I honestly don't know whether to believe if this whole playfield problem is as hig of a deal as some people are trying to make it out to be or not. Obviously Stern is going to have some quality problems from time to time, just like any other manufacturers do. In the case of KPG though, he admitted in another thread that this Pin is in a garage that is not climate controlled and said that it gets very hot in there. I dont know where he lives but I live in Ohio and I can tell you that my garage gets so damn hot that I certainly wouldn't want my Pinball machines out there. If he lives in the south, its three times as bad as Ohio probably.

I am not ragging on KPG, I don't know him and he's probably a nice guy but I have to ask myself why does a guy have 30,000 dollars invested in 4 pinball machines and he wont spend another 400-500 on an air conditioner? He says the other machines are fine. I dont know if extreme heat is hard on a playfield or not, but I gotta believe that it probably is and im sure its hell on the electronics as well. I'm getting a new GB myself and yes I will be pissed if it has playfield issues, but I have a feeling that Stern may be taking some unnecessary heat and getting some bad publicity that they dont deserve on this playfield issue because of a few people on this forum. I personally love the machines they have put out over the last few years and im glad they are still around. I also believe that for the people that have serious problems that Stern will make it right.

I dont think the heat hurts the clear coat itself because obviously it doesnt hurt it on our cars. I was thinking more along the lines of maybe the wood expanding or contacting and maybe that making the clear coat seperate or crack. Im not saying it does or it doesnt, I honestly have no idea. I do for sure believe though that an extremely hot garage would be a bad environment for a pinball machine for many reasons. If this is as serious as alot of people seem to believe, then we definitely have a bad situation on our hands. I play a GB pro at a local barcade and its getting the crap played out of it and the playfield has no issues at all.

KPG, you probably dont have to worry about your cars but if you own guns I can tell you that they will ruin in your garage. Im not trying to act like an expert and I will be the first to say that I just dont know if pinball machines are threatened by bad climates or not. My gut feeling is that they could be though. Im just trying to help.

I dont know why a pro would be any different though unless the pros playfield is made by a different manufacturer?

With that being said though, I actually do have an old Supersonic that was left in a garage at least 10 years through some very hot summers and very cold winters and it didnt hurt the playfield on it. The back glass has minor paint peeling which is probably the environments fault though. The old playfields may be apples and oranges compared to the new ones though, I dont know?

I hope they have it figured out because this couldn't have happened at a worse time. Ghost Busters could very well be their hottest selling Pin ever. I want to buy one right now but im a little afraid to. I kinda think this is being overblown somewhat but im afraid to pull the trigger on a new machine and find out. 5-8k is a good chunk of money. I expect perfection at that price.

He definitely has an awesome car, but I have a Spitzer dragster sitting in my garage that will smoke his so I wasn't really as impressed as he thought I would be. I know a little bit about hot cars myself, it was a nice try though.

Oh ya, and my garage has AC in it also!

I would still trade him cars though. The wheels on his car probably cost more than my dragster lol. The McLaren is one of my favorite cars, they are sweet.

Dang Gawcol that sucks man......sorry to hear that. Screw it, im gonna just play the hell out of my WD and hold off on the GB for awhile.

Umm....thats pretty scary for sure......

I think you would probably take either one of our garages and be happy.

Hey if your wife says do it then you should do it, because she may change her mind tomorrow! lol

If it has playfield issues it would be a pretty hard sell at 8500 dollars

Hey Jerry from Pinball Alley, why do you keep ignoring this guy and why won't you answer his question? Please tell us what your price is on a Pro, Premium, and a LE model. A dealer like yourself who has such awesome customer service and that gives a one year garunty (I think thats how you spelled it?) You could gain a ton of new customers on here!

I have this funny feeling that you are like the dealer we have here in Cincinnati area (Waltons) that charges 1500.00 more than other distributors do for their pins and boast such great service, which is a lie by the way. Hell for an extra 1000-1500 dollars, I would garunty peoples machines also. They are paying you dearly for that "garunty" and piece of mind!

I would love to buy a machine off of you but I just get a really bad feeling about a businessman that cant even spell guarantee! lol

In Jerry's defense guys, I just talked to him and he seems like a pretty good straight up guy. I hate the spelling police on here and I never should have pulled that on him.....sorry Jerry! The Shysters that sell machines near me kinda gave me a bad image of all dealers I guess and I shouldn't have went there with him. I hope he Is as honest and takes care of his customers as good as he says he does. I shouldn't have judged him without knowing him. If anyone is near him, give him a call, you may score a good deal who knows? Its worth a try I guess.

I think Stern will make this right for people. Ive always heard that they take care of their customers very good if they have problems. I have also heard that Gary Steen is a great guy, thats why I hated to see some people on here bashing them so hard. Stern is making the best pinball machines that has ever been made right now and im glad they're around personally. Did you ask if they have a new playfield manufacturer by any chance? I am assuming that is the case. I think if I was Stern that i'd be trying to make that old relationship work again. The playfields have to be top notch and professionally made, you just can't cut corners there, no way in hell.

Im not reassured by his statement at all, I always believed that Stern will make this right. At least its a start and something to go on for people who are having problems right? Maybe KPG got the call because his playfield is the worst out of the bunch, maybe its because he is the one making the most noise, maybe Gary wants to drive his car? Who knows, im just glad some communication is finally going on.

I have played alot of games on a pro at the local barcade and I havent seen many air balls, is this a problem on all 3 models or just LE and premiums? I did however have many balls jumping over the inlane/outlane rails and that really sucks and should be fixed. The air balls need fixed also if its a problem. I know my TWD occasionally has some serious air balls as well, it looks like a baseball player knocking one out of the park or something! Issues like those need to be fixed before the first machine ever leaves the factory.

I have a feeling that they probably do know what happened. I could be wrong but I don't think Stern would keep building games and just praying that the playfields arent bad. I am also certain that there has probably been some super intelligent people that have been working hard on trying to figure out why this happened and how to correct the problem. That also doesn't mean that everything is going to be perfect now either. There are always going to be troubles that pop up in just about any kind of manufacturing.

What exactly did he say?

LOL!

If you have a bad playfield, its not gonna matter if its on a Pro or an LE. Stern will fix your playfield no matter what model that you have.

People put LE's and Premiums on location also and more pros go to homes than they do on location too

Come on, you dont have a friend, wife, neighbor or somebody that would help you for 5 minutes to lift the playfield out of your machine and put it in a box? I kind of find that a little hard to believe.

And I would definitely help you out also for sure. I see your point but thats a very rare occurrence that would be an issue I would think. I mean Stern can only do so much, and I think sending a new populated playfield is satisfactory truthfully. Its also exactly what Stern should do also. If they are going to charge a premium for their games then they definitely should be obligated to back them up too.

Yes I kind of agree with that as well since everyone knows that its a huge manufacturing problem with these machines. You could have brought the Kiss and GOT to my house while you are deployed and I would have taken good care of them for you!

Are you from Cincy?

Rumor is the playfield issues are fixed. We will see with this next batch of games coming out.

Im not spreading rumors. How the hell do I know this? There have been several people saying that the playfield issues are "supposedly" fixed. People right here on Pinside that have talked to people at Stern. Maybe if you would read this forum more you would know these things.

Ok lets just assume that it isnt true, so what? Im not intentionally spreading lies, im just passing on what I have heard on here. Im not on here saying...."I talked to Gary Stern personally and he has assured me that the playfield issues are fixed and nobody will ever recieve a bad playfield ever again".

I do believe that there is some truth though to the playfield issues being identified and fixed. Thrres nothing wrong with passing information that I have read on here so get over yourself.

No, not even a little bit why?

That could be true but I dont think that these rumors are. People get pissed when they don't hear nothing, and people get pissed when they do hear something lol. It's kind of a no win situation really.

Yes thats basically what I am doing. Is there something wrong with when a guy ask if the playfield issues have been fixed if I say "rumor has it the playfield issues have been resolved?" I really do not see a problem with that whatsoever.

I don't think mylar will keep your inserts from ghosting. When was your playfield made?

Im very curious to see how this next batch of playfields that are coming out look. I want a GB Premium but if the next batch of playfields have issues im out. I dont have 7k to just throw away. I demand perfection at that price.

Thats very good news, glad to hear this.

He doesn't know, he's talking out of his Azz

I DO NOT KNOW the cause of the problems. YOU are the one that says that you KNOW that Stern is using cheap wood, so please tell us all how you know this. You act like you have some kind of inside info but you wont reveal your source or your proof. You dont know anymore than the rest of us know. We dont know what's causing the problems, we dont know if its even a big problem. For all we know 5 percent of the playfields could be bad or it could be 100 percent, which I doubt that is the case. If they're using cheap wood as you suggest, then all of the playfields should be bad and that is not the case.

I have a new GOT Pro with a june playfield date and so far there are no issues and it looks fantastic. I'm definitely concerned about it but so for so good, time will tell I guess. There is a GB Pro at the local barcade with a ton of plays on it and the playfield looks fine, so obviously ALL of the playfields using this "cheap wood" arent going bad.

This is probably a dumb question, but how come TWD hasn't had ghosting issues? Im sure the same playfield manufacturer is making their playfields also. My WD has a Feb 2016 playfield and still looks perfect after 1100 plays. It seems like GB and Spiderman VE are the games having most of the issues. Ive seen a few GOT with problems also but nowhere near aa bad as GB. I know that GB is outselling GOT and TWD right now but there have been lots of those games sold also in 2016.

I got a GOT last week with a June playfield date and have put 130 plays on it and it looks really good. I know its way too early to say that I wont have playfield issues, so for the record I am not saying that at all. I'm just saying so far so good.

Does Pinside have a biggest Douche Bag award? If they do then this guy has earned it. If they dont, they need to make one especially for him!

I don't think the playfield even has a warranty against ghosting. Even if it did, you would spend more in attorney fees than what you could just buy a new playfield for lol. Stern has already said that they will replace people's play fields that are bad, so just chill and be patient instead of threatening legal action. Stern is probably just as pissed that it happened as you are. They will fix your playfield, Gary even said so.

Yes Gary did say that, there's even a video on YouTube where he talks about it. I don't blame you for being concerned though for sure. I don't know exactly what route you need to take to get someone's attention, but I would probably start with my distributor and if that don't work I would be blowing the phones up at Stern and and emailing the hell out of them. I don't like being ignored when I have a problem either so I understand your frustration. If you happen to live close enough I'd drive to the factory if I had to, to get someone's attention. I'm sure someone on here can probably point you in the right direction on what to do.

I thought you loved Ghostbusters? Just three days ago in another thread you said that you wouldn't sell it?

"I have to say if I had to sell one today, it would be my GBLE.. although I couldn't, because my playfield is a ghosted and chipping pile of shit and who knows when Stern will replace it. That's another story of course. But I honestly won't sell the game as it is very fun once you put a center post mod in it and get it dialed in.. and the theme is great, so it won't leave my collection for a long time.."

But but but.......I thought JJP machines were much higher quality? Now I'm really confused! Unbelievable!!!

I don't think I would say single test machine because that's not the only bad JJP playfield that I've seen. Do you understand the difference between sarcasm and someone being serious? My post was a joke actually so you may be wise to hold off making stupid comments to people until you understand the difference! But anyway while we are here, I would actually expect JJP's quality to be outstanding as much as they want people to pay for their machines, but they aren't. They have had plenty of issues with their machines playfields and electronics both.

I doubt it seriously. I bought a GOT that was built when the bad playfields were being built and it had me pretty worried. I've played over 600 games on it and it still looks great. I'm not worried about it anymore and convinced that it wii be fine. No ghosting, no clear coat chipping, nothing.

How are we supposed to know what to think about the issue that you are talking about if you won't tell us what the issue is? lol

Please post pics of your playfield

Iceman I'm sure glad you finally got here. KPG has been up all damn night waiting on you to show up!

Well if that really happened, and I'm not saying that it didn't.....I would have went to the factory and probably shoved that playfield up someone's azz and went to jail. That should absolutely 1000% be replaced with a new playfield. Did you call your distributor and try to get help through them also?

I think KPG and Gary Stern should have a cage match and all proceeds go to charity. If KPG wins free playfields for everybody, if Gary wins everybody is screwed. I can see Gary busting a playfield over KPG's head right now! lol

Yeah and KGP's head is way harder than a pinball also. Your talking serious playfield damage there!

This is simply not true. The U.S. actually goes way overboard with safety regulations to the point that it is putting companies out of business.

Dang guys, I think we all need to take a chill pill here. Iceman is one of the nicest guys on this forum, he doesn't deserve all of this hate that's being directed toward him. I didn't perceive anything he said as a personal attack or anything like that at all. The guy loves pinball and is very helpful to other people on this forum and I am glad that he's a part of it, and he's fun to talk pinball with. I don't agree with every single thing he always says (like Batman being great), but I do think that he is a pretty great guy. Be nice people, he's one of us!

Here's to you ice, even if your new game does suck!

Yeah but I don't really think he meant anything really serious by saying that. I don't think he said it in anger I guess is what I mean. Iceman is a pretty damn nice guy I think . I don't agree with everything he says, there's very few people that I agree with 100%, and the same obviously comes back at me as well. I don't agree with him on thinking KPG was wrong about being so mad about the playfield situation, but it's ok. I still think he's a great guy and I'd have a beer with him and hang out, and kick his ass all nite long in pinball in a second!

It's just his opinion. I don't think he cares if people don't like GB or Batman. Heck I told him that he got Boned on Batman and he just laughed. GB is pretty effin great, I will agree with him on that! I'm not sure how that Batman purchase sight unseen is going to turn out for him though lol. For his sake I hope it's good though.

It'll probably end up being good. I have my doubts about it being great but it'll probably be ok. See here's what's going on dude. Ice comes home after a long day at work, pours himself a stiff one and just sits in his chair and stares at Batman66. By the time he's on drink 4-5, he's getting a little angry and mother effing Gary Stern for making him make that hideous video and making a fool of himself to get his Batman and then it turns out to be such a Turd
. Fast forward to drink 10, and then he gets on Pinside and starts taking his anger out on everyone on here. He means nothing by it, matter of fact he's probably so drunk that he probably doesn't even remember doing it the next day! lol

Just kidding iceman!

P.S. We really want to see that video though iceman! Please post it!

If it's held up this long you are good o-din! My WD and GOT were both made in 2016 and look great and now my GB Is looking solid so far at nearly 200 plays in. I hope it stays that way too! I love my GB, greatest pin ever!

Yes Sir, you came to the right thread!

Better than GB, TWD, GOT, and MET?

Probably not, everyone likes different things. I think GB possibly could be Sterns best game ever but that's just me. I like it better than my TWD I believe. Not as good as WD or GOT for tournament play, but it's more fun to play with friends over a few beers. We were laughing our asses of at the magna slings last nite. Magna slings are the best ever, there's no disputing that!

I gotta agree with you on Aerosmith man. I think we have a winner in that game for sure, and I don't even really like them much as a band.

I think you're going to see code and quality both. Time to pull out some of that old musty money PW!

I'm not a huge MET fan but I know everyone else loves it so I included it. GB, WD, and GOT though are all time greats!

Well if you watch the dead flip stream the code already looks solid. As far as the playfield quality goes, I think that is behind them personally. My WD and GOT were both made during the real scary times last year and they are both beautiful. My GB playfield was made in October and its gorgeous too. As long as they fix the bad ones that's all I care about, and that appears to be exactly what they are doing.

What month were they corrected jar? Like September? Also we're all playfields produced during thos times made badly or just some? Reason I ask is because my GOT and WD seem fine and they were early to mid 2016.

Just curious because seems like things got better mid September

You need to lay off the drugs Rare, they are bad for you! First you said GB sucks and now you're saying magna slings suck. You cannot be serious, magna slings are an absolute riot. I'm not saying put them on every pinball machine or anything like that, but they are perfect for GB! Maybe if they ever make The Munsters they would be great on that game too?

Seems like they get more active as you get deeper into the game. They seem kinda like normal slings at the start of a new game, but if you have a great game going they start getting very wild.

Haters gonna hate! We are not listening to Rarehero.....we are not listening to Rarehero...la la la la la la

Nope, that's not gonna work!

Rarehero couldn't offend me if he tried!

Nice lol

No not all, just me, iceman, and KPG lol

I understand but at the same time you can go over to the MET thread and find all kinds of guys that just got games that are happy with them. My big thing is, I want my playfield replaced if I get a bad one, that's all I ask. I got three games that were made in 2016 and I'm happy with all three of thems quality. My GB is still new so the jury is still out on it, but the other two are fine. I think the playfield issues have been addressed personally. Not saying everything is all perfect, but I believe it's way better. I think they just hit a little rough stretch for awhile.

Sometimes you just have to grow a pair don't you iceman?

That sucks but if it doesn't get any worse I probably wouldnt be bothered by it either. Also just because theres a ghosted insert on that machine doesnt mean that Stern is still having major problems with ghosting, because they're not. Theres no way they can make 100% flawless playfields, its just not possible. It sucks if you get a bad one, but if you do im sure they will replace it for you.

This isnt Sterns intended quality. If it was they wouldn't be replacing peoples playfields right now. This is no more than a manufacturing bump in the road and will get better because the customers demand a quality playfield. Ive worked in manufacturing for 34 years and have seen many issues like this, and there will be many more also down the road I am sure.

I never said anyone shouldn't be upset by it, I said this isnt their intended quality and that from time to time a playfield is going to be bad. Im upset about it and it hasnt even happened to me. I want to see their quality get better also. Im not even taking up for them, im just pointing out that things arent quite as doom and gloom as some people may think. Most people's playfields are fine I am sure. I bought three games in 2016 and all three look great.

You won't get any argument from me out of anything that you said. I'm not taking up for them, just saying the sky isn't falling as bad as some people let on. There are things that I don't understand why they do them either. Just like the coil eject strength into the shooter lane on my new GB, it's no wonder shooter lanes are being destroyed as hard as it ejects out of the ball trough. I turned the eject down to the lowest setting and now it ejects nice and easy every single time into the shooter lane. Why doesn't Dwight put write that setting into the code? Beats me, but anyone who plays this game can clearly see that it is ridiculously damaging to the shooter lane at the factory setting. Little things like that bother me because it tells me that they aren't paying attention and that they don't care.

I hear ya and you are correct for sure.

I only started owning my own games about 3 -4 years ago, but been playing for 35-36 years off and on. That's still beside the point though, any kind of manufacturing is gonna have problems from time to time. I'm not taking up for them, I'm just stating the facts. I'm very happy with all 3 of my 2016 Sterns so far. The GB is new so the jury is still out on that but the other two get played a lot and they look fantastic.

Dude are you nuts? Why the hell would you down vote my last post? If you would read back through all my post you will see that I'm not defending stern at all, matter of fact I've dogged the hell out of them for the most part. I know they are having QC issues, I've never said that they wasn't.

I agree with you 100% but doesn't it worry you any at all to buy a pin from a brand new company not knowing anything At all about their quality or whether they will even be in business next year or five years from now also? I wouldn't be at all surprised if these companies don't have problems also. At least with Stern you kinda know they are going to be in business for awhile and can give you a replacement playfield if you get a bad one. Once again, I'm not taking up for Stern. I know they have been having some bad issues lately and that they need to improve their quality....I get that trust me.

Yeah Spooky is really pumping out some great games! Give me a break!

Doesn't matter what it is because the company making it sucks

It's nothing personal toward the people, I'm sure they are good people. I just don't like their games.

Congrats, you got a great game there for sure. Playfield will be fine, don't worry about it. I'd put a cliff in the shooter lane just to be safe but it should be fine. I'm not sure if you can turn down the eject power on the ball trough or not, if you can that would be a good idea. I turned mine down on my new GB because it was just slamming the ball into the shooter lane ridiculously hard. Now it shoots it in there nice and soft but I'm still gonna put a cliffy in there just to be safe and one on the drain hole as well, or at least a small piece of Mylar. I have a WD Pro also though, great game man.

I guess I could downvote your post if I was immature like you but I don't want to bring myself down to your level. Way to try and ruin this guys NIB experience, real nice of you! How many walking dead have you seen lately with bad playfields? None?

And if you'll notice I didn't after I reworded it.

How about the peeps at Stern? They are some pretty good peeps too but you don't have any problem talking smack about their company do you? Hypocrite much there Rare?

You mean 10K like the TBL that you have on order that you'll probably never recieve from a company that is brand new in the business? You of all people should be ok with that seems like. Talking smack is talking smack, doesn't matter what the reason is. I talk smack about a certain company because their games are horrible imo, and you talk smack on Stern because their quality sucks. Those guys at Stern have been in the business for 30, 40, 50 years. They are why pinball is what it is and they are the same guys who are responsible for making it possible for us to be able to even buy a NIB pin today, but instead of support them you decide to trash them publicly. I'm actually ok with it though because it is what it is and they probably deserve some of the backlash they are getting, but YOU need to not be such a hypocrite about it.

No argument here on that. The issue is someone telling me that I shouldn't be talking smack about a certain company and they are on here doing the same thing about another company.

I know PW its all good bro lol. I do know that you know better though about the Bengals. Now if you wanna say the Reds suck, then yeah....im in full agreement with you there! Who do you root for, the Seahags? Talk about a team that has a history of sucking!

And if you'll read through all my post, I corrected myself and said just that. Spooky is a good company as far as customer relations goes. Its kinda easy to do that also though when you are a small business, Stern is huge compared to them. Thats still no excuse though and its an area that Stern gets an F in from me. Just because the people at Joe's hamburgers are nice people doesn't mean their hamburgers dont suck. If you ate one of their nasty burgers, I bet you'd tell people that Joe's burgers sucks.

And the cheapest BM66 isnt 10K either now is it?

More BS from Rarehero! Ive been playing pinball for over 40 years DA! Just because I didn't start owning my own machines until a few years ago doesnt mean that I didnt know what pinball was until then. And yes you have the right to criticize anybody you want to and so do I. What you dont have the right to do though is be a hypocrite and tell me what to say, and when you do im going to call you on it! Oh yeah and please stop acting like you're the God of pinball, thats lame as F dude for real.

Oh yeah its great alright!
If that's all pinball had to offer I'd find a new hobby asap! That game is a turd dude!

Thank God! I got enough hypocrites in my life as it is, I certainly don't need anymore!

I dont follow sports nothing like I used to either. They're nothing bunch of overpaid babies anymore for the most part and its getting old.

I dont own BM66 but I dont think its going to be great either, although I do love the theme. I do however think that BM66 or any other Stern game is way better than RZ. I just dont like their games. Its nothing personal, but I just dont like them and I know many people that share the same feelings that I do about them.

I hope so O-din and you are probably right. I think I just wanted it to be more because I love the theme so much and it came out similar to the other BM game. I wanted something all new I guess. I don't think its a dog by any means and Lyman is going to make it alot better in time im sure. I feel like they rushed it a little though. I hope it turns out awesome though if for no other reason you and iceman alone, although it is fun to take a jab at iceman about it occasionally.

Its going to be an interesting jouney thats for sure. I hope they work hard on the code like they promised.

Yeah you definitely have us beat if you're a Browns fan lol. Nothing wrong with WOZ and GB though. Its just your team that sux. If I wasnt a Bengals fan I'd maybe feel sorry for you.