Exactly.
I’ve seen and played nearly all of them, so I know when something special falls in my lap and Iron Maiden is special. I can’t think of anything I would change or dislike really.
Hitting the left spinner is difficult to hit and so satisfying when you do. The ramps are not easy shots and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sweepable drops? So sweet. Looping the mini flipper? So sweet. Hitting the spinner shot with the upper right flipper? It’s all good.

The geomatry of this game is so insanely excellent, it’s incredible. IM imho sets the bar for others, better or worse, but they’re just not on the same level. The possibilities feel endless when it flows like this.

When the hair is standing up on your arm when you’re launching missles during “two minutes to midnight” you know you’re playing the good stuff.

I couldn't agree more. It's an amazing accomplishment!

One thing I would change is to make the underworld shot more satisfying. If it was a bit tighter and made that satisfying "clunk" sound like the vault on TAF...

Pro won out for me. I'm a "flow whore" (I love SW/GOT Pro), so the the more stop/go of the prem game play just doesn't jive with me or add much. And yes I've played an LE extensively and could buy one...this is a cost aside opinion. Don't care for the randomness of the Newton ball orb either. ...gave me several outlane drains from it, and the stand up registers just fine and gives predictable ricochets.

Real plays, play pro's (TM)

I had a little trouble tweaking the ball lock but now its Perfect and 0 regrets

Same thing when i got MetLe / droptargets and hammer problem but 1 month later was working Perfecly and never had 1 single problem with that pin.

Same with TwdLe a few tweaks and boom ...done

pins needs tweaking from the start some less some more and not the end of world for me, it's part of the Fun

The LE is a masterpiece in person!

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Patiently waiting for my premium to ship. Getting a good kick out of this thread.

I'm one of those that swore off NIB a few years ago, my last one being ACDC Pro. When this game was released I was intrigued because of the unique for Stern layout and four flippers, but more so because Keith Elwin was also working on the ruleset.

I had the opportunity to play the Pro in one of my leagues as soon as it came out. At first I thought the upper playfield area was cramped, but I came to appreciate the loops and other shots the upper flippers could make. After putting at least 25 games on it over a period of weeks I decided IMDN was for me.

I wavered back and forth numerous times between buying the Pro or the Premium. I wasn't blown away after watching the LE stream. The pro is a great game all on its own, yet I thought the extra Prem/LE mechs would be appreciated in a home environment. Artwork was not a factor. Reading about all the Prem/LE specific issues gave me pause, but I still got the Premium (a week ago today).

Conclusion - no regrets! Yes, I had to adjust both Orb and Mummy spoon switches to address phantom hits from flipper action which suddenly appeared about 10 games in. 50 games later they still work perfectly. Never had a single problem with the sarc lock. I love the variety offered by the left ramp lock and underworld mode start. IMO it's an improvement over repeated use of the centre ramp in the Pro.

Yah, I think it just plays better starting a mode shooting under the ramp. Vs having to jump it into the target.

It sure is more satisfying.

Pro and premium are both great choices! That said I went with premium for the added feature and LOVE the captive ball orb mech. Triggering mummy multi ball by newton-balling out the ball is great too! Finally the underworld is really nice as well. Definitely no regrets on the choice of premium, but the Pro is great value for the money as well. If price no object? Go for premium!

As for switch issues, really?! Seriously if folks are worried about adjusting a spoon leaf switch, my recommendation is you should not be buying ANY pinball machine. There isn’t a game out there that doesn’t require tweaks and that is a TRIVIAL one that takes literally 5 seconds.

I wish it was just the spoon switches. At about 80 plays my left flipper started to stick. Having been shown pics from my distributor of disintegrated coils stops in month old games I took my flipper mech apart. Shown below you can see the brass/copper layer under the stop has worn away causing it to sit at an angle. The coil stop freely turns. Be prepared to tweak this as well.

IMG_20180606_082603 (resized).jpg

Shitty Stern coil stops isn't new either

used to be my Grail Pin , Due to the maintenance I dropped it like it was hot. Tired of Opto's and other Trough Issues/cannon's/vuk's . seemed to always be something with that game as fun as it is , I could not deal with it . and most can not. You always see Help posts for the game .

Says the guy that “supposedly” had nothing wrong with his premium.

Totally!
Until you realize that it’s not JUST the spoon switch that needs adjusting...

Kudos for your good fortune Andre3000, but MOST people that got their first batch premiums got a game that was pretty unplayable out of the box.

Mine was no different.

I will agree,
Spoon switches are usually a breeze, usually.

These two 360 newtons though, are just a $#!tty design. About as smooth moving/centering as fossilized chunky peanut butter.

Then we move onto the sarcophagus mech.

While great in theory to have a flat rollover switch on the upper portion of the launcher, it tends to misread switch hits more often than not, even when it tests well (sensitivity-wise) in switch test.
The roller replacement seems to be the way to go since the original seems to miss the ball entering and exiting the mech. Normal/flat captive ball mode it registers each Mummy letter hit properly.
That is,
Unless the 360 newton doesn’t get stuck up offcenter on an edge again needing another directional hit to re-center it...

I get that we are considered the early Maiden adopter bunch but, man. A couple of roller switch changes and a minor redesign of the 360 newton could’ve yielded so much more enjoyment of this pin.
All in all, I’m happy I got the premium. The cab art really pops in person, (even more so when you ditch the mustard molding.) but overall, it does indeed need more hand holding than the average pinhead probably wants to do.

Also, what’s up with the terrible audio out of the box? My GBP and SW pro sound amazing compared to my Maiden Premium.
I thought maybe a wire or two had poor connection somewhere.
Nope.
Even with the treble and bass adjustments and cab/BB balancing, it’s not much better...
It’s like I’m listening to a really bad CD copy of And Justice For All, or in this case, the botched mix from the first Iron Maiden album.
I sure hope future code updates fix this problem.

Premium loaded and ready for ride home

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Everyone has to start somewhere so its ok, thats how you learn. There's no shame in being a noob when it comes to pinball repair. Some of those noobs may end up becoming great assets to the hobby down the road.

Sorry for the further off topic post:

I recently finished restoring my STTNG and replaced all the optos and the trough boards. I also used the same roller type switches being discussed here for the cannons. Zero issues and the game plays flawlessly!

I’m still new/ripe to the hobby.

But I’ve always been the early adopter type. And I accept that if I get in on the first batch/early run of a product, 99% there is some growing pains as they sort out things that didn’t appear in prototype.

So why would pinball be any different? Seems like we’re all early adopters on IMDN Prem, and dealing with issues that will be sorted in future production runs.

I know we get upset - but geez. Wait for later batches with the kinks worked out if you have no tolerance for some issues on first run batches. It’s the nature of pretty much all industries.

Scaling from prototype to production always comes with some growing pains.

So far the issues can mostly be addressed by the user, which is pretty darn awesome.

I also agree with this. Work out the gremlins, new optos, diverters adjusted and old grease cleaned off, trough optics, next gen will play without issues.
I had one but sold it in favor of Maiden. I had no issues with it, only parted ways because I had no reason to top 22 billion on it, but next gen is a great pin.

I've played a Pro and an LE about the same number of times--here is my take. No way the extra features are worth the money Stern is getting for them. Not enough bang for your dollar. However, that being said--If you are a Maiden fan, or just want the best playing Stern in a long time, I'd pay the money and step up (which I did). Why? The extra features really do add a lot to the overall game play, Imo. I don't like the look of the captured balls in the Pro--the sarcophagus is way cooler. Really a great idea to open the ramp to allow the ball to disappear into it to lock, and then once the 'cophagus is loaded up being able to knock the ball you loaded to spell "Mummy", then knock it all the way out to start multi ball--brilliant, and fun! The underworld shot is a nice break from always shooting the ramp, and the newton balls are more fun to bang into than the target and captured ball on the Pro. I think the lighting show is a bit better on the "Mo Money" versions, and I actually like the red GI when it happens. The other differences are just a throw in, but nice additions (except on the LE--those upgrades are substantial). Whatever version you buy, get a shaker and a powered sub--must haves. I'm actually becoming a Maiden fan--the music is very well suited for Pinball--and this game is so fast it is almost a workout!

Just picked up a Prem last night and I totally agree with the above

I had the extra cash so I want the few extras it had. Imo the pro is about 90% of the complete game and just like MET it’s the way to go if you want the extra $$$$ in your pocket

I think it’s BS all the adjusting you guys have to do. Do you think Stern will eventually change some of these switches in future models?

Only have about a dozen plays on mine but they seem fine. I will replace if neeeded no big deal

Please see the short convo about STTNG above. Complex pins need to be adjusted. I have mine dialed in and just play the shit out of it every day. Stern could have done better, but mine holds adjustments well.

I know this is off topic here but I didn't want to start a new thread and its about this pinball.

Are you able to change the songs on Iron Maiden? I know you could with the SAM games using the Pinball Browser but not sure if you can with the Spike games.

Thanks!

I have not had to adjust anything on my LE. Game is bad ass !!! For the one that have it thay will understand!!

Had it up to 12 combos in a row during flight of Icarus , and got to Number of the beast- tons of fun.

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Damn I left Allentown feeling pretty good about my 350 million score. I bow to you sir! Now that's a Grand Champion score!!

Aerosmith. Fuck that upper playfield.

Some are damn near a tie. It seems like Metallica and this are about as close to "why bother" as premiums can get. But yes, beyond those, I agree. Premium is usually the way to go.

MET Premium is worth the upgrade imo. The light show, spinners, and the hammer make the upgrade worth it to me. With that being said though, MET Pro is still a killer game. I havent played a IMDN Premium yet but the pro model seems to be very very close to the Premium from what i can see.

Transformers, XMEN, GOT to name a few. But there's plenty other pro's that do in fact play better than the prem/le. This is because the mech engineers and programmers aren't given enough time to iron out issues and/or program these features properly. I'd argue, and personally say that the majority of pro machines released play better than their counterpart prem/le from a gameplay perspective. I used to be a prem/le snob-whore and was blinded by the hyperbole phrase "Prem/LE are full featured", but have since seen the light. I didn't know the meaning of 'features' was stuff that just don't work right or programmed poorly. When you add features and still expect your team to turn around 2 different style pins in less time, things tend to go sour. If you want a >$7k full featured pin, go with JJP. Otherwise, go pro or go home.

Wheres the best place to pick up t molding? Thinking about replacing the yellow with black when my premium arrives.

I think it's interesting that we are 50/50 on which machine would be better to own. I tend to lean toward pros in my collection since I move machines in and out of my collection regularly. Tron Pro and Met Pro are the only two game to make it more than a couple years in my collection. I would lose way too much money on games if I purchased Premium/LEs and tried to move them.

Couldn't agree more...I own AS/MET Pro and ACDC/KISS/IMDN Premium. From my perspective, ACDC Premium is better than the Pro by a lot and KISS/IMDN are on the edge. For IMDN, I just prefer the artwork and hope all the mechs can be dialed in (arrives Monday).

snaroff

Premium buyers are not early adopters IMO. LE buyers are early adopters. Premiums ship last. If the premiums have the same issues then I'd say there's a good chance nothing is going to be changed.

A vendor probably made them a smoking' deal on it...

Somebody was sure smoking something when they decided on that color.

Heres where I just bought mine
https://www.t-molding.com/t-molding-by-color.html

Honestly...... Either game is fantastic. The only reason for a prem. in this case IMO is the lighted beacon, metal apron, lift ramp and color changing GI.

The pro has most everything ya need but the little extras ( or lack of in the pro ) made the difference to me to go Premium.

Is it worth the extra cash.... no and yes if ya have extra cash laying around. For me IMDN was band I grew up with so I wanted the full featured game without second mortgaging the farm on an LE.

In any case you really cant go wrong with any model on this title.

My dark blue t-molding just showed up today, I’ll throw it on tonight and post a pic in this spot and also the “issues” thread. Stay tuned!

And here you go!
Way better than yellow mustard, no?
13/16 size for those who’d like to order some.
https://www.t-molding.com/13-16in-blue-t-molding.html
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Done.

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Apparently the pro has same light show if u put red leds in place of the white ones on the pro.

I’m gonna try this tnt. I was at my buddies and took pics of his le for the red placements today. But yea, I’ve seen the video and it looks the same

One X factor that surprised me has been the family’s rather candid feedback preferring the “less scary” premium artwork. Seems to line up with some Pinside comments on it being cartoony or “less Maiden”. May not matter, but something those with smaller kids may take into account if they consider one now or in the future.

To follow up: Got to play the Pro some on Friday at the NW Pinball Expo (side-by-side with the prem). Pro also kicks ass. Didn't find myself really missing anything from the premium, other than the mummy lock at some level...But even on that I have mixed feelings on since the Pro has better ramp flow as a side effect.

Some of my takeaways:
1) The way the pro locks balls by kicking out three through the left inner loop is actually *really* cool.
2) Don't care about the center ramp lifting up for mode start on the premium. I was getting some bounce outs anyway.
3) I don't like having the center shot be the lock for mummy on pro (felt too overloaded)...
4) ...But I like the ramp flow on the pro better without the dedicated mummy lock. So a wash I guess?
5) Target instead of the "clairvoyant mystery orb" is fine on the pro. (Doesn't look as cool, but shoots fine)
6) Didn't miss the spinning strobe light thingy that's on the premium but not the pro.
7) "Meh" on the premium's red GI.
8) I liked the cabinet art on both a lot. Can't really go wrong either way.
9) Didn't like the yellow t-molding on the premium.
10) Maybe it was just my imagination, or the lighting, but it seemed like the pros' pfs were dimpling noticeably more than on the premiums. I might get a pf protector for my pro.

Couldn't compare audio quality (speakers), as the ambient noise was just way too high at the show.

That score was actually the first game I played on 1.00, I cracked just over a billion today (and another round of number of the beast) But in between that, the beast tamed me...

Edit* just finished a game where I had the cyborg multiball orb up to 65 million (6x)

Should work the same on premium. May need adjustment.

The pro most likely has been on location longer and has had more plays on it.

I’d argue the first 3-4 months of shipments are all very early adopters.

It takes a lot of time to get feedback and then design new parts to correct the issues.

Shipping a couple batches in a matter of weeks isn’t enough time to mature a product or find flaws. Or get all the field failure feedback.

Takes a lot more time to refine a product.