JJPOTC CE is the best version of the best game ever made. It is the creme in creme-de-la-creme. SCHWING !!!

Absolutely incredible...the game has so much to offer and then you add on the cosmetic features of the CE edition and it will likely go down as one of the most desired titles out there..

This is what pinball should be in the 21st century.

I finally got to play the CE, and was just blown away. I mean even more blown away lol. Amazing game (like the LE), but even better art...and the ship in a bottle topper....drooooool. Dammit, I wish I could have bought this but the price point was just too high for me :/

I own an LE (I rated it similarly) and this I really think I rated it fair. I'm not a "JJP fanboy" as I'm not a huge fan of hobbit, wonka, or WOZ....this game is just really special.

You really need to put a few games in though. I will say this. Before I bought my LE someone told me "Pirates is so over-rated, it's a drain machine"...I couldn't disagree with this more. I literally have half hour games on mine at times. Yes, sure, sometimes you get unlucky and hit the "I" lane and can't nudge it and boom, you get a quickie, but most games are oh so satisfying. This pin will truly never leave my collection.

Let's see....

Game design - 6's across the board. I can't think of any other game with 27 shots that are all very hittable (they claim there's 27..... but I think with combinations a lot more, but 27 UNIQUE shots). Even the harder ones on the left side ("Special" and the Dead Man's Cove or whatever it's called) are both very hittable. The "free game" shot is my favorite free game shot in any game ever. I have mine cranked up to hard and if the ball so much as breathes on the bumpers it won't register. So satisfying.

Artwork - This is actually has the weakest category for me in the game - animation ("decent"). It's nothing special. The animations are few and far between actually - free ball, special, the ship blowing up when hit by cannon fire or taking damage, etc. It's not horrible by any means (and I'm glad it's not long / flow ruining like some games. *Cough* Jurassic Park. *Cough*) . The playfield of the CE with Davy Jones and the barnacle on the action button, great touches. The playfield is good with all shots illustrated well, and a ton of the characters.

Sounds and music - Excellent sound effects. Excellent Quality. Excellent Variation. I DO WISH THEY HAD MORE VOICE ACTORS THOUGH (5/6 because of this)....but what is there is really good. I never get annoyed by anything like on some games. The pirate-y jingles definitely fit the theme well.

Other Aspects - Weakest part is here. Theming. 4/6. They could have done a lot more to tie the game into the movies, but having said that it doesn't really detract from the amazing game it is. I wish there was a lot more videos of the movie, and as I mentioned above only having the one voice actor is a bit of a bummer. Imagine Johnny Depp instead?!?! I mean Gibbs is OK, but I'll take captain over the first mate any date. Game Lighting - 6/6 - when the game comes alive during multiballs and get more and more intense as you stack multiballs....just wow. Lastibility 6/6. Fun 6/6. I have 4 games in the basement now and I walk to this first.

This game will never leave my collection. It is also by far the favorite of my wife, daughter, and neighborhood friends who pop by for a beer and want to have a game. It's truly bolted to the floor and I have yet to play anything that even gives me close to the satisfaction of trying to beat my previous scores. The crazy thing is too, they could make the code even better.

I could go on and on and on.... a moving ship with a shooting cannon that actually shoots the ball across the table and registers hit / damage that you need to make to get the Black Pearl multiball, Liars Dice - the BEST video mode ever (I can't even think of a remotely close runner up) - gambling for free balls????? Unreal. I should mention too the rule set is really, really good for tweaks for home use as well - can make the game very easy with longer balls or very, very tough. There is also nudge opportunities to escape drains on BOTH sides of the table - this game has really brought my nudge game up...... Like I said.... I could go on and on....there's just so much here.

Summary: Greatest Of All Time.... It's just a masterpiece. I would take one of these over any other game in a second.

The CE is the greatest version of the greatest game in pinball!

The Davy Jones artwork package is great and the barnacles are a super nice touch.
The motorized "ship in a bottle" topper is cool looking, but noisy - I've disabled the motion on mine.

This is a keeper game for me that won't be going anywhere!

I've owned other machines but currently only own this one. Bought it new and the game is 1 year old at the time of this review. Still love this game more than any other game. I've suffered some frustrating quality issue but for the most part have everything working awesome. If there was a quality field in the rating system, this machine would have taken a huge hit there. IMO it's still the GOAT. The only area i see room for improvement would be the software is due for a revision. It will come. But i think it needs just a couple game rule enhancements. Also there needs some Diagnostic Menu system settings improvements (Tournament mode/ install presets/ game presets/ difficulty presets). I dont think any of these work.

i have to agree with everything drfrightner has said...simply a stunning pinball
the CE edition is magical...even the noisy motor of the topper fits the game....
this IS and will be an all time CLASSIC

This game is the never leaving my collection. My whole family keep going to this game and leaving the others to hang out. It’s a deep game that I can’t wait to hopefully conquer.

Probably “the” best game ever made. It’s a shame I couldn’t afford a CE. That’s the only reason I’d sell my LE. To buy a CE. Amazing game. :)

Stunning game but a little clunky to figure out. A bit much going on for public play setting but satisfying for home use. Great Backbox stuff. Helps if you really like the movie. Certainly would buy a new car over the inflated price of this machine, but it’s still quite good

Very fun game with far too much hype. Not a beginner pin and lack of assets hurts it just a touch. Definitely a top 20. Maybe top 10 if it weren't such a pricey game (about the price of 2 other top 10 games)

Great machine the best

This game is the GOAT!

It has Everything.
Toys Galore, Artwork, Layout, Gameplay, Code, Theme integration, its all there.

I cannot imagine a more perfect pin.... after searching for this pin for over a year and finally finding one, purchasing it, and waiting months for it to be shipped to me I think I have finally found the absolutely most perfect pin money could buy. Granted it ended up costing me almost $19,000 once said and done, but it was money well worth spending.

The exterior of the machine in itself is a beauty, the artwork, the barnacles, the backglass, everything is beautiful. The ship in a bottle topper is the best I've ever seen in a pin.

The playfield layout is full of twists and turns and ramps and multiple levels of targets to achieve. The Black Pearl upper playfield is challenging to play as it sways back and forth and you attempt to launch a ball to a hole in a ship that's clear across the playfield. The pirates chest (I have the mod) is easy to get to, but it takes just the right amount of force to get the ball to land inside, unlike Hobbit where you are always going up the ramps. The magnetic mechanism in the upper playfield that starts shooting cannons is awesome to watch, the upper flipper hits so many additional targets that it is like playing a second pinball machine. The spinning disc does amazing things and prevents the lower playfield from becoming mundane. The left shots require timing and skill, including the maelstrom shot which harkens back to another one of my all time favorites Whitewater.

On to the video - this is an amazing component of the pin, and thanks to Jersey Jack for having the pinballs to make this happen... instead of sticking with the status quo, this brings a level of entertainment to the industry never seen before, and is a reason why I also love my Wizard Of Oz and Hobbit and Wonka so much. Video that is this well thought out, this stylish, this gorgeous really completes the game.

For gameplay, I am incredibly challenged yet never frustrated. I need to understand the ruleset more, but it is so nice that between balls I'm shown which shots do what, and this correlates with the video screen by blinking the lights for the shots on the playfield. Brilliant! I would have gone a step further and included actual videos above on exactly what needs to be done to achieve what goal.

Personally, this is absolute perfection and with this pin my life is complete. Jersey Jack, please keep taking my money away, please keep up with the themes... as long as you're making pins, you'll likely be taking my money. If it's $20K, so be it. This is playable art, perfect pinball, bringing pure joy to anyone who comes across this pin. But good luck finding one - there are only 200 of these and it will never be made again... and I won't be giving this up anytime soon, that's for sure... so now there are just 199 of this on Planet Earth, best of luck finding one... but if you do find one, know that you have a true treasure (and investment) on your hands!

Every shot is nice!

The greatest game I have ever played or owned, and I have had owned a lot.

One of the best pinball machine ever made! JJP knocked it out of the park with this one.Im so glad that I bought this.Its one that will never leave the collection.
Very deep rule set and a lot to shot for it will take a good amount of games played to figure out what to shoot for once that’s done.its all good.The artwork is excellent and the playfield is loaded with enough things to last.This game is built like a tank very heavy and solid.

This is one of the best pinball machines we have played. We followed this one from the reveal, to playing prototypes, to playing the first production LE pin on the line at JJP (the first non-employees to play the production model), to playing a SE in a league, to finally owning a LE. We have played the CE model and it is pretty close to the LE model except for some artwork and cosmetics … and cool topper.

It takes about the first 20 or so times playing it to get a handle on what to shoot for and how to progress in the game. It's not "hard" to figure out, there is just a lot going on in this packed playfield. The rocking upper playfield with flippers on it is probably it's most unique feature. The shots all have a purpose in the plot/progressing of the pin and you really need to play it to understand it. Yes, there is a kind of quest to work your way through the game with several parallel paths to get to the super wizard mode (very hard to get to). With all the character selections at the beginning of the game with the advantages and disadvantages of each character, it creates several different approaches for strategy. The code is fantastic. The "gold collecting" for a multiball is pretty cool. The plundering creates some comradery and heckling that means something in multi-player games. The theming is great considering the licensing limitations. Sometimes games take a while to play, other times it can kick your butt. And that's one of the many reasons to keep pressing that start button. You can tell that Eric put a ton of effort into his first design, Keith and Joe supported that with a ton of effort in programming with lots of game variations, the Jean-Paul created animations that were done very well. David Thiel created some great music and sound effects that are theme appropriate and sound good. The call outs from the character "Gibbs" are very piratey.

The LE and CE have the RGB general illumination that accent the different chapters/modes/wizard modes. That little thing makes a big difference in a home environment, but probably not so much at a location with other pins and lights around it. We like the topper on the CE a lot, but the coral things stuck on the rails I'm not fond of. The Davey Jones pic in the middle of the playfield I don't care too much for and would rather have Jack Sparrow (which is why we got an LE). A lot of people like the CE looks better and that's fine. The plus of the topper with the minus of Davey Jones and the coral cancel each other out. (I still want that topper though.)

Give this game at least 20 tries.

This game is special

A great game from JJP and it is fantastic to have a number of pinball machine manufacturers competing with each other and creating pins right now in 2019 with a distinctive difference between each other. POTC is a fantastic machine. This review is for the CE edition rather than the LE or standard so I dont have a comparison for differences between the two. The technology JJP has in this game is at the highest level.

The screen size is huge and being a wide body pin it is crammed with some great features and game play. Virtually all shooters and coils are adjustable using the control panel which is such a great tool using the game admin controls. This is a good game for the family and occasional player also and with a bit of time you can create a lot of ball control. My favorite wide body pin before this one was STTNG, but this one is as good as it gets for engineering and fun also.