Oh dear - too many to choose from.
WMS APOLLO is by far one of my favourite games.. couple that with WMS ROCKET and you have my 2 favourite games to play in my collection. Nothing deep on these.. its not a rule set you have to work through. It is purely pinball.. hit A and then hit B do that a few times and then hit C to get advanced in the bonus system. Yeh yeh... far too simple until you have to do it. The position of the individual components are what make a great EM.. simple games but on a GREAT game that extra ball or bonus game is just beyond reach and beating that sucker keeps you coming back for more.
I don't really go for the GTB titles unless they are early pre 70's. By then they were too focused on drop targets as #1 targets.. there's not much more to shoot for in a 70's GTB game and although cool, I like a bit more variety in my shots. Around this time though WMS had lost the plot and made basic " keep the ball alive" games. Bally were not even on the radar with their games and so GTB was labelled king with one predominant feature... drop targets.
A 1960's WMS game though is a really really good game and can be bought for much less than a GTB. They had drops.. DC flippers and the games packed a real punch with super fast clear coat PF's. Most are reverse wedge heads and so are wider at the bottom than the top. If you are offered one - snap it up as you wont be disappointed. At this time, WMS were 20 years ahead but the market didn't reflect that.. but what WMS did in the 60's, ALL pinball manufacturers emulated in the 80's. Then you have BALLY.. multiball and Zipper Flippers.. oh my oh my.. what great games they are.
The brass relays in an EM.. well.. yes it can look daunting but if you can work through an SS by using TTL logic then you can work through an EM.. they are exactly the same but instead of a chip gate you have a leaf switch.. each leaf switch is ganged to a relay and each relay is the equivalent of an IC in an SS... simple.
Go buy any EM and have a play around.. you cant blow them up, they are as solid as solid can be. I love them and as said before.. the smell of an EM?? One sniff and its an addiction.
