So you are a self-described Stern Justice Warrior (SJW)? That’s quite an acronym there!

So this is an interesting, promising development. Last night I played a freshly unboxed JPLE. It had the old style playfield, with art all the way under star posts, and no washers (except under the third flipper post). I checked all the problem areas with my phone flashlight. It looked absolutely perfect.

Pretty sure the local Chicago distributor had just picked it up Thursday or Friday, so it’s very newly made. Sorry I forgot to check the date. Anyway, for Stern to ship a game at this point with art under posts and no washers, means they at least think they have it figured out. Or so I hope.

Possible they just had to use up old pf stock so they used an art under posts version.

Also possible that they made it a while back and it has been sitting in warehouse waiting to be unboxed.

Wait till the game has around 300-500 plays and then use it as a data point would be my suggestion.

I was aiming for something in the middle, (more neutral) since I also spend thousands of dollars on new games, but I'll take that description if the only other options is "a pitchfork carrying member of the Pinball Pity-Party Patrol".

God forbid anyone on Pinside would view Stern from anything less-than the absolute most negative point of view:

"Stern sent you a bottle of clearcoat? That MUST mean that it's their final resolution, and they don't care about you. There's NO WAY that the issue might also be travelling up to the second support tier for review." (Let's not clarify, just assume. It fits our agenda)

"a JPLE, recently unboxed, is using the old artwork under the slings again? That MUST mean that Stern has used the old defective playfields and everything will fall apart. There's NO WAY that they've fixed anything. I know you didn't see any issues, but I maintain my negativity by declaring that issues WILL CERTAINLY arise in the future."

Question: how many Pinsiders does it take to change a playfield?
Answer: 21. 1 to contact Stern and make the swap. 20 more to complain about it online.

(Flamesuit on)

LOL, give it up kid.

At this point you are coming across as a “pity party” for yourself. No offense, but you stated your position in several long posts. Seems like you just want to argue. You think pinside = babies, others think stern and Jjp are fleecing people with peeling paint. Both can be true.

Starting to get into "broken record" territory. Mods, can we get a ruling?

So, how did it shoot?

Great news....Games shouldn't need washers, period. Suspect Stern has the horsepower ( $$$) to get a corrected solution in place pretty quick..
They've provided them before, no reason they can't do it again.

How's the JJP side going? I don't come in these threads often, as there are many.

From my POV that's a side effect of the clear not being what it once was. Not the root cause but not sure we will ever know for sure.

Agreed...As long as it's fixed, I don't care. Until then, out on NIB...

185 games in

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You guys REALLY need to just hold off on nib. Nothing will improve if you don’t.

Has JJP made and shipped any new Wonka SE's and LE's since Jack came out and spoke about the playfield issues?

That sucks. Has someone constructed a timeline of when the quality went downhill? At least as far as paint/clear goes?

Does anyone know if any of Stern's recent playfield issues (pooling, chipping, etc) affected Guardians of the Galaxy pins as well? I played one recently and liked it a lot more then I expected. I am now thinking about looking for a premium on the used market if one pops up in my region.

Any insight is very appreciated.

I would say GTG's production definitely falls in that production time of when we are seeing problems. The upside is you are looking for used and won't have to play Stern NIB Roulette. My advice would be to ask the seller to send you a bunch of pictures of the posts, look at them closely, if everything looks good, make the trip, pull the glass, inspect the posts in person and if it looks good take home a GTG but I sure as hell would not being buy new if it were me.

Really sorry to see that! What’s the build date on your playfield?

Wait, Is this your very first pin purchase??! Your profile reads as such, and if so I would be beyond livid!! WOW

5/24/19

Yup first one

It’s a head scratcher when you have much older games with perfect playfields. The RBION/POTC era sterns I’ve had were flawless with many more plays obviously.

I hate to see you have such a poor experience for your first pin purchase; especially on a high dollar game. I hope your distributor/Stern make it right for you!

Thanks for the feedback. I agree with you. Won’t be buying anything NIB until I am confident these issues have been truly addressed and resolved.

Thanks! I reached out this morning and will see what can be done.

Not really a head scratcher. You had different processes, different materials, and a whole slew of toxic chemicals that are now considered unsafe.

#gimmebackmyVOCs

Routed Game of Thrones premium, chipping was present around most of the sling posts.

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That gets stated and accepted as fact, but not sure we know that for sure. That’s why I was wondering about a timeline by release as to when this started

This ^^^ My guess is they were able to put the older VOC clear on thick and maybe in one coat, they applied the newer EPA stuff the same way and that might be why we are seeing the current problems.

So yes on GOT.

Copied this from pricing thread...so, going back to GOT. Any earlier than that? Kiss? WWE? TWD? I haven’t heard any on those. So around 2014-2015 was there a change?

2019
Similar release to Beatles and Batman 66 - no Pro's
September / 2019 / Elvira House of Horrors / Premium / $7999
September / 2019 / Elvira House of Horrors / LE (400 only) / $9599
September / 2019 / Elvira House of Horrors / Signature Edition ( 50 only) / Call For Price
July / 2019 / Jurassic Park / Pro / $5999
July / 2019 / Jurassic Park/ Premium / $7599
July / 2019 / Jurassic Park / LE (500 of) / $8999
July / 2019 / Star Wars "The Pin" / $4499 (Home Version Pin)
May / 2019 / Batman 66 / Premium (Catwoman Signature Edition) / $7999
May / 2019 / The Munsters / Premium (Colour Package) / $7599
March / 2019 / Black Knight: Sword of Rage / Pro / $5999
March / 2019 / Black Knight: Sword of Rage / Premium / $7599
March / 2019 / Black Knight: Sword of Rage / LE (600 of) / $8999
January / 2019 / The Munsters / Pro / $5999
January / 2019 / The Munsters / Premium (Black & White Art Package) / $7599
January / 2019 / The Munsters / LE (600 of)(Colour Package) / $8999
...............................................................................
2018
November / 2018 / Primus / Boutique Limited to 100 (Re-themed Whoa Nellie design game) / $7995
October / 2018 / Beatles / 1614 x Gold (Premium's) - $7999
Platnium & Diamond prices set by dealers so vary...
October / 2018 / Beatles / 250 x Platinum (LE's) - $10000 to $12500
October / 2018 / Beatles / 100 x Diamond (SLE's) - $20000 to $25000
August / 2018 / Deadpool / Pro $5,999
August / 2018 / Deadpool / Premium $7,599
August / 2018 / Deadpool / LE (500 of) $8,999
May / 2018 / Star Trek VE / Pro / $5995
May / 2018 / Star Trek VE / Premium / $7495
March / 2018 / Iron Maiden / Pro / $5999
March / 2018 / Iron Maiden / Premium / $7599
March / 2018 / Iron Maiden / LE (500 of) / $8999
February/ 2018 / "Supreme" / Boutique (Re-themed Spiderman "The Pin" design game) / $10.5k with 200 made (apparently)
January / 2018 / AC/DC VE / Premium LUCI / $7699
These games now have the removable window for the Premium playfield
...............................................................................
2017
October / 2017 / Guardians of the Galaxy / Pro / $ 6,199
October / 2017 / Guardians of the Galaxy / Premium / $7,899
October / 2017 / Guardians of the Galaxy/ LE / $8,999
June / 2017 / Star Wars / Pro / $6199
June / 2017 / Star Wars / Premium / $7899
June / 2017 / Star Wars / LE (800) / $8999
May / 2017 / AC/DC VE / Pro / $6099
May / 2017 / AC/DC VE / Premium / $7699
These games now have slightly different are and the removable window for the Premium playfield
January / 2017 / Aerosmith / Pro / $6199
January / 2017 / Aerosmith / Premium / $7899
January / 2017 / Aerosmith / LE (500) / $8999
...............................................................................
2016
September / 2016 / Spiderman "The Pin" / $3800 (Home Version Pin)
First game with LCD Display, not a DMD
August / 2016 / Batman 66 / Pro - not available this time around
August / 2016 / Batman 66 / Premium / $8599
August / 2016 / Batman 66 / LE (240 only) / $9999
August / 2016 / Batman 66 / Super LE (30 + 50 only due to demand) / $14999
July / 2016 / PBR "Can Crusher" / Boutique (Re-themed Whoa Nellie design game) / $6995
March / 2016 / Ghostbusters / Pro / $5995
March / 2016 / Ghostbusters / Premium / $7595
March / 2016 / Ghostbusters / LE / $8795
January / 2016 / Spiderman VE (Comic Version) / $7595
...............................................................................
2015
September / 2015 / Game of Thrones / Pro / $5995
September / 2015 / Game of Thrones / Premium / $7595
September / 2015 / Game of Thrones / LE / $8795
May / 2015 / Kiss / Pro / $5995
May / 2015 / Kiss / Premium / $7595
May / 2015 / Kiss / LE / $8795
March / 2015 / Whoa Nellie / Boutique / $6499
January / 2015 / WWE / Pro / $5495
January / 2015 / WWE / LE / $8595
.................................................................................
2014
December / 2014 / The Walking Dead / Premium / $7595
September / 2014 / The Walking Dead / Pro / $5995
September / 2014 / The Walking Dead / LE / $8595
August / 2014 / Metallica / Pro LED / $5595
June / 2014 / Iron Man VE / Pro / $5495
March / 2014 / Mustang / Pro / $5395
March / 2014 / Mustang / Premium / $7495
March / 2014 / Mustang / LE / $8495
..................................................................................
2013
December / 2013 / AC/DC Luci Premium / $7495
September / 2013 / Star Trek / Pro / $5395
September / 2013 / Star Trek / Premium / $7495
September / 2013 / Star Trek / LE / $8795
April / 2013 / Metallica / Pro / $4995
April / 2013 / Metallica / Premium / $6995 (2 models - Monsters & Road Case)
April / 2013 / Metallica / LE / $7595
Jan / 2013 / Avengers "The Pin" / $4000 (Home Version Pin)
..................................................................................
2012
November / 2012 / Avengers / Pro / $5699
November / 2012 / Avengers / LE (2 models) / $8099
October / 2012 / Transformers "The Pin" / $4000 (Home Version Pin)
June / 2012 / X-Men / Pro / $5699
June / 2012 / X-Men / LE (2 models) / $7999
March / 2012 / AC/DC / Pro / $5699
March / 2012 / AC/DC / Premium / $7699
March / 2012 / AC/DC / LE (2 models) / $8499
...................................................................................
2011
September / 2011 / Transformer / Pro / $4795
September / 2011 / Transformer / LE (3 models ?) / $6999
May / 2011 / Tron / Pro / $4799
May / 2011 / Tron / LE / $5999
January / 2011 / Rolling Stones / Pro / $4799
January / 2011 / Rolling Stones / LE / $5999
...................................................................................
2010
August / 2010 / Avatar / Pro / $4799
August / 2010 / Avatar / LE / $5999
LE's did not really exist before Avatar
April / 2010 / IronMan / Pro / $4799
April / 2010 / IronMan / Classic (Home) / $3799

Sorry to see this. Is this a Catwoman edition?

This train of thought doesn't work. This is not about when games were released... it's about when games were BUILT. Since Stern runs multiple games at the same time, and different batches of the same title... you have to look at what games were built in the affected time period... not when games were released.

Have you waxed your game? The pics by the lane guide don't look like other issues - kind of looks like it could be dried wax???

Also, the shooter lane wear is typical of an unprotected shooter lane on Stern's - it's been that way for a while now (like 5 years). They need to be protected with a protector or mylar unfortunately, as the ball comes out of the trough with a lot of force.

The final other pic is hard to tell what's going on.

The missing chip of paint from the bare wood area that you suspect might be wax can clearly be seen floating around in the 2nd pic down, and is laying on top of the crane in the 5th pic down.

Shooter lanes shouldn't look like that on a game this new....whether u have a protector or not...

I agree - but it's been that way for about 5 years.

Maybe with Stern, but not with my JJP or CGC games...

It’s a circular chip in the clear coat, there is some dark machine dust hiding under the lip of the chip in between the wood and clear coat that what could be interpreted as wax in the picture. I think if I scraped that with my nail, it would chip off and make the chip area bigger.

Thats why first thing I do is cover the inlane.

Not a fan of playfield protectors but love these.

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Who sells those?

Mezelmods is a US distributor for PU Parts in Europe, and others may carry it as well

I have them on my GOTG and BM66, great product

double

Hope you get resolution, that playfield is piss poor after 185 plays.
Never knew it affected BM66 - looks like anything out there relatively new is potentially fair game to these chipping issues ☹️

I all most pulled the trigger on a Cat woman B66.. glad I didnt now.
Hope Stern help you out on this like they should!

Yeah Catwoman edition

It's a head scratcher when you consider they can paint and clearcoat cars with what is considered safe now, and they don't seem to have these problems.

Those are pretty handy. Might have to try one

I’ve been using Thin self adhesive felt in the Eject area from Hobby Lobby

Less than a buck a sheet. Works great on most games

Not saying anyone should accept a bad pf, but cars don’t have printed graphics under the clear.

No, they seem to use a tried and true method with quality paint.

If the process has changed due to the toxic chemicals then why hasn't it affected the car makers?