I love the show Rick and Morty, but sadly can’t say the same thing about the pinball game. It came out with a lot of fanfare, but that was quickly extinguished as you realized the only redeeming quality were the call outs. The pop bumper and left ramp are also a bit.... awkward. I loved and still love Spooky’s first pin and TNA, but the other pins have been a disappointment. I’ve given Spooky every benefit of the doubt, but this is likely my last pinball from them.

I sold this game for more than I paid for it, so that’s a plus. Before I sold it, I decided to put a lot of plays on it. This is a hard game. I finally got the right side flipper down and started making the garage shot. I raised my rating. It is satisfying to make that shot. I still hate the slam bumper off the left lower flipper. If not for that, I would consider this game a keeper.

This pin has an unusual layout but it works. The rules, lights, sound and art are all tops. Overall this pin is so fun to play and funny that covers up any shortcomings.

I've been waiting to write a review until I had a chance to put some more time on R&M. The first time I played it was at Cactus Jacks in OKC and it was brutal but hilarious. That said, at first flip I wasn't 100% sold. After putting ~100 games on it since then, I can say I'm really loving it. It's not easy to shoot, but when you get in the groove it is so much fun (kind of how Jurassic Park is for me). The theme integration and lighting are extremely well done. The modes are well thought out and each one fits the theme well (Roy: A Life Well Lived is brilliant). The sound effects and music are really well done too, which doesn't surprise me given it's Scott's game. Similarly to JP3, there are just a lot of things going on beyond the modes. Traveling to dimensions (over 20 currently), meeseeks mania, risk vs. reward of looping on the skill shot, etc. The Danesi lock 2.0 will send the ball screaming back at you, and the slam ring introduces a different kind of chaos from the typical sling. Spooky's games have come so far from AMH, RZ, and Dominos. It's awesome to see a small independent company bringing such a great overall package to the market.

Ignore the naysayers - this game is amazing.
The layout is unique and super fun to shoot. The sound, music, lightshow and callouts are just amazing.
I can't stop playing, it's so much fun.

Played a few games at my buddies house....its a fun game, but wouldn't own one.

Rick and Morty is fun and addictive. Jumping dimensions and hunting down megaseeds is very rewarding. Playfield layout is a bit clunky unless you absolutely nail every shot. Maybe I suck or maybe the geometry could have used more refinement. Stellar audio/video package and a great rule set were the highlights for me.

Rick and Morty is a joy to play.

The Pros:
The theme is amazing. The clips from the show and the sounds are spot on. The humor and the darkness of the theme is spot on. The Danesi 2.0 lock is a lot of fun to play with. Modes are varied, shots from the lower flippers feel great. The left pop-bumper/sling is a brilliant pf design. Ramps got flow! Playing this pinball is FUN!

The game says "Lionman!"

The Cons:
If you didn't get in on the first day on the buy list, you can expect to pay 10k plus for a copy. some of the shots from the upper flipper feel awkward. The game needs to be leveled perfectly or the danesi 2.0 lock has SDTM drops with high probability.

The Takwaway:
If you got on the list, good for you! If you didn't get on the list, good luck...

Update:
The more I play this game, the more the upper left hand side of this game doesn’t sync with me. The shots from the upper right hand flipper are there, but they don’t feel that good. On games I have played the upper orbit feels good, but the lower doesn’t. Or visa versa. But never have both shots on that design ever felt satisfying to me. Will mileage and adaptation make a difference, yes it will. But that will change with each copy of this game played. I guess I gotta play better...


Update v.2:
I got to session out this game a bit more with updated code. There is lots of good things to say about this game. Spooky pinball took their game to the next level with this production. The theme integration is better than almost any game ever made. Top tier for sure. Anyone who calls Spooky a "Boutique pinball company" has no idea of how much time, effort, talent and frustratingly hard work goes into a pinball game.

The not so good news... the left hand side of this pinball game design is difficult to shoot. With the exception of the mega-steep ramp that had better have perfect mechanical flippage to make this shot happen. It is difficult enough to have spooky program in a software compensation for this into the game's settings. The other not so good news is that the rules are inconsistent. Some modes are varied and tiered in their application. Other modes are difficult to read and while colored arrows help guide the player to the needed shots. It took me a while to understand what to do next. Many shots and feeds are clunkier than I expected. More than anything else. You can't make a good game, a great with a shot layout that isn't a great foundation to build upon.

Spooky made a damn fine game with TnA. R&M is a more complex and ambitious title. I see this as part of their learning curve. Charlie and his team took on the next step and they learned from their experiences. I wish them the best of luck with their next designs and rules. This is a solid game that any R&M fan would love to have in their collection.

A very playable, entertaining game. Built OK for the most part and looks fantastic. Art package, music and callouts, all A+. Not any real toys so to speak. As it stands, the modes are fun at first because the content is good, but ultimately don't feel like they go anywhere. There's supposedly a wizard mode with Love Potion 9, but it feels like another samey-samey mode and times out seemingly at random, leaving an unsatisfying finale. Would be nice to see more of the R & M universe in the game (Beth, Summer, etc.) but seems unlikely at this point, as does some sort of overall cohesiveness.

Biggest thing to address are the unusual shots. I did a little tinkering with the guides, etc. like everybody else, but I don't think shot geometry is the issue with this game. The shots are difficult and they are narrow. I'd even go so far as to describe them as weird and not intuitive. When you make them though, they are smooth enough. They have very small success windows that you'll miss until you get the hang of it. Will they grow on you? Does it feel "good"? Your mileage may vary. For me, I don't think this is a game that will ever feel "good" to shoot. It is what it is.

A lot of owners will tell you this is an amazing game, but what they really mean is that the assets are amazing. Who doesn't like watching Rick and Morty clips? The gameplay, layout and code though? Not so much.

Fresh, interesting layout with smooth shots. Some have had issues with shots out of the box (loop, garage especially), where mine shoots smooth as butter. Loops are repeatable and the loop->garage combo is definitely fair but hard. The adventures are all very interesting and definitely vary the game between stop-go and flow. The pace is incredibly quick though, even with the stop-go parts. What really sets R&M apart as a groundbreaking game though is the theme integration. Take, for example, on the "Get Schwifty" adventure, if you watch the screen, the ball ejects right once Morty hits the first note on the piano. It doesn't sound like much, but in play it's just perfect. You feel like you're a part of it. Tons of little stuff like this that makes the whole pinball experience immersive like never before. Having friends/family around to watch the screen and call out shots makes it even better and pulls everyone in.

The only negative I can say right now is that I want more of it. More adventures, more dimensions, more callouts etc. All that will help lastability of it. From everything I've heard from the owner's club, all of that is incoming.

Overall, R&M is definitely a contender for the best pin ever. Even if you're not a fan of the content, it still should be one of the best playing experiences you'll have in a pinball game. It's a homerun for sure. Way to go team Spooky!

Top game. For me it was on the hard side. I'd spent multiple hours doing all the recommended mods and this improved it a lot. But for me, if you missed a shot it punished you for that. No gimmes. I found it really hard to progress or get long ball times, but again I'm below average as a player. I've seen someone smash this thing so the potential is there. In terms of theming it doesn't get any better. The music and callouts are on point, the Butt dimension where every shot make a fart noise - how can you top that! Superb music, absolute solid effort from Spooky. Flipper feel was dodgy to start with but through software/code updates it's improved. Still not to Stern level yet with hold power, but fairly close now and snappier than the JJPs I've played.

I'm sort of new to R & M, and not a rabid fan as some are, same goes for Spooky... I hate TNA, and never owned a spooky game, nor played one outside of TNA.

Man, what a home run theme integration wise, game play, light show, sounds, etc.

Realistically, nothing is a "10" The PF layout could flow better, and it could use more "toys"

Other than that, Its as good as it gets.

So first the good things, and there are a lot:

ARTWORK:
Could not be better. I love the cabinet, backglass and playfield art. It's colorful and striking and 100% on point with the theme and characters. The butter cabinet is absolutely beautiful and I highly recommend getting it.

SOUNDS AND MUSIC:
Also could not be better. Scott Danesi's thumping techno take on the classic RM theme, plus the new compositions and a few TNA throwbacks are a perfect package. The callouts are perfectly on point as well. Perfect score. The sound system in the cabinet is the best I've heard in a pin. However, the subwoofer is so powerful that it makes everything in the game resonate and rattle loudly. I've done some work to pad the glass channel, backglass and metal service panel which has helped a lot.

LIGHT SHOW:
Perfect score. Full RGB everywhere and used to the full extent. Contender for a TWIPY in my view.

ANIMATIONS:
Excellent use of the RM assets and extremely well presented. Perfect score here also.

SHOTS AND LAYOUT:
This game has unusual and challenging shots. The three in the middle (the U-turn and scoop) are all pretty easy to make and hittable from both flippers.

On the left you have a steep left ramp, the garage shot and the spinner shot (both of which can only be hit from the upper right flipper.) The ramp takes a really perfect hit to make the climb. The spinner shot is SUPER satisfying when you nail it, especially if you loop it repeatedly. The garage shot I'm still struggling with a lot.

On the right you have a ramp (hittable from both flippers), the right orbit, and a difficult narrow curved hairpin. Like the difficult shots on the left, this shot is tough to hit but feels great when you do. It does a swift little twist and then feeds the upper flipper.

Speaking to that upper flipper, there are 3 ways to feed it - the left ramp (hard), the right hairpin (hard) or just shoot it weakly into the right orbit for it to fall back down. There are times when you really need a spinner or garage shot and it can be challenging to feed the flipper to perform them.

While the shots are hard to make, the game is not unfair. There's no orbit or return that aims for a center or side drain. The one exception I'd make to this statement is the right ramp return - sometimes there is enough ballspin when it drops that the ball crawls out of the A lane into the M lane for a drain. This is disheartening when it happens. (UPDATE: Waxing the machine seems to have fixed this!)

I find the shots on this game similar to Jurassic Park. They both have 2 difficult West->East shots from the upper right flipper, and they both have a tricky right side shot.

CODE AND RULES:
The adventure modes are on point with the theme and the shots are nicely integrated. Each mode has a different enough goal/limitation that they feel distinctly different from one another. The downside is there aren't very many of them. It won't take long before you've seen them all and start to repeat. I realize it's early days on the code but I hope this progresses over time.

That's my hot take after a week of ownership and ~500 plays.

Awesome at all!

Wubalubadubdub! "I am in great pain, please help me" sums up my gameplay experience with Rick and Morty. I will start off saying I am a big fan of the show, and Justin Roiland's new creation Solar Opposites (Spooky follow up game?). I played the game at a free play style arcade for about a hour. The game was just frustrating, as the only shot I could consistently make was the left ramp. The spinner shot on the inner left obit reminded me of Metallica, as in the ball gets up there then dribbles back down instead of completing the orbit. The Garage is hard to hit, but I was able to hit it about 15% off the time. If you take away the excellent theme integration the custom callouts provide, you may come to the same conclusion as me: the layout needs work. I like the idea of the right outlane magnasave, but she is no Jungle Lord, as the magnet is not strong enough to pull the ball out. On a positive side, I really enjoy the slingshot pop bumper, it added fun and fair randomness. Defiantly worth a play if you find it in the wild. I like the game better than Halloween and Munsters.

Great callouts, music, art. But it’s missing something. As a shooter I didn’t enjoy it. As a fan, I loved the sound/art/music. As a pin fan, it didn’t keep me coming back.

Audio package and sound design overall are incredible strengths for this game.

Code is developing nicely, and fits the theme very well so far. I hope, and assume it will only mature in time.

Horseshoe is fun to bounce around back and forth, and presents a really interesting design focus, along with the out shots as well.

Really excited to see this game fully develop in the coming months!

Wonderful game, one of my favorites, but it is a difficult shooter. If it had a wizard mode it would be the best coded game I’ve ever seen.

A superb pin. One of the greatest light shows, sound packages, music, animations, and theme integration in pinball history. Bravo to Scott Danesi, Eric, and the spooky team for creating this masterpiece.

I purchased this game NIB June 2020.

The Good:
-- Theme integration is top notch.
-- Shaker motor integration. I love how it's integrated with the pop.
-- Pop bumper instead of the left sling is very fun. It creates chaos, which I love in pinball.
-- Rules are complex enough without being too confusing.
-- Shots are fun and thrilling when you hit them. There's nothing like ripping the spinner and then hitting the garage shot!
-- Lighting is tremendous. No pinstadium or enhancements needed with this pin.
-- Video clips in the game and in attract mode are entertaining.
-- Great use of the upper flipper.
-- Fast gameplay. It'll keep you on your toes.
-- Excellent multiball rules, and I love how you can stack with modes.
-- Did I mention that pop bumper is where the left sling should be!? Tremendous!
-- The artwork is phenomenal.
-- Rick harasses you all game long. It's funny and keeps the game lively.
-- The music is catchy.
-- The magnasave can be forgotten, but if you remember it exists it can be valuable and fun.
-- Good amount of modes to play. Not too repetitive.
-- DIMENSIONS! I love touring to new places, watching the lighting change, sometimes music too, and collecting megaseeds!
-- Interactive topper that is actually useful. When the portal is lit, the topper spins and lights. I see it when I play and it's a great way for me to know that the portal is ready.


The Bad:
-- The code fails now and then. I've had some amazing games, but the code killed my game and restarted it at least twice, including during my best game of all time. Very disappointing.
-- IMO it has a lackluster wizard mode, and if you aren't even aware of it you can skip right over it.
-- The launch rail is odd. I have to keep tweaking it. Sometimes the ball launches too far, and sometimes not at all. It needs to be modified by the buyer. It's flimsy and I don't like it.
-- The inner loop shot needs adjusting. I already adjusted it twice. Getting annoying. I hate hitting that inner loop only to have the ball stall and come back... very annoying.
-- Left ramp is far too steep to hit consistently.
-- The flippers get weak after you play it for a while. Coil gets too hot, I believe.
-- The callouts are not all that great at times when it should be. I want my jackpots to be heard. I want super jackpots to go nuts! It's almost as if they don't matter.
-- Has a very clunky feel to it. The shots don't quite line up, ball sounds are 'tinny', the left ramp exits onto the plastics... why?
-- No real toys or cool mechs in the game.

EDIT: I originally had "too much bass" as a negative, but I've figured out how to fix it. There is an amplifier in the cabinet, and if you fiddle with ALL of the knobs, you'll eventually figure out what each one does and you'll be able to adjust the sound properly. The knobs are too close to the cabinet to be able to read them, I guess that's a negative as well.

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

This might be the most fun game I've ever played when everything works as intended. It's fast, fun, hilarious, challenging, etc. I started a mode, advanced it a few times, hit a dimension, watched the colors and music change, collected megaseeds, hit a meeseeks, started a multiball, and then started another multiball all in one turn. This game is just flat out fun. I keep hitting the start button and I never want to leave.

However, I couldn't count on having this in the Pinball Co-op for competitions. It restarted too often, was too clunky, and the flippers got too weak. It's far better as a home game or just something to play at the bar. If you play the pin for good laughs and you can put up with all the negatives, you'll love it. And to top it all off, the customer service is top notch.

EDIT: I ended up selling the game out of frustration. Too many minor tweaks and adjustments, too many people didn't want to play it, etc. I was the only one hitting the start button, which is no fun. It was a great laugh and great music, but if I wanted to play a serious game to rack up points and do my best, it just got too clunky and unreliable to play. It's a shame, really.

EDIT2: I've played about 5 others since I sold my pin. Every one of them had something major wrong with it. This game is unreliable. Imagine if Stern had the license to this theme? It might have been the best selling pins of all time.

Really fun game, tough for beginners to pinball but the theme can make you forget about the ball being drained repetitively! Theme integration is at the top of my list for this game, Spooky has done an amazing job bringing you the Rick and Morty world/universe/dimensions.... From the Call outs to the Music this game really brought the theme full circle! My rating really does reflect how much i love this game! Great job to the whole team at Spooky Pinball and Adult Swim. #83 won't be leaving my game room anytime in the next decade!

Well, where so I start. This pin is just plain fun, and hard!
I’ve put over a hundred games on it now and I’ve never had the feeling of wanting to hit the start button more and more before on a pin. One reason probably because it had just kicked my ass and I want a chance to redeem myself, the other, wow, it’s just a blast to play. I get a great sense of satisfaction from making the hard shots, but the balls the game hands back to you for being shit on by it gives a novice or a medium skilled player a fulL fun factor, but I’m sure it gives a skilled pinball er a run for her or his money.

Absolutely love to try to find a pin that has the theme integrated better. So far, this is it.

Adjustments were/are needed for this unit, but none of that removes any factors from last ability, playability, artwork, sounds, call outs, fantastic tunes and the pounding bass.

After getting over the laughter of hearing a few call outs for the first time, and being able to just play. I love playing the game and I’m pumped it was made.

Just going to repost my review from the forum here:

Wow...just...wow! I just got to play this machine (there's one living at The Pinball Lounge in Oviedo, FL now) on my lunch break earlier today and the hype is real! Well, the hype is real for me at least. I paid for 20 games, got 1 replay and made #1 high score (no gc yet). I'd like to think I'm a fairly average player, usually get to put my name on a machine almost every time I go out, I generally win waaay more replays than that too...so take my opinion with what you will.

The callouts were all bleeped (this is in a bowling alley, so family friendly) but the innuendo is still there, it's still Rick, and he is still brutal. I was laughing to myself like some sorta weirdo while dancing away to the awesome sound track. The theme integration coupled with the soundtrack and custom callouts are such a treat. If I have to nitpick, I did notice once or twice (specifically the beginning of Whirly Dirly) that sometimes the sound level will be considerably lower than the level (volume) the audio was at prior.

Light show is amazing, that is all I have to say about that.

The shots are difficult, but so satisfying all the same! I had a few clunkers going into the left garage, the right inner orbit, and the scoop...but when I hit the shot right (total amateur here) it was beautiful. Did have the horseshoe give me a SDTM a few times, but it normally put the ball into the flipper. The magnet is supreme! Had to figure it out, but it is super fun and a great ball saver once you get the hang of it. The most fun part of this game has to be that pop bumper, what a breath of fresh air from dual slingshots, it is a blast and keeps you on your toes! I know this isn't the first time someome has placed a pop bumper there, but it works so well with this game and makes it flow so uniquely.

The monitor did look washed out, but this does appear to just be a settings issue...someone needs to get a Jerry to adjust the factory settings :3

This thing is a drain monster, but it's still a blast! It's going to be difficult waiting until late next year to have one of these at home, but I can guarantee I'll probably sink a couple hundred into this one in the meantime!

Theme is great, good music, awsome callouts, fresh new layout, it’s difficult but it has you coming for more, spooks really comes through on this pin. Highly Recommend This pin Fun, and addicting.

Spooky has definitely continued to step it up each and every game they put out, this is no exception and is by far their best to date. The possibilities to continue adding content and adventures to this game as the show goes on is endless and I hope they continue to constantly provide content updates. To keep this game fresh would make it a top 10 forever!

Finally got a chance to play a RaM with the most current code. This game is A BLAST! Theme integration is possibly the most most well executed in the history of pinball. It is PACKED with licensed video, hilarious custom call outs and Easter eggs. GREAT music, excellent light show, Unique layout, fast and furious, lots of modes and dimensions. Such a cool game, however game play can be bit frustrating and it on the clunky side if not set up perfectly with all the user suggested adjustments.