One thing I have wondered about Stranger Things... How much Eddy contributed to the code?

But in the first video we saw the guy was not a good player and he couldn’t seem to lose the ball. It’s going to be a long playing game no question. Not such a bad thing given this is Bond and you want to see as much of it as possible. Just hope the code is deep enough (like B66 deep) to support long game times.

That’s a good question, considering how he started with the shadow on both design and code.

I’m sure all lead designers have a significant say on code if they choose.

Must be a new thing at Stern...my Rush and GZ are much longer play games than I'm use to. If Bond is even longer playing than Rush/GZ, it's going to be a big bummer. I guess if you are playing it in an arcade, it's cool, however I prefer challenging games for the home.

Yeh, that surprised me about GZ when I finally got to play it. Interesting to hear Rush is the same - not usually the case with Borg.

Then I HIGHLY recommend ordering teenage mutant ninja turtles during this last run. Extremely difficult and short playing pin, despite its cartoony theme.

Reminds me of a modern slot machine sound when the reels are going.

I’m down for a long playing Bond game. I usually don’t worry about Stern code these days no matter who is doing it, BUT, I must admit that I’m a titch worried that code won’t do justice to Bond!

New Zealand prices.. Pro. was 12.5K now 14.5K
Premium was 16.5K now 19K
LE was 19.3K now 25.5 K

Good luck Stern...

Rush is actually much longer play than GZ. Yep, I've played more TRON than any other game and it routinely rejects me after 3-5 minutes Rush is the new pin in the lineup and my games are typically 15 minutes long or more. Actually tiring The combos, shots, light show and music are awesome...so it's not a hardship.

I can't stomach the theme, unfortunately, but I trust it's a sweet playing Borg game, for sure.

Lyman definitely set the benchmark with b66 - perfect for this style of theme. If they’re going to borrow from any code they should just cut and paste b66.

Yes!!! If Lonnie is gonna cut and paste then use Lyman code for crying out loud!

Just port it over

It’s all RotoDaves fault.

Can we drop the stranger things babble please? Stranger things and Rush makes my stomach turn anyhow . This is a bond thread! Shack attack riff was hilarious but let’s focus! Oh and btw your fan for GB was fantastic!

Not for me - I could listen to that thing all day. Especially when zoning in on a game. Single track of focus and immersion…

Great info thanks. Yeah George is awesome, very cool about answering questions on social media.

lots of EBs to be had... a player awarded ball save... no real unsafe ball returns/feeds except the time-machine dead-end. It's one of those games that can be brutal, but if you are in a groove it will be a long game.

Modern sterns have such gracious ball-saves during nearly any time during a game it contributes to the trend in general.

Yeh, GZ is very generous with ball saves - both outlanes have ball save awards, and the reverse loop thing under the building gives you one during normal play. And start of ball ball save by default is quite long. These should be one and done regardless of how long they are. Should make that an optional setting.

Star Wars

B66 - great theme…. Very mediocre layout… that is saved by probably the best code/rules ever created.

That is the one thing that worries me about Bond… Gomez did the layout for B66… and IMO it is below average for Stern LCD games. Lyman turned what could have been a pretty big cluncker into a gem.

100%

Lyman is the GOAT

Star Wars too

But Batman'66 is just Batman:TDK reworked (mainly remove coffee can, add batcave rotisserie, and remove teeter-totter), so it's was not really a "new" design. Bond looks like a mostly new design

Just watched again, ball sure seems to want to go in the acrylic scoop a lot, maybe the acrylic is lower than the field? Only saw 1 shot that sdtm, just to the right of the drop targets. I think with a few updates it will be a great fun shooter. Action button never was lit I believe, so much to be added still.

It’s the turntable and the left ramp that hinders b66. I agree the right side is pretty similar- but from what I remember of TDK the left side is completely different.

The rotisserie is the worst part about Batman'66. Really slows it down, and usually that doesn't bother me in a pin. There are settings in the system menu to speed the rotation up, but it's still a momentum-killer.

As someone who doesnt really know the rules, when playing on location, I bash the turntable lol.

Batman 66 is a whole lot more than a simple rework. The turntable is a brilliant hardware choice that allows you the ability to play through an episode and fits the theme perfectly - a super fast game just wouldn’t be true to the theme.

You continue to piss on the game because of the belief Stern somehow screwed you when you didn’t pay attention to the code announcements.

That new video it sounds like Tales of the Arabian Nights.

Can somebody with knowledge of Stern's current production schedule please confirm that Stern will be making a limited number of Bond pros for operators before the LE's go on the line, and if known what date they plan to start the production of those operator Bond pros vs the LE's?

Is Elwin also using Lonnie Slop?

No, Mark Penacho has been tagged to do the Elwin Bond's code.

Stern brought him back to pinball last year after quite a long time doing video games and "high speed trading systems" (for stocks? futures? commodities?):

https://sternpinball.com/2021/03/05/stern-pinball-enhances-game-design-studio/

So, jury's out about how great his code will be. He did EatPM, Hurricane, Earthshaker, and Fish Tales, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

At least it's not Lonnie.

Based on the latest vid, the code is a train wreck, and the audio/video integration is a hot mess. They have some serious work to do... Bond deserves only the very best.

Tip: DON'T use the main Bond theme as the main theme in the game, save it for a special feature. And... oh my god... don't play boring, speech-heavy movie clips! Focus on animation, with action movie clips spliced in only for key moments.

Bloody amateurs (joking)... pull your finger out Stern, don't half-ass this.

Agreed. The theme music should be kept for the big moments.

Yeah, I don't know what they're going to do to avoid making everyone sick to death of the Bond theme. The movie scores for the ones covered here are not really that pulse-pounding so they fit with pinball. I mean, there are a bunch of rock and metal covers of the Bond theme, which would be nice for variety, but I think even then people would get sick of the theme pretty quickly.

“I’ve come to offer my sincere condolences”

Ba nah ba nah na na na nah na na na…

Tron was already made 3 times.
For many reasons, there will not be a 4th.

For once,
I kept the right game and do not have egg on my face for dealing away a true gem of a title, which Tron definitely is.

I just sold my tron LE. Amazing game but has Felix or James mentioned me at all? I was wondering if you could put in a good word?

Ba na nananah ba na nannah na nah

Agree, Bond theme should be used for key moments just like the movies.
Playing it on loop is poor
Hoping it’s a placeholder.

I would think once things progress....they will not play the bond theme on a loop. Also we all know the code will improve. Until it's a year after release and at that point it really sucks... I am not too worried. But I've been wrong before

Sorry to say, but this game looks to play like every other Stern game out there. They have a lot of work to make this game unique and I’m not digging the slot machine and casino gaming thing. Even the match sequence with the roulette wheel blows. I have my share of Sterns and glad I will just be able to play this on location instead of spending stupid money for one.

Think you read my mind.
I would have stayed well clear of those noises and animations.
Edit: Also reminds me of online betting/gaming …lol

Maybe Stern is thinking of when people said Jurassic Park wasn't Jurrasic Park enough, so they put the 007 theme on loop for the same folks who need to be reminded of what they're playing.

Godzilla is probably on its 10th code update. Lots of games the code was horse crap to begin with. Or I’ve read, the Machine layout is horse crap until the code updates saved it. I like this layout and the theme is awesome. Go piss in your own wheaties and stop acting like you know anything about this machine.

Gz just got to 1.0 so it hasn't been especially fast getting there - just under a year. Rush got to 1.0 on the same day, so it was a few months quicker.

Same goes with my X-Men LE..What a beast' of a machine trying to keep the ball alive..although the multiballs really help keep it going. It's sitting next to my Spiderman and CCr, and my game times are always higher..most of the time. (but I admit, I love magnet machines).

USD strength combined with price hike is tuff.

Converted to New Zeeland Dollar, Premium is 21.700, LE is 30.500 NZD in Germany

So looks like you get very good Pinball Prices at the opposite side of the world

Based on the playfield, it appears there are modes for each movie as the player progresses and as a music guy I would expect to hear the congas from Dr. No, Three Blind Mice, You Only Live Twice Nancy Sinatra, Goldfinger with Shirley Bassey, etc. If there’s no songs then what are we paying for Stern? I’m watching the Elwin release too.. If I don’t hear Duran Duran View to a Kill and Gladys Knight License to Kill, etc. then I’d seriously question Stern and if Stern has paid for music rights and if it’s all just profit minded. It’s too big for me to ignore especially with the Bond movies and I think we’d be all idiots to accept just a single Bond theme for the whole game and with a price increase? George & Lyman used everything for Batman ‘66, there is so much sound, so much video footage, a million custom callouts, from both Burt & Adam, the music changes constantly even though the main theme is Batman, there’s no comparison so to speak, so to compare the code now? I think that would be crazy. I expect there will be a gazillion clips they’ll be using, especially with Bond and the jetpack, underwater fighting scenes from Thunderball, Aston Martin car eject scenes, they have it all on the playfield! and the design is all there! They have their work cutout for them.. Lyman has BIG shoes to fill!!

9160FA8D-6E38-443A-BE9E-EDC9208955CB (resized).jpeg