Here is what is really sad… we cry all day long about how a Stern game never delivers the World under Glass. We all know a long list of documented issues and problems with Stern games and their customer service please… I call and I don’t get a reply for days or ever. But no matter what Stern does or doesn’t do 99% of all the beatings go to JJP the company that actually in my opinion reinvented pinball. JPP showed the pinball world that games could be made for the collector, they could be more than a ball moving around a piece of wood. Yeah JJP made mistakes, they’ve made a ton of them but they’re also the risk takers, the dreamers the company willing to spend up to 2 years developing ONE DAMN GAME!!!!
First ever color screen, full movie assets, led lights, toys and mechs no one has ever seen before then we get to GNR. GNR has more songs than any pinball in history, the theming is out of this world, light shows, the artwork is simply amazing, the design something never before seen… and everything unravels with a chip in the play field. I’m not here saying this issue shouldn’t be fixed, and I’m not saying I’m the one with the answers, but i am saying JJP is the pinball ground breaker. Who can argue? Start to imagine a pinball World without JJP right now? Do you think Stern games would all of a sudden get better with no JJP? Tell me something Stern has done better than JJP to take pinball to the next level? I can tell you NOTHING! Does Stern even try to beat JJP at creating a World Under Glass? When you think about it, its actually a dumb question.
Whenever you attempt to break new ground, you’re going to have some growing pains but in the end you get a flawed masterpiece. JJP has had and probably always will have more things go wrong than Stern because they put 10 times more into the games right or wrong. Every JJP game is unique, not a cookie cutter copy of the game they made before… you’re going to get some problems. JJP games are complex and this is what we now expect from JJP. If JJP all of a sudden decided to streamline their games, publish three titles a year, would they still be the JJP we’re all so passionate about?
How in the WORLD is a Stern LE the same price as a JJP LE I’ll never know because they’re games on two different levels. I can honestly say I think the solution to all of JJP problems is a simple one RAISE THE PRICE DRASTICALLY! JJP should STOP trying to compete in price with a much inferior Stern product and charge what their games are worth, then guarantee them with a much better warranty that covers everything.
JJP LE games should cost $12,500 and the CE should cost $15,000 … then when this issue comes up they have more money built in for errors or mistakes. Despite problems Stern has, Spooky, American Pinball, or even Dutch who was despised but now we line up two years deep to get a copy of BL we love these companies. Each one is different, and each one has strong suits and weakness’s. When I look around despite the chips I don’t see to many people willing to get rid of their GNR CE’s probably the best pinball game ever created. In the end it doesn’t matter how much you spend on a game 10 dollars or 10 thousand dollars… you should expect a game that works perfectly. Right? But when you’ve been doing pinball long enough you just know that isn’t ever going to happen. LOL
JJP playfields shouldn’t chip but doesn’t mean we should burn this company to the ground does it? JJP in my opinion is the LEADER of the pack, taking the risks, setting the bar, going where no pinball has gone before. I’ll love this company no matter what and while saying that I do hope they can solve the issues that plaque them and I’m confident they will. I hope one day all these pinball companies will one day put out the flawless game that never breaks, never chips, neve needs a new node board, or even a spinner that should have worked out of the box.
It’s just pinball I guess that sometimes we just love to hate.