White Water

Pinside rating

This game received 947 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.377 /10

8.377

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #47 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.



Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.569

Artwork: 8.302

Sounds/Music: 7.672

Other Aspects: 8.611


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.

7.966

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Found 525 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 525 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 7 of 21.

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10.000/10
5 years ago
I own it and will never sell it nough said
8.159/10
5 years ago
LOVE this game. Theme is super unique and coding is excellent. Vacation Jackpot is one of a kind. Do wish it was a little cheaper though. WHITE WATER!!!!!
7.630/10
5 years ago
very fun game, lots of ramps and shots, Bigfoot is cool. game is crowded and playfield feels small because of all the ramps and boulders. DMD dots are dated by today's standards. Artwork and theme are stellar and the game looks great in any lineup.
9.360/10
5 years ago
Wow, what a great game.

Pros

-Totally unique and cool upper play field with several thenings to do, unlike make mini or upper play field
-Totally unique jackpot for multi ball
- many shots to make
- pretty descent rule set. Not an easy game by any means
-cool cabinet and back glass
-great theme intrigration
-awesome ramps on lower and upper play field

Cons

I really can find much, but I will try.

-when you start the game repetitive voice
-I cant find a way to give any 5-15 second ball save. at least I can't find it. You will be having agreat game and lose 2 balls in 2 seconds and you're done.
- cramped play field, but it was done close to perfection
7.747/10
6 years ago
Not my cup of tea, the main visible playfield area is too small and cramped, and the ball is out of sight too much on the right side. Fun theme though.
9.020/10
6 years ago
One of the best looking machines out there. Love the artwork, the cabinet, the topper is awesome. The play field is loaded with all kinds of cool ramps. This game is hard! Lots of things to distract you when you’re playing and that ball can go crazy in this machine. Almost every time I play this game a ball goes whizzing off a ramp and flings right down the middle... kind of like whitewater rafting. It’s very unpredictable. I’m sure this one made operators lots of money because the average person won’t master this quickly.
9.304/10
6 years ago
One of the best games I had the chance to spend alot of time with. Theme integration is fantastic. Game plays like a story out in thewilderness; advancing down the river, watch out for big foot, light his toes to sneak by him, go down a whirlpool as many times as you can, try to make it all the way to wet willies.
Art may be a bit silly but I like the fact its a non-liscenced theme and the overall fun factor is undeniable.
9.217/10
6 years ago
One of the best machines ever. Amazing flow, probably the best toy ever in Bigfoot, immediately draws you with the upper playfield design, clear progression system, and the iconic Wet Willy voice. Only gripes are the frustration of the jet bumpers right near right outlane and the sdtm tendency of boomerang bend (hitting the hardest shot in the game should not lead to a drain so often, mitigated by the alternative ways of clearing this shot via disaster drops and bounce back lighting). Amazing.
7.992/10
6 years ago
When I first played this pinball I was hooked! I had to have it! The flow is amazing, the rules are simple to understand and also for younger kids (my son is 5) is it possible to get the Jackpot which just makes his day!
8.264/10
6 years ago
This is a very good machine. It's not an all-time classic, but it's right up there.
9.640/10
6 years ago
I think this game is incredible. I would love to own it someday. Perfect balance of ramps,toys and great music!
8.996/10
6 years ago
Very cool and unique game a Williams classic for sure
9.360/10
6 years ago
Not having it, but one of my favorite pinball machine. Fun to play, very good theme.
8.691/10
6 years ago
Great game. Excellent flow, which is surprising given the design and heavy use of upper playfield. REALLY fun. Only complaint is with music and sounds, and the dots are limited. Hardly matters. Fun design and pretty good art package. This one is a keeper and belongs among the classics. And, it features Bigfoot! diverting shots on the very important upper playfield! The ramps are amongst the very best, maybe THE best.
7.896/10
6 years ago
I love the ramps. I really like games that can flow from one ramp shot to the next. Not a very in depth game but still fun to play. May end up on my wishlist someday.
8.352/10
6 years ago
Love the shots and flow of this game. Theme is great and the journey to Wet Willie's is awesome. Vacation Jackpot is fun to work toward and the game has great music and callouts. Overall an excellent pin.
8.788/10
6 years ago
I love Whitewater, almost everything about it (though definitely not the backglass).

One criticism may be that it is pretty repetitive. But at least the repetitive shots are fun.
And it all adds to the essential elements of the game. Get 5X, get multiball, get some rafts on the way.

Great multiball, mode design and ramps.
I'm not sure if I'm completely accurate in saying this, but it seems a totally unique design - which is exactly what each pinball should be.
For instance - all (or at least almost all) modern games stick to the sling/inlane 2 normal flipper bottom playfield design (which admittedly so does Whitewater) - but then they seem to be reliant on 3 top-right pops below 2 or 3 lanes that advance multipliers a la AFM, instead of inventing a new and unique design. Whitewater on the other hand has a hairy freak just sat there sometimes diverting ramps.
8.860/10
6 years ago
I like it alot!
8.250/10
6 years ago
The ramps are what draws me back to this game. It's a great feeling to land the combos.
8.500/10
6 years ago
A great fun game with quite a few nice flowing shots. The ramps are great fun and exciting to make over and over. The sounds and music are classic 90s style.
9.460/10
6 years ago
Disclaimer: All of my reviews are for machines I've owned in the home, or routed machines that I played a lot. My home machines may have different ROMs and mods than routed machines.

I initially played White Water in a local pizza parlor in the 90s and it was blast. I had not set foot in arcades for some time. The pizza parlor also had a Medieval Madness, Twilight Zone, and Attack from Mars. Maybe it's coincidence, but these 4 games are the gold standard by which I measure every other machine I've played.

White Water is my favorite game. The other 3 come close, very close, but White Water tops them for me. Why is this the case?

I read in another review that White Water is like a tiny world captured under the glass. That is an amazing and accurate way to describe it. I've been whitewater rafting, and this game looks like what I experienced in my adventure, minus the water of course. I wish Dennis Nordman could have figured out a way to get incorporate the same technology in the topper and embedded it in the playfield. Still, all the mountains and artwork provide an amazing "tiny world" feel. One real negative is the fragility of those mountains - they sure love to break.

And those ramps! The best ramps in pinball by far. The Insanity Falls ramp is amazing, there's nothing like it, as the ball flies up and down it and smacks the glass. If you've ever had to shop White Water, the sheer number of ramps to take apart and clean is ridiculous! But I love ramps, so it's worth it. The ramps cover a lot of real estate, and it turns some people off that the ball can't be seen under those upper playfields. It is annoying but not a deal breaker for me, although I get the complaint by others.

The Bigfoot toy is funny and well designed. Since it is the only toy in the game, you could argue that it doesn't completely sell the game and that there should be at least one other toy and you wouldn't be wrong. I think a small rubber raft toy in the game that you bash would have been perfect.

The topper is the best in pinball. The fact that no one really knows how this was made (including Nordman) and no one has successfully reproduced one speaks volumes about the design.

Music is 90s midi cheese, but the tunes are catchy and I never get tired of them. a real credit to Chris Granner's skill. The callouts can be annoying. The artwork could be better too, but it's not terrible.

The game play is what you make of it. People complaining about SDTM drains - c'mon people, pinball is supposed to be hard! They are designed to separate people from their quarters. When pinball games are too easy, not only do they not make money on route but they also get boring fast. The challenge of beating the machine is what keeps most of us coming back. The home rom helps a lot by adding a ball save, and home users can modify the lost mine kickout so that it drops to the inlane/flipper instead of the outlane. The boulder garden can also be adjusted. There is so much to do in this game - Spirit of the River, Man Overboard, Vacation Jackpot, No Way Out, the Secret Passage, Bigfoot Hotfoot. And multiball is a such a rush, with the "WHITE WATER!" yell and sending 3 balls down Insanity Falls - so cool! I always seem to drain on Man Overboard for some reason. I got to the Vacation Jackpot once, and thought WTF? What followed was an amazing experience and everyone should strive to reach it at least once.

This machine isn't for everyone - no machine can please everyone - but it's the best for me, my desert island pin if you will. It was the first machine I bought and it will be the last one I sell. For others who are thinking about owning it, it works best in a larger collection with more variety of games. Owners should change out the lost mine solenoid, make sure the flipper solenoids are correct to avoid weak shots and SDTM, and put some mylar in front of the lost mine, that part of the playfield takes a real beating. At my house, the game never lacks in its ability to attract players thanks to Bigfoot and his tiny world that we get to be a part of for a little while.
9.660/10
6 years ago
Fun game! the theme is perfect with the way the ramps are designed. Bigfoot as a ball diverter is a nice touch to the game. I think the animations are great, and the topper is really cool too!
8.480/10
6 years ago
Cool pinball theme that comes together well. Fun shots to hit. I would like to own this one some day.
9.476/10
6 years ago
Whitewater is a spectacular game. One of my favorite upper play fields in all of pinball. The left ramp is super interesting (ball hits the glass intentionally...what???, that still gets me every time). Cabinet, backglass and topper art are great. Playfield art is weak. Also, a bit too easy. I would love to own a nice example of this game, and set it up SUPER hard to cut down the ball times. A great, great game.
9.380/10
7 years ago
There's a reason you can't find this pin anywhere. Everyone wants to keep it. True 90's pin. From the music, the theme, the artwork, it's all there. The game sucks you in from the beginning with the skill shot. Game is challenging and at times you'll get frustrated with the ball going up the middle and coming back down through the flippers, but that's pinball baby. This is a pin I'll be keeping in my collection for a very long time.
There are 525 ratings (that include a comment) on this game. Currently showing results page 7 of 21.

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