ST TNG - Easily. I hated the game.
Initial thoughts - Dumb rules that don't seem to lead to anything. Stupid "missions" that made no sense. Callouts that you followed, but nothing would happen. Cannons moving on their own and balls flying out of the trough at random moments were just some of the many bad ideas - So I thought. I had only really played "dealer" pins in showrooms, and seldom did they look of feel like they were working. It was not until Marco (Pinfan) and I visited a dealer and he had a game - within seconds - Marco told me it was not working properly. I just assumed it was a complex and over complicated machine that pinheads like to call "a deep game" - more like "a game that never worked".
I decided to import a couple (I avoided them like the plague) and work out how the game works. So when it came time to completely restore this game, I found so many problems with optos, springs, plungers, wrong coils.. The list goes on and on. But after returning the game to factory specifications and replacing all the optos and the trough boards - the game suddenly was working as it should. Only after being "hooked" on a perfectly working game, could I appreciate the full potential of this machine. I've restored a few of these over time, and there's a number of things to do to have the game working 100% - optos, trough boards and cannon looms are mandatory. Of the games that I've seen "fully done up" or "shopped" - these are rarely done properly - so I wonder how many other pinheads don't realize the full potential of this game ?
I would say ST TNG is the best engineered game with one of the best rulesets in pinball. Deep and interesting. The key to this game is that it is working 100%.
From dud to diamond - this title is amazing !
This was the game that hooked me to pinball on my first game in 94.
For me its Ironman. I though it was just a drain monster with no point. Then after watching the PAPA tutorial with stacking modes and thinking more about strategies I find it a really fun and challenging game that I just want to beat! Usually it just beats me though.
