My pinball hobby (addiction?) has really been in high gear this year.  I made the decision to trade my High Speed for a newer machine with a DMD (dot matrix display) and a deep rule set. Also, it had to be family friendly. I wanted a Lord of the Rings, but Jacqui and Lauren vetoed that idea. They said it was too 'creepy'. I had a bunch of machines to choose from in my price range (Joystix always has a good inventory of pins), and picked a Stern Monopoly. I thought the kids might really enjoy it, and it met all my criteria as well. Unfortunately, it never really 'clicked' with me or the kids. I played it a lot, but there were a few things that were frustrating. First, the ball would sometimes get stuck in a spot that required you to take off the glass. There were also a couple technical glitches - Joystix offered to have a technician come out and fix 'em, but I could tell I'd be happier with a different pin. But I guess the thing that really made me want to get rid of Monopoly more than anything else was that the sounds were somewhat irritating. The more I'd play, the more everyone in the house would get tired of hearing it - me included. So after a little over a month, I traded it towards a 2010 Stern Avatar. ....but before we get to that, let's take a fond look back at Monopoly.

Backglass art is good - fits the theme well...

The playfield is packed!
....almost too packed for my personal taste - that Railroad Ramp is right in the middle of the playfield.

A close-up view of the Railroad Ramp.

Here's a pic of the bank, and the 'Roll and Collect' area.
I had trouble with both these - the bank door would stick sometimes, and the roll & collect saucer would sometimes have a hard time kicking the ball out.

Here's another look at the playfield.

And here it is in our new game room (we bought a new house in August).

Another shot of the game room. The doors open to the balcony that overlooks the pool.

So long Monopoly