This is most definitely a VERY UNDERRATED player's pin. I feel bad for casual players who bought this because they liked the show, with no intention of reading the rules....over, and over again.
Once you get the rules down, boy oh boy, this sure is a fun one and should be much, much higher in the top 100 list in my humble opinion.
PROs:
Code / Rules: It's very refreshing the sort of strategy that goes into so many decisions - which houses to fight and when, when to apply your house's powers', when to go for a multiball vs trying to complete another mode, etc, etc. Lots of fun little choices, and very cool that each house has very distinct rules and challenges going for them. The code on this is incredibly solid and fun.
Light show: Some really cool stuff going on here. Winter is coming with the back glass getting in on the light show fun makes this one really stand out from other games.
Playfield art: Really good! Matches the theme well.
Shots: Shoots really nicely and very smoothly. Every shot is very makeable, however you do need some skill. My wife just rockets it into the targets 3-4x in a row and gives up every game lol. She is the definitely of a casual player and hates this game.
Upper playfield: I don't get the people who think this takes away from the game. It literally adds about 30 shots if you consider all the combinations, and adds strategy in some modes. To me it's actually one of the better upper playfields I can think of.
Cons:
-Animations: Fugly. Some of the WORST, and I mean WORST animations I can think of modern Stern games. Wow, this one could have been a classic had it been made a year later with better animations on a nice big TV screen. What a missed opportunity. It's too bad Stern doesn't do that stuff when they remake games as Vault games....not that this one probably sold enough to warrant that treatment, I digress though I have no idea.
-Call outs: The call outs are also really weak. If it's an actor I can't tell who. Apparently it's the hound for the male voices but I can't tell the female voice at all. The music is just OK with the theme playing over and over, and occasionally another song playing if you hit a mode or multiball.
The cabinet artwork (on the Prem at any rate, the one I have): I mean really, I guess it's not a huge thing as my games (and most people's) are in rows, but the fact that the bone guy (no clue what his name is), the Wildling with the bone face mask is on both the SIDE and the back glass, wow, they couldn't have put...like... the Starks / Lannisters there? You know, the people the show is actually about. One of the sides has bone face dude and a wildling woman I DO NOT recognize from the show, and I watched it pretty religiously. Maybe it's the woman who did the call outs....they were like we'll get her to do a 2-1. The other side is a wooly mammoth. Had I not known I probably never would have guessed that was Game of Thrones...it could have been a National Geographic pin for all I know. I'm not sure if "horrible" is appropriate, but it's certainly very disappointing.
-Light Show: This is also a con. The light show during Blackwater multiball is way too much (and probably other parts, I turned it down pretty quickly), unless maybe you are playing this at a rave on about 30 hits of LSD. It's not even choreographed really and I assume it is just meant to blind you / test to see if you are an epileptic. It's funny (sort of) that it has an epilepsy warning in several places. The good part about this is you CAN turn it down in the options. Thank god....out of the box it was actually a turn off and obnoxious.
OK:
-Toys: I *guess* the Iron throne is kind of cool and so is the dragon (I love when he flaps his wings and the lights and the machine shakes, nice choreography here) , but they are more like decorations and don't add anything to the game....although I suppose that's true of a lot of toys, maybe even most
Overall fun: 8.5/10
DESPITE the weak call outs, the animation flaws, the disaster cabinet art this one is REALLY fun. It's a breathe of fresh air to be honest... I would take it over quite a few Stern games of recent years, and if you have played it like I have and dismissed it pretty quick, do yourself a favor and learn the rules. It makes you think and is not just a "shoot red arrow here", "shoot blue arrow here" (although of course it has that lol).
What frustrates me the most about this pin is it wasn't made a year later - it would have been incredible if it got the big screen treatment (and better cabinet art!! It's terrible).