Awesome. Thanks guys.

Cute, but need an answer from someone else who has had and overcome a similar experience in their game.

I would say install all the "airball protectors" out there, and use some good pinballs like the ones from PBL. Are you using the stock balls?

I put in balls from Marco. The stock balls didn't last long either.

wow is there that much difference in quality vs. Stern balls??

Yes

I use the Shiny ones from PBL. I do have to say, they seem to be getting wear faster than on my other machines, at least by casual observation. In fairness, it's getting more play, but even so. On the other hand, I look at my WoZ -- it's much darker (dimmer) and slower than GB, I'm sure that has something to do with it.

Maybe it's from the trough kicking the balls into the lane -- given that I use the ball save significantly, the number of balls ejected on my GB is probably close to double what it is on my other machines.

So I don't see the hex post on mine is it different ?

IMG_0667 (resized).JPG

See the screw circled in red? It is screwed into the hex post ...

Hex post (resized).jpg

Edit: Good job Gweem!

What are the differences? Hardness? Weight? Coefficient of friction? Other properties?

You gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to beat the gweemster ....

Hey,
Mine was a bit longer and in all caps so technically it would've been a faster post (TWICE now,) if I just stuck with a measly sentence...

Seriously though Gweem, the guy's effing with us, right???

Haha thanks guys I see it now. My Ramp doesn't reject too often but I'll buy the post next time I order something . I almost wonder if mine is already smaller I'll check it one day was built in November .

Well, to be fair it would definitely help solve your little problem.

More realistic answer is:
Since the main ramp has been laser cut with a cool "venting" design, you might want to check for any burrs that can possibly chew up your balls. Scoops are suspect too as well as lane guides, right ramp entrance, ball trough, screws; basically anything metal that is not smooth and is slightly sticking OUT enough in the ball's pathway to chew up said balls.
Since myself and others don't seem to have this issue on their GBPs you'll need to bust out the flashlight and investigate with your eyes/finger.

Is that a better answer?

I'm about to place an order from Pinball Life. Has anyone installed this captive ball wireform support?

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=4378

Is it necessary?

I've never had that be an issue on my game, but when I get my replacement playfield, I plan on putting one in as a precaution. Man, when I swap my playfield out, it's going to get absolutely bogged down in protective crap. I'm not going through this again. Airball protectors, extra Cliffy protectors, protectors for protectors...GIVE ME YOUR METAL AND PLASTIC ARMORS.

Newer playfields do not need this part. Stern added it's own part. If your playfield is missing the stern support plate call chas at tech support to get a free one.

Can you take a picture of that area on your game?

See what Chuck said. The Stern piece is, IMO, the best solution.

Thanks for the info! I just checked my game and, sure enough, there is solid piece of metal flanking that entire wire form. That sucker isn't budging.

I ended up buying that little spacer from pinballlife and only realized when I went to install it that I had that bent plate there from the factory. It was a nice surprise.

Good news: Pat from Stern support asked me to send him my seria number so he could send me a warrantied screen. I appreciate the quick reply from Stern. I will update the progress.

Make sure you order that plastic screen protector from hooked on pinball that chuck mentioned.

Shout out to PinballSupernova for making a video of the protector:

How much does it distort the image?

None at all.

did a road trip and finally picked up a new GB Pro. beautiful looking game...

I haven't played yet and noticed already probably 100 dimples (to be expected from a play test but still surprising having not played it yet). My question to those having bought new sterns, on inspecting the playfield I noticed 6-7 raised bumps in the clear where it must of had crap / dust on the playfield when curing and never buffed off. What is going to happen to these spots as that are in the main front to middle of the playfield. Will they level off or will the clear possibly crack / chip? I can't put a mylar piece on it as it will just bubble.

is this just a normal thing and will the raised bumps level out?

I'm interested to hear what people say here. I don't think a new game should have any dimples? I'm not sure what you mean by raised bumps either. Are they over top of an insert by any chance? If so that could mean your inserts in the playfield are lifting? Hopefully that's not the case.

no it looks like after it has been cleared some larger dust particles landing in the clear in a number of spots, almost like a mini pimple, just thought it would of been caught or buffed out. Also the bumps are not over any inserts

0% distortion. I was worried about the same thing. If you were to nitpick, there is a slim stripe of glare sometimes, on the curve, But to be honest I forget the protector is even there. I don't notice it

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Could you take pictures of these raised bumps and post them. I really would like to see these raised imperfections...also your dimples...never seen those on a NIB game. You yourself was the first person to set up the game..or did your distributor set it up and play test it? Stern I believe has a ball on a stick to test the pops and the rest I thought was just testing switches with their fingers.

here are some pictures, shipment only arrived in Aus mid Jan, so probably left beginning to mid Dec. Distributor play tested as they said they put in the latest code and it has some random code of 54(random numbered) score. They also broke the rule and repacked and left balls in the game and didn't realise until I heard so rolling and then crashing when I lifted from flat to vertical out of the van. Here are some of the photos of the raised bits, I didn't take photos of the dimples at this stage as knew they were inevitable.

playfield number
P1140960 (resized).JPG
P1140961 (resized).JPG

I tried to line up the raised point in the fluro reflection
just above the flipper
P1140956 (resized).JPG

just behind the drop
P1140958 (resized).JPG

just above one of the inserts
P1140954 (resized).JPG

there are others but this gives you the idea.
will these wear down?

or chip?

and does anyone know if this is one of the problem playfields or one of the better ones and which company would of made this? just curious

Yes that gives me an idea. Does it feel like a grain of sand when you run your hand over those spots? If so I would definitely shoot Vid a PM on here and ask his opinion. I would think that the ball wood chip those off if so and cause damage. So you might need to polish them off and maybe place a little clearcoat on over. But I would ask Vid first. The dimples are from your distributor play testing like you said and are no big deal.

Thanks for posting pictures as I'm looking to buy a couple new pins but waiting until Stern has their problems worked out on the Play fields. Man it is taking forever I've been waiting since the beginning of last year.

Do. Not. Hold. Your. Breath. You're at least a year, maybe two, from safely buying a NIB Stern pin. Even assuming the issues have been identified (highly unlikely) and an attempt at a correction has been made, you could still wind up with "old stock", or a all new defect. But, if you enjoy gambling at $8,000 per hand, have at it.

Sad story: Went to PHoF earlier this week to play BM66 again. The BM66 playfield clear coat is chipped up at shooter lane and trough. But I hear that's normal these days. Played my first game and all of the balls got stuck in the top of the spinning platform (ball lock?). The game cycled 3 ball finds, failing to release the balls, before I just walked away. Good times.

Wandered over to the GB Pro. It has a bunch of ghosted inserts, and it's the early release with a severely bent captive ball rail preventing the ball from hitting the target.

And then just for shits & giggles, I walked over to the GoT Pro. Surprisingly enough, the GoT Pro had the chipped clear coat, at least 6-8 ghosted inserts, far, far worse than the GB's I've seen.

Of course this could all be because the operator is an inexperienced idiot with no knowledge of proper pinball operation and maintenance..... or maybe, just maybe, there's a very slight chance that something else going on.

EDIT: To show that I'm not just a Stern hater, while I was there I noticed two of the popups were stuck up on the Hobbit, and his WOZ has been out of order for as long as I can remember.

I will just wait..im patient. If a good clean used one comes along I will probably just snag one if the price is right. Just can't get my head around what some people want for a used one though. NIB price for a used game makes little sense to me and I am not really wanting to pay extra for mods that I would never buy for a game.

I honestly believe if you buy a new pin right now that it will probably be fine. I am getting ready to buy a new GB Premium. I would be a liar to say I'm not worried a little bit about Sterns quality but I also feel that most of the playfield issues are behind them. There is always going to be a bad playfield here and there no matter what, but the complaints right now hasn't been anything like they were when GB first came out. I bought 2 new pins last year and they are very nice.

The toy on the Batman pin really does make me shake my head and say WTF? Seems everyone is having trouble with the balls getting hung up in it and it makes me wonder how much testing that they do on their games, it seems like no testing was done with the Batman game. I'm not trying to go against what ExtremePinball is saying for a minute because he knows way more about pinball than me, but I do feel that playfield quality is not quite the disaster that it was six months ago. Bottom line is I don't think it's a huge risk if you want to buy a NIB pin and I would go for it.

Seems like everyone is chipping in the outhole and shooter lane early which seems to me will cause greater issues down the road in other areas that matter...that is my main concern.

I'd say if you stick a small piece of Mylar on the outhole you will be fine. I don't think "everyone" is having clear chipping off of their ball drain anyway. My WD and GOT have maybe very minor wear there after 700 plays on GOT and 1600 or so on WD and I'm not worried about it at all. I'm going to stick a piece of Mylar on them though and in the shooter lane also just to be safe. I don't think the problem will get any worse after I Mylar it, and it would probably even be fine if I didn't Mylar it. I'm just doing it to prevent future damage just in case.

Bought my GB prem in very late Dec and it's perfect. The most fun I've had playing a new game ever.

I think GB is one of the best pins ever, such a blast!

Better than TWD?

Hmm......that's really tough to answer because I would have to own them both long term to truly know. Any pinball critic is no doubt going to say it's not even close and TWD wins hands down, and they are probably right for now because GB probably doesn't have the finished code yet.

Now if we are talking GB Pro I will give a slight edge to TWD probably but if you are talking GB Premium, that makes things tougher because the Premium model really shines with GB imo. That also is no knock against GB Pro because it's a fantastic game and I'd own one in a heartbeat. I know the rule set in TWD is considered to be among the best ever but GB is fun as hell. TWD is no doubt a game that is better suited for tournament play, but to just play a few games with your buds and a few beers, I'll put GB right up there with it.

Code: TWD wins
Art package: GB wins
Sound: GB wins
Light show: GB wins
Overall fun: I'm gonna say GB for the win!

I know I'm gonna get hammered for this review so flame away folks!

No hammering from me. I actually don't like twd much in comps or for fun

I finally got around to installing all the cliffys last night. The one closest to the trough is kind of a pain in the ass. You have to hammer those little screw things out from the underside, and then you have to be super careful when you tighten them so you don't bend the cliffy.

While I was at it, I installed the shorter hex post for the right ramp. It definitely makes it easier to consistently hit the shot. I also replaced the original orange shooter spring with a green one. It makes a full plunge more likely to make it all the way around, but it's still not perfect. I really wish there was an easy way to tweak those gates. I'd love to slightly adjust the height of them, but this is difficult because of the way they're mounted.

I did the hex post mod as well, I am now able to chain up the shots more often. While installing it I dropped the new one under the plastic what a pain LOL but I got it

I also did the sling shot mod moving the rubber down a notch. Much more active but now I drain a lot in the outlanes LOL!

Can you guys post a picture of the post you replaced? I read the prior posts about this but I am having trouble seeing what people are referring to.

IMG_0717 (resized).JPG

Hey what was the fix for the PKE Ramp not Registering on occasion ?

Very slightly bending the arm on the microswitch outward. Keep a finger on the end of the switch so you don't pop it out of the hinge. You can see it in the image in the previous post directly above the red circled screw.