(Topic ID: 200173)

A dark night for Stern

By jfh

6 years ago


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  • Latest reply 2 years ago by jfh
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There are 2,022 posts in this topic. You are on page 8 of 41.
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#351 6 years ago

I'm proud to say this is my father and our family business of 40 years he built with his hard work and integrity from the ground up. Watch and tell me your opinions on our business and how we run it.

#352 6 years ago
Quoted from mnpinball:

I'm proud to say this is my father and our family business of 40 years he built with his hard work and integrity from the ground up. Watch and tell me your opinions on our business and how we run it.
» YouTube video

Great video!

#353 6 years ago
Quoted from mnpinball:

I'm proud to say this is my father and our family business of 40 years he built with his hard work and integrity from the ground up. Watch and tell me your opinions on our business and how we run it.
» YouTube video

You have to cut the prices and have cheaper bees, and deliver the honey only to the pro market.

Also re-use the bees so customers can get easier and cheaper parts.

With this you cant loose, trust me, im a lumberjack

#354 6 years ago
Quoted from Mudflaps:

It’s not him. Black Knight said he left pinside because it was a toxic waste dump, so there’s no way he would come back. Plus having another identity is against the rules and subject to permanent banning.
Plus, it’s a woman.

Black Knight is the guy that told everybody to completely remove "all the clear" before attempting to re-clear. lol

"I followed his advice and it removed all the paint off my PF... now what do I do?"

You guys sure love your self-appointed experts.

Nothing personal against the guy but I like people that have the confidence to say "I don't know" when they don't know the answer. These "expert" types loudly proclaim everything they say as "fact" even when they are out of their depth on certain subjects. They don't seem to realize that makes *all* their opinions suspect.

10
#355 6 years ago

Gary's talk made me think of this....

1465219073960 (resized).jpg1465219073960 (resized).jpg

#356 6 years ago

I keep thinking Stern should do two models.

A basic pro model at $6k and add to the build of material and toys. Then make the LE version with mirrored backglass, shaker, speaker lights, topper, and different artwork.

Both games would play the same, but one with way more bling. This would make coding a bit easier as they would only need to code one game.

#357 6 years ago
Quoted from stoptap:

I think Stern needs to go away from Expo and have a long hard look at themselves.

Or... maybe they just blame their expo performance on other things, and keep going forward in the exact same direction.

The only indicator of Stern needing to change or not are their sales and profit numbers. And that’s information we don’t have access to. If they look at that and like the direction and projections, they won’t change anything. However, if they look at it and say hmmm, why are sales down, the tough questions can start.

#358 6 years ago
Quoted from mnpinball:

I'm proud to say this is my father and our family business of 40 years he built with his hard work and integrity from the ground up. Watch and tell me your opinions on our business and how we run it.
» YouTube video

Great video! Your dad is a Wise man! I wish that there was more of him in the world.

#359 6 years ago
Quoted from DaveH:

Or... maybe they just blame their expo performance on other things, and keep going forward in the exact same direction.
The only indicator of Stern needing to change or not are their sales and profit numbers. And that’s information we don’t have access to. If they look at that and like the direction and projections, they won’t change anything. However, if they look at it and say hmmm, why are sales down, the tough questions can start.

Gary claimed they grew 40% y/y at the presentation...believe it or not. Wasn’t clear if he was taking dollars or volume, but either way That’s pretty rapid growth for a company like stern. If that is true, I would not expect any changes with growth like that.

#360 6 years ago
Quoted from Lermods:

Gary claimed they grew 40% y/y at the presentation...believe it or not. Wasn’t clear if he was taking dollars or volume, but either way That’s pretty rapid growth for a company like stern. If that is true, I would not expect any changes with growth like that.

That's huge growth. Wonder if that was a direct result of moving into the new factory. Large backlog of orders from the old factory, and a backlog whilst they got the new factory up to speed, then a full year of almost full capacity production.

Regardless, pretty impressive.

The speech Gary gave about barcades etc was not as stupid as it sounds. Stern have always publicly spoken about broadening pinballs exposure - barcades and competitive pinball are great ways to expose more people to pinball. Means more operators buy games, and creates more potential home collectors. I think collectors are important, but without growing pinballs reach, the market stagnates.

The speech was a typical trade driven expo talk from a manufacturer. Expo's are not traditionally aimed at end consumers/collectors, and his speech reflected that.

#361 6 years ago
Quoted from Lermods:

Gary claimed they grew 40% y/y at the presentation...believe it or not. Wasn’t clear if he was taking dollars or volume, but either way That’s pretty rapid growth for a company like stern. If that is true, I would not expect any changes with growth like that.

Well there we go. 40% year over year means the new direction is validated and we should expect more of the same. Bummer.

#362 6 years ago
Quoted from mnpinball:

I'm proud to say this is my father and our family business of 40 years he built with his hard work and integrity from the ground up. Watch and tell me your opinions on our business and how we run it.
» YouTube video

Total respect - great story! You are very fortunate.

#363 6 years ago
Quoted from Manic:

Black Knight is the guy that told everybody to completely remove "all the clear" before attempting to re-clear. lol
"I followed his advice and it removed all the paint off my PF... now what do I do?"
You guys sure love your self-appointed experts.
Nothing personal against the guy but I like people that have the confidence to say "I don't know" when they don't know the answer. These "expert" types loudly proclaim everything they say as "fact" even when they are out of their depth on certain subjects. They don't seem to realize that makes *all* their opinions suspect.

I thought my sarcasm would be pretty easy to spot in my original post, but yeah, one of my pet peeves on pinside is duplicate accounts.

Not only are duplicate accounts annoying, but they amp up the distrust on pinside. If you need a break, great. If you rage quit, see ya later. But don’t open a dup and lie about it.

#364 6 years ago

Maybe Expo isn't really that big of a deal

#365 6 years ago
Quoted from Mudflaps:

I thought my sarcasm would be pretty easy to spot in my original post, but yeah, one of my pet peeves on pinside is duplicate accounts.
Not only are duplicate accounts annoying, but they amp up the distrust on pinside. If you need a break, great. If you rage quit, see ya later. But don’t open a dup and lie about it.

For the attention of anyone that may be mistaken, this issue has been resolved with moderators based on false accusations and my account reverified. If there are questions, you may ask directly. Please stop referring to me as someone I am not.

Moderators please step in and resolve this matter as you promised for public clarification. This is not motivational for new members.

#366 6 years ago

I agree with the OP; however, I think both companies are overpriced. Some would argue that the Stern Pro models are a good value and I would agree they are for someone that routes them, but I have no interest in a Pro model of anything.

I'm down to 3 pins - STLE, XMLE (magneto) and SWLE. STLE is the most I have paid for a pin and was still satisfied. I love the real translight, lit side rails, fast play, laser for Klingon Multiball, etc. Again, I am satisfied, but maxed out at $8k on it. I find XMLE to be a "bargain" compared to the new Stern machines. The spinning magnet, Magneto lock, moving ramp, and great integration of the movie characters with the play is great. I play this $6k machine (with shaker and mods) over my SWLE 10-1. I am disappointed with SWLE. $8700 and no shaker, blah art, rather boring game play (but fast) and lacking code. I'm tired of the Princess telling me to get in the garbage chute and Yoda telling me to gain control. They missed the boat by not integrating lit side rails, multiple lasers, etc. They relied on the big screen for game play which is nearly useless to me since you don't have time to look at it when playing anyway. It should have been more of an interactive display between balls with more focus on the play field and code. Furthermore, how long will STern continue to put absolute crap adio in these machines? Hooking up a subwoofer to my SWLE totally changed the game. There is NO reason for Stern to leave out a powered subwoofer. There was plenty of room in the cabinet and it would have made the game noticeable right out of the box. The audio is horrible without the subwoofer.

From what I can tell I'm probably in the top 5% of income earners in the USA and cannot justify having $10k+ in a machine that I feel is lacking. My most recent sale of GBLE confirmed my thoughts as I only had one interested party at $7k. I do not intend to get all my money back on a machine, but I also would expect that a "as new" and "hot" release should be easy to sell. They are not easy to sell later and that speaks a lot about the pricing of new games. I believe we are seeing a top in pricing and any stumble in the economy might send prices the other way.

JJP at $8500 is too much for me for a base model. Granted, their base model is more like an LE Stern; however, it is still too much IMO. The remakes from PPS are nice and I liked my MMr and it appears that AFMr has some nice new features and a decent sound system. I like their build quality, but I'm not paying more than $8k for a machine. It appears I have hit my limit on what I will pay.

#367 6 years ago
Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

For the attention of anyone that may be mistaken, this issue has been resolved with moderators based on false accusations and my account reverified. If there are questions, you may ask directly. Please stop referring to me as someone I am not.
Moderators please step in and resolve this matter as you promised for public clarification. This is not motivational for new members.

Question:

So are you paying homage to "xTheBlackKnightx" from Vancouver, WA? Your writing style is practically identical.

Question:

Do you know or are you related to the "retired" (by choice) and inactive xTheBlackKnightx?

Question:

Will you be appearing on Voldimorts Pinball Podcast anytime soon?

Anyway, welcome to Pinside!

#368 6 years ago
Quoted from TheFamilyArcade:

Question:
So are you paying homage to "xTheBlackKnightx" from Vancouver, WA? Your writing style is practically identical.
Question:
Do you know or are you related to the "retired" (by choice) and inactive xTheBlackKnightx?
Question:
Will you be appearing on Voldimorts Pinball Podcast anytime soon?
Anyway, welcome to Pinside!

These personal questions are best suited for a private message as it is off topic, if you wish to really know, and I will answer. I actually answered part of this same set of questions in another recent thread. However, some information was already provided to moderators for verification.
I don't know Voldimort, but do listen to various pinball podcasts.

People should remember every time a person attacks another with false accusations, their own credibility is lost too.

#369 6 years ago
Quoted from Hazoff:

... If anything will end it will be pins that cost 10K plus, without Stern a lot of people would be out of this hobby with regards to NIB.

And with Stern, alot of them already are.

#370 6 years ago
Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

For the attention of anyone that may be mistaken, this issue has been resolved with moderators based on false accusations and my account reverified. If there are questions, you may ask directly. Please stop referring to me as someone I am not.
Moderators please step in and resolve this matter as you promised for public clarification. This is not motivational for new members.

Quoted from TheFamilyArcade:

Question:
So are you paying homage to "xTheBlackKnightx" from Vancouver, WA? Your writing style is practically identical.
Question:
Do you know or are you related to the "retired" (by choice) and inactive xTheBlackKnightx?
Question:
Will you be appearing on Voldimorts Pinball Podcast anytime soon?
Anyway, welcome to Pinside!

I went back and looked through many of xrose_or_aragonx posts and she clearly knows him. And well enough to not only write just like him but also write in a male tone (yes, there is a difference in how men and women write) and commonly has insight about collecting 10, 20, 30 years ago and obscure people in pinball despite being "new to pinball" as she seems compelled to state multiple times in her posts.

Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

My friend, xTheBlackKnightx, who got me into pinball last year is preparing to publish a Ted Zale book he has been writing for quite a while.
I know he deactivated his profile here, but you can still find him on FaceBook and he recently released a "teaser" video with details.
He probably has Ted Zale photos, press releases, and other information that people might be asking about that otherwise might not be found, but I'm not sure.
You would have to ask him.

Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

You should listen to a podcast interview that xTheBlackKnightx did about 1 1/2 years ago regarding the early 90s and collecting. A lot of detailed information regarding buying, selling, collectors, pricing and how a person bought games new and used. He probably could go back to the early 80s, if he had the time to explain the changes in the market and even the industry.

In response to:

Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

Welcome back TheBlackKnight, why the name change?

She wrote:

Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

My name is Karla.
I am not xTheBlackKnightx. I am opening a moderator request to clear up this matter. I do not like being accused of being somebody else. Some women do like the hobby and own pinball machines.

However, the post was just after her post and didn't quote it. A new member to Pinside who didn't know xTheBlackKnightx would likely assume that they were referencing someone else or the OP and ignore it. Also, he said "TheBlackKnight" and she corrected to "xTheBlackKnightx"

So yeah, clearly she knows him and is definitely NOT xTheBlackKnightx

#371 6 years ago
Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

For the attention of anyone that may be mistaken, this issue has been resolved with moderators based on false accusations and my account reverified. If there are questions, you may ask directly. Please stop referring to me as someone I am not.
Moderators please step in and resolve this matter as you promised for public clarification. This is not motivational for new members.

This is correct. Everyone is instructed to leave this issue be and stop making public accusations. If you feel you have insite you can give it to us in a mod feedback thread but no more discussion on this issue publically at all. Thanks.

#372 6 years ago

Price elasticity??? WHat's that? Doesn't everyone want to pay as much as possible so they can show their friends how rich and cool they are?

#373 6 years ago
Quoted from stoptap:

Maybe it is time to ditch the Premium/LE models and concentrate on making good quality, serviceable (NOT buying node boards to repair), well coded games that just work, reliably out of the box ?

Not a chance when you have a bunch of dip shits like all of us that keep buying this stuff. I will never buy another NIB Stern LE, but I am still partial to a premium model. Stern make too much money on these models with the home/collectors buying this stuff to just dump them.

That being said, a fully featured Houdini with a $6995 price tag is more likely on my radar. The new pro models are just not on my radar because too much is missing. Ghostbusters and Star Wars are prime examples.

#374 6 years ago
Quoted from xRose_of_Aragonx:

These personal questions are best suited for a private message as it is off topic, if you wish to really know, and I will answer. I actually answered part of this same set of questions in another recent thread. However, some information was already provided to moderators for verification.
I don't know Voldimort, but do listen to various pinball podcasts.
People should remember every time a person attacks another with false accusations, their own credibility is lost too.

I wasn't attacking you. You post exactly like xBKx, have a similar looking handle and are from Vancouver WA. I pointed that out and asked you about it. I'll drop it, because it's not important to me. And FYI, xBKx has appeared on the referenced podcast. Twice.

When you see him, tell xBKx that I, for one, am sorry he left Pinside. I appreciated his perspective on Pinside. Found his writing style very difficult to navigate, but the substance of his posts were interesting.

#375 6 years ago
Quoted from TigerLaw:

This is correct. Everyone is instructed to leave this issue be and stop making public accusations. If you feel you have insite you can give it to us in a mod feedback thread but no more discussion on this issue publically at all. Thanks.

I hadn't seen your post when I responded above.

#376 6 years ago
Quoted from SadSack:

Price elasticity??? WHat's that? Doesn't everyone want to pay as much as possible so they can show their friends how rich and cool they are?

So far, I haven't told anyone (other than She Who Must Be Obeyed) what I paid for my DI/LE...in large part because nobody's asked.

#377 6 years ago
Quoted from JWJr:

So far, I haven't told anyone (other than She Who Must Be Obeyed) what I paid for my DI/LE...in large part because nobody's asked.

That's even cooler yet! That means people know it's so much that it would be offensive to ask! Well done!

-1
#378 6 years ago
Quoted from Lermods:

Gary claimed they grew 40% y/y at the presentation...believe it or not. Wasn’t clear if he was taking dollars or volume, but either way That’s pretty rapid growth for a company like stern. If that is true, I would not expect any changes with growth like that.

Nice some actual data! If that's the case then their best course of action is to stay the course because that is a very impressive stat for any company.

Quoted from cooked71:

The speech Gary gave about barcades etc was not as stupid as it sounds. Stern have always publicly spoken about broadening pinballs exposure - barcades and competitive pinball are great ways to expose more people to pinball. Means more operators buy games, and creates more potential home collectors. I think collectors are important, but without growing pinballs reach, the market stagnates.
The speech was a typical trade driven expo talk from a manufacturer. Expo's are not traditionally aimed at end consumers/collectors, and his speech reflected that.

Totally agree, they need to expand their audience which means attracting new blood. They won't do that by appealing to old forum jockeys, they need to get young people playing these machines which means getting them in every barcade and/or location that young people frequent. That's the strategy of the pro models, have them be the cheapest way for locations to get into pinball with current/familiar themes that resonate with the young audience.

Of course you still always need to have a high end model because there are people with piles of money and large game rooms that need filling, hence the premiums and le's.

#379 6 years ago
Quoted from Reality_Studio:

get young people playing these machines which means getting them in every barcade and/or location that young people frequent

there are no more arcades.......at least not in most places.By young people you must mean over 21(barcade) with disposable income to become interested enough to drop 7K(median price) on a game after becoming attracted on site.SUPERSMALL niche.40% growth is a home run for Stern even if I think their games suck.They are here to stay and you will get the same product over and over and hear the same complaints over and over.Their games are what they are.Data east pins with incomplete software.

#380 6 years ago

The 40% number is impressive, but it was a lone number with no context and no other information to show the health of the market. If this was simply intended to indicate the company is healthy then drop some other numbers - average games built per day, what games are selling, which are not (and why and how they are going to address that). How is competition impacting their business? (Every market leader understands this). What was the point of just throwing out the 40% number? That's pretty good growth so we don't think we need to change anything?

If this was supposed to be an industry presentation I want to hear a lot more detail. They talked about beer and barcades. Tell me more. What's average number of pins? Mix between old and new? Show some data on how pinball increases crowd size, beer/food sales and what Stern does/can do to help. If I owned a club why would I want to add pinball? What do I do as a distributor or operator to get into that space? What's the growth projection on location pinball? Stern has a new "rec room buyer" category (not Pinside collector or "enthusiast" types) - what do they think that market is? What are they going to do to capture it?

They had an opportunity to speak to each of their defined market segments and essentially didn't talk to any of them. There are common areas of interest and those unique to a particular market segment. It certainly wasn't clear they are aware of that. Nothing in that presentation gave me confidence. It was a presentation without a purpose. Gary said he'd never seen the presentation before and it showed. In the corporate world winging a presentation blind usually meant you thought it or the audience isn't important. Gary rambled. The team was little more than window dressing.

Contrast that to the JJP team. Jack was focused (!), the others provided useful and interesting background, though abbreviated because this was a product reveal, not state of the company. I didn't need to hear an impressive growth number - I heard from the primary investor that they believed in the company, their people, their product, their customers and that they planned to be in the game for generations to come. Maybe it was marketing hype and giving the crowd what it wanted to hear, but it was effective.

#381 6 years ago
Quoted from mnpinball:

I'm proud to say this is my father and our family business of 40 years he built with his hard work and integrity from the ground up. Watch and tell me your opinions on our business and how we run it.
» YouTube video

Great video about the family business you told me about when we first met. I hope you're still enjoying the Williams Honey from that parking lot deal we made at Expo six or so years ago....

#382 6 years ago
Quoted from jackofdiamonds:

there are no more arcades.......at least not in most places.By young people you must mean over 21(barcade) with disposable income to become interested enough to drop 7K(median price) on a game after becoming attracted on site.SUPERSMALL niche.40% growth is a home run for Stern even if I think their games suck.They are here to stay and you will get the same product over and over and hear the same complaints over and over.Their games are what they are.Data east pins with incomplete software.

It's about getting new audiences to first realize that pinball exists (many don't) and then to be expose them to it at a young age in hopes they become customers in the future. Right now there are plenty out there that know absolutely nothing about pinball, and many that don't even know it still is active and exists. I'll give you a real world example of that. My Attack From Mars pinball machine was just rented to be used in a major scifi movie that comes out in 2019. All the people involved in the rental of this game be it the people the picked it up, the set designers, etc, know nothing about pinball. Zero, nada, ziltch. In fact they never even heard of Attack From Mars. So while it may be the #1 or whatever game on the pinside top 100, all the people I interacted with don't even know it exists. They don't even know it's been remade. At the end of the day you can't get people buying your product if they don't know it exists.

So you get them playing when they are young like at 21. First that exposes them to pinball, and the new machines and themes lets them see that yeah they are still being made and are active. And in some cases those people will be a customer in the future. It's the same thing Google is doing now with Chromebooks basically. Get young people using them in schools and they will be a customer in the future. Sterns pro line is critical to this because they need a "cheap" model that operators can use, which in turn helps Sterm potentially get premium and LE customers in the future and/or expand the audience.

#383 6 years ago
Quoted from Reality_Studio:

It's about getting new audiences to first realize that pinball exists (many don't) and then to be expose them to it at a young age in hopes they become customers in the future.

You are absolutely correct. But we heard nothing about how they are planning to do this. Fancy signs to go in a barcade is not a marketing and awareness plan. Finding new audiences can't be limited to barcades and beer if you are going for any type of sustained, generational growth.

Stern needs to think bottom up, not top down. There are thousands of "enthusiasts" all over the world and in every market. You want and need them to promote and maybe even evangelize your product. The best salesman for a product is a delighted customer.

#384 6 years ago
Quoted from o-din:

My cutoff price for a bean and cheese burrito is about $2, but sometimes I splurge and get a fully loaded burrito for more than $5.

And that's the difference, you are getting more burrito for 5 bucks, so the value is there. What are you getting for an extra 1000 bucks, on the same game? Would you spend 5 bucks on a bean and cheese burrito, even if your cutoff it 2?

#385 6 years ago

It'd be interesting to see a new pin that would fit into a place like Round One, which draws kids, teens, and college students. Stern pins do draw people at barcades, at least they do here in Seattle where pinball is still a "thing". If pinball were to have a future on location, I think some primary goals would be:

-Increased simplicity and player direction
-Better build quality
-More humor/charm/style

This is mostly anecdotal evidence from going to barcades with non-pinhead friends, or watching other people play. They beeline for a theme they recognize, they lose quickly, and then spend the rest of the night playing Zeke's Peak. At best, I think most people approach pinball like a novelty, or a slot machine that doesn't pay out, and at worst it's just a confusing, or even annoying waste of money, and finding a way to merge the novelty aspect with a game that actually draws them in seems challenging, to say the least. Pinball seems to exist in a weird no-zone between carnival-like redemption games, video arcade (or console) games that require skill, and apps like Monument Valley or Peggle.

edit: again, this is just anecdotal observations

#386 6 years ago
Quoted from jfh:

If this was simply intended to indicate the company is healthy then drop some other numbers - average games built per day, what games are selling, which are not (and why and how they are going to address that). How is competition impacting their business?

No private company in the world answers questions like those. And if they do let me know who, because I’ll take that kind of information and beat them right out of their industry.

#387 6 years ago
Quoted from Roostking:

Would you spend 5 bucks on a bean and cheese burrito, even if your cutoff it 2?

I will spend over $4 for a bean cheese rice and salsa burrito from Las Golondrinas because it's epic and worth every penny.

#388 6 years ago
Quoted from DaveH:

No private company in the world answers questions like those. And if they do let me know who, because I’ll take that kind of information and beat them right out of their industry.

Answers in ranges or magnitudes would be good enough to provide perspective, which is the point. Stern has provided some of that info in the past and they obviously didn't go out of business. And building pinball machines isn't your typical industry. Even if you had that information you aren't going to "beat them right out of the industry" unless you are willing to spend a massive fortune with no guarantee you will ever make a dollar.

The point is that Stern should have addressed specific market segments, not thrown out a single "gee whiz" figure with no context in a beer and barcades is the future of pinball pitch.

#389 6 years ago
Quoted from o-din:

I will spend over $4 for a bean cheese rice and salsa burrito from Las Golondrinas because it's epic and worth every penny.

Earlier, it was a bean and cheese burrito(Stern Pro) but now its a bean, cheese, rice and salsa burrito(Stern Pre). So still not the same $2 bean and cheese burrito. Would you spend another $2 on a burrito that was the same as a Pre, but came in a different wrapper(Stern LE).

#390 6 years ago

Meanwhile JJP is charging $8 for a deluxe platter with sides, a drink, and a square of flan.

#391 6 years ago

Hey guys, what's going on in this thread? Did Stern announce another game at Expo cloned from the Dark Knight?

Quality Control multi ball should be a hoot as I heard it stacks with the hard to get Lack of Innovation multiplier.

#392 6 years ago
Quoted from jedimastermatt:

Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?

Not sure myself but I think it has something to do with Stern and JJP selling Burritos.

#393 6 years ago

Pinside: Hungry Edition

#394 6 years ago

I do wish Stern would put more effort into each machine but in reality they don't really need to change a thing. They seem to be doing just fine with what they are doing. People complain about code, quality, and prices but still buy games. People even start sending in money as soon as a game is announced. Theme sells even if gameplay is not there. Stern could invest a lot more money into quality control, better code at launch, or more features for the price but all that costs money. Stern might make a better machine and sell a few more pins but might lose money in the end. Even though JJP POTC looks like a great game, I seriously doubt a game that quickly gets close to 5 figures is going to take over the industry. Stern will continue to produce more titles than JJP and pros at far cheaper price. Not every game is going to be a hit but all they need to do is keep cranking out titles with decent themes.

#395 6 years ago

bean and cheese burrito's are the standard issued rations for soldiers in the stern army. that's why every pinball bar smells like farts and old gym socks.

#396 6 years ago
Quoted from jfh:

Answers in ranges or magnitudes would be good enough to provide perspective, which is the point. Stern has provided some of that info in the past and they obviously didn't go out of business. And building pinball machines isn't your typical industry. Even if you had that information you aren't going to "beat them right out of the industry" unless you are willing to spend a massive fortune with no guarantee you will ever make a dollar.
The point is that Stern should have addressed specific market segments, not thrown out a single "gee whiz" figure with no context in a beer and barcades is the future of pinball pitch.

"Hmmm ... we sold 40% more GB's and SW's than WWE. Let's use this figure for the presentation! That's growth!"

#397 6 years ago

jfh has struck a chord with this post.

IMG_1775 (resized).PNGIMG_1775 (resized).PNG

#398 6 years ago
Quoted from cooked71:

The speech Gary gave about barcades etc was not as stupid as it sounds. Stern have always publicly spoken about broadening pinballs exposure - barcades and competitive pinball are great ways to expose more people to pinball.

It's a total deflection and a cop out. They manufacture games. If their manufacturing is sub-par & the games aren't complete, they've failed at making a product regardless of where it ends up. One of the perks of pinball for ops is resale value. If the games don't hold up or gain a good reputation, ops lose out too.

#399 6 years ago
Quoted from SadSack:

That's even cooler yet! That means people know it's so much that it would be offensive to ask! Well done!

No, it's because the kind of people I choose to invite into my house (and they, me into theirs) know enough to know when to MYOB. We impress each other by our acts of consideration toward each other, not by comparing wallet sizes.

13
#400 6 years ago
Quoted from jawjaw:

I do wish Stern would put more effort into each machine but in reality they don't really need to change a thing. They seem to be doing just fine with what they are doing. People complain about code, quality, and prices but still buy games. People even start sending in money as soon as a game is announced. Theme sells even if gameplay is not there. Stern could invest a lot more money into quality control, better code at launch, or more features for the price but all that costs money. Stern might make a better machine and sell a few more pins but might lose money in the end. Even though JJP POTC looks like a great game, I seriously doubt a game that quickly gets close to 5 figures is going to take over the industry. Stern will continue to produce more titles than JJP and pros at far cheaper price. Not every game is going to be a hit but all they need to do is keep cranking out titles with decent themes.

I used to be an LE buyer, but have now dropped out because of price mainly, but lack of value. I'm scared to purchase, even a pro, because of the past issues like cabinets and playfields. So, I have completely done a 180, and that's not like me usually. There are others that have followed in the same fashion. Stern doesn't need to change, if the home buyer is not what their target is. If it somewhat is, they need to change greatly. I see lots of quotes on here, that we complain but at the next Stern reveal, we will have our wallets out. Not true with all. Iron Maiden is one of my favorite bands, but I have to see quality for the price and code that is worth putting the game in my house before I buy anything. I wish Stern all the best with what they are trying to achieve, but I am fearful, for lack of a better word, to purchase a game due to quality control & perceived lack of interest in the home buyer (which includes packed games with deep code).

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