As an operator back in the late 80s and early 90s, no games saved pinball but certain ones gave it a new lease of life. Earlier some had threatened to, ie: middle earth and Space invaders, and haunted house but they never really r- gained player base. The first one to do this was Elvira and the Party Monsters, in 1989 but in reality 1990 before it was on the floor of UK arcades. Then others kept it going an just as the pins were starting to struggle off bang TAF came along and took it to another level. I think its been mentioned elsewhere in the thread but as an operator the only way to measure was cash box take and it was (and still is ) in a different league. After that others were just not as popular when up against it. TAF kept going for a long time. Twilight Zone was meat to be as 'the next big one' (and was priced accordingly) but it was simply not as popular, Indiana Jones performed better than Twilight zone (and again still does). I kept pins on sight as long as i could, and the last one I sold was TAF, and probably be the same if I sold them all again. Other operators may have a different recollection of the time though. Games in order of cashbox this year, TAF, Indiana Jones Twilight Zone, Fishtales, T2. oh and TAF has been off for longer then the others. Going to leave the video game debate for now.
