I'm not pro or con here, and I am NOT taking sides, but I do hate statements like this which are mis-leading without a qualifier. That being, the percentages you list are only a representative of the percentage of those that care to respond to the poll, and NOT a percentage of games produced. Given information that is known, there is no way to know if these percentages come anywhere close to a true sampling of what has been produced. As an example, I have no insert issues on my GB, and I also do not care to respond to polls which cannot be validated.

Stern will address the issue in some form or another. My guess is it will be a case by case basis, and I doubt you will see anything public. They will get roasted for being quiet, and anything they suggest will get picked apart and they will be roasted again for admitting to a problem and not doing enough in someone's eyes. They are not the monsters some would like people to believe, but with that said, they do have a problem on their hands and I am pretty sure they know it. Some folks will care, and some, like the operators you mentioned may not......so that is why I say they will address it case-by-case. But I also believe they will wait for all of the furor to die down, because anything they do will get blasted out to Pinside, and they will either get criticized, or they will have a whole bunch of people standing in line for whatever "fix" they would offer to someone.........

Given the clear is only separating at the inserts, I think it is safe to assume they are either moving, or there is a contaminant that is keeping the clear from sticking....or both. But just my educated guess, I am going to assume the insert movement is the major cause of the ghosting, as a contaminant problem should have been easy to correct right away.

So just throwing this out there as a question to those far knowledgeable than me......is it possible the playfield is unstable as a whole due to the amount and size of the cutouts and the material used? In other words, is it possible the playfield is flexing enough to cause the separation around the edges of the inserts? Kind of like twisting a plastic ice tray? Again, don't kill me here, I am just thinking out loud....just wondering since a lot of the same inserts are having the same problem, in the same part of the playfield. If this is the case, it might stand to reason why those that got shipped farther...such as overseas, have more severe issues, since they got bounced around a whole lot more. Shaker motor might also be a killer in this case as well as we already have seen. Might also explain why mine has no issues (yet)......as it pretty much traveled across the street.

Also might explain the other game issues as well.....the more toys and inserts we add, it would weaken the playfield integrity. Add in cheaper laminated plywood, and cheaper particle board side rails.....maybe there is something to this idea? Of course the downside here is if this is the case, then it is going to be very hard to fix.

Just a late night theory......Ok VID...tell me I am whacked, and I will believe you and crawl back under the rock........lol

VID, you are a man of many words! lol

My logic is from looking at some other root cause than just the clear coat. (I know you said it may have been changed to a water base) I just can't help but feel there is some other root cause here, or at least a contributing factor, other than just being inferior clear.

But I also hold beliefs in UFO's, the Kennedy Conspiracy, and Bigfoot.....lol (no not really)

I agree, and I'm sure they know what the problem is.....coming up with a solution maybe the tougher part. I've seen inserts move over time, but moving this soon just from expansion/contraction is just strange. This is why I think there is another factor at play.

May not have to be the playfields themselves.....maybe the side rails are crappier. They stiffen the playfield and keep it from flexing. Is there any difference in the structure of the SM playfield VS the SMVE? I am just guessing and admittedly may be way off base........lol

I'm not saying they know the solution...just the cause. 2 totally different things.

VID, you obviously know a whole lot more than I do about playfields, so I will definitely defer to your opinion, if you have one regarding the cause. Maybe it is as simple as a different clear, but if the inserts are moving as you say, wouldn't that indicate some issue with the playfield? Or maybe the routing or prep?

(Actually, I am trying to start a more constructive conversation here than just blasting Stern, post after post......)

I realize it is all theory, and we will never know.......I was just trying to turn the discussion more constructive, so maybe I could actually learn something...lol

And you are right, given the people that are coming up with claims for ghosting they have just discovered on a long-owned pin, I am sure their legal folks are well involved.

For now, I am playing the heck out of mine. So for the $24,000 question....what are you going to do with yours? Make a claim, try to fix it, or just live life?

And THAT, boys and girls, is a shining example of a cowboy that has been to more than one rodeo.........

No, we are just speculating since Stern will likely never say.

Is it possible they went with a bit "hotter" clear coat due to the issues and it smudged the decal or caused a bit of an ink bleed?

Maybe it is because I am a shitty player, but based on the comments I have seen, I don't get the same kind of airballs most seem to be describing. If I see them at all, they are from the stationary targets...rarely from the scolari brothers or the ramps. With that in mind, I also don't have any issues with Ghosting or chipping....yet, and I have been into the game over 4 weeks now. Others from the same playfield run are having multiple issues, so while I doubt the airballs are the cause of the problem, I do think there may be some validity to the thinking they are causing much of insert damage folks are seeing, and therefore making the problem a lot worse.

I get that Vid...and I do agree with you. That is why I said I didn't think they were the cause in my post. But I do think the impacts may be accelerating the delamination, and even possibly causing (or at least accelerating) some of the insert sinking. From what folks are describing, they are getting some monster airballs, and I have seen a few myself. It is just strange those inserts would sink that fast with no external influence.

I'm asking because I want to learn, I'm not being sarcastic......so how do we explain the inserts that have sunk, if the holes were done correctly, and the inserts were well seated? Is the wood or insert collapsing?

If we are talking hotel stories....we had 2 casino slot machines in a conference center, doing a presentation on cheating methods. (back when we still used coins and optical counters). The hotel staff informed us they were having a wedding party in the same room that night, so we had to move the machines to our room until the next morning. The story gets bad after that....imagine a glass elevator over the lobby atrium, and a slot machine that falls off the cart and through the glass. Our group is banned from the hotel, and we were soooo lucky no one was under that elevator at the time. Luckily, I wasn't the driver of the cart, and actually watched it all unfold from the lobby. I'm also not sure, but I think alcohol was involved as well. Something very poetic about a slot machine flying through the air and then smashing on the ground...........lol Needless to say, only one machine made it to the room, and I believe the inserts "moved" and the clearcoat chipped on the one that hit the floor.

Not really sure the build date is a big part of the equation. I personally know a couple from the early runs that are still good, and mine was mid-July and still good.....yet may in those date ranges are not. So I think it is hit and miss.

Don't fall for it! KPG is really a Stern plant, and he is trying to take your mind off of ghosting inserts........(It worked)

He said they changed their process a bit, but that it WAS the same process that they and Williams had in place for 30 years. So he is saying they didn't do anything different than normal and ghosting happened, so they are tweaking that process a bit.