Not sure it would last long in a small collection but certainly would compliment a larger collection. I think guest would particularly enjoy playing it.

Snaroff-those Pin-Stadiums really make a big difference on this title-actually look's really good

I'm glad your local bar had adequate lighting to enjoy the game, but I don't "buy" your rationale. It's a modernized retro pin. Modernized implies many things, which *should* include lighting the PF properly. IMDN is modern and it is woefully lacking spots as well (the middle of the PF can hardly be seen in a dark room). All of my visitors so far think the lighting improvement is uniformly "goodness". This isn't purely about aesthetics, it effects gameplay. If you can't see the shots it's harder to make them

snaroff

Aftermarket lights do light it up, but the candy cane effect isn't wonderful. Do you have to pull those lights off to raise the playfield ? That would be a big drawback to me. Real mixed feelings on those. Still think I'd try additional spots on a game if it's dark in an area.

Room lighting plays into the equation too. If the room is lit decent extra lights usually not needed on most games.

Maybe somebody comes up with something new or better in the future for supplemental lighting.

Probably bought those 10 years ago...you lucky SOB!

I haven't kept up with this thread, but every time I scroll by it I remember this post and smile.

Played some more Beatles Gold and it is fun, fun time.

Played Bestles last night. Wish I could get those 2 bucks back. Different strokes

I'm curious...do you like playing classic 80's pin's in general?

snaroff

I've heard, A fool and his money will soon depart.

That is a fair question, and yes I do. Unfortunately this game is not priced at 80's prices. Quite possibly it's the theme as well, not a big Bestles fan. Play on!

ok, thanks for the response. Well, my restored Fathom & Centaur are easily in the Beatles Gold price range (but I get your point.

snaroff

Centaur is a bad ass game, maybe cause I like that theme ha. My buddy has a mint restored Centaur.

A mint restored Bally Rolling Stones or Kiss go for pretty high $$$$ these days.

Definitely an interesting comparison since they made a bazillion of them.

I happen to like both those games even though rated as turds on pinside. Lol

Kiss ain't bad, but Mickey on a sticky???

Played Beatles for the first time last night and I must say I’m stunned that Stern/Kapow can sleep at night, after charging Charlatan prices for the Beatle/witch table. There is nothing to it? It’s the emporers new clothes syndrome all over again. Can’t everyone see that there is virtually nothing to this table? Boredom sets in after a dozen plays literally, in the way of game play.

The video clips of the Beatles are a joke. I saw on screen what I think was Paul, since the film lighting was so bad, you could hardly make out it was him. However the pop up graphics Stern created are nice.

Why would anyone pay an outrageous amount of money for this table ($8k)??? It honestly shouldn’t be sold for more than $3k to $3.5k, maybe $4k allowing for high license fees. The second hand market is not going to be kind to those that purchased this table.

After saying all that, in very small doses it is fun to play - occasionally. With only seconds played of each of the nine songs, they begin to grate on ones nerves, after hearing the same 40 seconds for the tenth time. And I’m a huge fan of those songs. The one caveat is the sound system Stern put on the table is its best feature. Maybe using the sound brower and adding full songs if possible, might help things out, but understand even if you do that, you’ll still only hear the programmed 40 to 60 or so seconds of a song.

So unfortunate that Stern/Kapow really blew this license, under the suspicious name of licensing fees. Honestly, the Beatles license the craziest, cheapest and simplist items, that it’s hard to believe it cost that much for licensing. Plain and simple, this was a blatant cash grab by Stern/Kapow. From this point forward, I will look sideways at anything Kapow has to do with Stern. Stern should not tarnish their reputation with this type of partnership. It’s not like Batman 66 that uses first class video clips and IP integration from the original show in abundance. That is a good example of how the Beatles table should have been done.

The distributors are the ones setting the prices on this game so be mad at them instead of Stern.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my limited Beatles pinball experience
It shoots smooth and the songs/modes are great fun
I love to play pinball and try to sample as many as I can
They are all out of my price range, so I don’t really get the whole value for money thing here
The two latest pinballs I’ve spent time on are Deadpool LE and Beatles gold (I think they sell for a similar price)
I liked them both, but if I could afford one I’d get The Beatles, it’s just more fun and it’s The Beatles

"Someday, you'll sit on the throne, and the truth will be what you make it.

NO WAY... Stern sets the price... a distributor can discount it some but not much....

In general, you are correct. With Beatles, the pricing is a little more mysterious...especially for the Platinum/Diamond Editions.

If you go to Sterns website, the Gold/Platinum/Diamond all say "CONTACT FOR PRICING AND AVAILABILITY".

snaroff

Thunderbird you NAILED IT!!... EXACTLY what I thought of the game... Stern should just put Kapow's name on these games because it just tarnishes Stern's good name....

Because they can comfortably spend $8K on a pin they want, and never give it a second thought.

Operation Pinball released an instructional unboxing vid of a diamond edition on YouTube that was pretty well done.

I found one part particularly amusing:
“don’t get into the goodie bag, it preserves value of game. Those are spare parts that nobody ever uses.”

I guess even on higher end Sterns the operating manuals dont hold much value?!

Exactly correct! I'm probably a lot older than most people that visit this forum (retired almost 15 years). I was 17 years old when The Beatles hit America. My all time favorite band. I have owned at least a dozen pinball machines and this has to be one of my favorites. It all comes down to I can afford it, I wanted it, I bought it (Gold model) and I am very happy with it. God, I hope they don't make a Led Zeppelin pinball - I don't have any more room.

Ppl tend to forget that there are a lot of extremely wealthy men in North America. My 8k purchases involve discussions with wife, making room and making sure finances are ready for the hit. To uber rich dudes, picking up a beatlewitch is like me buying a new pair of jeans.

Not sure what point your trying to make but if there is something wrong with people doing well and being succesful in their hard earned careers please enlighten me.

There is no difference between buying a damn Beatles or monster bash or Metallica LE or JJP Standard.

8k is 8k period. If Beatles makes you happy great, if it’s MMr great who cares. It’s more of a justification for the 8k that’s the issue here with all the haters.

I was arguing the same thing you are. Where did I mention there was something wrong with being rich? I just stated that ppl tend to forget that 8k is different for some and that's fine. There are guys that will buy every new title and have no issue with some of the complaints about beatlewitch. I'm not one of those people out of choice.

My main issue is not whether this game is that bad or not, it is the fact that I grew up with the Beatles. Back then you were either an Elvis guy or a Stones guy or a Beatles guy. Guess what, I was a Beatles guy. I would have chosen RubberSoul as a theme for the music chosen btw.
But this pin is so shallow, I played it and tried to like it, but could not.
Such a missed opportunity!

And to me that’s the beauty of it, why does every game need to be deep and complex?

Yep..agree 100%

Yes, but I am a pinhead, not friends or family.
Have plenty of pins "friends or family " like.
South Park, Space Jam, WCS, Shrek to name a few!

Then you should love it like so many pinheads that love seawitch, fathom, centaur, ebd, flash Gordon, etc.

No clue how so many people came up with the idea that single level means a lesser game.

Games don't have to be deep and complex, but they should have some cool stuff going on. Think, the sinking ship in POTC or the ball disappearing behind the wall in The Shadow. The Beatles has none of that. To be fair, most newer Sterns don't.

The "Accelerator Loop" on SW Premium / LE being a notable exception. Rail gun in a pinball machine, pretty crazy.

A 'Rubber Soul' or 'Abbey Road' SLE would have been a fine idea. Hell, just an alternate backglass to the Gold at a reasonable price (half!?) and you have another winner.

I knew a guy my mother in laws boss who owned a house which was $20M, he also had a $9M boat. In his house he had an actual bar like an English pub in which he had a real Harley Davidson motorcycle in the corner that was just a decoration he doesn’t ride it. And it was a nice bike like must have been $20K+ or whatever they cost. He could buy a platinum Beatles if he wanted to just like I would buy a topper for my pins, I mean it would be the same type of expense to him as a topper would be for me.

great! once the average buyer gets priced/tapped out of the NIB market, manufacturers can 'pin' their hopes on the rich to support them by buying up all the 8K machines, only to put them in the corners of their bars as decorations that rarely get played.

There are not enough wealthy people that are into pinball to support the hobby. Sure, you can point out a lot of examples of this rich person or that rich person. But how many of them will consistently buy new, overpriced machines? How many of them are pinball collectors? Probably not as many as you'd like to think. Middle class, older men support the bulk of the NIB purchases. If there are that many rich people wanting to pay 20k for a Diamond edition than why cap it at 100?

I only know a few very wealthy but statistics say there are 36 million people in the world who qualify as millionaires. I don't say too many of those are into pinball but just pointing out that there are quite a lot of people with significant money.

Any time you go to a strangers house with a pin, they always have a TAF or Playboy sitting in the corner.

Always broken, but lit up as decoration.

The poor look at the so called Middle Class and think they are the rich!
Let's face it, a pinball machine is a luxury. NIB they are ALL very expensive, and unaffordable for 95% of the world's population.

Pinball manufacturers aren't in business to supply luxury toys to everyone on the planet. They are expensive to make, plus they need to make a profit to stay in business. They are in business to make money not lose it. Unfortunately, for NIB buyers, that means high prices, for ALL NIB pins. If you think the price of Beatles is 'overpriced', whatever that means, then don't buy one. But those who don't buy one shouldn't begrudge those who do.

Im still a sucker for a broken or working Playboy.
A lot of memories plunging that beauty.

Hi All,
I must say that I do like the pinball. As a distributor I am selling the gold edition. The problem lies in the platinum and diamond editions. When the manufacturer won't give a MSRP and won't let you advertise a price, then things get tough. "Call for pricing" really turns people off. I have decided to sell the golds and hang onto the others until I can advertise reasonable prices. This pinball is really targeted for the Beatles collectors . There are only 1964 of them for the whole planet. They will all sell and they will go up in value because of the subject matter. The Beatles could probably be the greatest marketing trademark in history. Paul McCartney was on 60 minutes last night and drew some of the highest viewing numbers that show has had in recent times. In the end I hope Stern learns a lesson. You have to have a MSRP on anything for sale.

Thanks-Jerry

Whenever I hear this song by William De Vaughn, I think of my cheap through expensive pinball machines and all the other stuff.....

“Be Thankful for What You Got”

Great time of year to listen to this one too.
Happy New Year 2019!!!!

from sheryl crows 'soak up the sun':

It's not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got

Couldn't agree more! EVERYTHING is relative. It's how you live your life that matters. I respect folks that appreciate what they have and live within their means.

Look at Warren Buffett, one of the richest guys on the planet who lives a low-key lifestyle. Love this Buffett quote: "Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars."

snaroff

Golden Beatles in the house! At least on this I found while going through a box of my old music/drum/guitar books I haven’t had out in years.

9D8B07FD-6C92-4069-B11E-C4BBFAE08FDD (resized).jpeg

Looks like Ringo did those sculptures himself.