Hollywood Heat

Pinside rating

This game received 59 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 6.794 /10

6.794

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #273 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.



Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 6.939

Artwork: 6.281

Sounds/Music: 6.742

Other Aspects: 6.87


Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 1 of us has rated this game.

6.848

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Found 42 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 42 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 2.

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5.390/10
6 months ago
I was surprised by this one. It is a very common value pin to find. The assymmetrical playfield layout is actually pretty fun. The game rules are a bit out of the ordinary, particularly the heat bumper bonus and multiball drop targets. It's not a keeper but I've definitely enjoyed playing it more than I thought I would.
5.299/10
7 months ago
Played at Pinfest 2023.

The one I played had a faded backglass and a somewhat chipped playfield/cab. As such, opinions/mileage may differ. It does have four flippers, which makes it feel like a bargain-basement Spirit, but nowhere near as interesting. Given I was in a room with 138 other pins, my overall impression was ‘meh’ and I didn’t go back to it after getting a spectacular airball. But, if it was the only thing I could play on a desert island, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
6.054/10
1 year ago
If you're looking to score points in competition, multiball is the way to go. If you can build up that multiplier, you can really blow this thing up. But that's also basically the only way to score points.

=========================

The Good:
-- 4 flippers, always something to hit somewhere
-- The multiplier rules are unique
-- Multiball is exciting. It's some of my favorite multiball in all of pinball
-- I like the layout. Gottlieb was creative with this one
-- The music, but then again it's such a standard Gottlieb thing to make catchy music


The Bad:
-- Beyond mulitball, there really isn't a way to score decent points
-- Since the process is very basic, it gets boring pretty quick
-- It's ugly as sin
-- Very dark, even with bright white LEDs
-- The bonus count down can last MINUTES on ball 3 if you do well enough. I spent nearly 3 minutes waiting

=========================

I like the game, and I'll play it once or twice when I walk by it, but I won't stand in front of it for hours at a time or anything. Great fun for a while, but it will not last in any collection. I'd say it has a 6-8 month window before you will move on.
9.740/10
1 year ago
So Gottlies so good
6.837/10
1 year ago
Wish I had room to keep all my pins but had to let this one go to make room. Translite was awful, had a custom one made which made a big improvement on the look. Mini playfield I enjoyed. Simple to understand and I had fun playing it. Could’ve done a little more with the playfield. Little ramp is pointless and some wasted space in bottom left.
8.701/10
1 year ago
excellent game
7.916/10
1 year ago
I was not sure what to expect when I first walked up to this game. . . it appeared to be a Miami Vice theme but don't they know Hollywood is in California? :)

All it took was several games to be pleasantly surprised by this addictive pin.

The artwork is spot on for the theme. Many have said they don't like the translite but I bet many a teenage boy in the 80's had a similar looking poster hanging on their bedroom wall -- minus the dude of course.

Plenty of drop targets to shoot for, a couple ramps leading to the upper playfield, and an interesting captive ball setup I'd not seen before. Multi-ball is a nice bonus too.

The soundtrack is also era appropriate but I will agree a couple of call outs would have been good to hear now and again.

I'd definitely bring one home for the right price as there is a lot of pinball value to be had with Hollywood Vice. I mean Miami Heat. I mean. . . you get the idea.
6.738/10
2 years ago
this is a great game for the price you can get it for. the sounds are so good and the multiball is a load of fun. put in some leds and wax the playfield and you have a grea game.
7.183/10
2 years ago
I owned this game for a while and I thought it was a lot of fun. The music was cool, had some interesting shots, I found it to be a pretty good game with solid gameplay, and if one popped up nearby at a good price I would be happy to own it again.
7.222/10
2 years ago
its a fun game. the backglass is lame for today i guess it was cool in the 80's, i ended up buying a custom one for mine. its a very simple game which is fine, the game rules couldn't be simpler! The music is also very catchy 80's action music. Obviously will be inferior to a lot of the game that are only slightly more expensive than it but thats why its a good starter or filler machine. Mine has some problems that i was working on and it looks like a lot of the ones for sale at this time also do. could be symptomatic of any older pinball machine.
7.023/10
2 years ago
I got this game because of it's 80's Miami Vice style theme and will likely keep it for the same reason. But as I've played it a lot now I've come to appreciate it as a game a well. The upper mini playfield area is actually a critical part of this game (as opposed to a tacked on useless part in some other games) so you are always trying to make it up there and there are a few ways to do it. The captive ball that bounces around is super interesting and unique and cool. I wish the flippers were more powerful they feel like an EM. It is probably a good first pin and any family would get a lot of fun out of it.
8.147/10
3 years ago
Honestly I didn’t expect much. I just thought it was a fun little Gottlieb with not much to it.
Boy was I wrong! Hollywood Heat has some very cool features that are seldom appreciated.
The captive “Heat bumper” is a great bonus mechanism. During multiball the “in-sync” inserts flash and the 3-bank drop targets become memory targets and will drop the corresponding target when hit!
Clever feature and smart programming by Gottlieb.

Can’t forget that the soundtrack is dynamite, it plays about 5 different tunes! Some of them are so seldom played they surprised me when I heard them!!
8.442/10
3 years ago
just a great layout with a fun multiball
6.773/10
4 years ago
Despite the odd play field layout the game is easy to pick up and just have fun with. Its got a pretty shallow rule set, and while multiball is very easy to achieve its pretty easy to drain and doesn't last too long for a novice player. The cabinet art is unique but not very exciting, I can definitely see why a lot of people change the backglass to Miami Vice as the game is a pretty blatant homage to that TV show.
7.097/10
4 years ago
Had for over a week after looking for one for several months. Initial thought is it is a fairly fun game that has some flow to it. Drop the ball in the lanes, lock the balls and if you miss the ball drops down to the left flipper and loft it up again for another pass. Locking the multi-ball is harder than it sounds, it usually takes me a few tries to do so. The main ramp is fairly easy to get so if you like multiball.. here they come! Very challenging to keep all three going for any period of time. The right flipper seems fairly useless aside from passing to the left and the odd shot to the captured ball. Quite fun when you nail it and it rattles around by itself up there! All and all a decent game for a quick fix and you don't want to play for 15 minutes. The art bothers me not a bit, some typical 80's stuff going on.
9.014/10
5 years ago
Fantastic game! Super fun! Translite suits the machine but how it is lit up sucks. I don’t like the single fluorescent lamp. Sounds are great but I agree with others that some speech would be nice. Overall it’s a keeper for me!
7.276/10
5 years ago
Im one of those weird people who love this theme...Miami vice...GTA Vice city....Scarface... Easy Multiball

Updated...still fun and challenging, one of the better gottliebs of the 80s
6.780/10
5 years ago
You either like how cheesy this game is, or you hate it. I wasn't a big fan at first, because of the backglass/translite. Once I played it a few times, I enjoyed the cheesy theme. It's totally 80's and I grew up in the 80's and this kind of brings me back. While it's not my favorite pin by any means, I find myself playing it quite a bit, because I enjoy the gottlieb 80b games.
5.862/10
6 years ago
Average Gottlieb. Music is actually pretty good in my opinon. Way to easy to get multiball. Don't care for the theme but it doesn't bother me.
8.455/10
6 years ago
Simple rules.. multiball, bonus multiplier, heat bumper multiplier, increasing drop target values.. fairly standard. The artwork is polarizing, but Retro Cheese is much more popular today and this fits the bill. Classic gottlieb reliability problems , but luckily the previous owner fixed those. Had it for 2 weeks and playing 3 games a day. Great for non pinball types as its relatively easy to get multiball.. except for that ramp!
6.225/10
6 years ago
Here's one that by all reasonable standards I shouldn't like, but here I am.

There's no real flow, the sound is cheesy (La Cucaracha? Really?) the Premier displays are tiny, and yet I want one. I love the faux Miami Vice flavor and would love to retheme one. I don't even mind the translight that gets so much hate.
6.132/10
7 years ago
At first, I was tempted to just point and laugh at this Miami Vice ripoff that reminded me of Hardbody and mediocrity. However, once I started playing, I realized that Hollywood Heat is another one of those underrated games that shouldn't be judged by its spoofy, corny art and design. There are some great shots and excellent flow to this game - and the layout is unique enough that it doesn't get boring immediately. It isn't the best game in the world, but it is a hell of a lot better than it seems at first. The captive ball, the short ramp on the left, the wackiness along the left side, and the ramp on the right that seems adequately difficult to master all add up to make this table a perfect sleeper - shh... don't tell anyone and the price won't crack $1k.

I'd own one... the price is right and the cheesiness can be overcome. Play it - you'll like it.
7.583/10
7 years ago
The ball captures for multiball can be a challenge . Fun game and a definite daily player. A keeper for it's era.
6.848/10
7 years ago
Cab and PF Artwork isn't bad but the BG is horrendous. Someone needs to make a good alt translite. Gameplay is fun but simple. Ramps are harder to hit than I thought they should be and the left ramp is fun but dangerous. Light show isn't too bad for this era but the GI is dark. Sound isn't bad at all, unlike my Goldwings where I pulled the fuse almost as soon as I got the sound working. Had to knock it a couple for lack of speech in 1986. No animations so no rating there. I like the fact you have to drop all six drops to advance towards EB. Forces you to not focus on one area. I do wish MB start was with the captive ball instead of ramp. Would give you reason to hit it other than for some points.
7.802/10
8 years ago
Very Miami Vice, very eighties. Personally I feel the art is so cheesy that I borderline love it. Sound and music is excellent for the Era. Pastel colors are so bad they're good. Game flow is nice. Not as advanced as the Williams/ Bally of the same time but definitely fun to play. So fun that I've found myself owning this game again after sellers remorse. For the money it's worth, it's a keeper. The nostalgia and shock value from the cheesy theme alone is reason for keeping it in a collection.
There are 42 ratings (that include a comment) on this game. Currently showing results page 1 of 2.

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