these photos really show lots of dimpling, so.... they are clearly all over the PF and close to each other showing orange peel...

I am in my (almost) 40s in feb, lol I am puppy! but I am not new to pinball, just new to ownership, and comparing a game that was made 30 years ago and most likely played on location and say that it has harder wood than a newer one seems like a stretch... You are comparing a game with hundreds of plays vs one with thousands. How is that a logical comparison?

I am also a woodworker and the density of wood does not change over time except for sappy woods like certain pines, that are soft but the sap inside hardens over time adding to the hardness they do however never get as hard as other hardwoods...maple is maple and the density is measure in the Janka scale (like any wood soft or hard). That is what we used in the wood working world as a reference. Maple is one of the hardest woods available (not the hardest) but pretty high on the scale (1450 lbs of pressure to get a 0.444 diameter ball half into the wood)...

So... all that to say, I think the new Sterns just need to be played for 30 years to show the same level of orange peel that a 90s game like the one depicted here does.

Has anyone here contemplated this as well?