Favorite era of pinball

[FirePower]

I reckon it comes down to the age  you were when you first played.  Young impressionable minds and all that.
I sometimes think when you talk to a fellow pinhead you could ask them what there favourite machine is and then take a fair guess at their age.

For me late 70's early 80's was when I got started and I have a predilection for WMS machines. I find Ballys of this time too slow and haven't played enough GTBs to know.

I have a few EMs which are fun in a different noisier more mechanical way and i find DMD have greater shot selection and unless you understand the rule set you just bash away with far more to aim for and for me DMD games seem to last longer.

[pinnies4me]

I'm another late 70's early 80's guy. One of the most memorable years of my life was 1981 - a fun year for me with the start of tertiary school, a couple of unforgettable girls, and skipping class to play pins at an arcade with two guys (who are still my closest mates to this day, having dinner with one tonight in fact, pretty likely some games will get played while the girls look on with annoyance!:)

It lead me to my first purchase 10 years ago - Time Warp (still have), which was a favorite, and Firepower, another great (but was hard to get a game back then - people lined up to play 'em!!).

Williams seems to be the king, although some of the Gottliebs were great (when working).

I still have a hankering for an EM though. Started playing when doing newspaper rounds in the 70's, and while I don't remember the games at all, I absolutely loved the way they clicked over when resetting for a game - built the anticipation for what my 10 cents was going to get.

[Retropin]

Im only in my early 40's but have loved the 50's art, style and clothing since i was very young and hassled my mum and dad incessantly for a "ducks arse" haircut... seems even the pinballs follow this trend for me.
Now all grown up im all 50's pins, pin up photos and neon... and yes i also have the haircut i wanted since 7 years old.

I am what you call....... SHARP

[Steve2010]

I will echo what has already been said.  Again, I grew up with pins from about 1975 onwards.  So, favourite era was the 1970's through to early 1980's.  Loved the Bally and Gottlieb EMs, and to a lesser extent the Williams.  IMO Bally definitely had the edge come the SS age of the late 1970's.  But as the memories are attached and ingrained into the "first years", there realy is something special about playing the EMs - artwork, chimes, etc.

[SPURR]

Im into the 70's single player em's because you usually get a whole game to knock out all targets.
I found that most pinballs made before 1970 were full on drainers, huge guts and sides which took a about 2 minutes for a full game.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I cannot say that I have a favorite era
I like Gottlieb EM’s from the 70’s
I like Bally 1st generation SS
I like early 80’s Bally’s
I like Williams’s sys 11’s
I like Bally/Williams DMS
I like current Sterns

It is all pinball
What is there not to like??????

[v8racefan]

1990's Bally/Williams is my fav era

[Bayview]

Gottlieb 70's EM's, ans early Bally SS.
What I grew up with.

[punter]

Gottlieb 70's EM's, ans early Bally SS.
What I grew up with.

+ 1

[Pinfan]

I seem to defy the norm...

I'm in my early 30's and my era of playing pinball was late 80's early 90's.

My collection only has 2 dmd machines from the 90's as the rest are from 1976 to 1982.

I appreciate the late 70 to early 80's machines. I believe these games from that era had phenomenal artwork,gameplay and were the complete package for what they had to work with.

2 examples are BK and BH. Both extraordinary games !

This to me was the defining moment of pinball. Transferring to SS and going beyond the boundaries and capabilities of the realm of EM's.

The 4 big companies were literally fighting for competition and with this came the birth of so many great titles.