Now that the dust is settled and people are starting to become fatigued from bitching (sort of a refractory period if you will), it's time for us to climb out of the wreckage and grasp at the rays of sunshine peeking through the dark, pendulous clouds of Pinside.

Let's give our sincere and completely non-sarcastic takes on what we LIKE about the forthcoming Stern Beatles release! Remember...in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make!

-Stern is re-releasing and updating a classic 40-year old pinball machine. People have been clamoring for this for years, and it opens the door to the possibility of other updated releases like the direly-needed Stargazer and Quicksilver. Maybe new versions with LCDs and updated code, along with the options to play the classic games? Oh the possibilities!!!

-Stern is releasing the first-ever officially licensed Beatles game. The Beatles remain bigger than Jesus, and people have been clamoring for this for years! Oh happy day!

-The game, like virtually all recent Stern releases save WWE, will likely kick all sorts of ass to play. Despite the typically horrible teaser trailer (an amateur affair that like many before it - Star Wars comes to mind - makes the game look like it plays slow as a turtle and dumb as a chimp), this game will likely be fast and furious with great rules. That's what stern does, over and over again. And, the playfield has obviously been tweaked to make it play faster and smoother than before. Real players know what to look for.

-Stern will be making millions in profits on this project, ensuring the long-term financial health of the company for years to come. Competition is good for pinball!!

So there you have it. Let the lovefest commence!

There's like 5 other Beatles parody threads. Now there's 6!

BOOM! Proof baby! From England even, home of the Fab Four!

gs (resized).jpg

I can think of a ton of free-play locations.

I can also think of one non-free play location that would SURELY buy one of these, but probably won't without a coin door (sunshine in Brooklyn).

It is funny to me seeing posts in the dumpster fire thread about how this is the Beatles "weakest period" and it's a "big miss."

The Beatles were literally the biggest thing on Earth in 1964. And in the US for a country reeling from the JFK assassination it was a bit of a national healing and distraction. Don't get these particular complaints at all.

I'm particular to 1966-post Beatles, but there's no denying the Beatles were never a bigger cultural phenomena than they were in 1964. Girls were clawing their own faces off at concerts. Fans were tearing the doors off their cars.

The artwork gets Beatlemania down perfectly. It achieves what it sets out to.

This guy gets it!

1 down....28,976 to go.

Not interested in a pay cut or getting paid to have the pinball community hate me.

I'll do that pro bono!

Did you hit your head this morning and forget about the cheapest, best games available today - stuff like Iron Maiden, Deadpool, Metallica, AC/DC etc? This stuff is rolling off the line and costs LESS than any of the games by the companies you listed that we are supposed to be supporting because they don't "bend us over."

I get your point about the Beatles costing too much. Yeah it sucks that I won't be buying one, but I've never bought an NIB game in my life and don't plan to. Stern are not monsters. They are a company. They don't hate you. They like being in business and making a profit.

This is part of their business plan. Their bread and butter will ALWAYS BE the affordable, awesome games like Iron Maiden. You should give them credit for that. Whenever something like this or Supreme comes around, everybody pretends that they aren't STILL making and selling the most affordable games on the planet. Without Stern Route pinball would be dead.

Nobody is gonna build a route on expensive boutique games with limited appeal. And that's all that would exist without Stern constantly churning out quality, affordable product.

I mean, I know you understand this. And you won't "reward Them" by buying one, which is smart for you. But someone who wants to buy one of these isn't doing anything wrong or getting "bent over," any more than someone who buys a Houdini for $7,000.

I disagree. We already have a dumpster fire hatethread (plus five other hatethreads that didn't catch on) so it's good to have an alternative for people who want to discuss some of the obviously awesome aspects of this project.

A classic Stern update? Count me in. More please!

We have no idea what the actual pricing would be.

If Beatles is available for $7500, wouldn't that quell the outrage a bit? You realize there's gotta be a Beatles premium on this.

As usual, people are so eager to shit all over Stern they just hallucinate things to shit on them about. Let's catch our breath for a minute!

If this opens the door to more updated classics, yes, it's a great thing. The world needs more Star Gazers.

To answer your question pricing on NIB games around 1980 was around $1900.

No. Nobody knows the prices.

One distributor who has a 50/50 record of being right about stuff says $7500 for starters.

Huh?

People have been saying over and over again "why doesn't stern vault a classic game?" Well here you are. They've proven it can be done. This game is a reskinned, tweaked Seawitch, a classic Stern design.

So yes, I'd say it opens the door to either releases or reskinned classics being done, just like Iron Man VE opened the door to the future of modern classics being rerun and/or redone. Oh the possibilities!

Take it to the hatethread boss!!!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-beatles-kapow-stern-pinball-official-speculation-thread

This here thread is all about feeling the love.

Christ Mr. "hey did you know I was involved in Alien" is here to shit up my love thread.

Thanks a lot dude!!!

Serenity now....

We all know that a license like this, there's a good chance stern had very little artistic license as far as the license goes.

However, this being a love thread, I'll state have no problem with the art. It captures nostalgia-tinged Beatlemania 1964 perfectly. Pinball art is SUPPOSED to be a bit over the top, ain't it? I mean, we all love the White Album, but I don't think that particular art would have worked out too well.

Unless you think Supreme looks better without the red!

Yeah no shit. That's the whole point of the thread.

Nice detective work, Columbo!

Do you have anything nice to say about Beatles? At all? Come on man, you can do it!

Take a sip.

(also Kool aid? I know you are the number 1 Alien nutswinger on Earth but Alien's art is atrocious and nowhere near as good as Beatles. This is accepted fact. At least in this thread ).

So that's a no on you saying anything nice about the Beatles project?

There's so much low-hanging fruit here. How about being happy for the people who really want a Beatles game? Or maybe you like spinners? Or you dig "Baby you can drive my car?"

There's gotta be something!

BOOOOOOOOM!

Thanks buddy

Yup. It's exactly inline with the FLOOD of Beatles merch that came out during that initial wave of Beatlemania. I've seen that stuff first hand and that's exactly what this pin reminded me of.

Safe space bro.

Welcome.

People refuse to grant stern this courteousy for some weird reason. Except for us here in the we love you yeah, yeah, yeah thread!

Thanks to everybody for contributing. I’m really starting to get hyped up to play this machine. I just found out there will be a diamond for me to play locally so I’m super psyched.

With the serial number printed on the backglass.

Could work.

Very good point.

I for one, think it's time for the Silent Majority to rise up and make their voices heard on November 6!!

Err....

Sorry dude, but this is nonsense, and it's all in your head. Stern is selling machines, making people happy, and annoying a few pinsiders. You know, like EVERY pinball company.

Couldn't agree more.

Every single game that comes out people bitch about the art and say it's garish.

You know, like hundreds of games before it. Cause you know, it's a pinball machine. It's supposed to grab attention!

LOL yeah. Pinside has trouble hating more than one thing at a time. Kinda like my grandmother, she was always pissed off at one of us.

and long ball times
and the Alien guy had some things to say about the art

Wow the internet bet? About something I don't even believe? (only an idiot would expect this to cost below $5600. Just like only an idiot would go on extended rants about prices that HAVEN'T BEEN ANNOUNCED YET AND NOBODY KNOWS)

You sure you don't want to argue about who is more like Hitler?

Why would I make a bet with some dude I've never met over an opinion? Unless I were 12?

Here's where you call me chicken. Checkmate!

Well played sir.

So do you have anything nice to say about the Beatles?

Lol I missed that. Yeah I talk a lot and post more than he does.

Wanna bet $20 Ripley?

He mostly posts twice as much as I do.

moustly.

I'd look to Batman 66.

Similar art packages. Sparkly trim. Extra plastic figures. A topper. Lighted speakers and upgraded sound...that kind of stuff. Nothing that's gonna change anyone's mind about the project.

And I feel ya brother, but really, just like the dying hatethread, we are ALL in a holding pattern till the November 6 release, when we'll have a lot of stuff to excited about or complain about. Until then I guess the juice is squeezed all out of this one.

But thanks everybody for nurturing this lovefest with your good vibes and kind thoughts! It was really a wonderful counterpart to the hatethread and you all helped make it a smashing success!

It’s almost as if Stern just churns ‘em out, and if you don’t want this one, there’s always another right around the corner!

See, there’s always a silver lining, Tex!

WE don’t have to worry about that.

Not our problem frankly.

I’m sure they’d love to play it as I would, but it’s really not an overlap. A pretty small percentage of tournament players are buying new sterns on the reg. Stern isn’t making games for those guys.

Most of the tourney crowd is pretty cheap, nothing like the free-spending folks around here.

I’m no marketing expert but...I’ll go out on a wild limb...

Maybe Beatles fans.

If you look back into the long tortured history of Pinside, you'll see that I never believed the Kiss Army would show up for Kiss Pinball. The mighty legacy of the KISS merchandising machine has been a hyped up myth for decades. The KISS army's ranks are decimated from age and neglect, and KISS fans always favored cheap trinkets for their shelf, with the original Bally KISS - which has been available, relatively cheap, and plentiful for 40 years as the holy KISS grail - for their basements. I Think Stern bought into the nonsense and were ill-advised to (likely over)pay for the KISS license in the 21st century.

I just don't think you can compare the marketing BS of Gene Simmons and company with The Beatles. We'll see soon enough.

I played Seawitch a bunch at the PAPA facility this weekend past.

What a great game! Lends itself toward modern pinball much more than Quicksilver, another classic which was right next to it.

Can't wait to play the updated version, which I'm told is smoother and loops better.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?

Supreme sold out an undetermined number of $10,000 pinball machines to people who don't even know what pinball is, in 8 seconds.

I guess there's just no chance of a little wait-and-see on this one huh?

Right now I'm pretty convinced that at least 50 percent of pinside believes in their very soul that this game will be priced at $50,000, feature 6 second loops of five songs, and will not sell.

Big reveal is coming on November 6. Keep your pants on!

dp

Common sense tells me that a limited edition game from the #1 pinball company with one of the most highly anticipated licenses of all time with massive crossover appeal to a well-heeled and enthusiastic demographic will sell just fine.

Common sense tells me we had this same discussion about Batman 66 two years ago, yet that game is still on the production line and is selling fine.

You say "nobody is biting" and I know a guy who is buying one of each version regardless of prices. And common sense and past practice tells me in the end when the game is revealed and people start playing it and seeing it and having time to rationalizie it, plenty of Pinsiders will end up biting just like they do in the wake of every "marketing fiasco" (see JJP POTC).

So I guess we'll just have to wait to see how common sense is these days.

Remember how nobody was going to buy JJP POTC when they took that triple spinning disc out? Remember how nobody was going to buy Batman when they lost Expo and the pricing was revealed?

Minds change around here all the time in flash once a game is actually revealed and people have had time to rationalize buying it. Don't forget, these are toys and luxury items, and the reality is that ALL NIB purchases are a waste of money.

Lines in the sand disappear like a fart in the wind here all the time. If people want it, they'll buy it, regardless of all the sound and the fury.

Certainly true! And I believe this will be the case here.

People just love the Beatles Man! Great band, great tunes, great memories.

We named THE DOG Indiana!!!!

Right, it's imaginary $6,000 Monster Bash remake syndrome. Since this hobby is in large part built upon rationalizing purchases I guess it makes sense.

It's painful, but we always gotta factor in REAL expenses when rationalizing a purchase of a pin, and really, nobody wants to do that (unless they are bashing a Stern I think). I just bought an EBD project for $950, which is a great deal. But it's actually $1150 once my transportation expenses are factored in. And I'm gonna put an Alltek in it...and send the sound board out for repair...you get the picture...

But...all I'm telling anybody today is that I "scored an EBD for 950 bucks dude! BOOOOOOOOOM!!!"

That’s not enough. I would prefer a 6-ball multiball.

Also 8 songs isn’t enough. I demand 10!!

Am I missing something????

There’s no coin door!!

How am I supposed to not put money into this game that I don’t want to play???

I think we have to call that one a draw!

The Speaker Panels are VOX amps?

Nice touch!!!

BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SEAWITCH!!!

Welcome back love thread!!!

I gotta say, I LOVE this Beatles project.

Not only do we get an awesome new pinball machine to play that is gonna be huge servings of TNA style updated classic fun, with amazing music, sounds, speech, and animations (for the average price of a new pinball machine these days), this game has brought the fractious pinside community together in ways I never thought possible.

A wave of love and unity has washed over us all. We’ve come together. The love we make is equaling the love we take from this passionate, beautiful hobby!

Thank you Beatles, thank you pinball, and most of all, thank you Stern for doing what we all thought was impossible: at long last, bringing us a Beatles pinball game!

We love you, yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!

1. I’m not gonna read that so maybe summarize what he said and why it’s relevant to the successful Stern Beatles project.

2. The day anybody on pinside gives a Shit about what Quincy jones thinks is the day your average pinsider can name three things Quincy Jones is famous for without using the Internet.

3. Elvis didn’t mean shit to chuck D. Again, who on pinside really cares? I’m not sure you are familiar with the pinside demographic.

And “spotted liver” Frank Sinatra!

Attention Iceman!!!

We got room for you over here now, baby!