Hi All,
The level of Stern haters here is unbelievable. As I write this the trolls that live under the bridge claim that 21 units of AS pinballs have ghosting. DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT! If you want to miss out on a great pinball because of just plain old Stern bashing then of course that is your prerogative. All the AS units I have sold have been perfect. The Pro and LE in my showroom are perfect. In fact in the last year, out of all the Stern pinball's we have sold, we only had one issue.(and it WASN'T ghosting) On that one issue , Stern stood behind it and it was quickly rectified. If you don't like Stern then that's ok. Different strokes for different folks. I had a couple in my store today. The husband fell in love with the AS Pro. They have a newly made "game room". It was a big investment for them. They went to lunch to talk it over. They came back and we will be delivering it on Wednesday. These folks were newbies and are so excited about it. Everyday we are seeing more and more of these casual player who just want to have fun. I sell them a Stern Pro and they come back in six months or a year and buy another. Why? I always ask. They had so much fun and the game was reliable. I have to tell you that pinball is on fire. I sell other brands besides Stern. I can honestly say that the Pinball industry is producing quality games. I can also say that I am certain that their quality is much better than almost any other industry. I am also proud to say that they are made in the good old USA. We stand behind our pinballs with a full one year warranty. This includes replacing any playfield that has any issues including ghosting. If it was a real problem, I would be going out of business instead of celebrating our 75th year. Pinball is fun. Enjoy the greatest hobby on earth

-J

I think that the disclaimer was about legalese in reference to overseas laws. I do think the way it was done was unfortunate. I did, as well as other dealer, raise some concern. Stern did respond that nothing had changed and that they were going to stand behind their pinballs as they always have. Stern has always been great with me. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt until they give a reason to second guess them. I also believe that this really is a limited issue. We warranty our new pinballs for a full year. We cover these issues. I covered these exact issues in "Stern new policy-GHOSTING IS NORMAL....OR IS IT?" The post were numbers 365,368,404 and 406. If your dealer stands behind what they sell then these are much smaller issues. I know that many dealers out there are awesome.
The issue I have here is that this post is so unfair to Stern. Does anyone here really believe that 23 units have major problems? This site says that 168 pinsiders own the game. At the same time it is ranked at number 14. All the AS pinballs we have been in contact with have been perfect. In many ways the best yet. One of the things I did mention in the other post is that it is our policy to open and inspect all the games we sell. We do honor NIB request but try to talk folks out of it. If a buyer does a little homework, then it really is easy. Your dealer is responsible in providing you with a positive pinball experience regardless of manufacturer. That is our job. It is important to me that all pinball customers are happy. This is an awesome hobby. I know many dealers out there and they feel the same way.

-J

Easy for me to say? Really? I have been doing this for a long time. To place a 1 year warranty on a product is not easy. We do it because customer service is important. We do it exactly because we do understand that these pinballs are expensive. Stern makes a good quality machine. Really to be fair , they are making some of the best made pinballs in history. Selling new pinballs is only a segment of what we do. A larger segment is repair and restoration work. That means we see all kinds of models and all kinds of issues. We also represent other makers. I have not seen any ghosting issues on AS. As far as I can tell it seems to be rock solid. DO you own an AS? IS it ghosting? If it is did your dealer help to fix the situation?

Let's go at these one at a time. First off, I am not trying to advertise myself per se but rather dealers in general. I know lots of good dealers all across the country and for the most part they are good and honorable people who stand behind what they sell. As for ghosting, it is usually easy to tell if it is systemic, which points to a playfield replacement, or if it is a slight problem with a singular insert. In the case of the latter we have been able to successfully repair it. If a game has clear cracking around a drain hole , that playfield needs to be replaced. We know that it will spread. These are the reasons why we like to inspect games before we sell them. I try like hell not to deliver games with issues. As for code, I am confident Stern will continue to write code. Code is a funny thing. I know people who are still writing code for pinballs from the 90's . Being a geek myself, I think the urge to write code never goes away. I think the guys writing code for Stern are going to catch up. It is my opinion that Stern moved up the release of batman 66 knowing that Adam West was ill. Look I sell different makers pinballs. You don't have to love Stern. You have choices. Regardless of what pinball you choose it is a good idea to find a dealer you like and trust. It does take the risk out of an expensive item.

Let me say that absolutely I am prepared to back up my warranty with my own dime. I have had to do it in the past (not with Stern. So far they have stood behind everything.) As for other past makers and quality, we have been around for 75 years. I remember the nightmare kits that Bally Williams would have to send directly to vendors because the games had horrific defects. The Gottlieb of the Mondial years (Premier) were just awful. The problems we had when the Williams 2000 came out kept me up at night. I could go on. You just never heard much about it because it was a vendor problem. We purchased machines off of regional distributors like Betson and Brady and then it was in your own hand. I remember technicians being on the phone with manufacture reps for hours. In the end the solution would come from some savvy tech from a vendor and we would fax it to each other. I know it is easy to look in the rearview mirror and forget the tough times. The biggest part of my business is restoring older pinballs. I am a huge fan. It is like the auto industry. Some of my favorite cars are the carbureted muscle beast of the sixties and seventies but you have to see the fuel injected beast of today are more reliable. A dodge Charger Demon , anyone. This isn't life and death it is pinball and it's supposed to be fun.
If you are not having fun try golf or fishing. Heck if you try fly fishing then you can buy my book! "The Outdoor Chronicles"

Hi All,
The more I look at this game the more I like it. I see it in my showroom up against the other "new" pinballs and the AS has really got that quality that is going to make it a top pinball. It seems like it was rolled out quickly in between Batman66 and Star Wars . Almost lost in the shuffle. If that ever results in low production numbers then I am going to set a couple aside. This could be the sleeper pinball of the era. We have handled a few of these so far (plus a pro and an LE in the showroom) and have had no QC issues. I am glad to see PW79 loves his Pinball. I am just waiting for a new thread complaining about the decline and narrowing of ramps and orbits and defective targets.

-Jerry

There was a lot of hype for Batman66 . It was a 30th anniversary pinball and I really like it. It screams to us baby boomers who would watch the dynamic duo as faithfully as a ten year old knew how to .I also believe the timing was disrupted (along with other things like code) because of Adam West's health. Star Wars is obviously another high profile game. It is being launched in conjunction with the movie. AS just got squeezed between two high profile release. Some folks just assumed it was just another "music" pinball. I think that Stern is already looking forward. Unfortunate to say the least. I am not even a very big Aerosmith fan. I mean I loved toys in the Attic but that is a long way from Dude looks like a Lady. All of that aside , AS could be the best Stern this decade. As a dealer we look at all pinballs in a very different way. This game is built. It exudes quality. If Stern makes all of its subsequent pinballs in the same way they built AS they and their customers will be happy. The more I play the units the more I like them. I have been agonizing about pulling the LE off the showroom floor. I also ordered a premium and a pro with the intention of hanging on to them for a while to see what happens. I love sleeper cars, and sleeper pinballs are like that too. I do believe that production numbers will be much lower than the pinballs before and after it. If you are a hardcore Pinhead, you need to consider this pin!

-J