Although a "FUN" pinball game is what every home game room or rec room needs, you must consider a couple of things. One consideration is whether you'd like a single player or multi-player game? Of course most of the games now days are multi player so if you're looking for a modern pinball game that is single player they're hard to find unless it's a children sized pinball game. The antique / vintage pinball machines made in the early 1950s and before are the single player pinball machines.

So not only do you have a choice between single player and multi-player but now you must choose between a vintage pinball machine and a more modern pinball machine. And of course each one has its good points and features so let’s go into a little more detail.

Single Player Pinball Machine

Considering most of the single player pinball games date back some 50 years or so a good point in having one of these is its uniqueness. They're rare, they have a lot of neat "vintage" bells and whistles for those times and they're actually very challenging yet simple to play for kids of all ages from 3 to 103.

Because of their uniqueness they also tend to be a big conversation piece and everyone wants to take a turn to play. It's not often you get a chance to play an original pinball game from the 1930s, 40s, 50s or 60s. Growing up, in my parents game room they had two antique pinball games from the late 1930s/early 1940s era. One was called "Miss Annabel" and the other was called "Catalina". They didn't have electronic graphics or digital score keeping, they were one-player games and they were quite old. But those two antique pinball games were more fun than a lot of the newer electronic pinball games with all the graphics, sounds, bonus games and all the other high tech stuff they have on them now days. You see it wasn't how "new" or how "advanced" the game was that made it fun, it was the skill involved and the uniqueness of the game that made it fun!

Both family and friends enjoyed those games for many years during all the holiday parties. We had tournaments, kept high scores and more. So you see single player games do have some advantages over the newer multi player pinball games. Also it seems that with the vintage pinball machines it was you against the machine, not other people. But with multi-player games you seem to concentrate more on beating your competition than beating the game.

Multi Player Pinball Game

Modern era pinball games have a lot to say for themselves. You'd think I'd favor the antique single player games because I grew up with them but that's not true. As time went on my parents replaced one of the antique games with a 4-player electronic pinball game. I was a little upset at first but grew to like the 4-player game.

First of all it had all the bells and whistles that most of the pinball games have now days. Like bonus games, extra balls, two-ball play and more. Those were features I only encountered in arcade game rooms. But suddenly we had one in our own home. And you know what, I loved all those features. Plus since it was a 4-player game more people could play during the family get-togethers and holiday parties. Also it kept the high score so no need to have a piece of paper and pen nearby. And the winner could put in their initials by using the flipper buttons.

So what are some of the basic features you get with a modern pinball machine? You get the multi-player feature, high score memory, name memory, computer graphic screens, multi-ball play, ball capture, bonus games, talking games, stereo music and some even have two levels of pinball action. There are more features besides these too. Mainly because there are so many different modern machines available you'll come across a lot of features we haven't mentioned. If you come across an arcade game room go in and check out the cool features on some of the newest pinball games available, you'll be amazed.

One other really neat thing about modern pinball games is that you can find "Theme Pinball Games". From the Simpson's and Adams Family to Star Trek and NASCAR there and many different and fun themed pinball games that would fit right into a home game room theme. You may just find one for your home that you never knew existed.

So after playing pinball games for 30 years both modern and antique I've come to a conclusion. No matter which you choose they're a great addition or I should say a "MUST" addition to any ultimate home game room! The best scenario would be to have one of each if possible. I love the uniqueness of the vintage pinball machines and I love all the high tech features of modern pinball machines too. Of course everyone has their own reasoning behind which is better and some games just work better for some people than others. But before going with one over the other make sure to give them both a try. You never know which one you'll love more and you may be surprised which one you decide to add to your home game room.