Here are my impressions after having played the game a bunch of times and having some guests play it for the evening:

-It is impossible to fairly evaluate this game at this time. The software is sooooo early. I've never had software this early on any machine I've bought before. I am ok with this, the game will be fine in my collection as it evolves but I can see how people who play it on location or a few games somewhere are going to be left thinking "blah", because normally a game with software like this would only be seen inside the development office.

Having said that, I can offer the opinions on these things that will not be changing (much):

-I love the artwork and themeing of the machine. It looks awesome. I'm happy my LE features Batgirl.

-The style of music used in the game is a fun change from everything else I own.

-After I refastened the Batmobile screws, there has been no other tweaks needed.

-I sold a BDK and replaced it with this game and feel they play like 2 different games. I know some other people think otherwise, but that's my opinion. Just as 2 fan layout games can have the same shots but theme and programming makes them totally different or how toys can be reused.

So, the verdict for me is.... there is no verdict, but I am hopeful Lyman has all the pieces to make something really fun and special.

Oh, you dirty [email protected]&ker! I missed again, badly. You owe me a Sorcerer back glass.

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No dimpling whatsoever. Top or bottom. 30 + year old wood is hard. And believe me, Sorcerer takes a beating.

There's no getting around that.

Probably the only fair dimpling test would be to bounce balls on the wood of all the current manufacturers, made around the same time (year).

rd

yea, but 50+ year old wood not worth a shit without chemical additive....

Speak for yourself there buddy!

Jesus shooter lane chipping in 2 weeks?? Man they have NOT figured out their PF issues and it's -buyer beware- time.

My 19 year old MM doesn't show anything like that and it's never had a protector or mylar in the shooter lane. Doesn't help that a lot of Stern's SLAM the ball into the lane with absolutely more force than needed. It's like they have their highest powered coil being used to feed the shooter lane. Not sure why they think this is necessary ...??

And is that the same magnet we saw before with the deep pitting? I don't understand that either.

Stern is dead to me...... What a disaster.

Well, you know you get what you pay for. Shoulda gone for the $25k "Clearcoated like a 90's game" edition.

Im going to play and LE on Tuesday and initial reports are consistent with a flop, cheap feeling game that code cant fix. After seeing all the posts I wonder if it will even be working and how much damage it will have by then....

How many games played do these pics represent? Can you provide more detail on what Stern told you?

Looks like some the joker inserts are lifting especially the e?

I updated the software and believe that resets the game count. But it is a home use only game that maybe has 75-100 plays on it and many of those games were 1 ball restarts.

No promises from Stern yet but Chas was very helpful and it seemed like they are willing to work with me. It was not the "that sucks be we can't help you" that I was expecting after hearing some of the feedback on the boards.

That is weird. Why on earth are these magnets pitting?

Only explanation is that they are being made with a softer alloy but that would be crazy???

Wouldn't bother if I were you. Sounds like you've already made your mind up.

I'm speechless after seeing those pictures

On the cornerstone game they are still cutting costs. My magnet is dimpled, and my guess is they are using soft wood. My bet is later releases will get Mylar as they did with kiss.

I may have to use vinyl cling on mine. The air balls are causing this. Air balls from the ball bouncing off the targets.

It appears the ramp flaps were designed too steep and too far in front of the blue nubs that are for deadening the missed shots. As soon as the ball gets on the edge of the flaps it is destined to fly off the nub in the air because the ball is already elevated when it hits the nub.

The magnet seems bizarre.

I hope you get a definitive response from Stern this week. I can't believe a playfield looks like that after a few hundred balls played (if that). I had thought about getting a full playfield protector. I don't like the idea of one, but unless Stern has a better solution, that may be the way to go.

Dude, send that game back. I'm serious, $10k and the pf issues are still not fixed. These guys are hopeless. They don't get it. the single most important part of a pinball machine better be well made for that kind of money. This is not normal, whatever clearcoat they're using is obviously softer than the standard pf clearcoat.

I need to experience the carnage first hand.

Yeah Chas is a good guy and if he can do something for you he will...

So you have balls hitting the glass? What do they hit that causes them to fly up into the glass and smash down on your PF? Is it the targets on the rotating turntable?

Because if they are making it all the way to the glass and slamming back down on the PF that really will cause some dimples.

I am the one who uploaded the magnet pictures before. Also some people were saying before it was just the lighting I was using or the angle. This is the lighting from the game itself. No flash and no other light. Also from quite a few angles and heights.

The magnet and the rotating playfield. My ball hardly ever stays on the magnet instead it gets tossed up, slung into the rotating playfield, or thrown elsewhere. Quite a few balls end up on the left Batgirl plastic and roll straight into the outlane. The ramps are narrow and the ball just seems to hit the blue pads solid on misses but it doesn't really jump. It is the magnet and rotating playfield for sure.

So they corrected one screw up (chopping off catwoman's head with the ramp flaps) by simply shortening them and making them steep instead of sorting the set itself out before printing production playfield

Yeah your pictures are fine. The pictures certainly aren't the problem.

Is it possible the entire rotating PF is a tad high and the ball hits the edge and goes airborne? After it shoots past the magnet?

I have a new BOP Mirco playfield that I haven't installed yet. I'm tempted to just drop some balls on an area that's totally covered - like the apron area, to see if any dimples happen. For that matter, they might be interesting to try on some of my Stern games under the aprons.

vicjw66 for going the extra mile.

So umm.. I have this annoying co-worker........

The didn't change the ramp flap. they changed the artwork on the production games. Notice the position of the ramp flap to the insert and where catwoman is in relation to the insert.

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Does the penguin insert have Ghosting on the upper left?

if i put mylar on the magnet & upper area with all the craters, will the magnet still work as expected & craters prevented (mostly) ?

I put mylar on all my pins especially around and near magnets.... it doesn't effect anything

Stern needs to start including an entire play field skin/protector for all their new games assuming no more insert issues. Better to do that as the machines are built instead of us doing all that disassembling. Maybe their R&D folks can come up with some new type of plastic material.

Ok, just for the info, I went and reexamined by batman playfield.

I do not see dimpling on mine anything like the other photos. My magnet has a few small dimples in it, but its more the kind you shrug your shoulders about.

I inspected the shooter lane and see no chipping or start of wear.

I post this not to refute the photos, just to offer some data. Just like with Ghostbusters, some people seem to be affected worse than others.

I was to play the B66 LE at Museum of Pinball for the last two days. Probably played 10 games but only 3 with the updated software. Overall I like the theme and look foward to playing more as Stern updates the code. It's not my pin so I wasn't concentrating of wear.

I really need more time to give a full review but really enjoyed the theme but mostly the new screen. I do like how Stern kept the translite but added the color screen. I liked the concept of the crane - fun to hit the moving target. Some of the ramp and orbit shots were tough - many would rattle out. The left flipper spring broke - easy fix but really? The multipliers are crazy - I was getting 10x 14x and one time a 17x multiplier. My high score was 125M. High game of the day was 225M. I think everyone was having a hard time figuring out what to do, how to start and complete modes, etc.

I didn't check the game count but it's probably less then 100. Playfield dimples weren't more then expected but I was amazed to see the dimples in the magnet. There was no shooter lane damage.

Goes without saying, the game needs more updates. I didn't feel like I was playing a finished game.

I'll be back at the MoP in two weeks and take a closer look. I need to thank John Weeks for purchasing the LE pin... very nice addition to the museum.

This is good information and we can all hope it's the norm and not the exception. I hope all Batman owners will pay very close attention and report here in the next few months.

Frolic, do you think its because you got a later run LE that might have a different play-field? Or could the colder weather up in Canada cause the clear to harden slower and more solid (like concrete), verses say down in warmer location like Texas? And lowering the flipper power might have helped?

No idea. I doubt it's that simple. This probably is tied to their playfield issues of last year. Likely why they aren't swapping playfields yet, the problem still isn't identified fully. The weird thing is:

People weren't reporting crazy dimpling on Ghostbusters.

The magnet also dimples.

Wish it was that simple. However, I am no expert on play-fields/clear-coating. I am sure someone Pinside is.

Frolic,

Just did the exact same thing ( mines still at my office, so drove back) even though I had just looked at it, glass off, closely, a couple days ago ( added 10 games on it when I was there)....no cracks in clear at shooter or anywhere, minor " meh" dimples in magnet area, but so far, it looks like normal minor dimpling, and 0 ghosting.

I'm going to keep playing it ( that's why I bought it) but will be paying very close attention moving forward.

There are zillions of playfields hanging on walls all over the globe. Plenty of material to use for scientifically controlled hardness testing.

It's probably the wood.

Apparently those pictures got all of us in an urgent investigative mood. After seeing them, without passing go, I pulled my glass, put a drop light on the game and spent nearly 10 minutes looking closely for playfield damage and rechecking nuts/bolts. Fortunately, it looked good minus a few small dimples on the magnet. My heart goes out to the owner of that game.

Agreed, they gotta take care of him....electronics and loose hardware don't scare me ( can be dealt with), but the Playfield? Whew, that's no easy fix....

Thanks doc I stand corrected, seems odd then that if they altered to artwork that the ramp flaps appear too steep/short to some oweners. Would have thought ramps would have been tested prior to production, just going from quite a few people complaining about them.

Well...when Stern deletes any comment that doesn't pay accolades in spades, and flavors the kool-aid in accordance to their savor preference, all you're really left with is the question: "How much DO you like that taste of ass-flavored grape juice?".

Seems the Joker knows: "You bought a Stern..."

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Stern has no idea what is causing all the problems with the boards. They are sending the cabinet node board this week. The light next to the batmobile broke as it was installed incorrectly. My dist sent a tech. What we found is a led failed on the line. This caused all the lights to flicker. So crazy. We had no diagram to track which light had failed. If they cannot fix this week unfortunately the machine will be sent back to Stern. Oh well.