Pinside rating

This game has received 40 approved Pinsider ratings. 10 more approved ratings are needed to get a rating and for it to be eligible for the Pinside Pinball Top 100 ranking.

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 1 of us has rated this game.

6.96

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Found 18 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 18 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.219/10

82 days ago

???

Charchar

Pinside apprentice

Carlsbad, CA

<1y 10,000 33

80’s gem with sci-fi theme. Very fun. Would like to own one.

Charchar has this game on the wishlist.

8.043/10

6 months ago

PVW

pascal-pinball

Pinside member

19y 92,075 1,590 255

What a great game !!

8.282/10

11 months ago

LXL

Isochronic_Frost

Saratoga Silverball

7y 221K 9,409 108 1 1

A deceptively “easy” game. The layout seems very simple, yet the rules offer quite the challenge to master.

Alien Star is all about ripping the spinner, but to the uninitiated, it can lead to frustration and exasperation! Misplayed flips are severely punished, and you usually lose your ball in sort order

8.148/10

2 years ago

KGF

pooyabee

Pinside member

12y 46,350 32 16 7

This game is rules. Light in inlane spin rip is super good. Probably shouldn't have sold mine.

pooyabee has owned this game in the past.

7.747/10

3 years ago

GTX

gdonovan

Pinside member

7y 185K 13,220 70

A fun if simple game, the sounds are pure 80's.

The inlane timers are genus and making those timed shots rewarding.

9.435/10

3 years ago

HKY

HoakyPoaky

Silver State Pinball

11y 144K 3,675 128

The greatest spinner focused game of all time. Some may say Meteor, 9-ball or some other EM, for me it's Alien Star.....especially with the killer theme & sci-fi 80's sounds. It has that perfect formula for games that become something special.....Simple to learn & maddening to master. An excellent tournament game as well.

A layman player looks at the playfield & sees nothing special. But those on the level can see the beauty going on here. Difficult risk vs reward decisions for the player, while constantly struggling to keep the ball alive. Bad shots will be punished severely. And there is nothing quiet as satisfying as ripping 50K spinner rips on Alien Star, while being especially demoralizing to your opponent at the same time.

It is almost criminal that this game is not ranked in the Top 100. It's something special & should be played often whenever you happen to come across one.

HoakyPoaky edited previous rating on December 14, 2023.

6.960/10

3 years ago

TKM

Daditude

Pinside Moderator

Rockwall, TX

5y 266K 10,123 23 271

This is really a fun game. It just screams "80s" to me, so I'm a bit nostalgic. The artwork is great, spinner is fun, and I like the 80s sounds.

It is a pretty basic ruleset, but it takes a bit of work to get through it, so it has you coming back for more.

Daditude edited previous rating on November 30, 2020.

8.592/10

3 years ago

DRL

QuietEarp

Pinside member

Stroudsburg, PA

11y 87,300 708 9 26

Hitting that spinner when it is worth 50k a spin is awesome. Alien Star is not deep but it is fun and fast.

QuietEarp has owned this game in the past.

8.612/10

4 years ago

RRK

Cloud7

Pinside+ Frequent

Caledonia, WI

8y 89,050 641 22 40

Such a simple game, but very addictive! I find myself saying one more game many many times over!

Cloud7 currently owns this game.

8.890/10

5 years ago

MGS

MikeS

Pinside+ Frequent

18y 160K 6,045 136

Great ruleset with awesome spinner rules. Shatzable inlanes which are important to rip 10k spinner shots. Combine with 5x playfield multiplier in multiball for huge 50k spinner rips! Great backglasses art, cool theme. For being a somewhat basic layout this game is a lot of fun!

MikeS edited previous rating on April 19, 2023.

5.217/10

5 years ago

???

longislandboy

Pinside apprentice

Edgewood, MD

6y 18,500 11 10

Game play is ok. Pretty up front with what you have to do. Can't stand the sounds it makes. Sooooooo annoying and it doesn't go away.

longislandboy has owned this game in the past.

7.635/10

7 years ago

MOF

mof

Mof Pinball

San Francisco, CA

11y 149K 13,304 25 94

SUMMMARY
Backglass is amazeballs. Spinner is amazeballs. Great sound overall. Very good artwork overall. The excitement is similar to Sorcerer, in that you are aiming to set up that moment when you can have a spinner rip with bazillions.

LAYOUT:
Action/Per/Minute: Very high, just has a brief saucer kickoff
Backhands: Great left backhand into spinner !
Bonus Multiplier Goal: Yes
Dink Donk: none
Drops: None =(
Extra Balls: good. can earn from 1-2-3-4 lanes
Flippers: 2
Goal EB/BC/MB/Jackpot: decent, bonus hold from 1-2-3-4 lanes
Hurry-ups: great: short hurry up on lit spinner !
Inlane Lane Change: unknown
Inlane Swoosh: decent, it’s no Williams.
Bonus Collect: unknown
Lane Change: none
MB Earning: decent challenge. gotta do something cool before you can lock ball on left
MB Fun: looks to be tough, but the fun is that you can get 5x on a lit spinner!
Metal Ramps: none
Nudging: great - required especially with Gottlieb flipper gap
Outlane Fun: good, has rubbered post near top of sling.
Pops: Amazing: 3 live pops that can help you but mostly hurt you
Rules (time/order): unknown
Shots (total): 4 - fewest in all of pinball - one unshootable standup behind drops.
Skill Shot: decent - can’t move 1-2-3-4 lanes, so yes.
Slap-Saves: fair - super hard Gottlieb gap
Spinners: 1 great one, has a great sound, and a short hurry up on it
Stop'n'Go: great - almost perfect
Taunting: none
Toy/Gimmick: none
Voice / V. choreography: none

ART: Great art from Larry Day (Cosmic Gunfight)
SOUND: Very good sounds
DISPLAYS:
FEEL: Great
OVERALL: Super challenging 1984 game

mof has this game on the wishlist.

8.275/10

8 years ago

ZUL

Caucasian2Step

Evil McBooty

12y 163K 1,455 51 1011

Alien Star is a game that I ignored until a few fellow players drew my attention to it at the PAPA facility. I'm very glad they did.

The Pros:
A solid layout with a ruleset that offers 3 great featuers. A-L-I-E-N lights the lanes at the top of the game for different awards. The spinner is in the right flipper's sweet spot. rolling over the right inlane switch lights the spinner for 10k a rotation for a few moments. Combine this with the curved lane wire, shatz to rollover the inlane switch, to shoot the spinner with the next shot. Do it! The spinner also cycles the 2x-3x-5x PF multiplier during multiball. I'm usually willing to take another shot for the 5x multiplier to start multiball, but am I willing to chance the ball heading down the middle or out the lanes for the scoring benefit? The PF multiplier is a solid shot that loops toward the top of the pops and is satisfying when hit. Makes a difference with the left collect bonus lane lit. The artwork on the BG and the PF is solid and the intimidating samurai figures remind me of Darth Vader.

The Cons:
This game HAS to be set up in a challenging manner or the balance of the deck is lost. It can become too easy, too easily.

The Takeaway:
This game is a player and while rather simple and repetitive, the goals of the game are solid and the randomization of the multiball PF mutiplier make for interesting play. Tune this game properly and you will know why players seed this deck out. Another reason why John Trudeau is one of the most underrated designers on pinball games.

Update:
This game may be the epitome (for this vintage) of balance and difficulty between ruleset and layout. What do you do when playing Alien Star? You do the thing. What is the thing? Prep multiball with 5 DANGEROUS targets on the right hand side of the playfield. THEN, you have to hit the spinner to light 5x on the saucer lock to the left. Lock the ball in the saucer to put the second ball into the shooter lane and start multiball. Then you have to rollover the right inlane with luck from above or juggling skills from below. Note that this inlane is unmarked on the playfield or the plastics. So unless you have the flyer, manual, you play the game and notice the insert flashing, or you happen to be a competitive player that takes pride in knowing these game crushing details... yeah. Then you rip the spinner for 10k a spin times 2x,3x or 5x for BIG POINTS. Even the most jaded tournament players will golf clap for 5x and a sweet-ass ripping of that spinner. It's not easy to do. It is the only way to really make this game sing. It is difficult to do and a direct pipeline mass quantities of pin-dorphins.

Play the game. Do the thing. Dance the happy pin-jig. You did it. You played Alien Star as it should be played and powered through the sado-masochism needed to make this game your bitch.

Caucasian2Step edited previous rating on July 28, 2023.

8.050/10

9 years ago

ZZZ

sevenrites

Pinballer

9y 129K 2,200 97

Very challenging, fast paced, fun layout, awesome sounds, and can be very addicting. Super hard to complete the Alien targets to lite the ball lock, plus get the spinner on 5x before you start it, and if you can do all that and get the ball to roll down the right inner flipper return lane, you'll activate the 10X spinner for super mega points. This thing is a quarter killer!

sevenrites edited previous rating on January 30, 2017.

8.884/10

9 years ago

KEL

tistrinka

Inactive member

Chagrin Falls, OH

9y 9,500 1 1 7

Very fun, the Alien Star cabinet art is phenomenal. Cool sounds effects--slightly repetitive. Great flow, awesome spinner shot, fun ball flow from flipper to flipper.

9.263/10

9 years ago

ROB

dalispictures

Pinside member

Cleveland, OH

10y 42,150 78 28 29

Cool game with great shots, difficult to get multi-ball so it keeps me coming back for another game.

dalispictures currently owns this game.

8.116/10

12 years ago

BKB

the96stang

Bushey Bro's

Enfield, CT

12y 122K 2,943 16 13

I find the simple yet challenging task to start mutliball a lot of fun. Its a throw back to early solid state games, and is very basic but the idea of a multi ball on such a simple machine is what makes me go back to it multiple times.

the96stang currently owns this game.

5.396/10

12 years ago

GRH

Trident

Pinside member

Winston Salem, NC

12y 51,800 462 1 16

The art is pretty cool on this game (reto 80s feeling) but im not a big fan of the game play.

Trident has owned this game in the past.

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