Unless it's factory topper, no. Because after market toppers often look cheap and are expensive. Plus they are often redundant like you mentioned where they just repeat the game name or the backglass image. They don't add value to me, so my money is better spent elsewhere.

I don't know, I guess I prefer T O P L E S S

If part of original design, produced by manufacturer....yes.

If add-on aftermarket mod....no.

If some toy, model or bobblehead you picked up at Walmart....definitely not.

That's why I said "often" and not "always".

I agree, for the the most part if it's not factory I don't care for it, with the exception of a few like the JP topper from tilt topper looks great and fits in a lower ceiling basement.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-no-toppers-club

Member here. Only original manufacturers toppers acceptable.

Generally I don't do toppers, but a small handful of games have interesting ones available.

I like laseriffic's shadow and junk yard toppers, for example.

https://www.greatamericanpinball.com/product-page/the-shadow-custom-pinball-topper-laseriffic

https://www.greatamericanpinball.com/product-page/junkyard-custom-pinball-topper-laseriffic

This would make a cool stargate topper:

Skip to 3:25. The spinning lights would look better in person than on camera. Although, a prototype version shows up better here:

Skip to 2:10

I enjoy the clean, crisp lines of no toppers.

Also nothing for the cat to mess with.

Aftermarket Toppers used to be the bottom of this hobby...Jesus I miss those days now.

I like a topper that adds to the the gameplay experience. Police Force, f14 and fishtails are a few examples that have been mentioned. There are some factory toppers like whitewater that are pretty basic but very affective in wow factor. I don’t know if AFMRLE topper would be considered aftermarket since the origional AFM didn’t have it, but for me that is one of the best toppers I have seen on a pin! With that being said, I am very excited to see what CGC comes up with for the Monster Bash topper!

Interesting question indeed.

Technically, it comes from the factory for that version of the game.

Technically, a lot of things from the factory these days make games look pretty poor.

No Poll? What is this? 2003?

Some of the factory toppers are actually needed. The Addams Family topper forms the roof of the translite house. Whitewater is named in the topper and not on the translite.

I am not a fan of most aftermarket toppers, but I have added a select three that I do like to my games:

The three-dimensional translucent yellow pyramid to Twilight Zone with flashers and eye wired to the game.
A custom transparent acrylic six skull pile to Scared Stiff wired to the six different color mode inserts.
An LED projector light to Mustang Boss premium that displays COBRA and the coiled snake emblem on the ceiling.

I'm a Pro-Topper guy with an anti-Toper ceiling height in my basement arcade. I have a few games with toppers, Rescue 911 and Tee'd Off, but they're both part of the original game. The gopher on Tee'd Off is so tall that won't even fit down there. Have to keep it in the Garage Cade. I can't think of a single topper that I don't like and can name a few that I love, the Creature looming over the game in Black Lagoon, the interactive AFM remake, the ship in a bottle in Pirates all look amazing. Funny, I never gave toppers much thought but now that we're talking about them I'm realizing how much I like them.

Toppers would block the top row of my record album covers on my walls. Plus they collect dust sitting way up there.

The one game I own right now that includes a factory topper is Twister. And I have the topper unplugged because the fan is annoying.

I was anti-topper before it was cool. Now my ceiling in my basement basically doesn't allow certain toppers anyways (Taxi fits with the topper, but just barely).

I like toppers, Houdini is the only game now without. One is coming soon.

Batman 66 LE and SLE topper is one of the better integrated toppers going. That game loses a lot of luster without the topper, but since it was part of the package from the factory, is it considered an add-on? lol

I personally don't like toppers or setting anything on top of a game. It either looks like clutter or too often, the topper seems redundant to what's already on the translite. However, games like Fish Tales and Doctor Who, with unique toppers like that, add to the game in my humble (and often wrong) opinion.

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Yes to toppers!!! All my machines have them except Big Guns. Backbox is to tall. Iron Maiden comes Thursday with no topper. Waiting to see what comes out for the machine and what Stern does. I think they complete the machine and add a nice look. They can get a bit pricy though.

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Yes to toppers!

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In general I like toppers. If I have the clearance up top a topper goes on (unfortunately only half my game room has clearance or I'd put a topper on all my pins).

That being said I think you have to look to many different topper makers to find the right topper look for the pin. Theres not one goto topper maker that always hits the mark.

Best toppers I have is the walking dead stern topper and IJ slot machine topper with the flickering torches on each side.

Aftermarket toppers on games are all held in the same regard to me as colored gi, powder coated coin doors, lighted leg protectors, and glued on happy meal toys/Christmas ornaments.

Complete shit.

if aesthetics is important to you, then yes. toppers give pins and your mancave a little extra charm. ive also noticed more interest or more willingness to play my pinballs from peeps who normally don’t play if there’s fun toppers like GOTG and Aerosmith. I love the BM66 bat signal. Im hoping the SW R2D2 topper is cool when it comes out!

I agree it all depends on if the topper works and matches the game. I did this one for my high speed. I think it fits extremely well.

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And a short vid of it in action.

I have no toppers. The only game I have a topper to is woz and it doesn't fit to low of ceiling.

Pins that include toppers do fit like pinbot and whirlwind.

I have no toppers, my cat likes to lay on top of the backboxs. I don't want to be mean to her.