Of course he is on these threads or at least has someone on these threads to report back. We are a free, living, breathing, international 24 hour focus group. I work for a major retailer, do you know how much it costs us for market research????..........A small fortune, he gets it here for free!!!

Gary, I know your reading this thread and I love the fact you have kept pinball alive, you are a hero in my book. The only thing your machines lack is artistic integrity and decent Photoshop skill.................Fire your Art department now and bring JPOP to Stern. If you do that I will buy every pin that JPOP touches NIB. Thank you for your time, love the glasses!!!

Hi Gary

I heard from a friend that spent some time talking with him that the only pinball he owns is the Sopranos. Not positive if it is true, just what I heard.

I know how we can find him here. Just run a poll asking what's your favourite pinball machine. Many of you know what his answer will be...LOL

He's a good guy in my books. He's managed to fill a niche market and keep the legacy alive. Who else has continued a pinball manufacturing industry running since 1999? Like I thought, crickets.

My guess is that his people do poke around here. Most likely not under his directive, it's just something you do if you care about what the public wants.

Jersey Jack is getting in when things are better, promising a higher quality machine. That's great for pinball today, but Stern has been there all along and nobody else. I don't think JJP would have been doing his own thing 3 years ago. His presence in the industry does not negate Stern as a very capable and vibrant pinball maker.

I'm just waiting for those new machines to become old so I can afford them.

I'm pretty sure Gary collects Pins,In one video he was talking to a reporter about the tilt mechs and he said "In my house I remove the Tilt mechs out of the game".

Jason Rufer is not gary Stern lol. (MnPinball)

This is MNPinball

LOL no. Unless that has somehow changed in the last 3 years, which I suppose is possible.

It is sad, but Gary appears to be in it just for the money. I can assure you that Jersey Jack is in it for both reasons and is hoping for the long term. What I am not sure of is whether Jack expects to make a lot of money/profit on WOZ. He has so much start up cost and is not cutting corners on the machine, so I would assume that he is setting himself up to have financial success with the pins they make after WOZ.

Do you think the Hoover family has a basement full of antique vacuums, or orville redenbacher eats nothing but popcorn all day??

What someone does for industry, doesn't always jive with what they do personally.

Hell, i know a bunch of people who collect tons of pinball machines and spare parts, but never actually ever play pinball.

Think about it.

-jon

I've always had the impression that Gary really isn't that into pins... and some of the company's decisions would seem to back that up. I do remember one interview of him where he seemed to say that he was into the GnR pin for awhile...

I doubt it.

It's his job, not his hobby.

The mailman doesn't come home from work and go for a walk.

Anyone would need different interests so they don't get stale.

Outside of my business I don't own any pinball machines. It's my industry not my hobby.

LTG

Lets See If I can find out.. Email sent.

I have read that most designers (with a few exceptions) don't collect pinballs and have few to none at home. In life their needs to be a balance.

One designer/programmer happens to be a tournament level player, but that I am sure is a big exception.

Last time I spoke to gary he told me that the only pin he has in his place was a Family Guy. He really loves that game. He may collect Ford Taurus' though since he likes to talk about them so much.

I dunno if gary does, but I got contacted by a designer on rgp before. Very cool stuff when it happens.

+1 It rocks.

You get the occaisional designer here. I know I've seen JPOP post for sure. Maybe they lurk around a bit, but I can see it being a big hassle for one of these guys to start up a conversation as themselves on Pinside or any other forum.
I also saw the guy with 90+ pins and thought the same. Do you think Gary Stern would actually take the time to list all 90 though? I also can't beleive he'd only have 1 (and sopranos). The truth has to lie somewhere in between.

Oh, and hi Gary!

I don't know if I agree with this logic....so you can't enjoy your job as a hobby/outside interest as well?? Just because he works around pinball machines all day doesn't mean he does not have a private collection that he comes home to and enjoys?! I mean he may be a SS man!! Or only into pinballs with ramps!! You never know.

I am a chef...and I love to cook. I cook at home almost every chance I get...consider a great interest outside of my day job and a hobby because I am always learning and trying new things. Plus I have so many gadgets in my kitchen I started calling them my cooking "MODS"

Can't. For one the first thing they asked is that I keep it private. The other is I want them to keep doing such things. I doubt I will get lucky enough to have that pleasure a second time, but if I start blabbing what was told to me in confidence they may not write others. The most I will do is say that yes someone took time out of their day to read a post and send me a couple emails. In this case I could verify their email address is legit (and trust me, I did more than once). Unless someone hacked their account I am convinced that I had a short, but very real dialogue with a designer. I did warn them I would frame a copy of their email for my pinball room, and if I ever get the chance I may try and get them to autograph it.

The neat thing to me is that they cared enough about what they do to seek out someone who made offhand comments about their stuff. To me that is passion.

A lot of people burn out quicker, and then lose interest in both.

As a chef, you may be an exception to what I posted.

For me I need diversions beyond the scope of my business to keep learning and growing.

LTG

No. But I bet the hoover family has a really cool vacuum and "ol Orville" has a life time supply of his delicious. popcorn.

Party will be at Bartles and James' house.

LTG

Steve Ritchie occasionally has posted at RGP. Keith Johnson posts here and there.

He actually had a post earilier in this thread! Love hearing from him because it is usually something worth hearing.

JPop likes to "pop" up now and then too!

I heard that Gary does collect pinball machines, but he restricts them to Bally / Williams titles! (ha)

I refuse to believe this. You cannot fool me with your Youtube CGI and special effects. MNPinball is Gary Stern, I have proof!

I think it would be stupid if they all didn't get free information by using popular collectors forums.
Of course they do....

So Far No Reply, from Gary

Are you there Gary, it's me Margaret?!?

We weren't talking about game collections but Gary told me that he does own a Big Dick backglass. I imagine he has pinball memorabilia from his father as well but that's just a guess.

like

but its nice to think about him reading the forums and taking polls..

Personally I very very rarely answer emails, but it does happen if it's a very specific factual question. There's a couple reasons for this... First is that I started off in rgp and I know what it's like to be on the other side looking in. Second is that during my rgp time you would occasionally see people post emails or summaries they had with designers, programmers, etc. What that told me is that you can't expect anything you say in an email to be private because people will be dying to give the inside scoop to everyone else for their own selfish reasons. Obviously Mr. Dung here has resisted, and I commend him for that. But, in general, the likelihood that whatever you wrote is going to go public anyway is pretty high, so I would much rather just get it out there in the public to begin with and let people read my thoughts directly rather than having them edited or filtered through a 3rd party.