Bally

Centaur

Pinside Rating

This game received 285 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.035 _/10

8.035

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #76 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.957

Artwork: 8.695

Sounds/Music: 7.113

Other Aspects: 8.067

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 7 of us have rated this game.

7.688

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Found 140 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 140 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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7.318/10

10 years ago

BDS

PinB

Pinside member

12y 157K 1,602 345

A classic that looks as good as it plays. "Destroy Centaur!"

PinB edited previous rating on April 11, 2017.

8.207/10

10 years ago

???

The Centaur of Greek mythology was human above the waist, and horse below. The Centaur on this backglass is a Pig-Man creature / outlaw biker / cyborg mash-up, defiantly ugly, with a threatening, cyberpunk sort of edge. (His chick companion is kinda hot, though, I have to say.) The artwork may turn many away upfront, though the black & white layout of the playfield is striking, and fares much better.

This table has a good array of challenging shots, and several distinctive features: standup targets that must be hit in a certain order; eerie reverb speech; 2 to 5 ball multiball that emerges in a very cool way from a hidden location; excellent, sequential vertical "domino" targets behind a captive ball (a la "Fathom", but more of them); outlane return-gates that reward controlled and timely nudging. I'm probably forgetting something here . . . .

For those who find this game on the slow side, the counter-argument is that there is something pretty good about a design that encourages more deliberate shot-making, rather than forcing you into an overly frenetic pace that is all reaction and no thinking, to the player's detriment.

3500 of these tables were made, but good luck finding one. I was an avid pin-fan long before Centaur came out in 1981, played various places on both coasts and in-between, but the first one of these I ever saw was just a few weeks ago, in 2013, and I have to call it a remarkable discovery. If you can get past that artwork, it definitely has long-term-keeper potential. (Some outfit is selling an alternate, mirrored version of this backglass, and I'm clearly wondering just what that might do for the appearance ?)

Heretic_9 edited previous rating on August 03, 2013.

6.846/10

10 years ago

ATE

AdamTheGamer

Pinside member

11y 56,150 270 2 133

I had a lot of fun with Centaur. The game play is pretty good, and the art is awesome. Definitely worth trying!

9.011/10

10 years ago

RPG

RussG

Pinside member

11y 43,900 186 13 19

I like what dtown says in his review and I share his thoughts. For a game of this era (early 80's) Centaur has to be one of the most advanced and innovative. This machine literally is/was an engineering feat.
Many firsts from Bally here, and many not duplicated again.
Playfield artwork is incredible and color scheme brilliant. Lights are amazing and if you upgrade to tasteful LED's you have a showstopper gem like no other.
My particular favorite of the game is the sounds, especially the haunting dystopian voice with echoing affect that typifies that timeframe. That alone makes the game and was another major milestone/advancement for that time.
The game is a major piece of playable art and easily deserves its place in the top 40 of all time among much less deserving titles.

RussG currently owns this game.

2 Pinsiders flagged this. 2 Pinsiders starred this!

8.268/10

10 years ago

BEE

NJpinballNYC

Inactive member

Hoboken, NJ

10y 7,000 1 1 7

My favorite early SS game. 80's soundboard brings me back to the old arcade days. Still as fun to play as it was back in 1981. Would love to own one.

3.539/10

10 years ago

*I*

sterlingpinball

Pinside member

11y 49,300 336 3 24

Don't understand why this is in top 100 so many pins better than this slow dinosaur

5 Pinsiders flagged this.

10.000/10

10 years ago

DMF

dtown

Pinside member

10y 76,900 1,292 2 20

For me Centaur is pinball perfection. There's really nothing like it. Patla and Faris were definitely ouside of the box with this one. Amazing black and white artwork. Automatic kicker for multi ball. Unheard of at the time. I love the layout and the rules make it quite difficult. And of course, how can you forget the say it again sound effects. Totally awesome and a shame it was never used again, except for Centaur II. Average price of $1,400? Not in Pennsylvania. This baby commands 2k plus even in rough shape.

dtown has owned this game in the past.

8.122/10

11 years ago

VAX

Pvax

Inactive member

Los Angeles, CA

11y 9,000 12

Artwork on this machine is incredible. Good fun, too!

9.099/10

11 years ago

NIK

Three60in

Pinside member

Rockford, IL

11y 62,050 465 24 7 1

Classic that deserves to be in the top 50 of all time. The theme may put you off at first glance but put a few games in (ive put many years in) and it will keep you coming back. The multiball / orb rules are way ahead of its time. Beating that high score you got 2 years ago has never been so challenging. Amazing game.

7.977/10

11 years ago

SZM

MrJones

Inactive member

Telki

11y 16,500 1 11 13

It was a good machine of its time, I played a lot with it. Still a fun to play with it sometimes, but you do not miss it if you can't play for a long time. The artwork is fantastic.

8.176/10

11 years ago

MLV

Pinball-is-great

Pinside member

Lafayette, LA

12y 147K 5,016 3 102

Artwork is unique and cool. Game play is good, has multi-ball. Lighting ok, sounds are good. Awesome pinball machine for 1981. I can see why Centaur is considered collectable.

8.484/10

11 years ago

DRC

vtec16

Inactive member

Norcal, CA

16y 65,400 631 3 71

I honestly cant understand how someone could rate this pin a one. Wow is all I can say to that. I really enjoy this game. Like everyone I love the art and the sound. The game flow is excellent and it can be challenging. I have memories of this pin from childhood. I loved it then and I love it now. Anyone that thinks this pin is a 1 rating does not exist in the force to me ;)

8.828/10

11 years ago

ZUL

Caucasian2Step

Evil McBooty

12y 163K 1,455 51 1011

Centaur is an absolutely wonderful game. This is the best example of a game that bridges EM rulesets and the more modern and complex tables of the 90's and beyond.

The Pros:
Jim Patla and his entire team did a marvelous job considering the tech available, this game is a wonder of engineering. The amount of information packed into a 16kb (yes that's right Kilobyte) Rom is staggering. It's almost as impressive as Eugene Jarvis cramming 20k of code to create Defender. Game play requires skill, aim (don't mess up your orbs seq.) and nudging from the out to the inlanes. inline drop targets, magnets at the top of the pf when multiball starts when you hit the timed skill shot from the flippers.

The Cons:
No multiball multiplier, but this may be ridiculous with 5 balls on the pf. Enjoy the chaos while you can.

The Takeaway:
The game play is absolutely superb. The art is incredible. Paul Faris did a brilliant job with the entire package. Please remember that pinball is a getaway from reality. It is fantasy, just like reality TV. Some people still don't get it though. I think that this is their own (daft) opinion and their opinion matters to them. This same pinball crowd would probably like yellow smiley faces on their shirts and believe that Strawberry Shortcake is a GREAT theme for a pinball game. For these points of view, I have a joke to pose to them: What's black, white and red all over...?

Update: The more I play this game, the more I find that the strategies are directed towards building and collecting bonus (my favorite game ruleset from this vintage) and that it tops out with the bonus collect from the right lane to the top of the PF. Combined with an O-R-B-S multiball stack, this means that you are constantly juggling to control the deck while deciding where you want to place your shots as accurately as possible. Releasing all the captive O-R-B-S is always satisfying. It's not always easy to get to bonus max 5x, but this game definitely needs to be tuned and adjusted to keep players from running away with their scores on this table. Getting to that maxed out bonus SHOULD be very difficult to do. Read your manual, make your rules as hard as you can, steepen this table out and wax it to a shiny surface. Consider removing the upper outlane bumpers and see how well you can play pinball now...

Update v2:
I have had to nastify this deck even more to keep it interesting. With that in mind, I am playing it less and less. So, the dream is over for me. I'm selling my copy to make room for other games I'd rather play. Who wants to trade for a Frontier?

Caucasian2Step edited previous rating on February 10, 2016.

8.665/10

11 years ago

BDH

crassmage

Pinside member

11y 51,300 664 7 27

my favorite game of all time, the artwork is great to say the least
Edit: I now own one and it is better than I remember. Don't want to play my other games now, very fun.

Edit 2:. I moved it along. Nothing but fond memories though. Became a bit easy but is so easy on the eyes. Wouldn't mind another someday. Just getting a bit spendy now..

crassmage edited previous rating on May 18, 2020.
crassmage has owned this game in the past.

7.610/10

11 years ago

JAY

VisitorQ

Pinside member

Danville, PA

12y 93,050 3,579 5 62

Pure Evil! The speech in this game is haunting!

Game was really ahead of it's time but it's time has passed and that is why I had to let it go. In a large collection this would be a great game but newer titles with ramps, DMD and deeper complex rules run circles around most any older title.

With all that said, this is one of the best titles from that era of games.

VisitorQ has owned this game in the past.

8.038/10

11 years ago

DSD

Winball_Pizard

Inactive member

Austin, TX

12y 75,400 1,104 12 54

I got to play Centaur at PAPA 15 for the first time and I really enjoyed it. I think some people are turned off by the artwork on the playfield being black and white but I think thats part of the charm of the game. I think its unusual and has a really weird biker/mutant/post apocalyptic theme that works for me. I didn't get into the game to much so I don't know what the rules are exactly but it has a ton of features especially when you compare it to other games of the era. Its got drop targets, captive ball, a magnet that freezes the ball at the start of multiball and some posts in the outlanes that make it possible to bump the ball back into the inlane through a one way gate. Very cool game!

Winball_Pizard edited previous rating on March 23, 2013.
Winball_Pizard has this game on the wishlist.

7.049/10

11 years ago

JMS

swampfire

Pinside+ Addict

12y 168K 13,602 48

Hard game to find. I started looking for one after playing it at Lyons Classic Pinball, and found one with a CPR playfield. Centaur's playfield artwork is in my top 3 for the era (the other 2 are Fathom and Embryon), and the sound is amazing. Gameplay isn't "deep" but is fairly sophisticated: ORBS and 1234 targets must be hit sequentially. Combining inline drop targets with a captive ball was genius.

I sold my Centaur for a few reasons. The ORBS targets are flaky unless you mod them (search YouTube for "centaur drop target"). I also didn't feel up to painting the cabinet after I bought the stencils, and the price had risen to a point where the fun/$$ ratio no longer made sense.

If you're a die-hard SS junkie, you'll love this game. But if you're drifting into DMD like I am, it's pricy in restored condition. My advice is to find a beat-up Centaur, and just enjoy it as it is.

9.363/10

11 years ago

DMV

vster23

Pinside member

Kansas City, MO

13y 58,700 799 5 13

When it comes to artwork this pin is one of the best. I have more fun playing this game than I do some of the newer pinball games. I also like the music and sounds, so 80's. This game was so ahead of its time and has some very challenging shots.

vster23 currently owns this game.

8.969/10

11 years ago

DMG

dgpinball

Pinside member

Abbotsford, BC

12y 88,900 1,661 147 72

Not sure what you can say about Centaur, it was so far ahead of it's time back then, and still is an amazing game today!! Artwork is stunning, sound is brilliant, game play is engaging and keeps you coming back for more! One of the true classics of the early 80's!!

dgpinball currently owns this game.

6.421/10

11 years ago

???

benjy

Inactive member

Unknown

12y 3,500 11

8.301/10

11 years ago

EKA

Flamethrower

Inactive member

Oakland, CA

12y 50,400 238 23

Totally challenging and addictive. Yes the art/theme is weird, but once you get over the weirdness, you start to appreciate how beautifully done it is. I would love to own this game'

8.643/10

12 years ago

???

jbow

Inactive member

Unknown

12y 3,750 6 7

Played this one over at my friends house and wish it was in my collection. This is a fun game!

8.200/10

12 years ago

BOB

beatmaster

Mods for your pinballs

Beauharnois

12y 102K 7,387 7 17

this machine was ahead of its time, 5 balls multiballs in 1981 was amazing and still is in 2012.
artwork is dark but also great, the multiball possibilities are great, the game is adictive, sound for this period is was great, with the reverb (when working).
overall, this is a great machine to have in a collection of early ss.

beatmaster has owned this game in the past.

7.676/10

12 years ago

DJG

nasco62

Pinside member

Sydney

12y 67,800 801 14 54

Love the artwork on this game, good flow and great theming, if you love 80's classics you cant go past this game. Definately a players game where you need to perfect nudging. Would love to have in my collection.

8.868/10

12 years ago

LBE

Espo66

Inactive member

Trumbull, CT

12y 32,400 256 6 24

One of the best games ever made

Own(ed): Yes

Times Played: 100s

Positives:
This is one of those few pins where everthing comes together in a perfect package..the PF, artwork sounds, theme. They don't come much better than Centaur.
PF is stacked with challenging shots. Spelling ORBS is tougher than it looks. Mutiball start is awesome. Queens chamber shot feels great when made. Artwork is top notch and the reverb voice is spooky cool.

Negatives:
Not many. Can be tempermental to have all the switches working perfectly. Even after cap kit upgrade voice and sound contains hiss.

Recomendation:
Highly Recommened...A bit on the pricey side for this era game. I miss mine!

Espo66 has this game on the wishlist.

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