You aren't grasping what I am saying here. Because the Deadpool is still new. Take those divots and multiply them by 1000. I'm willing to bet it looks just like the WCS when it gets as many plays on it.

Best burn I've seen in a loooong time on here.

Nothing wrong with expecting people to be human, not robots, either.

I tried to point out this was normal in another thread (although, I admitted that there was some increased problems with some companies due to corner/cost cutting). I was told “you sound ridiculous and are obviously uninformed.”

If this really bothers you, wait a few years and buy it if it smooths out, or don’t buy at all. If not, go for NIB.

The ridiculous and uninformed have put in their 2 cents.

That’s the answer - the raw playfield needs to be beaten with a tenderizer until it’s completely compressed flat, then painted and cleared - fixed!

BD6AD6B7-46BB-4E52-AB42-98C52B82F806 (resized).jpeg

Just MHO but if the playfield is dimpled, doesn't that mean the clear coat is inherently dimpled? The wood cannot be affected without going thru the clear coat, is what I am stating. So the clear coat has to be part of the issue, if not all of it. Maybe more recent pins have thicker clear coat or I guess, thinner clear coat if the wood is being impacted. I am not sure it is a wood issue entirely.

It's kind of like the arguments about why in MLB, there are so many more home runs than in the past. Could be the balls changed, could be the bats changed, could be the players changed. Could be the speed of balls being pitched has increased. With pins, air balls are definitely a part of the problem, so what causes them? In MMR, the troll popups sometimes happen when a ball is passing overhead and the glass gets smashed, with a long drop to the playfield. Having the Mantis castle protector contributes to airballs on castle strikes. In general though, maybe certain manufacturers have flipper setups that have stronger coils. Who knows?

Dimpling is normal....Seriously this topic gets rehashed over and over again and it's getting quite old. Get over it people and go play some fucking pinball

It's not just the wood. If you take an older playfield, touch it up, and coat it with auto clear, it's going to look like a sheet of glass until you start playing on it and the dimples start again. That wood should already be compressed.

I'd bet that the clear coats on the newer games are thicker than they were 10-15 years ago. You are seeing dimples over inserts now.

Vid, when you do your testing, test how many mils of clear are on new playfields versus playfields from 10-15 years ago.

Not to be a complete dick, but this kind of comment is BS. These aren't some $10 throw away item. Sure maybe if you've been nose deep in pinball machines for 20-30 years you might have some clue, but it is PERFECTLY reasonable to not know about this as a newer person. It sure as hell doesn't get advertised. You need to get off your high horse. If you don't want to talk about it, stay out of the thread. I don't care who you are, there is no reason to be like that. One sure way to shut this hobby back down is to brush off concerns. These things are NOT cheap.

Thanks.

Nah he’s right.

Dimpling threads are ruining pinball!!!

There are plenty of threads on the topic for a noobie to learn all they want about dimpling. No need to bring it up over and over again

This is the first one I've come across. I've never had the issue, therefore I would know nothing about it. Not only that, it's not something you would search for if you weren't seeing the issue. I think you've been on this forum too long if that's your expectation.

Ok I’m done here. Carry on

I was actually asking a legitimate question. How many plays are you guys putting on these games before the dimpling starts? I am really hoping I don't get dimpling like that.

As soon as you have a ball jump...there will be a dimple. The more you play...the more dimples. Just a fact.

It’s the Stern special for $39!!

Maybe because I am putting more coats than a factory game then? I have not had this problem with any of my playfields thank God!

That’s good! I’m sure things have changed on the manufactures side (wood, type of clear) for modern pins...I’m just not one that knows for sure. All the modern games I’ve seen, from all the other manufactures have had dimpling...some worse than others. If you are clearing them yourself, or have someone that does them for you, you may be doing something different that minimizes dimpling.

Well they actually need to turn a profit but I can put 10 coats down and not worry about it as long as it all lays flat in the end. Mine may act up at some point. When it does I'll start a thread and complain about myself I guess.

Yup, but that's after 20+ years not 20+ days.
Sorry but the playfiels are shit. There are Stern pins in my distributors showroom that look like cottage cheese. Deadpool and iron maiden the worst. And no they don't even out over time. That is Bullshit, and people gotta stop defending this crap.

I had a HUO STTNG with 700 or so plays. That game has cannons that fire the ball at the playfield. No dimples.
And with such little plays I should have been adding some every time I played it. But guess what it still looks perfect.
I had a HUO Breakshot with 950 plays. That game would hit the glass and pop the ball up every direct shot to the drops. No dimples.

I had NIB... a met, imve, Ghostbusters, and ST. Metallica turned to mush by sparky in a couple weeks. And started to chip clearcoat. Ghostbusters looked like the moon after a couple months iMVE had visible woodgrain out of the box but didn't get that bad. But small dimples I would consider acceptable. SternST had no issues in the 3 years I had it.

So say it's normal all you want. I know what I've experienced.

It's not orange peel, it's dimples.

Shine a light at a steep angle then look at the playfiend at a angle and you may find your game has many dimples that what these foolish whiny bitches do

Ah shit. Looks like American Pinball needs to close up shop too!

Houdini (resized).png

Sorry, but it's just not there.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Someone should prob start a time lapse photo collage of a NIB playfield and take multiple pics every 100 plays.......that way in 10 years we can still be arguing about this!

That's a Houdini, soon enough magically all those dimples will disappear

Actually, you are correct. It didn't happen. No dimples...just saying. Lol

Everytime this comes up I ask 2 questions that never get answered.

I have 2 late 70's games without a single dimple. Even posted a close up video showing the line between the playfield and the plastics/posts showing it ain't "all evened out" only response is "that game don't have many air balls". Any game that has posts and rubbers will have air balls. Planking, yes. Missing paint sure. Dimples, no.

How come my 3 CPR playfields that would have "air balls" don't have a single dimple? They been on for several years with several thousand plays each.

One more thing. In all the dimple threads show me one single em that looks even remotely like a new playfield. Don't say "they all evened out" there would be evidence around posts and standoffs.

my walking dead has dimples on the steel magnet also. not only the playfield. keep playing it. they do blend in after a while

Modern games are steeper and faster. Faster ball coming at the flipper means faster exit speed and more airballs. EM's are slow, and rarely if ever have airballs, let alone with the velocity of a modern machine.

I must be crazy to post on a dimple thread, but here goes...

I don’t let dimples bug me but it sure seems like the new Sterns have more pronounced, quicker dimpling than their older models and other manufacturers. Dimpling never caught my attention on numerous HUO games over the years but the heavy dimpling on my BM66, GB and IMDN really stands out. I know that dimpling is there on the other machines but it definitely isn’t as in your face.

I felt like my DI dimpled quicker than my SW. At least the inlane return did

Well let's be honest, cheaper cheaper cheaper is how things are made these days. It would stand to reason that they would do it easier. I don't know what that is on the OP pic, but there is no denying that looks horrible.

If we assume that dimpling has always happened, then most probably never noticed it because most games were bar games in dimly lit rooms and already had 1000's of plays, and if it takes 1000's of plays to even out, most HUO will probably notice the dimples because it would take many years to even out. With all the NIB HUO games these days and add to that there is no denying they are cheaper materials, as well as all the people restoring machines with these nearly flawless playfield pictures these days - maybe that's why the perceived increase of complaints. It is NOT expected by the majority to see this.

Faster/harder? Perhaps, but that isn't really an excuse, that should be taken into account on the R&D side. Again, these aren't some $100 toys.

But the playfield itself is MORE expensive than it used to be.

That's the one place everyone upped their game.

Old games used to just have their topcoats of lacquer silkscreened on. Done.

Now playfields are sprayed with 2 part clearcoats, then actually polished out with abrasives and waxed.

No Bally, Gottlieb or Williams playfield ever came from the factory like that.

Not 100% sure, but between the 00:27 and 00:32 marks, the reflections in black line that runs left to right over the GAR insert looked to have something going on. Again, very hard to tell. Now I'm going to go check out mine.

So is it the shininess amplifying the effect? I even thought maybe mylar was a reason many older games didn't seem to have the problem.

First get the word "problem" out of your head, so you can think clearly.

There is no problem.

Anyone that operated games back in the day, will tell you that all new games dimple.

It's only the nubies that believe a piece of wood is going to be harder than a piece of steel because someone sprayed a .004" coating of urethane on it.

EVERYTHING is amplifying the effect.

New playfields are polished and waxed at the factory - the shinier something is, the more ANY imperfection stands out.

New games are brightly lit - old games had almost no lighting. Xenon had 16 GI lamps and the playfield is mostly black.

New games have no-glare, super-clear glass. Old games had green soda-lime glass.

New games now have crystal-clear sprayed on coatings. Old games had either silkscreened lacquer or cloudy Diamondplate coatings.

New games are new, so every little dimple stands out. You see a tiny scratch or dent in your new car and it drives you crazy because it stands out. Your 10 year old car that you gave to your daughter has hundreds of tiny dents and scratches, but you don't notice them at all.

New games are steeper and have as many ramps as they can squeeze onto a playfield. Ramps need powerful flippers. Balls fly everywhere, often after hitting the glass. Old games had noting like that - Comet in 1986 was the first game where the ball would regularly hit the glass and then break all the plastics.

New games will take much longer to get enough plays to flatten out. Any old game that did not pay for itself in 3 months was a dog. Nowadays people talk about a 6 year payback.

I would put mechanical counters in my route games because they could not be reset - the electronic counter BETTER match pretty closely to my mechanical counter, or I'm getting ripped off.

Games in good locations would get 30,000 plays a year.

Even when I've taken my games to Expo, they only got about 700 plays

-

Everyone is sick of and loves talking about dimpling at the same time. Like moths to the flame!

There is a solution. Put a playfield protector on. I know most people don't like them or don't think that they are needed for home use. My Dialed In came with one and i really like it, so i put one on my DPLE.

A local arcade has a DP that i couldn't believe how bad the dimpling was. photo below. The first time i walked up to it i was like "wow, this playfield looks like crap". The game hadn't even been out that long, so i doubt that there were a ton of games put on it. I felt the same way about the Star Wars that they had after only a short time of being out.

My AS and BM66 playfields have some dimpling, but nothing like the DP and SW i described. My GB has it the worst, but they do seem to to be evening out and i don't notice it very much. I suspect that the art on some games hides it better than others.

Bottom line is if the dimples bother you that much, put the protector on. To me it was well worth the $100 and 2-3 hours it took to put it on.

DP dimpling (resized).jpg

Deadpool pf protector 1 (resized).jpg

Deadpool pf protector 2 (resized).jpg

Except the game plays like shit with a protector

plays great to me. i don't even notice a difference between my games that have it, and those that don't. Pick your poison...

IDK why you guys baby these thing, just play pinball and have fun. Dimples are normal

Like friggin groundhog day..again.

That's where this discussion always gets weird. The people who say "Dimples are normal" are half right...they are normal...but, to what extent? Some games it isn't that noticeable an those will smooth out over time. Sometimes though, new Sterns can look like wavy cratered mud. Those will never smooth out...that's just how those playfields will look. I don't know if it's soft wood or a certain type of clearcoat, but I know the difference between a "bad" dimpled playfield and a "normal" dimpled playfield. When someone posts a picture of a bad one, accept that they have a bad one...don't tell them it's just normal. These games are too expensive to accept poor playfields as normal.

Just buy 2 of every machine and keep one unplayed so you can gaze at it with amazement once a month.