World cup soccer would be a good one.

What age range are you talking about, and if specific kids what are their interests?

Most all kids love dinosaurs - Jurassic Park
Are they Mario fans - Super Mario Bros.
Simple rule sets - early 90's Bally/Williams of your choosing

Shrek. My son loves it.

I agree with @mr_tantrum, ages and interests. Also, what is the budget?

Plenty of "family friendly" themes, and plenty of neutral themes as well. I also agree Jurassic Park is a good choice if the budget allows, but a nice 80's SS like Pinbot or Black Knight make a great introduction pin as they are simple enough to understand but complicated enough to be fun. Space Shuttle is another good choice.

Data East Star Wars or Monster Bash. Both simple and fun.

Another vote for World Cup Soccer. That one always comes up in these discussions and for good reason.

I'd consider a Comet. Family friendly theme, not a deep rule set, ramps, which are fun. Way underpriced still,(in my opinion), especially given how everything is going up so fast. I got my Comet when my eldest son was 1. My kids are now 24,23,20 and 18 and they still love Comet. I realize that may be because they grew up on it but a lot of their friends will walk past everything else to play Comet!

I have a 3 year old I swore would like JP. Nope. He only likes Chexx Hockey (as do I!)

Flintstones

Make it 3 votes
Easy to understand and kids love when they score a Gooooooooool

My 11 yo loves Willy Wonka

Data East rocky and Bullwinkle
Get the Color DmD

I have four kids and most of their friends skipped my Funhouse, Addams, and Whirlwind. My king of diamonds was the most popular.

Monster Bash and Medieval Madness are my 7 yr old’s favorites. Blowing up the castle is his and his friends favorite thing.

Our twins now 5, absolutely love playing Transformers since they were 3. Before I sold, they also really enjoyed Sega Harley Davidson and Lost in Space. Nightmare on Elm Street they enjoy, it’s kind of a spooky fun for them.

Depending on age, kids love the lights and sounds period, it mostly doesn’t matter the title. Our teenager loves pinball in general, so just about any game. Although, she gets aggravated when I keep topping her high score....

World Cup soccer 94

My daughters (8 and 3) love World Cup Soccer. They also enjoy playing Monster Bash and Junk Yard quite a bit. None of the other games in my garage (CV, Shadow, PZ, Funhouse) get much love from them.

My girls' favorites are hot wheels, party zone, space shuttle, Godzilla, ghostbusters, and Jurassic park

I’ve got a lot of young kids in my family. Top 4 favorites:

-Super Mario Bros
-Jacks Open (shockingly)
-Lights Camera Action
-Attack from Mars

The Gottlieb flippers really lend well to them being able to actually control the ball. They love it. None of them actually know what’s going on gameplay wise but they like each one for a different reason:

-Mario because it’s Mario.
-I genuinely don’t know why they like Jacks Open. I thought it was for the chimes, but they don’t gravitate towards any of my other EMs. I’m thinking it’s because the drops are easy to hit.
-Lights Camera Action exclusively for the gun fight and watching the playfield spin around. Literally nothing else.
-Attack from Mars because they like “killing” the mothership.

Also, I’ve found they definitely prefer games with the button launcher. It’s just easier for them to launch the ball into play than it is to grasp and pull back on a plunger.

EM: Any drop target game. I would recommend El Dorado
Early Solid State: Black Knight
The above games are easy to explain to a young child.
80s A/N: Pinbot
90s DMD: World Cup Soccer 94: Broadest appeal agewise. Little kids can always just score goals.
90s DMD with budget: My little one plays Attack from Mars the Most
90s DMD for older kid, Data East Jurassic Park... kids love watching the dinosaur eat the ball.
Modern: Not much for little kids, but Stern Jurassic Park, Mandolorian, or Star Wars for theme.

Remember that little kids have a tablet in their hands from a young age and they are more interested in the tactile feel/experience of the game.

If I had to give a single recommendation it would be World Cup Soccer.

It's easy. There are lots of toys. If you don't understand the rules you can just shoot goals. There is a giant puppy dog on the translite for crying out loud.

Source: I have a 5, 8, and 10 year old.

If you can afford it the P3 by multimorphic would likely be a hit. Big screen and some good kids games like rocs and barnyard

Another vote for WCS'94 ! Have had mine for years and it not only draws in and gets the kids interested, but I've found it's the one that non-pinball adults tend to gravitate to since it's so easy to understand. Gooooooaaaaaaalllllllllll !!!

Most kids will get bored with anything after playing for a few months. Just keep rotating when it happens. Keeping it fresh is the best thing if you want them to stay interested.

This. My boys when younger played whatever was new for a little while and then never again. They are now teens and never play. I always say buy what you want to play.

I’ve been thinking long and hard on this, and my top 3 pins for young kids would be:

1. The Walking Dead
2. Rob Zombie
3. The Sopranos

Yeah, I’m slow like that sometimes.

My kids, 9 and 12, and I, 47, have had our Whirlwind since the beginning of March and have put around 1000 games on it. To this day, the kids will turn it on and start playing on their own, as well as join in if I start up a game, and that’s coming up on 8 weeks since we brought it home. The fan topper is fun, as well as the playfield tornadoes, the compass targets are easy to understand, and while my 12yo has a more sophisticated understanding of the rules than my 9yo, they’re both very invested in the bragging rights of who’s hit the toll ramp the most times in a row. There’s just a lot to like.

That said…

Damn! I apparently really need to check out WCS!

My 5 year old son loves T2, despite how difficult it is (robots!)
But just today put up 1.8b on WCS. I’m so proud.

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Shrek, hands down. I have a large collection, that is the game that my five year old and his friends want to play all the time…

My kid's favorite game is JJP GNR. The combination of the lights and sound draw them in and it's a game they can jam away on a bunch of multiballs. They play it 10 to 1 over any of my other games. It's also my 8 year olds favorite band.

Funny, all the kids here liked Aerosmith. Because of 'The Lady' on the backglass.

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When my nieces/nephews come to visit they like The Beatles the most. I don't think they're even fans of the band but they just love that pin for some reason. I think it's all the bright colors and spinning record disc that attracts them to it. Willy Wonka is probably their second favorite and Mando would be third.

They don't really care for the other kid-friendly stuff like TMNT, Avengers IQ, or Jurassic Park home pin.

Ultimately, small kids like simple games they can understand. A game like Target Alpha will be easier for them to understand than Mandalorian, though they may like the relatable theme, flashy lights and nice display more…they will never the learn the rules but can easily learn the rules of Target Alpha.

Pinball machines are so complex today, they are a bit daunting for kids if the kids are not in to pinball. Shrek is pretty strait-forward, many of the SAM games are pretty approachable.

When my boys were young, some liked pinball and some didn’t. I found their tastes were no less unique than mine. My only real pinball player of four sons loved ACDC. He would sing the songs in the bathtub while playing with his toys. Sometimes it’s hard to figure. He’s 15 now and still says he can’t believe I sold it.