Star Ship Troopers.

It's full of sound, light and fury! Easy to understand, fun to flip mindlessly, but harder to complete.

In my experience; TF. Tell them to choose autobot or decepticon, then shoot for those insignias when they're lit and shoot for orang arrows whenever you see them pop up. Easy to follow rules and they love it when they lock balls in Megatron and always ask; what happens with that ball - I tell them lock 4 and you'll find out. Takes em a bunch of games to finally do it but they about shit themselves when it happens.

Runner up would be FGY - humor, art, layout, and stewie pinball attracts noobs to no end.

ToM

Enjoyable theme, large toy that they can immediately interact with, and magic. It's the first pin everyone plays when they come to my house.

AFM or SS has just about everything you need to get someone new into pinball

Monster Bash

TAF or WCS94

Personally, out of my collection since I haven't played much else, I'd go with NGG. It has humor, is very interactive with the gofers talking to you and you being able to hit them, the fun factor of the slam ramp, and a gorgeous light show.

My sister isn't a pinball player, but when we took her to the local pin shop to see the new WOZ, she was drawn to and played the South Park the most. Easy, big bash toy that is fun to watch, and lots of callout/DMD video interactions.

High Speed or Getaway. The flashing police light on top. Everybody understands running from the cops!

My WCS94 suggestion is right around the $2k range. Tons of novice players gravitate towards that game, but it also has enough skill and rules that an experienced player can enjoy as well.

Super Mario Bros (large blue version)
Recognizable theme, simple ruleset, and a mid-level play strategy for when they get better.

Kind of irrelevant. I hooked my sister into pinball with Pinbot.

It's all just sounds, lights and colours. To a total newcomer, any game with those three things is amazing.

that's because you mentioned...

I think Whirlwind, Doctor Who & Jackbot are great under $2K choices that will hook a player. Whirlwind is getting harder to find at that pricepoint.

waterworld got all the non pin people at my work hooked....and now we all miss it

WCS or FT

WCS94 people seem to like in that price range, its easy enough for the novice but can keep a good player entertained also. BoP, JP, HS2, FH, WW

Other games out of that price, ToM, TAF, AFM, TOTAN

ToM is what did it for my family. When I first brought RS and TZ home, it wasn't until ToM came that the games started to be played by people other than myself.

That's the point though. They don't need to be strategic when playing SMB at all... the Mario theme is more then enough to enjoy the game. Each mode is simple enough to understand, if they choose to do so.
After they play a lot and get a better at ball control, then there is some strategy to learn about what you stack and when you do it.

Not to mention, Super Mario Bros. was *the* game that taught me how to stage flippers. The upper playfield is designed perfectly for this imo.

I vote for Safe Cracker too. The game design really keeps the momentum flowing.

Congo: There are a variety of shots, with easily achieved goals that can be figured out by beginners, cool features with the volcano launching balls and the lower playfield gorilla, balanced scoring, and overall fun. Still priced reasonably for all that is packed into the game.

Pin that costs less than 2k? Does that exist anymore??

I would say Addam's Family, but that's over your budget.

My mother in law LOVES Fishtales and she's not a pinhead. So that's my pick..

I asked a question like this some time ago. A lot of people said Fish Tales at the time. Still have yet to get one. JP is always a crowd pleaser at my house. The dino eating the ball is fun for everyone. For a cheap game, I was surprised how many people like Lethal Weapon.

In a lower to mid-range cost pin, I'd say Comet or Cyclone. They are easy to understand but also have some interesting shots, and the whimsical style appeals to a wide range of people. I love my HS, but it is fast and drains too quickly to hold the interest of some novice players. I have watched that happen again and again in my lineup (just yesterday, in fact).

In a more expensive pin, I'd say WH20 or TOTAN. Both are crowd pleasers that draw and hold attention with only a little explanation about the rules.

DESW also attracts new players who know the theme and love the R2D2 and Death Star toys. It is just hard enough to challenge them but doesn't overwhelm them with a dozen modes they can't understand. There are also good sound bytes from the films.

High Speed did it for me, was cheap ($900.00) and fast. I still use it as my go to pin when the
higher end pins are kicking my butt. Can't wait for CPR to release the new HS playfield

Pinbot is always a good one. Really easy to figure out and a good range of easy and challenging shots. You can have it for under $2,000 too. Heck, there are TONS of DMD games that cost more that I'd walk over to get to a Pinbot.

SP.

Out of my games, WCS or AC/DC. WCS people seem to like. It's simple enough, it has a clear easy objective (shoot the goal) that's quite satisfying. I like that it's simple enough to explain, but even a basic understanding of the rules doesn't rob you of achieving a high score.

On the other end of the spectrum.. AC/DC. While there's some things that are easy to explain (choose a song and shoot what's lit), that doesn't get near a scoring strategy. That game requires a pretty high knowledge of the rules in order to really score well. Still, people love playing it because of the lights/music/feel.

As I didn't grow up with pinball machines, nor did anyone I know I'd say LOTR. All my friends get into to it! I hear there are people out there that hate LOTR the movies, but I haven't met any. Great intro pin IMO.

Joke post?

In my collection, non-players generally settle on AFM or AC/DC if they're just left to check things out for themselves. BoP is a strong one too once they hit that left ramp once or twice. TZ, SM, CFTBL, TAF, Tron, or TSPP seem to just confuse people unless I'm standing there and pointing out how to progress. AC/DC is flashy enough that people stand there and figure it out. AFM is easy to figure out on a basic level, even if they don't know about getting to Total Annihilation or progressing towards Rule the Universe.

Jackbot....great layout, easy to understand rules, nice looking artwork, cool theme (space, robots, and gambling), spiral ramp, pachinko upper playfield, and the visor that locks balls. Jackbot is a sub $2k machine and a total bang for the buck. People love to play mine when they come over

I was turned by SWE1 and RFM (played them when I went to buy an arcade game). When I saw those two I dropped the arcade habit and went full on to pinball.

I think a lot of the reason Waterworld did so well, was that even if you were banging balls around. You could start modes, collect things and get multiballs (even off a plunge). This makes those newbie or non pin players feel like they are doing something. Then for the serious players, the game rules allow it go to deeper and have some serious modes and shots. Congo is a good example as someone stated above, imo a easyish game and fun.

My FT did horrible. It was hard to get MB, modes and drained fast. LWJP did okayish, but it is very mode driven. Trex multiball was a hoot though. Gottlieb's Gladiators was a huge hit as well. Big game, tons of shots, modes and multiball. Seemed sort of easy to get into but hard to master. Checkpoint has been doing okay, but the non pin people are not playing it too much (compared to waterworld, etc)

I'm going to second this. If they have the pinball blood, this game triggers it. People can understand the rules, and who doesn't like being the outlaw.

The games I had that people couldn't be talked into playing were IJ (WMS), FT, and Dr. Dude.

Yeah, the game never made it out of my garage and down into the game room. I kept it for a couple of months, and it finally had to go. When I get a new game, I usually leave it up in the garage for a while before moving it. If it doesn't click, I'll get rid of it. Fish Tales never impressed anybody. IJ actually made it into the game room, but it was always a game people played once and then never went back.

Back to the original question, Jurassic Park is an excellent game to get people to try out.

Ij4
Fun, simple, 8 ball multiball for raider of the lost ark
Not in depth ruleset
Well known theme
And has the theme music

SC and POTC have been the two biggest winners in my collection as far as non pinheads and what they've liked the most

MB. Lots of activity going on to make a beginner feel like they are really making progress. Generally pretty long ball times. Fun theme.

I can't afford an MB so my surprise hit has been DM. Beginners seem to really like the novelty of the handles, the fast ramps aren't too hard to find a flow, and it has fairly accessible multiballs. SM also is a frequent hit.