I will be joining the army tonight. I'm just wondering from those already in the club, what is your typical goal for this game? Are you shooting for high score, going for safer shots like Orbit MB and ramps to Recon? Are you shooting bugs and trying to advance though the planets? The later sounds more fun, but I wish it was also the most lucrative option for scoring.

Can't say the pickup went as smoothly as I was hoping. The guy I purchased the game from sounds like he buys and sells pinball machines often, so I was pretty trusting with his description of the game, that was my error. The ad said, "Needs a few things to be perfect." I wasn't expecting perfect, but I was expecting a nice working game. I called and talked with him on the phone and he walked me though the game: wear by the flipper buttons, could probably use new rubbers, no LEDs, etc.

When I pulled in after my four hour drive the game is obviously fresh off +20 years on route. It was one of those games where you could wipe your finger across the playfield and pickup grime. When I go to press the start button, I notice it's not set to freeplay and and the coin door has been pried open and he doesn't have the key...strike one. While opening the door to hit the coin button there is a broken piece of plastic laying in the bottom of the game, I had specifically asked about broken plastics, and was told all were good...strike two. Pretty minor for far, but it these were signs to me that the seller hasn't really looked over the game too closely. When I coin up the machine and hit the start button two balls shoot out...strike three. The guy said, "Oh, it's never done that before." When I go to pull the plunger the black piece of the plunger and outer spring are missing...strike four. Even worse not a single one of the general illumination lights is working...strike five.

At this point, I'm basically thinking one of two things. Either this guy has no idea what he's doing or he was deliberately trying to withhold information. I ask him for a 44 bulb so I can test if all the lights are burnt out or if it's a fuse, wiring, board work, etc. He says all he has are 555 bulbs. There are other games in the garage, so I ask him to take out a bulb from one of the other games. He pulls one from the coin door looks at it and says it has a broken filament. That seemed to be the end of his effort. Internally, I'm pretty upset at this point but I keep my cool. I ask if I can pull off the glass from that game and take out a working bulb. Since every single light was out I was thinking it was going to be either a fuse or board issue, but to my surprise when I put in the working bulb it lights up. Still, to me that's something that should be disclosed.

With one working bulb in the game I proceed to start my first game. Right away the ball doesn't eject from the scoop...strike six. At this point, I'm ready to call it a waste of time. I said that I feel bad, but ask him if he'll just refund my deposit for holding the game for three days. Right away he said "You should feel bad, we had a deal and I turned away other buyers." I told him that's great that he has other buyers and can just sell it to one of them, but he responds with something like, "They have probably already moved on to other games."

After that exchange, he said it's not worth it for me to badmouth him over our $100 deposit and he'll return the money if that will make me happy. I explain that we're beyond the point of me being happy. I have to choose between being unhappy about wasting eight ours of driving or unhappy about buying a game that wasn't what I was expecting. He proceeds to tell me how we both know that Starship Troopers is an $3,800 game. I told him that I disagree based on the comparable sales on Pinside. He says that Pinside is always $1,000 low. He eventually agrees to knock off $100 from our agreed on price. Reluctantly, I decided to just pickup the game with the discount. I was just hoping that I found everything that wasn't disclosed.

Over the weekend I completely tore the game apart and then placed an order into Pinball Life. The other issues I found while doing my at home diagnostic were two broken switches ($30) and the optos switches in the orbits not working ($90). It's going to take a few days, but I'll get it shined up and will share pictures shortly. I'm happy to be in the club, but wish my entry wasn't started with such a frustrating experience.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the seller removed the battery holder, but had not replace it. Again, it didn't take me long to wire up a remote holder, but was another example of something I'd prefer was disclosed.

I don't know. I do feel it's an underrated game, especially given the relatively low production run. As I mentioned, I don't think there was any "win" after driving four hours there. I ultimately decided I'd rather be upset with a pinball machine versus upset without a pinball machine. I'm going to try to focus on the positive form here on out in the club.

Yeah, I spent quite awhile messing with the optos. I swapped them around to see if I could isolate the problem, but had little luck. I was able to get them to trigger if I held them much closer and even then, they were crazy sensitive to alignment. I did find replacements for about half the price of Pinball Life or Marco. I ordered them, but I'll still try to replace the LEDs on the others as well. If they end up working I'll either just keep them as spare or pass them onto someone else in need.

A few hundred bucks in parts and some elbow grease do wonders.

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Is there anywhere to find more information regarding these SST specific settings. For 150 page manual telling me that EXEAY, EASY, MODERATE, HARD or EXHARD determines how the Orbit Features are started and played, really doesn't tell me anything. I'd also love a way to have the Recon Levels on a tournament setting...calling a mystery programmer.

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