MY
STORY
I was enjoying the beautiful colors and overall layout of Cirqus Voltaire when a brand new Williams game suddenly showed up next to it. This particular newbie had a different look than the previous 1997 releases. It was more "cartooney" in its artwork, colors and design. However, it was branded with the Pat Lawlor name.......so I immediately wasn't worried. It was No Good Gofers.
Many pinball players didn't like the different "style" NGG had brought to the table. I, on the other hand, embraced it. The game reeled me in and I slowly began to enjoy the rules and unique presentation. While many argue that it has a very similar layout in comparison to previous Lawlor designs, I think NGG adds enough goodies to the mix to make it unique.
The fact that every award is different depending on
where the spinning wheel stops is an excellent feature. Other games tend to
have a more linear game play. Obviously I enjoyed smacking the gofers. Who
wouldn't? But, the true appeal of the game is in its multiple layers from
funny speech, to catchy music, to the bright and beautiful light show. Plus,
shooting the slam-ramp and making a hole-in-one putt on the mini-playfield is
one of the most rewarding shots in pinball. Layers is Lawlor's middle
name.
I played NGG a lot and hoped to one day own the game. Ironically, the re-sale value of it had been rather low in comparison to other games from the later years of Williams' pinball. It remained around the $2,000 area (and still does today). Therefore, NGG is a wonderful and somewhat affordable late-model game.
My story continues with information and pictures from my
No Good Gofers game HERE