One of my only keepers. luv the crickets!

YES it is! Should have kept it

and Bally...me too.

"Conquer Olympus!"

No love for Taito Do Brazil?

How about:
Zarza
Fire Action
Cavalerio Negro
Hawkman
Vortex

1) Eightball Deluxe
2) Silverball Mania
3) Seawitch
4) Embryon
5) Firepower

After playing some games I never played before, or haven't played in decades at Arcade Expo 2.0, I have to update my list:

Eight Ball Deluxe
Star Gazer
Solar Fire
Fire Power
Viking

Of the ones I have been able to play

Eight Ball Deluxe
Flash Gordon
Centaur
Fathom
Skateball

Paragon was made in the 70's or it would have made the list.

fathom
Catacomb
Centaur
F2K
Stargazer

1890402_544920468976278_1909440541327172627_o_(resized).jpg

Your Catacomb and Stargazer seen here.....great videos, I must say

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/classic-stern-gopro-series

*early* 80's favorites...

1)Barracora
2)SeaWitch
3)Medusa
4)Asteroid Annie

That's one from each major manufacturer...if I had to choose a 5th, I'd give the nod to Firepower

Mr & Mrs Pac-Man
Joust
Spectrum
Haunted House
Playboy '78

8 Ball Deluxe
Laser Cue
Mata Hari

Can't think of any others right now.

Black Hole
Firepower
Haunted House
Black Knight
Seawitch

Embryon
Centaur
Fathom
Electra
Eight ball deluxe
Flash gordon

Embryon is just incredible, still today.

Centaur, 5 ball multiball, black and white art, awesome speech and background music

Fathom, love the way you make multiball, awesome speech

Electra is so blue and sexy, incredible deep ruleset, too high scoreing under playfield though

EBD background music is just so missplaces for its theme, but gameplay is awesome

Flash gordon is filled with dropdown targets, and droptargets is awesome, so whats not to love? Sometimes its a too fast game

Sorry, top 6.

Ohhhh embryon, omg.....
Background sounds
Speech
Spinner sound, totally thumbs up
Widebody
Theme
Layout
SHOTS!!!
Blue, so much blue blue, nice with LEDs
Artwork
Multiball, not easy to get but rewarding
Backglass
The list goes on and on.

If you can find it, buy it, not many of them in europe

image_(resized).png

Your making me want to put more games on Embryon

You should go for it

To answer the original question: Pick any 5 Ballys from the period.

Don't forget the classic stern! there is a lot of gem in there

I'm keeping my eye out for it.

That's where I'm at...but watching these Stern's from the era also shows other contenders. I can't justify putting them on my list, since I haven't played any...just Meteor from that era.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/classic-stern-gopro-series

Here only to say Blackout. Everything about it.

The only early-SS I prefer is EBD.

As most will agree 5 is not quite enough for this era.
My picks are below
Centaur
Fathom
Seawitch
Spirit
Black Knight

NB: I imported a Centaur having never played one and did this by reading reviews - I wasn't wrong and love this game now.
I have never played a Spirit but actually own one in Europe - I hope it is as good as it looks once I get it back home.

Cyclopes just kills.

For me:

Solar Fire
Nine Ball
Flash Gordon
Warlok
Cyclopes

Other true players:
EBD
Centaur
Laser Cue
Defender
Barracora
Frontier
Jungle Lord
Black Knight
Skateball
Andromeda
Big Game

I know I am missing lots of titles...

Wait ...what?

I was really young back then. But I have fond memories of
Gorgar
Comet
Space shuttle
F14 tomcat

Looking back. Was there an objective to gorgar and comet?other than hit the ball and score
points

Even in the 90s. I was clueless on strategy. Even games like TAF,STTNG,IJ etc. I would just hit the ball. For points. It's only until I bought ST and watched vids on how deep pins are.

EBD got plenty of love in this thread... had to rep Blackout.

Edit: see posts 178 and 180 below.

May I recommend you watching tutorials....lots of good ones out there. Much more fun playing games when you know what the goals are.

http://pinballvideos.com/

Let's get serious here.

This is the top early 80s pin:

291012401_(resized).jpg

1 Black Knight
2 Gorgar
3 Eight Ball Deluxe
4 Xenon
5 Lost World
6 Silverball Mania

These are my top 6 from playing them in the arcades in the 80's Had to include SBM in there.

How about

1. EBD (1981)
2. EBD (1984)
3. EBDLE

?

Centaur
Pharaoh
Stargazer
Fathom
Embryon

Flash Gordon
Seawitch
Black Hole
Free Fall
Fathom

4. Prototype EBD
5. Prototype EBD LE

I notice there's not much love for 8 Ball Champ.

It's a fun game...wish I had never sold mine years ago.

A short vid of some of my classics I finally pulled out of 10 years of storage.

Yeah, but that one was from '85 and had a 6803 processor...so that would make it "Mid-80s", and IMO there is a distinct difference from "Early 80s" (80,81, 82) to the "Mid 80s". Yeah, picking knits but what can you do?

I love/own Fathom, Centaur, and Paragon.

Would like to own Embryon one day...tough to find in great condition.

Yeah I'll have to agree with ya. I like to lump my classics together as late 70's to early 80's
Bally AS-2518-17 & 35
Stern 100 and 200
Williams system 3 to 7
Gottlieb system 1 & system 80/80a

I hear ya on that. I'd trade my Eight Ball Deluxe CE 1984 for a Eight Ball Deluxe 1981 model any day. Just don't like the head style or the cheapness of the cab.

I love reading threads like this Helps me make a mental note what to look for at PAGG every year.

On my radar now:
1) Skateball
2) Embryon
3) Medusa
4) Iron Maiden
5) Quicksilver

For the record, Blackout should be getting a little more love, but it's hard to crack that Top 5 list.

Wow! You have a lot of nice machines there arcademojo.

I see you're in the "Burg" too.

I know the town well.

I'm more in the Linglestown area outside of the city.
If your ever in the area just PM me and we'll have a beer and play some pins.

can you turn that off in the Original rom?
in the manual I see: switch 6= multiplier control ON=multiplier in memory / OFF=multipliers reset

Seawitch, Solar Fire, Black Hole, Skateball, Farfalla

You can turn off the multipliers, but not the super bonus.

I have the chance to buy a nice Solar Fire.
The game looks very fun...but to hard to play
It looks impossible to drop the whole bank on the upper playfield during multiball.
Is that so?

1.centaur
1.eight ball deluxe
1.fathom
1.flash gordon
5.xenon & medusa

I love Solar Fire, one of my favorite games. Multiball is always extremely hard when you have two levels to play at once, at least for me. But I don't find the difficulty to take away from the fun of the game. I usually try for the upper left orbit for points on the upper playfield during multiball, since it only takes one shot. on the lower playfield, i shoot for the gun, and them branch out from there. but yes, it is possible to complete the upper drop bank in multiball. the upper lock releases first, so you get the first shot at the bank before the other balls release.