Stern

AC/DC (Pro)

Pinside Rating

This game received 335 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.865 _/10

7.865

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks 3rd in the game group "AC/DC". The group itself ranks #27 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.802

Artwork: 6.995

Sounds/Music: 8.465

Other Aspects: 7.878

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 5 of us have rated this game.

7.843

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This title is part of group: "AC/DC"

AC/DC
(Pro)

AC/DC
(Premium)

AC/DC
(LE)

AC/DC
(Pro Vault Edition)

AC/DC
(Premium Vault Edition)

Found 197 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 197 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.099/10

86 days ago

???

Lol-69

Pinside apprentice

Lyon

<1y 15,500 60

87/100

9.030/10

5 months ago

???

Charchar

Pinside apprentice

Carlsbad, CA

<1y 10,000 33

Really like the Pro version as the under field mini game on the other models doesn’t appeal to me.

Music fits pinball perfectly.

Love the bell and cannon toys.

Rules are straightforward but not shallow. Definitely pulls you in.

8.760/10

5 months ago

CAH

ReadyPO

Pinside+ Frequent

6y 197K 5,907 129

Super soundtrack, cannon and hells bell toys. no lower playfield, which does not detract much from gameplay.

8.968/10

6 months ago

SHF

Rumtastic

Pinside member

Unknown

9y 26,650 7 8 59

This is most probably one of the hardest games of the DMD+ area (1990 and later).

The shots are very rewarding to make but
this game does penalize every non-accurate shot with a drain. It is a merciless machine and it will taunt you! This is Steve Ritchie at his best.

The rules are quite straightforward from the start and it is great that every song requires you to play a little different and you need to adapt your game plan. The game code is a true masterpiece from programmer Lyman Sheats.

The music is of cause great and is well implemented into the gameplay. Unfortunately the playfield is from the photoshop area of Stern. At least the vault edition looks a little bit better.

All in all this is a great game for the pinball wizard who likes a hard challenge and beat the Encore mini-game and for the pinball enthusiast with ambitions who wants to become a better player.

Rumtastic edited previous rating on March 25, 2024.

9.452/10

7 months ago

DRD

DrDrain

Pinside member

9y 42,900 57 159

For me AC/DC is one of the best games of all time.

It has one of the best flowy layouts made by legendary designer Steve Ritchie. Typically for him every shot feels smooth and is very satisfying. Hitting the ramps subsequently is such a great experience. This version of the game is more difficult to play due to the stand-up targets. Thus it can be a very frustrating game to beginners or more casual players.

The gamecode is the most risk-reward based one I have played so far. I love building up a song jackpot and then collecting it times three. That's an awesome idea. Encore is one of the best wizard modes we will ever see. Completing it seemed even more difficult than getting there. But that's what I love about this gamecode. This is Lyman Sheats' masterpiece, it is a true shame that he is no longer with us.

The only really noteworthy difference between Pro and Premium/LE in terms of gameplay is the mini-playfield. It is a nice feature although I don't think not having it in the game is that much of a difference. The Premium/LE is looking a lot better though with the molded train and moving band.

In terms of animations and artwork this game is alright, the playfield is just a little underwhelming when compared to other music based machines like Metallica.

Of course the music will only appeal to you as somebody who likes listening to AC/DC but that's the thing with any other music-pin as well.

Overall AC/DC is one of the hardest and greatest games I have ever played and the gamecode is an absolute masterpiece. The game will not appeal to everybody because of the difficulty and music which is very understandable.

DrDrain edited previous rating on January 07, 2024.

3 Pinsiders starred this!

8.488/10

8 months ago

TSC

Fubar

Pinside member

Cambridge

4y 23,400 69 3 6

This game is as ugly as it is fun. The code really ties the machine together by orchestrating the sounds and light to make you feel like you're playing the band. It's loud and exciting, a game that will get you pumped every time.

The layout is nothing special however the bell is one of the most satisfying toys to shoot ever. The lower playfield quickly gets old and I avoided the songs that sent me there. The cannon is fun and scoring the song jackpot is always a thrill.

It's probably one of the ugliest games ever made, the pro playfield in particular just looks appalling in my opinion. But with some friends and beers it's a hoot!

7.274/10

9 months ago

JAM

jroakland

Pinside member

Oakland, CA

13y 60,050 106 7 111

I always hated the pro , especially the playfield art work...decent game that I don't look for to play..I will play the premium if I find one on location...the bell is cool ,canon ala T2 is cool...good flow...not a keeper for me and I like ac/dc...

5.831/10

9 months ago

???

Travellingfoxes

Pinside apprentice

Unknown

2y 8,750 1 8

The fastest game to leave our collection. Just did nothing for us, even though we are ACDC fans. Music's great, looks OK overall, but zero interest in pressing start again...we have even revisited it a year after moving it on........no tears here...

8.576/10

10 months ago

???

Aerious

Pinside apprentice

Unknown

<1y 5,000 6

One of the cases where the Pro version has a big miss from the Premium. The inset playfield, while not heavily used in the higher editions, looks a lot better than the replacement artwork. On the pro you just feel like something is missing. Still got the good flow and music selection, but I always felt like I was missing something.

7.097/10

1 year ago

TTE

EvergreenTTE

Pinside apprentice

Champaign, IL

1y 16,650 4 39

I enjoy this game, even though it doesn't score very highly in the areas I usually find most important in a pinball machine, namely shots and layout. It's fine, there's nothing wrong with it, but at the same time there's nothing special about the way the game plays. I love the music, though, and that's enough to keep me coming back to it.

I'm not really a fan of the cannon shot. Is there something I'm supposed to shoot at that I don't get? It seems like all it does is put the ball back in the playfield. The bell is okay, but hard to hit without getting it back SDTM. I like the jukebox; that's a simple idea that's well realized.

Overall, a decent enough game with excellent music.

EvergreenTTE edited previous rating on January 13, 2024.

2.290/10

1 year ago

JDK

Kalegari

Pinside apprentice

Curitiba

2y 18,500 4 34

Not fun at all. The only cool thing about it is the music from ac/dc.

5 Pinsiders flagged this.

6.577/10

1 year ago

RIK

UCFKnight71

Pinside member

Debary, FL

2y 31,800 134 1 22

I finally got to spend more time on AC/DC at two different locations, and my thoughts are that it is just mediocre. I wanted to love it. I don't think the art is very good, unless you get the Luci package. The music is great of course. The game just doesn't feel very fun. I do like the swinging bell as a toy, but the cannon doesn't really do much for the game. It's hard to describe, but it's just one of those games that doesn't make you feel like playing again. It's most lacking in the fun factor.

7.380/10

1 year ago

JRM

JRM1

Pinside member

6y 35,150 24 32

I'm not a fan of most band games, but this is one of my favorites. The music is good and I can play this over and over. Pros: Music (if you like AC/DC), animations, cannon, and hitting the bell. Cons: The modes aren't super interesting to me, playfield art is not so good, just something missing (for me) which doesn't have me coming back to it.

7.272/10

1 year ago

???

curban

Pinside+ Frequent

Seven Valleys, PA

5y 83,800 1,074 38 16

I don’t understand the love for this title. It is the machine we owned for the shortest period of time (~4-5 months). Wife and I love the band and music, but didn’t feel that the pin offered much beyond a fast pace, cheap drains, and A LOT of repetition. We probably cussed more times while playing this game than in the rest of our lives combined (and we’re in our 50’s!).

I can’t begin to understand how this game (specifically the pro) is rated higher than other stern rock pins such as LZ or Aero. This was ALMOST our first pin purchase; if it was, we may have never really gotten into the hobby.

What didn’t we like? Shots felt limited to the two ramps and orbits. The bell shot for multipliers carried too much risk of random center drains that we couldn’t dependably avoid. The canon shot was too repetitive; also with cheap drains unless you fired it around the orbit.

Music = awesome. Animations = great. Artwork = uninspired. Fun = …well, we always though of it more as ‘work’ than ‘fun’. Adrenaline = well, we did find new & creative ways to string expletives together.

My rating score will probably seem better than my comments. I probably feel the opposite of the majority and that is: the machine is worse than the sum of its parts.

curban has owned this game in the past.

8.254/10

1 year ago

FPG

luvthatapex2

Pinside member

North Wales, PA

11y 129K 5,768 7 100

This is a great game but the PRO strips too much off the game.

6.418/10

1 year ago

EWB

-Gramps

Pinside+ Frequent

Groesbeck, TX

2y 35,800 17 5 18

This zzRock-Band-Based pin was the best one I played at Pinballz in Austin. The music was great, after all, it’s AC/DC! Much better band pin than GnR, LED Zepp, Metallica, IMO.

Pretty smooth play, fun shots, plus the bell. I agree that the playfield art could have been much better. Back glass looked good IMO, but cabinet artwork was not very original

7.541/10

1 year ago

WWW

Cwest

Pinside+ Frequent

Granger, IN

4y 36,150 122 4 12

Though I haven't played this game enough to comment on the lastability, but it seems to have great potential for it. Love the bell, very clever. And also love the music. I've only played the PRO version and it seems very satisfactory from my perspective. Perhaps I'd gravitate to the higher end versions if I played them but perfectly happy playing the PRO.

6.388/10

2 years ago

MAT

mpdpvdpin

Pinside member

Providence, RI

6y 95,050 4,427 7 96 1

Lyman is the only thing holding this pin together. This is Ritchies magnum opus of cheese. It’s like he really put his heart, soul, wraparound sunglasses and frosted tips into this game. Artwork gives off bigtime flavor town Guy Fieri vibes. This game has more corn in it than a vegetarians s#it.

7.569/10

2 years ago

GRV

GravitaR

Pinside member

Saginaw, MI

12y 129K 2,920 31 71

Fun game to play. Hat e the artwook on the PF though with the face. Put something else there then it would be near perfect.

7.815/10

2 years ago

KDZ

kool1

Pinside member

Oakville, ON

2y 101K 3,420 5 53

Love the band - don't love this machine.

For me the music pulls me back every time though as I'm a huge AC/DC fan. Shots are decent but I seem to drain very easily on this game which is frustrating. Hard game to buy - seems like people hold on to these!

I hear if you move up to premium it's much better but none around me.

kool1 edited previous rating on April 05, 2022.

9.240/10

3 years ago

???

Mattmz1

Inactive member

Unknown

3y 10,000 27

As far as the rock themed games go this is a really good one. Great music, lots of good shots, cannon is really cool.

8.680/10

3 years ago

NLV

Enron64

Pinside member

Kamloops, BC

3y 50,800 377 5 14

I love this theme a lot. Playing through the songs is great fun. This the machine that got pinball back on my radar.

7.632/10

3 years ago

SYD

Onwallst

Pinside member

Denver, CO

8y 82,550 655 95

Only buy the premium and LE. Missing too much in the pro.

6.519/10

3 years ago

FAT

Fatscorky

Pinside member

Nottingham

5y 24,150 5 3 12

Quite enjoyed playing this but the theme and music isn’t for me, change it to Depeche Mode and I might consider buying it, game play is decent.

6.773/10

3 years ago

PPP

proco

Pinside member

6y 53,550 55 32

Games played: ~20, >300 on Pinball Arcade

Layout/Toys:
+ The cannon and bell are very cool mechs/toys for a Pro game.
/ Very easy to understand and learn.
- The layout feels a bit boring. Even worse with the drop targets removed.

Rules:
+ Interesting progression system with the songs and Encore as the wizard mode.
+ Building up the song jackpot is a good risk/reward rule.
- There are 12 modes, but none of them is interesting. The only difference is which things score some points and build the jackpot.
- The mode jackpot build-up and lighting the next song are two completely different conflicting tasks when the should somehow work together to make getting to Encore enjoyable and also rewarding.
- Getting to and playing multiballs is not interesting. It's just a matter of looking at which MB needs the fewest shots to get to and hitting that, or just hitting shots randomly and eventually lighting a multiball anyways.

Display/Lighting/Integration:
+ A good amount of little animations that play when hitting a shot, e.g. the car trunk and the train.
+ Short but good intros to the multiballs.
/ The progression to get to the next song is tied to the jukebox in the back which provides something to learn (which shot has which name).
/ For the focus on points there is very little audiovisual feedback when doing well or getting a big point reward.
- Lighting is incredibly confusing with only one insert per shot for multiple features.
- The flasher in the bumper area is annoying.

Gameplay:
+ Heavy on ramp combos. The ball rarely stops.
+ Firing the canon into the target is difficult but it's the big payoff shot.
/ Preparing/starting the playfield x during gameplay provides some "strategy".
- The spring/diverter from the pop bumpers is plain stupid and creates more chaos and bad feeds than it should.

Art:
/ Mostly red, yellow and black shapes and some photos.
- There is a giant face in the middle of the playfield staring at me the whole game.

Sound:
+ Amazing use of the band theme with a small recognizable song piece playing when a shot is hit (e.g. bell, train, hey ...)
+ Songs don't get old because there is no set order and each song rarely plays for more than 1-2 minutes.
/ Good callouts, but sometimes a bit hard to hear over the music.

Theme:
+ A rock band theme with focus on the songs. Very well integrated overall, but especially in the sound area.

Lastability/Fun:
+ Shooting combos while listening to ACDC is fun for a while.
- The songs don't get repetitive, but there aren't any features to be excited about when stepping up to the game.
- Just focusing on gameplay lights or start things (and especially multiballs) eventually so there is no real focus needed except for not draining.
- The shape of the lower playfield that is still present on the Pro. It's like a slap in the face from the artist telling you that you could be playing the Premium right now.

proco edited previous rating on November 01, 2020.

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