Top 20 Pinball Machines

[Gunstarhero]

I think Pinball and Video games go together like white on rice, and I can imagine many, if not all of us here, have played a fair share of Pinball Machines. I wasn't able to come up with 20 to start us off, but of course this list can and will be amended. Lets discuss and work out a great list of pinballs!

1) Dr. Who
2) High Speed
3) High Speed II: The Getaway
4) Terminator 2: Judgement Day
5) Black Knight 2000
6) Addams Family
7) PinBot
8) Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure
9) Comet
10) Cyclone-1988 version
11) Star Wars -data east version
12) Funhouse
13) Diner
14) Earthshaker
15) Rescue 911
16) Star Trek: The Next Generation
17) Twilight Zone
18) Medieval Madness
19) Jurassic Park
20) Theater of Magic

My personal favorite of all time is Getaway. I was blown away by the music, sound fx, and the cool race you could do on the dot matrix. Plus the gear shift ball launcher, this game has style!

Dr. Who--I don't think I've ever played a more involved pinball than this one. There were so many 'missions' to accomplish and different combos to pull off, I kept busy with this machine for months.

Indiana Jones--best use of the dot matrix, it seemed like half the game was played on it, what with all the graphic missions you needed to accomplish, like the Rope Bridge, or the Mine Cart Ride. Greatness.

Terminator 2--Sometimes, less is good. The deck is as bare as pinball gets, but for some reason, this game just PLAYS. Maybe its just me, but I found some rythm on this one that just made me feel good to play it, and there's hardly anything to the game!

Addams Family--If theres one pinball on the list that I'm positive will not be removed, its this one. To my knowledge, this is still the top money making pinball of all time. If I recall it was the top Arcade money maker in Replay magazine for 24 months straight. Anyone know for sure?

[Pressure Cooker]

I think Jurassic Park should be up there. That's my favorite pinball of all time. "STAMPEDE!!!!!!!" After that phrase is yelled during the game, the whole machine starts shaking violently and you hear dinosaur roars. That did it for me. I was like "That was the coolest thing ever..."
Plus, I was a big fan of the first movie so that added a little favoritism.

Also, Tommy should be up there. I love that pinball. And it's a must to have Tommy in the top 20. I mean...c'mon, he's a PINBALL WIZARD!!! >)

[Raedon]

the Twilight Zone.
http://www.ipdb.org/images/2684/image-2.jpg

Addam's family
http://www.ipdb.org/images/20/Backglass2.jpg

ST:TNG
http://www.ipdb.org/images/2357/image-1.jpg

[IGotTheDot]

Theater of Magic was cool.
Batman
Apallo 13 with 13 balls :o

There are too many!

[Quazick]

How can you leave out Nightmare On Elm Street?!

[Tempest]

I've always been fond of:

Theater of Magic
Twilight Zone
Arabian Nights
Mideval Madness
Star Wars (the original Data East one, not the Sega one)
Stargate (the first Pinball machine I got replay on)
Attack From Mars


Tempest

[Zaxxon]

Haunted House
Flash Gordon
Star Wars -Data East ver.
Rescue 911
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Diner
The Funhouse
Gorgon
Hercules
South Park
Circus Voltaire

[Masco73]

I have only played about 5 of those pinball games on that list. It is pretty sad really, when you go to an arcade and can't find one pinball machine.
One that I have played that is should be on that list is Austin Powers. It has a ton of different multiball combos and many other fun features. It is quite fun. Anyone ever play it??

[Zaxxon]

I think I've played it. I don't think multi-ball is fun.

[NoahsMyBro]

I always liked Comet. It probably wasn't one of the best pinballs out there, but it was the machine I learned how to use 'English' on without tilting, and the first pinball machine that I could earn extra games on with relative ease.


http://www.lysator.liu.se/pinball/IPD/search.cgi?qf=&n=Comet&mf=&yr=1985&any=&so=manufacturer&fm=table

http://www.lysator.liu.se/pinball/IPD/images/548/tn-548.jpg.gif


http://www.lysator.liu.se/pinball/IPD/images/548/tn-548a.jpg.gif

[maxlords]

I'd DEFINITELY add Medieval Madness, Pinbot, and Bride of Pinbot :) Those kicked some serious ass. My other favorites are Dungeons and Dragons, Dr. Who, Theater of Magic, Star Trek TNG, and my all-time favorite pinball game EVER, Twilight Zone!!!! Another CLASSIC...Joust two player simultaneous! I owned that one too...it's a table and one player stands on each side and you play pinball AGAINST each other! :) Sooooo awesome! They only made about 3000 of em. Sold it along with my arcade two years ago.

I owned Flash Gordon (the movie one) for a while and hated it. Also, to pinball afficianados, Addams Family is considered one of the best pins EVER made!

[Britboy]

DEFINITELY Funhouse! and what is that one with a Construction worker theme, that one was good too, by the same people that did finhouse, same looking fce except the guy was wearing a hard hat....???

[bluecollarninja]

Apollo 13 and theater of magic were pretty cool.

[Zaxxon]

DEFINITELY Funhouse! and what is that one with a Construction worker theme, that one was good too, by the same people that did finhouse, same looking face except the guy was wearing a hard hat....???

I think it was called 'Earthshakers' or something like that. The whole machine would shake.

[Gunstarhero]

Ok, made some adjustments, this will be the only edit of the evening.

There were multiple requests for Theater of Magic, Funhouse, Medieval Madness, Diner, and Apollo 13, those were added. Also, clarified which version of Star Wars (data east).

Removed Hook,Black Knight 2000, and Jurassic Park. Was going to take off Rescue 911, but somebody else liked it so it stayed and Jurassic Park left.


Ok, feel free to request additions and deletions, and give a reason why if you can :)

[scooterb23]

A few of my favorites...looks a lot like some of these other lists :P

Batman
Jurassic Park
Indiana Jones
Addams Family
Twilight Zone
High Speed
Dr. Who

probably 100 more I can't think of right now...a lot of them I used to like back in Indiana...I can't remember...

oh yeah, I loved playing Hercules :)

[mauigamer]

What about Terminator 2 Pinball. That deserves recognition. All those arnie one liners kick ass. Especially the "No way Jose" when you try to start without putting a quarter in.

[Postermen]

Whitewater should also be on the top of the list, and of course, Baby Pacman

[CFTBL]

Being a real pinball fan, I can give you 20 games that will make the list! :-D


1. my Username: CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON!!! (I own this one)

Others up in the top 5:
- Twilight Zone (I wish I had one)
- Addams Family
- Black Knight 2000 (a FAST pinball, wicked music!)
- Pinbot (a true classic)

from 5 to 10:
- "My name is GORGAR" B >)
- Stern's Playboy (2000) <X rated version is the best>
- High Speed
- Medieval Madness
- Theater of Magic

Another 6:
- Earthshaker
- T2
- Funhouse
- The Machine: Bride of Pinbot
- World Cup Soccer 1994
- No fear (When it is tuned right, this is the FASTEST pinball around)

The last 4, in a class by their own:
- Banzai Run (now THAT one's cool!)
- Orbiter 1 (Again, the "crater-like" playfield is unique!)
- Haunted house (3 levels...a very nice (but somewhat boring) game)
- Flipper Football (The perfect party 6-player game)


BTW, the construction one you're talking about is "Road Show".

IMHO, Rescue 911 has ONE cool feature (helicopter), but the gameplay is "average" at best.

ST:TNG is a nice machine, but it is a EXTREMELY hard game to understand and play...I'm not a Trekky, sorry!! ;)

I only have room for my CFTBL, but if I could have 3, it would be CFTBL, TZ and a toss-up between BK2K and PB.

My goal would be to have the first five AND a Flipper Football for friends and parties.

CFTBL has spoken!

[kainemaxwell]

I used to play Doctor Who for least a hour at a time at my college...then people broke the machine.

[BillyKaneIsGod]

One I'm suprised I haven't seen on this list is WHO dunnit! A Bally machine from 1995 that made great use of both the playfield and the pixel graphics. It was a typical machine, except that it was a murder mystery and the missions required you "gain clues" by completing certain ramps and things. It even featured a turning slot machine in the playfield that corresponded with one on the lcd screen, and could give you excellent clues or big bonuses! Also, each time you played, the mystery's culprit changed, so you had to pay attention to the clues provided if you wanted to catch the criminal. I wasted practically an entire summer on this one!!!

Also: Terminator 2: JD is definately in my top 3!!

[Gunstarhero]

Ok, seems Eartshaker is getting some recognition so it went up. Also put Black Knight 2000, and Jurassic Park back on. Took off WWF Royal Rumble, Taxi (am I the only one who likes this one?).

I remember Earthshaker, it was quite fun, but like all those pinballs that had a 'shake' feature, it was frequently broke down. Harley Davidson was even worse for breakdowns. Banzai Run is the Pinball with the playfield on the Back Glass if I remember right. Thats a nifty little nuance that sets it apart from other pins, but I didn't think it was a very fun game overall.

Another pinball that had a neat gimmick was Whirlwind(is that right), I don't know if thats the right name, but it had a fan on the back glass that blew air in your face as you played it. I thought that was kind of cool.

[Raedon]

I cant read al that crap... Guess I should set my desktop to 1600x1200 cuz I can't read shit here.

[scooterb23]

Oh yeah...I dug Baby Pac-Man too, that one was a lot of fun (although I was horrible at it...)

You guys really have me wanting to play some real pinball again...I need to find a good arcade soon...

[Zaxxon]

Microsoft Pinball Arcade is pretty cool, but it only has one good table IMO, Haunted House.

[Wavelflack]

I agree with the list as it stands. My personal favorite is Earthshaker (I'm surprised by how many mentions I've seen here), and not for the shake, but simply because it's well designed and playable. Great machine. I'd love to own one.

[mikemize]

For me the list begins when I first discovered Arcades at Myrtle and Daytona Beaches in 1970.

1.Hercules(when the springs are new on these you swear that ball is going to come flying through the glass)
2.Flash Gordon(1 of 3 that I have rolled over)
3.Playboy(the second one that rolled)
4.Star Trek:TNG(3rd and last one that rolled)
5.Coney Island(the most free games that I have won)
6.Wizard(hey I have a "thing" for red heads(Ann Margaret))
7.Flight 2000
8.Superman
9.Space Race
10.Timewarp
11.Vector
12.Airborne Avenger
13.Atlantis
14.Apollo
15.Buck Rogers
16.Capt.Fantastic
17.Moon Shot
18.Paragon
19.Strato-Flight
20.Sinbad

I was there at the birth of the videogame when a "Computer Space" showed up at the icecream parlor to be replaced the next month by "Pong" but I never stopped playing the pinballs.
Mike Mize

[Jorpho]

I've seen a lot of memorable pinball machines...

-Medieval Madness
-Twilight Zone
-Who Dunnit
-Jurassic Park
-Super Mario Bros.
-Revenge from Mars

It's the sort of experience that just can't be recreated on a computer... Or so I thought, until I installed Pro Pinball Timeshock this past week. (Unfortunately, it was part of Encore Software's Pinball Madness 2 bundle pack, and all the music is missing! I guess I'll have to rent the PSX version and rip the tracks someday, if I can't get through to Encore tech support.)
________
Teen latino (http://www.fucktube.com/categories/1040/latino/videos/1)

[Ruudos]

Well I haven't played much pinball unfortunately. Two I remeber as being fun, but I don't klnow the names.

The first one's theme is soccer, where you 'play matches' against national teams.

The second one is a blue machine, think there was a woman's face on the machine, and there was a 'ghost tunnel'.

[TheRedEye]

No real input on my part, I just want to cast my vote for Funhouse.

[BIGMIKE]

when i was in college, Batman rocked

[slapdash]

Mike! One post!

I haven't played pinball in years, so I've missed many of those on the list.

But one of my earliest loves was a Spanish Eyes machine -- I think anyway. I remember a pretty seniorita on the glass, but the only SE art I've seen since has a Picasso-esque face, not a real face, so I'm not sure anymore.

[ManekiNeko]

I've only seen the one with the abstract art myself, and wasn't too impressed with it as a game. It had one nice innovation, though... a bumper UNDERNEATH the paddles. That certainly defies convention.
As a general rule, I don't like the older pinball games... they're much too simplistic, and Spanish Eyes is no exception. Bring on the pins with multiple objectives, a huge variety of targets, and an electronic backboard display! Don't go overboard with the ramps and trails, though. The new Simpsons pinball game is littered with them... and I do mean littered, because the clutter makes the rest of the game hard to see.
I haven't spent much time with real pins... just the simulations in Visual Pinball. Of the ones I've played so far, my favorites are Darius (not a real table, but it damn well SHOULD have been one!) and Star Trek: The Next Generation. That one scores high on the nerd factor, keeping the player entertained with complex gameplay and voice actors straight from the show.
I really, honestly think that Baby Pac-Man was a terrible game. The pin was short and devoid of targets, and the video game... arrgh! The monsters don't seem to have a clue where they're going, often backtracking over themselves and cornering the player. It's completely aggravating, and I can't imagine why anyone would put up with that. Here's a review of the game in case you were interested:

http://grblitz.overclocked.org/others.htm#babypacman

JR

P.S. By the way, if anyone's interested in playing these babies at home, try this address: http://irpinball.ztnet.com/

[simonbelmont7]

Guns N Roses Pinball!!! Ya cant go wrong! Always had a particular liking to Bride of Pinbot as well =)
mark

[123forever]

My top ten:

Addams Family
Attack From Mars - I finally attacked Mars last summer
Twilight Zone
Star Wars (Data East)
Super Mario Bros. - a fantastic game!
Indiana Jones
Who Dunnit
Black Knight 2000
Apollo 13 - "My god, it's full of pinballs!"
No Good Gofers

[The Scribe]

My favorite pinball machines of all-time are:

- Star Trek TNG
- The Shadow

We have a Rollercoaster Tycoon promotional pinball machine in my office's cafeteria. I had the top score for about three weeks, until the QA guys became totally obsessed with beating my score.

[ehall]

Three pins will eventually be in my gameroom.

Pinbot - "Now I sees you"
Cyclone - "Ride the Ferris Wheel"
Taxi - I got so many free games playing this.

[jhd7]

It's been a loooooooooong time since I played any pinball. My heyday was back in college from '78-'82. The two machines that stand out are Paragon and 8-Ball Deluxe. I'd love to find a Paragon machine, but a local dealer said they're tough to find and run over $600.

[Videogamerdaryll]

My two favorites are..
South Park
Pinbot

[Charlie]

My personal favorites are Funhouse, Twilight Zone, and Terminator 2. I know Terminator 2 is really a pretty basic pinball machine, but it's pretty much the one I'm best at, so I need to list it lol.

[AB Positive]

1) Dr. Who


one look at my subname might show my bias, but Yes, yes and yes. The Doctor Who pinball game would be the first and last pinball consideration for my gameroom. I love Dr. Who, and they did a fantastic job with the pinball game. It's a shame no one put that much effort into the Dr. Who video games that came out for the C64 and PC....

-AG

[nate1749]

I'm surprised my personal favorite wasn't mentioned,

Guns N' Roses

I'd also say

Lethal Weapon 3
South Park (I like it because of the theme =)
Pin-Bot (on the list already)

[shawnbo42]

I am surprised that it took so many posts to run into Guns n' Roses. Such gameplay, 6 (or was it 7?) balls for the multiball....good times.

Also, I have seen no mention of Hook anywhere. Manufactured by Data East, but plays like a Williams, IMO. Anyone else ever played this one?

Also, I have not seen on anyone's list Fish Tales? The slapstick humor, the original theme, the moving fish??? This isn't fun for anyone else out there?

Another pinball that had a neat gimmick was Whirlwind(is that right), I don't know if thats the right name, but it had a fan on the back glass that blew air in your face as you played it. I thought that was kind of cool. - This from Gunstarhero, yes it is Whirlwind you are thinking of, I've still got one floating around out there somewhere (also have an Earthshaker, Black Knight 2k, Taxi, T2, I've even still got Bad Cats and a Diner).

[joshmillslane]

The best/most fun pin ever IMO:

TAXI

I always loved this one, and bought one on Ebay a couple years ago. Whenever people come to the house, it usually sees some heavy use. And yes, it's a real Marilyn version - not Lola!

[Cinder6]

I like that list. My personal favorite pinball machine of all time is Twilight Zone. I've spent more on that one than any else, and got the high score on it. Unfortunately, I've only ever seen it in two places, and haven't played it in over 7 years now :(

*remembers back to when he would play on one quarter until the pizza arrived, then give the controls over to somebody else, with a few free games thrown in*

[vgc]

Some of My Favorites Include:

Addams Family
Circus Voltaire
FIRE
Black Knight 2000
Guns n Roses
High Speed
Monster Bash
Attack from Mars
White Water
Swords of Fury
Super Mario Bros.
Baywatch
Taxi
Theatre of Magic

Mike : )

[DreamTR]

I was looking at the list and I realized how terrible some games are that people think are good. I honestly thought Dr. WHo was one of Bally's WORST. ANyway, My favs are:

Elvira and the Party Monsters
Big Bang Bar
Pinball Magic
Theatre of Magic
Kingpin
Fun House
Twilight ZOne
Addams Family
Black Knight 2000
Earthshaker!
Whirlwind
Star Trek TNG
Demolition Man
Simpsons (Data East version)
Medieval Madness
Rollergames
Bad Cats
Safe Cracker
Arabian Nights

[8bitgamer]

Like many of you, I love Twilight Zone. I also enjoy Universal Monsters and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

When it comes to old machines, I really like Hot Hand, Firepower, Gor Gar, Xenon, Superman, Space Invaders, and Dolly Parton (don't laugh, it's a great game!).

Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984 (http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Home-Video-Games-1972-1984/dp/0786432268/ref=sr_1_1/102-4833994-2708962?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180844138&sr=8-1)

[Lerxstnj]

One's I would buy...
South Park, G & R, Lord of the Rings, Twilight Zone, Tommy, Rolling Stones, Ted Nugent. I already own KISS and really wish they would make a RUSH pin.
I made my own Rush on VisualPinball, not quite the same though and has a few bugs. PM me if you want to trade some VP homemade tables.

[diskoboy]

My faves:
Twilight Zone
Judge Dredd
Safe Cracker
Attack From Mars
Banzai Run
Doctor Who
F-14 Tomcat
Hercules
Red & Ted's Road Show
Space Invaders
Big Guns
Police Force
High Speed 2: The Getaway
T2
Haunted House
Caveman
Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle

[boatofcar]

To tell you the truth, I'm so used to playing pinball on consoles, I feel ripped off when I have to actually pay to play :)

I love wide-body pins in general. Some of my favorites:

Theater of Magic
Twilight Zone (played this to death in college)
Elvira and the Party Monsters


Games I've never played but want to:

Diner
Taxi
Rocky and Bullwinkle
The Addams Family (I know, I know, there was just never one around when I was growing up)