As I dive more and more into this hobby I can see some huge differences in quality and game play between pinball machines over time. I'm not talking about which was best for the business (pinball was almost dead in 2000), but which decade saw the most difference between pinball machines in the beginning of the year vs the end. The 1970s saw the birth of Solid state, the 1980s went from Seawitch to Whirlwind, The 1980s went from Alpha-numeric to DMD to Pinball 2000. The 2000s went from... well, I personally don't see much difference. The 2010s went from Iron Man to Pirates.

Which decade do you think saw the biggest change in pinball machines?

EDIT:

Okay... with the caveat of "after the advent of flippers". Flippers were a game changer you guys are right.

#2 4 years ago

dmarston

Pinside member

11y 59,900 1,547

It was the 1940s, but you didn't offer that as a choice. At the start of the 1940s, each ball-in-play essentially took one run from the top of the playfield to the bottom (or a final resting place in a hole), and the player could only nudge. Skill pinball and gambling pinball had very similar play. Then we got flippers, and players could interact with the ball a lot.
.................David Marston

#3 4 years ago

BWK

Krupps4

Pinside member

Minneapolis, MN

5y 95,050 2,103 2 12

It’s a really tough call but I picked the 70s. The move to solid state opened up a world of possibilities.

#4 4 years ago

ROB

Rdoyle1978

Pinside member

7y 117K 18,144 14 6

Quoted from dmarston:
It was the 1940s, but you didn't offer that as a choice. At the start of the 1940s, each ball-in-play essentially took one run from the top of the playfield to the bottom (or a final resting place in a hole), and the player could only nudge. Skill pinball and gambling pinball had very similar play. Then we got flippers, and players could interact with the ball a lot.
.................David Marston

I gotta agree with this one. Flippers were kind of an important change...

#5 4 years ago

RWH

Pinside member

Norwood, OH

13y 132K 9,927 2 10

1980's would be it for me if we are talking about post flipper pinball, if not then the advent of flippers would be definitive.

#6 4 years ago

KRH

thirdedition

What The Flip

9y 62,300 950 25

Quoted from dmarston:
It was the 1940s, but you didn't offer that as a choice. At the start of the 1940s, each ball-in-play essentially took one run from the top of the playfield to the bottom (or a final resting place in a hole), and the player could only nudge. Skill pinball and gambling pinball had very similar play. Then we got flippers, and players could interact with the ball a lot.
.................David Marston

I agree with you, but to be contrarian I will say the 30's. We went from not having pinball to having pinball .

#7 4 years ago

GTX

gdonovan

Pinside member

7y 185K 13,220 70

80's

While solid state debuted in the late 70's gameplay was not notably different than EM's that proceeded them. Indeed there were several titles that were both EM and SS releases like Night Rider, Charlies Angels, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Evel Knievel. While playing Bally Star Trek I often muse about making an EM powered version of the game.

The 80's brought on widespread use of ramps, subways, more complex objectives, advanced lighting, complex digital stereo sound and voice and alphanumeric displays.

I have Star Trek and Xenon sitting next to each other and the difference between the two is stark, it makes me wonder how much better Star Trek could have been.

#8 4 years ago

MSL

SantaEatsCheese

Pinside+ Pro!

Crofton, MD

5y 209K 9,666 6 85 1

Quoted from dmarston:
It was the 1940s, but you didn't offer that as a choice. At the start of the 1940s, each ball-in-play essentially took one run from the top of the playfield to the bottom (or a final resting place in a hole), and the player could only nudge. Skill pinball and gambling pinball had very similar play. Then we got flippers, and players could interact with the ball a lot.
.................David Marston

100% agree. We will say "since the invention of flippers" to make the question more adequate.

#9 4 years ago

LKD

Luckydogg420

Pinside member

Kitchener, ON

11y 115K 5,862 14

Dmd’s added a new dimension of game play rules. The Lcd is just an evolution of the dmd.

#10 4 years ago

GTX

gdonovan

Pinside member

7y 185K 13,220 70

Quoted from Luckydogg420:
Dmd’s added a new dimension of game play rules. The Lcd is just an evolution of the dmd.

Depends on the title I guess; we have X-Files and I hardly even look at the display during play.

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