Welcome to the latest video in my top 50 series. This is where I rate and rank off all of my favourite pinball machines that I've had in this house and put them in order of my favourites. There are only two reasons why you won't see a game on this board, either because I've never had it in this house or because maybe I have had it in this house and I haven't done the video yet at the moment we've got Attack from Mars at the top followed by Deadpool then Lord of the Rings Big Lebowski, Batman 66, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Fishtails, Elvira's House of Horrors, Cactus Canyon, Star Trek Next Generation, Total Nuclear Annihilation, Foo Fighters, Champion Pub, Dolly Parton, Sopranos, World Cup Soccer, Medieval Madness, Controversial I Know to have it stuck down there if you want to know why you go back and revisit if you see the name of the game here i've already done a video on it basically uh then we got rush quite miss rush actually i was thinking about that game the other day uh avengers infinity quest judge dread stern star wars as many star wars is whatever whatever plural is um a jurassic park home edition ghostbusters popeye x-men john wick and right at the bottom probably just out of shot at the moment uh it's jackpot it is it is my least favorite game and really the question is will anything not what will not attack from ours off the top what will not um off the bottom will something else go lower than jackpot that's something interesting we're not dealing with the bottom of the uh of the top 50 We are dealing with the top of the top 50 today. We're dealing with Monster Bash. Wow. What a game. What a game. Now, let me just say I've got to say thank you to somebody. The last one of these videos I did was Lords of the Rings and John Precision, the company that makes those absolutely wonderful precision pinball parts, makes those wonderful, wonderful flippers. and the discs, the spinning disc, if you've got Avengers Infinity Quest, and if you've got Jaws, and I do, those wonderful discs that just, just a precision engineer of the highest order, he contacted me after he saw Lord of the Rings, my Lord of the Rings video, and he knew I was having flippers, and I basically didn't have the bushings and the component parts, I only had the precision flippers, and he said, mate, let me help you out here, you've only got, you've only got half the kit so he has kindly sent me those over so i'll be doing a new video on lord of the rings and we'll be seeing how that plays after we've fitted those and i also have which i'd already purchased before some discs for uh jaws we have the jaws video coming out soon the only reason i haven't done the jaws mod video yet was because just as i was about to do it i got two more mods so there's there's going to be a lot of mods but i've got to say a massive thank you and big shout out um to john at precision but everybody that's really produced such fantastic mods that i've got for jaws so far be it john another john uh hot mods be it my friend collie wobbles does the wonderful plastics and the speaker lights cab customs have done just a remarkable job with the armor and of course the very last one i've just installed in there is is davis davy stumblaw uh He's wonderful, wonderful boy mod. I don't mean that like there's a little boy, not like a little lad in there. It's you know what I'm talking about. It's just absolutely wonderful. So we'll be covering that very, very shortly. Possibly the next video on this channel will be the Jaws mod one. So that but thanks, everybody, that gave loads of really interesting feedback and lots of tips on James Bond and for all the great feedback on the Keith Elwin interview. which, you know, some really, really nice things said on that. So thank you. And it was a real education and I loved chatting with Keith. And I could have could have done another hour. Honestly, I had so many questions for him. Anyway, Monster Bash. Right. First of all, let's deal with the top 50. I might have to move over so I can get the get the graphics in either side, take a more central position. So Gonzo's pinball flipper armor top 50. This is very much my top 50. and I rate them slightly differently to the Pinside Top 100. So mine, I base them on things like, is it fun? Is it addictive? Is it humorous? Well, this has certainly got all three of those. Has it got charm and personality? What are the toys like? What are the mechanisms? Is it approachable? Shots? The rules? Is it achievable? Is it rewarding? And I guess finally, do I regret it leaving? And that's really the final thing. Do I regret it leaving? And I have to say, I really do regret Monster Bash leaving. It has to be said. So George Gomez, just one of his classics. And I mean, I guess the tale of the tape is telling you quite a lot at the moment. Now, all I would say is. There's still some big hitters to go to go on here. And Monster Bash isn't just one of them. I mean, I was just talking about Jaws. Jaws is going to be up there. A little spoiler now, Jaws is going to be up there. It is a magnificent game, incredibly addictive, and I've just been absolutely thrilled with it. There are a few others too that have got to go up at the top of that list and I've not featured yet. So we've got some big hitters, we've got some medium hitters and we've got some low hitters, but very much this is one for the top. And as you'll see with Deadpool and Lord of the Rings in second and third position, and even Batman 66 in fourth position. I mean, Gomez is featuring heavily here. And he's just such an amazing pinball designer. He really is. I guess the thing is, so firstly, Monster Bash, is it fun? I'm not sure there is a game that's more fun than Monster Bash. And we're going to talk a little bit later. One of the things is, is it approachable? approachable but that's they might as well you might as well tie them in as the same thing it might not have the deepest rule set and i can i can imagine that very good players probably get bored with it after a while but that's not what i'm talking about this this is my list and i've i've clocked here i've actually clocked there's not many games that i've clocked and monster bash is one of them but that has nothing to do with how much fun it is if you are an expert player and and you've played it a hundred times possibly you're not having fun the hundredth time you play it. But if you've never played Monster Bash before, it just so much fun It is so much fun It keeps you engaged all the time And whilst I don necessarily talk about call outs and artwork things like that on here it not a massive factor in my top 50 The call outs are a massive part of the fun on here, just as they are, you know, with the attack from Mars on there. And I enjoy the call outs on Deadpool, of course. the characterizations in terms of the vocals in terms of the voiceovers on here are are just brilliant they are they're probably second to none and for very different reasons Lord of the Rings I think I love the call outs on Lord of the Rings you might not be able to see it it's just there the call outs on Lord of the Rings are are wonderful because they're authentic and And there's lots of movie footage in there. And, you know, when you're hearing Gandalf's call outs, it is Sariah McKellen doing the call outs. It's so many of them are just iconic bits of dialogue from the film. So that's right. And that's great. That really works for me. But we're dealing with something very, very different when we're dealing with Monster Bash and Attack from Mars here. You've got original, I guess, non-licensed. And I know, yes, tenuously there's a license because we're dealing with, I think, Universal Studios. I got that right. I might have that right. But generally, the call outs are completely bespoke and just wonderful. And the more I think about Monster Bash, the more I the more I would like one back. I really would and I've got to say we're dealing with two things on Monster Bash really aren't we we're dealing with the original um which was the original was Williams I should know that really shouldn't I I think it was Williams um but anyway um it was it was an incredible game an absolutely incredible game and then you've got the remake which was CGC I have to say, so I have a remake of Attack from Mars. I've got the CGC Attack from Mars. And I have I don't think it plays quite as well as the original. You get used to it and completely forget about that. But there's something different is it's not quite the same. What I would say about the CGC version of Monster Bash. I think it plays better or at least equally well to the original. I don't know why that would be different. I honestly don't know. The timing of the flippers on the Phantom shot, maybe it's not to do with that. It just feels right. Everything feels right on it. So it doesn't really matter whether you've got an original or you've got the remake. What you've actually got is just an amazing game here. And there's so much to engage you on this game. And I think when you ask, is it approachable as well? It is not just because those call outs we were just discussing were so good, but also the way that it engages you and it keeps you going. And it's very, very obvious what's happening, be it on the play field when you're sort of putting Frankenstein's monster back together, be it the Bride of Frankenstein, be it when the whole It's Alive sequence where you've got the. We've got the laboratory and it's firing up and those lights are flashing. It just works and engages you, which I guess is sort of again, we're sort of blurring the lines between approachability and mechanisms and toys. But it's very, very hard not to do that with this game because I do look at this game as the complete package. be it the werewolf, be it the mummy, the mummy is fantastic, the way the mummy comes out, the sarcophagus opens, and the call-outs for that are very, very good, I think they're as good as anything, and even the little sort of homage there to a creature from the Black Lagoon, which is very much has that little side shot, that little Gomez shot, which I guess is, you know, you could i've just been playing james bond earlier today actually where the diver's part is on james bond or wherever it may be they're very much it's a really nice sequence and it's nice they've just got that little that little bit it's not a hologram like the original creature from the black lagoon it is it's just i guess it's just a little clear a little bit of glass that you see a creature in but it works and i think it works really well and i like it and It's a really nice homage. And you're left in no doubt when you're playing that game and you're looking at the play field. You're left in no doubt whatsoever. What you're supposed to be doing. And I often say in terms of a rule set, can you can you explain the rules in 10 to 15 seconds? And I know you please humor me here. I know you've done it before. Can I explain the rules to you from attack from Mars in 10 or 15 seconds? Well, I can if I basically go on and explain that the Earth is being attacked and there are some locations on the Earth, be it Italy, be it Robert Englunds or the USA, and you have to eliminate the flying saucer from those cities, from the cities. It's quite obvious and quite easy to understand what you have to do. the playfields telling you the call outs are telling you so you don't have to really don't have to read the apron card never mind read a pdf on that and i think certainly the same can be said of monster bash can you just approach monster bash and start playing it yes it's very very clear what you're doing and even if you were slightly confused about the about you would engage every single character on there and then they would get their instrument and then at the end they'd go and play and you're basically putting the, you're giving the members of the band their instruments. And I understand that might be a little bit tenuous, but a quick glance at the apron cards would tell you all you needed to know. But even if not, you'd learn what you had to do very quickly after two or three games. And it was really interesting sort of listening and speaking to George Gomez, who we're very lucky to have on the channel as well when he was talking about this stuff. and it's about offering something up in the game and keeping someone coming back. The first time I ever played Attack from Mars, which I'm sure was the same for everybody, was in an arcade, and it offered me enough encouragement, even though I'd failed, that if I put some more coins in the game, that I could perhaps progress and do a little bit better next time Monster Bash is exactly the same And I think you talk about those pinball moments It has them in abundance and you want to see it again And whether it's Frankenstein's monster, or I think in particular, Dracula and that Drack track, it is one of the best pinball moments. And it is so obvious what you're doing. And I guess in many respects, with Jaws, jaws i haven't um done a video yet when you've got the the sharks thing coming up on jaws that's that isn't it that's that's the same thing there and um and i think that was i think that's great and you just it's it offers you enough particularly if you do it in multiball as well if you can sort of time it all and time your strategy with with the multiball and you've got all this stuff going on it's it's absolutely wonderful it really is the toys and the mechanisms it's just a packed, packed game and I understand this might be not a game, a forever game for somebody with a small collection but if you have if you have a number of games then surely there's always room for one Monster Bash in your collection because it is just so damn good and the more I'm talking about it, the more I want a Monster Bash back, because it's also I would say, it's my children's it's difficult it's difficult my son loved batman 66 my son's 16 now but if i said all my children um see if i got four three of whom have played pinball with any sort of regularity it would be monster bash which would be collectively probably their favorite game the most disappointed they were when a game went was when monster bash went and i sort of regretted doing it almost instantly and again that's a really good barometer of whether something's a good game or whether something's the right game for you which takes you to the end did i regret it leaving well no spoiler here you're damn right i regretted it leaving but there are so many toys and so many moments in the game it is hard to think of a better never mind game as hard there aren't too many better pinball machines um even once a modern game has been modded and i've already explained in the video earlier on why i love the mods not many of those games even after they've been modded are as good as monster bash came out that factory it's just got it all and it's got it all there um i know cgc are doing another run of medieval madness which of course is a classic and i don't think they made that many Medieval Madnesses originally when they came out. They did another run and clearly there's enough of a market there. You don't see many come up for sale, certainly not in the UK, Medieval Madness. So I guess there's probably scope for them to do another run. But I do wonder if they're going to do another run of Monster Bash. I don't know. I don't know enough about sales and distribution and marketing to say they definitely should, but I would imagine I'd be surprised if they didn't sell them. Certainly, you'd have to consider it, going on the list for one of those, certainly. Just a wonderful game. The shots, I want to talk about the shots. The shots are... I think there's a nice blend of the shots. I think the orbits work really well, which is the werewolf stuff, isn't it? Which, again, it's just so simple and it's intuitive. That's the thing about this game. It's very intuitive. The Bride of Frankenstein shot is a lot like the Legolas shot on Lord of the Rings. The timing of it just feels right. And I spoke to Keith Elwin about this in our interview, and I asked him because it's something that's always fascinated me. The two things are basically, are the shots where they're supposed to be when you hit them off the flipper? now where shots are supposed to be for me might be very different as to where shots are supposed to be for you we might just have different styles you might i don't know i would assume i'm better with a right-handed shot and left-handed shot because i'm right-handed maybe that's not the case i don't know but certainly the positioning of shots some of them just feel right some of them i don't have to i'm not particularly good at dialing shots in i either sort of get it or i don't and no amount of practice seems to make me any better at shots which feel unnaturally placed and I spoke to Keith about this and it was really fascinating to listen to him and I also asked him about the length of time the ball comes back into play whether that was a consideration and he said well hell yeah absolutely you know we'll put a little twist in the wire forms and whatnot and there's something about the timing when you hit that Bride of Frankenstein shot that it just comes back to the flipper at the right time. A game that's not up there yet, which I have had and will qualify for here, is a good game, which is Stern Star Trek, Steve Ritchie. If you play the pro version, it has the plastic ramps, and you hit the ramps, and the ramps take it back to the flipper. But they run down these plastic ramps, and as the ball gets to the end of the ramp, and it's just about to fall through the hole in the ramp to drop and then fall into the in lane to hit your flipper it bounces, goes boing, boing, boing and sort of stops, then drops through and it kills it for me it makes the timing, would ordinarily all be right but the timing's all wrong because if you look at the end of the ramp there's like a little rubber stopper there so it bounces I don't want it to do that I don't like it, I never have and I don't just mean that game there's a few games like that And this is just something that is just right about this. And I guess perhaps you don't get it with wire forms because you just get the big aperture at the bottom of the ramp. If it's a wire form ramp and the ball just drops down, you don't have that delay, that bounce while the ball falls to rest, really, and allows it to go down the hole. There's just something about the timing of that ramp, which makes it one of my favourite shots. a brighter Frankenstein one. Monster Bash, I mean, the wizard, you've got a mini wizard mode, then you've got the main wizard mode. They're both fantastic. And I can't really speak highly enough of the game. I think the DMD work is excellent. And I think anybody that produced colour DMDs or they got the pin 2 DMDs or any of that stuff I think it done great work It really lifted you know the orange dot matrix displays the way they used to be when we were younger It just makes them incredible. And obviously, if you're lucky enough to have a CGC one and you've got the big screen, I'm lucky enough to have the big screen with the attack from us. That, of course, is great. but it shouldn't detract from the original animations which even if you just got a standard sized dmd display and you have the colorization in it i still think it looks stunning i think in many respects i think that monster bash is the perfect game um I do regret leaving as I says I definitely have it back and I'm not looking at that game and I'm not looking at this list and seeing too many games that are better than Monster Bash and I understand that even if I if I had it back here I'd probably even get bored of it after a little while and maybe I'd stop playing it for a while but I think I would always go back to it. I think it'd be hard if it was your only game. What I always do when I get to the end and I'm trying to think about it is I just imagine that all games have the same value because if they weren't, you'd just have an Addams Family Gold, wouldn't you? Or, I don't know, James Bond's 60th edition would be top of the list or whatever the case. My Big Bang Bar would just be at the top of everyone's list because it's worth the most money. So if you were to say to somebody, what game would you like? I just want to take money out of, take it out of the equation totally. So if someone's going to lend you a game, and you're going to be at your house for six months or something like that, then I start working up. So I'm working, would I take Monster Bash ahead of Next Generation? Yes. Cactus Canyon? Yes. Elvira House of Horrors? Yes. Fish Tales? Yes. Godzilla? Yes, I would, actually. I mean, these are all amazing games. These are amazing games. Jurassic Park, I probably would take this above Jurassic Park. So now we're into this, the realms of... It's not going to go ahead of Attack from Mars, and it's not going to go ahead of Deadpool. And I think it won't go ahead of Lord of the Rings. But I think I am going to put it above, you know what I'm going to say now, obviously, is the Big Lebowski. I think I'm going to put it above there now. And I think we are dealing with... It's interesting, actually, these three. Because we are dealing with magnificent pinball machines. And I'm not just talking about the game. I'm talking about the machine. Lord of the Rings is packed. Monster Bash is packed. Big Lebowski is packed. they just packed full of stuff and three different eras as well so you get people say they don't make things like they used to well I guess Monster Bash was how they used to make games and then you've got Lord of the Rings which was in the early 2000s I guess or 2007 maybe have I got that right? something like that well they certainly did then I'm looking at it now It's packed. It's absolutely packed. And Big Lebowski, I mean, it's so packed full of good stuff. It really is. You can fit some mods in there, and I have. I have that wonderful toilet mod on there from The Art of Pinball. But it doesn't need it. It's got a bowling alley. Big Lebowski's got a bowling alley in it. It's got a totally separate game within the game, and I'm not even talking about a video mode. It's got a carpet. It's incredible. And these are incredible pinball machines. And I think we are dealing with, well, even if it's not worlds under glass, maybe Monster Bash isn't a world under glass, but whatever it is, it's packed. Whatever's going on under there, it feels almost like a movie under glass, if you want. absolutely amazing so so much so much stuff in there and actually it's reminded me of something i do need to put on there which is alien i need to put alien on there um because that is another game that is that is absolutely packed full although a little spoiler it's not going to be there um absolutely magnificent there you go so monster bash currently at number This is subject to change. This may get changed at some point. And even though I'm looking down now, you can see some of the names are getting a little bit faint. I think I might need to repen it. I need some new marker pens, need some new whiteboard pens anyway. So maybe when I rewrite the magnets, maybe I'll have a little bit of a jig around and change the order slightly. But I don't look at that and I'm not unhappy with what I see there in terms of my own opinion. And I think, yeah, I'm talking to me about my sort of favourite stuff. I'm certainly looking at, you know, these top 10 games that you wouldn't be doing too badly if you had those as your top 10 games. Put it that way. Anyway, there you go. So that's the latest installment of my top 10. Thanks as always for watching. Really do appreciate it. Keep your eyes peeled for the next video, which should probably be the Jaws one. Really looking forward to doing that. And well, you'll see when I do that video, I'm very, very excited about this game. Whenever a game comes out and it looks like it might sort of threaten at the top here, or it looks like it's a game that is just a keeper, I'll get very, very excited about it. I do love my pinball. Everyone loves their pinball. That's why we're in a hobby. And it is incredibly exciting, incredibly exciting for this sort of stuff to happen. And, yeah, just a great time, a great time to be in pinball with some great new games coming out. Monster Bash isn't one of them, but a next video I do on the Top 50 may well be a very, very modern game. Thank you.