Pinside rating
This game received 1249 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.956 /10
Top 100 ranking
This game ranks 1st in the game group "Medieval Madness". The group itself ranks #2 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.
Score breakdown
Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:
Game design: 9.141
Artwork: 8.834
Sounds/Music: 8.494
Other Aspects: 9.052
Pinside staff rating
This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 11 of us have rated this game.
This game is part of a group
Note! There are multiple versions of this game!
This is "Medieval Madness".
The other versions are: Medieval Madness (Remake - LE), Medieval Madness (Remake - Standard)
Ranking history
An overview of this machine's ranking over the last years. Lower is better.
Rating history
An overview of this machine's rating over the last years. Higher is better.
Found 704 ratings (with comment) on this game
There are 704 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 1 of 29.
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Des Moines, WA
9.700/10
25 days ago
No need to be redundant here. Probably the most fun game out there. Fantastic flow, great rules, great sound/callouts/music. #1 for good reason. Only negative is that it is more or less the same game as Attack from Mars in many respects.
9.760/10
28 days ago
Medieval Madness Pinball Review
Summary and First Impressions
About 5 years ago I caught the pinball bug after visiting the Pinball Museum and Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. When I got home I had to get my hands on more pinball and given my video game background, the first thing I delved into was Farsight Studio's Pinball Arcade on iPad. Eventually, I made my way to Pinball Arcade's version of Medieval Madness after seeing it on the top of many all-time pinball machine lists. I played the HECK outta it. Recently I had a chance to play the physical machine on location and it was even more fun in person!
Medieval Madness has everything I could want in a pinball machine. Great toys, fun shots, interesting rules and just the right amount of difficulty.
Highlights
* Watching the castle explode is incredibly satisfying
* Easy to understand rules that offer some interesting risk-reward decision making: completing a shot a certain amount of times lights a "madness." Shooting the Merlin shot will trigger all the madnesses. The more madnesses you have lit the better the multiball that is triggered. Do you take your madness now or do you risk it and build a bigger madness? If it's the latter then you have to avoid hitting Merlin!
* Hilarious call outs are strewn throughout the game!
Misses
* Those damn trolls
* Occasionally the strategy can lead you to simply shooting the castle a bunch
Layout
+ Great layout, each shot is fun to shoot, comboing the ramps is great and the castle has just the right amount of Risk-Reward
- The troll risk-reward is off, they feel incredibly dangerous but don't feel like they reward enough as a trade-off
Rules
+ I really like the "madness" system; trying to score a royal madness leads to you attempting every non-castle shot on the table
- The scoring of the castles incentivizes them as goto strategy
Toys
+ The castle is the best toy in pinball. It's placed perfectly and it's "explosion" satisfies every time
Art
+ Great overall art package
+ The castle multiball animation is a great highlight
+ All of the big scoring animations are great as well
Sound and Music
+ Lots of funny sayings by the castle "lords"
+ Great SFX, especially for the catapult and troll hits
+ Great callouts and reward sounds
Theme
+ Never takes itself seriously for a second, but still dripping in a medieval theme
Conclusion
Medieval Madness deserves every bit of praise it gets. It's got a great toy and easy to approach rules for the casual player PLUS great in-depth rules and rewards for the hardcore player. It's presentation and light show is among the best in the hobby. If you haven't played this game live, go find one and give it a chance!
Summary and First Impressions
About 5 years ago I caught the pinball bug after visiting the Pinball Museum and Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. When I got home I had to get my hands on more pinball and given my video game background, the first thing I delved into was Farsight Studio's Pinball Arcade on iPad. Eventually, I made my way to Pinball Arcade's version of Medieval Madness after seeing it on the top of many all-time pinball machine lists. I played the HECK outta it. Recently I had a chance to play the physical machine on location and it was even more fun in person!
Medieval Madness has everything I could want in a pinball machine. Great toys, fun shots, interesting rules and just the right amount of difficulty.
Highlights
* Watching the castle explode is incredibly satisfying
* Easy to understand rules that offer some interesting risk-reward decision making: completing a shot a certain amount of times lights a "madness." Shooting the Merlin shot will trigger all the madnesses. The more madnesses you have lit the better the multiball that is triggered. Do you take your madness now or do you risk it and build a bigger madness? If it's the latter then you have to avoid hitting Merlin!
* Hilarious call outs are strewn throughout the game!
Misses
* Those damn trolls
* Occasionally the strategy can lead you to simply shooting the castle a bunch
Layout
+ Great layout, each shot is fun to shoot, comboing the ramps is great and the castle has just the right amount of Risk-Reward
- The troll risk-reward is off, they feel incredibly dangerous but don't feel like they reward enough as a trade-off
Rules
+ I really like the "madness" system; trying to score a royal madness leads to you attempting every non-castle shot on the table
- The scoring of the castles incentivizes them as goto strategy
Toys
+ The castle is the best toy in pinball. It's placed perfectly and it's "explosion" satisfies every time
Art
+ Great overall art package
+ The castle multiball animation is a great highlight
+ All of the big scoring animations are great as well
Sound and Music
+ Lots of funny sayings by the castle "lords"
+ Great SFX, especially for the catapult and troll hits
+ Great callouts and reward sounds
Theme
+ Never takes itself seriously for a second, but still dripping in a medieval theme
Conclusion
Medieval Madness deserves every bit of praise it gets. It's got a great toy and easy to approach rules for the casual player PLUS great in-depth rules and rewards for the hardcore player. It's presentation and light show is among the best in the hobby. If you haven't played this game live, go find one and give it a chance!
9.640/10
56 days ago
Paris
Right up there with Attack from Mars. Obviously same game designer and two absolute classics: pick your poison theme (knights or aliens) and go for one or the other and you won’t be disapointed. MM is amazing and doesn’t get old.
7.476/10
77 days ago
Great theme... not my favorite. I know this game is super popular, but I have never seen a machine that fully worked in the wild... even the remake. Shooting the castle is fun, but when you can't destroy both trolls or get the moat down it ruins the fun. I'm also not a fan of not having an old fashioned plunger on the game. I really wanted to like this game, but every time I try it I like it less. Maybe someday, but for now I'm going to be contrarian on this one.
8.380/10
85 days ago
A great pin! This is a one more time pin...a big deal for me for a keeper. I love the theme, the sounds/speech, the toys...all a blast. In home, I think this would last a long time. Don’t see getting tired of it. I’ve played the remake as well, but prefer the original...just felt better playing.
7.350/10
86 days ago
Only 1 tough shot on the playfield. Very repetitive and got bored in a few days playing it. Theme is great and toys are amazing on it. Wish the rules set was a little deeper on it. But definetly a great pin. Just not my favorite pin ever.
9.740/10
3 months ago
Köln
So when you peel away all the hype surrounding this title, what do you have ? Basically, you have a absolutely brilliant pinball game which pretty much deserves the hype it receives. For starters, Medieval Madness, together with its older sibling AFM, pretty much set the template or gold standard for future pinball layouts – orbits on the far right and left – inside of them ramps returning the ball to the same side of the playfield (means unobstructed view of the main playfield surface – although on MM the left ramp winds around the castle and goes across the playfield), pops in the upper right corner, some bash targets and other targets in the middle and some targets or scoops to the right and left of the orbits. Appearance-wise MM is an absolute stunner – especially the castle and it’s lighting, the flashers and the green moat. The whole playfield including the integration of the castle is so wonderfully balanced – the castle is meant to be there. The castle somehow gives the impression of being very large – as if it just keeps going to the right and left and the rear. The open playfield space in front of the castle is enormous – few pins have so much free space for the ball to fly around.
Rulewise MM is very clever. You are either bashing the castle all day – perhaps monotonous, but somehow shooting the ball through the open gate is always a blast – or you are going for madnesses by hitting the other targets (ramps, orbits, catapult, trolls) multiple times while trying to avoid Merlin. The rule with the madnesses is very well thought out – having to avoid a target (Merlin) brings in a new challenge. I also like the relationship between Multiball Madness and Royal Madness – interesting modes which seamlessly happen from your play progression and are affected by your previous play and affect your future play. And then there’s the trolls (clever use of those extra two flippertronics coils) which are somehow used enough, but not too much – when they’re active it’s a whole new game. Regarding the playfield inserts - I like the fact that almost all the information you need to know about your status is on the playfield (number of trolls hit is one exception that comes to mind) – the inserts tell you pretty much everything – you don’t actually need the display except to see your score. Castle Multiball is also well done – it has three clearly different successive phases, rather than just bashing away at the lit jackpots so it is mode in itself.
The goofy call outs always seem to put smile on my face. They are a nice addition. The music is pretty decent, kind of epic and stately – fits well to the game.
Rulewise MM is very clever. You are either bashing the castle all day – perhaps monotonous, but somehow shooting the ball through the open gate is always a blast – or you are going for madnesses by hitting the other targets (ramps, orbits, catapult, trolls) multiple times while trying to avoid Merlin. The rule with the madnesses is very well thought out – having to avoid a target (Merlin) brings in a new challenge. I also like the relationship between Multiball Madness and Royal Madness – interesting modes which seamlessly happen from your play progression and are affected by your previous play and affect your future play. And then there’s the trolls (clever use of those extra two flippertronics coils) which are somehow used enough, but not too much – when they’re active it’s a whole new game. Regarding the playfield inserts - I like the fact that almost all the information you need to know about your status is on the playfield (number of trolls hit is one exception that comes to mind) – the inserts tell you pretty much everything – you don’t actually need the display except to see your score. Castle Multiball is also well done – it has three clearly different successive phases, rather than just bashing away at the lit jackpots so it is mode in itself.
The goofy call outs always seem to put smile on my face. They are a nice addition. The music is pretty decent, kind of epic and stately – fits well to the game.
9.642/10
3 months ago
London
The best game still after all these years, Brian Eddy absolutely smashed it, along with Lyman on code. Wide appeal from newcomers to experienced players. The king of earners, on location, probably due to it appealing to almost everyone. What’s not to love. Will never leave our collection
7.154/10
4 months ago
Canberra
I've only played two different MM machines. They both had an issue with the left flipper so the ball bobbled just before rolling on to your flipper. Annoying. I didn't play enough to get a genuine appreaciation for the rules but I felt like the only way to score big was to keep bashing the castle. The multiball jackpots were insignificant. It seems like a good game but I don't see how it's #1.
9.700/10
5 months ago
I have played MM quite a few times but held off rating it until I finally owned it and played it enough to fully understand all the rules.
Wow what a blast,I think it totally lives up to its reputation.
Great call outs, great toys and great fun and great rule set.
Whats not to like?
Wow what a blast,I think it totally lives up to its reputation.
Great call outs, great toys and great fun and great rule set.
Whats not to like?
9.080/10
6 months ago
Love this game... could play it every day. Great shots all over the place. Great theme!
9.140/10
7 months ago
Great game with a great theme and a lot of humor. A lot of fun to stack the multiballs. Flippers always seem a little week for the ramps, but most played were at shows or arcades.
Maybe it would get a little old in the long run with the repetitive castle shot, but would be excellent in a collection. But it's way up there in terms of the pricing.
Maybe it would get a little old in the long run with the repetitive castle shot, but would be excellent in a collection. But it's way up there in terms of the pricing.
9.320/10
7 months ago
If you hate the Blackhawks, the Yankees, Ford and any and all other mainstream successful entities, you will hate this game. You just hate a winner.
Yes I own it. I loved it for long before I did purchase it, because of my love of it. Of course I would own what I feel is one of, if not THE, best pinballs ever. The sense of humor, the shots, the art, the theme, the fun of playing it and its general universal #1 favorite status of people that come to our house and have access to my decent sized collection says it all.
The only people I know that hate this game are usually feel they are "above" loving such common and universally loved games.
It is en vogue to deride the "commoners" subject of affection. Those that "hate" this game are tired of its success, jealous of its near universal loved status, or just bitter contrarians. If it isn't your favorite, it should be within spitting distance, and if you claim to "hate" it, then you hate pinball.
Yes I own it. I loved it for long before I did purchase it, because of my love of it. Of course I would own what I feel is one of, if not THE, best pinballs ever. The sense of humor, the shots, the art, the theme, the fun of playing it and its general universal #1 favorite status of people that come to our house and have access to my decent sized collection says it all.
The only people I know that hate this game are usually feel they are "above" loving such common and universally loved games.
It is en vogue to deride the "commoners" subject of affection. Those that "hate" this game are tired of its success, jealous of its near universal loved status, or just bitter contrarians. If it isn't your favorite, it should be within spitting distance, and if you claim to "hate" it, then you hate pinball.
9.660/10
7 months ago
Always love playing this game any time I see it. While some people find it campy and cliche, the constant puns and monty-python ish references keep me laughing. The back and forth between the trolls and the funny things the rioting villagers say are my personal favorites. Can’t think of any other call outs from pins that get me laughing like this one does, maybe when the T-rex eats the ball in Jurassic Park, but that’s about it. Music is a bit repetitive and the castle scoring is overblown, but I have just as much fun rescuing damsels and blasting the trolls as I do destroying the castle, though not recommended to get a high score. Tons of shots. This game will never get old for me. Will always have a place in my top ten.
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