Download: Dracula VPX by Bord
I made this ranking with a lot of input from @solar-espeon (she doesn't post here but she is the author of Pinball Primer). This is one that we disagreed on a lot, because she dislikes this game. And you know what, I suspect that from a detached almost-objective point of view, she's right.
But all rankings are subjective in the end, and I really like this pinball table.
Because, first of all, look at it. Absolutely gorgeous '70s art all over the playfield.
If you play the VPX, also listen to it. The sound modeling of the ball rolling around and hitting objects in the machine is incredible, which is something I think Bord is really good at. It's a big part of making the physics feel real.
But I'm aware that Stern Electronics' Dracula isn't as good a design as I think it is, for one big reason: there is a common situation where you want to intentionally lose the ball for a higher score.
I love drop targets. They're such a satisfying component to interact with. With Bord's sound package in this VPX, there's such a nice ka-chunk when you hit them. In real life, drop targets are a bit expensive and they break a lot, so we've seen relatively fewer of them in pinball machines since the '70s, but in VPX you can have flawless drop targets.
The top of the playfield is a nice drop target mini-game. Your goal is to hit all four drop targets using the single flipper and the bumper, wait a few seconds for them to reset, then hit them again. Doing this in one pass is a challenge because of having to keep control of the ball (with no way to trap) during those seconds before they reset.
In this game, you can light the spinner and rip it for lots of points, which should also be one of the satisfying things about the game. Unfortunately, Bord's spinner seems to need some oil. You will maybe get 6 spins on a good hit, while a well-greased spinner in a tournament venue often gives like 50 spins. Is it that the spinner shot is too repeatable and needed to be nerfed, or is this just a poorly-chosen parameter? I don't know.
The big flaw in the gameplay is the 2x / 5x bonus.
You can light a bonus multiplier, and instead of just being "double bonus", it toggles between 2x and 5x bonus whenever you hit a sling. This is often the difference between 40,000 and 100,000 points, on a machine with a six-digit score display.
So the problem is, if your bonus is maxed out and 5x, you probably want to just drain and walk away with 100,000 points. The entirely likely alternative is that you flip the ball, hit a sling, and then drain, at which point you've just lost 60,000 points that could have been yours. When your bonus is maxed, there really isn't enough on the table that's worth the risk of playing on.
So the ruleset is flawed, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the table, and particularly enjoying the way the experience is recreated in VPX.