And at lease it's cheap.

Stern Home Edition, not so much.

How long did it take for people to get replacement playfields? I requested my replacement playfields going back to January. I have followed up 7 or 8 times. I keep getting the response let me check with quality. Crazy. I sent pictures etc.

So I am not sure about the particle board diagnosis. It just has that look and texture. Anyone know for sure?

do a better photograph, its not sharp. The PF should have such layers:

45a (resized).jpg

Took me about 6-7 months, with multiple emails.

Thats my dining room table, it was custom ordered by my Yiayia (grandma in greek) back in the 60s, she lived in CA and drove to mexico to pick it up, there was actually two of them, i dont know what happened to the other.
062A929D-7E17-4C60-B13D-6F557A1BFAA4 (resized).jpeg

Only if Stern paid someone to install it. Otherwise they're on the customer's time which could be soon or never.

No, this is.
DSCN7033 (resized).JPG

Damn. Gorgeous

I remember when pinball collection was a hobie for men back when EM games were $200 to $500 and NIB was $3200 now pinball seems to be full of rich pansy-ass whiners

Unknown-4 (resized).jpeg

Who hurt you? Why are you the way that you are?

Well when you paid for 500 bucks, its easier to overlook issues. $8,000? kinda a different story, wouldnt you think?

Agreed granted back when machines cost 500 you could also buy a car for 6700. After paying 60k for an SUV recently I would love to go back to the past.

Forgive a most times lurker who has been a pinball hobbyist for 50-ish years. The "traditional" method of fabricating playfields involved gluing inserts into recesses routed into the playfield (said recesses being shallower than the inserts) and then running the playfield through a belt sander to level everything before silk screening the artwork onto the playfield. (The top "face" of the insert typically had mold markings on it, so sanding also served the purpose of removing the markings.)

Has Stern switched to the Mirco process where they use inserts sized to match the height of the routed recess? That's one of the few things that would result in inserts standing proud of the playfield (the other is excessively moist wood that shrinks after the playfield is machined).

In short, the top of the insert should be level with the surface of the playfield *before* clear is applied. Using clear to "bury" proud inserts is a hack job.

All I can say is if you buy a Chevy Cavalier after already owning one or reading reviews from other owners, expect to get Chevy Cavalier quality.

$8000 is for fools

From seeing their in house process not much on the manufacturing has changed much except for the base and finish materials used do to cost or availability.

What game is this?

Ahh yes, the good old days!
DodgeAries (resized).jpg

1988 was a good year for me.

But not so good for the auto industry. lol

K car is a good reference for the quality of some of these playfields.

You do understand that you are in a Stern and JJP playfield thread, right? If you have a line on $500 Sterns or JJP's, I have $20,000 to buy as many as you can supply. If you can supply more than that, Ill get more cash. Ill even go up to $1000 for immaculate pins. PM me the details. Thanks.

How high would you go on immamaculate pins?

Me too! Mullet... check. Comb in my back pocket..check. The ladies never saw me coming...literally..

I guess I don't really have much more constructive to add to this thread.

DSCN7040 (resized).JPG

DSCN7042 (resized).JPG

How is the Rick & Morty playfield holding up? Not sure who Stern uses but this company (Bader Custom Cabinets) is in Illinois.

So far it's the best quality playfield I have ever seen. Hard as a rock and smooth and shiny. You can't even stick a fingernail in the side of it. As far as dimples, so small, you would never know they were there unless you looked super close.

Now I guess the secret is out where they came from. Not much of a secret if it is stamped under the apron. And the cabinet is just as well made and solid. Perhaps from the same place.

What! Wait a minute! Are you implying that we do have the technology - the technology to build a high quality pin ?

There are some things that have gotten to the point of stupid example shooter laine protectors . Scoop protectors make sense shooter laine protectors are for the same people who go out of their way looking for dimples

The fact is many of the pics I have seen posted are not issues just games owned by whinny bitchs

I thought Stern still uses Churchill Cabinet Company (parent company of Chicago Gaming Co)

They used to but now that CGC is making pinball games (ie competition) I thought Stern moved its business. Not sure though.

I believe you are correct. I've read that they use several cabinet sources and to save money, get the cheaper wood, as evidenced by the cabinets splitting at the corners issue a couple years ago.

And I thought I read somewhere that the splitting cabinet issue precipitated Stern going to another manufacturer.

Very possible and I sure hope so. I got a NIB GB Pro that was made during the issue. I installed the heavy duty leg brackets day 1 out of the box because I was worried. I know something changed because my Batman had a black bottom panel and my Jurassic (made after) has a wooden bottom panel (not painted).

This company which made this GB game, Stern, I believe it’s called. They’re clearly new in this business and still working out the details. Cut ‘em some slack, folks. It can only get better, right?

yes, that was the beginning of the manufacturer change. but from what i have seen they figured it out now.
soft wood PF not yet.

well, my OF has a Bader PF (but may be all OF have it !?)...

If you can avoid damage, why not? BTW I am not a whiny dimple guy, I understand those, although I dont understand the craters we are seeing on sterns.

Cost and quality cuts by Stern have finally boiled over with fans as reflected by YouTube, Facebook, and Pinside comments. For these all time record prices quality and cost cuts should not be occurring. Customers just want to feel like they are buying a high quality product when dropping $6k - $10k on a pinball machine of all things. I noticed the quality part in Stern's latest motto has been dropped...

Old motto

"Stern Pinball, Inc., the world’s oldest and largest producer of arcade-quality pinball machines"

New motto

"A global lifestyle brand based on the iconic and outrageously fun modern American game of pinball"

Guys, it's widely and well known that the Home/Consumer/Pin machines from Stern (SM, SW, Supreme... and I think Heavy Metal) come with the MDF style PF. This is not news, or some major discovery. It was outlined on Day 1.

What's next... "Hey... what are these bolts on the side of the cab on this SW Home model? Are they bolting cabinets together now instead of glue?!?!?! And is the cabinet made from particle board with the edges painted black and exposed on the front???"... YES! It's why it's a cheap ass game.

I did not say you were one of them. As for damage on the shooter lane after 2000 or 3000 games you will have a small mark 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch that you have to look for to see. The small shooter lane mark also has no effect on gameplay it's a non-issue

Lots of the newer sterns show more wear than that in as little as 100 plays. Hence the increase in popularity of these protectors.

I gotta imagine the lower weight of new Sterns is saving a ton in shipping costs along the entire supply chain. Lower density wood is lighter obviously. Good for our backs too. Now they just need to figure out how to make the playfield surface harder without adding the weight back in.

I honestly can not understand why Stern haven't tried this. From what I have seen those hard tops look really good. I know it's early and we don't know how they will last over the years but are people confident the current playfilds are going to last. I think the cost savings would be reason enough for Stern to jump all over it. I guess the purist will complain but it's not like they are happy now.

Is this an Amish cabinet company?

I just heard rumors on Sterns next pinball game: IbreakUfix

Just got this NIB. Will this be a problem in the future??

20200709_175229 (resized).jpg

The cabinet splitting was probably due to not using the metal corner braces, which have since returned. The only metal was a thin vertical piece for the leg bolts to screw into.

Granted, they may have switch cabinet makers, but I don't don't know why.

From Pinball Life:

pasted_image (resized).png
pasted_image (resized).png