Pinball eras: mixed preferences poll

Which pinball eras do you prefer?

  • No overall preference

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • EM

    Votes: 1 2.7%
  • SS

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • EM and SS

    Votes: 4 10.8%
  • AN

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • EM and AN

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • SS and AN

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • EM, SS and AN

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • DMD

    Votes: 6 16.2%
  • EM and DMD

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • SS and DMD

    Votes: 3 8.1%
  • EM, SS and DMD

    Votes: 1 2.7%
  • AN and DMD

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • EM, AN and DMD

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • SS, AN and DMD

    Votes: 5 13.5%
  • EM, SS, AN and DMD

    Votes: 7 18.9%

  • Total voters
    37

mikehg

New member
Feb 5, 2014
213
1
One more, then I'll stop spamming you with polls ;)



[but I know you secretly love polls...]


eta - gah. I'm not sure what the difference between 'no preference' and 'EM, SS, AN and DMD' would be. But I can't edit it. Ho hum...

eta2 - in case anyone's baffled by the initialisms:

EM = electromechanical - think Big Shot or Central Park
SS = early solid state - think Firepower or Centaur
AN = alphanumeric - think High Speed or Diner
DMD = digital multimedia display - think Star Trek The Next Generation or Fish Tales
 
Last edited:

weirdproq

New member
Sep 19, 2013
163
0
Voted for EM, AN and DMD. I don't particularly like the SS era that much because of kinda bland playfields (Gorgar, Black Knight), but there's some good ones (Black Hole, Centaur, Haunted House). I've only played the EMs in TPA and in PHAF:WC, and don't care to much for Central Park, but like Big Shot and Jive Time and like some videos I've seen of EMs (Nip It, Fireball).
 

Kolchak357

Senior Pigeon
May 31, 2012
8,102
2
My faves are EM and early SS but I have favorites from every category. I really have a good time with some of the recent Stern pins.
 

Dedpop

Active member
Jun 3, 2014
4,284
0
I hesitated between EM or SS or EM and SS or AN or EM and AN or SS and AN or EM, SS and AN or DMD or EM and DMD or SS and DMD or EM, SS and DMD or AN and DMD or AN and DMD or EM, AN and DMD or SS, AN and DMD or EM, SS, AN and DMD. I finally voted for EM, SS, AN and DMD.
 

jbejarano

New member
Jul 6, 2012
893
0
There'll always be a special place in my heart for EM and early SS, but really?... All of them. I love all of them in their own way.
 

David Pannozzo

New member
Mar 6, 2012
536
0
Thank you very much Weirdproq, I really appreciate it. Now that you say that, AN games are used on System 11 games like Bad Cats, Mousin' Around, Radical, Fire!, Banzai Run, Cyclone, Jokerz, Earthshaker, Whirlwind, Riverboat Gambler, and many others (even Data East's Phantom Of The Opera).
 

mikehg

New member
Feb 5, 2014
213
1
Yeah, sorry, AN was meant to be AlphaNumerical... Should have written that somewhere - I'll add it to the first post.
 

mikehg

New member
Feb 5, 2014
213
1
Not according to the voters, who are leaning quite strongly towards 'EM, SS, AN and DMD' over 'No overall preference'.

;)
 

dtown8532

New member
Apr 10, 2012
1,685
0
I like working on EM's the most. Sooo simple. I also like EM's that are fast and have that "out of my control" feel.

I like certain early sold state games like Centaur or Fathom.

I like the light show spectacle of simple DMD's like Getaway or BSD, but, I don't like working on these games because of all the crap that's on the playfield and sooo much electronic board work to look over.

I'm not really a big fan of the System 11 games for whatever reason.

New Sterns are...just out of my price range.
 
Last edited:

vikingerik

Active member
Nov 6, 2013
1,205
0
SS and DMD, which is a bit of an odd combination. So here's why. Many of the alphanumeric games focus too much on hyping their one feature or gimmick, so the game ends up less diverse and fun. BOP's left ramp, Taxi's airport million, Elvira's ramp grinding, Dr Dude's mixer, all of those get very single-note as you ignore the rest of the game.

Earlier SS games don't have that problem, before jackpots were invented, there was much better care taken to get the whole playfield and all the features involved in optimal gameplay. Genie gets the whole playfield involved in chasing extra balls and bonus, Black Knight has all the drop target banks, Black Hole has the accelerators and lower playfield, Firepower makes you do a lot of stuff to get into multiball. DMDs mostly don't have the tunnel-vision problem either, as everything gets involved in escalating to the wizard mode.

There are of course exceptions, this means you Borg Multiball. And some alphanumeric games are exceptions, notably Lawlor's in Funhouse and Whirlwind where you do play the whole table.
 

ThePinballFan

New member
Jan 3, 2015
43
0
EM, SS, AN and DMD :)
I voted for them all, because every era has good Pins.
Variety is important to me and it's all about the mood, sometimes I like to play Big Shot or Genie than a complicated DMD with his rules or vice versa.
 

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