Found 6 ratings (with comment) on this game

Aloha gets high marks from me for its visual appeal. Perhaps not so much on the cabinet, but the playfield and backglass definitely provide a late 50s/early 60s vibe of paradise with their hula girls and tropical undertones. A pinball friend helped me get my game going (before he bought it from me) so I was able to get a few flips in -- enough to tell me this pin has a lot going for it for an EM of this era.

I agree with past reviews that multi-player games are the way to go, but the lively pops and dual bonus buildups give a player something to shoot for. . . provided you can keep the ball from falling between the canyon between the flippers. My game had a center post installed that helped some with that. ;)

This is a beautiful game - that should be enough, but it's actually loads of fun when you start playing it with other people. As a single player game its good, but the bonus features and "Gobble Hole" make it a fantastic challenge game for 2 players. For an early EM, the double bonus gobble hole is a great feature that really changes strategy. Since the bonus does NOT reset between players or even games, you can build up the bonus on Red and Yellow to 100pts, but you can lose those points to the next player! The double bonus gobble hole in the center makes it even more fun, since you can intentionally end your ball by shooting it down the double bonus gobble hole (when lit) and get as much as 400pts! That's a lot on a machine that has a fixed 1,000pt light - i.e. nobody gets 2,000pts theoretically. The bumpers a great on this machine and the bells are really pleasing, actually. The only issue I have with it is the giant chasm between the flippers! Some owners have put a post between them right over the Gottlieb logo. I chose not to do that yet on mine. One reason is that I could score over 1000pts on a 3 ball game too easily with the post in place (temporarily). In general, I found this machine to be MORE fun to play over time, rather than more boring the more I play it. I also like playing against other pinball players who aren't use the huge gap between the flippers - definite home advantage. I don't regret buying this game at all.

I'm writing this assuming the game has had a center post added between the flippers. As I said over at IPDB, without a center post this game is like a schoolyard bully holding a ball up out of a kid's reach. We've all played some games with some big flipper gaps (Fashion Show comes to mind for some reason) but this one is just mean. Anyway, with that said...

Aloha is almost two different games: a really fun two-player game and a really dull one-player game. Even by myself I usually play it as two-player. The risk / reward with the bonus and gobble hole is great with a friend but pretty boring by yourself. The side rollovers to raise the red and yellow bonuses aren't easy shots either. The skill shot and upper bumpers are great. No free game except on score.

Very, very pretty game. The playfield is just as nice as the backglass. I wonder why there aren't lights behind the girl in the center of the backglass. Can't criticize the look otherwise. It sounds like a carnival when the bonus is high and you get that lit gobble hole.

This is an outstanding and gorgeous two-player game with great sounds - and that's it.

*Wife approval* "No, you should keep it!" That's her on the couple of times I've thought of trading it. And she loves the ding-ding-ding-ding-ding double bonus. Pretty thin ice though. *little edit* Just cleaned mine up and got everything nice and just pop-pop-pop...I can't let go of one of the prettiest games ever.

Aloha should be the reigning Drain Monster. Very wide flipper gap, makes up for no side out lanes, It can be brutal.

High scoring can happen if you get all of the Bonus features lit. With the carry over bonus scoring, and the ability to steel your opponents built up bonus scores, can be a blast.

Aloha is the first pinball game that I played where I thought from before I even plunged the ball... this game needs to be modified.

The Pros:
This game is gorgeous. Roy Parker may not have done his most detailed work he has ever done, but the art pax is functional as well as filled with grass skirted hula beauties! From the plunge, you have the lights cycling between surrounding the top 3 lanes for your skill shot. Hit a dead pop... your skill shot moves. This may be the best skill/nudging start to a game I have ever seen from this era, and just about any other. A true challenge trying to anticipate where the ball is going to go and how many dead pops it will take to put the lit lane on so your scores from the pops increase.

The Cons:
While there are no outlanes on this table, none are needed. There isn't a space between the 2" flippers, there is a gaping maw of pinball death. Work those slings, because you are gonna use them more than you will use your flippers. Most of the tables had a bouncing post added between the flippers to make the game more "playable". I'm gonna agree with the modification with two thumbs up on this.

The Takeaway:
I'd love to play a copy of this deck with the center post mod, I think that the game would last much longer. There isn't much to shoot for on this table, but saucers and the the gobble hole is always in the middle of the action. That and the gobbler seems to take your ball when you don't want it to, and doesn't live up to it's name when double 100's and the double scores when lit. The game I played had a replay set to 600 pts, so this was 2/3rds of your replay score with one shot. The definition of risk/reward, right there. A great playing game for the era when "tuned". Without the center post, expect ball times to average around 8 seconds per. ball.

Fun game for its era. I love how you can build up the red and yellow bonuses seperately and the risk/reward of going for a higher bonus vs when to collect so you don't use it. I also really love that it has a gobble hole where you can collect both bonuses (doubled if lit!), but you sacrifice a ball to do it. Also having the gobble so close to the other bonus collect saucers makes for risky shooting. Beautiful artwork as well.