Hate music pins so they're way off the table....Jurassic Park is the best of the bunch in the last 3 years.

EHOH is wicked fun

#1 is Deadpool. I sort of bought it on a whim. I tend to do that. The price was decent, so I wasn’t going to lose too much if I didn’t like it. I’d played it a few times, and just thought it was OK. But then I got it in my house where it was set up right, and I could hear it clearly. BOOM. It has that something special I look for in games... Fun. The shots seem different in a cool way, and the audio package if first rate. It will be in the house for a long time.

I like Avengers IQ. BUT, I’ve only played the Pro so far. My issues with it are that it feels cheaper. Stern has done a few games where the materials they used felt close to the minimal spec they can get away with. Maybe that won’t impact durability of the game. But it makes it feel a bit fragile. Lots of the rules were accessible by discovery. However, the grid really isn’t. And one thing I hate is the shot for placement of the stones. It comes out of Stark tower, and on the copy I was playing, if you didn’t use the upper flipper, the ball was going out without a slap save. So I wasn’t getting to put them where I wanted them.

Batman 66 is growing on me. I had played it on the launch code, and wasn’t impressed. But I was playing it the other night, and it’s different. The minor villains helping out was interesting. So getting better, and I need to learn the newer code more. And I finally want to.

Elvira is one that I’ve only played release code so far. And I didn’t like it. With things returning to normal, I’m hoping to try out the improvements.

Again due to the world, I haven’t seen a Stranger Things in the flesh yet. My concern about that game is that it seemed like “shoot the shot to qualify, then shoot the same thing to collect it”. But I realize it would have to be better than that for anyone to actually like it.

JP was fun, and I enjoyed the shots. But the release code felt a bit repetitious to me. The sounds felt like the same thing over and over. Hopefully better when I get my hands on it again.

BKSOR is fun as well, but felt a little limited and uninspired. The catapult was an interesting twitchy shot, but I kept going after that and lost focus on the rest of the game.

Munsters - Ugh. It fails on so many levels.

Beatles - I like it. But I don’t think I’d like it all that long if I owned it.

LZ, I still haven’t played it yet... but I will soon.

I see two types of machines predominantly for sale right now, modern stern pins and EM’s. The 1991 - 1998 DMD classics seem to stay held onto by their owners vs. the Stern constant passing around.....

I’ve got turtles and aiq, my mate has JP2. For me it’s turtles. I’m a MASSIVE Borg fan! Massive! I liked twd right out of the box with the initial code and knew it was a game I was going to like. I have xmen, iron man, tmntle and just picked up a gotgle to go with my TWDLE. So one might say borg is the designer that gives me that feeling of kinetic satisfaction.

So that said I’ll tell you why tmnt over JP2 and aiq. SPEED TMNT has it in spades! You blink and you’re in trouble. The ball is back at you super fast from all angles. A missed ramp, a target a made ramp this game is just flat out flow! The code is deep and utilises the entire playfield. This is Dwight’s best game hands down and it’s not even close. He’s coded something in front for the newer player, something in the middle for that next level player (team up multiball) and then for the Keith Elwin's of the world cowabunga! The additional bits in the prem/Le are ok. The two way spinning disc is ok, the glider is kinda cool, the turtle van is kind of cool but the extras I’m not too sure on are necessary (I haven’t played a pro so can’t tell you). I love the speed of this game it just hits the sweet spot.

Aiq is a game I enjoy but it’s kind of lacking a soul gem. The elements are there to make it a great game but there’s something missing. The layout is great the extras in the prem/Le package are worth it (again haven’t played a pro) but the raising spinning disc is AWESOME, and so is the captain marvel ramp, the walk-in stacker is ok but problematic, only an ok addition. The code is good and deep but it’s lacking that soul to bind it all together.

JP2 is an interesting layout. I HATE the tower shot! Hate it. I’m not sure I ever get a clean shot to it but it doesn’t feel good even when you hit it. It’s like fking hell I finally hit that shot on the 1000 try I never thought I’d get that. More frustrating than satisfying. The code is linear in terms of the paddocks and they feel similar albeit with different dinosaur movements. The game really shines in the trex modes! They are phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal! I get more frustrated with the shots in this game than anything. Although the game is very forgiving in terms of drains. You miss a shot and you can recover.

I had bksor Le for about 4 months moved it for tmntle and couldn’t be happier. Bksor was fun but became a massive grind. Every monster became the same. Hit the thee VERY dangerous shots up front to get the mode ready, start mode, loop the sky loop adnausium, hit the catapult target to bash monster, repeat until monsters dead oh and bring in a multiball. Fun for a while but eventually got tiresome. Give me a game that forces me to shoot the entire playfield!

I am the same way. JP,EHOH,DP, IMDM all have passed thru, but the classic 1990's dmd plus now the classic late 70's/early 80's SS's are here to stay. That is not saying anything bad about the newer Sterns. I wish I could keep them all. Got to admit, it will get harder to rebuy the Sterns at the present pricing.

I was worried about that too, but now that I have the game I like the way modes are started. And the 12 modes all play really differently, so it doesn’t get monotonous. There’s a lot of strategy too, like avoiding the Demodog start shot if you don’t have a mode started yet.

AIQ is underrated at this time. Just a matter of time before people before people understand the rules and see it’s a sleeper.

I have TMNT(Pro) & AIQ (prem) --> for me Its AIQ over TMNT if that is a question for you. TMNT is fun for a while however, after 1 year I have traded it for a stranger things which i missed and regretted getting rid of. TMNT to me just got boring I didnt want it too get boring it just did. For me its 1. AIQ 2. Stranger Things. 3. JP

Iron Maiden has 100% i have to agree

Ahhh, and you put Aerosmith in twice so it couldn't win...

No BM66? That gets my vote.

I think you just perfectly illustrated why many of us like BK pro better. Every monster plays significantly different from each other.

I just wish Tim would give us catapult MB (light lock on the drops or something, virtual lock on the left saucer, done). The lack of upper pf makes the monster battles 100% more interesting, but without the catapult there is definitely a lack of non-battle things to do. Double edged sword (pun fully intended).

For the OP and original question...if forced to pick right now I'd say JP, but it's a really close race between a handful of titles for me. Stern really is kicking butt lately with some great machines. Do not sleep on Stranger Things...it kind of sounds like that might be the perfect bridge between the '90s games you love and the modern era.

This. It shouldn't even be close.

AIQ. Hands down. Best layout and deepest code ever. It’s pure therapy to play.

That's not surprising. Maiden is an incredible game. The poll will likely come down to Maiden and JP.

Jurassic Park with the modified movie images code is a game changer for the total gameplay along with Cleland code for walking dead. If putting these two machines with the pirated code into the mix I bet opinions would be way different. LOTR and Iron Maiden are legit best stand on their own machines by far.

When Big Buck Hunter has 1 out of 42 votes, I’m not sure the poll means much. LOL.

2 picks each would show a lot.

Probably should have used just LCD games. I know a lot of these were games that were mention, except maybe big buck, but you're missing some good titles.

Almost certainly Iron Maiden, as long as the theme doesn’t ruin it for you.

Elvira is magical.

That sounds past tense-ish. If you really enjoyed it that much, why is your enjoyment of it "in the past"? Seems like I'm throwing a bit of a Yellow Card, here.

And I'm failing to understand why "of the past few years" somehow becomes basically "the last 20 years". I mean, really: some of them actually are basically that old that are listed in the poll.

Personally I enjoy Game of Thrones and Ghostbusters eventually coded into a decent game. I wouldn't pick either over Maiden but some one might. Those were the first ones that I noticed. Also TSPP. Can't have LOTR and not the Simpson's

Elvira for its uniqueness but, Stranger things is very underrated and insanely addicting. I like them both nearly the same for different reason.

Game of Thrones needs added if Xmen is on this list.

Never leaving because it’s a perfect game imo. Endless ways to play and so many awesome moments or big collect opportunities depending on the path you take. So so so good.

I think we're very lucky in this hobby in that almost all the recent machines have been completely amazing (Sterns or otherwise). However some of the newer Sterns particularly the Elwin design/Zombie Yeti art pins have just been off the charts in how they look, play and shoot - truly next level stuff.

I would give Iron Maiden the nod as perhaps the best. It's certainly the one I still go to the most in my collection and I always, always have fun playing it. That said, I really don't understand anyone who can play Deadpool and come away without a huge smile on their face.

Very close between those 2, but IM just edges it I think.

I have a blast every time I play it, so I wasn’t really making fun of it. It was more about it seriously being the best Stern, and it being from 2010 in a poll about “recent years” loosely specified as 3 years.

Maiden

We can only hope Rush is made. A must for me!!

If by the last 3 years you mean anything from Stern built in the 2000's and up, then it would be LOTR followed by RBION. If you really mean the last 3 years, then it would have to be Jurassic Park for me. Love that game, another Keith hit.

2 modern Stern eras:

Multiple-Model Era: Avatar forward (late 2010 to present).
1 - Avengers: Infinity Quest (2020)
2 - Jurassic Park (2019)
3 - Elvira’s House of Horror (2019)
4 - Deadpool (2018)
5 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2020)
6 - Star Trek (2013)
7 - Batman ‘66 (2016)
8 - AC/DC (2012)
9 - Iron Maiden (2018)
10 - All the Rest

Single-Model Era: Iron Man rearward (late 2010 back to 1999).
1 - The Lord of the Rings (2003/09)
2 - Spider-Man (2007)
3 - The Simpsons Pinball Party (2003)
4 - Pirates of the Caribbean (2006)
5 - Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! (2004)
6 - Iron Man (2010)
7 - Family Guy (2007)
8 - Batman: The Dark Knight (2008)
9 - The Sopranos (2005)
10 - All the Rest

Big Buck Hunter and Austin Powers included in the poll list, but no TWD, MET, Mustang, Iron Man, AC/DC, GoT, or TRON (to name a few)?!

I may not be a potential buyer, but definitely looking forward to playing one.

I guess we should consider it fortunate that you didn't think of NBA and 24 then.