Hi guys, looking to buy my first pin and thought it would be nice to hear everyone’s thoughts on the hardest and easiest games they’ve played- By hardest I sort of mean overly challenging for a casual player and very short ball time. By easiest, kind of mean anything that you can beat too fast, long ball time or scoring rules are too generous/ broken. Thanks, Giovanni.
Hardest and easiest pins you’ve ever played.
- Thread starter titanif
- Start date
Walking Dead is the "hardest" pinball I've owned. Short ball times, fast and furious, but when you get in a grove it is also by and far the most rewarding pin I've owned. The "easiest" I've owned is kind of a weird one as it is much beloved. Though I never made it to the ultimate wizard mode, LOTR was the game that was gone from collection the fastest. I just didn't jive with it in the end, I had wanted to own one forever and when that day came, the extraordinarily long ball times and the repetitive nature of playing the three multi balls over and over again wore on me, it latest a couple of months and I moved on, I wouldn't have one back.
Chris Bardon
Well-Known Member
Given that you can make any game easier/harder based on the physical setup, I usually tend to think about the complexity of the rules, and the opportunities to progress through the game in different ways. A lot of games tend to boil down to "do this one thing" to score well. There might be other things on the playfield, but if you want to do well there was one overwhelming strategy. That's why I always gravitated to games with deeper rules, since I like having balance/options, and having more "new" things to discover. That's one of the reasons I bought TSPP as my second game-I've owned that thing for 14 years I think, and I've still never seen the end of it (and probably never will). It's not a super difficult layout, but there's a lot of stuff to keep in your head on how to play it. You have stackable modes, multiballs, and frenzies, and some mini wizard modes that are achieveable for mere mortals that are a lot of fun, but have their own bespoke rules. It might still be one of the trickiest games to wrap your head around. If you want recent examples of playfields that will kick your ass, Walking Dead is a good suggestion, as is BKSOR (not as much rules depth on that one, but it will make you better at reacting to stuff). Easy games... DE Star Wars is super easy to just shoot the ramp over and over again, and Gottlieb Super Mario Bros is one of the most boring games I've ever played. Addams Family also gets to be really easy/repetitive when you know what you're doing. As for newer stuff, the Beatles is a pretty simple game that's still fun to play and feel like you're doing something cool.
ZoomZoomBoomBoom
Well-Known Member
I have 71 pins.
70 of them are practice for the exam; Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. It is the only game I play with 5 balls and still can't get anywhere. The shots are so difficult it's crazy. I would definitely NOT recommend it in even a small collection, never mind as your first pin.
On the easier spectrum; Spiderman (Stern) and Star Trek (Stern) are FANTASTIC games that I would absolutely recommend.
70 of them are practice for the exam; Alice Cooper's Nightmare Castle. It is the only game I play with 5 balls and still can't get anywhere. The shots are so difficult it's crazy. I would definitely NOT recommend it in even a small collection, never mind as your first pin.
On the easier spectrum; Spiderman (Stern) and Star Trek (Stern) are FANTASTIC games that I would absolutely recommend.
Iron Maiden is definitely on the harder side but I probably don't have enough experience to say it's the hardest, or one of the hardest. I find it is a drain monster though, so hard to keep it out of the outlanes.
Easy ones to me are both of the older machines I've owned, Tee'd Off and Class of 1812 seem pretty easy. Partly because the shots aren't too hard and partly because of the code. For both of them you just need to get multiball and then hit the same shot over and over and you rack up a million points per shot.
Easy ones to me are both of the older machines I've owned, Tee'd Off and Class of 1812 seem pretty easy. Partly because the shots aren't too hard and partly because of the code. For both of them you just need to get multiball and then hit the same shot over and over and you rack up a million points per shot.
Hardest/most punishing for me has to be BKSOR. Owned a pro and it's a blast when you do hit the shots though... But if you don't... Good lord.
Easiest may be something like JJP's GnR... Mainly because it's designed to let people play a few songs with lots of multi balls. I still own mine and love the bling but it's not the hardest shooter out there.
As others have said though, so many good options... Good luck and good question!
Easiest may be something like JJP's GnR... Mainly because it's designed to let people play a few songs with lots of multi balls. I still own mine and love the bling but it's not the hardest shooter out there.
As others have said though, so many good options... Good luck and good question!
Half Baked
Member
Easiest- Spiderman
Hardest- Stern Jurassic Park
IMHO- Buy a GZ Prem. Good flow. Smooth ramps. Lots to do. A game that most wouldn’t get bored of too soon.
It's easy to "play" maybe... but it's not easy at ALL to get any decent scoring going on it.
