GB is one of those sterns where you can get away with the pro without losing all that much. I have a premium, but you can easily get away with the pro without losing much gameplay.

On some sterns, the pro is just as good as the premium.

TWD
MET
Tron
GB
Kiss
avatar
R.S. (rolling stones, not Royally sucks...Well kinda the same thing)
Xmen
Avengers

all are great games as pros, and you are not losing all that much. Some games make a big difference on how it's played due to the changes.

like:
AC/DC (bell diverts the ball behind the ramp)
TF (ramp shots are completely different)
GOT (almost feels like a different game completely)

I just think it's a subtle loss. Games shoot almost the same to where you play the pro's in the same style you play the premiums. Kinda what I was getting at. You don't have to change your play style or shot patterns to go from one to the other.

if you want to try a premium. I have a Ghostbusters premium tournament coming up Nov 26th and have some openings that just opened up.

you should come over and play mine. See if you can hit it. i'm going to screw with it some more and do some very very fine tuning on the flipper alignment to see if I can improve it. My alignment is perfect for every other shot in the game tho, and i'd hate to change it. I'm really temped to shave off 1/8" of that blue rubber to open up the shot a little.

the R ramp? This GB not GNR.

yes I know it means right.

don't forget to pound up your inlane wire guides 1/4". makes a huge difference. No more bounce overs, and 30% less side drains.

you will not damage the playfield. Remember. I've been restoring playfields for over 10 years. Working my way to my 400th field. I've pounded out 100's of metal rails out of playfields. The only ones that will pull some playfield with them, when pounded out, are the ones butterflyed on the ends. Which thick rails like this, are never butterflied. (butterflied rails are pinched at the ends to make them smash out to give them better grip).

So if you lift your field. Have some else hold the field in the air for you. Take a drill bit or nail smaller than the diameter of the of the rail. From the back of the field, you will see where the rail barely pokes through the field. (only need to focus on the inlane side, don't worry about the flipper side). Put the nail/awl/drill or whatever you want to use in the center and tap it with the hammer. You would be surprised how easy it raises. Move it about 1/4" up. Don't worry about it being stable. at 1/4" you still have half a field holding, plus you have the backside all the way in.

Not only does this raise the bend above the low point of the ball, (which keeps the ball from trying to roll up the metal rail) but it also hits the outer most edge of the ball. Reducing the outlane gap by 1/16". Which in the pinball world, is HUGE. I noticed about a 30% reduction in side drains from this.

I can backhand the left ramp on my prem no problem. It's not even difficult and I have the coils set to low.

I think they are too low in general. Almost feels like baby pacman. I really think they put the alignment divots too low on accident. because the game plays much better if you align the bottom of the flipper bat (without rubber) to the top of the dent. shots are much smoother and the game just plays better all around.

i'll take a pic in a bit.

Ok, here are pics of my flipper alignment. everything shoots much smoother. no more clunky hitting the sidewall before looping around. Backhand shots that should be able to be backhanded. Vast improvement over the factory alignment.

flipper alignment 2 (resized).jpg

flipper alignment 3 (resized).jpg

gb flipper alignment (resized).jpg

I was the opposite. I tried to like hobbit. Played from the early days like 3 years ago, till now and just cannot get in to it no matter how hard I try. But GB was the opposite. Knocked my socks off from the get go. In your face, balls to the wall ball buster. Love it. Great for league, great for when people are over and groups. Long ball time games are only good for when you are by yourself and have time to kill. My LOTR is not used any other time.

GB is definitely one of the Sterns you can get away with the pro without losing a hell of a lot. and i'm a premium owner.

bullshit. I would know better than anyone about this. I've done 100's of rails. And I mean 100's. I discussed this fully in other threads on why these will not damage the field.

only ones that damage on the way up are ones that are crimped with a butterfly on the ends. Which Stern does not do.

tell me how then? Since apparently 11 years experience isn't enough insight. I'd like to know how a smooth rail going backwards 1/4" is going to damage the playfield. The only way it could possibly do damage is if damage is already been done. Say if the playfield is already cracked around the rail, then a chip could fall out. Or if the rails were put in like 5 hours after clearcoating, and the clear stuck to the rail, and attached itself, and somehow was able to hang on tight enough to bring up a little clear with it.

Seriously, these rails are smooth. Very smooth. I've never had a smooth rail bring up anything ever. Even on old ass games that have lacquer cracking all over the playfield. Paint flaking off when you blow a fart. And they still don't chip out, from not only raising the rails, but taking them out completely. Butterflys are the ones that wreak havoc on the holes.

Even taking star posts off when you clean it, "can" damage your playfield. I've seen more chips in surface wood from screws than anything else. Or again....if the clear was still sticky when assembled, could stick to the star post upon removal. Seen that happen too. So does that mean you are never going to clean your playfields and take the star posts off? Only if you want to do a halfassed job of it.

bumping up the rails is an easy 4 min fix. Have one person hold the field up. Take the backside if a drill bit. Set it on the where the rail pokes through the back. Tap with a hammer. Don't even have to do it hard. Tap until it's about 1/4" in from the back surface of the field. that's it. No danger, nothing to it, and saves you $40 and having to have a ugly ass piece of plastic on your game. Plus it works much better as it reduces the amount of side drains you get.

yes it not only eliminates the jumping over, but also reduces outlane drains by 30%. I explained in several other threads how that's even possible.