Chicago, IL
Back a month ago a purchased a NIB Tron Pro from goatdan. At the time he asked me to review it when I got a chance, so here it is. I waited a month so I could get some mods and LEDs and some time with it to really get into it. This is a review of not only the game, but of the whole Stern NIB purchase experience which Im sure many people may be interested to know.
I was a Tron hater at one point. When I first started getting into this hobby, I thought it looked plain next to other titles and it was really difficult and pissed me off. Fast forward 7 months and my opinion changed. I still thought the playfield was a little lacking in the toy department, but there was a huge mod scene going on. Not only that but I had started to REALLY like difficult games.
I had never bought a NIB, and had even said I never would. I thought they were too expensive, and you can get multiple used pins for the price of the NIB ones. However, my situation has changed a bit in the last year....so I decided what the hell lets do it.
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I worked out a deal with Dan, but I didn't have a way to pick it up. I don't own a car, and he lives up in the Milwaukee area. Luckily, Gweempose offered to help me out and drive me up there and bring it back. We arrived late and talked to Dan for a little bit, but as we went to fit the game into Gweem's vehicle... It didn't fit. Gweem and I had failed to account that the box and packing made the NIB pin larger physically than it would be out of a box. We mulled our options, and dediced to remove some packing material from the box and squeeze it in tight, rather than removing it from the box in the driveway. Long story short, we got it back to my office around midnight. I decided to unbox it when I got back to work on monday when I would have my cabinet protectors.
I'll stop here and make a list of all the mods/aftermarket additions I purchased.
-Full Cointaker premium LED kit
-Felt cabinet protectors
-Tron mini-arcade 2.1 upgrade mod
-Cliffy Ramp protectors
-Mantis arcade scoop protectors
-full white rubber set (red flipper rubbers)
-mylar flipper button protector
So I unboxed the beast and set it up in our conference room, where I could work on it while not bothering my coworkers.
After playing a few games, I started adding things, starting with the white rubbers and the LED kit. Tron was very easy to take apart and service after the nightmare I went through shopping out my LOTR. I guess that is a positive side to having a much less complicated playfield.
I was surprised that the Cointaker LED kit was not more colorful. The inserts weren't color matched, and the whole thing was mostly cool and warm white LEDS. I made an order with pinballlife to replace some GI leds with 3-led and 4-led in orange, blue, and a couple greens. The premiums from CT looked great with no ghosting. I just wish they were color matched.
The mantis scoop protector was next and pretty hassle free. A friend complains that perhaps it makes the scoop shot 'brick' more often. Thats not my experience however.
Soon arrived the Cliffy ramp protectors and the Arcade mod. I will say that I was super paranoid about breaking the ramps, as this game has some very quick and precise shots. If you miss...bang your ramp entrance could crack or break. So I put those ramp protectors on ASAP and they now feel alot more solid. My worries are gone.
The Arcade mod is VERY COOL. It looks fantastic and was easy to install. However it doesn't really add to the game and its easy to forget its there while playing. I will say that it way increases the curb appeal of the game. I always get comments on it.
While this was all getting installed in the course of a few weeks, the unexpected happened. The game started malfunctioning. See the following thread for a rundown.
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tron-seems-to-randomly-add-a-ball-end-the-ball
I found it very disappointing that a game less than a few weeks old would have a problem like this. Sure, it was only a 8 dollar replacement, but it was stressful for me when I didn't know what was going on and I had dropped so much money on it already. But in the end: Hey its pinball, this stuff happens.
The game plays fanstastic. Its exactly what I was hoping for, and its been a great journey. Would I buy a NIB again? I think so, It was a little expensive (especially after all the protective measures you have to take), but with the way the hobby is trending these new Pros are about the same price as many of the used pins you will see out there. I was very interested in an XMenLE until I saw the playfield, I think its too similar to Tron for me to set it up in the office next to this Tron and my friend Nick's Iron Man.
Im still waiting to see what ramp EL wire technique I want to use, and the recognizer mod is right up my alley. Meanwhile the Flynn sign and the Hallmark lightcycles aren't too interesting to me. But I think this one is a keeper for at least a few years and I encourage you guys to come over and play it one day.
) for a while, but I'm glad that everything worked out!
