Williams

Whirlwind

Pinside Rating

This game received 599 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.138 _/10

8.138

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #63 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.335

Artwork: 7.897

Sounds/Music: 7.381

Other Aspects: 8.413

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 8 of us have rated this game.

7.781

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Found 332 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 332 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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8.867/10

12 years ago

MJM

mminnoch

Pinside member

San Luis Obispo, CA

13y 40,900 123 5 12

Can't help but smile when that fan turns on.

mminnoch has this game on the wishlist.

9.438/10

12 years ago

RND

RawleyD

Pinside member

Roanoke, VA

14y 67,650 3,243 36

Pure Pat Lawlor, System-11 magic! After fine tuning our personal WW I can tell you... this game is FAST! Lots of great shots. A double helping of bumpers at 2 areas of the playfield for a total of 6 bumpers that are all very active! Hitting the Cellar is about as satisfying as it gets in pinball... hit all the Cellar awards to start Mega Door Bonus wizard mode. The working fan-topper is just icing on this beautiful, tasty cake. :)

RawleyD has owned this game in the past.

8.295/10

12 years ago

WPG

guymontag451

Wedgehead

Portland, OR

13y 92,800 1,006 25 170

Another great system 11 pin from Pat Lawlor's golden era. Cool layout, difficult shots, nice sounds, great art, and a great kitcshy theme make this an awesome game for all ages. The spinning disks bring a randomizing effect to the gameplay that wasn't seen before this game, and hitting that jackpot is satisfying to the max.

guymontag451 edited previous rating on July 24, 2023.

8.302/10

12 years ago

WUF

wolfy

Pinside member

Winston-salem, NC

14y 80,850 1,087 15 113 1

WW is challenging but very fair. I i owned one and got a little tired of the limited shots. Very fun for a while.

wolfy edited previous rating on December 17, 2012.
wolfy has owned this game in the past.

5.955/10

12 years ago

WYO

Ballsofsteel

Inactive member

Riverton, WY

12y 73,550 2,923 7 81

what a flop. spinning discs that annoy, not that much of a 'fun factor'. can't believe they actually produced this machine @ 7300 units....amazing.

10.000/10

12 years ago

DOK

ziddosi

Inactive member

Magione

12y 26,250 8 81

Is just amazing and very funny! never stop playing, you take in and spend a great deal to play with. Dominant then the fan is a gem which gives it a personality inimitabile.Stupendo.

ziddosi currently owns this game.

8.669/10

12 years ago

ESA

stangbat

KC Pins

13y 86,900 3,111 19

A great game with simple rules but lots of great shots. Making the millions shot is tough but very rewarding. The six bumpers integrate really well and the playfield space lost to them isn't a problem. The skill shot to the three drop targets is a great start to each ball.

I love the music in the game. I can understand how the voice calls can annoy some people, but I can get past that and appreciate the tunes themselves.

The light shows after a game are great, I wish that this was still done today.

The artwork is very attractive and well done. Overall, a great machine and great bang for the buck.

stangbat edited previous rating on July 05, 2012.

10.000/10

13 years ago

???

lademann4

Inactive member

Morrice, MI

13y 12,000 22

Very, Very fun game to play. Never gets old, one of the best pins I've played.

9.216/10

13 years ago

E F

n2kenai

Inactive member

13y 33,400 136 10 43

I really want to like Whirlwind more, but it is very difficult to play. Love the rotating playfield discs, but if the out lanes are set to hard, you drain every time. Not fun. Definitely a challenge for advanced players, but I need to play more to get better at it.

8.244/10

13 years ago

???

zeno

Inactive member

Unknown

13y 4,500 12

Whirlwind is a good machine although de spinning wheel's edges sometimes has influence on the ball's direction. (While it is standing still of course)
The fan was indeed a genious pinball gadget. And nice too on a hot day.

8.859/10

13 years ago

JMG

drbond

Inactive member

14y 62,400 1,473 7 85

The top dog of the System 11 machines! One of Pat Lawlor's best designs. Pat took good notes from fellow designer Steve Ritchie's High Speed; building up a climatic payoff for completing the story/modes. Your job as a storm chaser, is to follow its course direction. Ultimately, you come face to face with mother nature & try to survive a fan topper simulated tornado. Playfield spinners activate to simulate the pinball being affected by the winds. A huge hit with players/kids. Prepare to wait in lines to play WW & get cooled off by the fan during the hot summer nights. Tons of incredible shots that would become Lawlor trademarks; shooting the ball through the pop bumpers. Attractive color scheme, beautiful translite, immortal sound quotes, catchy MIDI music, & universal appeal wrap up this must-own 1990 classic. Fairly affordable fun game, with lots of nostalgic moments. This legendary game can stand toe-to-toe with the DMD era pins. "The storm is coming, return to your homes!"

drbond edited previous rating on September 22, 2012.

9.109/10

13 years ago

STT

SeanyT

Inactive member

Unknown City

13y 10,250 4 19

What a classic. I used to play this as a child at Rehoboth Beach. Every summer my brother and I would hit the arcades and play this, Funhouse and Cyclone. I was terrible at all of them but would always come back for more. Maybe the nostalgia raises the rating a little but this is still an amazing game no matter how you look at it. Lots of fun and great samples... "Looks like rain". I so need one of these in my collection ;o)

SeanyT currently owns this game.

8.867/10

13 years ago

JOA

JoachimR

Pinside member

Geel

13y 68,550 126 284

My favourite AN game. Great lawlor design, great soundtrack and easy to understand but hard to complete and score big rules. That upper ramp is very though on a lot af machine's i've played, so tweeking the upper flipper is key on this game to score big.

JoachimR edited previous rating on September 13, 2016.

7.717/10

13 years ago

DON

ilovegames007

Pinside member

Westlake, OH

13y 61,800 687 4 20

Good game, got old fast for me. Fan topper is great, so are the spinning disks.
would be great in a collection of 10-20 pins

9.883/10

13 years ago

???

tmfeuerh

Pinside member

13y 43,800 31 14

My favorite game. I love the light and sound show at the end of the game. Great flow and plenty of fun.

8.160/10

13 years ago

FJZ

phooper

Pinside member

15y 37,900 1 15

There are no playfield magnets, they're actually spinning discs. They do occasionally send the ball down the center drain but they also send the ball towards a scoring target more often than not. This is what ensures that each time you play it's a different game. A pin on which you can be Grand Champion every time is a boring pin. This is not a boring pin. This is an excellent pin.

8.236/10

13 years ago

???

TheNJGamer

Inactive member

Unknown

13y 6,250 3 9

owned this game for a few months liked it but i traded in for a whitewater

TheNJGamer currently owns this game.

7.896/10

13 years ago

???

tehcox

Inactive member

Voluntown, CT

14y 11,750 25 19

This is a decent pin. The whirling magnets in the middle of the playfield are a good gimmick, but can get annoying when they blast the ball down the outlane or SDTM. Not the best, but certainly a good way to kill some time.

9.099/10

13 years ago

BCB

bbozzy

Pinside member

Boynton Beach, FL

18y 44,400 22 3 8

I have had Whirlwind for a litttle under a year, and it will be around for a while. It's always a blast to play, not overly long games on it unless you really get a good game going.

The upper right flipper shot is tough to get, but very satisfying when hit.

For an older non DMD game, it has a lot going on. The celler scoops, 6 pop bumpers, 3 spinning discs, the fan blowing on you. Thi game has the fun factor as a 10.

bbozzy currently owns this game.

7.571/10

13 years ago

DER

Der_Meister

Pinside member

Putten

14y 49,400 120 2 106

Blow the wind.... through your hair, mmmmm, nice in summertime as I could remember

4.045/10

14 years ago

???

PINHEAD68

Inactive member

Unknown

14y 3,500 12

totally overrated game, i don't see the big deal here.

7.524/10

14 years ago

PUD

pudluther

Pinside member

Aiken, SC

14y 68,400 641 4 22

one of my all-time favorites. the game just seems to have a great flow to it...i love the spinning discs, the ramps, the cellar shots, everything else.

great variety of easy and more challenging shots.

i know i've got this one ranked higher than the average score, but it just happens to be one of my pin grails. love this pin. honestly, i don't have a problem with where the game is ranked overall...i think it's about right. i just think the overall score should be a bit higher. there's just a lot to do in this game..lots of great shots, several difficult ones, a very fun multiball, etc. and triggering the storm, while not overly difficult, never gets old...there are different ways to trigger it and depending upon the direction selected, there's different shots to hit. seeing those spinning discs is always satisfying and locking the multiball isn't overly difficult.

note: re-rated after more time spent playing. i no longer have this one on my list.

pudluther edited previous rating on October 07, 2010.

8.956/10

14 years ago

???

CELLISON

Inactive member

Unknown

14y 3,750 1 13

This is one of the most unique Williams I've played. Hard to wrap your head around objects on the playfield spinning and chucking your ball where you don't want it to go. It's cool at first but eventually it gets annoying because you have zero control over it. It can take a good game and turn it bad real quick ;)
It's a very fun pin especially for the low price they command. I will always drop a quarter in one but probably not an item I want in my personal collection. Missing the wow factor for me.

7.600/10

14 years ago

MAH

Coldsooner

Inactive member

Denton, TX

14y 19,000 3 2 25

With or without the fan topper, this is a wild, fun game. I could play this over and over. Doesn't get old.

9.095/10

14 years ago

DEL

SealClubber

Pinside Moderator

14y 127K 11,060 246

Used to play this a bunch in the local mall arcade when I was a kid. A very fun game. Nice flow. Not super difficult. The spinners were real cool when they first came out. I love the randomizing effect they have on the ball's travel. The ball can get moving real fast if they hit the spinners just right. The fan was a great idea. The artwork matches the theme well. Arguably the best pre-DMD game out there. Would love to own one some day.

SealClubber edited previous rating on February 22, 2011.

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