Stern

Big Buck Hunter Pro

Pinside Rating

This game received 133 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 6.969 _/10

6.969

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #259 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 7.165

Artwork: 6.819

Sounds/Music: 6.711

Other Aspects: 6.881

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 5 of us have rated this game.

7.717

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Found 85 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 85 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
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7.520/10

12 months ago

EYP

ThePinballLord

Pinside apprentice

1y 16,250 33

Its a really good and detailed game i like the drop targets on the corner and the background music, really makes you feel like you're on an adventure the moving target is also an new , interesting and a good detail to the game.

ThePinballLord edited previous rating on September 24, 2023.
ThePinballLord has this game on the wishlist.

6.921/10

2 years ago

VEE

Veemonroe

Pinside member

London

2y 55,550 206 7 176

I’ve played Big Buck Hunter on Pinball Arcade on iOS and, also, in real life at FlipOut in London. I prefer the pin on Pinball Arcade, which may not be a good sign…

The main joy of Big Buck Hunter is shooting pinballs at the buck who runs across the playfield on a rail. The folksy sound effects are amusing and the cow ‘match’ sequence is entertaining. Otherwise, apart from the buck, the pin is pretty mediocre. The real-life pin also had poor lighting and the playfield is pretty drab - not like - say - Fish Tales or White Water.

8.100/10

2 years ago

J

Pinicus

Pinside member

Victoria, BC

6y 40,100 12 4 9 1

This game was an absolute surprise for me. I have a cabin and bought it solely for the art never having played or even seen one. If I was to have based it off ratings I probably wouldn’t have gotten it but what I found out is this is a very underrated pin. I wonder if it’s being rated by vegans. It’s a very fun game with fun call outs. I also noticed after I got it that it’s actually fairly tough to find. I’m very happy with this game and it’s going to be with me for the long haul.

Pinicus currently owns this game.

7.095/10

3 years ago

???

samantha123

Inactive member

Unknown

8y 13,000 16

Bought this game for a bargain at $4400 Canadian about 3 weeks agai and was pleasently suprised. Perhaps this game gets a bad wrap due to theming and I assume mst gamer/pinball fold are not into hunting so it stunts this games attractiveness out of the gate. I enjoy the call-outs, the geral themand the artwork. I wish t he lighting was a little better but how can anyone complain about this game for its price point!?? I mean its a 10 year old STERN SAM title that goes for half the price of those NIB ! Don't really have any complaints about mine and for me it is a keeper in my smaller line up of 5 pins. To each thier own but I for one recommend checking it out if can be had at a reasonable price.

7.799/10

4 years ago

JNS

TecumsehPlissken

Pinside member

Longwood, FL

9y 115K 2,559 10 103

this isn't a title you see very often but if you get a chance jump on one & flip it , in a word its Different , a shooting gallery/hunting theme with pinballs & humor , I enjoy this game more than most people & wouldn't mind owning one someday

6.161/10

4 years ago

CUZ

mcuzz

Pinside member

8y 117K 500 137

fun game , good for a larger collection. theme and sounds are what holds this one back.

6.397/10

4 years ago

MWN

Blackchevy138

Pinside member

17y 49,150 12 25

Really tacky game. The deer is so plastic that it hurts. Boring theme. Waste of time playing it...

7.190/10

4 years ago

MDP

life_boy

Pinside member

Tupelo, MS

5y 33,650 15 2 41

I really didn't expect to have much fun with this game at all because the theme is not appealing to me in the slightest but I have to give it to them: that deer toy on the playfield is a great hook. Easy to see, pretty easy to hit, but a challenge to get all the shells lit to start the big buck multi ball. It's a pretty great hook. The ram kickback was pretty awesome too with a nice growing reward for hitting it multiple times (most kickbacks just give you the kickback -- I like that this one had some added value in hitting it). The layout gives a lot of side-to-side movement and high potential for quick drains. It's not a very complex game but the challenge of getting a gun run going kept me coming back. I'll have to re-examine it if I ever encounter this game again but for my first real experience with it I was pleasantly surprised.

6.980/10

4 years ago

???

dex82

Inactive member

Unknown

7y 13,000 3 31

Good pinball!

6.595/10

5 years ago

DIA

mrossman5

Pinside+ Frequent

Warren, PA

6y 197K 3,195 8 253

Decent game. Could care less about the theme. Not much there.

8.460/10

5 years ago

JON

classicgamefan

Pinside member

11y 68,150 206 50

Would you rather have your ideal theme executed poorly, or a theme you don't care much about executed well? For me, BBH falls solidly into the second category. My initial thought is that the target audience for this game is fairly narrow. But upon further reflection, I think the appeal of the video game this is based on is probably much broader than hard core hunters. For example , I would also surmise that a very small percentage of the people that played the extremely popular (in its day) Duck Hunt on the NES would ever seriously consider going duck hunting in real life. There's an abstraction when shooting virtual animals, especially when humor is thrown in, that greatly broadens the audience.

Let's get on to the game play. This game has several playfield toys. Most obvious is the buck that moves across the play field drawing obvious comparisons to Mick the stick on The Rolling Stones or Drac on Monster Bash. Personally, I think it a better toy and better integrated into the game than either of those other two.

classicgamefan edited previous rating on December 01, 2018.

3 Pinsiders starred this!

3.867/10

5 years ago

MLP

tabascoman77

Pinside member

6y 46,150 4 110

"Big Buck Hunter" LOOKS good but plays horribly. You shoot at the deer and hit a ramp. And that's it. Luckily, the deer is easy to hit. But you have to hit it five times a piece to get a "multi-ball" function -- and that's IF you're lucky to get a working deer bash toy that actually registers hits. Even if you hit that deer and light up every single Elk Light on the board, you're lucky to get away with 10 million points. The call-outs are weak with the same guy just shouting random hunting lingo and phrases. Remember the game "Baseball Stars 2" for the Neo-Geo arcade with that announcer that never seemed to shut up? That's how this guy feels. Additionally, this game drains pinballs like nobody's business -- and the damn ball gets stuck often which just adds to the malaise. Three games and I had to call the owner over so he could get a ball out of a jam on the right side of the machine. Another Stern failure.

6 Pinsiders flagged this.

7.552/10

5 years ago

MCH

Pinkitten

Pinside+ Pro!

Williamston, MI

6y 136K 3,794 14 88

I recently added this game to my collection because I got a great deal on a HUO with low plays. This game is fairly simple, funny and looks good. I personally like the art and use of primary colors. The callouts are cute and silly. The game is lighthearted, especially for a hunting theme. I would say I bought it despite the theme, not being a hunter myself. I know people have complaints about the rules. Perhaps I haven't gotten good enough or gone far enough to find the problems. I think the game is simple to play, easy to understand and yet, not easy to score well. This is a low-scoring game that requires careful ball control to do well. Ball times can be quite short. Not a great pinball machine by any measure. But the fan layout is decent, the deer scooting across the playfield is a nice gimmick, and it is challenging. The ramp is easy to hit, but the ram and bird shots are harder, and the spinner shot is very hard to hit. Most games I never hit the spinner once, which is unfortunate - I like spinners. It does suffer from some odd shots and shallow shot variety. But it looks nice up north in deer country! Would look and play great next to a Fish Tales. Holy suffering cats!!! A better game than I thought based on reviews. But then again, I like IJ4, CSI and Shrek. To each their own. Those games are a bit better than BBH, but this isn't a bad machine, and for a hunter/outdoorsman, this would be an ideal theme. I may keep it for a few months and then find someone who would appreciate the theme!

Pinkitten edited previous rating on August 12, 2018.
Pinkitten has owned this game in the past.

7.112/10

6 years ago

GIL

Imagineerie

Inactive member

10y 44,550 7 190

This game was fun to play. The theme is really uninteresting. But then I'm not a gun person or a hunter. But there are some good shot and gimmicks to this machine. Even though there is nothing original about the buck target sliding across the playfeld (ala Monster Bash and Rolling Stones). It was still fun to bash the target.

5.536/10

6 years ago

WXW

Lawlor_and_Order

Pinball 518

7y 81,400 38 112

If it was just the odd provenance of the theme (a pinball based on a video simulator?) or its essence (killing animals, not just whacking gofers, but slaughtering them) I might still have an overall positive impression of this machine, as the toy and the incorporation of the concept of "shooting" pinball/bullet is at least consistent and there's a modest amount of originality. But the flow isn't there; there's too many weird random drainouts; the sequencing doesn't quite do it. I almost, *almost* am disappointed by this because I like to see designers encouraged to take chances, and this isn't just another rock and roll or motorsports theme. But the execution wasn't quite there, in part perhaps because the inspiration wasn't exactly there in the theme to begin with. FWIW.

Lawlor_and_Order edited previous rating on March 19, 2018.

7.817/10

6 years ago

AK

Coolpinballdino

Pinside+ Frequent

9y 188K 4,809 477 2

Big buck hunters moving buck is a cool toy and the game has good rules but what I don't like about big buck is the theme and artwork.

Coolpinballdino edited previous rating on November 07, 2017.

1.465/10

6 years ago

PET

dahlman

Pinside member

Degerfors

7y 49,050 113 26 33

So far the most boring pin I've played.
Sorry all hunting guys out there :-)

1.075/10

6 years ago

BJD

Arcadefan

Inactive member

Saint Albans, NL

6y 39,900 111 18

I don't recommend picking this up because it not a good game in my opinion

6.197/10

6 years ago

CJC

Tuxedomask23

Pinned Out Mods

Calgary, AB

7y 101K 307 9 80

Big hunter had potential but it falls miserably. The shots are dry and even when it seems like you're doing something productive you're not.

6.530/10

7 years ago

LMS

Tranquilize

Pinside member

9y 84,550 3,802 35

This is a love-it or hate-it pin for most, and this is solely related to the theme. I am not a fan of the Buck Hunter video games and generally dislike this theme. That being said, this pin is very fun if it is set up properly, especially for non-pinheads.

The good:
- The buck is an easy to understand toy and creates some challenging gameplay
- There is a good variety of shots in the game
- The elk side flipper shot thing is neat

The bad:
- Code updates didn't happen; to finish the game is LITERALLY impossible
- The bird shot can be a SDTM drain, even with the added ball guide - I had to install a small magnet to correct this issue
- Ramp can be a SDTM drain too. I had to adjust it so the side post would stop this
- PF design seems a little off: left drain is brutal. Sometimes you don't get to touch the ball, even after the ball save
- Buck needs frequent adjusting, which is a PITA
- Crappy Stern skill shot
- Super cheap Stern quality.

Overall, this game was super fun for tournaments and rookies. Skilled players will find that it has good strategy and challenge as well. It's too bad Stern cheaps out in most ways with this machine, and the company abandoned the code early on.

Tranquilize edited previous rating on September 14, 2017.

2 Pinsiders starred this!

7.063/10

7 years ago

PPD

Boat

CPRepair

Calgary, AB

7y 108K 1,474 4 92 1

Gameplay was decent. Not sold on the theme. At all. I'm a pretty big BH fan but I don't think it translates to the pin very well. The bash toy is great but I don't think you can create a pin around an arcade concept like shooting deer. The scoring was a little low for me too.

7.408/10

7 years ago

KAG

kguenther6

Pinside+ Frequent

Burlington, KY

12y 73,550 664 17 25

Hard game. You need to change the rules to make it easier and then it becomes a very fun game. Change the number of hits for bird multiball down a little. And a few other things like that. Still a drain monster but with getting multiball easier you can play longer and it becomes much more fun.

kguenther6 has owned this game in the past.

8.340/10

7 years ago

JOB

JoshODBrown

The Canadian Arcade

Calgary, AB

8y 54,300 629 3 9

Fits the Buck Hunter Theme great. I bought this game as something a little lighter for visitors to sink their teeth into, and it so happens there are a lot of hunters in my family that really enjoy the theme. simple layout, but some challenging shots and a tricky left outlane drain to avoid. Shaker motor installed in mine makes it a lot more enjoyable when you're blasting targets. Stock lighting is a bit weak, needs some warm LEDs for GI. One single ramp, simple and generally easy to hit. lots of little toys around the playfield. ok animations on the DMD for animals in action. its a fun title, I dont think it pretends to be a seriously complex game.

JoshODBrown has owned this game in the past.

7.880/10

7 years ago

CRG

UofG2000

Inactive member

Guelph, ON

9y 45,150 87 6 20

I like this game, not sure why it ranks so low. The theme isn't for me as a non-hunter, but that doesn't mean as a pin it isn't fun to play. Cool plastic deer to shoot the ball at, multi ball is fast and furious. I would gladly add this to the collection.

6.147/10

7 years ago

YYZ

Hotdoggin

Inactive member

10y 23,150 62 18

The call outs are annoying but we always play it at a local restaurant, it makes waiting for the food a bit more fun but I wouldn't play it over most other machines.

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