i was thinking f-14 myself... my first pin when I started my collection addiction!!

Spider-Man

I'm going to respectfully disagree on this one. This is a fantastic pin for beginners. It's relatively easy, with an easy to hit multi-ball, and is mechanically complex enough and user fixable to be a great learning experience for a first time pin buyer. This was my first pin. It's family friendly, and very approachable. Everyone understands the concept of shooting balls in the goal. However, in a single pin house, this machine is not very deep. After putting a couple hundred plays on mine, I could hit the wizard mode more often than not, so it's not really that much of a challenge. There are also very limited modes on this machine. Would I recommend this as a family friendly, approachable machine? Absolutely! Would I recommend this machine to an operator? Yes! Would I recommend this to someone to master pinball for unlimited replay value? No!

With all that said I would absolutely recommend this to someone looking to get a machine for their kids or to eat quarters. However, this is a machine you can outgrow.

Goal!

I'm shocked by all the seemingly random answers. Wcs is too easy for pros. Twd is too hard for beginners. I think the clear cut answer is Metallica. There are clear defined goals that beginners can understand and achieve, yet superb deep rules that are challanging for pros. It's coded perfectly to fit both groups.

I agree as well that WCS is too easy for pro's, I'm not a pro by any stretch and I still think it's one of the easiest games I've ever owned. That being said, I still find it a lot of fun, it offsets all the ass kicking's I take on my GB. To answer you question, out of the games I can speak of (owned) I'd say Congo, has some great shots and call outs and pretty straight forward game plan.

Disagree. When I think expert players I think competitive players. This is one of the best competition games ever made imo.

But maybe we’re thinking of two different groups of players. Not sure.

I could see this as being a great game for competitive play because there is not too much "randomness" in the game. I'll give you that one. I will say that from my personal experience... this is a poor machine for a one pin household as replayability has it's limits on this one... at least it did for me. I had a ton of fun with it though (and got it fixed up largely due to your help!).

I will alter my statement that this is a great game for beginners, and for competition play, but I believe there is limited staying power for a more advanced player (cough cough... don't know how I inserted myself into that group).

Reading through this thread, absolutely have to agree with MM, AFM, LOTR and WCS94.

MM is just all around amazing. The humor, shots, sounds, and castle are immediately fun to a beginner. If set up correctly, also very fun for an advanced player with always some way to try and get big points. AFM has much the same attraction of course.

LOTR I've found is a great attractor to newer or non pinball folks. People seem to be happy even just collecting a few characters or shooting the ring to start a mode. Great sounds too if course and a beautiful game. For the advanced player can get a little 'slow', but that's not to say there's not a crapload of fun rules to sink into.

WCS94 was always a hit with guests. The shots and sounds are very engaging. And, shooting the goal is just fun especially if the player doesn't understand more advanced rules. Multiball rules keep the advanced player coming back.

I'll nominate Comet. I recently fixed one up. I didn't intend to keep it, but my kid and his friends LOVE it, even though I've got it set up to be a total ass kicker. I understand now why a number of people told me it was never leaving their collection of much fancier machines.

I vote for Taxi as well.

Any pin in a one-pin collection will get old.

I bet even the most advanced players will still step up to WCS94 and see if they can beat Germany or post their initials on the high score board. Because they view it as “easy”, ah-hem. That is why WCS94 is a great game for beginner and advanced alike, which is the original question of this thread.

Whirlwind

That's because everyone has different tastes. Some beginners would rather play TWD than WCS because they love the show. I would never call BSD good for beginners but my sister-in-law loved playing it because she likes the horror stuff. Older games are more simple so that is good for beginners but newer games are more attractive with better lighting, sound, and toys. It's truly an art to create a game that people of all skill levels and backgrounds what to play and keep wanting to play.

There is not a catch all machine that everyone is going to love, but in my area, beginners seem to be most attracted to games with interactive "toys". Toys like: the castle in Medieval Madness, ship in Star Trek, t-rex in Jurassic Park, goal in World Cup Soccer, Kenny in South Park, Sparky in Metallica, etc. I think toys also appeal to more advanced players, but it has to have more depth then just a good toy. They tend to care more about how a game shoots and how balanced a game is. Spamming a toy shot over and over is okay for a beginner, but your advanced player will tire of that rather quickly. Of the games I listed most have wide appeal. I feel like the exception is South Park, which is a great earner with beginners, but is rather dull for advanced players.

You should try setting your machines up a bit more difficult. Either that, or enter some competitions so you can win some easy prize money.

I've owned a bunch of the machines mentioned in this thread, and WCS94 is my pick. Even when set up hard, beginning players get a lot of satisfaction out of scoring goals. And the goal is in the exact spot where new players tend to flail into.

Taxi was the first game I had in mind when I said System 11s, with BK2K being the second and Rollergames the third. Not sure how many people here would claim the latter two to be 'beginner-friendly' though.

Not a lot of love for Data Easts either, I'm seeing. I would have thought DE Star Wars or Jurassic Park would have got a nomination. DE Star Wars was my first machine which I kept for several years. Neither are super-deep, but both have appealing toys and shots for beginners to focus on, and remain good score-attack games for more proficient players IMO.

Fish Tales. Easy to understand but can be very difficult to complete. Beginners like it and pros like it as well.

You know, this may sound like sacrilege but if we're talking about genuine newcomers who have never flipped anything before, it may be the best idea to sit them down with Zen or Farsight first, see what they can cope and are comfortable with, and go on from there in compiling a potential list.

Potc Stern. Easy to sink ship and explain compass rules but difficult to reach the end. Some nice hard and medium tasks.

LotR would be my first thought. Fun for beginners and deep enough for any wizard.

I have Williams Pinball Hall of Fame for the Wii and thats where I learned how pinball really worked before I started obsessing with it and wanting to play machines in real life. It had Gorgar, Black Knight, Firepower, Space Shuttle, Pinbot, Taxi, Whirlwind, and Funhouse on there.

Firepower is great for learning ball control and shooting.

Space Shuttle is SO fun too, easy to get multi ball.

Pinbot and Funhouse... such cool games and concept but a real bear for beginners.

Whirlwind... simple enough, lots of fun, but has some complexity to it that keeps it interesting even for more advanced players.

Taxi far and away was the most addictive of those titles for me. So simple in concept, but just out of consistent reach to get the jackpot every time. Only downside is that actual machines need to have strong flippers, because those ramps are killers when you can't get them all the way around.

There's a fish tales at my local arcade. I absolutely love that game. shooting the alternating boat shot with the music build each time is a real adrenaline rush. and then you do it and the machine rumbles like you caught the monster fish. LOVE IT!

I can't agree on MET for beginners. I think it is confusing as hell. I guess bash sparky all day but it is not obvious what you are supposed to do beyond that.

MM would get my vote.

My experience is that rank beginners are all about the theme. Rules, toys, age of the game, and that sort of thing is all secondary.

from the wide range of pins I have owned, three stand out as big draws for beginners AND attract the pros:

Blackout
Fish Tales
Sorcerer

From ones I don't own, I would agree AFM makes a lot of sense. I also think Whirlwind should be in the conversation

A little surprised that Blackout would be a pro's favourite rather than Firepower; as with the majority of late 1979 - 1980 six-digit games it's not that hard to roll over once you get a good feel for it. The main exceptions I've found are Zaccarias from this period which tend to be naturally lower scoring without necessarily feeling more difficult, so one of these with a nice array of drop targets is worth considering if you can find it. Fire Mountain is a lot of fun.

Total Nuclear Annihilation

I can see some pros totally like Firepower more. However, my experience around new folks, Firepower is too hard, similar to Flash Gordon in that it is super short ball times.

One game that non-pinheads always gravitated to my house was Star Trek LE. The look, custom sound package and the pretty straightforward gameplay I believed helped a lot.

Another vote here for ATM, MM and most certainly TOM.

+1 on a lot of great ideas to satisfy/interest beginners and carry enough to keep more seasoned players coming back, i.e. AFM, MM.
Now that some used pins are on the market for somewhat comparatively competitive pricing vs NIB, I'd suggest Stern SW premium/LE. Almost everyone knows of SW and most folks have a positive response to the theme. It's a tough and fast game though which keeps more experienced players coming back (not to mention the narrow Death star shot to the hyperloop, which is a cool looking and functional component to the premium/LE). Just a thought.

If you're just playing it for fun, I agree.

It's at my local co-op, and all the mediocre/new players are SCARED of it. They don't go near it and choose not to play it, especially during league.

So guess which game I choose during league.

Anyway, to answer the question, easily MM or AFM. For beginners it's easy: Hit the castle/ship, and it's super fun when you can do it. Plus the humor keeps newbies entertained. For experts there is a whole lot more to do.

Any of the JJP pins would be a great choice. They all have fairly long ball times and relatively easy to achieve multiballs (especially Hobbit), and yet they have super deep code that can be appreciated by better players.

my vote would be the following:

MM
AFM
MB
Hobbit
WOZ
LOTR