STTNG is #1 for me.

STTNG

Termin….I mean AC/DC

I really like Spiderman.

I love my smve, really like sttng as well. Great designer.

Glad to see an update of a thread that was fogged over by ACDC fever...for some fucking reason.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/steve-ritchies-best

I LOVE GOT & SW...but that's really a code thing.
The unmatched opulence of STTNG is hard to pass up really.
SM really hit the sweet spot for Stern in that time period...so much going on.

But I've said it before and I'll say it always; High Speed is pure pinball. It's not even really 'my era' but it's an all-timer

Nothing wrong with a Black Knight playing fast with the volume turned almost all the way up.

firepower was my first pinball love, the first one where i learned the rules and got obsessed with trying to beat it. lol. these days i love getaway, but also ac/dc, star trek, t2 … shoot, they’re all pretty good!

i love modern games and one reason i like getaway so much is i think it plays a lot like a modern stern. in fact i would say iron maiden has a lot in common with it. steve is the king and i think elwin and most other modern designers have taken a lot from his playbook.

T2 got me into pinball.
AC/DC brought me back in after 15 years.
I’m dying to buy a High Speed.

Yeah, he was my favorite before I knew these were all designed by the same guy.

Haven't voted yet because I didn't realize he made so many good games, not sure which one to pick.

I picked Firepower because I still enjoy playing it after all these years and what it did for pinball. Star Trek 2013 would be my second choice.

Looking at the list I think there are just a few I haven’t owned. Mostly the newest. It appears I currently have over half his games.

I'm going with BK2k. My BK2K was played and signed by Steve Ritchie. I own the BK2K that was at CAX for years. I want to bring it to the GSPF. We'll see if I can pull it in off. My pinball guy bullet proofed it. If I can bring it I will.

Is that spinner on the left orbit actually coded into the game on your Getaway? I’ve never seen that before. Great looking pin.

NONE of his Atari designs are even listed. The hell kind of poll is this?!?

Can’t list his best if you exclude the most influential pinball company of all time.

Steve Richie would have NEVER become a pinball designer if not for Atari.

Probably because they suck

Hahaha, that was funny

Tough but fair

What? Superman and Space Riders are great machines.
I think they would have been be even better if built as a standard size machine.

-Mike

ST:TNG is my favorite Steve Ritchie pin, but I give Stern Star Trek an edge as far as the playfield design goes. It's FAST! ST:TNG is sitting next to a Rick and Morty, Godzilla Premium, Lord of the Rings, Stars, and Attack From Mars LE in my house and ST:TNG is still my favorite and the last one to go. The layout on it is brilliant, and it is extremely fast for a wiedbody. It has not one, not two, but three ramps. It has awesome toys with two rotating cannons and a space ship that fires the ball back at you. The theme is hit or miss for folks but perfect for me with a Treckie wife. The assets are awesome with the full voice cast. The only things I fault it on are using a weird ship instead of the standard borg cube and less than great playfield art, but typical for the time. The programming and rules on it are awesome, with multiple video modes and some neat modes. you ahve your standard 8 modes to complete to get a wizard mode, but you are rewarded for completing those modes instead of just starting them. The encounters in the netural zone all feel different and are challenging. I love getting to warp 9 and the special modes within it. In short, it is my favorite game. The layout, assets, and programming all come together to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Also, super bonus points on theme integration for getting extra points for interrupting Data in the bonus count.

Stern STLE is his best overall game from design, code, and looks. The thing is a beaut with a killer light show.

Really like High Speed, Getaway, and No Fear.

Both STTNG and STLE are keepers for me. Similar layouts but wide body and standard. STTNG has perfect layout geometry but the right outlane is insane so I use an extender. STLE misses are the left spinner can reject shots if not hit square, and the kickback uses the wrong actuator (round vs triangle) so the timing is never perfect. But otherwise these game are flow fests and super fun.

There may be better games, but firepower, at the time of release was so far ahead of the curve. First multiball, early voice, simple easy to learn ruleset but not so easy to master gameplay.

AC/DC. It was my first NIB, and it will never leave. I absolutely fell in love the first time the ball dropped and stil feel the same.

Thank you!

Though STTNG is my favorite of the group, I have to confess that I like T2 pretty well. I actually bought one as a temporary filler. 2 years later, and I still own in. It is fun and easy to pick up, but it has a LOT of replayability and rules that don't take a 3 hour seminar to explain. The call-outs are some of my favorite in all of pinball, and the theme is a hit with my guests.

BKSOR!!!! Idk what it is about this game, but it just clicks with me. I thought I was alone, but good to know there is at least one other person as well!

Picked Spider-man as his best pin, but it was close between: BK, T2, HS2, STTNG, SM, AC/DC, ST, SW & BKSOR. The rest are “above average”, except for pos known as LZ. Steve Ritchie has the second best curriculum vitae in pinball, trailing only Pat Lawlor.

STTNG is my grail game. Buying it started me on my path to becoming a pinball owner. I will never part with it. I like many of Steves designs and wish I had the room for some of them.

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T2 is my favorite. Starts with a cool skill shot, layout is great with lightning-fast orbits and possibly the best left-right ramp looping in all of pinball (capped off by the exhilarating Payback Time, hitting the ramps smoothly during that mode makes you feel superhuman). Very cool gimmick with the cannon, and a seriously tough super jackpot attached to it. Excellent use of the license, and overall just a great fast, violent, difficult game. Even the video mode is fun.

I always loved Black Knight and BK2K. BK2K will probably always be my favorite of his pins. I got the chance to play one of his early Williams designs, Stellar Wars. It's actually really fun and a great shooters pin with lots of drop targets and shots to make all over the playfield.

T2, Star Trek and The Getaway are all superb, but LZ is his masterpiece

And the best thing right now is it’s a sleeper. Most of LZ’s critics have either barely played it or seem fixated on the art

Serious question. Why do you think this?

Everybody that comes to my house and plays it can't stop playing it. It's a pretty addictive game. Only Stranger Things has that effect on people in my collection. LZ is really a wonderful game, and completely underrated and dismissed by art critics and coil counters.

I get that it’s fun to play but I don’t think you explained why it is Richie’s masterpiece. Is it the layout, the mechs? How is it so much better than his other pins?

I agree with this. I have been in the hobby a long time. I have a pretty good mix of modern sterns and Williams dmd classics. I have also owned or still own a bunch of Steve's games. LZ has really won me over. People that come over gravitate to it over godzilla and JP2. I'm not saying it's better than those but it is comparable in the fun factor. It just has a replayability to it. The long flowing shots feel good. Combining songs with tours trying to reach world tour and mothership is both addictive and straight up fun. I really enjoy the electric magic frenzy. The sounds and light show just make me smile. The game is also easy to understand compared to many modern sterns. I'm glad a found a NIB premium last month. I believe this game will be one of those that's gets respect and will be desired down the road. The tide is starting to turn as I see others are saying the same thing.

Mike

ACDC is my favorite. Looking add LZ to the collection.