Gottlieb

Haunted House

Pinside Rating

This game received 240 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.597 _/10

7.597

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #171 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.589

Artwork: 8.297

Sounds/Music: 6.675

Other Aspects: 7.624

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 6 of us have rated this game.

7.428

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Found 127 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 127 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.669/10

4 years ago

CCS

Mad_Dog_Coin_Op

Mad Dog Coin Op

Redondo Beach, CA

6y 118K 2,831 14 14 1

The best of the System 80(s) in my opinion. 8 flippers and 3 levels. This game is tough and I like tough. Speech is over rate. This title is fine with plain old music and sound effects.

Mad_Dog_Coin_Op has owned this game in the past.

8.282/10

4 years ago

MRX

Creepy atmosphere, perfect to play on Halloween, the music sounds like an atari 2600 game (and I love that). The backglass is one of the best ones I have seen so far, it's a hard table, mostly because the ball can drain to the left outer lane or to the right spot at the left side of the lower right flipper. I managed to make 2.5 million points, I am glad I can enjoy this table and being good at the same time.

7.305/10

4 years ago

ADM

PinDoctor82

Pinside member

5y 77,050 278 6 103

For an older game, this one sure has a lot of stuff going on and a lot of shots. I love having an upper and lower playfield. I love the double lower flippers. I think the only thing I didn't like was the flipper controls because it was a little misleading at first which flippers in the upper and lower playfields were controlled by which buttons. The game is a fairly decent speed game given its age. Overall it was really fun to experience playing this.

7.131/10

5 years ago

WGH

Patrunkenphat7

Pinside member

Greenville, SC

5y 39,050 107 17

Very cool classic with ambitious design for its time. Three levels, so many flippers... This thing is cool!

Like others have pointed out, Black Hole is a similar pin in the same time period that plays smoother. That said, the theme and three levels make Haunted House a fun early SS to explore and enjoy.

Patrunkenphat7 edited previous rating on December 01, 2019.

4.351/10

5 years ago

MBC

radfordian3505

Pinside+ Frequent

Radford, VA

6y 89,550 763 9 52 1

game is ok had it for 2 months before i traded it for Johnny mnemonic bc it just had no flow .

radfordian3505 has owned this game in the past.

3.563/10

5 years ago

???

Nosebeagle

Inactive member

Unknown

5y 4,000 9

This game plays like a pachinko machine with flippers. The ball doesn’t stay on any of the three levels long enough to do anything and there really isn’t much to do anyway. I wasn’t a huge fan of Black Hole either although I would say it’s a better play than HH. I would have called the game abandoned house as there isn’t really much haunting the house...it’s pretty empty in there - a bit of dusting and you’ve got a pretty nice tri level house. I think this game had huge potential, just didn’t make it in my opinion.

6.387/10

6 years ago

WXW

Lawlor_and_Order

Pinball 518

7y 81,400 38 112

I will say some nice things about Haunted House before I trash it. (Can you trash a haunted house? I mean, it's already infested with ghosts, right?)

First off, of course the triple playfield has to be noted. Everybody should place this game a few times just to feel the experimentation. Gottlieb had a hit with two levels with Black Hole, why not try three? Give them credit for trying here.

In addition to Black Hole, the obvious point of comparison is Black Knight, from which Haunted House took no small inspiration for the upper playfield, right down to the impossibly steep and short ramp.

Implicit in a lot of negative reviews, I think, are machines that took the "spooky house" theme and did it much better later -- Elvira, Scared Stiff, Monster Bash, and perhaps the two Dracula machines (one before, one after). So maybe an unfair comparison in some ways, but one I bet a lot of people make unconsciously.

The basic artwork is actually pretty decent and clean - you get the three levels, looking like a downward architectural rendition of sorts, and a nice simple Psycho-like glowing green house in the backglass with match cabinet artwork.

The main problem with the theme was -- it's an empty house. There are no ghouls or freaks to pop out at you, as it were, so it's almost as if they never quite finished the concept.

And, the great pleasure of popping between levels notwithstanding, as one other reviewer put it, there's a lot to shoot at but not a lot of reasons to shoot at anything in particular.

Throw in some problems: the extraneous lower pair of flippers (which are pointless), the off center lower bumper (an odd Gottlieb trademark of the era, but one just adding pain, not fun, to a game on the left side), a really impossible far upper left reach shot, and target banks that don't have a lot of natural bounce patterns.

My sense is they built the triple playfield but then got exhausted and didn't do as much play testing as they should have, in the end. It just plays a lot duller than it really ought to in the end, given the three dimensionality of the machine.

6.397/10

6 years ago

SAS

stavio

Pinside+ Addict

6y 110K 474 16 13

I remember playing this when new, wow three levels! Other raters compare to Black Hole, I can see why but Haunted House is its own game and still around four decades later is on my wish list.

stavio has this game on the wishlist.

8.800/10

6 years ago

JDE

lostballchamp

Pinside member

Archer Lodge, NC

8y 40,150 11 17 17

I find it hard to believe this game is ranked so low in the list. I mean you have three playfields on the same game!!! This game probably has my favorite back glass designs, I sometimes leave this one turned on just to see the glass, it really pops with led’s. The problem with this game is the main field doesn’t have a lot to offer but but treating all 3 fields as 1, there is more than enough to keep me interested...I like this game in attract mode more than just about any other pin I’ve owned ... it even has a susan b Anthony dollar slot!!!

lostballchamp has owned this game in the past.

7.777/10

6 years ago

BC

fodorfolde

Pinside member

Waterloo, ON

6y 38,050 28 4 61

Compared to similar games (eg Black Hole)... I like the theme on this, so my preference is skewed. Great music, great theme, good game for sure.

7.731/10

6 years ago

CDC

chris_silver

Pinside member

Hawkesbury, ON

8y 28,900 26 12 10

Beautiful game and draws in a crowd every time. Lastability isn't there for me. It has a lot of main playfield dead space and not a lot to shoot for. That being said. Its great for practicing with different types of flippers and angles and has some very tight long skill shots.

chris_silver has owned this game in the past.

8.296/10

6 years ago

BKB

bkbirge

Inactive member

Houston, TX

7y 55,800 275 7

One of those pins whose aggregate is more than the sum of individual parts for me. Just a straight up fun pinball. Yes it's slow compared to modern fair, it's easy to get to all levels of the game, and at the end of the day you are really just there to rack up as many points as possible, but if you want a deep goal oriented game then you aren't looking at anything before 1991 anyway. No spinner but there are loop shots with triggered sound that yield the same satisfaction, and the basement while easy to get to is hard to complete. Pinball should be fun and this is just about the epitome of the art when looking at it from that perspective. Another 80's classic from the golden era of pinball. Since shorter ball times are starting to come back in vogue there will be a resurgence in interest of pins from this era, though this one itself has remained a classic through the changing fads.

bkbirge has owned this game in the past.

5.499/10

6 years ago

MLP

tabascoman77

Pinside member

6y 46,150 4 110

I don't understand the hype for this pin. "Black Hole" was a better game because it kept things basic. A couple years later, we got "Haunted House" from Gottlieb and, holy crap, there are THREE playfields. Multiple playfields aren't a bad thing...but with this game, it is. The lower playfield is just a rehash of "Black Hole" and it's not clear what point it has (it's called "The Basement", apparently...but it doesn't feel like it is) and the upper playfield is just a giant "no". The flippers on that particular field take some getting used to but even when you do, there's no real flow. The overall "theme" doesn't even feel like a haunted house. The playfield looks like it belongs in a circus-themed pin and there's no eerieness to be found except for the one organ tune that plays on repeat just like all of Gottlieb's early games. Could have been better.

2 Pinsiders starred this!

9.380/10

6 years ago

VMP

V_piscopo

Pinside member

Burlington, VT

9y 89,550 1,671 2 106

What a fun game. The artwork is epic, the playfield art go with the theme so we'll and are masterfully drawn. Probably the best I've seen. The back glass is awesome too with the lightning interacting with the attract mode. The back glass art is also a work of art and fit the theme so we'll. The music is AWESOME, sure it gets a bit repetitive but as to be expected from a game made in 1982. The lighting is very good too, super bright in the basement when the ball drops down. A lot to shoot for although I can see why people would say there's wasted space. The ball does make it to the basement maybe more than needed .....but hey that's what makes this game so much fun to play. Overall a awesome game with epic artwork and music that's tons of fun to play. I think with the multiball conversion it would blow black hole into a different multiverse.

V_piscopo has owned this game in the past.

8.896/10

7 years ago

APD

twinankhs

Twinankhs

San Jose, CA

7y 18,000 8 4 15

This Machine Ranks #3 on my List. Very fun and challenging game. Play it quite often on Pinball Arcade.

twinankhs has this game on the wishlist.

5.562/10

7 years ago

AGB

Ramtuathal

Pinside member

Louisville, KY

8y 63,650 123 1 148

Haunted House is a unique, tri-level flipperfest that doesn't have much mercy for newbies. The layout is a little off, and there are some feature placements that just don't make much sense - a lot of action in the upper PF left, not much on the right. The raised PF is okay - but the lower PF "Basement" is the most challenging. Unfortunately, there wasn't much keeping me at this table, though I wouldn't say it was a bad game.

I'd like to have an HH someday, but it is down the list. Worth a short road trip (3 hrs or less), but not worth actively hunting for.

Ramtuathal edited previous rating on January 30, 2017.

6.392/10

7 years ago

BAD

Badfingers

Inactive member

7y 20,250 1 23

It's always broken at PHOF when I am there, so have barely played a live one, not a huge fan of it, prefer Black Hole.

The flipper play in the raised area and lower area just feel very clunky to me.

8.013/10

7 years ago

WPG

guymontag451

Wedgehead

Portland, OR

13y 92,800 1,006 25 170

Classic Gottlieb solid state pin. Everything that black hole was, but better.

6.214/10

7 years ago

DJB

brenna98

Pinside+ Frequent

Wind Point, WI

10y 132K 2,244 59 54 1

The #2 tri-playfield behind Elektra. I believe this is a desirable game among beginning collectors. It's defiantly cool that the ball physically moves between the playfields and that it has the inverted flippers and that it has "secret" passage ways to the lower PF.
The rules are quite simple and its fun for a quite a few plays. It lasted in my collection a bit longer than I expected, probably because I had it sitting next to Black Hole and I spread my time among many other titles.
I could see the novelty wearing off quickly in a small collection.
If you ever buy one. Make sure it's been gone through! System 80 is not for the novice repair tech.

brenna98 edited previous rating on April 26, 2019.
brenna98 has owned this game in the past.

8.184/10

7 years ago

MAT

rattmuscle

Pinside member

Honor, MI

8y 35,600 102 18 9

Fun 3 level game (only one!). Artwork is very good. Iconic backglass. Simple rules that are fun. If it had multiball and speech it would have been mind boggling fun. BH wins out for me but this game is no slouch if well maintained.

rattmuscle currently owns this game.

6.776/10

8 years ago

DLC

CentralCACoast

Pinside member

Paso Robles, CA

11y 28,750 20 5 7

I have never liked the lower play field, could be just too confusing for me

7.811/10

8 years ago

PRR

Roncevip

Inactive member

Freedom, PA

11y 20,750 11 6

My oldest machine, I still play it on a regular basis. One of the coolest games of that time. 3 play fields,and beautiful back glass.

Roncevip has owned this game in the past.

9.474/10

8 years ago

SGW

konghusker

Pinside member

Lincoln, NE

9y 78,800 2,900 5 24 1

One of the best looking and sounding classics ever. Unique playfield too. Love it.

konghusker has owned this game in the past.

9.173/10

8 years ago

ALX

donjagra

Pinside member

14y 72,100 3,402 10 34

Fun, challenging and perhaps the best art package from an era when hand drawn art was everywhere. A great game for a mid size collection.

donjagra has owned this game in the past.

8.080/10

8 years ago

TBK

xTheBlackKnightx

Pinside member

8y 128K 4,097 137

One of the stronger Gottlieb System 80 titles from the 1980s.
Definitely the best well known, next to Black Hole, but Black Hole edges this game game out due to depth with its multiball lock system and additional challenges.

Artwork is exceptional, particularly the backglass with the hidden "lightning bolt strikes".

Playfield was revolutionary at the time due the backwards level play or lower level "spider web" playfield.
The baseline music tune of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor will stick in your mind after you get done playing.

Relatively fast game for its size as well, especially with the kickers.
The trapdoor and center rollover targets to the basement were always a nice touch.

When the game was introduced, it was a complete $#@$@ to maintain.
Operators really hated it.
All sorts of electronic problems due to the edge board connections and lack of ground mods on coils.
Up kicker from the basement still can be an "Achilles heel" if not fixed correctly.
Overall, a solid game and nostalgia at its finest, but it is one heavy monster to move around.

Make sure you LOCK that main playfield with STRAPS or a WOODEN LOCK BOX when working on the lower playfield or you will be in for a nasty surprise!

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