What does everyone think of Stern’s Meteor for home play? Any ideas on what one would expect to pay? There’s one listed locally, and it looked fun when I saw it being played in a PAPA video a while back. On the other hand, is the gameplay a little bit too much “spinner all day?” Unfortunatley, I’ve never had the pleasure of playing personally.
So, this machine would also be my first pin. Any thoughts on Meteor as a machine for building skills?
Thanks!
-Brian
Meteor is a great game. I have not owned one but I have a buddy that bought one just because we can’t get enough of it when we go to PAPA/Pinburgh. I think a good price range would be 900-1500 for a good condition Meteor. Maybe less for a beat up one, maybe more for a pristine example.
I find the progressive high pitched noise of the game if you have an extended ball to be really annoying. Other than that, it’s a fun game and great to learn flipper skills on.
You are right, it is a pretty much spinner all day kind of game, but that forces you to learn all the tricks necessary to get that ball on the left flipper to set yourself up for a spinner shot. Also, I would suggest making the tilt really tight and removing the outlane posts, as it can be easy with a standard setup in my experience.
I highly recommend Meteor. Its a fun game and perfect example of a classic stern. In New England the price range has been around 800-1300. I had a nice copy that I sold for about 1k. To make Meteor a great player you should rebuild the drop targets. Regarding it be a spinner all day game- it can be played that way but the best scores will be when you go for the drops first, get your multipliers, max out your bonus and then focus on the spinner. The biggest drawback to Meteor is that its only a 6 digit game and can be rolled fairly easily. Also as someone else mentioned the sound can be annoying- personally i liked it.
I played one somewhere where the scoring was divided by 10. So a score that would ordinarily roll it was only 100k. I guess there’s a ROM for it?
Meteor /10 (and many more) available here.
Looks kinda weird having scores that don’t end in zero, but works perfectly for me otherwise. Much easier to get on the list of world’s worst scores!
A more elegant solution is to put 7-digit displays in, but also much more expensive.
Set up hard, this is a fun game, especially multiplayer. The sound is kinda obnoxious, but gets pretty intense for the player when you get it high enough that it adds a second rising low tone to the original drone. Not that exciting if it’s set up too easy though, I’d guess.
Hey, cool; thanks for all the helpful replies, everyone. If this machine is in good working shape, and the playfield is okay / no battery mishaps on the boards, then this might be a good first inexpensive entry into owning machines before I manage to find some of the titles on my wish list.
It’ll also be really nice to be able to play a little bit at the end of the day instead of jonsing to drive to the arcade, lol. (Besides, joining the NEPL this season, so really need all the practice I can get!)
Thanks for the scoring tips, btw; burning ROMS shouldn’t be too bad. (Of course, odds are just removing the outlane posts would be a quicker way to stop me from rolling it, haha…)
Thanks for the tips! I’ll google around for some drop target rebuild tutorials if I bring the sucker home.
From the ad, I get the sense the seller has had this sitting unused in their house a long time, which could be good or bad, I suspect…
It is spinner all day but, its a GREAT spinner to rip. You do need to increase the spinner value by knocking down the METEOR drops so its not strictly spinner all day. If you have a fast tough playing METEOR I don’t think you will be bored. There are better games if space is an issue but, its a great game for the money.
The group of pinball guys in ATX have never paid over 600-700 for one after 3-4 purchased. I helped pick one up for $350. Another friend bought one for $300! The buyer said it didn’t work and all I did to get it playing was jump the coin switch 
They can be had for next to nothing, obviously depending on your area.
[quote=“chuckwurt, post:3, topic:1471”]
I find the progressive high pitched noise of the game if you have an extended ball to be really annoying.
[/quote] Dog hearing/brain drill bonus level.
In tournament it’s spinner all day but for home completing the meteor targets advances towards extra ball so there is some balance. Plus making clean shots to the spinner isn;t always easy. Great pin! I had mine on location with /10 roms and it did very well.
Trying to match up your rocket levels from 1-2-3 drops banks to cash in the WOW award is a nice side goal, too, if WOW is set to EB.
Where will you be joining NEPL. If it’s here in CT we have a meteor at The Sanctum. Great game. Come down some Monday night and give it a test run. Open 6:30-midnight every Monday.
Awesome, thanks for the tips. The buyer is asking $1100, which from the get go I was thinking was way too much. However, the pin is local, like five minutes from where I work, so I figured I’d check it out and see if he would be willing to significantly negotiate. If not, no problem. I have some leads on some pins that have been on my wishlist (EBD, SM) at reasonable prices, so I may let this one go. We’ll see. I’ll report back.
Either way, I’m looking forward to actually playing one! Sounds like a real fun game. Want to try Stars out, too, sometime.
While you’re at it, find a Big Game too.
Hey! I’ll probably be splitting time between L&G and RIP for NEPL play. PinWiz is on Monday nights, and conflicts with my hockey league. I would -love- to come down to the Sanctum, but I live in MA, and you guys are almost 2 hours away from me. L&G is much closer for me than any other option, but I don’t like the lack of variety. New Sterns are great, but I prefer getting to play games from a variety of eras. I really wish The Sanctum were closer! EDIT: I do hope to come down for one of your weekend events sometime, though!
By the way, since you reached out, I wanted to mention that I find the model you guys are pursuing inspiring! A pinball co-op is a fantastic idea; machines are really expensive, and a bunch of enthusiasts pooling their resources seems like a great way to allow folks to play more pinball, and a wider variety of tables, too. I know there’s a co-op in VT, also.
I’m only just getting into the hobby, but the idea of starting some kind of co-op in MA is really appealing to me. Seems like MA could sustain it, given the level of interest around here. …as if I have time for such things, with wife, and a job, and a toddler. Maybe someday!
Oh, I saw that one in a PAPA video once, too! Looked fun. I would definitely play it if I found one. Maybe if I make the pilgrimage to Carnegie someday…
It’s awesome. Not sure where you are, but if you’re ever in the NKY/Cincy area, stop by and play mine.
Good news we have stars too;). Big game is great too but ours is gone now. We have seawitch though!
Western mass could use one. Eastern mass has some options already. We had nothing here in CT so that’s why we started it. Community here was built from nothing really. I started NEPL in CT. Had a couple players the first season, and before I knew it we had more players than all the other locations. VT is right there with us now too.
Do you all publicize your once in a while weekend meets in the NEPL facebook group? Or is there a separate facebook group I should like so I hear about them? Thanks, Jim!
Ha! I’d love to. If I’m ever in that neck of the woods for some reason, I definitely will.