I would take a TOTAN over a TOM anyday. I think the top ten are all valued games but...If TOTAN is losing so bad in the polls then why is it so hard to come across one within a poor mans budget.

TOM is my easy answer to this with TAF after. TOTAN is an amazing pin love it such great work from JPop!

So its official, the poll says LOTR is the best and should be #1!!!! One pin to rule them all

Shhh post has only been up 2 hours people will vote for it to spite us LOTR fans

A true pinsider would vote before reading the comments So its all moot from here on out!

Here, fixed it.
1 MM
2 TZ
3 MB
4 LOTR
5 AFM
6 SM
7 AC/DC Prem/LE
8 Tron LE
9 TAV LE / TAV Hulk LE
10 TOM
11 TAF
12 SS
13 STTNG
14 TOTAN
15 IJ
16 WH2O
17 CV

Whoops! Where does Predator go? And Metallica?

and plays smooth and fast with nice flow.

maybe an updated rom will give it more cred?

tom by far

Fixed it

From a players perspective:
MB and MM very shallow and esy to beat; plus their is only so many times you can watch the castle getting destroyed

TZ TAF then TOM

Funny that I have a TOM yet never play it. Not sure it's top 15 in my collection of 20ish pins. Every time I think about moving it...I just can't do i for some reason...no idea why

MB game is too easy.

tom was just awful for me. worst buy as well. you live and learn. some people do love it. the rest is solid. totan more for beauty. others are great players. think this will eventually change towards the bottom adding tron Le while removing totan. dont have acdc but from the talk, looks like it will replace something in that top ten as well. probably the other j pops game tom.

All of them. Says the guy who can't afford them. LOL
My vote is TOM

We just couldn't get into LOTR, tried....failed (sold it a couple weeks ago) We play the rest regularly.

Don't enjoy AFM at all. Cannot understand the fascination.

MB isn't my fave either.

It was BBB until it was rightfully knocked down

TOTAN was until recently a ~$2500-$3000 game in nice shape. Then it was included in the Pinball Hall of Fame and the initial Pinball Arcade download and demand exploded.

It is a great game for noobs, in that it looks pretty and has some easy to access features (similar to ToM). Since most people out there are "noobs" relative to grizzled obsessed pinheads I can see why demand on this game took off.

That does not make it worth it from my perspective, but I respect JPoP's machines for having that wow factor that can bring people into the hobby. That has been sorely missing from most recent pins.

Because TAF is a great game

TOM is enormously repetitive.

Completely agree. It's not a very good tournament game because everyone just ultimately ends up hitting left orbit a billion times. It's a great player for novices though.

The game is not programmed fully either. TOM's main multiball mode has nothing going on at all. You hit the trunk for a jackpot and then shoot the trunk to rotate the trunk back again. Look at the multiball modes in something like MM. Where you have trolls running, stacked madness modes, ability to hit the castle, and even castle multiball with its changing lanes for jackpots. And the wizard mode on MM has multiple stages and it's in multiball. TOM's multiball modes are uninspired and bland compared to almost all other A-level pins.
TOM's wizard mode? Obviously not finished. Grand Finale is awful when you first reach it.

The game was finished. You have to remember that all game designers are different, as well as those who work for them. We are spoiled that Lyman and Keith go the extra mile in designing their rules, but not everyone was/is like that.

If you look at Popadiuk's other games, they follow a similar mold. WCS for example has a wizard mode that is very basic -- 60 seconds to hit as many balls into the goal! One main multiball that is basically hit ramp, hit goal, rinse repeat. CV, TOTAN and SWE1 all fit this same mold. SWE1 is a slight exception given it's circumstances, but it seemed to be going down a similar path

Alright,

First things first. I am rating older 90's and younger games on this list. If it was up to me... 1972 Bally Fireball would be on this list as well as Fathom and Skateball. Second, I like a game that plays well. I'm not a collector of museum pieces and I like the fact that my cabinets have cigarette burns and someone else's initals carved into them. It gives them character, history and constantly reminds me that these games are made to be PLAYED! Having said that, out of the 9 games listed, 5 are not worthy.

Staying: TZ, AFM, LotR, TAF
Leaving: MM, MB, TOM, TotAN, SM

Of the 5 on the way out, 3 are REALLY good games, but not great ones. MM, MB and SM are all players that for their layout and ruleset are solid, but not the cream of the crop for players. MM, is about bashing the castle, MB is about multiball stacking and SM... well, it can be a long playing chore. Popaduik's best game is WCS '94 by a longshot as his later efforts are beautiful and feature incredible flow, the rulesets are not flushed and complete. Great for the kids who play and the girlfriends who like the pretty pinball games. ToM and TotAN are NOT players and feature repeatable imbalances/ exploits that make them un-worthy of being a top 10 game. This is why you do not see them in serious tourneys because of that quality.

The games that stay are true players that when setup properly WILL challenge you over and over and over and over and keep you coming back for more. You will see these games in tournaments today because they stand the test of time for the discerning pinball competitor.
TZ: Simply the best, hands down. IF you don't get it, I truly feel sorry for you. I really do.
TAF: Multiple strategies and skillful play are a must at all times. A true classic in so many ways.
LotR: The definition of a "pinball journey". The adaptation of this game to the movie series is a testament to Keith Johnson and all the D&D geeks out there who ended up in the pinball industry.
AFM: My desert island game. One day, it will be MINE!

The games that I'd put on the top 10 list that were not noted here are:
TSPP, AC/DC (choose your flavor), The Shadow, ST:TNG, WH20 and Creech. Almost all of these games are from different design teams and each represents the best of what these teams produced.

TSPP: This game never quits giving to players who keep on working it for all it's worth. My favorite non-Lawlor stop and go design. KJ made sure that his nerdly powers were brought to bear on this layout and rulesheet.
AC/DC: The deepest and most complex game that Steve Ritchie ever put his name on. Just like TSPP, this game keeps on giving and is the reason why SM is not on the top 10 list. The theme is brilliantly executed.
The Shadow: Brian Eddy made 3 games. His first 2 were the best. No pop bumpers on this game means that if you are on the lower PF/ramps, you'd better be on point, or this game will make you look silly, right quick!
WH2O: Nordman is one of the most underrated pinball designers out there. How many of you jokers who don't see this as an "A" game have reached vacation jackpot? This game is a brilliant example of "Character in the game".Much respect to bigfoot y'all.
Creech: There is a reason why this game is in the big tourneys. This deck may be the definition of the balance of risk/reward in a pinball design. Every shot is critical and every shot missed can easily be instant death.

Of course this is my opinion, feel free to agree with it or not. But if you don't like this top 10 list, I'd like to hear why. You know... it keeps things interesting and fresh.

TOTAN and TOM. Good games but not keepers for me in the long run.

TOTAN

My vote goes for TOTAN all day. When my seven year old can get wizard mode at least every other game it is way too easy.

One question: If you could turn off getting jewels from make a wish wouldn't the game then be a top ten game?

Why can't someone just write a new rom that gives us that settings option?

Spiderman

I dread playing it, I just feel that is thirty minutes of my life that I will never get back. Much better to spend the time playing something else.

LotR. Played it a bunch but just couldn't get into it. Found it very boring.

getting back into the game. owned a TZ and STTNG years ago. played pin forever. being new here i will tread lightly but if i could rant on one thing its the reviews i see where someone says "i played one game and it was terrible" and then rates it a 2. or the classic "my wife didnt even finish the third ball".....how is one to judge a pin without playing it at least a dozen times. granted that doesnt really give one the ability to judge it but at least its not 2 balls and "this machine sucks" kind of thing. some of these games have such a deep rule set you would think that at least getting thru most of them would be a reasonable way to get an opinion. but hey it just my humble opinion.

This list is like asking who's the ugliest supermodel.

That being said.....MB

There must be a subset of pinball collectors that value the aesthetics over gameplay. That is, assuming your assessments are in line with the rest of the pinside voters.

Wishing the jewels away is a choice you are making.

This is true and we have a house rule that you can't chose a jewel, but still it's lame and anyone who comes over to play it will always select the jewel. A "top ten" game shouldn't be so unbalanced.

I liked owning TOTAN when I did, but it's weird that after you "Rescue the Princess" the game does a sort of reset and your score is still there but if you're like me, you'll never get to resue the princess again so it's like "Why bother playing". I sold it cheap compared to what they go for now and it is a beautiful pin, but it just doesn't maintain its playability for me.

TOM and TOTAN. The terrible GRANDE FINALE on TOM makes it the most overrated of the 2. I own one, but the games never end on it. Beautiful, but lackluster gameplay on both.

Geez....the way this is going TOM & TOTAN should be banished into the 20's!

Not that I would really complain about that. I think HS2 and WCS are better than both of them.

So when I bought IJ one year ago it was at position 6. Guess that shows there is some volatility at the top.. Sounds like the jpop ones, LOTR.. Spider-Man pushed it down

MM is NOT about bashing the castle. There is a whole lot more going on there.

MB IS about stacking multiballs, but so are many, many great games, even several that you mentioned.

I ended up voting TOTAN. I've always viewed it as a top 25 pin, but not a top 10. I don't think it its rules are all that strong, and the wizard mode is decidedly ho-hum. I understand why ToM is also getting its good share of votes. While I see it as a top 10 pin, the wizard mode is really weak, the skill shot is not great, and its multiballs aren't anything special. Still, both are great games, and they're both beautiful.

Honestly, I think it has more to do with the fact that for a LOT of people, the theme is extremely disappointing. JPop's designs are the best from a pure art standpoint, and TOM and TOTAN in particular are absolutely beautiful... the software isn't as great on them, but the fact is they look great and unless you play a lot and are pretty good, you're not going to realize the software isn't so great.

A lot of the top games fall into this. The top money games have amazing rules, great themes, and great looks. It doesn't matter how awesome certain games are to play, if you have a theme like DM, some people don't want your games in the house (and DM has not-so-hot software too, so it's a bad example, but I digress...)

I had to vote for MB as I like it the least of the group (sorry!), but there are only three titles in the top 10 that I really care for at all anyway. Good for my pocketbook, I guess

As it stands right now with the overrated list from most overrated (top) to least (bottom).

TOTAN
TOM
TAF
MM
SM
TZ
MB (tied)
AFM (tied)
LOTR

Though I don't necessarily agree 100% with the results personally, it's certainly an interesting poll and paints LOTR in a pretty good light. If the ranking were all reset today, I wonder what it would look like in a month?

What I'm getting out of all of this is that all of our machines are over-rated.

Aside from your opinion on Fireball (I really dislike this game, especially in competition), you are on point with everything and took the words right out of my mouth.

I think a bunch of Sterns would be in there. The brand loyalty is fierce today.

EDIT: I guess we will kind of get an idea when the March Madness comes out.

What is the quickest way to 100 million on MM? Castle, castle, castle. Yes you can stack multiballs and modes and all sorts of wonderful with MM. Heck, sometimes I play the game just to hear the righteous quotes. But the rest of the game other than the widest shot on the table that is dead center in middle of the PF... is much better balanced and has more refined risk/ reward in the play of the ruleset. The castle is a deadly shot, but you can reap too many points after reflective shot off the guides into the castle, with judicious nudging (if you are lucky) off the rails and gates to get a bit of side to side before you percentage out to a SDTM. 2M + 4M + 6M + 8M + 10M + 1M per hit and finally 20M for the King of Payne. When many tourney games don't go over 20M... this is the best, and only way to play this game for points. Some people would disagree with me, that's ok.

Please refer to the following 3 examples of tourney play with this deck:
http://pinball.org/videos/tournament/papa/2011-divisional-tiebreaker-medieval-madness/
http://pinball.org/videos/tournament/papa/papa-14-qualifying-medieval-madness-jason-werdrick/
http://pinball.org/videos/tournament/papa/papa-14-qualifying-medieval-madness-bowen-kerins/

and in case you didn't get enough of the wisdom of the Bowen:

http://papa.org/blog/games-of-the-week/Medieval%20Madness/

Bear witness to to tutorial and high level tourney play that focused heavily on bashing the gate. Points is points is points... so Gitsum'! To repeat my stance on this deck, I am not saying MM is a crummy game. That center shot honor goes to DE Star Wars with the old S/W (Download and put the awesome new S/W into that box already!!!). What I am saying is that MM IS NOT the cream of the crop as far as playability is concerned. It's a very good game, but not the king of the hill as many would lead others to believe.

Easily monster bash followed by TAF. Monster bash is really easy and really boring after a bit. Game looks cool, sweet callouts, but gets old fast. TAF is simple, boring and I would guess people like it for nostalgia? Never did it for me.

Curious, those that vote TOTAN, why?

You forgot to add "in my opinion". As the top 100 stands now, many people disagree with you.

As for overrated...easily AFM, in my opinion.

Everything you're saying I agree with, including it isn't my #1, but how games play in tournaments is probably not going to be the best way to argue whether a game is good or not.

My brother wasn't pulled into LOTR either. Then one day he sat down for 30min and just played the heck out of it and now loves it. Such a deep and complex game it takes a lot of time to get into it as opposed to "shoot here and here" type games.

A CCC like project would address this issue.

That sounds very reasonWAIT...WHAT?!?

For me, as a competitive (I play the best I can every time I plunge that ball) player. This is my POV with pinball games. Some people collect games of a specific vintage, from specific manufacturers, from specific art/design teams, specific themes. For me the "it" factor is gameplay. Do I appreciate certain artists. I most certainly do. I love Dave Christensen's work. I abhor playing Dolly Parton. Do I like Constantino Mitchell's artwork, nuh-uh... but I feel lucky and grateful everytime I step up to my Solar Fire and make it sing. That is what I politely refer to as "good pussy".

For me there is also a deep appreciation of the draw that a game has to frustrate you enough to make you act the fool and STILL keeps you coming back for more. '72 Bally Fireball is a perfect example. Is it the best tourney game? Nope, too many people get worked by the randomizer. Will it pimp you out of every quarter, nickle and dime in your pocket? If properly set up with the coin door, it certainly will... and I'll love it every second of it.

So there it is. That's my take on what draws me to a pinball game and hopefully will give you jokers a better idea of what I believe is an awesome pinball game.