i had noticed some ghosting on my Pro Storage Facility insert a while back, but it was still smooth to the touch so i didn't worry much about it. Yesterday I took the glass off to take a closer look at it again, and now i can feel the clear coat has started cracking a bit, its still a very fine ridge you can feel with your finger. Distributor suggested cleaning the area up and put a little strip of mylar over it to protect the area. I have also sent a note to stern along with the picture this morning and hope to hear what their suggestion is to keep it from breaking down further. I have not done anything with it yet, wanted to see what sterns suggested fix is. as long as i can keep the clear from flaking away at an alarming rate and the game is playable, I am happy. Maybe it'll suck down the road when it comes time to sell it off, but i guess we'll see how it plays out

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Very similar to mine, but on the left side up along the Storage Facility insert. Mine started a while back and was fine for a bit, but just started cracking along that edge. its still very subtle, but you can feel the ridge now, where before it was totally smooth. Keep an eye on it.

where is your Metallica chipping? drain hole? My metallica play field was from March (i dont recall the exact date without looking, i think it was between 5-15th), the date on the back of my cabinet is April 5. and so far i have no chipping of clear at the drain hole after about 130 games. Another person I know who lives in town near me got a NIB Metallica about 2 months ago and hes got some drain hole chipping almost immediately, noticed it after a few dozen games.

you've been invited to his 30th Anniversary Bash!

Anybody ever try raising them to see if it changes the way it bounces in those corners of the outlanes? maybe its actually better? Worth a shot?

I have been told as of early December that my Pro (with a couple ghosted inserts and drain chipping, and a few new ghosting inserts since I got my name into the system) would be replaced with a new fully populated playfield, and am standing by for a date for it to arrive... my dealer will be doing the swap. Hoping to hear soon, but I am playing and enjoying the game in the meantime and not worrying about wear and tear anymore on those problem areas. Will let you all know how it goes when it happens.

Is there anybody here from Canada or US that has received a new playfield from Stern yet? I am getting my playfield swapped this Saturday, and have also been working on a Youtube video for The Canadian Arcade to chronicle my experience with the process, which overall has been fairly painless and smooth so far. I have a few questions for anybody else who has received a replacement, or is receiving one soon. It would be greatly appreciated if you could reach out to me via PM.

Thanks!

Is any body selling the Ghostbusters Cliffy set on their online stores yet? I did email Cliff last week asking, but never heard back if he offers them. Also, is there a protector for the right side ball eject for the Ghostbusters Pro? This area seems like it gets worn the easiest, and I already have a bit of clearcoat breaking away here. Brushed on some crazy glue around that area to cover up the exposed bits of wood in the meantime.

to be fair, that area on my old playfield had barely any clear coat to begin with and was getting banged up even worse. Wife had a game today, and low and behold, there was a little chip of clearcoat hanging out on the playfield afterwards. didnt take me long to see where it came from. Otherwise, the drain area is holding up fine, and no issues with ghosting on any inserts yet. Only a few days into the new playfield with like 55 plays or so. Not out of the woods yet by any means.

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The clear coat in that area seems much different than other places on the playfield... like it was done as a separate application. Really not much else I can do other than protect the area the best I can and hope for the best. I was willing to give Stern another chance, but at this rate I have to say I probably wont ever buy a new pinball machine again. If the ghosting comes back or the drain chips, the chances of Stern doing anything for me now after a playfield replacement already are probably nil to none. If nothing else gets banged up, I guess I'll be happy. I sort of half expected that area to need protection anyway. Its got those exposed edges that can get hit with a ball very easily. I think that saucer/scoop thing is a poor design to begin with, and I'll bet the new Aerosmith that has a similar feature (that same shape saucer/scoop thing that tosses the ball into that trunk) will most certainly get banged up the same way. I'd be interested to hear how people are protecting this area on their GB pros? I have a friend in our pinball league who also had to add some crazy glue to the area to reduce the chipping on his. Its probably the weakest part of the game in terms of longevity, regardless of how good the clear coat is.

Any pictures you can share? how is your drain?

Yes, i am 55 games into my replacement playfield. Drain and inserts are good so far, but the right scoop/saucer feature had a piece of clear flake out. see pictures a few posts up. I was feeling pretty confident up until now.

I followed up last night, got a response right away! Cliffy set for GB is on its way.

i'm 130 or so games and about 10 days in on my replacement, and so far so good in terms of ghosting and shooter lane, and the drain. the right saucer had a little chip flake out, other than that, lookin good!

I wish i had a connection with Stern.. then maybe I could get a good deal on a topper! This was all us. We've been ramping up production on our videos over the last year, so stuff we've done recently is a little more professional than when we first got started, so I can understand why people might think a larger entity could have been behind it. Chance and I are just two regular guys that started filming some of our arcade/pinball adventures out of boredom and a desire to learn video editing a little better. I don't think the replacement had anything to do with the channel. I put in my concerns to my dealer about the playfield way back in August, so its more of a 'who got first in line' sorta thing (I think?). Also, I really do feel that your dealer or distributor is going to be one of the most important factors in whether you get a replacement or not. The other no-so-clear part of the equation is where is the line drawn for how much defectiveness your game needs to have to warrant the replacement? I really don't know if theres a magic number or what (2 bad inserts? 3? drain chipping?)

Also, if anybody from Stern is reading this... I would like a deal on a topper for my Ghostbusters, and maybe some of those art blades too! I am awaiting your private message *wink wink*

PS. One detail i didn't mention in the video is that I had to pay for shipping of the playfield back to Stern. They only covered shipping in one direction.

Has anyone confirmed if they actually corrected the spelling on the Pro models on later playfield dates? I can't tell what the date is on mine, the rubber stamp on it has the month smudged out!

In my case they did the swap in person, so my game was only out of commission for maybe a half hour. Cost to ship back to the US was about $160 Canadian, and my dealer took care of the logistics of getting it back to Stern.

Not sure if other folks were able to get a technician come out and swap it?

I think there's still a possibility of keeping this thread open for a little longer, maybe until at least the first few batches of Aerosmith get into peoples hands. Nobody was really freaking out about Ghostbusters ghosting much until the LE folks started getting shit games.

I've seen lots of confusion over the misspelling of the Negative Reinforcement on the Pro models. Do we have clear evidence that the spelling was eventually corrected on the Pro models? I believe Premium/LEs did not have the issue, or if they did, there were very few of them? From the handful of people I've spoken to, we came to the conclusion the insert was never corrected on the Pros...

The date was smudged on my pro replacement that I got exactly 4 weeks ago today (Feb 4). In other news, the replacement playfield has not developed any new issues since i did my video review of the whole ordeal a couple weeks back. Do we even know what the date represents? Date it was CNC'd? inserts installed? clear coated? populated?

One thing I noticed with my replacement when i first got it was that the playfield was a bit dusty, but it was plastic dust... like it was near an area where plastics were being cut/drilled/prepared. The dust was on the populated portions of the game, so i get the sense it was populated and then sat around for a while before it got shipped off.

For whatever reason, i was able to get my playfield sent out to my dealer, and he came and did the swap. Game downtime was like 20 minutes or so. Not sure if its a Canada thing, or if its because my dealer has a good relationship with Stern.

I got my playfield replaced in February, its still looking great. The playfield date rubber stamp is smudged though, so no telling what the dates are on those playfields, but it was still 2016 for sure.

Yup, that's ghosting. I have a slightly smaller sliver on the same insert on the opposite side that has been there for a while and has not grown on my replacement playfield since i first found it a couple months ago, but is only noticeable if I get right down close and look for it. i only noticed it when i took the glass off and cleaned up the playfield for a quick waxing. If it doesn't grow any more than that, I'd be happy. If it gets bigger and starts cracking and flaking away the clear, then you should let Stern know. I don't think they'd do too much about it right now, but it probably would hurt to let Stern/your dealer know, just so it's on file.

Here's my sliver of ghosting, just for reference. This is about 8 months since I got it replaced and maybe 600 games. Ghosting is between the O and R on the right hand side. Again, if it doesn't get worse than that, I'll be a happy pinballer. I have no other issues with the game. My playfield doesn't have a clear date stamped on it either, but it is a replacement, and also I found it was very dusty when I got it... but just crud from manufacturing.. like plastic dust from Ramps being cut or drilled or something. Was easy to vacuum out.

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Here is my original playfield from March 2016 and the ghosting that formed within a week of receiving the game. You can see the sharp ridges of the clear breaking away. The insert was also slightly sunken in on that side.

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