Opinions please: Royal Flush pinball vs Paragon pinball

dyno

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Opinions please: Royal Flush pinball vs Paragon pinball

I have an opportunity to buy either Gottliebs EM Royal Flush pinball or Bally's Paragon pinball.I know one is EM and the other SS, I can pick up the Royal Flush for $250 and the Paragon would cost $400. The playfield artwork on Paragon looks amazing but it does have some playfield wear which I was told would need to be touched up but besides that it works fine, Royal Flush might need some work to get it running but I don't mind having to work on it. I looked up both machines and they both seem to get good ratings and looking on pinpedia both games are way below what they seem to be going for. If I could get both I would but I can't so I was hoping to get some opinions on them and your thougths of which direction to go. I am thinking $250 for Royal Flush is a pretty good deal, and from looking on IPD ratings it sounds like a fun game to play. I am leaning more towards Royal Flush because of the price.I already have Flight 2000 and Judge Dredd and was thinking having an EM machine would be neat. What do you think?
 
Yeah why not get both. But seeing as you can't It would be really hard to compare those games as they are not even remotely similar. Widebody vs. Regular, SS vs. EM.

Paragon has some great shots and plays very differently than most other games of that era. It can be a very unforgiving game but when you have a great game on it, its a great feeling. As you've seen the art is top notch and can be a little tricky to touch up depending on where the wear is...

Royal Flush is a fun drop target card themed game. It has good art too, has the slightly slower play of an EM.

I think it will come down to what you prefer. You have an early SS game, you have a DMD (I want a Judge Dredd!!) so having an EM would make sense. If the Royal Flush is in really nice shape I'd probably go that direction because you can find Paragon's pretty easily.
 
Depending on condition I would buy both, fix them and sell them both. Royal Flush is one of the few EM games you can still get decent money for. It's a fun game and pinball resource sells reproductions of pretty much everything on the playfield:

http://www.pbresource.com/royalf.html

Paragon is another desirable game. I'm not a big fan of the gameplay personally but it shouldn't be tough to resell if you don't like it.

If I had to choose only one I would probably go with Royal Flush because it sounds like it's in better condition, cheaper, and there are lots of repro parts available.
 
Thanks for all your opinions, it is greatly appreciated:) I have decided to go with Royal Flush, I am suppose to be getting it today. It's basically down the street from my place at a storage locker, I don't have my truck on the road right now so the seller has offered to bring it to my place for me. I bought a Flight 2000 from him a few months ago for $250, which wasn't working but the reason was it had a blown fuse, I saw the Royal Flush then but I couldn't afford them both but from what I remember the playfield looked in good condition.:) Talking to the seller of Paragon it sounds like the artwork right in the middle of the playfield is worn from the ball and it sounded like it needed a fair amount of touch up. Thanks again for your opinions and when I get my Royal Flush I will post some picks .
 
Having actually uncrated these games when they were new and operated them on the route, I'd say go for the Royal Flush. It's a thousand times better than Paragoon.
 
Having actually uncrated these games when they were new and operated them on the route, I'd say go for the Royal Flush. It's a thousand times better than Paragoon.
Royal Flush for sure.
Glennon
 
I decided to go with Royal Flush, it seems to be the concensus with everyone here and being $150 cheaper helps in my decision also. Was suppose to get it today but the seller was unavailable because work was to busy so the plan is for tomorrow, so hopefully sometime tomorrow I will have Royal Flush to add to my pinball collection.
 
Picked up the pin today and whoops it is not Royal Flush, I was going by memory from when I first saw it and it is actually Super Straight from Sonic. Anyone know much about it?From what I have seen so far it sounds like it uses Williams parts. The backglass is in awesome shape with no flaking or damage and the playfield looks great with no damage either. Haven't had a chance to take a look to find out what id wrong with it yet.
 
Picked up the pin today and whoops it is not Royal Flush, I was going by memory from when I first saw it and it is actually Super Straight from Sonic. Anyone know much about it?From what I have seen so far it sounds like it uses Williams parts. The backglass is in awesome shape with no flaking or damage and the playfield looks great with no damage either. Haven't had a chance to take a look to find out what id wrong with it yet.
Well that changes everything.
Glennon
 
Picked up the pin today and whoops it is not Royal Flush, I was going by memory from when I first saw it and it is actually Super Straight from Sonic. Anyone know much about it?From what I have seen so far it sounds like it uses Williams parts. The backglass is in awesome shape with no flaking or damage and the playfield looks great with no damage either. Haven't had a chance to take a look to find out what id wrong with it yet.

I just picked one up too...mine was free tho... ;)
 
It does but if it works or I can get it running it won't mind because I was planning to keep it. I didn't want to back out of the deal because it was my own fault for thinking it was royal flush without double checking and plus the guy drove it to my house because my truck is off the road.
 
Just took a peak at it, had to drill out the lock and everything is in tack inside:) It actaully works, just played it but I know it probably needs some work. Missing alot of bulbs which is no big deal, needs to be cleaned and waxed and definitley needs new rubbers. The cabinet needs a good washing also but I can't believe how great the backglass looks and how nice the playfield is. What it doesn't have is the manual and schematics which would be a big help in fixing anything wrong with it, any idea where to get one?
 
Contact Steve Young's Pinball Resource (www.pbresource.com) for manuals and schematics.

Sonic definitely uses Williams electromechanical parts, but are assembled with metric hardware throughout the machine. Sonic actually clear coated the playfields long before it became popular. Pinball Resource will have the parts.
 
Ironically, while this thread lacked the necessary Royal Flush action that I was hoping, I got a bead on a machine that I'm going to check out tomorrow.. wish me luck!
 

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