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Godzilla Premium

R

Reg

Registered
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Feb 23, 2020
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Uk
Hi All,

After living with my TZ for a while now I fancy something alongside. What's the general reliability etc on modern games like Godzilla? I picked that one out as it is rated so highly. I do have an eye out for a MM but bored of waiting :D

TIA
 
IMO you'd be particularly unlucky for something to go wrong on a NIB Stern. Also, if you do buy it NIB I think Phil at Pinball Heaven has a very good warranty!
 
Reg said:
Hi All,

After living with my TZ for a while now I fancy something alongside. What's the general reliability etc on modern games like Godzilla? I picked that one out as it is rated so highly. I do have an eye out for a MM but bored of waiting :D

TIA
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compared to TZ lol you'll think the world has just begun.
 
Get a premium aiq, imo, best available at present for new, pound for pound game play if you want a great pin and not worried about new get a Metallica, again tho this is just my opinion for what it’s worth,

Itch
 
For those getting excited for the arrival of their Godzilla this week here's a good interview with Harrison Drake, the lead engineer on team Elwyn. Nice to hear from someone other than the designers and artists.

 
Itch said:
Get a premium aiq, imo, best available at present for new, pound for pound game play if you want a great pin and not worried about new get a Metallica, again tho this is just my opinion for what it’s worth,

Itch
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As per with all these things, opinions vary* and I'd suggest - if you can - finding a Godzilla to play locally. The Pinside Map can be quite helpful for finding specific pins (although it's not foolproof - https://pinside.com/pinball/map).

There's a Pro at FlipOut in Croydon just outside London, one in an arcade near Russell Square in central London, and IIRC (maybe someone can help with other locations) one at Tilt in Birmingham.

[*I played Metallica for the first time on Saturday and, although it was relatively fun, I'm not rushing out to buy one. I found it a cross between a decent Bally-Williams and an early SS, but with less humour and better mechs. A:IQ is NOT, in my experience, Keith Elwin's best game. The rules are unnecessarily incomprehensible, and this isn't helped by the complete lack of integration between theme and mechanics. Again, it's decent and, if you can only get to play an A:IQ, then it will give you a relatively good idea of Elwin's style].
 
VeeMonroe said:
As per with all these things, opinions vary* and I'd suggest - if you can - finding a Godzilla to play locally. The Pinside Map can be quite helpful for finding specific pins (although it's not foolproof - https://pinside.com/pinball/map).

There's a Pro at FlipOut in Croydon just outside London, one in an arcade near Russell Square in central London, and IIRC (maybe someone can help with other locations) one at Tilt in Birmingham.

[*I played Metallica for the first time on Saturday and, although it was relatively fun, I'm not rushing out to buy one. I found it a cross between a decent Bally-Williams and an early SS, but with less humour and better mechs. A:IQ is NOT, in my experience, Keith Elwin's best game. The rules are unnecessarily incomprehensible, and this isn't helped by the complete lack of integration between theme and mechanics. Again, it's decent and, if you can only get to play an A:IQ, then it will give you a relatively good idea of Elwin's style].
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Some people like things simple 🚨🤣🤣😂 - how you can say there is no integration is like wut?
 
VeeMonroe said:
A:IQ is NOT, in my experience, Keith Elwin's best game. The rules are unnecessarily incomprehensible, and this isn't helped by the complete lack of integration between theme and mechanics.
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As you say, quite subjective. Depends what you're after in a pin... AIQ has the better layout in my opinion, but it has no soul (the sound package is meh). The rules are fine - hit disc, start mode, hit lit shots. GZ does have soul in comparison and I imagine it will comparatively appeal more to non-pinheads.
 
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Neil McRae said:
Some people like things simple 🚨🤣🤣😂 - how you can say there is no integration is like wut?
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And some people have PhDs in rocket science... :rolleyes:

Look, it's not a 'world under glass'. It's a bunch of metal ramps stuck to a brightly-coloured playfield. If you're new to the pin, you have to cradle the ball and squint to work out which ramp corresponds to which character. If you stripped the playfield back to whitewood and provided a factual text update on the LCD, it could literally be themed around any subject in the known universe, including elevator maintenance. If it were a board game, it would be described as having a 'pasted-on theme'.

There's nothing *wrong* with having a 'pasted-on theme'. There are some excellent board games with 'pasted-on themes' and one of my favourite pins (TNA) has a totally pasted-on theme, but - yes - A:IQ has a pasted-on theme. It's basically the pinball equivalent of Go - it's an abstracted layout of ramps and ball lanes that are interesting to shoot, but which have no solid relationship to the theme of the pin.

For contrast, compare it to most Bally/Williams from the 1990s or, indeed, other Sterns (or The Big Lebowski) to see how physical objects on the playfield are used to provide visual cues to (new and casual) players. You can even compare it to Godzilla, which has an ACTUAL mechagodzilla, an ACTUAL bridge (on the Prem) and an ACTUAL destroyable building.

As I say, there's nothing wrong with it and I personally quite like it, but given the OP owns TZ and evidently likes MM, I'd suggest 'trying before buying' (on any pin TBH).
 
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I disagree with AIQ being unintuitive - if you're new to the pin you look at the playfield and see that every ramp or shot has an avenger assigned to it clearly. Hell, when you hit their shot they even say a voice line. As far as rules ? Shoot the disc, start a gem. Try and collect as many gems as you can. Collect the avengers by shooting their shot to start soul gem. Do it again to start black order. IMO it's much more intuitive than something like Big Lebowski. I had to fish through the rule book to find how to get to the bowling alley, an even then it wasn't obvious.
 
If you're new to the pin, you have to cradle the ball and squint to work out which ramp corresponds to which character.

…Or you soon realise that the character inserts right above the flippers relate to the relevant shots! ie: left insert, Hulk = left orbit, next insert, Iron Man = next shot (the tower)…. Right insert, Black Panther = Right orbit. It’s actually really simple.

And the rules are really simple too unless you expect to learn everything on day one. Hit Spinner to spell strange, shoot right ramp, choose gem quest. Then start with just one gem and learn what it does when you place it on different shots. Slowly build up your knowledge of the rules and your games get longer, scores get higher.
 
I’ve heard some far reaches in this forum but this beats them All!

You are the avengers using each of the shots against the bad people and then giving each of the avengers a boost with a shot and a gem which each avenger reacts different towards! You collect the gems by beaming thru the portal to each dimension and you fight an thanos evil hench people.

My god this sounds awfully like a recent movie and even more like the comic!

you get special modes when hulk goes on rampage or when Thor powers up his hammer, when iron man brings in his power reactor, when Hawkeye has to make an exact shot, when Captain Marcel goes binary.

And you bring them together to form a more powerful team by doing combo’s and getting the benefit from that and an extra benefit of portal locks Which is needed to defeat some of the harder bad people.

I dunno I’ve no Phd but it sounds like avengers to me.
 
😂 Funny how we posted pretty much the same thing at the same time
 
VeeMonroe said:
There's a Pro at FlipOut in Croydon just outside London, one in an arcade near Russell Square in central London, and IIRC (maybe someone can help with other locations) one at Tilt in Birmingham.
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Tilt's is an LE. There's one at Nuneaton Electric Circus which I'm pretty sure is Pro.

For what it's worth - I was glued to the Pro at Electric Circus and neglected the other games. Next day at Tilt I was even more glued to the LE and neglected anything else!
Probably my lizard brain just got excited by the shaker motor but I thought the Prem/LE package was incredible, on top of an incredible base game.
 
SpiderPin said:
I disagree with AIQ being unintuitive - if you're new to the pin you look at the playfield and see that every ramp or shot has an avenger assigned to it clearly. Hell, when you hit their shot they even say a voice line. As far as rules ? Shoot the disc, start a gem. Try and collect as many gems as you can. Collect the avengers by shooting their shot to start soul gem. Do it again to start black order. IMO it's much more intuitive than something like Big Lebowski. I had to fish through the rule book to find how to get to the bowling alley, an even then it wasn't obvious.
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Okay. I’ve played all these pins at FlipOut or at the central London arcade - I don’t own them. The way I explore a new pin (where there are lots of other pins) is to shoot a bunch of things to see what happens.

When I played The Big Lebowski, I didn’t find the bowling alley either - and I spent several games shooting literally everything in combination because THE BOWLING ALLEY IS REALLY COOL. However, I realised early that the rug was a thing I could shoot, and it rolled backwards when I hit it. This started a mode (Yay!) and lit some shots. So, I shot the shots…

The first time I played A:IQ, I had NO IDEA how to activate a mode. I activated a mode by accident and then shot the lit arrows. I subsequently went home and read a basic summary of the rules, at which point I realised I was supposed to shoot the spinning disk. What does the disk represent? Dr Strange’s portal magic, I assume, but - if so - why is there only one (he has two hands)? And why is it on the base of the playfield?

Look. I don’t want to distract from the OP question here. So, I’ll reiterate. People’s experience of pins varies A LOT (as evidenced here). Thus, the only way to know if a pin will work for you is to try to find somewhere that has one, or - failing that - watch a full playthrough. There is a two-hour Godzilla game reveal on YouTube and you can also look up playthroughs/reveals of other Stern pins from there:
 
VeeMonroe said:
the only way to know if a pin will work for you is to try to find somewhere that has one, or - failing that - watch a full playthrough
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Watching a playthrough is not an adequate substitute though. Even playing on location isn't enough to get a true opinion of a pin. The only way is to own it, or at least spend a long time playing it in a quiet environment.

With regards to OP's question @Reg modern Sterns are quite reliable and you will be fine. I would buy a used one which has been dialed in by a community member (and won't lose value as a NIB).
 
I think I got too bogged down with placing the correct gem with the correct avenger the first time I played Aiq which made it too much to handle for me rules wise on a first play. I should have just put them anywhere and worked up to learning where best to place them because I thought the shots were amazing and when I had a go essentially ignoring the rules it was great fun. I'd like to give it another try at some point and worry less about playing the rules perfectly. I think its a great choice for a home machine especially if you have a small collection where something simple can get old quick. Personally I prefer Godzilla over Aiq atm but I have played Godzilla more so that may be why, neither theme adds or detracts anything for me where as they may sway someone else either way.

Edit: thinking about it I didnt learn a whole bunch before I went to play Godzilla, just shoot the ramps then the scoop and there's MBs at mecha and the building. Lesson to myself at least not to look up the rules too much before playing a game for the first time and just pick up a couple of basic things and have fun! Time to rule learn later if initial impression is good.
 
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VeeMonroe said:
Okay. I’ve played all these pins at FlipOut or at the central London arcade - I don’t own them. The way I explore a new pin (where there are lots of other pins) is to shoot a bunch of things to see what happens.

When I played The Big Lebowski, I didn’t find the bowling alley either - and I spent several games shooting literally everything in combination because THE BOWLING ALLEY IS REALLY COOL. However, I realised early that the rug was a thing I could shoot, and it rolled backwards when I hit it. This started a mode (Yay!) and lit some shots. So, I shot the shots…

The first time I played A:IQ, I had NO IDEA how to activate a mode. I activated a mode by accident and then shot the lit arrows. I subsequently went home and read a basic summary of the rules, at which point I realised I was supposed to shoot the spinning disk. What does the disk represent? Dr Strange’s portal magic, I assume, but - if so - why is there only one (he has two hands)? And why is it on the base of the playfield?

Look. I don’t want to distract from the OP question here. So, I’ll reiterate. People’s experience of pins varies A LOT (as evidenced here). Thus, the only way to know if a pin will work for you is to try to find somewhere that has one, or - failing that - watch a full playthrough. There is a two-hour Godzilla game reveal on YouTube and you can also look up playthroughs/reveals of other Stern pins from there:
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if only there was a magic talisman That told you what to do - oh what’s this at the bottom of the game:

AC6F2B00-4E30-448C-837F-0BD9B99E4305.png
 
Neil McRae said:
if only there was a magic talisman That told you what to do - oh what’s this at the bottom of the game:

View attachment 157839
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Yeah. The 'Stern Room' @ FlipOut isn't exactly well illuminated... :cool:

Fubar said:
Watching a playthrough is not an adequate substitute though. Even playing on location isn't enough to get a true opinion of a pin. The only way is to own it, or at least spend a long time playing it in a quiet environment.
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Yes, you're right. However, it helps to reduce the risk of owning a 'revolving door' of different pins.
 
I’m in said room right now snd Injust turned the lights off and I’m as blind as a freaking bat and I can read it fine 😂🤣

EACECECE-4C72-410F-9F76-39DC69A103BD.jpeg
 
Neil McRae said:
I’m in said room right now snd Injust turned the lights off and I’m as blind as a freaking bat and I can read it fine 😂🤣

View attachment 157847
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Okay. We're WAY off topic here, but both my husband and I found that some of the custom rules cards - both in the Stern area and outside - were hard to read in the typical light levels of an arcade due to the poor visual contrast between the text and the background. The contrast levels were worsened by the flashing lights in the vicinity of the rules card.

It's not a long-sighted/short-sighted/age-related-sight issue and, thus, seeing whether you can squint at the card with your glasses on isn't necessarily going to help. Also, it's not like I can blame anyone for wanting the cards to look as nice as possible - it is a thing that everyone does.
 
@VeeMonroe It's clear you don't like AIQ, that's fine. there is no need for you to try and justify why you don't like it and that others are wrong in their beliefs. The basic rules, start a mode, start a MB, are very simple to pick up, as you play the game more you pick more up. That was without reading any rules, or watching any videos.

With the help of @strobey we filmed the first ever plays on GZ and sussed out what was going on and how to optimise your scoring. It's a strategy that works on either a home game or in an arcade. You certainly don't need a PHd to be able to work out the rules on any game whatsoever even if it's your first sighting of it.

There shouldn't be a need to know every single thing the game has to offer on your first few plays.

FWIW I got rid of my AIQ after only a short period because I found it TOO SIMPLE and could get to final wizard mode far too often for my liking. - YMMV.
 
Wayne J said:
@VeeMonroe It's clear you don't like AIQ, that's fine. there is no need for you to try and justify why you don't like it and that others are wrong in their beliefs. The basic rules, start a mode, start a MB, are very simple to pick up, as you play the game more you pick more up. That was without reading any rules, or watching any videos.
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I actually really like A:IQ! :D I started the discussion because @Itchy said A:IQ Prem was the best available (which is subjective, of course) and I was trying to encourage the OP to play some different pins before committing to A:IQ or GZ.

It's a lot of money to commit based on ratings alone and people differ a lot in their view on what's the 'best' pin for a certain price!!
 
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