Currently own this pin- until recently my favorite of all time only to be dethroned by House of Horrors! The animations are great and the horror cartoon layout of the playfield and backglass are awesome. Gameplay is great- there's a lot of strategy into what order you go about obtaining extra balls, multiballs, and spider bonuses, but scared stiff mode is not to hard to get to and par for the game (however competing the mode is fairly difficult). Definitely an underrated classic.

Scared stiff is about scary things all green the screen moves and the game is good

Pure brilliance! I own this machine and it will never leave. Such a joy! Crate! Boney beast! Coffin! I also own EATPM and SS crushes it.

I have owned SS for about 6 years. I love this game. Of the ones I own, this would be my last resort to sell. The deadheads never fail to crack me up. Meat head is my favorite, good head is a close second but who can complain about the later (tongue in cheek here). Getting the Stiff O Meter multi ball is the payoff for a few simple accomplished goals. Spider multi ball is almost impossible for me but I have gotten there a few times. A color DMD is a must have modification.

A really fun game. Theme integration very well done with some nice gimmicks, toys and callouts of Elvira.

The ruleset is not that deep but the nice layout, different shots, the fantastic lightning show and the created atmosphere overcompensates this point easily. Especially for beginners but also for intermediates it is still challenging and rewarding (scared-stiff -mode is immersive). In a bigger collection this game never gets old.

Very fun but somewhat easy game with shallow rules ideal for beginners.

Very very nice

Elvira is well integrated into the theme of the game, especially with the call outs. This is what initially drew me to the game. It was a nice touch to be able to set family friendly mode on or off. Set it to off to hear Elvira at her campy, sexy best.

Some say the rules are simple but I think the rules combined with the lighting and call outs make it extremely clear on what you need to shoot. The layout isn’t crammed full of hard to see shots. This would make a great learning pin. The ramps are very smooth, almost effortless. Shots aren’t difficult and perhaps that will turn off some players.

Little touches like the coffin opening up and saying “Boo!” randomly as the ball flies past it down the ramp gives the game more character. The Boney Beast dresses up a ramp not only for show but functionally (love the Beast’s eyes). Dancing Boogie Men mod is a must have addition.

As an overall package Scared Stiff delivers in all aspects of the game. Fun to shoot, great art and sound, well integrated theme. Everything is just so well thought out and put together..

I always play a game when I am out in the open. The skeleton ramp is so cool and I really like the box.

It’s a fun one to play. Elvira’s sense of humor and the theme work well together. The call-outs and music are outstanding. Playing in “scared stiff” mode is great as the music and heart-pounding get more intense the closer you get to 10. Many players criticize this machine as too easy. I wouldn’t necessarily say that, but you can reach wizard mode without playing for hours.

Extremely Rare and a MUST with color DMD and LEDS

If you're a really good player this pin might get old but otherwise this is a great pin with everything going for it!

Great game. Pretty underrated in my eyes. At least at the time of manufacturing. Artwork takes a while to soak up all the little things.

There's something special about the B/W Class of 92-98. These are the games that most of us remember, even if we only got a couple games in before pinball disappeared from the public's eye heading into the 21st century. I think I may have gotten 2-3 games on Scared Stiff before not getting to play it again until around 2012, but those couple games were enough to help me fuel the fire of desirability in the 2010s, which was only amplified after discovering Chris Bucci's videos and watching the one for SS over and over. Fast-forwarding to February 2019, I am finally able to say I own a SS. Was it worth the wait? Well, let's dive in and talk about it for a second.

I know I already mentioned Chris Bucci's videos, but I have to say, between him and Bowen, their videos really help me gauge if I will like a game or not. Unfortunately, the Florida Panhandle is a death-zone for pinball; so any resources to help me determine if I'll like a game or not are very valuable. That being said, I took a $6800 chance and bought one from Games Exchange in Colorado, and it arrived to my doorstop in about 1.5 weeks, which was very fast considering the winter weather back in Colorado.

Got the game setup, and I have always really liked the cabinet art on this game. Granted, it's a coffin, so not all of the space is utilized, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. The artwork gives a real bang for your buck with a bunch of corrected messages in red ink, a really good "As Seen on TV" look-alike logo, and the infamous "RRR" scratched out, which on the prototype was intact and read "Real, Raunchy, and Ribbed for your pleasure". Side translite art is nothing too special - spiders - scary. The translite is really cool with all sorts of cool throwbacks and indirect references - and I love that there's a backbox toy in this game. You don't really see that too often, and it's a cool gimmick of a spider twirling around the web providing the player with different awards. The awards, when used at the right time, can be really helpful, especially the crate and coffin MB extensions....!

The PF artwork is really cool. I love the Stiff-o-Meter artwork and insert lighting - looks really awesome! Greg Feres really hit it out of the park with the art on this game. As far as the rules are concerned, I won't deny they are a bit shallow. It's all about completing the six tales in the game, and none of them are exceptionally difficult. While that may start the Stiff-o-Meter, you still have to complete it - and most don't really consider it to be the wizard mode of the game. The true wizard mode of the game is Spider MB, which is reached by collecting all 16 awards on the backbox toy. Good luck. I have heard a few have done it, but I've never seen anyone do it, and I certainly have not completed it myself.

Music is absolutely fantastic - has a upbeat "Super Ghouls and Ghosts" feel to it. Music definitely doesn't get old to me. Some of the callouts do though, which is a bummer. Some of them are pretty clever, and thankfully a few rarely get mentioned, so those stay fresh, but some really get hackneyed - especially the Deadhead callouts :/. YMMV on this one.

Lighting on the game is visually very appealing, especially transitioning from game over to attract mode. The flashers go nuts in a CW/CCW motion that just beautiful when running. I am a big fan of B/W attract mode lightning; it's like no two games have the same pattern, which cannot be said for today's manufacturers where I can nearly predict one pattern after another.

No real toys on PF. Closest you'll get to them are the crate and stiff in the coffin, which are more clever transition points for the ball to go from the PF to underneath the PF or vice versa. Don't get me wrong, they work very well and look the part. Just don't go looking for "ball interactive" toys on this game. The gameplay makes up for it though!

Some great aftermarket DIY mods are available for this game -particularly the Dancing BoogeyMen, Candle light, and Skull pile LED mod. I performed the Skull pile mod on my own, and with some LEDs, hot glue, and patience, I was able to bring that mod to my game - which really looks the part.

This game has really shot up in price the last 6 years. I had to put down $6800 to get my hands on one, which I understand I paid a distributor's mark-up, but hey, I wanted it and no one else had one FS at the time. Just is what it is. Is there $6800 worth of game here? Absolutely not, BUT, with your family/friends, there's $6800 worth of fun here to me. This is a very family-friendly game in terms of difficulty. TWD or BSD this is not - SS is a fun game for nearly anyone who puts minimal effort into their shots, and nearly everyone can at least get Crate MB. If everyone's having fun, that to me, is far more important than the difficulty of a game.

Lots of rumors about Elvira 3 or a CGC remake right now, which is another reason I paid what I did. We really don't know if the game will be remade, and we don't know if/when Elvira 3 is going to hit. I felt the time was now to get one, and so I did. Whatever happens to the value of the game - doesn't really matter to me. I got a game I like, and that's what is important.

Well, I hope that helped paint a picture on SS for you. Thanks for killing some time with me : ).

Scared Stiff has the playfield setup of a top game and looks that are guaranteed to draw attention and compliments from casual players and passerbys.
Unfortunately the gameplay doesnt quite manage to meet the high expectations that follows from that first impression.
This might of course be a little harsh to say. But in defense of Scared Stiff; other titles released the previous and following year(s) are today considered some of the best games ever made. If I leave MM (Williams) and AFM (Bally) out of that comparison and f.i. put Scared Stiff against Congo; the latter game has greater smoothness and overall better feel than Scared Stiff.

Even as a game closer to "midrange" than top level, this is still a very entertaining pin with a real challenging multiball mode, hilarious gimmicks and a perfect mix of sound and cosmetics. The coffin toy and that evil-looking main ramp are absolutely sweet and are IMHO top spots in 90's playfield design. It's a little disappointing however that the ball tour through the Boney Beast ramp isnt timed with something more spectacular in terms of flasher effects or sound. Overall the lighting on Scared Stiff is OK, but rather uninspired when compared to some other pinball machines from that period.

Back to the positive stuff: One absolutely positive aspect of Scared Stiff is the fact that this game both looks, plays and SOUNDS like a good vintage horror movie show, softened with some fittingly quirky sense of humour and cheeky innuendos. Elviras call-outs are brilliant, whereas the monster masters (?) east european accent got on my nerves pretty fast. Music is good- but not very varied. It would benefit the package if those crescendo-like build-up:s would be balanced with some more subtle melodies once in a while.

Cabinet art is one-of-a-kind and the translite looks way better than it's predecessor "Elvira and the party monsters".

Entertaining and beautiful. In a larger collection this is a brillant choice. In a smaller line-up limited lastability could be a possible problem. Well, that last warning is my effort to try not to be totally swept away by the machine's awesome looks. Since I've got SS on my wishlist that'll tell you what a sucker I am at being critical :-)

First I'll admit when it comes to pinball I like sexy women on depicted on the backglasses and playfields. I'm a teenager in that regard. I also am a little biased when it comes to Elvira, I love cheesy horror movies, and I enjoy cheesy comedies, and as I mentioned before I love boobs!!!! So I've always liked Elvira. This pinball machine has one of the coolest backglasses in all pinball, and the fact that it has an interactive feature is pretty cool as well with the spider. That's a really cool toy, that can add some degree of strategy to your game. I personally like to go for the extra balls... But, I only get them a few times, but having crate or coffin mb extended can really make a difference as well. The playfield artwork is really good, but I don't think great... But, what it does do a great job with is layout of all the tasks/modes/shots that you need to do to advance in the game. It's not overly cluttered and its not sparse or barren. It is in the sweet spot of just enough. And I really like all the sculpts and little ghoulish and macabre flourishes on the playfield. Bony beast ramp is super cool, the coffin toy not only looks great but is integrated quite nicely into the game. The cab art fits the theme perfectly as its the crate from the crate bash toy/ball lock, on the playfield. My only beef with that choice is you don't have a sexy picture of Elvira, instead you get a boring crate... But, it really fits the theme nicely and is quite perfect of a choice.
I really like how balls pop out of the coffin when you start that mb mode, and the crate toy is a great ball lock, and is integrated amazingly as the callouts for advancing and completing it are just top notch. As per all the callouts. They're amazing and they're unique. Not just cos they're full of innuendo... Actually I find the humor rather tame... But, what I like about them is it proves you don't need to shout JACKPOT!!!! For a callout to be good. There are plenty of callouts and Elvira talks a lot in this game. I like the dead head jokes, do they get repetitive... They can, but its still fun to get good head... My favorite...
I like the coding for this game. Its not great, but its good. The objectives are simple and straightforward, but they're fun. They have nice animations that go with them.
I generally don't comment much on lighting in pins as I am easy to impress with it. But, I really like those light orbs and the effects that they render that are on the playfield. Really add to the macabre and old time horror movie set theme. And when they're all flashing they look amazing.
The only downside is what people say about this game... It's too easy... And they might be right. I've never owned a scared stiff, but I've played one on 4-5 different occasions. And played the heck out of it for 2 of those occasions, and I've gotten to wizard mode quite a bit on this game... Haven't yet maxed out the stiff o meter and got monster mb yet. But, I know I will... As I was really close just the other day. If I owned this pin, I know I would complete that goal quickly... Does that make this pin any less fun or awesome... Yes and no... It just means the replability or lastability is a bit lower than I would like. In a 5 pin collection it might be too shallow, in a 10 pin collection it should be fine to stick around. With that being said, while I think in a home it might not have lastability on location I will always play the heck out of it.

Short version:

Very easy to understand, very funny to play. Fantastic theming art and sound

This pin has become one of our favorites to play. We love hitting the crate and the skeleton ramp is a blast. The interaction with the backglass is also really cool.

This is probably my favorite pin ever. It's really fun and I always have that "I'll do better next time" feeling. It's a really fun theme and Elvira is hilarious. The ramp is a very satisfying shot as well as the lock. I love playing this one. If it's ever on location, it's my first go to game.

Fantastic.
Visually, in a lineup, it will catch your eye before anything else with it’s beautiful backglass and spider wheel.

Gameplay is somewhat basic. Pretty easy to get multiball going.
Don’t let “easy” scare you away though. Just because it’s easy to understand what you are doing doesn’t make it a bad thing. It’s a fun game, and the call outs are funny.

Was just meh tbh.

I think in a large collection this may suit that, but overall the shots were repetitive and not much else there in game play.

Lots of fun. It is a classic with lasting power!

Scared Stiff is a great themed, fun pin that features easy to make shots and one of the easiest to achieve "wizard modes" of the era. And therein lies its only flaw: the game is a bit too easy. I am by no means a greatly skilled player, but I got to Monster Multiball (completed the Stiff-O-Meter) on only my fourth game. Spider Mania is more difficult to achieve, but just involves shooting the right ramp followed by the Spider hole over and over again and certainly isn't worth the trouble other than to say you accomplished the feat.

Still this game has great "flow" and is a pleasure to shoot when set up correctly. The callouts are adult-themed but some of the best in pinball history, IMHO. It would be a great pin to have in any collection and certainly is a very "beginner friendly" pin that most people can enjoy regardless of skill level.

Scared Stiff is a home run in every conceivable way. Gorgeous art package, great shots and flow, fun for beginners and pros alike. It has last-ability in a home collection and is is very profitable routed. Proud to own one! If you can find one GET IT.

Another classic Bally: all flow & fun. Amazing callouts from Elvira. Solid DMD animations. And one of the best backglass gimmicks ever created. The task-oriented rules also add some variety to the game and shots. Classic. Here’s hoping Stern can recreate an Elvra 3 that is 75% as good as Scared Stiff.