What's the best pinball game ever?

Any pinball fans here?

Me:

The Twilight Zone followed by The Adams Family

Gotta go with Attack from Mars, then the original Terminator pinball machine, there was also an Elvis game that I used to clean up on. Monster Bash was pretty cool for a while. PINBOT was great as well. But for best ever....I have to go with Attack from Mars!!!

The best one, was the one in my college dormitory rec room. Someone figured out how to get free games out of it after the initial quarter. I couldn't tell you what the heck game it was anymore.

Love, love, love Addams Family. I was not a pinball player, but about 12 years ago in college we came across this one in the student lounge. OMG. Played the heck out of it. It actually turned me on to other pinball games just because it was so fun. In fact, I'm heading back to Vegas in August and plan on spending a couple hours at the pinball museum. Partly to see the games, but mostly to go and play this one...!

Spent way too much time and money on pinball in college. Favorites:

High Speed 1 and 2 (HS1 was my first love)
Black Knight 2K
Earthshaker
FunHouse
The Machine/Bride of Pinbot (only game I've ever been "backed off" from for being too good at)
Terminator 2
Lethal Weapon 3
ST:TNG

Never got into the later games. They got too expensive and were too hard to learn. And the scoring... oooh, I just hit the billion shot, too bad a replay is 5 billion.

There's a good pinball aracade in Lyons, Colorado, about 45 minutes north of Denver.

World Cup 94 was also a favorite of mine. Played it a lot at university and missed plenty of classes as a result of getting replays.

There were 2 from college that I liked. "Diner" which had th eobjective to feed 5 customers then you had to "stir the coffee cup" which gave gobs of points. Problem was the machine had so much play the flippers were completely worn out and you could not hit the ball with any force.

The other was "Fun House." This had a very fun multi-ball play you got by shooting balls into the clown's mouth, he would talk to you and made a real neat noise before he spit them out. The voice was not totally computer generated nor humanb sounding, just right for a machine. There was also some way to get the ball to "replay" and go to a shooter from the LEFT side of the machine.

I like them because they were part of a fun time in my life, but also not-too-early-and-simple-not-too-modern-and-overdone machines. They were goldilocks in that regard, just right.

Ah, days of youth and innocence, many years before I even knew what a moneyline was or how it worked.

Black Hole was a game-changer back in the day. It was awesome.

Quote: Aussie

World Cup 94 was also a favorite of mine. Played it a lot at university and missed plenty of classes as a result of getting replays.

I considered putting this as my first choice. Made the final round against West Germany a couple times (and won). At one point had all or most of the high scores on the machine. Awesome game!

Jacks Open (which they had last time I was at the PHOF in Vegas)...required a lot of accurate shots to play well.

Quote: 7outlineaway

There's a good pinball aracade in Lyons, Colorado, about 45 minutes north of Denver.

Wow, I never knew. I lived in Denver for 4 years, never made it up there. I was lucky enough to run across an Addams Family at a Mexican restaurant in Morrison. Made a couple stops over there just to play!

I own a Doctor Who pinball machine. It has a slightly-complex ruleset that makes for interesting game play. A skilled player can run jackpot values from a low 40 million up to 1.2 billion. There is also a 3-level mini-playfield that raises and lowers during multiball.

Damned if the right lock popper didn't suddenly fail on me last night, right after I repaired the Tardis upkicker. :( I'm an amateur at best in dealing with pinball repair, and I don't want to get my hands into that nightmarish mini-playfield.
' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://farm1.static.flickr.com/79/231812189_144fadb579.jpg"]

I must concur that Addams Family is a top pick all around. Though some mentioned prior, I enjoyed a number of machines while arcades were in their prime:

Taxi
Diner
Earthshaker
Whirlwind
Funhouse
Star Wars
Elvira & the Party Monsters
Elvira: Scared Stiff
High Speed
High Speed 2: The Chase

I -KNOW- I am forgetting some.

Also, google up "PinMame" to find an awesome pinball emulator... play 3D recreations of pinball machines on your PC.

My favorite was an early 80s Bally's Star Trek machine. Over two weeks' vacation in Acapulco long ago, my cousins and I got so proficient at it we could play all day long for just a few tokens.

Also I have fond memories of Haunted House and Hercules.

Quote: 7outlineaway

Favorites:
Black Knight 2K
Earthshaker

YES!!!!!!!! I hope to visit the Pinball museum on my trip to Vegas in June

I think I must have played just about every US pinball that was released in the late 80s and early 90s.
Overall I think Williams' PINBOT is the best - it has the kind of open playfield and wide range of required shots that purists like.
Data East tended to make inferior machines (to Willams/Bally), but TIME MACHINE was a notable exception where they really pulled off a great game.

Quote: algle

I think I must have played just about every US pinball that was released in the late 80s and early 90s.
Overall I think Williams' PINBOT is the best - it has the kind of open playfield and wide range of required shots that purists like.
Data East tended to make inferior machines (to Willams/Bally), but TIME MACHINE was a notable exception where they really pulled off a great game.

I agree with you on that. I also like Taxi -- not because it played great, but because it was so dated and had so many quirks -- it was the one I was happiest to see at the pinball museum. I was disappointed they didn't have the Data East game where the bumpers were grass huts; it was some kind of Vietnam game that I can't remember the name of for the life of me. I also don't think they had Banzai Run which was another favorite of mine.