Probably the most forgotten & missed classic in pinball. It’s mildly understandable, as it had a small production run, but still a disgrace to an absolute classic machine. Call it whatever you want, but the spy theme is wonderfully integrated. This is one of those machines that will always look better in the corner of a darkened arcade than under bright light, alone. The high point here is the music. Somehow they got three absolute bangers from legitimate spy movies to accompany this pin, making it possibly the best pinball soundtrack ever.
The gameplay! This machine starts with a “hard as you can go” plunger skill shot to try and get the ball over a hill through the White House. So fun. We then get to the playfield, with two sets of drop targets lining the capitol & bottom of White House. Wonderful bullet ricochet sound when you hit the target. A KGB gobble hole, third flipper for the ramp, and a few other targets populate the field, but the real highlight it the crisp spinner shot. Hitting this one on repeat is SO satisfying, and racks up points quick too. Other highlights include a difficult multiball that leads to a fun jackpot, and some interesting side goals.
While it might not have amazing rules or a complicated playfield like newer machines, Secret service doesn’t get old like other similar machines because of its addictive gameplay & gorgeous soundtrack. A system 11 to check out!
Pinside rating
This game has received 45 approved Pinsider ratings. 5 more approved ratings are needed to get a rating and for it to be eligible for the Pinside Pinball Top 100 ranking.
Pinside staff rating
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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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Caledonia, WI
8.403/10
1 year ago
Secret Service Is a fun game! Similar to High Speed layout and plays like a system 11 game in general. Playfield has some good shots. 2 and 3 ball multiball. Great music on this game too!
7.127/10
3 years ago
Victoria, BC
The light show on this game (after converting to LED) is just awesome. The music, call out are all great.
Ripping that spinner is so addictive as it flashes the topper lights and the sound effect is a perfect fit.
“Baby Baby. Baby you’re the best”
Haha I miss this game a lot actually...
Ripping that spinner is so addictive as it flashes the topper lights and the sound effect is a perfect fit.
“Baby Baby. Baby you’re the best”
Haha I miss this game a lot actually...
8.340/10
4 years ago
Toulouse
Very good pinball machine for the time, I have had it for 3 months and I never get tired of it. we manage to have multiballs easily, the rest requires more technique which makes the game addictive. The animation and the music are top especially during the jackpots or different missions.
8.040/10
4 years ago
I enjoy most data east pins & this one is no exception cool looking playfield with the white house for 1 of the pop bumpers , the 3 songs in the game make it fun , the topper lighting up from left or right when the spinners are hit & the ball eater to start multi ball just like on Mousin around is another feature that I like
7.527/10
5 years ago
Not sure why this gets such a bad wrap. Game is fun ,multi-ball is easy to achieve, right hide out is cool shot and hard to get. Call outs are great. The karaoke at the end is so so, back glass should have been something better. Topper is cool. Traded a strange science for this, and the strange science is far far more boring than this game.
8.340/10
5 years ago
Fun game with excellent music and sound effects. Thought the light show was excellent too, especially for a game of its time.
10.000/10
6 years ago
Great game, lots of fun, two super spinners, off set flipper shot ramp, multi ball, kickout hole, drop targets, and three bumper thumpers...= Classic game in my book. Great shots, challenging with great audio. A classic game I'm glad is in my collection. This game is way underrated. Much better than mousing around and many other titles rated higher.
7.748/10
6 years ago
Data East's second game. A big step up from their first. Okay so this is a James Bond theme with a cheaper Secret Service title. . .The body art is a dead give away. For a 1988 game the rules are pretty good and the light show is excellent. The music variety is excellent and sounds are good (the super spinner can be a little repetative). The game does not have a silky smooth Williams feel but the flow is decent and the 2 or 3 multiball is fun to achieve. All and all a decent game for a brand new pinball company's second game. Baby. . . Baby. . .
6.767/10
7 years ago
I owned this game. Looks great with leds. The yellow button in the middle of flippers is cool gimmick. Very fast game as well. I couldnt really get into it. Maybe the ruleset and just how easilly the ball drains on the right side.
8.796/10
8 years ago
One of my favorite games. Love the theme and one of the most satisfying jackpot shots around.
8.531/10
10 years ago
I just got a Secret Service and I love it!
As said before, the digital stereo is unique and awesome, actually playing hits from Get Smart, Mission Impossible and more. There is even a karaoke section for "Nobody Does It Better." GREAT sound.
I like the alphanumerics, as they spell a fair amount of words. Calls out are good. Support the superior spy/Wash DC theme.
For me, the PF is hysterical. I love searching and finding new, humorous items. Like Reagan hanging out of the White House. The WH, the Capital, the Russian spies on the roof, the Data east race car for James Bond and his woman. Love it all.
I like the gameplay too. Drop targets are always good and I just ordered cool White House stickers for them. Great High Speed spinner to spinner action. Up post, cellar shot with trap door. Upper flipper for fulfilling ramp shot. Several easy to reach multiballs as well. What's not to love?
Overall, an underrated and fun pin. My new favorite. We will see how long that lasts......
As said before, the digital stereo is unique and awesome, actually playing hits from Get Smart, Mission Impossible and more. There is even a karaoke section for "Nobody Does It Better." GREAT sound.
I like the alphanumerics, as they spell a fair amount of words. Calls out are good. Support the superior spy/Wash DC theme.
For me, the PF is hysterical. I love searching and finding new, humorous items. Like Reagan hanging out of the White House. The WH, the Capital, the Russian spies on the roof, the Data east race car for James Bond and his woman. Love it all.
I like the gameplay too. Drop targets are always good and I just ordered cool White House stickers for them. Great High Speed spinner to spinner action. Up post, cellar shot with trap door. Upper flipper for fulfilling ramp shot. Several easy to reach multiballs as well. What's not to love?
Overall, an underrated and fun pin. My new favorite. We will see how long that lasts......
6.978/10
10 years ago
Paisley
A bit of a clunky machine that I find difficult to get traction with. There is a lot of ball on post action on this one for me.
I love the theme and the music. The backglass is pretty good for a photo job. I like it more for what it tries to be than what it is.
Nobody does it better is brilliant though.
I love the theme and the music. The backglass is pretty good for a photo job. I like it more for what it tries to be than what it is.
Nobody does it better is brilliant though.
7.302/10
10 years ago
I got my Secret Service out of an old warehouse that would have made a good backdrop for the next Freddy or Jason movie along with a Black Rose. The Secret Service, at the time was a little on the rough side. Most of the controlled lamps weren't working along with several of the solenoids. After taking a good look at the boards there were so many hacks that I elected to just go with a new Rottendog board. Data East chrome plated their metal which makes the pieces very shiny, but also difficult to repair. I finally sanded off the Chrome and copper and got down to the base stainless and polished that back to a mirror finish. Data East mylared the bottom of the playfield, but strangely enough didn't originally mylar the top of the playfield resulting in wear on the loop shots. After restoration I mylared the entire playfield. Even though the buildings and ramps are available the decals for those are not. This is a tough problem and resulted in a lot of scavenging. I was fortunate to find someone parting out an old Secret Service with broken buildings and ramps, but good decals that could be carefully remmoved and installed on new buildings.
The playfield artwork and sound is really the gem in this machine. All the little touches on the playfield from Ben Franklin and his kite to George Washington and the cherry tree are really fun. The layout is very reminiscent of High Speed as others have commented. The game can be very fast and sometimes this results in "air balls" which is the real detractor from the machine. If a ball unexpectedly jumps into the White House the machine doesn't necessarily realize it and doesn't clear it as part of the ball find logic which can be annoying to regularly have to slide back the glass.
The sound package is awesome on this machine from "Secret Agent Man" to "Mission Impossible" to "Get Smart" it does a fantastic job of capturing the 60s spy theme. The popup "Hideout" on the right side is really a creative way of locking a ball. I replaced all of the original lighting with Retro and superbrite LEDs from cointaker and this really helped with the lighting package. It effectively brought out the inserts and livened up the game.
Overall, the gameplay is fun and fast. Somehow, and maybe this is subconscious, it doesn't have the Williams feel or quality. The ramp, which I replaced with a new one, gets a lot of abuse and hitting it feels more random than other games like STTNG or Whirlwind. Also, in mine was an annoying 60Hz hum. I'm an Electrical Engineer by trade and tried every trick I could to get rid of it, but to no avail.
It was with mixed feelings that I traded my SS for a Whirlwind. Overall, I think that Whirlwind is a much better game, but SS still had its charms especially in the art package of the playfield (I think enough has been said about the backglass which isn't the prettiest thing out there) and sound package and overall game speed.
The playfield artwork and sound is really the gem in this machine. All the little touches on the playfield from Ben Franklin and his kite to George Washington and the cherry tree are really fun. The layout is very reminiscent of High Speed as others have commented. The game can be very fast and sometimes this results in "air balls" which is the real detractor from the machine. If a ball unexpectedly jumps into the White House the machine doesn't necessarily realize it and doesn't clear it as part of the ball find logic which can be annoying to regularly have to slide back the glass.
The sound package is awesome on this machine from "Secret Agent Man" to "Mission Impossible" to "Get Smart" it does a fantastic job of capturing the 60s spy theme. The popup "Hideout" on the right side is really a creative way of locking a ball. I replaced all of the original lighting with Retro and superbrite LEDs from cointaker and this really helped with the lighting package. It effectively brought out the inserts and livened up the game.
Overall, the gameplay is fun and fast. Somehow, and maybe this is subconscious, it doesn't have the Williams feel or quality. The ramp, which I replaced with a new one, gets a lot of abuse and hitting it feels more random than other games like STTNG or Whirlwind. Also, in mine was an annoying 60Hz hum. I'm an Electrical Engineer by trade and tried every trick I could to get rid of it, but to no avail.
It was with mixed feelings that I traded my SS for a Whirlwind. Overall, I think that Whirlwind is a much better game, but SS still had its charms especially in the art package of the playfield (I think enough has been said about the backglass which isn't the prettiest thing out there) and sound package and overall game speed.
7.526/10
13 years ago
This was one of my two favorite early DE pins (Time machine being the other). The overall game play and theme was pretty good and this one was pretty easy to maintain for a DE pin.
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