Das a Mustang.

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"nearly every machine Stern has ever manufactured" -- in the factory? I don't remember seeing an arcade THAT damn big.

"they also test machines using robots." -- So a pinball machine programmed to launch the ball repeatedly is a robot?

No shortage of those I imagine

that game is actually in good demand after the code was updated.....

One of the assembly photos reads Dinner Time LE on the assembly board , what game is that?

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ghFgBDmgiNA9neRzOYaMvbzDpdA=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7256875/IMG_0029.0.JPG

Seems that Ghost Busters is codename Harold

SPOILERS: Stern won't be releasing a game for their 30th anniversary, they'll just send the writer of this article a pass to the room where they test the machines using robots /s

But seriously, it's nice to see pinball continuing to get publicity

I had to comment about the author calling them "tables". That shows where the author plays his pinball.

Haha, virtual pinball player for sure.

I'm with you here - one of my pet dislikes is calling a pinball machine a "table" - YUCK!

In fact, a table is exactly what a pinball machine IS NOT! You don't want to put anything on it like you would a table.

Jody's 99.9% figure is off, but I doubt he was trying to speak with accuracy as much as he was just trying to make a point. I would guess that Stern is most like 85%-90%, maybe as high as 95% of games sold. Still effectively a monopoly, but newcomers are edging in and taking some measure of sales.

Thanks for posting the article.

I've played for 30+ years and I'll refer to a pin as a table all the time. The vocabulary has been around longer than VP. Just sayin....

Article kinda sucked but the pics were great. Calling "Lazer Lord" the first Stern got it off to a bad start. Didn't improve much from there. Jody came off as kind of an asshole egging on the upstarts, IMO.

Thanks for the link, OP!

A pinball machine is four legs and a surface. Albeit uneven as it may be, it is literally a table!!

No - a table is 4 legs and a surface, a pinball machine is much more than this.

Using your analogy a car would also qualify as a table. 4 wheels and a flat roof

*************** Dictionary says **********
table
ˈteɪb(ə)l/
noun
noun: table; plural noun: tables

1.
a piece of furniture with a flat top and one or more legs, providing a level surface for eating, writing, or working at.
"she put the plate on the table"
synonyms: bench, board, work surface, worktop, counter, desk, bar, buffet, stand, workbench, worktable, top, horizontal surface, surface
"she put the plates on the table"

************************

Notice it specifically states "flat top" and "level surface" neither of which apply to a pinball machine.

"I want someone to be successful," he said. "We probably do 99.9 percent of the games shipped. That's not an industry, it's a monopoly.

So...Shipping about 1 million pins a year

I also commented on the article about the playfield press. The article said it is for making the playfield flat but I'm pretty sure it's for putting dimples into the playfield. Maybe someone can confirm this.

The article was obviously written by someone new to pinball but I thought it was a nice article with some quality pictures.

"Table" is a very old term for pinball machines. It's been used since the EM era on up. Heck, Pinball Wizard uses it.

"I thought I was The Bally table king
But I just handed my pinball crown to him."

Yeah, that figure is WAY off.

It does seem to have fallen out of favor though. I've never heard tourney players or designers use the term. It's mostly virtual players that use it.