Quoted from PinRetail:If you are used to having a WORKING pinball, and are considering a different machine, well I'd tell anybody this:
Make sure you've got a path to getting your pinball repaired.
Pinballs break. They break a lot. Usually they break in simple ways that are easy to fix. Often they fail in ways that require specialty parts. Rarely, but often enough that you should take notice, they break in ways that require a skilled pinball technician to fix.
Your pinball isn't going to be much fun if it isn't working.
You've got a newly manufactured pinball. People here are suggesting Black Hole/Haunted House, which were considered at the time to be the hardest to reliably repair pinballs in history. Nowadays, with all the ground loops added, and a couple of replacement boards... well, 1981 is when they were made. They are forty-two years old. You may have a considerably different repair profile than your brand new Godzilla.
As far as 'something that plays different than Godzilla', I agree...
Nothing plays like Godzilla. It's a truly different game.
My advice to you is this:
Godzilla, I believe, is a legendary great game. I think that ten years from now it'll still be hovering in the top ten, top twenty of pinside's top 100 list. It's that good.
I tell my customers all the time that when they already have one of the absolute top tier pinballs, and they want something else...
You need to be VERY choosy!
Consider ONLY the absolute top tier pinballs, because you are already starting with a play experience that is about as good as pinball gets.
If you have played a lot of pinball, and no particular machine has made you fall in love, there is wisdom in the crowds. The top 100 pinball list will show you what a crowd of people think is great, particularly if the machine in the top 20 of that list has been around for a number of years.
You won't go wrong with the top tier, and if you find that Medieval Madness isn't much fun for you, it is overwhelmingly likely that you'll be able to rapidly sell that machine for a bit or a lot more than you paid for it, making it a no-risk experiment.
New Pinballs cost $10,000.
New Pinballs cost $10,000.
New Pinballs cost $10,000.
(Premium Stern, with sales tax in North Carolina, where I'm at.)
Once you get that number digested, it isn't too hard to think seriously about the machines that the Pinside top 100 list considers top tier.
Lesser pinballs will cost less... but you are now accustomed to playing top tier. Trying to convince yourself that you'll have just as much fun with a lesser experience might not be the best decision.
Now, if you fall in love with a machine... DO THAT!!!
I happen to like a Gottlieb game called Rock. Nobody is likely to put that machine in the top 100 (maybe not in the top 200) pinballs of all time lists. But I like it. For me, it's got clean, compelling gameplay that just makes me happy.
So, play some pinballs, find what makes you happy. And if you don't find a specific game that you fall in love with, trust the wisdom of crowds, and buy something top-tier.
Enjoy!
Thank you sir! I definitely am relying on the top 100 list. Some of the newer games I’ve played already . So I know about them. Some of these older games in the top 100 I’m really intrigued by right now because they passed the time test and are highly regarded. Newer games definitely have big appeal because you know the technology end of the hood is new . And I have to admit, stern insider with the insider connect and Wi-Fi is next level awesome. Decisions, decisions..