Most popular machine ever made..

It has a nearly universal appeal. And it's just plain fun to play. My favorite multiball start too.

Because its just one of the best if not the best pin ever! Some say its slow but, they playfield has so much going on. The magnets are incredible!

Demand.

Ditto

Along with the obvious demand it is also worth note that I would guess a disproportionate amount of games are >>>

#1 > dead forever in the trash as they got played like crazy and many eventually got so thrashed that they were pillaged for parts and sent to the pinball graveyard.

and

#2> still on routes earning decent money.

That's my luck, I get into pinball when the market is going up, recently getting into purchasing my first pin after attending a pinball convention, of course the first pin I want is taf and got sticker shock when looking up prices, so taf is on hold for now and settled on a nice f-14 for 1/4 of the price, and have had a lot of fun with it so far.

Because 20000 people want one.

I've played some fairly fast ones. I know it's no tron or ac/dc but it can be set up to be fairly quick. Maybe my advancing age is showing with that statement.

The high price is a combo of (near) universal appeal, route operators not being very willing to sell as they are still earning, high demand (because alot of people played them in the day and now want them).

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of parts being reproduced for the machine, so people who own the game are starting to fix them up and make them nice.

If I had to sell them all I would keep TAF.

A whole lot of people love it.

GO AHEAD, hit the ball, I've got a whole BUCKETFUL!!

Some of the best humor ever in a machine. One of the few titles you can own for ten years and not get tired of.

HAHAHA, you're a FUNNY Guy!

Rest in peace.

Best game ever. Last year you could get a reasonably clean plalyer for <3500.

I didn't realize how much I loved TAF until I got one back. I bought it again the same time I found MM. I love MM too but, TAF remains.

It has such a great universal theme that any one, no matter skill level can walk up and just play it and have a great time... Thing is such a cool feature too!

so... if they were worth the same are you telling me you'd still sell the mm?

Great game. TAF won't leave the stable for a long, long time. Simple fun. Easy to understand rules allowing for non-pinheads to step up and learn it quickly (and get hooked).

My buddy has a mint, original, TAFG with certificate and the game is an absolute blast.

I worry a little bit about the folks who don't like it.

I think so yes. I'm having more fun with TAF right now than all of my pins. Now when friends come over ACDC is still the hit.

I really thought MM was my grail for a while but, I realize now I don't have a grail. I like them all.

I'd love a TAF in good condition, but the "so much" always stops me. Apparently, I don't want it bad enough.

many are sitting around rotting in warehouses yet. Many are still routed making money. Nice ones command good money, routed average POS isn't as much as you think. Just have to find them.

I know TAF may seem fairly expensive, but it's all relative. Compared to other games and the way prices are out there, right now it seems to be a pretty good value. Especially for how popular it is. Cut the production number of the game by three quarters, and you would have a game priced up closer to MM, AFM, MB, and many others.

I consider Twilight Zone to be the same situation. Honestly, with the way things are, people should be very glad these two titles exist in the numbers they do.

I love when you get a good bonus (over 20 mil, I think) and he yells "WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU!!!!" I also like when the flippers occasionally go "snap snap" to the music.

It's the "Pac-Man" of the pinball world...even people who casually know pinball ALWAYS know Addams Family, and often want one. I wouldn't be surprised if many single-game owners have an Addams.

Exactly. Besides being a great game in most people's eyes, this is the game many people were exposed to while they were younger. When they look for a game, this is the first one they are drawn to.

Most were trashed...there are only a few nice ones left, demand is high for it, first rule-set of its kind (mode-based), great sound, good toy, magnets, one of the best multiball starts ever, cool lightshow, and all this on top of being a pretty damn good game = high prices.

Simmer down now...let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here

great pin, every time i get to play it, i still enjoy it. would be tough to get rid of it. if it came down to keeping only 5 in my lineup, it would probably be in those 5

The special thing about TAF is that there's a lot of demand from non-pinheads.

Pinheads know it's a good game, but are also interested in games like TZ, MM, ..

Non-pinheads that only want one machine for home all want the one they remember most: TAF.

Actually, it is KEEP the ball. Gomez yells it when he is hitting golf balls through the window in the movie. (I thought it was I've got a whole pocketful... Of balls, get it? But it is Bucketful)

Sorry... not trying to be nit-picky...

I've always been told that...was it not? What was the first game to have a "Mansion-like" ladder, if you will, to get to the wizard mode?

Don't know what the "first" was but WhirlWind was mode based. BK2000 I've heard was the first Wizard Mode.

Whirlwind is mode-based? I've never got that impression the handful of times I've played it. It seemed to me that the object was to start multiball by "moving" the storm around to light the locks. What are the modes? I assume you aren't talking about the cellar awards since those aren't modes. Did I miss an entire feature of that game somehow?

First wizard mode I'm not sure about...

The celler award awards the modes that light up on the backglass. Getting them all gives you a bonus and some celler door awards....aka a Wizard mode of sorts.

million shot, pops at max, quick multball, 500k, 100k target etc etc...modes. ww.jpg

I was lucky, mid last year I picked up my HUO for 3,500!

This forum really need an "Envy" button up there with the thumbs up/down. SRSLY.

That's a crazy good deal if it is in good condition! Around me a pristine HUO would easily sell for 6-7 k and up.

Here's why the pin is so good- my sister, who always hated video games growing up, came to my house over the holidays with her kids and ended playing TAF over and over (she had never played it before). She kept going back to it for 'one more game', and when she left she was asking where she could get one for her family. If someone who has little to no interest in pinball gets that excited by it, it must be something special.

I am not a huge pinballer yet, but the first machine I had to get was TAF. Mike(GAP) in Chicago built a custom "black" edition. It was delivered today and I'm in the basement taking the plastic/cardboard off of it now! Pictures to follow hopefully!

congrats

Extremely broad appeal, and a very decent rule set. Not sexist, and child friendly. And its a VERY fun game.
as for it's price, I think it's one of the most affordable machines with it's level of popularity.

I didn't fully understand the love for TAF until I played a very clean version of the game. The two big objectives in the game are incredibly simple (Tour the Mansion and Greed), but the mansion modes coupled with the little side things like train wreck, the swamp and Thing Flips provide a lot of little quirks to decision making. The layout is pretty clever and when things like the kickout behavior are dialed in, it is in that sweet spot of being physically challenging...but not unfairly difficult.

It's an awesome game. Plus, it made Twilight Zone possible. So that's another plus.

Because it's the greatest creation known to man.

I guess that makes me an A$$ cause I have two of them. LOL Never know when one needs a spare taf

that is a random award from the cellar door. Taxi has the same setup from the santa saucer. I wouldn't call that a mode tree.

Not random at all. The blinking light is the available option when the celler is lit. I believe the pop bumpers are what moves the blinking value around. Modes completed stay lit, lighting all of them awards points and lights awards...I don't know how that isn't a mode?

If you look at the "tree" It has a point award, 2 ball multi, EB, hit target for points...these are all the same rooms on TAF.

EDIT: Like "tour the mansion," mega door bonus awards points, lights EB, lights modes. Not in the same fashion of TAF though.

Except there is seance, mamushka, tunnel hunt, and cousin it for TAF...those are "real" modes. The points and max pop bumpers and targets are not a mode. Granted, TAF has a lot of these non-modes too. What do you get when you complete all the Whirlwind "modes"? A wizard mode?

Yeah sorry i was editing it when you typed. Yes wizard, Mega Door Bonus.
So they aren't "real modes?" It's a Lawlor man, it's 95% the same layout, everything is basically the same. Excpet of course TAF was newer and had more features sure. THere are points rooms/doors on TZ/TAF, 2 ball multis on all those games etc etc.

Maybe you can just trust me since you've only played it a "hand full of times?"

Anymore silly questions?