The key to modes is upgrading the van. If you upgrade the van a bit (especially the bomb) you can complete modes quickly. I’ve completed my first mode in three shots before. First mode spots you shots at the start anyway, less shots are spotted as you go along.

Still processing.
Committed to a premium waiting

But parameters have really shifted.

I am genuinely on the fence trying to figure this out.
The possibilities atm seem more on the pro…

Granted expression lights EL are Prem/LE
But also a guaranteed future added expense of around $800CAD

As it is currently looking,
The Pro will have a better, more upgraded deadpost; with 9 rule sets, and can even be set to be triggered by the action button any time.
Really f’ing cool mod.

I’m with you and agree 100% with your great reply. Thank you. I can’t stop playing my IMDN either!

Anyone have expression lights AND pinstadiums both or are pinstadiums not needs with those?

Here’s a concise but complete list of Premium adders (sorry if this was posted already):

Ability to add Expression Lighting System
“Overdrive" outlane ball save features "The Deadpost”
Alien abduction feature with electro-magnet hidden beneath the "Overlord Arena"
“Area 51" upper playfield with custom vac-form building featuring:
- flipper
- 2 loops
- Area 51 spinning target
- 3 stand-up targets
- diverter
- hidden super jackpot target
Custom sculpted "Overlord" interactive toy
Custom sculpted "Foo Fighters Tour Van" with bomb flasher
Powder-coated steel bottom arch
Action figure theme for cab and translite
- this may be a “subtract” for some

Source: https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Foo-Fighters-Pinball-Feature-Matrix-compressed.pdf

For me it’s all about “total cost of ownership” and “opportunity cost”. I’m sure I can find a better place to park $2700, but I also know I’ll get some of that $2700 back on resale. At least, that’s how I explain these things to my wife. She likes her heated leather seats, and I like my upper playfield and DeadPost. Same thing, basically.

So you're the One ?

FYI: I just launched my Foo Fighters speaker magnets: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/155538

Please PM if interested in purchasing.

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I have Pin Stadiums on all of my games except for Rush and Led Zeppelin, which have the expression lighting. I am an old retired guy with crappy eyesight, particularly when the game goes dark. Some may think otherwise, but that is my opinion.

Cheers!

“Better” is debatable. If you look at my latest question and the responses in that thread, I think there’s some potential oddities with how the mod + pro code works vs. how things will work in the premium. I don’t think they will ever match up 100% in terms of game rules.

The different ways in which the post can be earned / used are just different deviations from standard game rules. This could be considered “better” or “worse” depending on the player.

Personally I don’t think I’d like any situation where the mod functionality would make it easier than the functionality on the premium, and I think that’s likely any/all cases of the mod if you always get a ball save even if you fail at the post save. (The case where I would maybe change my mind on that is if there are a fair amount of instances where as the player I have the left flipper held up but the post fails to save the ball one way or another). But it’s a subjective thing much like outlane posts, difficulty settings, 5 balls vs 3, etc.

Translucents and glows do brighten it up…

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I have a favor to ask... can anyone get a picture of the connector for the Area 51 flasher on a pro? Mine seems to have stopped working and it's probably because I did something stupid when trying to use it as a trigger for Pinstadiums (it was working prior to that). However the wire colors on either side of the connector are different colors, and I'm not sure it's supposed to be that way (like I somehow managed to plug it into some random unused connector?).

thanks for these pics

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If you got the connector right when you put it back, but it's not working, you may have blown up the transistor on the Node board when you plugged it into the pinstadiums. Do you have a multimeter?

Thanks the wiring is the same as mine, so I must have messed it up. Never had a problem with pinstadiums since Scott started using the t-connector style instead of the alligator clips for flashers.

Thanks very much for the quick response and the photo!

Mine stopped working when I connected them too . I took them off and it worked fine .

But never official. You (figuratively) can cheap out as much as you want but in the back of your mind, and install a lag bolt in your pine for the ball to bounce off but your score will never be comparable to the official version of the machine but that is coming from a child of the 80’s where street cred involved, competition and success was digital tagging your initials at the local arcade.

too much pro vs premium arguing, crikey. you knew somone was gonna make that post, kudos to them. seems like the post was what most pro guys were missing so this sounds like a great option. I like the upper PF personally and I am looking forward to checking out the expression lighting, so I am good with my inbound LE.

Other than JP, I think this is the most loaded Pro Stern has ever released. And that’s coming from a Premium buyer.

Here Here
Spot on!

Finally joined the club today

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Everything about that gameroom is awesome.

lol thanks. The corner you can’t see has a couple 1up games, and a tv, and some chairs for the kids Nintendo switch, and stuff like that. Entrance is old playfields I’ve swapped, or going to swap next. (Except TNA, it’s just wall art lol)

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Haha, all you're missing is a 80-inch TV set into the wall like a window with a loop of a roller rink playing on it so it looks like you're in the game room of an 80s roller rink.

Here’s prototype #1 of a new shooter rod I may be producing if there is enough interest. These are 3D printed, epoxied on a blank Stern compatible shooter rod, sanded, primed, hand painted and then cleared.

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Absolutely in.

I like your choice in carpet Your gameroom really looks badass! (I gotta get my blacklights in place for sure )

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NOW THAT IS SUPER PRO

Have you tried iScored? It seems really really cool for engagement for guests that don't have hope cracking the pin's high scores. Wonder how it actually does in real life

I have not yet. But I talked to the developer and he is a really cool guy and is constantly working on it. The QR feature is pretty great and I can use it for board games and other stuff too.

For the price, it’s worth checking out either way I figure.

Tri-Bot Sample arrived today and looks nice, though needs a few tweaks and want to work out adding led inside behind the front face.

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lol I ended up just doing the rug because it covered 90% of the room. For black lights I did a 36watt in the ceiling at each end, and then a 24watt under each machine.

Where did you get the rug?

Have any of you first run premium buyers been given a delivery eta?

Afaik not a single person in the US has gotten their LE yet, man! So a couple of weeks out on the first Prem deliveries.

Any updated eta’s on domestic LE deliveries?

Strange question for you? What are the dimensions of the room? We are on process of designing a house and I want to make sure we build enough room.

I’ve never purchased a topper before ,but if this one adds a lot of gameplay it will be hard to ignore .I really wish they would have just stuck with the flat plastic toppers with a couple lights for 1k so I can easily pass on them .

Supposedly this week but paid in full for my LE over a month ago. It's cool seeing people get pro's in their homes or the first LE's being shipped overseas, just don't ask me for full payment if your priorities have changed on who gets games first.

Priorities haven't changed. For the last while Stern has been shipping out Pros first, then LEs, then Premiums and more Pros. International has always been built before domestic as far as I can recall.

The good news is, even though the international are built first, the domestic will still arrive in homes first, in some cases by several weeks.

When you pay in full has more to do with your distrib than with Stern, unless you get one of the few LEs Stern sells directly.

PM'd you

Thanks Bud.

Joy Carpets is who makes it if you want to do real carpet. But they have Joy Carpet rugs on Amazon. But they take like 6 weeks.

We had Lowe's do the whole first floor carpet for us, and YES, it's the Joy carpets with the ovals seen in my pic above (and his rug). Granted it was a big investment (lot's of floor) at 6K, but actually was cheaper than most other standard carpets (at the time, it was about $3.80 sq/f). We had the better padding installed under it, so it's pretty cooshy (easy on the back). I will tell peeps to be careful about having pinball machines on 3 legs with my setup though; the machines can, and will fall with 3 legs with the padding..but being careful will prevent that..and with the furniture gliders on all of our machines, I can easily pull them around and change the lineup, if need be. Just thought I'd throw that out there, in case others wanted to do something similar. The only other choice in Lowe's Joy carpet selection was the 'big stars' pattern..it was a little too busy for our 100 yearold craftman home, lol.

.

Domestic LEs still aren't out yet, so you're probably looking at the very end of the month into May before the Premiums go.

Three Foo Fighters bracket kits are done to color the various playfield inserts:

The Overlord/Austin/DC bracket. The Overlord insert is colored light green, and the Austin/DC inserts are given an alien beam blue/green coloring that tones in with the nearby art on the playfield:
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Set of six probe bot and electricity bolt brackets that give the three clear/white bolt inserts an electric blue coloring and turns the four smoked inserts for the probe bot targets a light purple to match the coloring of the probes. The Probe Bot insert is also given a lighter lavender hue instead of straight white. Total of 8 inserts are colored with 6 brackets:
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Rock-O-Meter is colored yellow/orange/red to match the playfield art:
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Any idea when the LE version will be ready to order?

EDIT: I just checked the manual for the Prem/LE and it looks like they lighting is the same for the Prem/LE for the items I've colored, so I marked them all Pro/Prem/LE.