Quoted from Monk:Is all of this information and quality control only for the LEs or are they doing this for all of the models?
Here is what Ryan said about playfield quality. LE’s should have no major noticeable defects. He said they want to please their own collector friends and he has some pretty picky friends. He said that CE’s are better than original playfields, but will have more cosmetic defects than an SE and SE’s less than LE like you would expect. Missing artwork is the killer and is what they are worried about below LE grade. So minor screen spots due to dust or dirt on the screen are what CE and SE buyers should expect, but missing letters in text or a smudged insert is rejectable down to the CE level. They are trying to get us our games, they are just being picky to:
A. Limit how much rework or playfield swaps they have to do.
B. Produce a quality machine they want you to enjoy right out of the box.
C. Do it for a reasonable cost.
He also said those type of customer care solutions can erase their margin and put them at a loss on a single drop in playfield replacement. They will take the slips in delivery to give us quality every time, faced with that scenario.
I have done screen printing and I have experience with it in my career while I was an aerospace engineer at Grimes Aerospace in Urbana, Ohio for 12 years. We had a long chat, we discussed screen printing in detail, and he laid on me his reject rate of 40% and my jaw hit the floor. His rejects would have been good enough for WMS back in the day, he has an original playfield in his office next to a CGC reject, and the reject blows the original away. Their standard on CE’s is tougher than WMS, and they are sticking to that.
He also mentioned they would like to do some sponsoring and get their factory open for tours in the future, taking a bigger presense in the market, so to speak, he said they would love people to come see them make these recreations for themselves, there is nothing secret or crazy going on, and they don’t want to hide from the customers but be more visible and accessible.
I told him if they are making CC, it better be “improved” or forget it, I have no intrest in polish on a pig, and that the wife will give him $8000 tomorrow for TAFrLE, Totan, or TOM, but that I am itching to see an original from them soon. He liked hearing that and told me to stop and say hello at TPF and play some Monster Bash.