wanna slip out the back door when done.

The voting on this one does not surprise me at all. I've owned both and JP (Stern) is a MUCH better overall game. It will likely lose in the next round just because it's still too new. Nostalgia will have it lose...but in my opinion, it's a game that deserves to be in the final.

I don’t think so.
JP gets the most votes for each round with MM. I think the final is already programmed.
5 games from 90s decade + LOTR 2003 will probably be in the top 8.

Nostalgia and Recency Bias are both very real. It's the same thing whenever anyone says that JP is their pin getting all the play but they bought it 3 months ago. I like JP but that argument swings both ways.

Hard to be completely objective for sure.
I'm 10 feet away for a MM every week, and I don't think I ve
played in years. That doesnt change the fact ibllayes it 10,000 times when it came out and it was great. So how does that factor in is tough

I agree, though it's next round will be the toughest test for the new shiney....

As it should be....newest, coolest, vs the true #1 for a looong time....MM

is what it is......

wow really? in the final? that game is fun, but it doesn't hold a candle to POTC...I predict it loses to MB (justifiably so)

So did I...just don't think it should.

I get the "new shiny" argument and I'm not saying I'm immune to it...but to that end, ACDC never blew me away...never, and I owned it.

I voted STTNG. Played about 30 games on pirates. Love the game and would love to own it. Something about the flow though. Just didn't work for me totally. Didn't like the rocking ship very much and especially the ramp up to it. STTNG is intense every game because it's so difficult yet rewarding. I've only finished the modes with all of the artifacts and had multiball and made it to warp 9.9 all in one game once in my life. It was like the stars aligned and my life changed forever. No game has ever done that to me. Shadow gets close, but STTNG is simply a better game. It just is. The video mode does suck, but I have a house rule: you must play Riker Poker every time you get Holodeck. Fixed!

"The picard manoeuvre; nicely done."

I agree on AC/DC....my fav band of all time, but the game isn't great ....its fun, but not great ....

Its a great game, and its reputation speaks for itself...its just not in the same league as JJP POTC (INMO)....the elite 8 battle between AFM and IJ should be interesting...thats a real tough one for me

I'm sure your correct....does it deserve to be number 1....probably not, but who knows...all the games in the top 20 are gems...

I was that guy. For anyone who didnt see my original post, if it were last month jjp pirates would have been ranked behind TZ and ahead of LOTR. The pirates CE received a bunch of perfect 10 scores (I assumed it was the owners since the chance of seeing one in the wild is slim.) Doing a quick summary and moving all the games up it would be up against MB this round. (I think, didnt look that close)

The CE is the exact same game with a different trim....for myself I'm a huge fan of the game, but not a big fan of the CE trim although the CE play field and back glass looks great

Ya, I agree with half of what you say

Got to keep telling myself this is for fun....!!!!

Cuz comparing high volume machines to low run machines doesn’t work (TBL).

Cuz comparing a recent release to an older machine just does work (people are in honeymoon phase).

Cuz people tend to vote for machines they own currently. Like justifying to yourself you made the right decision.

Dam it this is for fun...reminder to self!!

Whoa! My LoTR has a glory hole?!?!?

I'm just curious, did you happen to play Pirates in a home setting? Or on location? Because I think that matters quite a bit for this one. I own it and am blown away by it every time I play it. But I saw one on location and the volume was down, and it looked dark for some reason, and I remember thinking that it was a really poor representation of the game. I started realizing how many games I might've judged improperly just simply because I didn't get the immersive experience of a tuned home pin in silence with proper lighting.

I REALLY wanted to like the CE and justify the money. I have a life size Davy Jones sculpture (top left in this pic) that would've looked great by it. But the LE was just as good and I couldn't justify the CE at all.

20200224_191733 (resized).jpg

yea I don't get it...I do like the back glass, topper, and play field....but that didn't justify the cost at the time....I'm pretty happy with my modded out LE, although the topper is crap

following...

Not sure I see the same logic??
POTC is far from a high volume machine? (TBL is a very good game but with code now 5 years still half baked it does not deserve the Great ranking. IMO)
Comparing recent to older machines the Older machines are the ones winning and Typically win cause, well, they are Great!
Voting for machines you Owned can work both ways. Many of the machines I voted Against were Because I owned them and they Sucked! lol

This is all just for fun, and fun to some is for Sure not the same as fun for others. I love certain games others hate. Still fun!

Yup all for 4 fun...

FYI looks like a lot of new machines or recent remakes are getting lot of votes right now. Not surprised.

Just like the basketball tourney it is a draw thing. I would have picked STTNG over MM and AFM. As far as the ownership thing, I just sold my STTNG and still own the other two ( I am trying to keep my best condition B/W games at this point). I think STTNG is one of the greatest of its era. It's got more shots, great rules, a hidden video mode, Borg Multi ball, lots of actor callouts and it is tough. But against Pirates, it is up against maybe the best newer / higher tech machine out there ( I admit I have not played the new JP). Pirates also has all the same great qualities as STTNG but on steroids with the "existing" code alone. Also the Pirates SE ( which is the true limited edition at 150 made ) has the super nice brushed stainless trim and brighter lighting at the flipper areas ( sorry had to get in the SE dig .

So I would not say this is the shiny new penny concept or what the voter has presently at home for all. Some voters will go with what they believe is the true winner face up.

#2-#5 holding a 2-1 margin against stout competition ( #2 is 3-1)...

Ready for next round!!!

On location, you may be right.

I voted 20 minutes after you opened the voting. Bring on the next round

Take your time. We appreciate the time you invested setting it up.

My sentiments exactly...this is fun, and much props...next round will be outstanding ...