Pinside rating

This game received 242 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.085 _/10

8.085

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #56 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game design: 8.021

Artwork: 8.683

Sounds/Music: 7.271

Other Aspects: 8.133

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 8 of us have rated this game.

7.931

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Ranking history

An overview of this machine's ranking over the last years. Lower is better.

Rating history

An overview of this machine's rating over the last years. Higher is better.

Found 117 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 117 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 5.

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9.487/10

21 days ago

???

Wmasspin

Pinside member

Whately, MA

<1y 16,000 1 1 10 1

One of Bally's best playing ,keep you coming back for more.

Wmasspin has owned this game in the past.

8.704/10

24 days ago

JRC

JRC6000

Pinside member

Bon Air, VA

<1y 27,150 37 4 6 1

I like the old school multiball and the challenge of hitting the captive ball. I keep coming back trying to figure out the right timing to get the captive ball all the way.

9.247/10

28 days ago

RIV

SteveRivet

Pinside member

Ashburn, VA

7y 30,150 27 2 20

After a long session on a perfect example this weekend I realized I'd forgotten how great this machine is. It's critical that all of the features work right and machine is set up properly, and I've noticed on routed machines in the past certain parts were screwy, impacting overall play. Only thing I dislike on the playfield is the gap in the Orb targets can set up an SDTM drain a little easily.

For the time period, this is one of best Bally solid states out there, with plenty of shots, decent speech/sounds for the time, and playfield / backglass art of the Paragon / Lost World / Viking quality.

SteveRivet has this game on the wishlist.

7.987/10

3 months ago

DIA

mrossman5

Pinside member

Warren, PA

3y 163K 2,457 4 176

This and Fathom are my two favorite games from this era. I might even prefer the gameplay of Centaur a little more than fathom. Multiball is incredible for the time and the callouts are great.

8.276/10

4 months ago

LEX

ssjakie

Pinside member

6y 17,200 5 14 19

After owning 3 centaurs i feel like an expert.... Haha, seriously this is one of the only tables that lets you forget everything else around you. The sound is inviting you to become one with the machine and it plays you -> bad move human :)

It's hard to get those 5 balls out and even with 2 balls out you have to work.

If it plays slow or cluncky then your machine is not dialed in the way it should be.....It begins slow and ends in mayhem and it will hypnotize you like no other machine can.

Compared to my addams family or shadow it holds its ground and thats impressive!

ssjakie currently owns this game.

6.221/10

5 months ago

ECW

Ecw0930

Pinside member

Fredericksburg, VA

1y 40,900 142 1 75

Y'all telling me this game rates about the same as Getaway on the Top 100? . It's not even close.

Maybe for it's time it was novel and cool. Nostalgia and all. The art is the coolest, weirdest, worst, beat, ugliest, most awesome mix of whatever it is! Hahaha.

The game has some cool shots and ruleset is decent. If not too easy. Fun time.

But cmon..... Play it for the novelty and move on. Unless you grew up playing it and still have a hard-on for it. It plays slow. Sloppy. Sounds are OLD. The game is OLD. It plays OLD.

Dont rank it up with the high class just because it USED to be the shit. It's not.

Jump on it if you have a shot. Take a spin and say you've played it. That's all you'll need.

4 Pinsiders flagged this rating/review.

9.077/10

6 months ago

LSB

lazySUNBATHER

Pinside member

2y 43,900 9 40

Love the BLACK and WHITE theme
With splash of colors. A few well placed
Color LED lamps really make this game pop.

9.478/10

8 months ago

ARK

arkuz

Pinside member

5y 47,050 145 11

This is my second time around on owning this game, and should have held on to it first time around in the 90s. I wasn't quite as exposed at the time to all of the games in the world to appreciate its uniqueness.

The art and sound package is a masterpiece of creative and aesthetic commitment to the theme, which includes some intentional ugliness as it should. Let's all appreciate how hard it is to get something like this to market anymore (Metallica and Walking Dead being exceptions to the rule). And not only is the multiball kickout a unique mechanism of interest to techies, it also makes for a wonderfully surprising attract mode when it shoots out all the balls on its own. And much love for the ball-holding magnet -- an early use of that feature (following on from Gorgar if any others).

While everything this game offers in terms of rules and action are rich and exciting for the period, one does eventually master the shots and you, as a human, can "destroy Centaur"! So perhaps the only con here is not having an extra display digit -- rolling it over, like with all SS machines of the era, requires you paying attention to mark it. Doing so multiple times becomes annoying to track. I started another thread soliciting info on how to fix that, with some great responses.

Lastly, I must recommend getting an overlay for the playfield. My machine has wear, and slight cupping in spots while waiting for me to spare a full work week to do a PF swap. In the meantime, I grabbed an overlay for it and it really came to life as though brand new, zippy fast and smooth!

7.539/10

1 year ago

JNS

TecumsehPlissken

Pinside member

Longwood, FL

6y 112K 2,238 10 103

one of the most classic bally games of all time , & a better player then Fathom IMO with the bonus that you can get one for a better price

9.789/10

1 year ago

AJ

SunnRAT

Pinside member

6y 100K 1,186 79

Arguably the best original theme and art design for me, personally. Game play is simple but challenging. I love the inline drop targets with captive ball and the idea of hitting rows of drop targets in order. All while playing to evil drone-like sounds. The voice is from another planet, and with reverb! Centaur is a complete package of everything that makes pinball great.

Update: Slightly increased my rating in regards to rules/logic. I love that there are different ways to play this pin and not entirely focus on one single shot like other pins. There is much strategy to this pin and it really make use of every feature that it has to offer. A feature I've really been enjoying lately in pinball is the ability to switch inlane/outlane lights. It is represented here quite well. There is more to do in this pin than some people would actually realize.

Something that I've really found myself giving more appreciation to are in-game taunts. The game will call you out when you roll over an already lit lane or miss out on a double value shot. To this day, this pin holds up as one of the closest to being "alive." Has just as much, if not more personality than most top ranked pins.

The best of it's era and certainly a nice compliment to any other game in a big or small collection.

SunnRAT edited previous rating on October 24, 2020.

10.000/10

1 year ago

???

brucea1956

Pinside member

Delton, MI

8y 43,650 109 13 10

Fantastic art and sounds.

brucea1956 currently owns this game.

7.129/10

1 year ago

DWD

Graysonsdad

Pinside member

Hamilton, ON

2y 74,600 2,525 5 73

Ugliest fun you can have lol

9.220/10

1 year ago

TKM

Daditude

Pinside Moderator

Rockwall, TX

2y 242K 6,470 11 260

One of the best early SS games with a fantastic art package. The gameplay will have you playing again and again. This is a solid game and a must-own if you collect games from this era.

8.615/10

1 year ago

JTC

Trainman15148

Pinside member

4y 31,975 45 18

When I was a kid, Centaur and its art package freaked me out. I remember thinking the game was demonic! Now that I’m older - way older - I can appreciate the overall design. For a predominantly black and white machine, it really stands out and the use of what little color there is as accents really works out well. I’ll never understand what drugs Jim took to come up with the half man half motorcycle humanoid with all the crazy weaponry but it looks cool and the women on the machine, well, what can I say! The gameplay is great for the era and I like the rollovers to increase the bonus. The rule set that rewards you for dropping targets in order is a strong plus and getting “orbs” as a reward is a great touch. I also like how the outlanes are designed there’s a way to get an orb there too. The only thing I think the designers missed is the queen’s chamber. I’m just not a fan. Had they done something different like what they did on EBD or Fathom, it would have been much better in my view. Even so, they did distinguish the shots you could take and had appropriate call outs like “only single value” when the easier shot is made. All in all, it’s a great deck and I’m happy to have one in my collection.

8.468/10

1 year ago

???

luigi90

Pinside apprentice

Unknown

1y 7,750 2 6

Really fantastic art, gameplay that rewards accuracy and control. For me it is absolutely one of the best in this time period. Unfortunately many people think the same which led to the price being what it is.

8.560/10

1 year ago

JDS

Chromiesnwhites

Pinside member

Spokane, WA

2y 17,750 18 10

What a blast!! I need one in my collection! Wow! I love how dark the artwork is, and multiball kicks @$$!!!

Chromiesnwhites has this game on the wishlist.

5.970/10

2 years ago

DEM

Brutilus

Pinside member

2y 25,550 61 1 24

After a dozen plays at MAGFest, my opinion on Centaur comes down to this: the artwork combined with the lighting on the cabinet was actively repellent to me. I found the art ugly to the point of it being distracting from the play. It's a solid table layout. Re-themed, it might be a table I go back to.

Brutilus edited previous rating on January 31, 2019.

9.154/10

2 years ago

LUC

Lucas66568

Pinside member

Bologna

3y 17,000 27

Centaur looks like a normal pin until you discover the multiball function. If you complete orbs (if in order, you will add a ball into play) you will have a ball to launch when you hit the upper right target "release orbs". I love this machine especially for this feature. Not a fan of the artwork. For the rest it's my favourite early 80s pinball

9.600/10

2 years ago

MAG

FancyFrank

Pinside member

4y 23,150 5 7

The Centaur beats imho all EE machines. I owned one for more than 10 years. There is nothing comparable in the pinball universe. The callouts, the multiballs, the sounds, the design, everything is outstanding.

A fantastic machine!

8.060/10

2 years ago

D D

davidlldennis

Silverball Chronicles

2y 55,550 323 2 34

A Bally 1981 classic. Knew right away what I had to do with simple rules, but my goodness it was not simple to play! The artbis unlike any other pin. I'm not a fan of the piano bike thing, but I appreciate how awesome the artistic aspect it. Very risky, very different with black and white. Screams cool.

8.535/10

2 years ago

DEF

DefaultGen

Pinside member

Morrisville, NC

8y 120K 2,806 10 166

Can someone tell me what happened to shooting drop target banks in order? What a great gimmick that is.

Oh also this table is a god damn work of art.

9.032/10

2 years ago

???

Jellocheck

Pinside apprentice

München

2y 16,650 3 4 6

Centaur 2, probably the only one in its conceived simplicity, effective clarity, the only masterpiece rigorously reduced to the core element of a pinball machine! An unparalleled caliber. With a little practice and a lot of enduring skill, you will find here to his strict, but fair master, steadily demanding reflex orgies. A Multiball chases the other on the game worthy of the field and is also, in addition, perfected by its visually outrageous, brilliant extravagance, as atmospheric, as well as distinctive rhythmic to a harsh unified whole!
In the sense, a, by the self-confessed sommelier, timeless concessioned Buket, exquisite power!
A game of oppressive elegance, beyond the usual, colorful good mood of the sea, it rises gracefully. Immerse yourself in the intimidating, rough, rude end time events that force you to be immersed!
Centaur 2, which, through its idiosyncratic Cabinet, succeeds in embodying the Centaur Motorcycle Hybrid even more. Put you side by side, more directly than you would like, right in the middle of the desert. Rapid Fire was created to help Centaur find his ideal shape!
Fight them in a repetitively motivating soundscape against insurmountable armies of well-proportioned female insects and oil-smeared, mechanical hybrid beings, pierced in coarse leather sadomasochistic outfit, who oppose them with such rigorous mercilessness, roughly that only very few of them should succeed tirelessly be able to withdraw warlike suction! Collect orbs to defy them. Collect them to ensure yourself an experience that can not be forgotten!
Centaur 2, my absolute favorite! Enjoy at your own risk! Best regards, a truly obsessed ;-)

Jellocheck edited previous rating on August 16, 2018.
Jellocheck currently owns this game.

9.642/10

2 years ago

TPD

tomdrum

Pinside member

Port Matilda, PA

3y 89,300 1,506 8 10

One of the best if not the best early Bally solid state game. Artwork, sound and game play are top notch.

tomdrum has owned this game in the past.

4.628/10

2 years ago

MLP

tabascoman77

Pinside member

3y 31,400 2 97

I get why "Centaur" might be "underrated" or even in somebody's "Top 10"...I simply don't agree. When you play this bad boy, you think "Gottlieb did this". You'd be wrong. It's a Bally table. The artwork is what drew me to it. It looks like Mad Max by way of H.R. Giger. Unfortunately, it's just pretty to look at and not much else. it's another "Gorgar" where you listen to some guy telling you to "destroy Centaur" and a couple other things as you make attempts to hit targets that aren't entirely aligned with the flippers. So, you spend game after game attempting to make shots into little side tunnels. The rule set isn't entirely clear here without instructions and even when you do figure it out, it's a bit convoluted. The left tunnel rule alone is very involved. In order to complete anything, you need pinpoint accuracy at all times, hitting drop targets the size of a thumbnail in order. Doing so gives you a multi-ball reward which is fine but this isn't anything we haven't seen before. It's dated. Additionally, as beautiful as the art and design is, it feels tacked on to a generic drop-target fest. The audio is also terrible. I get the table is nearly 40 years old (Jesus, I'm old...) but the repetition of it is what grates. Not for me.

8.710/10

2 years ago

???

drfrightner

St Louis Pinball

3y 84,550 1,074 85 1

This is by far one of the most underrated games ever. This game is amazing and probably inspired games today like TNA and many others. This is a true classic.

drfrightner edited previous rating on June 18, 2020.

2 Pinsiders flagged this rating/review. 2 Pinsiders starred this rating !

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There are 117 ratings (that include a comment) on this game. Currently showing results page 1 of 5.

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