Have some leads on a Whirlwind (for me) and Police Force (for the wife, who is not much of a pinhead) to start my pin collection. Anything I should know about common to owning and working on System 11 machines, other than they are fun as hell to play?

I think High Speed is ranked too high on this list. While it was innovative, it's not particularly deep relative to other System 11s. Taxi is too low on their list. There's more to do in Taxi than High Speed, and it's flat out more fun to play. It should be at least #2 or #3. No issues with Whirlwind being #1. It's Pinside's top System 11 machine as well. Whirlwind vs. Taxi - While Whirlwind is deeper and has a terrific layout, there's something satisfying playing Taxi. It just makes you feel happy. It's fun!

I know Police Force isn't the most desirable title, with the unlimited millions center ramp and steal high score - I'm looking for one for the wife. If she doesn't end up liking it, I will swap it for a Taxi. Have room for two pins in an unfinished area of the basement, and one will eventually be a Whirlwind when the time comes.

Looking forward to the end result!

I feel Mark Ritchie is underrated. If I were to choose Taxi as my next game to bring home, all my machines would have been designed by Mark - SlugFest, Police Force, and Taxi.

Only played Fire! a couple times when it first came out and remember it for being really different from what I was accustomed to playing at the time. Not many locations seem to have Fire!, heck, I think I saw Millionaire more frequently. Perhaps I need more plays on Fire!, but don’t remember it being very memorable. At least no “just one more game” qualities.

Pinball is one of things where everyone has a different opinion on a particular machine. You almost have to find the machine and play it to see if it suits your style. I mean Bugs Bunny is not well regarded in the rankings, but you'll find people who like it.

Mine too. Waiting to get my hands on one. My grail game. Timing was just never right…when I was in the market during Covid, couldn’t find a machine. Now that I’m trying to save and put some money away after some bigger expenses over the last year or so, they pop up all the time now. Funny how it works…lol.

Same. I like Space Station more than Jokerz. Haven't played too much Grand Lizard, but wasn't blown away by it.

Agreed. I like how Taxi plays more, but Police Force is fun and quirky. While my high scores are from the center ramp and take high score, I'm not good enough to hit the ramp all day, so I do go for other scoring strategies like the Jackpot or spell P-O-L-I-C-E. I wouldn't consider myself a great player (my best in PF is a little over 17mil), so it's kind of my speed for trying to master different shots.

I actually got this machine for my wife since she likes the police/detective kind of shows, but she didn't really get into it other than the flashing lights topper. Probably will eventually swap Police Force for a Taxi, and then add a Whirlwind at some point since I only have room for two machines at the moment.

The first thing that always comes to mind when Pinbot is mentioned is the audio. That bass!