Many of the newer stern machines I've played locally that are out for public use are pretty much wrecked. There is a local bar that has Metallica, Walking Dead, Avengers, Iron Man and Pirates and of the 5 machines only Iron Man is playable.

Metallica - broken pieces of plastic laying on the play field. Ball cant even drain without shaking the machine to get ball over plastic
Walking Dead - Out of order sign on it
Avengers - Ball get stuck under the hulk and left bumper broken
Pirates - broke plastics

These games are all Stern and all not that old. I know the the Metallica and Walking dead were setup brand new this last winter so they might be 6mos or so old. Obviously no one is taking care of them but I remember Williams machines in bowling alleys that would go years without maintenance and still be functional, albeit not perfect. Just seems the newer machines are built like everything else these days, cheap!

Come on man I remember those darn 8 ball deluxe games running for eternity and man did they get beat up. Anyways, I'm at -23 from this post so I must be doing something right.

The location is Long-Bell Pizza if you want to see for yourself. Ya I frequent knubs and pizza west and Erik does a fantastic job maintaining them. I would think someone that maintains a lot of machines could shed light on frequency of repairs on old machine vs new.

Certainly this struck a chord with stern owners/lovers, but mine was an actual question of quality and reliability nothing more. Are they as reliable as older machines? Sounds like the majority feel they are so that answers my question. Lots of additional noise on this thread which definitely made it entertaining.

I'm off to buy a LOTR now

http://www.longbellpizzaco.com/#

If it walks like a duck...BTW I like how you added a picture to make your point. Solid forum work there.

Two of the machines were like new condition 6 mos ago and every time I've been in there on Friday or Saturday night the machines were seeing next to no business so ya it's a reasonable question. I know it's easier to discount the evidence as biased or the credibility of the source than it is to admit that something you think is great is really a piece of crap. So think whatever you want I only offered as single case study but with 4 out of 5 stern machines in unplayable condition it is a valid question.

Also, my Chevrolet is the best vehicle money can buy. Period
Trump will be president
BMW motorcycles are better than Harleys
Green is better than red

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