Hey it’s another Flash like playfield. Amazing art carries the decent, nothing special, gameplay.

Ahhh…the class of ‘81. 13 yers old and before video games totally took over in the locations close enough to ride my BMX bike to. One had Paragon, Medusa and Fathom ( think Lost World and Playboy as well)

Fast forward to a classic tourney and my first time in 40 years. Gameplay still is awesome & fondly remember the backglass and the ominous call backs that hold up today!

Game was on super tight tilt and screwed up on all 3 rounds but still managed to score well with the awesome drop targets and ball lock. Liked it so much was going to buy the Haggis version but too much drama.

The marketplace votes and this seems to trade hands well north of all Ballys from that year, although Centaur is not far behind.

Will I buy @ 6k, don’t think so. Will I buy a player in the 3/4k range? I hope so

‘81 rankings for me:

Medusa
Centaur
Fathom
Flash Gordon
EBD
Elektra- only off memory from ages ago but buddy is restoring one.
Embryon- only off memory from ages ago


*I do my own rankings all the time and they constantly change. Seems like everyone here does a version of it, I weight heavily based on the areas that are most important to me and fun for the $ always seems to win out.

This is my favourite game of all time / of any era! Lucky enough to have a new playfield in mine and it’s just the smoothest shooter. 2 x in line drops - most satisfying shots to make - better than any ramp! What a looker - the most beautiful backglass and playfield / would be the last game to leave!!!

My first pin. For 700, and came with beach sand on the playfield. Dropped in an early CPR playfield, and it was back in action. The game is just fun. For me, art is way up there, and I mean both backglass AND playfield (something 70s Gottliebs suck at). The increasing tempo of the sounds really give you feedback as you get better and better. It's one of the few pins with sounds where I really don't mind the limited vocabulary. That said, don't listen to me and skip this pin, so I can get another in the future without breaking the bank.

Played at Electric Circus near Birmingham.

Great pin with an interesting two-ball multiball. Lots of things to do, given the period and single-level layout, and satisfying to play. A true classic.

Great classic and truly fun pinball for an 81. Love the eerie theme of killer mermaids and great concept of ball locks and great drop targets. Could use another spinner but still awesome.

One of the true greats- of the era and ever. Fun tough shots, amazing layout, great use of drops and saucers, I will play this game any time it's available. It's also gorgeous to look at, and while I'm not as concerned with aesthetics as are other folks, it does add to an already great game. There aren't that many important shots, but the two locks are at tough angles and have some risk involved, so it's not too repetitive.

Pros: Challenging and rewarding! Few games are as satisfying to blow up. Putting up 2,000,000+ on a single ball is something I've only done a few times, but chasing that keeps me coming back. The imminent danger of drain adds to the excitement of doing well.

Cons: This can be extremely frustrating and the reversed in/out lanes can take a normally safe return and turn it into an unavoidable drain. Also, placement of rubbers can greatly influence how the lanes function, and that is an enormous part of the game.

Most beautyful EE pin.
I also like the droptargets, makes a lot of fun.

This game is simply awesome! Great shots, challenging shots, and a piece of art you always want to look at.

Looks good but a bit slow

I HATE this game... it has so much going for it on paper. I traded my 9-Ball for a beautiful one of these but just could not get into it. It is a shame as 8 Ball Deluxe and Flash Gordon are right up there with Deadpool and LOTR from my perspective.

The game is absolutely beautiful! From Backglass to playfield, it is a looker.
The game has 15 drop targets and a 3 ball multiball!
The in-lane / out-lane switch is really neat.
Hit that spinner!
In line drops!
3 Flippers!

Build up your bonus then shoot the in-line drops for a multiball. Then... shoot the spinner? Rinse and repeat. Not really alot to do and kind of along player with not a lot of risky shots.

I found it slow and boring and had a nice one in my basement for months. Great game for a collector but I think other Bally games of the Era like Flash Gordon and Eight Ball while not being lookers, are much better shooters.

If you are into games of this era and want to look at them, buy Fathom. If you are a shooter and like games of this era, play Eight Ball Deluxe. If you hate yourself and want something "NES hard", play Flash Gordon.

Great game I wish I had. Great layout and artwork.

A nice early SS game, more typical Bally. Not close to top 100 in my opinion when played.

For an older table, it’s fun.

I personally was shocked to see Fathom climb out of the depths of obscurity over the last few years and land a place on many top 100 lists.
I used to think Fathom would always be floating around somewhere in the top 200, because most of the machines that used to be in public locations sailed off to private owners or got broken up for parts. It’s hard to get a good score from new people if they can’t play it. (Emulation players please stay out of these rating systems!!!)
The first time I played Fathom was as a little kid and I was hooked. It floated around the arcades, the roller rink and bowling alleys where I lived for years. You knew it was the same machine because some couples had carved hearts with their initials in them on the right side. In the early 1990’s that machine was cast off to a private owner, and I didn’t see another until about 2008 at a bar on Pensacola beach… Irony!
As a kid I couldn’t imagine the scale and depth of the gameplay, I was looking at the (heh heh!) mermaids and shooting the ball randomly. I got better as time went on and really realized how much I loved Fathom. Years later at the bar on the beach, I played it as much as I could fathom. I even asked if it was for sale but it was still making good money for the owner at the time. Probably mostly my money!
Again, I never thought it would be a top 100 game, There’s even a nostalgia trip modern remake, for all those people who are too young and have no nostalgia for it but just right for investors and flippers!
It’s a good game, but not $6000+ good! Maybe $2000 in good condition.
You would think the people remaking Fathom would try to make new games instead of riding on the coattails of the past, but that’s what happens when people want to make some of that fast and easy lucrative nostalgia $$$ and have absolutely no creativity, skill, or ability to make or do anything original. Stay attached to your shark remoras, and feeding on the scraps left over of the stupid people who went out in the water.
I am at a loss to think of any time a copy or reprint of anything by a knock off company sold for two to three times the value of the original… except in the pinball hobby.
Unfortunately, I believe Fathom did not make it into the top 100 because of its own merits. It’s probably a bunch of hype and fake reviewing by those involved in flipping originals and those involved with or invested in the remake. Which is too bad, but money talks and scammers are everywhere.
I suppose if anyone wants to stop pinball from going through the same hobby destruction that coins, cars, comic books and videogames have gone through, I suggest we all refuse to play along. Pay only fair market value…
That value is determined by how much YOU and other HOBBYISTS are willing to pay not flippers and blue chip investors. Check out ebay for stupid people pinball prices! $4,000 to $6,000 for a Kings of steel that’s worth at best $1200!!!
Also, don’t buy the remakes. Make them realize that pinball is not their free ride to fortune. In other words, treat them as the crappy overpriced off brand knockoffs they are.
Ask yourself, would you buy a brand new copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #1 printed by WhetFaartz publishing under “official license” from Marvel comics? Would you pay twice the price of the current value of the original comic for the tear resistant gloss coated paper, minor bonus story material, limited reprinting run, and special gold colored foil cover they slapped on it? I didn’t think so, but pinball people do.
Anyone wanna buy a fake medieval madness? Oh yes please!!!
How about an 1878 Morgan silver dollar made from all new space age materials (plastic) for only $399.99?
Would you buy a brand new 1968 Mustang fastback assembled with the cheapest aftermarket reproduction body panels China has to offer for $200,000? It will have the Mustang logo (licensed product) but it won’t say Ford, instead it will say Nanjing Automtive Group limited edition and be numbered for your personal bragging rights.
No? Then I ask again, WHY pinball???
Unfortunately this won’t stop anyone from being dumb and soon the top 100 to 200 pinball machines will all be owned and controlled by shady big name auction houses and shareholder investors gambling on the prices increasing and frequently selling those machines back and forth in huge fake news articles to create money. Oh wait, it’s already started with the Museum of pinball auction!
My review: Fathom - a good $2000 game, but it isn’t anymore.

A classic classic, one of the best.

This is easily my favorite pinball game of all time. I love how if you learn to hit the shots that hit the traps/inline drop targets, you build up your bonus multiplier AND trigger multiball once it's at 5x. It's such a gratifying machine to play, colored in soothing blues. The one I play even has a blue plasma display for the scores. I am lucky enough to live near one in the wild and I play it many hours a week. I learned how to live catch and dead flip and nudge on this machine.

Entirely biased review here :) First game I ever owned, love the game, which doesn't mean it couldn't do things better, but this is as good as it gets for pre-90's games for me.

A solid Bally Title, and an amazing art package.
Great use of colors and the illustrations are quite frankly some of the best i've seen in pinball.

Lots of fun drop targets and even multiball.

A simple, fun and elegant game to play and a wonderful piece of art to admire.

My buddy, Glen, bought a fathom and restored it to its former glory. I have always enjoyed looking at the fathom art on the cabinet and backless, This is when i could find Fathom in the wild. Glen proceeded to showed me the rules and the shots!! OMG! What a great game. Spinners, saucers, drop targets!!! The rules are deep. Glen explained the backless. Mermaids dragging a scuba diver down into the bottom of the sea. Beautiful and crazy..

Simply the greatest early SS pin from any manufacturer...nuff said!

Glad I was able to put quite a few games on this one that you do not see too often.

Not my favourite of the classics (gasp), but generally a solid game overal.

Impressive pinball from 1981.
Excellent gameplay, design, art, addictiveness, sounds, etc.
One of the best machines of that time.
Classic of the classics

Looks the part. Real fun. Unique theme. One of my favourites as a child.

Fathom. Ahhh, Yes.

Up front, I am fond of early Solid State games. Fathom ranks at the top in my humble opinion.

I love the inline drop targets. The task of knocking down barriers for a greater reward is very satisfying. Drop targets appeal to me in general and adding in two banks of the standard variety along with the double inline targets gives us plenty to aim for.

Good shot options. Hitting the left orbit shot to the inline drops/saucer with either right flipper makes me smile. Good spinner shot. I like spinners as much as I like drop targets and this one is well placed/directs the ball nicely to the A-B-C rollovers. The only clunky shot I find myself hitting is the area between the right pop bumper and outside edge of the Cave Trap. Every drop target and the standup can be hit with a well aimed flipper shot. . . I just need to work on my aim ;).

Artwork is amazing -- the backglass, playfield, and even the cabinet draw you in and provide a treat for the eyes. Enough said.

Sound is very good, especially considering the era and compared to my other games of similar vintage. The speech incorporates well with the sound -- not sure if its normal but my game provides a lot of "Ahhhh"s.

Lighting is decent. A little dark in the middle of the playfield but translucent rubbers help.

Scoring and gameplay seem to consist of two parts.

Scoring involves collecting playfield points but a good score also involves a well built bonus. Luckily you have two area of bonuses to build and multiple ways to multiply it!

Gameplay has a right/left or green/blue feel. Using the large drop target bank and center 1-2-3 target bank to build your blue or green bonus ties the two sides together. Hitting the 1-2-3 in sequence lights the yellow standup. . . but can you hit it in time? I appreciate like the additional features provided by the A-B-C rollovers and the fact the letters can be moved with the flippers. The inlane/outlane reversal is a fun mix up of the usual anatomy in this area. Multi-Ball is great; the fact that playfield scores are doubled/tripled during makes achieving and maintaining MB worth your while.

I really do like this game. No ramps, no DMD, no modes. . . just classic pinball. It is a treat to look at and a blast to play -- very glad to have the opportunity to restore and add one to my collection.