Everything is surface mounted these days, in ten years time I am confident there will be new ways and more experience, repairing surface mount boards or reproducing them.

I am a little too young at 30 to know as I wasn’t in the hobby when pins moved from electromechanical to solid state but for the people that where in the hobby back then, was there similar concerns when pinball advanced from EM to SS?

Well how about this then. We as the F’ing community get together and try to get them to release the schematics or something? Didn’t the old games come that way? My point is, if enough of your customers stand up and say we aren’t buying your shit anymore if you don’t correct this particular issue, then maybe things might happen possibly. I’m just thinking about things that we can do to fix this uncertainty. Sorry but I’m looking for solutions instead of smart as answers like “don’t buy their games”

This is exactly what I think also. I have a hard time believing that people are not going to be able to fix these games. There are a few guys on here though that I respect their opinion and they are saying these games are disposable, so of course it concerns me a little bit. I’m sure people may have said the same things about the older games but who knows?

There are no solutions to your particular issue. If you are concerned about your game holding up and being fixable for the next ten years, then the only way to guarantee your piece of mind is to not buy.

Im not being a smart ass. These are toys. If you want assurance your money and game are safe, I suggest buying games that have replacement parts available and people available that know how to fix them.

This stuff about node boards being unobtainable in 10 years means nothing to me and has no bearing on whether I buy from Stern. I will take my chances.

Also if you get a mob together to petition stern or what not, and they change, hats off to ya. I just dont care that much. Haha

So I guess anytime that I have questions or concerns about a product that instead of trying to find the answers to my questions, that I should “just not buy” that particular product? This doesn’t concern me enough to put me in the insane asylum or to derail my purchase of a spike system game, nor is it going to bury me financially in the event this happens but its definitely something worth trying to get answers for in my opinion. I’m confident enough though that there will be some very intelligent people out there to come up with solutions to repair these games down the road if Stern is not still in business.

1000000000% agree. Buy with confidence.

Man I’m seriously tempted to pull the trigger on a pro, premium for $2k more here in cda gets so expensive game looks really nice

I wouldn't be afraid to buy a SPIKE game if you know the risks and they're acceptable to you. You might experience some downtime, but Stern has been good to address issues. For those that had problems with the fork ramp on Star Wars, they all got new boards. If you're the type that doesn't want to have to poke around much under the playfield, I can understand the hesitation.

For me, even though I'm experienced working on machines, I just didn't want the hassle or the potential headache. Selling GBLE was kind of sad, but I didn't want to get left with a problem on my hands. Sure, Stern would replace things, but GB is on its own SPIKE board revision, I believe, which might make it a bit of an outlier down the road for long-term support. I imagine that replacement boards will always be available on some form, but the costs could get steep once you're out of warranty or if the specific boards your game needs aren't in regular production.

I have to think that the newer stuff will be more compatible and the boards will be more swappable, so having good amounts of stock on hand is less of a worry.

I wouldn't tell someone not to buy a Stern because of SPIKE, but for myself, I prefer not to have that worry. As time goes on, I will probably get over that worry. I'm just not there yet.

you could always stock pile a bunch of node boards, for your games. At least that would give you a fighting chance.

After stern stops making games that use that type of node board, they usually end support for it 5 years later. Which is when they give the last call to all the distributors. I doubt it'll take ten years more like 11 , cause as soon as the distributors run out, that's it. That is unless some 3rd party manufacture like rottendog, alltek or someone else can make a replacement, but since they are becoming more complex that reality might not happen. To fix boards that use primarily SMT you need special equipment, which is extremely expensive. Which is why most can't or won't even mess with it including myself.

I don't see the technology going anywhere so you can stockpile, learn how to fix it ( which means buying expensive equipment), wait for a 3rd party to save your game or build a trebuchet like jgentry.

They aren't going to go back and I think it's kind of dumb to even wish for it as you would sacrifice the LCD, etc. unless there was a total redesign and then it wouldn't be "SAM". I don't want my flip phone from yesteryear back even though it I never worried about breaking it vs. my cracked screen on iPhone 6S. Yes, I'll pay for a new screen and be a bit pissed about it but I don't want my damn flip phone back. Sure, I'd like to see them improve Spike2 and I'm sure they will -- there will be a Spike3 or whatever down the line. If you don't like the product, don't buy it. GOTG is similar to IM anyway right, so get IM. If there was a SAM version of GOTG, it certainly wouldn't end up being the same.

Edit: LOL; you already have Iron Man. My bad!

GB is not on its own SPIKE version.

Semantics. Its boards aren't swappable.

Don’t forget, 10 more days!!

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I can't wait for gameplay footage for this game.

On the surface - it's not as original in design as Jersey Jack's Pirates of the Caribbean with all those unique toys and mechs...but it could be fun as hell to play. For reference, Borg's other greats like Iron Man, Tron and the Walking Dead.

I bought WoZ and the Walking Dead a few months apart. I thought WoZ was a breath of fresh air when it arrived, but almost 12 months later I always gravitate to the brutal fast game of the Walking Dead. Borg just keeps pulling me back in. Guardians of the Galaxy has this potential. Hopefully it has the code to match.

the problem is, with surface mounted components. no schematic means, no fixing. With boards from older games. If you wanted to know what a resistor value is, you looked at the bands on the resistor. Want to know what diode is, it's printed on the diode. Same for caps, same for transistors. All nice and labeled for you if you didn't have a schematic. (but schematics were always available in some form).

Now with surface mounted components. They really don't say shit on them. They all look the same, and you have these tiny mini little bricks. Every component looks the same. Very difficult to tell one thing from another. Add that with no schematics, and you now have an unserviceable part. Not only that, but there are so many revisions of different node boards, that seem to be game specific. If you got one that shows up on your work bench, you have no idea what the hell you are even looking at. For anyone that doesn't have ADD, and keeps there games more than 6 months, and works on their own games. This is VERY alarming. Put aside the fact that the boards are super tightly packed, making repairs (if you even could) very difficult.

The ONLY way Spike games will not be disposable in years to come is if....

They can make universal Node boards that work on all games (new and old)

They release schematics for those universal node boards, and schematics for all the different revisions of current and past node boards.

If these 2 factors do not happen. Spike will be a disposable technology.

Yep any Borg game is going to be a winner and like you said, hopefully the code is going to be good. This game has great potential to be seriously epic.

Concerning for sure NEO but I’m just going to not worry about it like Chuckwurt said and enjoy pinball and hope for the best. I believe in the end that it will all work out probably.....hope so anyway!

+1, so logical (to me too)
i'm watching for a new pin, and i'm not more looking for last SPIKE games, SAM will surelly do it in my case...
of course, evbd is free to do as he wants, simple as that

Here we go again. Every thread

Since AFMRLE has been so delayed for months for me I’m anxious to see GOTG stream

I noticed on the Deadflip Batman66 video last night that Lonnie and Tanio were confirmed as programmers on GOTG.
I like the work Tanio did on Star Trek so it should be a good team to bring Borgs game to life.

So just watched the film for the first time since I wanted to get into this machine. Man it was the most generic super hero film I think I've ever seen. I was so disappointed. I typically enjoy superhero stuff. I really loved all the xmen films, dark knight, the avengers, etc. This film was complete garbage in my opinion. Is the second one any better?

I can't believe you did not like guardians Matt it had a tree and raccoon. It also had an awesome soundtrack.

I think maybe it's because I was expecting a super hero film and it was trying too hard to be funny.

I just got confirmation that my Pro will leave the Factory next Friday and be here 10 days later.

I can see not liking Guardians of the Galaxy, but generic? That's probably something the series is rarely accused of being.

Well........that pretty much says it all doesn't it? GOTG was never, ever intended to be a serious 'superhero' movie. These guys are like the cosmic outcasts. Even in the comics, Drax is dumb as a rock...also for reference.. The green chick...that's Gamora.

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Really, I thought it was one of the best. My wife hates superhero movies and she loved it. Chris Pratt is one of the best actors out there in my opinion. And I loved Mantis in the second one. To put it cleanly she is gorgeous. You are allowed to not like it though.

Drax is not that dumb in the movie, he just takes everything literally and lacks a filter. I love how he tells Mantis she is hideously ugly but she is beautiful inside and that she is lucky because her being hideously ugly makes he even more beautiful inside or something like that. I loved the movies. They were funny but I liked the characters. I was even sad when Murl died.

We loved the first movie. We did just like the second one though. I got a little of the "trying too hard to be funny" on the second. Some of the funny elements felt more staged and shoe horned into places where the first just felt like narural situations for a bunch of misfits to stumble into. I am not super critical of movies though. I go there to enjoy myself and just lighten up and enjoy the ride. It really needs to be pretty bad for me not to have a good time. Lifes just too short to be miserable by choice.

What did he do? I found the gameplay boring and repetitive. The game is fun but getting boring quickly.
Who has finished it in 3 balls?

Ouch that's harsh! The second movie is better IMO but if you didn't like the first one you won't like the second one because it's just more oF the same.

I think the second benefits from repeat viewings, the first time I saw it, I enjoyed it but didn’t feel it was as good as the first, watching GOTG2 the second time I actually felt it was the better movie.

The “family & friendship” angles that the characters/unlikely pairs went through and where put in made the film very human which a lot of the superhero movies sometimes miss.

Just bought a pro too, this is my first pin bought brand new; looks really solid can’t wait

I liked the 2nd one.

Maybe its because baby Groot dancing made my 4yr old daughter laugh hysterically.

When I hear her giggle, I giggle. That likely painted the movie in a positive shade for me from the get go since that scene was at the beginning.

Its almost like those Hollywood guys use psychology on us (I'm sure they do).

What? Hollywood would never just use characters for the cute aspect.......

j/k, of course they would, lol. Exhibit A: the new Porgs in star wars:

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Please put that exhibit away, you’re making me anxious about the new Star Wars ...

.....a baby seal walks into a club.....

Don't forget the lesson Spaceballs taught us....

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I just played the heck out of a Aerosmith on location - - if GOTG rules is anything like Aerosmith it's going to be a lot of fun. One thing I really hope gets coded in is multiple skill shots. Aerosmith does a fabulous job of tying in 3 different skill shots based on where you're at with the game - trying to get the ball lock shot, or one of the orbits to advance a mode or advance your Elevator lock is well integrated. Hopefully GOTG can and will do something similar - - harder plunge for the left orbit, soft plunge for the right orbit, or something more advanced for the upper lanes. Even bringing in a super skill shot that means something by holding down the left flipper and sending the ball all the way around for a flipper skill shot would be welcome. I just hope it doesn't ship with a lame skill shot like Iron Man has (probably the biggest beef I have with that game is the skill shot is so weak it probably shouldn't be called a skill shot - even with the post turned off).

Aerosmith doesn’t have a skill shot

That’s just us pinheads pretending it does

I like how Ghostbusters handles skill shots. You have to really intend to hit it, but you still have options based on what you want to do that ball.

Lol. Maybe not one that is called out on screen as a "skill shot," but it definitely has three shots that you need to use your skill in order to award a shot. Maybe that's part of why I think it's great. It's definitely more interesting than plunging a ball at full speed, watching it hit a post, and then having all the time in the world to change a lane to award some worthless points and see "skill shot" displayed on the screen.

Wow, that's pretty cool!

I have one question, will you supply overseas? Because that looks Awesome!

Congratulations, I believe that you made an excellent choice!

This looks amazing.. I was thinking NEO-CHROME.
Like in these pics..

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Yes i can but youd have to pay shipping