History YMMV / Pinball

* ScrappyMechanic: Outlanes, particularly for beginners; it can seem unintuitive for the ball to slide into an outline, resulting in a drain that seems quite non-preventable. While experts argue that nudging the table can easily prevent an outlane drain, nudging requires knowing exactly when the ball is about to slam into the outlane as well as being delicate with the table; a nudge too weak is the same thing as doing nothing while a nudge too strong is a [[NoFairCheating TILT]].

* CrackIsCheaper: Both the machines themselves and to compete. To buy a brand new Star Trek Standard Edition from Stern would cost as much as buying a {{PlayStation 4}} and ''110'' games. PAPA tournaments allow players as many attempts for the high scores on the machines as long as they are willing to keep paying the fees, which leads to arms races where players throw large amounts of money into the competition to one-up their rivals.

** It could be argued that pinball has more of a PopularityPolynomial, as it is staging what appears to be somewhat of a revival in the last few years. Second-hand machine prices have surged. As an example, the value of ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'' has gone from about $4,000-$5,000 in 2007 to over $7,000 in 2012. And as of 2013, a new pinball manufacturer, Jersey Jack Pinball, has sprouted up and released their first pinball, based on ''Pinball/TheWizardOfOz''.

** It could be argued that pinball has more of a PopularityPolynomial, as it is staging what appears to be somewhat of a revival in the last few years. Second-hand machine prices have surged. As an example, the value of ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'' has gone from about $4,000-$5,000 in 2007 to over $7,000 in 2012. Also as of 2012, a competitor to Stern, Jersey Jack Pinball has sprouted up and is gearing up to release a ''WizardOfOz'' pinball.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Creator/RogerSharpe's courtroom demonstration of pinball aiming skills, as recounted on the [[{{Pinball}} main trope page]]. Made all the more amusing by his later admission that [[AccidentalHero his success was due to luck.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Roger Sharpe's courtroom demonstration of pinball aiming skills, as recounted on the [[{{Pinball}} main trope page]]. Made all the more amusing by his later admission that [[AccidentalHero his success was due to luck.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Roger Sharpe's courtroom demonstration of pinball aiming skills, as recounted on the {{Pinball}} page. Made all the more amusing by his later admission that [[AccidentalHero his success was due to luck.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Atari Games' 1979 ''Pinball/{{Hercules}}'' measured 93 inches long, 39 inches wide and 83 inches high. It used a pool table cue ball for the pinball. Sometimes this would be an 8-ball.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Atari Games' 1979 ''Hercules'' measured 93 inches long, 39 inches wide and 83 inches high. It used a pool table cue ball for the pinball. Sometimes this would be an 8-ball.

** It could be argued that pinball has more of a PopularityPolynomial, as it is staging what appears to be somewhat of a revival in the last few years. Second-hand machine prices have surged. As an example, the value of ''Medieval Madness'' has gone from about $4,000-$5,000 in 2007 to over $7,000 in 2012. Also as of 2012, a competitor to Stern, Jersey Jack Pinball has sprouted up and is gearing up to release a ''WizardOfOz'' pinball.
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* CrowningMomentOfFunny:
** ''Medieval Madness'' has plenty of them
*** "I'm the Duke of Bourbon... it's happy hour!"
*** "I'm the Duke of Bourbon... I think."
*** "They took our pinball machine!"
*** "Now hurry up and marry me so we can get a divorce."
*** "The castle burns!" "Get the weenies!"

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: So many, we put them on [[AwesomeMusic/Pinball their own page.]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome:
** 1989's ''Black Knight 2000'' was known for having one of the best soundtracks ever for a pinball game, composed by Brian Schmidt, [[MortalKombat Dan "Toasty!" Forden]], and the game's designer, Steve Ritchie. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKDvjVzpNQ Take a listen here.]]
*** And then someone took the ''Black Knight 2000'' theme and [[http://soundcloud.com/dj-dain/black-power-2000-mashup mashed it up with]] KanyeWest[='s=] ''Power'' ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlmSzZKeExY which you may recognize from]] ''SaintsRowTheThird'')...
** Another contender is 1993's ''Twilight Zone''. It helps that they borrowed the GoldenEarring hit song of the same name. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GYmfrxntiA Listen for yourself here]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbeMB2cYTc and also here]].
** Dan Forden's mix of [[{{Music/ZZTop}} ZZ Top]]'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD10ZVlup0I "La Grange"]] for ''The Getaway: High Speed II'' fits in here as well.
** Also worth giving a listen to is the soundtrack to ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOsfI_tIynU F-14 Tomcat]]'' -- particularly the main and multiball themes.
** For video pinball games, ''ProPinball: Timeshock!'' really stands out with its soundtrack, along with generally being one of the best computer pinball games ever. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQMOwKIniFo Here's a great video, if you have over an hour to spare.]]

** ''The Pinball Circus'', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DXk2Xn1W04 a pinball machine noticeably as tall as it is long.]] Only two of these machines were ever built.

** ''Ye Olde Medieval Madness'' has plenty of them

** ''Ye Olde Medieval Madness'' has plenty of them, including a drunk who proclaims, "I'm the Duke of Bourbon... it's happy hour!"

** And then someone took the ''Black Knight 2000'' theme and [[http://soundcloud.com/dj-dain/black-power-2000-mashup mashed it up with]] KanyeWest[='s=] ''Power'' ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlmSzZKeExY which you may recognize from]] ''SaintsRowTheThird'')...

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: 1989's ''Black Knight 2000'' was known for having one of the best soundtracks ever for a pinball game, composed by Brian Schmidt, [[MortalKombat Dan "Toasty!" Forden]], and the game's designer, Steve Ritchie. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKDvjVzpNQ Take a listen here.]]

** It could be argued that pinball has more of a PopularityPolynomial, as it is staging what appears to be somewhat of a revival in the last few years. Second-hand machine prices have surged. As an example, the value of ''Medieval Madness'' has gone from about $4,000 in 2007 to over $7,000 in 2012. Also as of 2012, a competitor to Stern, Jersey Jack Pinball has sprouted up and is gearing up to release a ''WizardOfOz'' pinball.

** It could be argued that pinball has more of a PopularityPolynomial, as it is staging what appears to be somewhat of a revival in the last few years. Machine prices have surged, and as of 2012, a competitor to Stern, Jersey Jack Pinball has sprouted up and is gearing up to release a ''WizardOfOz'' pinball.

** Another contender is 1993's ''Twilight Zone''. It helps that they borrowed the GoldenEarring hit song of the same name. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GYmfrxntiA Listen for yourself.]]

** For video pinball games, ''ProPinball: Timeshock!'' really stands out with its soundtrack, along with generally being one of the best virtual pinball games ever. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQMOwKIniFo Here's a great video, if you have over an hour to spare.]]

** For video pinball games, ''ProPinball: Timeshock!'' really stands out with its soundtrack, along with generally being one of the best virtual pinball games ever.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: 1989's ''Black Knight 2000'' was known for having one of the best soundtracks ever for a pinball game, composed by Brian Schmidt, [[MortalKombat Dan "Toasty!" Forden]], and the game's designer, Steve Ritchie. Another contender is 1993's ''Twilight Zone''.
* DeadHorseGenre: First, it was because video games were cheaper to maintain and took up less space at arcades. Later, as arcades died out, pinball machines all but disappeared.