Stern Electronics

Meteor

Pinside Rating

This game received 138 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 7.516 _/10

7.516

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #187 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.737

Artwork: 7.596

Sounds/Music: 5.831

Other Aspects: 7.836

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 2 of us have rated this game.

7.953

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Found 66 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 66 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.841/10

9 years ago

EDR

winkdot

Inactive member

Richmond, KY

10y 13,250 38 7 6

What a fun game! It's a classic. It can be super fast at times. Always time for one more game of Meteor.

winkdot currently owns this game.

10.000/10

9 years ago

SWB

Sterns best selling game for its era. Good solid game lots of fun!

Update: I bought a mint condition example of this classic & I love it. I play a few games every night, although, often a few games turns into hours of game after game addiction.

Great game, one of the classics, my collection is mostly Bally games but this Stern sits well with the others.

Scubascotti edited previous rating on July 20, 2014.

6.847/10

9 years ago

RJC

boiler2331

Inactive member

Westville, IN

9y 29,900 66 4 9

First time I played this pin I couldn't walk away from it. Second time through it just didn't seem to hold my interest. I do like the flow of the game and the pretty clear and easy rule set, but for some reason the initial feelings I had about the pin are no longer true. Still, a decent game for its time, but not one at the top of my want list.

boiler2331 edited previous rating on May 24, 2014.

8.463/10

10 years ago

JJC

JamesCreelman

Inactive member

Providence, RI

10y 15,750 1 14

This is an oldie but a goodie. The music trips me out man.

3.593/10

10 years ago

CCC

systemlcp

Inactive member

Colorado Springs, CO

11y 28,150 180 1 6

Weak, perhaps a classic if you grew up with it, good for learning very basic play skills.

systemlcp has owned this game in the past.

4 Pinsiders flagged this.

8.642/10

10 years ago

PDR

xanadu323

Inactive member

Louisville, KY

11y 13,650 9 1 10

Meteor is without a doubt the best classic Stern machine you can play.

7.923/10

11 years ago

ERC

Paisley_Pinball

Inactive member

Paisley

11y 51,650 85 47 56

A real classic solid state machine. I like it so much it has made me look for more machines of the same age to add to my collection.

Paisley_Pinball has owned this game in the past.

7.710/10

11 years ago

ZUL

Caucasian2Step

Evil McBooty

12y 163K 1,455 51 1011

Meteor is a drop target shooter's delight.

The Pros:
Lots of shots to make that require accuracy and control. The upper flipper is utilized incredibly well. This is one of the best single level PF's ever designed. The spinner is in the perfect spot for a solid shot from the lower left flipper and that standup when lit with the special is the most tempting sucker shot there is. Perfect placement of the red pop bumper keeps you on your toes. 4 banks of drops mean that you are in for a sniping delight with this game. Ripping that spinner when fully lit makes me do the happy pinball dance.

The Cons:
I'm not the biggest fan of the BG... but heck... I'm not playing with the BG. Sounds are average.

The Takeaway:
A damn fine game that when maintained well will offer endless hours of pinball enjoyment. One of, if not Stern's (early Stern's) very best. I can see why this game was Stern's best seller by a mile. This deck is a truly classic pinball game.

Update:
The more you understand the upper drop sequence / rollover relationship of this game, the more it opens up to you. The more I play this game, the more I appreciate Steve Kirk's sublt angles with the drops on this table. So, are you going to hit that last target? Or are you gonna rip the spinner? Decisions, decisions... Spinners and Drops. Simple, but damn... Stern got it right.

Side note: If this game is not dialed in as it should be, it will play like ass. Most people who are playing this game that are complaining about it should take that fact into consideration. Frickin' wax your PF every once in a while you lazy pinheads! Rant off...

Update v.2:
I got to play a really nice copy and this game will sing when maintained and setup properly. The open PF reminds me of 9 ball. It's a shooter's game for the drops. There's 15 in all. I still like to get 7 sets of the 1,2 and the banks down for the WOW score (Warlok anyone?) and it isn't easy to do in a single ball. a true SS challenge. This is all great, but the real points to be had are from dropping the outside drops at the top bank and leaving one drop left to maximize the spinner scoring. Rip it up! An incredibly fun, easy to find and inexpensive game. Find one, get it and play the heck out of it if you can! There's a good reason why this is Stern v.1's best selling title. It is FUN! Steve Kirk is one of the unsung heroes of pinball design in my book.

Caucasian2Step edited previous rating on March 08, 2016.

11 Pinsiders starred this!

8.227/10

11 years ago

JJM

J-ride

Inactive member

Colbert, WA

11y 15,900 18 4 11

Cool game since the meteor drop targets are also linked to rollover and spot targets

J-ride has owned this game in the past.

9.326/10

12 years ago

FUK

CrazyFliprFingrs

Inactive member

Lakeport, CA

12y 38,900 780 3 9

I own one, love it and don't wish to sell it. A solid, reliable game thats built to stand the test of time, and it can get pretty fast, too! Way ahead of its time, if you like drop targets you will love.

CrazyFliprFingrs has owned this game in the past.

8.245/10

12 years ago

PHH

phh0999

Inactive member

Newport, MA

12y 25,900 2 11 31

This is my first early Stern game. Must confess that my interest in the machine was purely due to the fact it was the machine in the movie Dodgeball ... With that being said, have to say I am pleased...flippers and machine have a "chuncky" solid feel. When set up properly, play is fast and exciting. The meteor drop bank is a great gimmick and with the single pot bunker kind of centrally located, requires some shot thoughts. When compared to sound and sound quality of other games of the era Stern seems to have a bit better quality of sound. I do like drop targets and that's key to enjoying this game. Scoring and game rules are deeper and more complex than some of the other class of 1979 pins...enjoyable pin, maybe a "keeper"!

phh0999 currently owns this game.

8.428/10

12 years ago

JFB

Awfulplatypus

Pinside member

13y 47,650 5 29 12

great game keep comming back to it, fast fast fun action. a blast to play, sound might be enoyoing to some ppl but i beleive it had to the drama of the game. love it

Awfulplatypus currently owns this game.

7.356/10

13 years ago

GEM

Silverballer

Pinside member

14y 88,300 3,238 51

I sunk so many quarters in this machine when it was first released. Always loved how the music would build the longer your ball stayed in play. Lots of targets to knock down and a real sense of accomplishment when completed. Great theme,especially when sitting side by side with Comet.

Silverballer edited previous rating on December 21, 2013.

8.277/10

14 years ago

DEL

SealClubber

Pinside Moderator

14y 127K 11,060 246

Updated report since I just bought my second one of these pins. It was my first pin and I was able to buy another one in better shape. The play is pretty fast on this game, maybe due to the playfield not being worn out. The sounds actually suit the space theme, thankfully. The background music is ominous and is in keeping with the theme but the tone quickly ramps up to a high pitch proximity warning which gets annoying. I actually like the backglass with the mirroring and fits the movie theme perfectly. I remember watching the movie as a kid. They sent three salvos of nukes at the meteor to destroy it, hence the three 1, 2, 3 drop banks. One rule that is not readily apparent is to get the 1,2,and 3 rockets lined up on the same color row to light the roving WOW and then try and shoot that to collect. Not easy on this deck. I can't wait until CPR runs their repros. I hear you can mod to the 7 digit displays with a ROM which would make it harder to roll the scores, not that I do it that often. This game really looks good with LEDs IMO as the inserts are kinda dark with 44s so I recommend a mod to put them in.

SealClubber edited previous rating on December 02, 2015.

8.239/10

14 years ago

???

LOTTABALLS

Inactive member

Unknown

19y 21,250 8 36

For an older game, it plays great.

LOTTABALLS has owned this game in the past.

4.951/10

14 years ago

UFO

zep77

Pinside member

Malibu, CA

15y 31,750 9 44

i really like Stern games,but not this one. bad looking and just not much fun to play.

Zep

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