I love love love most b/w dmd pins. Most are very unique and have a great charm about them with nice mechanical toys. Its all I wanted the first few years in the hobby . However as i became a better player and understood rulesets they did tend to grow old more quickly than newer pins. Remember 90s pins were made for arcade use and not playing as much as u want at home. I set them.up as difficult as possible now and keep a nice mix of newer and older pins .... and i rotate the 90s pins pretty regularly . I find afm, bsd, tz and wh20 to be my top 90s pins overall . New pins like met, dile, th and munsters have some of that 90s charm , layout, and mechanics along with deeper/ more strategic code that make them pretty special imo.

I guess we all take different routes to our favorite pin choices, though I think that there is obvious consensus on the better pins. I missed the 90s pinball heyday, so I wasn't up on B/W when I joined the hobby, and I confess I was more than a little skeptical. I remember checking out the IPDB site long before finding Pinside, and wondering if there was some sort of rating mafia keeping the B/W pins on top all this time. I felt back then, and even a little now, that Stern doesn't get a fair shake, considering that they were the final survivor of the era and make some great pins of their own.

Now, over 10 years into the hobby, I concur with MM, AFM, and MB being the top games of all time. Though, I might sometimes be tempted to stuff STTNG in there with them. There's character in these games, humor, and a clear challenge: fight the Martians, get the band back together, and bust some castles. MMr, MBr, and TOTAN, are my guest favorites whenever I have non-pinheads over to my home. Yeah, IM, Tron, TWD, and BM66 get some loving, but the classic greats still rule with casual players and myself. I think there's a place for the classics and the newer deeper pins, though I do think we're in a bit of a rut with new games right now. The big LCD screens are great and all, but I think it's time for some playfield innovation. MM, AFM, and MB are great because they are!

All three are classics with relatively simple and non-polarizing layouts/gimmicks, good artwork, great themes with humor, play fast with good flow, are approachable for all levels of players, and are not overly mode based. Two of the three are relatively easy while AFM is challenging.

Regardless of the rankings they are 3 of the best pinball machines ever for all the reasons you guys have stated.

MBr is to me the total package.

Its a perfect of example of how "shallow code" can be great.

Every detail of it matters and flows together so well!

Who's the common denominator on the greatest games of all time? Lyman F ing Sheets!!!! He's a master of shallow and deep code and everything in between. He ties together every aspect of the PF and features like the conductor of a symphony.

Looks at your ratings...Goatf****rs is #2. Ok, I can explain what’s happening here. In 2016 the space-time continuum split specifically in the pinball hobby & the multiverses got jumbled. You’re from the alternate dimension where horrible games are good & people would beg to buy a $15k unfinished untested Stern. So, while you can’t understand why a perfect game like MM rates high, those of us from the parallel pinball dimension can’t understand how you could rate Goatf****rs so high.

Mystery solved, carry on everyone!

Then what happened to people like me who like both MM and GB? That must blow your mind....how can anyone who likes a "perfect game" in your mind also like something you hate so much? Inconceivable!!

When you’re new you like everything

Since I've gotten into the hobby and joined Pinside, I've come across a lot of things I don't like...

That's all we needed to hear

Because they deserve it.

I almost universally prefer the classic B/W games to the newer games. The BIG exception for me is AC/DC Premium (coded, of course, by Lyman, who coded MM, MB, and AFM!)... AC/DC Premium is the perfect blend of the old and the new with extremely gratifying shots, while being quite deep, and also EXTREMELY challenging. While I love MM, MB barely makes my top 25. MM is in my top 10, but my top 5 are:

AC/DC Premium
The Shadow
Attack from Mars Remake LE
The Addams Family
White Water

6-10 are:
Medieval Madness
Getaway: High Speed II
Star Trek (Stern)
Funhouse
Terminator II

For those keeping track--5 of my top 10 are John Youssi artwork (TAF, WH2O, MM, ST, FH); 4 are Steve Ritchie designs (AC/DC, HS2, ST, T2); 4 are Bryan Eddy designs or code (TS, AFMLE, MM, FH), 4 are Doug Watson artwork (TS, AFMRLE, HS2, T2); 3 are Lyman Sheats code (AC/DC, AFMLE, MM); 3 are Mike Boon code (TS, TAF, WH2O); 3 are Dwight Sullivan code (HS2, ST, T2); and 2 are Pat Lawlor designs (TAF, FH). Did all of those guys have some duds? Sure, but they made some FANTASTIC games!!

Short answer - MB and MM I don't get why they are in the top 3. AFM on the other hand.....

I totally get that. But it sounds like you have multiple pins in your game room? Now if you can only have one, and weren’t planning on selling it for at least a year, what game would it be?

Flash Gordon.

Why only one? I know not everyone can have large collection but no matter what game it is. If it’s the only one you have it’s going to get boring in a few months. Unless it has sentimental value.

Wait a minute...you've been on Pinside for 6 years. You're supposed to know that MM is the "perfect game". A couple other experts have said so. It's only supposed to be us short timers that don't know which games are really the good ones!!

Or on the other hand, like whatever you want.

Brutally true. It’s a killer that’s keeps calling you back!

You forgot the most important piece of a pinball! SOUND GUYS! Granner, Forden, etc.

Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawlor are pinball design legends.

I do honestly love Flash Gordon

Great games don’t get boring. Another reason these 3 are tops.

I love afm but mm and especially mb just got stale rather quickly for one reason or another.... still fun pins that everyone sld own at some point.

Different strokes. I never liked AFM .

I just finished reading through this whole thread. One thing I didn't see was the term "status" used. Off topic for a moment but I went through a soul crushing divorce and I was out of the hobby for almost 3 years. I come back and look at the top games here and at IPDB. Granted I left the scene shortly after this site started, but the IPDB list hasn't changed much. I recognize LOTR no longer makes top 10. A couple other pins that bounce in and out of the top 10 but it hasn't really changed much. But getting back on track, I've always noticed a huge uptick on certain titles when they become hot button topics. Suddenly they become the best game to have because people start talking fondly of them and the damn price jumps because everyone and their neighbors dog starts looking for these titles. Infamous supply and demand. I won't say they don't deserve to be top 10, because who am I to tell anyone what is good or bad. I think MM amongst other old BW games have a certain charm about them but in all fairness so do the new games. Definitely 2 different charms though. Deep rule sets have their place every bit as much as simple rule sets. As brilliantly stated earlier, rules deep or shallow make not a game good. Choices are great, but at the end of the day, for me at least .... AFM and 3 others on the current top 10 on IPDB never really tripped my trigger and that's OK. It just means more for others right?
I could care less if any game I own is top 10 or bottom 100. It's all about your personal enjoyment and not one anyone else thinks. Add a neon LED'd dildo as a topper if ya want. lol

What chu talkin' bout Willis? LOTR is #6 at the moment.

1. Hitting pop up trolls during multi ball might be the most fun you can have in multiball.
2. Brian Eddy is a genius who understands both game design and software design and can integrate a sense of fun into a nothing non licence theme. Can’t wait to see his next pin for Stern.
3. MB is the 8 shot fan layout that Borg and Ritchie often emulate in a modern STERN. One could make a similar claim for AFM or MM, but I’d say it took Stern a decade to consistently design pins as good as these.

5-6 years ago I got into pinball. I knew nothing about the hobby let alone Pinside. I was playing at a bar 4-5 days a week that had 21 machines. Everything from new Sterns which included AC/DC, Iron Man and a Star Trek Pro and back as early as machines from the 80’s. I was blown away by the led lights and the polish of the newer Stern machines. There was one machine that I dumped more quarters into than any other and it was Attack From Mars. Having never seen a top 100 and knowing nothing about perceived value, that was the game I played. I don’t know why, but I do know I enjoyed it. That’s my reason. Fast forward several years and many machines in and out of my house, I still love Afm. Pinball is like art or even cars. You like what you like. The games mentioned are beautiful, easy to understand, but hard to put up a huge score. Accessible for beginners and challenging enough for veterans. I think Stern, JJP, Spooky, and others makes excellent games, but you have to respect well made classics. Everyone wants one and every new company is looking to find that “magic.” I’m curious to see the demand for a Batman 66, WoZ, and TNA in 20+ years. I think the hobby is progressing at a healthy pace and I love where things are headed.

Yeah I don't understand it either when obviously there is only one GOOD game out of those three and the other two are just, we'll mediocre at best but to each his own I guess.

John

If I had to pick only one game it would be EBD or Paragon honestly.

Of these 3, AFM wins for me easily (bought AFMrLE)....pure pinball fun, which doesn't require much thought (handy for me on certain evenings)..can just walk up to it, push the button and go......pinball at it's finest....

Why do people think classic Mustangs are more desirable than the new ones coming out?

I’ve always been confused about MB on the list. Certainly a fun game, but it’s an easy wood-chopper. Definitely a top 20 machine, essentially a 90s Metallica with great unlicensed theme implementation. Not the pinnacle of pinball like AFM and MM though...

Owned AFMLE and sold it for BM66 because I thought I wanted “ depth” ....maybe not a big mistake, but one nonetheless.