that needs to go back to the distributor immediately for a full refund, no questions asked.

stern should have a new option to allow people who preordered or are waiting on a game potentially affected by ghosting to put their order back further in the line so it won't be delivered until after this issue is solved. I know most people will just wait for their game as normal, but if this keeps some people from getting a refund, it's a good thing.

Interesting...would like to see photos and date on playfield.

I received my GBLE in the 3rd week of July, and so far so issues, so I was hoping they had corrected the problem. But based on some other postings, I am starting to think that may not be the case.

Are the playfields stamped to signify who is manufacturing them?

Wonder if a rusty ball caused scratching or something. How about some pics AliciaC? Pinside wants to see this hot mess. Also provide build date / playfield date & #.

Rusty ball in a NIB... ????????

Has happened many times. Always check your balls (no pun).

Mine are there. There is no rust but they are pretty shriveled and hairy. Could that cause ghosting?

Depends who sees them

You want pics?

Needs a new populated playfield is all...With this many issues I am sure Stern will do this for you.

Are you?

Okay maybe sure isn't the correct term but I can say when I received a playfield that was scratched that they did send me a populated playfield quickly and swapping it was a piece of cake.

Mine was perfect when I opened it. I put all coils on soft, also the scoops (menu option).
I just played it one evening. The next day already had insert problems.
production date of playfield is 20 june. Distributor says "contact Stern".
Sent 2 mails but no response so far...
A mail back could at least give some peace of mind

Your distributor is suppose to do that for you. That's what they are there for.

And Stern will tell you to contact your distributor. I wish Stern and the distributors would get on the same page it's kind of ridiculous, we are the customers they are supposed to work for us.

Call Stern and let them know your distributor told you to call them yourself.

You must not have had an opportunity to buy a game NIB.
It happens frequently, as they are not packed/wrapped in oil or grease, just a bag.
Even in games produced less than 30 days before being received.
This was not a factor of Stern games, but ALL game manufacturers all the way back into the 1970s.
I cannot speak for NIB games before 1972, such as wedgeheads and woodrails, but I doubt they were different.

I toss the ones that come with the machine, I always use Pinball Life Premium Ultra-Gloss Pinball's

Sounds like the issue Mitch1985 was having due to the wire hanging from Slimmers butt.

https://images.pinside.com/e/cb/ecb8ad0848b179686129be5c4107b72a7f8f57d1/resized/large/ecb8ad0848b179686129be5c4107b72a7f8f57d1.jpg

Which they are out of stock on right now.

I know, sad

They are on the same page.. just not all do their job. The distributor is supposed to be the customer facing and handles customer transactions. Stern was the manufacturer, not the seller. Problem was when distribution became 'lets sell games to the public at wholesale' instead of distributors selling to retailers... the model kind of implodes on itself.

It must be the phase of the moon where Stern is trying to push their resellers to hold up their end of the bargain again...

Ya , I guess that makes sense flynn.
But then shouldn't stern be providing the distributors with some sort of information to be passed on to customers.

Stern is too rooted in the past way of doing business. People don't like using the cargument, but it's the same thing as dealerships. They are pointless to the consumer.

Perhaps some of the new Pinball companies coming up will sell direct someday.

Imagine going to their web page, choosing your game and model, then customizing the accessories, then it's built and shipped to your house.

They will.. eventually. What Stern really should do to fill the gap is ensure there is a proper case management system so that your distributor could lodge issues, they can see them as a whole, and then information can flow outwards when change happens. Today its relies too much on human relaying, which is costly and error prone.

Stern is 'right' to push back to the distributors... but it is rather poor at supporting them in scale and in todays 'real time' expectations.

Stern isn't saying much yet because more than likely even they don't know what the ETA and solutions are at this point.

One minor, single data point: my NIB GBLE (manufacture date August 1, 2016) has absolutely no noticeable problems. Time will tell, but reporting this positive experience felt like the right thing to do. Game Exchange of Colorado was the distributor and for what it's worth I find them to be remarkable to work with.

just imagine...wait, that's what I did with my Full Throttle

Cool! We all hope it remains that way!

test

It didn't route through a distributor at all? Even ceremonially?

no--ships direct from the UK to you and you just pay the ground in U.S. so typical ship charge. You can now buy via cointaker if you want, but don't have to.

Edit: mine was even easier actually--from my Alien post:

Met Andrew at RMPS. He was nice enough to deliver my Full Throttle to me since he was coming to show(he actually held on to it for a few months until I was able to take delivery which was cool as well). We assembled the game and he walked me through all of it/double checked it was all working and then broke it down and even helped me load it in my vehicle.
Who says service is dead!? My first NIB...I'm assuming all manufacturers do this?
Cheers!

Hats off to Heighway then!

Couldn't agree more.

Cancelled my GB Premium order today. I'll hold back until this is fixed.

My LE after 3 weeks has 0 issues. But I have spoken to Melissa at Cointaker about what others are reporting,
and she assures me , as with a few of my previous purchases, that she and Stern would find a solution. Cointaker!

Just took a good look at my machine. ST, Jan. 2014. This is not just a "new" playfield issue. 5 out of 6 of the shot inserts are cracked.

20160805_173314_(resized).jpg

20160805_172928_(resized).jpg

Thar sucks but appears to be a different issue. Not ghosting but cracks due to wood moving vs a more stable plastic insert.

Different playfield maintenance requirements.

Use liquid clear coat in pen form dried under UV light, you can make the crack prediminantly disappear. Caused by wood expansion against the plastic inserts and clear coat at different rates. Part of long term game care in conjunction with environmental conditions.

If not sealed, the cracks will spread around the inserts. Now you know what it is, what to use, and how to correct it.

That's gonna look bad in the future. It sucks that this is happening to so many games and these are just the ones being talked about here. Pull that PF and get it recleared so it won't get worse.

How does your other 1 billion Stern machines look though?

The separation of the clear from the plastic insert, is most likely the fault of improper prep on the play field before clear is sprayed on. Was the PF cleaned after sanding? Was it Cleared, Inked, and Cleared again? If so did they prep the clear before inking? Did they use plastic prep before clearing over the inserts. Was the humidity up in the paint booth, was the temperature off. The hardness of the plastic, vs. the hardness of the clear, the different expansion coefficients, and the lack of adhesion may have 1 or many contributing factors. Maybe they were rushed, or clears changed, or different inks used, maybe dirty screens, but something in the process has changed. Someone may have signed off on a change control, and we are now seeing the out come of that change.

This is the kind of thing you'd expect from a machine that's got 20 years of use. Not something you've had for a week. Defect in Manufacturing.

Did Stern ever figure out the Tron Dimple issue?

Every one of my sterns look great.

I should add so do both JJP pins.

I got 2 tabletop pins that look awesome!

f6507c1a220ad786599bd6c25275b1a791f0f4a5_(resized).jpg

Received GB LE #191 Today, PF dat is 7/25 and Date of Manufacture of game is 8/1

IMG_0049_(resized).JPG

IMG_0055_(resized).JPG

Does that topper come with it?

Extra add on from $tern