You have Trent's business all wrong. While he is not a retailer.. coin-op is his business.

What should know to manage your expectations is... Trent doesn't use a smart phone.. he uses a old Nokia-style bar phone that doesn't even have an alpha keyboard

LOL- Nokia bar phone? Nice.

I was told Trent is a full time farmer, and does coin-op stuff on the side? If you Google him, there's a lot about him being a farmer, and some PM conversations I have had have mentioned the same thing which is why he isn't very responsive to customer email inquiries - not intentionally, just a busy guy with a day job that I have been told.

It's certainly possible that contributes to the problem. The ghosting issue is likely multi-factorial, which is probably why Stern hasn't figured out what to do. Are there a lot of airballs on SMVE to account for the ghosting?

Just heard back from Trent - apparently Stern hasnt gotten back to him. He said they will likely need to have a meeting w/ their quality control group and then figure something out, and suggested to contact him in a couple weeks to get an update. Why do I feel like this is going to be a long process LOL. Until then, its a fun game, and i'll keep playing it and hoping Stern doesn't screw me on this. I am definitely not going to buy NIB pins after this though, I have already made that decision. I'm done playing the NIB lotto w/ Stern, that's two for two NIB's with problems out of the box. I've had great luck w/ JJP machines so I will be buying game #3 from them NIB.

Congrats, but I dont know if that is winning.

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I said that about my LE yesterday morning, when I got home from work yesterday I noticed the ghosting. I hope your machine stays in the clear. Literally.

Dude I didn't know you had ghosting too! Can you post pics of what inserts have the issue?

Except that the shaker effects the whole playfield, why the coil's impact is more local.

Yep. Here it is.

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This is the 2nd time you've called Trent a small distributor.

Trent is the largest distributor of Stern pinball machines in the USA.

proof?

It's on his web page. Other, longtime Pinsiders have commented on it as well.

I think he was a couple years ago ... Believe Automater and maybe GEX are larger now? Regardless he is top 5.

Hard to say. He just might not have updated his main page.

Either way...he's not a "small distributor".

No, not personally, but plenty of people hated 2001 while he was still alive and were more than happy to say so, almost certainly to his face. There's been plenty of constructive criticism in this thread, as well as comments and suggestions, and if Stern is scared off by a handful of people who cross the line then they're either huge wimps or have never engaged in any kind of unmediated public relations. Personally, and I say this as someone without the luxury of playing 500 games (because that would cost me $250), I think that this game has a number of design issues that can make it more frustrating than fun, and every time I walk up to it at an arcade I play five games, have a pretty good time at least two of those games, but leave feeling slightly annoyed.

What's the build date?

It's because he is- no big deal about that. Nothing wrong with it. I own a small business myself, and I actually respect someone like him who has multiple businesses and diversified income.

I spoke to a sales guy at Stern about a month ago and he said their largest distributors in the US are Gameroom Guys and Pinballs.com/Automated.

I need to look, but it was in the first shipment of domestic LEs.

Dude that sucks.. Same inserts as mine... Keep us posted on what Stern decides they will do.

Your extra ball insert is still looking good?

As of last night, those were the only two inserts with problems. It was perfect the night before, but when I went to play last night I noticed it right away. I don't see it during play, but when the inserts aren't lit, they sort of jump out at you.

Irrelevant to the differences I was highlighting. The shaker moves with large amplitude, but low frequency. Shaking something is far less destructive vs hitting it with a hammer.

Just got word my LE ships today!

End of story... the comments were not against critiquing a product.

Why did i buy a nib stern gble? Because i did not get screwed hard enough by jpoop with alice in wonderland...
I might as well start giving my money to random people on the street...
After my vacation i go pick up my gble at my distro's and now i am afraid to pull it out of the box!
Me sad..

My question is why does it seem to be the Tobin's and Add-a-ball primarily? Does anyone have any ghosting inserts that are not near these two inserts? or are they just the ones people are baselining playfields on.

Don't worry it will look good out of box but two days after.......

It's everywhere, and it's not just Ghostbusters.

Thanks for the clarification!

Doesn't your Slimer hit it while going completely to the left ?? I had to make my plastic a llot smaller on the far left side. Still works great by the way.

this pic is from the game straight out of the box. If you look at the Add-a-ball insert it appears to have a dark area in the upper right corner. Screen_Shot_2016-08-02_at_1.36.40_PM_(resized).png

this is the same game two days later. Ghosting is obvious on that insert and the one above. Shape of the ghosting seems similar to the dark area in the previous pic. Screen_Shot_2016-08-02_at_1.38.19_PM_(resized).png

Great pics, Taylor. I reviewed my pics, and I don't have any dark spots, but that's definitely something people should look into as well with their own machines.

But we're also not having a one on one with the design team here, this is an open forum for discussion and if I think giving GB an extra wide gap was a poor decision then I'm free to say so.

Nope - my Slimer doesnt touch the plastic at all

Actually they do read here from time to time.. and Dwight has posted in GB threads. The post in question was written with that context, knowing they are seeing the posts. We used to have much much more as well.. before attitudes like the one highlighted here were prevalent.

Instead of looking to constructively refine the product... they ask to just rip the mode out entirely. His concerns are valid, he just goes about a shitty way of addressing the very people he intends to ask a favor of. And like you said, using a tone you wouldn't use to someone's face.. so why would you do it in a forum?

Concerns that you can't tell when the flipper mode changes? Ok, constructive criticism would be highlighting that the change is dramatic and hard for the player to understand what is happening. So maybe there needs to be more guidance at the start of the mode, or how about feedback (audio/lighting) when the change happens. Or simply providing the feedback on what they struggle with on the mode.

Being an internet armchair critique would be 'this mode is shit! it's done all wrong! wtf were they thinking??'

People wonder why companies don't participant... then act like this.

No, he's not. He was Stern biggest distro from 2011-2013. He may not be anymore, but he's certainly not small.

You need to stop.

Not irrelevant to the argument I was making.

Where can I buy these horribly deformed playfields?

Seriously, does Stern sell cast off/defect playfields? Curious to know if these turn into returns what happens then?

We'll agree to disagree. I say small as he has other businesses he runs, no other employees or storefront, and doesnt sell as many pins as the larger distributors like Gameroom Guys, Automated, GEX, etc. If you want to dispute this info, go right ahead.. I dont see why it is relevant and why you are getting so upset about it. Just move on man.

I'll bet it's getting lonely down there. You have yourself a good day.

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LOL. Ok man. Have a good day yourself. If anyone needs me, i'll be in this hole over here.

No, no way. It was shipped to the distributor right when GB started shipping from Stern. They immediately unboxed it and used it in a tournament. They picked it up, brought it to me a couple days later. I got it with 350 plays. Put a shaker in it right away, over 2k plays later with a shaker, no playfield issues.

I put a shaker in a brand new fairly early production GOT Pro before this GB. It is currently on location with over 2500k plays with the shaker, no PF issues.

Air_Pinball you are wasting your time. I know Trent and he is one of the top Stern sellers period. He even test stuff for Stern and also his name is on the thank you on GB DMD. This kpg person has no clue and is obviously new

If you own a GB kgp sit and watch the screen on attract mode... Trent is closer to Stern than most of those other distros trust me

No one said he isnt a 'top seller'. I went with him because of a lot of positive recommendations here. I am simply stating his business is smaller and he is not the "TOP" #1 seller as Air_Pinball is claiming, that's coming direct from Stern when they told me their biggest distributors are Automated and Gameroom Guys. I have no idea what the issue is here, why it has been blown out of proportion. Big deal, some other distrbutors are larger then Trent and have full time businesses, employees, service department, and move more stock. Who cares. No need to get all jumpy on me for it. Way too many sensitive people in here.

n/m... think what you like.

Sh!t like this is why I rarely even come to this site anymore. Only wanted to read this GB thread since I'm looking to get one. Of course it's riddled with nonsense as usual

I think we really need to see the date stamp, pf number tags and build date of the games like I furnished on my post to really get anywhere.

Right on man !

just requested a cancellation or delay I won't deal with this risk. Thank you all for posting hope I can get out.

That is fixable. My thread is littered with "ignored user post".

I need to start using that functionality. Maybe I can enjoy coming back here more often.

KPG actually provides a lot of good feedback and insight on this forum about games. Whether it's gameplay, strategy, reviews, troubleshooting, or dealing with defects. Someone took one unrelated thing he said, blew it up and made a big deal about it. KPG, being the good guy he is, took the bait.

Whether it's directly or indirectly, Some people just like to fling the sh*t around and see where it lands and who will counter argue them over and over. As a reader, we can either move on or take the bait ourselves and get sucked in arguing about nonsense. It's the nature of a forum. That all said, I love all things pinball and i am sad to see what's going on with these playfields and stern.