"I focus on progressing the story and modes as far as possible."

...but then...

"Oh look, a flashing light! I'll hit that..."
"Oh look, a flashing light! I'll hit that..."
"Oh look, a flashing light! I'll hit that..."

(or "oh look, a piece of candy!" for all your Family Guy fans out there)

Hard to vote because it depends on my mood and/or time I have to play.

Mostly a story/mode progression guy, but it's hard to resist a detour to set up a big scoring stack. If I'm playing competitively I switch to high score mode, progress be damned.

Yep, many times I just want / have time to play a game or two so I'll just try to get to a mode I really like (BigFoot HotFoot, Man From Beyond, Borg Multiball, etc.), other times I'll set out to get to a mini-wizard mode and other times I'm out to try to get max score no matter what. If I'm playing tourney or league it's all about the score and how I can get to a number that's likely to win me the game.

I really don't fit any of those styles....maybe there is a hidden style. (I ain't saying) it's a secret

In the home:

I wanna see the game, the modes, listen to the music progression. I really don’t focus on score. I want to get through the game.

On location:

Gimme that high score, baby! I wanna memorialize that game with my initials and maximize every quarter I can with replays.

I focus on the modes/high score. When I want a quick game just to "hit the flippers" I go to an EM or older SS (and I agree my Flash Gordon is good for that )

I have two styles:
Drunk
Sober

For me, it really depends on the game.

There are "quest" games (LOTR is the best example) where I am trying to do "things". I'm very seriously trying to progress through the story. Godzilla is like that for me, but it is very well done, so score can really reflect how you are doing.

The other end is classic games. I'm looking for score, but I always try to toss in "doing the thing". So games like Stars, I'm always looking for the 100k off the stars, and then slamming lit spinners. EK, I'm just after the lit spinner all the time. If there is an easy way to get points, I'm looking for it.

It also is based on my mood. Sometimes I just want points, and other times I just want progress. And I have different games that allow for playing them both ways.

I feel like most modern games progression and score are pretty intertwined