Unplug it? Gotta be a connector somewhere...

What?! Is it really that bright and aimed at the player? Haven't seen one in the wild yet

just unplug it's power source. c'mon, you're not new to this!

not at all.

agreed. the ones i played weren't bright at all.

I thought it was distracting on Godzilla

Seriously. Getting stuff to NOT work is about the easiest thing in pinball.

But since this guy has clearly never opened a pinball machine before, here's some suggestions...

Snip a wire
remove a connector
completely remove the assembly
tape a piece of construction paper over it
Black spray paint
Stuff a small chunk of play doh or silly putty in it

Cardstock and a sticker over it?

Did you try the ole bourbon in the Chess Wizard port?

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I found a way to enjoy my game more by using the thing included in it. An innovation in Pinball that adds objectives and will promote people to revisit past titles and games on location.

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I'm thinkin of buying the wiz mod apron magnet.

Perhaps Stern could add code that turns it off once a game is started?

It does need to turn off during game. It can shine in your eyes at certain times. A bit of a goof on Stern’s part. It seems to go dark but some motion will activate it again

Distracting? I never even noticed it is there... with it being a faint glow in the lower right corner, outside of the playfield and against the literal HUNDREDS of much brighter lights flashing all over the place, and all.

But I understand... I mean, one cannot be too careful against such a "damn thing shining in your face!" You might catch Permanent Distraction Syndrome - solutions are complex... perhaps put a beer coaster or your phone on top of it? Good luck with your struggle!

Have you tried not staring at it while you play?

This.

next time just slide that card over it, problem solved

unless stern is going to sell you a piece of plastic for $300 that covers it up for you

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My solution is to follow your own advice and just not buy a Godzilla

Speaking of code hopefully there isn’t code that senses that you’ve tried to disable it. That could be a thing.

I could be wrong, but I suspect we all probably understand that perfectly well.

and maybe what you don't understand, is some of us do? Can you show me where on the Godzilla mech Insider Connected hurt you? Just touch it....don't be scared

What we understand is it's as simple as putting a 5 cent piece of paper over it if you really are just annoyed at the light from the reader. A solution to your pressing issue that is literally free (just steal a subscription reply card from a People magazine at the dentist) and will take 10 seconds.

What we also understand is you don't really give a shit about that - as the solution is as clear and obvious as the morning sky - and are just doing a stealth humblewhine about something that's really dumb to whine about.

DOn't like it? Don't use it. Don't want to pay for it? Don't buy a Stern game.

Or just make endless dumb threads about how much you hate the implementation of an "innovation" people have been begging for for years, and (shocker) turns out tons of people are really enjoying, even folks who thought they'd hate it.

I would imagine this is something Stern will address fairly soon in a code update. Given that this is the first machine with this "feature", it's not unreasonable to think that there will be refinements and adjustments made as it rolls out, and the ability to dim or turn off (preferably automatically) while playing seems like one of those things they may not have previously thought of during development and should be easy enough to accomplish with a couple of lines of code. Stern always hits a few bogeys initially with every new game, but I think they do a pretty consistently good job of quickly addressing them once they become widely known.

Sure you can unplug stuff, cut wires, cover with tape, spackle the opening in the apron etc., but those are very inelegant solutions and definitely not things I would want to do to my brand-new game that's closing in on $10k!

In defense of the OP being bothered by the brightness, some individuals are quite sensitive to bright sources of light in their peripheral vision and simply cannot ignore it. This may be due to susceptibility to migraines or the presence of any number of eye or other neuro issues, or the individual could simply be a "normal variant" with some minor anatomical quirk that's not pathological but does result in annoying but minor issues such as this.

That being said, this feature seems like a truly substantial upgrade to Stern's platform and I for one am eager to experience it for myself and even a bit excited to see how pinball evolves in response. This could end up being an even more significant an upgrade to the pinball "experience" than the transition from the SS to the DMD era was!

i've just come to grips w/ these kind of posts and questions being a a regular thing going forward, as they're just a protest and expression of dislike of this platform, disguised as a tech question.

I have not yet seen this in person yet. But what if someone wants to use the functionality and does find the light annoying while playing. Many people do not like bright LEDs and sometimes change the colour or type to reduce a particular offending light from their playing perspective. It bothers some but not all. I don’t think placing something on the glass is an elegant solution longer term for those that are bothered by it as shaker motors, nudging will dislodge it.

I wouldn’t think that this is a major issue but a very simple code fix would address a minor usability issue that would increase the end user experience for some folks. Isn’t the goal of any product to provide a satisfactory end user experience for as many people as possible while maintaining profitability?

I am not trying to quantify the severity of the issue but if a minor issue like this can be easily/cheaply fixed then Stern should probably add it to a future feature matrix for assessment/implementation.

These arguments are hilarious in the context of a pinball machine that has game play and features around bright flashing led lights. I'm sure Stern will implement something to silence the complainers but can't help but laugh at the reasoning here. This isn't a incandescent pinball game with one bright LED in the corner.

I don't plan on using mine and there should eventually be a setting to shut it off. This should be obvious to Stern and would think it would be implemented in future code. No different than having the ability to turn the knocker, shaker, music or any other feature off. First thing I do on any JJP is disable that annoying fucking camera, give people options and that is that period.

I'm hoping this doesn't happen, we are still on dsl in our rural area, and updates are hard to accomplish as is. No way wifi will reach our room to auto download new code.

Well then just be grateful you aren't one of the sensitive ones, and perhaps muster up a little empathy for those that are!

The key difference is, the bright flashing lights on the playfield are in the player's central vision and are the focus of his/her attention. Sources of light in the peripheral visual field (even if dimmer than the playfield lights) are a distraction that the brain has to "work around" in order to maintain focus/attention on the playfield; for some people this CAN in fact be an annoyance (or even cause discomfort), and I'd prefer to give these folks the benefit of the doubt rather than ridiculing them as crybabies.

If I were to print out your tag from this photo, can I play as you?

Technically, but you can regenerate your code at any time, useful in case you accidentally post it on Pinside.

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There are many, many ways to put wi-fi wherever one wants it. Wi-Fi connects to your router (LAN), your router connects to your internet(WAN).
If you need more details PM me, happy to make some recommendations.

I can understand how some people think it's annoying and others don't really care that's its on. I find it puzzling that Stern is installing these at the factory. They could have shipped without and anyone that wants one can pony up the $199 and install it like you have to do for past Spike 2 games. I've been to several locations and they look to be on but they're not even configured so it doesn't work. Stern doesn't install toppers or tournament buttons at the factory either. Stern missed an opportunity to raise prices $800+ on new games and sell this separately for those that want it.

I'd chalk it up as mildly distracting. It's not like it gave me a headache or caused me to lose my ball, but I did notice it while I was playing. Adding functionality that turned it off during game play is an excellent idea.

Or at least when the ball is in play. If you did it as soon as a game was started and wanted to add more players, if it was off completely, you wouldn't be able to add anyone else with their code.

They spent a lot of time and money creating something people have said they were clamoring for for years, and they want to promote its adoption. You do that by installing it in every game you build. Seems pretty clear why they did it this way...having it be an "option" means there would be Godzillas on location that don't have it. Every one, a missed opportunity to promote this product to players, which would be a puzzling move.

Eh. Every location I've been to they're not even configured. The only place I've been able to use it was Expo. We'll see if it goes the way of the Tops tournament system.

Yea I really don’t understand the outrage over the question. The man wants the simple ability to deactivate an apron light for a new feature that is optional and he will not use. Seems perfectly reasonable and I’m sure stern will code it in. It’s not an indictment on stern, just a feature request. Fanboys need to get a grip.

Or is this post just a continuation of your “F you Stern…” rant thread (where you went off about this) that you merely brought into yet another thread?

He made it pretty clear that he only posted the "question" as an excuse to recycle his previous rants about how shitty the product it is and how Stern just wants to fuck everybody. He doesn't even own a game with QR reader and swears he never will.

It's disingenuous, and these days people are getting kind of sick of that kind of thing. I mean this is the "F U Stern guy" for chrissakes...he deserves the benefit of the doubt?! He's established himself as a one-issue voter, and that issue is "F U Stern."

Granted I have not seen one in person but it cant be any more distracting than the lighting/flasher effects on a typical game. Its easily fixable in the most basic of ways.