Quoted from shacklersrevenge:This is a good question. I really do love the way Sterns play, they're packed with interesting rulesets.
The problem is when they don't play, however common and rare this may be going forward remains to be seen. When it happens though, it's a royal PITA with no real way to fix it like the old days. This would not be such a large concern if they were either easily repairable, or these node boards cost $50 a piece like they should. Then you could easily justify picking up a spare or two for peace of mind.
I've played several games on this now, with no issues whatsoever (yes, everything tested and working correctly)
Pinball is a good time and right now it's hotter than ever. What's unfortunate is, it's a shame that Stern took advantage of us, and left behind a near bulletproof design in Sam and cost-cut their way to more profits by converting over their entire line to a very unproven and fragile ''the pin'' style of game- All this while they already pulled a fast one with premium/LE vs pro features and pricing, and jack the prices $200 every other release.
It begs the question, why? You're giving us less and less and you want more and more?
I totally understand and get it, they're a business out to make as much as they can, but don't ask me to pay $219 to fix your problems on top of what I already paid, that's just not right.
I can't say going forward that I feel safe, but I can say I'd feel pretty foolish spending $5600 on a pro that can break with no way to repair it other than to spend hundreds more for a potentially minor issue.
And yet, this community will continue to pay. We will pay until we have to choose between the mortgage or a game, the car payment or a game, the monthly bills getting paid or a game. They will continue to strip games down, jack prices up, introduce unproven h/w, and the community will pay the price both literally and figuratively.
Why?
Because many in this community HAVE to have the next game. They have to be the kid on the block with the new oooo shiney. They have to keep up with the figurative Jones's. Because some are addicted and dont know how to stop. Because to some, money is no object, and they will buy every new game that comes out because they can. And some will even see this post, feel they need to prove to a nobody like me that they can spend their money how they want, and they'll buy the next game out of principle or whatever reason the next person needs to justify the purchase.
Sales tax from an out of state distributor isnt going to slow this community down, nor a faulty node board design. We will keep buying because we cant help ourselves.
Las Vegas, NV
