My least favorite Elvira table, but still fun. I love the throwback to old horror troupes.

This game really surprised me. Takes some time to get used to, but lots of fun once you start getting the shots flowing. Elvira is like pinball royalty, so I'm glad this theme has been revived. Wish the game didn't cost so much to own, but it's something to look forward to playing on location. Great machine overall!

I love games where mods really make the experience more fun... this game has some of the best mods. This is one of the best stern games ever made.

The layout is VERY similar to MM, but the shots are longer like AFM. The game has a great flow, deep rules, good humor and great art. One of Sterns top 5 games of all time.

The one drawback would be the price - the game has a lot of demand and the supply is limited.

I’ve only played about 50 games on EHOH, but I think it’s really well done and super fun. I love the layout and the shots on this game—everything feels natural and is fun to shoot. At points I get a little annoyed by the video clips slowing things down, but I forget all about that when the balls back in play—it’s just that much fun to shoot. I love that the lighting indications are easy to see and not ambiguous—sometimes I have a tough time with modern games blasting lights everywhere to the point that I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do. On this Playfield, it’s never a problem, and pretty much any shot they choose is a good time and feels rewarding to hit. This is my favorite modern Stern—not that I’ve played them all—but it’s got a mix of humor and gameplay that just works, and I really can’t imagine getting tired of it.

My family and friends have previously owned and/or currently own many of the top 100 machines on pinside.This machine is a huge favorite with the adults and owned in the family. This edition is the creme de la creme of all machines released. Deserves no less than the top 20 ranking on this site. It is adult themed, a lot of Elvira to be seen and heard and maybe a bit much for younger players and some adults.

For a third Elvira pin, EHOH did not rest on it laurels. This pin is beautiful, plays great and has enough depth to be a long term fixture in any gameroom. I get the free content of the old movies (that is why Elivera's Movie Macabre TV Show used them in the first place) but calling them cheesy is being kind. Not much criticism for an otherwise outstanding pin!

This is how great a pinball machine can be with no restrictions on the license and the license is involved in the game development. Game shots are very smooth, game is fun, funny, and well thought out. Playfield is amazing with the house being the highlight, but the crypt is great as well. Could swoon for a while over all the great aspects of this pinball, but it is fantastic and FUN!

fun from the first ball!
and the more you hit the more fun it is...

Great horror theme. Love the colors.

I got to play this game at Expo 2019.

The Pros:
Ummmmmmms, it's elvira? The mistress of the dark is BACK! This game is FUN. The theatre on this game, OG horror clips of the highest Bgrade rating and more silly-gore than you can shake a Gar-goil on a stick at. The lighting in particular is well designed. The haunted house is set up so that it reflects the colors of the modes running in the game. Multiball is straightforward and well done. The deadheads are now an active mode running along with all the rest of the action of the table simultaneously. At first the shots seem narrow, but they are well laid out and very make-able. This game should sell well and keep lots of pinheads happy. Using the button on the animated wheel to skillfully stop on the award you want. Why hasn't this been done this well before?

The Cons:
The kickout on the right shoots the ball directly across the PF. Sling-sling-out with consistency. I know that the power on the coil can be adjusted, but the direction of the VUK may not (?). You should not be punished for making a successful shot and then have the control taken out of your hands. Almost as bad as a badly adjusted kickout on MB. A semi-standard fan layout with most shots around the perimeter of the PF. Junk in the trunk can be accidentally started by the ball bumbling it's way into the exit. No one way gate?

The takeaway:
So far a really good game, will it be a really great game...? We shall see. As software updates come out, that will be the real test. There are lots of inserts on the PF that need to have code assigned to them. The best news is that just shooting this game is a hoot and that is always a good start. Updates will follow as the game code is flushed out.

Update:
The software and rules have gotten much better since I first played this game. The polish and depth is apparent. However, the playfield is the same. In particular, the kicker from the right hand side of the playfield is either too strong or too weak. This makes the game less than ideal for street operation. Better in a home, or a tourney environment. Good thing they added a ball saver when the ball spits out into the left outline as compared to the 3 targets on the left hand side of the pf. The game shoots well and the theme integration is excellent. Similar to Batman ‘66, mechanically complex mechanisms (just like any/all pinball games) fail or deteriorate in performance over time without proper care and maintenance. What can I say, Elvira has needs. But when she is happy, she is a lot of fun!

Update v.2:
Are there are two types of Elvira games. The first time is more common. Games that are not tuned or maintained to the ideal for this design to work properly. Unfortunately, that’s the most games on location. The second type is a Home player takes fantastic care of their game and make sure that everything is just right. When this happens, I have relatively straightforward fan loud becomes an incredible player and the ruleset design is one of the best that has ever been created. Unfortunately, this was the last game that Lyman sheets worked on for Sterne. The rules that is what makes this game. The multiple layers of modes multiples and the wizard modes are fantastic. The gap angry mode in particular is one of the most impressive displays of pinball code ever put together.

What this means for the game is that most location play it’s going to be less than ideal. Does this make this game unworthy of the street? I don’t think so. But you’re more likely to get the ideal experience from a home collector who pampers their copy and make sure that does everything that it should, when it should, no credit dots allowed!

Out of the three games with Elvira‘s name on it, the first is the most highly produced and unfortunately, the least refined ruleset. This led to Indianapolis 500 which had a very similar layout with a third flipper. Scared Stiff, the second Elvira game is a damn fine game in it’s own right. When the third installation of the series was first released, the rule set was not fully realized and it showed. Today, thanks to the brilliant work of Lyman Sheats, we have one of the best pinball games that Stern has ever created. Rest In Peace.

The music, artwork, animation, lighting and (when tuned) engineering is cohesive and gives this spooky and silly world under glass the theater it deserves. Dennis Nortman put together a great layout and toy with the Haunted mansion in the middle of this playfield. This game is a blast to play. Go a copy, play it and enjoy it. Frights, tongue and cheek goofiness, sexually charged humor that shows its power by using it and not taking itself so damn seriously. More than anything else the Elvira pinball trilogy shows how much fun the theme of the pinball game can be. If you don’t like everything about this game... it might be you. In the meantime, I’m going to play this game and thank Cassandra for being the only woman to grace pinball with her awesomeness 3 times!

Update v.3:
The art, sound, animations and rules a re great. Gappa Angry may be one of the best and most varied wizard modes ever created. That's the good news. The bad news is the playfield layout leads to balls hanging up (behind the house on 696 creepy street) that will start our game out from the first plunge with a "ball missing" ball search that makes the software put you in instant multi-ball for the rest of the game and any drain leads to ball/game over. That and playing this game can get boring.

Will lightning flippers and a good tune help? Maybe. But a boring shooting pinball game makes people walk away from an incredible team effort. I love so much about this pinball game other than playing it. Scores adjusted accordingly

Was not impressed with this game at first but it’s really come a long way and is one of the best around ! Great use of the theme, amazing rules and toys . Not as brutal
As some other modern stern but deep enough it’s still challenging .

Fun game, had it and sold it. Not a huge Elvira fan. Great shooter with limited shots.

Modern day Medieval Madness! Love this game. All the shots involving the house are great, and like the trunk multi-ball and crypt. I do think the Elvira call-outs would be annoying in a home environment, but not for occasional on location play. Really fun pin!

I really got infected with this game. FIrst I did not know or undertsand the whole Elvira thing. Yes I played previous machines but never had much interest in it. This was launched and tought, not for me. How wrong I was. I played it finally at a friend, this machine is so much fun, the camp B movies, the comments, the rules, the super flow shots. This is almost the best I think pinball can be. I do not always like the art, but that is subjective. It is not A+ material but very solid. Overall a stunning and great machine. PLay it and you will love it!

I love this game for many reasons but it has its limitations. The art package, sounds, and theme are great if your a horror fan. The haunted house is amazing. There really is no other pinball machine like it. I really like how you can stack modes. You can start the Dead Heads mode which you can start by hitting the Dead Heads Family Crypt. The floating heads make funny comments when you hit the Family Crypt shot. At the same time you can start one of the movie clips and play it and if that isn't enough you can start the Junk in the Trunk mode. When all these modes are going at the same time it is really satisfying to hit your shots and watch the movie clips (tough to do while playing). Elvira has a history with pins as this is the third in her series. She has become a staple in the pinball industry. She speaks a little "dirty" now and then and Stern has allowed some cleavage. The only downside of the game is like most games it can become a little bit repetitive. I wish there were more movie clips and movie modes. Maybe they will come in the future. I highly recommend this game for anyone who likes horror and humor in the same game.

I waited until the code upgraded to 1.0 before rating. Dream theme, great artwork, great layout, great code etc. The music, sounds & call outs are certainly the best in the pinball world ever. The lights, without being shameful, are not as great as the other aspects.
It shoots like a W/B, I don't know why, but it does not feel as bouncy or clinky as the other Stern tables, which is a good point.
Maybe not the most creative layout, but a lot of shoots & mech. For me it's kind of a best of compilation of the 90s royal trilogy (MM MB AFM).
Theme and art, the mix between humor, bad horror and sexy Elvira is unbeatable, at least for me, even if I never watched her show. It attracts people, even those who never play pinball, and it's accessible enough to retain them for several game. For hardcore players, it's clearly a long ball game, but with a code that deep, it's OK this way.
The only one bad point, well... maintenance. Stern has been great with support, but as this price point, I was not expected to spend so much time adjusting it. It's a keeper anyway, I don't see another game replacing it.
Ho, and I remember how this table was bashed after the 1st reveal, so it's kind of funny to see her progressing little by little to the top of the Pinside ranking :)
PS: to prefer Oktoberfest to Elvira (cf previous rating) made me laugh very hard. This is a very courageous move to accept it publicly.

This game is truely great!

I appreciate how they did the center shot to start all the modes without putting you in jeopardy because the center shot plays through.

The integration on the Intelectual Property (IP) licensing is complete with Elvira. That is a big deal for any home user, and home use is a big part of pin sales now, so I hope pin manufactures are paying attention to the consumer here. I hope that future pins understand how important that is to making the game fun long term. One of the resaons everyone is going bonkers on GnR is because Slash was all in and JJP did not need to beg for complete IP integration in the theme. This is the same case with the IP on Elvira HOH. I did not even know Casandra Peterson's (Elvira) real name until I purchased the game, now I love her great humor and sincerely appreciate how she cared enough about her work that she was all in on making the theme great. Then you have the Beatles as a comparison... and its a joke from a beatles IP integration standpoint becuase Stern, clearly did not have a lot to work with directly from the Beatles. Casandra Peterson beat the freaking Beatles from a long term enjoyment standpoint! Casandra and her crew gave the IP needed to Stern... and the Beatles did not. Casandra Peterson for the Win over the Beatles!! You go girl!

Elvira is a top 10 game and she was popular in the '90s, this is the third Elvira game so you would think the theme would have been played out on the second game, but that is not what happened. Stern was able to get all the IP latitude they needed to make this game not only a fun shooter, but the interaction with Elvira and the clips are totaly legit. Then you add to that Lyman, who cares enough to keep the game great and update the Code. Now Elvira is a top 10 game and Stern is able to WAY OVERCHARGE for a mediocre topper becuase people actually LOVE THE GAME.

Think about that for a second... Elvira prides herself as a B or even C actor from the '90s that not a whole lot of people remember, and this is her third pin. One would not think a third Elvira pin would not be a big winner from a theme standpoint.... and yet it is. It is a big win for Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) as she is more loved, a win for Stern for putting out a great game and most importantly.... a win for the consumer. Credit to the game shooting well and the layout is great, but the IP integration is just as important, if not more so for us home use only players.

Stern, JJP and every other pin maker. Please learn from your own experiences and get latitude in your games that allows for full IP imersion. the manufacutre of pin ball games may be able to make a lot of money cranking out games like the Beatles because of the theme, but the consumer feels like they have been ripped off when there are only a few short songs and it is apparent that the theme headline was more important to get the short term sale, than the IP integration that the consumer assumed would come with the theme on the game.

Stern... if you get garbage IP lattitued, do the consumer a favor and only make those games (that give you very limited IP) pro models. I get the location games put money in the machine when they walk by, becuase of the theme. But for us Home use only people, when we buy a premium, or LE, we expect that you were able to get a lot from an IP standpoint.

Love Elvira for a lot of reason, just wanted to give props to Lyman on the code, Denis Nordam on the desgin and Cassandra Peterson for giving a sh!t when she allowes her IP to be used. And of course, whoever is in charge of the IP for Elvira at Stern and (for this game at least).

The theming and licensed assets was integrated real well to help contribute it to being a fun pin to play. The playfield general layout seems very similar to Medieval Madness. I weighed buying a HUO MMR vs. this Elvira and MMR has more shots and a more populated playfield. However, Elvira has more code depth and modes to explore. Some day I may get an Elvira. We like the "fun factor".

I like that Stern used some RGB for lighting effects during the modes. It's a minor "wow factor". The animations are pretty good except for a couple of cardboard cutout puppet show scenes. The Elvira horror episodes was a pretty cool them integration. The LE upgrades are good and make them unique. The super high priced optional topper is ... lets just say overpriced.

Absolutely incredible game, amazing rule set and top notch coding thanks to the genius of Lyman Sheets. A simple layout but so much fun to shoot. Deep deep deep, I defy you to play complete every objective in a single game. So much to see even after 100’s of plays.

They absolutely nailed it on this one!

An excellent pinball ! The theme fits perfectly to the game (or opposite !) and the flow is nice. You have variation in the shots, and wonderful gadgets, mainly the house of course, but also the other ones (I like the crypt!).
The game is so pleasant to play and very fun. You enter directly in it. The main activity is shooting the central ramp of the manor, which is rather easy and therefore makes the game so accessible to everybody. The garage multi ball is also very easy to launch. It is satisfying for the young and the casuals. The artwork is well executed. The animations with real chunks of old movies, like a TV show, is awesome... Even though it stops the game for too long every time, I think.

The low difficulty of this pin could be seen either as a quality or a weakness, depending which kind of player you are (and your mates are).

The main drawback to my opinion is the lack of variety and flat game's modes. The games seems focused only on shooting the manor then doing the mission which are often taking the same shots, and so on till the wizard modes. Other things (gargoyles, heads from the crypt, etc.) seems to me as just side small games, not real alternatives for the player. I suspect that you could be bored too fast with the game.

Note that the artwork of Elvira could offend some people: some could also see it as degrading for women. This is probably important to keep in mind.

This is the best Stern in the last few years, this game sucks you into its atmosphere. This is one stern the belongs in a list with the kings, Medevil Madness, Indiana Jones, Twlight Zone etc...

Beautiful pin with great theme and atmosphere
Love the flow
All players can enjoy it
Would like to own one
Top 5 Stern for me in 2023 with foo fighters and Godzilla

Fun game but seems to be center shot dependent. I’ve played in several pre Covid tournaments and it is a fair game that does not have severely unfair point distribution among players. I will buy one at some point.