Pinside rating

This game received 50 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 5.930 _/10

5.93

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #274 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 6.228

Artwork: 5.066

Sounds/Music: 5.669

Other Aspects: 6.009

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.

6.997

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Found 26 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 26 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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7.407/10

2 years ago

DPF

Envy-Me

Pinside member

New Berlin, WI

2y 32,650 36 8 20

Its a fun game! The back glass is hideous, so if you can look past that, its a great SS pin for EM money. The game is fast, there is good variety in the shots, some being rather hard, and the moving sniper targets are fun and add an element of time to the game. Good pop bumper action, ramp, helicopter gimmick. The flipper action is good, but only two flippers. They arent overyly powerful, meaning you need to be precise with the ramp shot. I see a lot of people switch the flipper coils to stronger ones, but that might make the game to easy for long term home use.

The music is catchy, in an early nintendo-style, which fits the game well. The sounds are decent for the time, and the lack of voice is good as there are no annoying callouts! The speaker system is plenty good enough, with speakers in the backbox and in the cabinet, for decent volume and bass response. The playfield art is very detailed and pretty cool. The early alpha numeric display is a bit small, but it works fine, and the light show tells you what to do with enough information.

Reliability is probably average, but once you address the general system 80 issues, its likely good. It seems easy enough to service. This is a great pin for a beginner and probably can be had on the cheap end of the scale. Plays much better than its current pinside rating would suggest.

Envy-Me edited previous rating on January 19, 2022.
Envy-Me has owned this game in the past.

6.507/10

2 years ago

KCG

KC_Green

Pinside member

Morton, IL

2y 28,650 28 4 9 1

This game is more fun than it looks!
My uncle owned this game in the 90’s and my buddies and I played it until we wore out the flippers. Even then, I found the cabinet art lame (bordering on silly). Kind of a female Rambo theme. The playfield was really fun for the time. Sniper stand-ups, good ramp shot, a mech, and the helicopter spinner shot was fun. The sound effects were actually good.
Not sure it would last long compared to today’s games or those great late 90’s games. That said, in a larger collection or someone entering the hobby finds one cheap, it is fun “80’s pinball.”

7.145/10

2 years ago

HGO

Hugoscollectible

Pinside apprentice

2y 10,500 2 20

I like the helicopter with the rotor the spin when you hit the spinner. The ramp is unique looking. The music is decent but the gameplay and art is that great

7.067/10

2 years ago

ZUL

Caucasian2Step

Evil McBooty

11y 155K 1,443 50 979 1

Raven is a game that oozes 80's cheez-bawls-testo-culture.

The Good:
I love shooting this game. The shots may seem to be an obvious homage to firepower, but the layout is Trudeau. So it is going to be more interesting and random. The big shots on the game are the orbits to the multiball lock, spinner and the top lanes for bonus X. High multiplier pinball bonus meltdown is a thing of beauty on this game, but you gotta earn it! Pops have good action and offer many different exits and different angles to the lower part of the playfield. The best part about Raven is? You can still find them for cheap. That makes this great beginner player/collector's game. The shots are a bit different, but well laid out and the nudging on the ramp divider is not something you see every day. When playing properly, this game will give you pinball 80's awesomeness like few others. You can play this game for hours (I know I did when I found a sweet copy). Rules balance is better than one might initially observe. When considered the risk/reward in this design is solid. Go for the bonus X and rip the spinners! Good luck controlling the ball on this game, it is full of chaos. Stay away from the standups. Those are all super fast sucker shots! Popping snipers is a hoot, but not too many points. The Giraffe skin cabinet cracks me up every single time!

The Bad:
This is one of the Gottlieb system 80b games. IF those boards don't work, I wish you luck finding a replacement. I don't know if any are being reproduced. Contact Steve Young at Pinball Resource for details. Don't get me started on the translite. Lady Rambo, You did the best job you could. If you can't stand the look, there are alternate translites to be had. PF design is frustrating when the ball should drop into the inlanes from the ball locks and it bounces into the outlanes. Removing inlane rubbers may solve this issue. However there is something even worse... when the ball falls out of the pops and hits the top of the lower right playfield drop target and it heads into the right outlane... every. single. time.

The Takeaway:
Find one for cheap. Play the heck out of it and keep it around, or pay it forward and give it so someone who needs their first pinball game and will play it as they should. After nearly 35 years, people are starting to realize that it isn't a bad playing game. There is quite a bit to shoot for and when you learn to shatz/to right orbit spinner (not easy to do on those wire inlanes), there are points to be had all day long! If you get bored with this design, consider putting a power ball inside of it. If you like working with a belt sander, this game is prime for a re-theming.

8.852/10

2 years ago

BAS

pinostalgia

Pinside member

Tracy, CA

5y 58,300 522 10 6

fun underrated game,hard ramp shot.

pinostalgia currently owns this game.

7.334/10

2 years ago

DAD

BrianH

Pinside member

Crossfield, AB

4y 29,400 15 3 7

I picked up Raven in a trade, after a quick clean up, new rubbers and leds- this game is awesome. The sniper target music always gets me going for more. I thoroughly enjoy this game.

The theme is pretty cheesy..... but it gets EVERYONES attention. You cant not play it. Such a fun game!

The music is great, very 8 bit NES style.

If you can pick this game up, do it.

BrianH has owned this game in the past.

6.145/10

2 years ago

JOR

jorro

Pinside member

Bermuda Triangle

7y 81,550 2,988 8

Pinside vote experiment

jorro edited previous rating on September 25, 2020.

7 Pinsiders flagged this.

5.577/10

3 years ago

CUZ

mcuzz

Pinside member

7y 117K 479 137

I like the theme , pretty fun but pretty ugly game.
If your collection is large or you can get one for cheap, this one could be nice to play for a while.

6.372/10

4 years ago

JEC

Berserk

Pinside member

Kincardine, ON

11y 51,650 262 4 23

I've owned a Raven and I really liked it. The Music is great and left ramp shot is challenging. While this may not be a long time keeper in my collection, I still enjoy picking up a few games on this machine.

Berserk has owned this game in the past.

6.207/10

4 years ago

D D

RandomTask

Silverball Chronicles

4y 67,050 474 2 34

Sure the Translite is horrible... But that's part of the charm. It's fun to play and shots are good. Nice little pin. Give it a try before you pass judgement

RandomTask edited previous rating on July 31, 2019.
RandomTask has owned this game in the past.

6.524/10

4 years ago

GAR

Cherga

Pinside member

5y 50,550 332 16

I agree with the previous reviewer. People write the game off just because of the bad backglass. It can be picked up cheap and plays pretty well. Ramp shot is tough, you have to be spot on with the right amount of speed or you won’t make it. It’s not an easy game for points and like others have said, I find myself rarely breaking 1M.

Definitely do the ground mods or you will eventually have issues with this and all other 80b’s.

Raven is a classic 80’s Gottlieb in the series of horrible photographic backglasses but don’t let that steer you away, this and other Gottliebs from the same period are surprisingly fun and very inexpensive.

5.763/10

5 years ago

???

Aviator

Inactive member

Unknown

5y 10,900 7 4 6

The back glass kills this game before you play it. I have see an alternate back glass someone had made and it changed the game by 50% for the better. There is nothing like seeing this backglass in your line up. Looks like something you bought from Sears.

6.146/10

5 years ago

DAN

BeaverBrewing

Pinside member

Beaver Falls, PA

10y 80,150 288 7 282

Always heard this is the worst game out there...not great by any means but it is fun. The stand up “snipers” are a unique feature and I like th flow of the ramps. Not an A title but not the worst.

1.582/10

5 years ago

WXW

Lawlor_and_Order

Pinball 518

6y 81,400 38 109

I had to play this game in competition at Pinburgh, and I was reminded of why it might possibly be the worst machine produced of all-time. From the horrible theme and incredibly cheaply-produced artwork to the nearly unplayable rule set to the cheesy mid 80's flippers to the dim and tiny LED scoring, and the hard to see playing field, I have tried hard to find one redeeming feature about this mess, and have failed.

8.232/10

5 years ago

BIL

billsgto

Pinside+ Frequent

8y 79,350 261 75 3

I've had this game for a few months now and I still enjoy playing it. It has a lot of different features that you can shoot for and the music and sound effects compliment the gameplay. It is one of the better 80's Gottlieb machines in my opinion.

3.068/10

5 years ago

GPS

onetaste

Pinside member

Adelaide Hills

9y 60,900 140 21 112

Another John Trudeau masterpiece. Dangerous stand up targets, a ramp worth nothing and a spinner worth way too much making it the only shot in the game. Does John Trudeau play pinball? Unlike the other reviews here, I like the back glass. Very 80s. Not enough strong female characters in pinball.

6.567/10

6 years ago

SAP

seshpilot

Pinside member

10y 106K 2,380 166

Raven really isn't all that bad. Obviously the art sucks but once you get past that, it's a nice Trudeau layout! To be honest, it's a brutally hard game! There's many close up shots that will send your ball SDTM. Additionally, the sniper pop-ups (yes, a la Medieval Madness!) will knock your r ball right back at you incredibly fast. While this game is not multiball, don't let that deter you (personally, I think this game is the perfect game for a returns project), this deck is a FUN one. Play on!

6.167/10

6 years ago

DDK

davkonw

Pinside member

7y 39,900 19 25

The backglass on this machine is OMG bad..some like it ..but cheese please.The is just Blah so that is most of the drawback, the game play is ok .The helicopter spinner is kinda neat. The sniper pop up shots are nice skill shots. A good starter pin for a cheaper machine.

5.508/10

7 years ago

MAX

mbaumle

Pinside+ Frequent

Laurel Springs, NJ

7y 117K 4,000 18 32

Game Design: The game's similarity to firepower in layout is it's strongest feature and also one of it's greatest downfalls. The sniper drop targets are fun to hit and aim for, but everything else on the game falls flat. The ramp shot is tough to make, and not rewarding enough, and the layout just makes you wish you were playing a Firepower. Lack of multiball is disappointing, and spotting a standup target with the scanning lights is more luck than skill. The helicopter that spins it blades when you hit the spinner is a neat gimmick, though.

Artwork, Sound, and Music: Bad translight, underwhelming cabinet artwork, and a poor focus on sound make this game as disappointing to look at as it is to play. The only redeeming feature is the playfield art: It is detailed and well thought out. It's a shame that the rest of the game doesn't follow suit.

Overall: This is certainly a below average game. Definitely a dud. Worth playing only for the sole reason to say "I've played that game before!"

4.055/10

7 years ago

CPI

cait001

Pinside member

9y 112K 4,502 36

I try hard to love the underdogs of the pinball world, but Raven has fallen flat for me. The first time I shot for the orbits to get the rollovers done to lower the ramp, then made that ramp... and scored only 50k... well, my heart drooped. That was it? That was the big reward?
The key shot is going over the inlanes to light the spinner for 10k a spin momentarily.
So many standup targets, you'd think it'd be more interesting to shoot at all 10? In the end the sniper modes tend to be more tedious than anything, and at first I had such high hopes for them.
Props to the developers for having so many rules controlled via the dipswitches, but even with them I couldn't find an intriguing ruleset that made the game more fun.

With a modern CPU and new programming this game could ACTUALLY be tonnes of fun. My mind spins with the clever rules one could theoretically put in place. Progress saved between balls! Completed standup banks build rewards! Better ramp utilization! Pops modes!
But alas, we are currently stuck with what we have, and it's just not that great.

8.396/10

8 years ago

CET

Ven

Pinside+ Frequent

Carlyle, IL

9y 65,800 449 21 18

I have had this game for going on a year now, I still enjoy playing it. The backglass art isn't the best but it isn't the worst, Playfield art isn't too bad and the cabinet also isn't bad. The key to enjoying this game over the long haul is to not worry about the score. If you you want to have fun with it, work on getting the special and extra ball. The snipers are challenging as is the drop down ramp.

I am guessing the people who really don't like this game are focusing on points. If you just want points bang on the spinner all day, but that isn't where the fun is.

This is a good game to hone your ball control on. Alley pass, tap pass, post transfers and drop catching are key to enjoying this game.

Ven currently owns this game.

6.997/10

8 years ago

JLM

jlm33

Pinside Moderator

Villejuif

10y 152K 5,888 7 169

The one thing you cannot but notice for Raven is its backglass. One of the worst of all times. But the game is better than that. Give it a try. It is not a hidden gem, but it plays decently. The Helicopter is a cool toy. Building up the bonus multiplier is fun. The left ramp is a bit too tight. Shooting the snipers is fun.

8.475/10

10 years ago

YAR

Gangplank

Pinside member

10y 32,900 86 4 23

Though the backglass isn't the best, there are worse out there, the gameplay itself is excellent and the playfield artwork is alright, the ramp is cool and so are the snipers and the helicopter toy, an under rated game, don't judge a book by its cover! (or a pin by its backglass)

Gangplank has owned this game in the past.

6.463/10

10 years ago

KLC

keanan_connell

Pinside member

Wilmington, DE

10y 37,050 43 17 19

its a decent game for its time. Art is terrible and the sounds are nothing special. The sniper targets are cool. That's the only really good thing I can say about this game. I got one very cheap and kept it for about a year. Wouldn't consider buying one again unless it was an incredibly good deal.

keanan_connell edited previous rating on January 07, 2022.
keanan_connell has owned this game in the past.

8.260/10

11 years ago

BKB

the96stang

Bushey Bro's

Enfield, CT

11y 105K 2,844 16 13 1

If only it sad rambo. Love the helicopter tho.

the96stang has owned this game in the past.

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