Do any of your playfield windows look like this? There is a large blemish on my playfield window. From the player's view, it looks like a large vertical scratch. When you look at it more closely, it appears to be a series of small horizontal micro cracks grouped together. With the machine off, it's not visible, but when the LEDs come on, it's bright as day. My machine has a build date of 12/19/13. I bought it on 6/3/14, and pulled it out of the box on 6/6/14. This was one of the first things I noticed. I notified my distributor, and he forwarded pics onto Stern. No response from Stern since the pics were sent. Another email was sent to Stern in August, and another sent today. Just curious if this is an isolated thing, or if other machines have this too?

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It blows my mind how something like this gets past QC. It's literally in the middle of the playfield.

This isn't a distributor issue. This is a manufacturer issue. The distributor had a back and forth with Stern, when Stern requested better pics and received them, they fell silent. This machine also had a faulty LED driver board from the get go, and Stern did warranty that. I'm trying to follow the "chain of command" by communicating through the distributor, but I'll give Stern a call as well. Something tells me nothing will be done.

It's not a scratch. I can't feel it with my finger tip or catch with my finger nail from either the top or bottom. I've cleaned the window while cleaning the playfield twice since I've unboxed the game. It is NOT visible when the LEDs are off, and can only barely be seen with a flash light if you know exactly where to look. I shouldn't have to repair the playfield surface of an NIB game. First two pics are with the game in the RGB test mode with the RGB LEDs (eyes and mouth inserts) lit up white. The difference between the pics is camera focus. The second pic was the best the camera would focus on it. The third pic is with the RGB LEDs off, but red lower playfield lighting on. Fourth pic is with the game off, no camera flash. Fifth is with the game off, with camera flash. Sunlight is out of the question, it's in the basement in a room with a tiny window that never gets direct sunlight.

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Those pics were all taken with the glass off.

Makes sense now. This blemish does look like it's on the top side, but can't be felt. I bet the flawed plexi was cleared over.

Well, Stern finally got back with the distributor after the last email yesterday. Looks like things are getting resolved. I'm a happy camper.

Unpopulated. Don't have to return this one.

Yeah, that's what you said a few posts back. Different strokes for different folks.

So if the windshield cracks on my car, am I supposed to buy a new car? Let's be realistic here. The defective part is getting replaced.

Having a spare playfield that I can swap out many years down the road, is much more valuable to me than the instant gratification of a quick and easy swap over a blemish that doesn't affect gameplay. Luci is going to get the Hell played out her for decades, and when she's looking old and beat up, I'll have what I need to make her look brand new again.

I'm not a pinvestor. I will never have a HUO game for sale with only a few hundred plays on the game. I play the shit out of my games. And I'm a hobbyist that actually enjoys working on and repairing pins and vids. I'm thinking long term. Decades from now, I'll be glad I have a spare playfield in my back pocket that I didn't have to fork out any money for.

I'd rather have the short end, than no end.

Not nearly as much as a complete engine rebuild on a class 8 truck, and I use to do that all the time. I don't care how much a tech gets paid, I'd never hire one when I can do it myself.