So far, if you go by Pinside rankings/ratings these are some of the worst dmd era pins:
Striker Xtreme, Pinside #262 & 5.77
Flipper Football, Pinside #238 & 6.43
Viper Night Drivin, Pinside #235 & 6.57
Gilligan's Island, Bally '91, Pinside rank #230, rating 6.64
Popeye, Bally '94, Pinside: #227 & 6.67
Waterworld, Gtb '95, Pinside: #226 & 6.67

But we really could user some more Pinsiders who have played any of the following horrible dmd's to please go and rate them, as we currently don't have enough ratings for:
Gladiators, '93 Gtb
World Challenge Soccer, '94 Gtb
Barb Wire, '96 Gtb {thus far this one seems to not be the worst dmd ever.}
Vacation America (2003) {Unlikely that 15 Pinsiders have played this one.}

So, is Striker Xtreme really the worst dmd ever? Can't be huh?
Some of the pins discussed do look quite aweful.

Subtract the Alpha numeric games from this list then take your choice:

http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?searchtype=advanced&mpu=37

John

Well we sort of have a slight discrepancy in that regard.
The op started his thread w/ worst dmd era pin, so some felt that even if a particular pin was not a dmd pin but came out in the dmd era, then those should also be considered for worst ever.
No big deal to me either way.

+1. WPT is a great pin. But lets face it...the stinker award should go to Raven.

Agreed! Ummmm, before I close this window I would like to, "Agree" once more! Ok, bye!

Why all the hate on IJ?

IJ? Heck...the thread is also hating Baywatch, Maverick, Wipeout...that is 3 out of my 7. I'm afraid to go to sleep tonight and wake up reading that it is now 4 of 7...5 of 7...6 of 7....NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Good point, like you and your pins, I will defend my TSPP from the haters.

With that being the case I think we can all agree it is not safe for you to sleep tonight

where's the DMD on RFM? (;

IJ4. I'm not a good player and even I thought it was boring and repetitive. Huge disappointment.

Scott

street fighter

You are one of, "those type" of posters. Lacking any emoticon in the post...leaving some to wonder is it serious...or... meant to be funny? Or is this a post from one of those kinda folks you hope to never live next door to?

Which are you?

Well that kind of response just takes all enjoyment out of teasing you. Good day, sir.

Hey yeah! Good day to you too. Peace! Hey I looked up that, "Sir" word you used in your last post. I had you pegged all wrong. We are all good here bud This is from Wikipedia:

<<<The term is often reserved for use only towards one of superior rank or status, such as an educator or commanding officer, an elder (especially by a minor), or as a form of address from a merchant to a customer.>>>

<<<Sir derives from the Middle French honorific title sire (messire gave rise to mylord), from the Old French sieur (itself a contraction of Seigneur meaning 'lord'), from the Latin adjective senior (elder), which yielded titles of respect in many European languages.>>>

<<<When addressing a male superior (e.g. Officer or Warrant Officer, but not usually a non-commissioned officer, in the military), "sir" is used as a short form of address. (Despite its use in many fictional works, this is not a term used for female superiors, who are addressed as "ma'am").>>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir

LOL! Both those pins are excellent!

SO true. For example, many of my tastes run against the majority, it seems. WPT is one of my all-time faves. And I love LOTR (as many do) but I really don't enjoy TSPP (theme is good, dislike the shots). I strongly dislike TZ and STTNG, but I really like LW:JP and SST. Not a fan of ACDC at all, and really love lots of EM games. And I think NBA Fastbreak is a lot of fun. So many people would think my preferences are way off. Although many of my other pinball preferences are more consistent with the general majority.

Everyone has their likes and dislikes. In pinball and everything else....

If I ever cared to put in all of the pins I actually own, and then if people knew the ones that I sold, I think a lot of people would think that I'm nuts. Although I can appreciate what people like in most of them, almost without fail I find myself not caring for pretty much all of the 'A' titles. 95% of the games in this thread I could defend for a long time.

To me, it would either be Scared Stiff, Party Zone, or NBA Fastbreak.

I've never been a fan of either of Elvira's pins. And SS just seemed "skimpy" (no pun intended). The Party Zone is just straight up obnoxious. NBA Fastbreak... Well I just don't like sports themed pins (WCS 94 being one exception)

I also didn't like Johnny Mnemonic and Demolition Man back in the day, but they grew on my after playing them again on Visual Pinball.

I would really like a party zone at the right price. I have never played it but it looks like heaps of fun, just for the comedy alone.

Looking at my personal ratings list, the worst i played are:
1: A nightmare on elm street
2: Mario andretti
3: gilligans island

There are two ways you have to look at machines, and in a thread like this it really should be noted initially, as machines were made to do whatever to grab quarters, and only now are being evaluated for their use in homes.

If you are talking about the worst DMD ever made, as such, T2 is nowhere near that bottom. T2 was one of the most successful machines ever made. When it came out, coupled with the massive success of the movie, GNR’s new double CD music in movie, and video, the whole T2 package), a cannon, first street b/w DMD, and the F14’ish style inserts, this machines was destroying vids in arcades, which no pinball machine had done. So, as a quarter grabber, and in that sense only, T2 was likely one of the best DMDs every made, easily.

Flash forward to now. I had my first one, I enjoyed it but found it too simple compared to all the other machines I was buying at the time. I sold it at the time I believe for my shadow, thinking meh, I like it but I want more depth, and had only 7-8 spots for machines I thought (baahhahaahaha).

4-5 months ago I bought another with a perfect PF. I cleaned, shopped it, played fast as hell, with full intentions to sell. Started playing again and wow.... I love it, and have continued to enjoy it to the point where I don’t think it’s leaving this time. Necro on another forum said once that this machine doesn’t have a wasted shot, and even though owning this previously, I concentrated too much on scull cannon combos, and thought the super jackpot was the only thing worth going for. Everything does add up to points in this game, everything, and at the speed mine is playing now, all these other point shots are worth going for more over the super, as that has become much more difficult to obtain with how fast it is playing.

Long winded story short, I have never 180 on a machine evaluation as I have with T2. HS, F14, POTO, T2 and TAF where the machines back in the day I knew and played the most (each, at their time, almost exclusively). As such, and coupled with its great fast play, T2 will not leave again as it is a great machine. Given this, and premier’s DMDs, I find it very hard anyone can state T2 is the worst.

I don't know if it is "the worst" since there are many games I have never played, but hearing

"I gotta get to Yoshi"

"OOOHHHH YOOOOSHHHII"

On Super Mario Brothers

over and over is brutal

Great point! And, when you're evaluating machines with the criteria of being quarter suckers, from what I've heard and at least back in the day, the winners for being the least successful at that task (or at least what I have been told by more than a few ops were the worst) are TZ and JD.

In a home environment though, TZ is obviously well loved by a lot of people, and JD has its share of fans, but they were often both used as parts machines because they earned so poorly. Considering when they came out, that was their main job, maybe we could actually objectively figure out which machine is the worst by looking through old earning reports and stuff like that...

Haha glad to see you're passionate about t2. My t2 nomination was sort of an inside joke. I don't like it but it's not the worst thing I've played. Nothing has left me disappointed like Junkyard.

Don't worry, Tommy and Johnny are safe.

Oh man, don't even get me started on THOSE two!

(At least half joking )

TZ had to be a failure with regards to revenue. I recall when it came out, and it was never played. I didn’t touch it. I don’t know why I didn’t play it, but something about it just didn’t bring me to play it again. It was TAF TAF TAF, as with everyone else plugging quarters in. Once in a while you got tired of waiting, and plugged a coin into something else, but that was to fill the void until you could get back to TAF. I still don’t know why people don’t play it now in homes, but everyone says the same thing – when people are over, the least played game is ALWAYS TZ, no one plays it.

Why is that? It has all the toys and glam that a pinball machine could have. It’s a beautiful looking machine, I can’t think of any way to make it a more attractive game. It was the only time ever in pinball that someone was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do, at any cost, and with zero limitations. It’s appreciated by pinheads, and ranks by most as the best machine of all time.

TZ numbers, I am sure, are because of one thing – The Addams Family. Take a look at the graphs in the price guide showing historical sales. Other than the height of pinball greatness in the 70s, when everyone was making machines that sold and sold, the early 90s was the only other significant spike. Unlike the 70s, the early 90s did this for one reason, and one reason alone, TAF, the biggest single success in pinball ever, and it was done in a time where vids were the primary form of arcade entertainment, unlike other large sellers.

Then came Lawlor’s next, TZ, and I’m positive the numbers sold were very immediate after its release solely based on operators banking on another huge earner from the guy who made TAF. Don’t believe that bold comment? Consider every routed (non HUO) TAF and TZ you have ever seen. How many original TAF have you seen *without* chair hole wear? For me, that is zero. How many original TZ slot holes have you seen *with* any wear? For me, zero again. I’m sure somewhere, this is a TZ with slight slot wear, but you get my point. What does that tell you about a machine that sold over 21,000 copies (gold inc) and one that sold 15,000, which isn’t a huge difference? Safe Cracker, considered one of the biggest flops in pinball, shows more wear on every SC I have ever seen (again, original). I don’t think TZ has ever been attractive, nor is it still, to anyone other than serious pinheads.

And that’s not to bash the machine either, I love it. TAF is my all time fav, with TZ and LOTR likely being second on that list. I have tons of fun with TZ, I think it is an amazing machine. But why is it that no one else has cared for it???? In my collections alone, there is no other game that gets ignored as much as TZ, just with everyone else. Mine is done to the tits with LEDs, and plays like a BAMF.

People have put forth ideas as to why, but they don’t relate to lessor games that may suffer from the same minor things believed to be the issue. In the end, It is amazing that throughout its 18 years, for the most part, no one has cared to play it. In some ways, one could make a case for TZ being one of the worst DMDs ever made, as only serious pinheads are able to find it’s very unique appreciation.

Fair enough, but what I really *don't* like about T2 is... that big, ugly, outlane-blocking cannon and the emphasis that the rules place on making non-flipper cannon shots. (You need it to start multiball, you need it to score jackpots, and it's not even a FLIPPER!) Takes away from the basic pinball theme of the past 6-7 decades that pinball is a *flipper* game of skill!

Of course, IMO the situation was fixed with the excellent T3 follow-up. Solid flipper game with tight ramp/lane combos and a great backbox toy/game, one of the all-time best imo.

TZ was a total flop in the day, spoken with two ops now who parted out more than 10 TZ each, one guy did it after 3 months. It pulled the least money of any pin on site. Therefore I crown TZ the worst DMD of all time

Can we just nominate premier the gold standard and be done with it?

I think you answered your own question! TZ is a great game, but an absolute nightmare done up in LEDs. If it is jammed full of LED, I wouldn't play it either - and I love TZ.

John

Shaq Attaq. I could've flipped one recently and couldn't do it, even to make money.

Agreed. There were tons of TZs available in the late 90's for well under $2k. I was never tempted to buy one, although several friends did.

I gotta go with Stern's Rolling Stones. That's the only game I ever walked away from with balls on the table in a long time.

+1 on Fastbreak. Played it yesterday for the first time. No fun... and really lame backbox toy.

+1

That backbox toy is pointless and the game sucks.