I find it interesting the level of importance that is placed on getting to valinor in LOTR , yes it takes a huge amount of shots and alot of time and is a different type of " fun" ( similar to say learning to play instrument where a lot of non fun practice goes into achieving the final goal) . What used to make LOTR a grind for me was starting every game using "valinor strategy" and not having fun trying to complete the more
challenging modes, ring frenzies ,elf gift mb etc. these days I have a lot of fun playing shorter with little goals in mind( complete witch king - freaking hard!!)

pretend valinor never existed and that completing TABA and DTR were the final goals of LOTR, if that was all that was available it would seem to be at comparable level of " fun" and achievement as completing attack mars and RTU ( non AFM owner but I think LOTR would be easier( more " fun"?)

How often do AFM owners get to RTU?

Every game I play.

Your good ! I've only been there a few times....I'm actually surprised the vote is even close.

I own a LOTR and owned an AFMLE. The AFMLE only lasted a few months as I got bored of it quickly. It is a stunning game visually but just never did anything for me in terms of gameplay. LOTR is without a doubt, the best game I have ever played.

POTC lost to LOTR in my opinion due to a lack of assets and a majority of its modes being rather generic as a result. Pirates only has one set of callouts you ever here and while they are great it's only one and ever one (those provided from Kevin McNally). The chapter modes in Pirates are extremely generic and lack a sense of progression without any unique movie clips / animations being played as shots within the mode are made, same goes with it's multiballs. When you finally do get to a wizard mode there's only 1 set of callouts again and for some reason it's only one ball.

LOTR is the complete opposite with custom callouts provided by two of films actors plus the game having actor audio from all 3 films. The use of licensed assets combined with layering multiple stages within modes helped create one of the best rulesets in pinball. With callouts from multiple actors and custom animations for each mode the atmosphere in LOTR regularly changes whereas with Pirates it always seems to be the same if that makes any sense. Pirates is an amazing pin but I think the lack of licensed assets hurt how fun its modes are and the games overall potential.

Pirates is awesome, but the modes are garbage. I guess all you're doing is collecting the people involved in the mode/scene from the movie, but only because of lack of assets. If they could show more on the screen, they could tie those modes in more with the on screen action, like Hobbit.

Basically exactly what you said. Oh well. Still a great game. And it technically isn't done, so who know what may happen.... but I doubt a complete overhaul of the 100 some modes is gonna happen.

Either you're joking, or you have your game set up way too easy.

Reminds me of a guy I talked to about his Whitewater...
I asked how often he got Vacation Jackpot, and he said "like almost every game".
Turns out he didn't even know what Vacation Jackpot was...he thought I just meant Whitewater multiball.

Totally disagree....I think it lost because very few people have played it, and there are way more passionate LOTR owners on PinSide. Once they actually polish the code it will be a modern day masterpiece.....and for the record I own both these machines.

“We have a Projection” - calling the race for AFM (lol).

Wow votes have spoken and it looks like a decent size victory coming for AFM!

PS - I own neither!!

On the lower end of difficulty, that's for sure.

I'm just screwing around. I haven't had an AFM in a long time. I had a retail store and used to sell them at 3500 reconditioned. Those were always routed and pretty broke in. Definitely a lot easier to complete on that type of game.
I can honestly say I've done more ruling of the universe then finishing wh2o...one of the best starts to a wizard mode. First time I got it was cool as hell.

Back in 2015 I had only been into the hobby for about a year. I was familiar enough with AFM to know most of the rules and What a good score was. Then I was sent this article about Trent and they asked him what his highest score ever was.

“He said his best game was on the machine ‘Attack From Mars’ when he scored more than 300 billion points.”

Good god. Haha

https://www.10tv.com/article/ostrander-pinball-wizard-helping-silver-ball-make-comeback

Great contest... Thanks for doing this.

Agreed!!! and a very, very valid winner...fun stuff

AFM should be crowned easiest pin ever!!

You meant to say sweetest pin ever?!!

Thats funny!

Then what the hell is Monster Bash?

Or Scared Stiff or TOTAN. Plenty of top tier "easy games" from the 90s. Pinball is not just for the ace players out there. I consider myself a slightly below average player and after 2+ years of ownership, I still haven't ruled the universe. Although I voted for LOTR, I think AFM is deserving of the top spot. The truth is that most average players will never beat (or see) the wizard modes on the deeper games. At least not on factory settings.

Try playing mine it will bring you to your knees. Lightning flippers, Outlanes on max difficulty, max steepness, Fat Totan Rubbers on both sides of Left Ramp and hair trigger slings. Any pin can be made harder if it is too easy then set it up better.

If he meant easy to understand the game rules than I agree....I don't even know what easiest game ever means.....that being said this is coming from a guy who ranked space jam a 10.000 so clearly he's nuts

Hey man don't be crapping on MB I still havent mastered that and i have had one for over a year - guess i suck lmao

Honestly, that title has to go to Scared Stiff.

Actually, my Monster Bash is pretty unforgiving. Almost any missed ramp or loop shot is a drain.It's like all the standup targets are positioned to reflect the ball either down the center or to an out-lane. Furthermore, the in-lanes are especially narrow - not sure why.

Agreed. I have bouncy rubbers and hair trigger slings along with maximum steep angle on mine, and it's not very easy. The only game that I didn't have to adjust for difficulty is STTNG. Those drains!!!

That fricking left outlane was a big reason that STTNG didn't last. Great game, but it was just so frustrating seeing it eat any ball that seemed to get close. It was like a Borg tractor beam.

Bigger victory than I expected for AFM. Good game, not my favorite. In fact, I'm probably the only guy on this site that prefers RFM to AFM.

The one with the kickback?!

Yeah but completing the spider spinner is hard.

No, you aren't

Right result.

Out of over 70 games at home, AFM is the only game my wife ever played and actually enjoyed!

Has something for everyone.

Interesting results. 3.1k Pinsiders rated MM over AFM by an average of .02 points. In this poll of active enthusiasts, AFM wins and MM is 3rd. That seems fair.
1DDB1812-4542-494C-905F-81F406EF313B.jpeg

Bigger question is why are there 4 versions of AFM but only 3 versions listed for MM?

Fun poll.

I own neither of these and don't care to.

Now that it’s done, I’d like to see the full game list in order of where they ranked.

There are 3 versions of the AFM Remake (Classic Edition, Special Edition and the Limited Edition) but only 2 versions of the MM Remake (Standard and the Limited Edition).

That said CGC are coming out MM Remake (Classic Edition, Special Edition and the Royal Edition) although there is some overlap but I guess you'd say we'll have 6 versions MM

We will be streaming the first loser of this bracket tonight at 20:00 Belgian time!
The Lord of the Rings will be live at our Bingovit Facebook page which should be available for people without a Facebook too!