Theme, humor, and Lyman. That's why.

Yea. I second Lyman. Tazman, you do have a great collection. In surprised there's no spiderman in there. I think that's Lyman's best work by far. Easily all the flow of afm and more.

MM - big cool obvious interactive toy with multiple shots/reactions/animation.

AFM - I dunno lol

MM - isn't this also the only pin where they hired second city actors for voices? There are so many reasons why this pin is sought after

Oh yeah, Tina Fey's in it.

I really liked B/W's in house actors on MB, NGG, AFM, RFM, etc. Good voices, lots of personality.

It's x-factor. Some games nailed it just right.

Indeed unexplainable for AFM, as that playfield is literally nothing. Some centre device and two ramps. Yoohoo. But maybe the simplicity is the appeal.

However. The software, DMD and sound package are all awesome.

With MM and new pinball players, its just basic sight/sound psychology. It's as simple as this:

Whatever you shoot, you get a dmd animation and a funny soundbite, usually different every time.
Even if you arent aiming, "something" happens with almost every shot you make, whether intentional or not.

You don't have to know, or even look into, any rules.
Hit the ball, it goes into one of about 7 routes, there is an effect.

If you do something multiple times, something special happens.

ANYONE can pick that up in seconds, even if they've never played pinball in their life.

Everything else (Trolls, Castle breaking) is just a bonus for the eyes/ears of a new player.

They are both really fun games.

My wifes friend came over about a year ago and she still talks about "the game with the aliens". It was her absolute favorite and still talks about it today.. she still asks my wife about coming over to play it! And she really has no interest in pinball whatsoever, but that title definitely stuck with her.