Williams
Bad Cats Pinside Rating
This game received 110 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.584 /10
Bad Cats
Score breakdown
Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:
Game Design: 7.264
Artwork: 8.307
Sounds/Music: 6.603
Other Aspects: 7.706
Pinside staff rating
This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 3 of us have rated this game.
Found 62 ratings (with comment) on this game
There are 62 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 3.
List options
Saint Paul, MN
6.846/10
8 months ago
An ordinary, fun but forgettable game in a lot of ways. The scoring is unbalanced; shooting the left ramp repeatedly is the best way to get points by far. The theme is original, and it's got a lot of humorous sound effects. I enjoy it for the humor and original theme.
7.015/10
1 year ago
Snagged one of these as a great deal at a pinball show with no background on the machine and... it's fun! However, it ranks as an average system 11 game to me, and not worth the premium price as compared to other similar System 11s. If I had to keep it forever I personally would rather have Whirlwind, Cyclone, and High Speed for starters... all of which currently sell for less than Bad Cats.
As for the game itself. It's fun! I switched out the rubbers on mine and it actually plays pretty fast. Hungry outlianes and lots of side to side motion going for the drop targets. The spinning wheel gets used maybe once per game and is overall pretty underutilized. Even with snappy flippers the Tiger ramp is a bit hard to hit. Grossly unsuitable for tournament play with a 20,000,000 point tiger ramp special and progressive jackpot that carries between players. Music is good and I'll never get tired of "meow meow meow meow" on that center ramp. Speaking of which, you cannot endlessly loop the center ramp for points, but you can on the left ramp. The varitarget is neat, but underutilized. Cool backbox animation.
I would not recommend this as a first/only pin as there are many other pins I'd rather have in this price range, but as something different or as part of a collection this is great.
As for the game itself. It's fun! I switched out the rubbers on mine and it actually plays pretty fast. Hungry outlianes and lots of side to side motion going for the drop targets. The spinning wheel gets used maybe once per game and is overall pretty underutilized. Even with snappy flippers the Tiger ramp is a bit hard to hit. Grossly unsuitable for tournament play with a 20,000,000 point tiger ramp special and progressive jackpot that carries between players. Music is good and I'll never get tired of "meow meow meow meow" on that center ramp. Speaking of which, you cannot endlessly loop the center ramp for points, but you can on the left ramp. The varitarget is neat, but underutilized. Cool backbox animation.
I would not recommend this as a first/only pin as there are many other pins I'd rather have in this price range, but as something different or as part of a collection this is great.
7.663/10
3 years ago
Super quirky theme and just an overall fun game. It epitomizes what I think of when considering system 11 games.
7.996/10
4 years ago
Let's say a slight little la-la-la and pretend that tiger ramp shot isn't so easy to repeat and doesn't throw the game balance off...
This is a VERY fun game, too cute and funny, and I love seeing a backglass animation on a game that wasn't made in the 60s. "Meow meow meow meow!" I love the odd sort-of-vari-target. The seafood table could do without the "spin again," but that's a minor quibble.
Prices on these seem to have gone up a lot over the last few years, but I guess that's true for most of these. On the wishlist.
*Wife approval* "Whoa, this game is about cats!" No further comment needed.
This is a VERY fun game, too cute and funny, and I love seeing a backglass animation on a game that wasn't made in the 60s. "Meow meow meow meow!" I love the odd sort-of-vari-target. The seafood table could do without the "spin again," but that's a minor quibble.
Prices on these seem to have gone up a lot over the last few years, but I guess that's true for most of these. On the wishlist.
*Wife approval* "Whoa, this game is about cats!" No further comment needed.
6.986/10
4 years ago
Sydney
Bad cats is in our house cos we love cats and the thing looks beautiful. If you want a retro attractive piece of art for your livingroom, this is it.
Feels good. A bit unbalanced, very cheap drain. But that's ok. Fun to play once in a while when you want a quick game. It is one cool cat. Family will not let it go!
Feels good. A bit unbalanced, very cheap drain. But that's ok. Fun to play once in a while when you want a quick game. It is one cool cat. Family will not let it go!
5.998/10
5 years ago
Bologna
I played this machine at the Pinball Museum in Bologna, and liked it. It has a lot of satisfying shots, and even without multiball, I love it. Unfortunately it suffers from a really bad made ROM, making the score really unbalanced. Examples:
1) progressive jackpot up to 20M, an enormity for an alphanumeric (final score depends mostly on how high it is)
2) 20M Tiger Ramp on last ball with 3-5 tiger ramps in a row
Software isn't complete: some things are missing, like replay animation and tournament settings. This game needs a new ROM, maybe with a multiball kit, it would become nice.
1) progressive jackpot up to 20M, an enormity for an alphanumeric (final score depends mostly on how high it is)
2) 20M Tiger Ramp on last ball with 3-5 tiger ramps in a row
Software isn't complete: some things are missing, like replay animation and tournament settings. This game needs a new ROM, maybe with a multiball kit, it would become nice.
7.946/10
5 years ago
I ran into this machine in NY. I had never seen it but, system 11? what the heck, I'm in. I liked it, different but that's no bad. Strange layout, rather open and seems to have been missing something in the middle. It was a VERY well cared for game. I would get one for 1K if I ever ran into one.
6.319/10
5 years ago
Malmö
Plus: Interesting playfield layout. Cool and original theme. Nice backglass animation and the seafood wheel toy is always fun.
Drawback: A little shallow in the rules and scoring department. Asides from the left ramp there is not much more to aim for if you want to stack points. The call outs and music has very little variation to them, so this machine sounds pretty boring or annoying after a while.
Ugly cabinet color that will stand out like a dirt stain if you put this next to f.i. a Theatre of Magic, T2 or TAF. On the other hand; this theme would probably look great as a companion piece to "Mousin Around"...
Drawback: A little shallow in the rules and scoring department. Asides from the left ramp there is not much more to aim for if you want to stack points. The call outs and music has very little variation to them, so this machine sounds pretty boring or annoying after a while.
Ugly cabinet color that will stand out like a dirt stain if you put this next to f.i. a Theatre of Magic, T2 or TAF. On the other hand; this theme would probably look great as a companion piece to "Mousin Around"...
5.646/10
5 years ago
Classic sys11 game- not on par with diner, taxi or WW IMHO. Sounds and music don’t do it any favors even for 1989. Tough to find a nice one just like all sys11’s. The game seems to have its niche following- but the pinside ranking pretty much says it all this time ...
7.527/10
5 years ago
Geel
Fun odd game, has 3 ways to score big. Jackpots, 10x max fish bone-us for 5mil (if the vari target works. rebuild it so works perfect on mine) and last ball 20mil shot.
2 things I would have liked different is a fixed jackpot and not have the jackpot as an award from the seafood wheel.
Rocking consecutive shots on both ramps is a lot of fun.
Edit: found out that you can disable the jackpot award from the seafood wheel.
2 things I would have liked different is a fixed jackpot and not have the jackpot as an award from the seafood wheel.
Rocking consecutive shots on both ramps is a lot of fun.
Edit: found out that you can disable the jackpot award from the seafood wheel.
7.457/10
6 years ago
Some people say "so all you do is keep shooting the left ramp?", and yes, that is how you score the most points but there are other fun things to do on it too. SEAFOOD wheel is pretty cool. I actually really enjoy the theme of this game and I absolutely LOVE the music. Art looks really good too. Not my top sys 11, but it's one to take a look at.
7.255/10
6 years ago
Béziers
this is my game this one is a time machine for me,
the backglass is problably the most beautyfull one u are in the cats 'stupidities routine the playfield atrwork the backglass all the sounds just loop the loop perfectly and show u that u are playing a none multiball piece of work
the backglass is problably the most beautyfull one u are in the cats 'stupidities routine the playfield atrwork the backglass all the sounds just loop the loop perfectly and show u that u are playing a none multiball piece of work
9.676/10
6 years ago
There is something special about this game, especially if you love cats. Great artwork and music, with some fun shots to make. While other games may have multiball, they don't have a seafood wheel! Of all the pins in my house, this gets the most play by everyone.
You too can add your own comment by rating this game! Click here to rate this game!
Over the years
Visualizing this game's rating and rank over the years
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
