Last night was the third time I got to step up and play this well maintained pin. 3rd time is the charm.

I like the open play field. The flippers have no problem pushing the ball to the top of the play field. The ball is always in motion; There are no saucers. No drop targets but you have several stand up targets to shoot for.

Give me a choice between this and Buccaneer, Hit the Deck, Abra Cadabra, El Dorado,Centigrade 37, and a few other wedge heads. I'll take the Golden Arrow.

Amazing artwork package! Love the mix of chimes and the big bell, lovely!!! But this game lacks something? After you hit all the targets the game is pretty much over. It's nice to hit the targets when they are lit up to maximize points, but obviously that's not the case, with pop bumpers & stuff, the ball will find it's way through the targets(lit or not). Once you hit the target, the second time around adds almost no reward. A few good skill shots though!!!Not a fan of plastic spinners (feels cheap) maybe I need more playtime? But I'm not totally impressed with this pinball. I will give this pin a few more tries but usually for me, if it's mediocre from the start, it's usually mediocre! I give this pin 7* out of 10*. Art package and the big bell is a big reason why it's 7* and not 6*

***Update Sept2022 ****
I got to play a fine example of Golden arrow with new rubber bands, rebuilt flippers, snappy pop bumpers, waxed and even playfield, and to be honest I really enjoyed it. You definitely need to be good at aim and shoot or you need to hit spinners and or rollover so you can set the bonus shot at your competitive angle :0)
Neat game afterall
I upgraded my rating

Here's another game i never played on route, but wish i did since it is quite an enjoyable and friendly player and would have been an easier game to win replays on when on route back in the late 1970's.
Since owning and playing this game for about 5 months now to my surprise i found out what a pleasant player this Gottlieb wedge head really is. These days(closing in on my 60th birthday) i love the EM single player games more than ever because of the 3 to 5 minute game completion time period. I do not want to play a 5 ball pinball machine for longer that that time, especially since i have 40+ other pins in my collection that i want to play and need to be played.

A player must master the top arch (out the ball plunger) skill shot of rollover numbers 2 and 3 to working his way to completing the number sequence 1 thru 10 and obtaining the "Special When Lit" feature to win replays or free plays. Once the player gets the 10 number sequence completed the fun starts and the player can win on any numbered rollover when yellow(golden)arrow is lit or numbered stand up targets is lit. During play a player can then move the lit yellow arrow from one number to another by getting the ball to move over the star rollover in the center of the playfield or by sending the ball through the upper left or upper right top spin targets. If a player that can move the ball through the spinners with just the correct amount of speed or force at the right time they might be able to control the movement of numbers moving through the playfield allowing them to score replays and points at will.

This game does have some nice skill shots on the stand up targets number 1, 4, 7 and 8 that a player must make when needed to score on the "yellow arrow" when lit. There are also two green bullseye stand up targets that will score 10,000 points when lit and will sound the big gong bell when hit. These two green targets are easy to score on because they need to be timed just right. The game has both chimes and a large gong bell for an attractive sound quality that is not present in many other wedge heads.

The flipper return lanes come in handy for the player and can be scored by a soft semi kind of back flip or bounce off the flipper, which can cause the ball to go up and down the rollover number 6 or 9 for double scoring points or replays (this type of scoring happens on my Top Card flipper return lanes and other Gottlieb wedge heads too.

I like the way the pop bumper arrangement is and a player will gets a thrill making rollovers and targets at the top of the playfield through the pop bumper action. The pop bumpers also come into play when a player needs to move a number only a few notches forward in the sequence to score yellow arrow when lit specials or yellow arrow when lit points.

I like this game set with the back legs up higher than normal to speed the game up some and challenge the player more and making the game a little harder to beat for replays. After all this talk about the Golden Arrow it's time for me to go play a game or two!

The artwork on the the back glass and playfield stand out and are attractive and very colorful. The larger size cabinet with it's painted design kind of blends in with the theme and colors too are bright and stand out in a line up with other EM machines. This game like all other games needs to be restored and shopped out to perfection to appreciate the true play of the game. I am lucky to own a Golden Arrow with just 17,000 plays on it and was restored by a passionate collectors which makes this game an exceptional condition playing machine to evaluate.

Terrific game. Not a drop target game, but all the shots force you to "Play better!" Great backglass, nice playfield art and not patronizing to Native Americans with comic images.

Nice big spinners at the top of the field, not the narrow ones. Very satisfying to rip those spinners to put the ball back at the top of the playfield.

Had a nice one, just got another one back and looking forward to playing it again.

Cliffy stated that Steve Charland rated it as one his favorite games. Good enough for me!

I was drawn in by the artwork but stuck around to spend some time on this game after learning some of the ruleset. Has a lot going for an EM game, even without drop targets. Those spinners took some practice to hit! Definitely draws you back in with that "one more game" appeal.

I didn’t care for the game until I put it on 5 ball. Actually pretty fun game. I am partial to drop targets which are absent and the lack of bonus sucks. I love the big gong when you hit the golden arrow. Unique rule set makes this one a keeper if you have a large collection.

Lots of fun, enjoy playing this one!

I really like Golden Arrow.The colors pop out to me. Great game play. All stand up targets, and lots of fun. I'll update later when it's in front of me.

Very unique playfield allows for challenging play and great lastability.

You can play not just for score but to challenge yourself to advance though the numbering sequence. Nice combination of spinners, standup targets and scoring lanes.

For an EM, challenging, fun and keeps you engaged and saying, Just one more game.

A classic Gottlieb "chase the numbers" game, that has you chasing specials at the lit numbers, much like Buccaneer. Unlike Buccaneer, there is the added bonus of collecting increased points at the lit gold arrow, which is a nice feature for home use where credits mean very little. The spinners tucked away behind the pops are challenging to consistently hit given their location, which is a positive and a negative I suppose. Another classic art package by Gordon Morison.

Chase the arrow! One way I like to play the game is trying only to hit lit numbers when the arrow is on them, which means a lot trying to NOT hit targets and rollovers, and only shooting for the 10,000 points and the lovely sound of the big bell.

I had the opportunity to see & play this machine for the first time at the Pinball Expo Sydney Nov 2014. This is a wonderful machine notwithstanding that the theme in 2014 has significant unattraction-but that was the era then. This is a fun machine to play. A tremendous visual presence through the backglass & pf makes you want to keep on coming back. A good rule set and the elusive golden arrow make for an outstanding machine.

This EM is a looker. Just a great western/native american theme and great art.

The object of getting all the inserts unlit to light the special isn't new, but having the lit arrow insert move around and having the player chase the special is pretty cool. It has good strategy for an EM and it is challenging enough to keep you coming back.

I don't even play it for score, but rather to see how many arrows I can catch in one game.

Golden Arrow is a game that makes you use the entire PF with your flippers.

The Pros:
A solid layout with the premise of hitting EVERYTHING on the table. Rollovers must be rolled. Standups must be smacked and spinners must be spun. Fascinating 1-10 sequence always lets player get close to the special (it's on the flyer). Risk vs. reward makes the 1 and 4 rollovers a must from the top of the PF as the corresponding standups are pin-death! The 2 and 3 lanes are no joke either.

The Cons:
This game MUST be maintained well to play as it should (imagine that...). Spinning the spinners and having them "thunk" against the metal ball arch at the top of the PF, it just seems strange to me. Is it just me or do these plastic Gottlieb spinners feel funny?

The Takeaway:
Find a well maintained copy of this game if you can and play it. If this game comes up slack and un-tuned, you may be better off playing something else. You know... I always wondered what our Mohawk warrior on the BG was shooting at...

Man, I wanted to love this game, but just never was able to. It's new owner loves it a lot more than I did, which is good for all of us.

The concept of the all the rollovers was good in theory, but the upper side rollovers are difficult to hit. Any shot with the right flipper (other than hitting the two targets) is pretty much useless, as it mostly hits off the rebound rubber. The two bumpers are uninspring in what they can do, and there is no natural path to the rollovers from going through the spinners.

This machine is always busy at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas, and a number of people at IPDB have a great love for the machine. Although better as a 5 ball (not 3 ball) game, and despite great visuals and excellent theming, and the very musical Gottlieb chimes (including the gong for 10K points), the play just didn't do it for me.

To me, this game is less about getting a high score, and more about getting free games. Heck, the score only goes to 200K, and once all the rollovers are off, there's not much left to do.