Game: Gilligans Island

Designer: Ward Pemberton

MFG: Williams

AKA: Gilligans Pile

 
 
Reviewer: Rudy   8Ball   Drac   Buzz   Total  
Art-Backglass  4.5  5  5  5  5
Art-Playfield/Cabinet  5.5  7  5  6  6
Sound  6  7  8  9  7.5
Rules  5  7.5  7  4  6
Playfield Design  5  7.5  4  6  5.5
Replayability/Longevity  4.5  7  7  6  6
Total Score           6

Pluses:

     Rudy: Kona makes good noises

     8Ball: Interesting bonus ball feature instead of typical EB's. Multiball
is a race against the clock so you can crack off as many 50 millions
until time runs out. Fun to tilt the game once you find out the island
is broken and you just wasted 50c.
A little bit of a sleeper when playing correctly.

     Drac: Despite it's draw backs, this game is fun to play due to the
Big Points involved after completing the Secret Formula and shooting Kona.

     Buzz: Cool music and sounds. Hitting the standups when formula is lit is awesome

Playing EB's at end of game is way cool for multiplayer games

Minuses:

     Rudy: spinning assembly in left ramp sometimes gets out of alignment
making it impossible to score

     8Ball: As said before: the island is usually not working correctly thus
making the game worthles to play. No Ginger (Tina Louise) on backglass!

     Drac: Terrible playfield design includes a guaranteed drain on the left
if the kickback's not lit (cuz of shrunken head standup), a nearly
impossible to hit Lagoon shot, and a top saucer which requires luck to
have the ball fall into it. Also MB is a random award.

     Buzz: Horrible software. Multiball as a random award!? EM's have more depth than this game

 

Pinballreviews.com: Mini Review


Williams Grand Prix

by Doc

Grand Prix

Backglass - 7
Playfield Art - 7
Playfield - 8.5
Sound - N/A
Rules - 9
Longevity - 9

Total: 8/10

Late model EM with fairly simple playfield (4 drop targets, 2 Spinners, 1 advance bonus
saucer and 2 collect bonus saucers), but fun as hell. Fast paced action, and some of the
best spinners in pinball. Totally symetrical playfield with separate right and left side
bonus tracks.

Rules: Hitting A and B or C and D drop targets 1st time lights double bonus, 2nd or 3rd
time (depending on settings) lights extra ball, and 4th time lights special. Extra ball
collected in either right or left inlane (sling hits alternate it). Slings also alternate
advance bonus saucer at top. 2 distinct bonuses (left or right side). Balls 1 and 3 collect
left side bonus on drain, and ball 2 collects right side. Bonus advanced by hitting upper
saucer, either spinner, or slings below collect bonus saucers. Either bonus can be
scored during game play by hitting collect bonus saucer (left saucer collects left side
and right saucer collects right side). Bonus is doubled on both collect bonus saucers
if lit. Spinners score 100 initially, but 1000 if bonus is maxed on that side.

Strategy: Get A and B or C and D drops as early as possible to light double bonus. Any
additional A and B or C and D combinations is just gravy. Spinners, spinners, spinners.
Hit to build bonus, and feed ball up top to advance bonus saucer. Shot also feeds pop
bumpers and careful shaking could yield you A and B drop target hits. Once spinner is
maxed a well placed shot should yield you 40-50k points easy. Avoid direct hits to bottom
C and D targets. Glancing blows (hitting C off of right flipper or D off of left) are fine
and may end up in collect bonus saucers (more points!). Avoid letting the ball rollup the
inlanes. Guess what, it won't. Strategically placed holes in the lane guides will
send your ball to the abyss. Drop catching is an important fliiper skill to learn on this
game. Remember on a drain you only collect the bonus on the side that is lit.

Conclusion: If you love spinners, you will love this game. Play is fast, and can get
intense. But there is a reason 4 of my friends have this game, you can't beat the fun
factor.

 

Game: Guns'N'Roses  

Designer:

MFG:DE

 
Reviewer: Rudy   8Ball   Drac   Buzz   Total  
Art-Backglass  7.5  6  3  6  5.75
Art-Playfield/Cabinet  6  5  5  6  5.5
Sound  7.5  7  4  5  6
Rules  6  8  5  8  6.75
Playfield Design  6  8  5  9  7.25
Replayability/Longevity  5.5  8  5  8  6.5
Total Score          6.5

Pluses:

     Rudy: worthwhile selection of shots

     8Ball: IMHO the best Data East pin made. Good rules and the shocker...a
totally original playfield design! Riot multiball is a lot of fun
leading to a difficult riot jackpot shot. Mode values can be doubled via
the upper loop shot. Smooth ramps.

     Drac: Tight, challenging shot to get letters toward multiball.

     Buzz: Best DE game ever. Plenty of shots and rewards

Minuses:

     Rudy: Rose shaped plunger may attract bees.

     8Ball: How many times can you stand "Ain't goin' down" in a single
game? Video mode is a waste of time and eyesight.   

     Drac: Have fun trying to hit the steep ramp using the faulty flipper
> technology.

     Buzz: Listening to "welcome to the jungle" in its 8-bit am radio quality. Video mode so bad that it was 

re-hashed for Harley davidson for some reason.

Game: Godzilla

Designer:

MFG: Sega

 
 
Reviewer: Rudy   8Ball   Drac   Buzz   Total  
Art-Backglass 4 6 5 5 5
Art-Playfield/Cabinet 4 4.5 5 4 4.5
Sound 4.5 5 4 5 4.5
Rules 4 5 6 6 5.5
Playfield Design 4.5 4.5 4.5 4 4.5
Replayability/Longevity 5 4.5 3.5 4 4.5
Total Score            5

Pluses: stackable multiballs for bigger rewards, good captive ball setup
        better rules than most Sega's

   

Minuses: no modes, only multiball frenzies. Becomes tiresome and repetitive
        A true biscuit!
        John Shields broke the flippers!

Game: Golden Eye

                  

Designer: Bad monkey, I told you to design something original

MFG: SEGA

AKA: Golden Pyle, Golden Shower

 
Reviewer: Rudy   8Ball   Drac   Buzz   Total  
Art-Backglass  5  8.5  3    5.5
Art-Playfield/Cabinet  3  8  2    4.5
Sound  3  5  2    3.5
Rules  3  4  1    3
Playfield Design  2  5  4    3.5
Replayability/Longevity  3  5  2    3.5
Total Score          4

Pluses:

     Rudy: satellite dish is neat if functional

     8Ball: - Ramps are smooth and art is very good

     Drac: : Pop-up/Satellite ramp for Super-Jackpot. Decent flow on ramps. Good
game to torture Roger Moore with by making him play it. Can be sold to a
James Bond fan for big bucks as long as the fan is unaware of the Gottlieb
James Bond.

     Buzz: Never played one

Minuses:

     Rudy:  poor right ramp habitrail design, ball may fly off into the
left outlane on a hard shot.  No sensible feed back to upper rollover
lanes

     8Ball: Satellite dish magnet rarely ever works making the shot seem
like beating your head against a wall.

     Drac: : No time spent on rules development or design. Angry James Bond fan
might sue you for selling it to them when he/she finds out Gottlieb made
one. Too large to fit in a trash compacter

     Buzz: Um, nothing to see here