So.... I've owned my STTNG for what I think is about 10 years now and for all its time its been in my garage (it was a well insulated and finished garage). Its unmodified save for Blue LED flashers in the Borg ship and an externally powered subwoofer (a cheap polk audio but fantastic for the purpose and I highly recommend an external sub on this game provided the sub has volume and crossover controls). My son, who is now an 18 year old in college is the grand champion at 24 Billion. I'm just behind on the continuum at 23+.

After our recent re-model, I've executed the vision to get this thing into my new office that was added as part of an addition. The pinball looks fantastic and super retro with the incandescents. But after reviewing the technical approach to pulse modulation boards created by Herg I'm enamored with the idea of adding LEDs to boost the game lighting and enhance the experience for myself, my family, and my guests who may not have played a pinball machine in 20 years. I had a NGG with LEDs and while great, without the Herb boards it was visually noisy and plagued with annoying strobe.

I LOVE to play the STTNG in the dark, but of course I don't play particularly well because I can't track the balls and shots perfectly. I don't expect that to change a whole lot with the upgrade, but I do expect a clean and more impactful visual experience.

What say you all? Should I buy both boards (the Matrix and the GI), then go all in on the basic (non ghosting) LEDs and take the plunge? Or do I keep the incandescents? I'm also thinking about adding a shaker motor tied to the shield flashers.

Or do I keep the old school warm glow of the incandescents?

Note, my game is far from home use only. The coin slots say "insert tokens" so its previous life was in an arcade. My neutral zone hole is a hack job of a repair to square the edges, but everything plays flawlessly!

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That's a great suggestion. I was thinking something similar- lamp behind the neutral zone is not doing the game any justice. Any other areas you would recommend Op-max bulbs? Also, if I pull the trigger, what color version, sunlight white or natural white?

Also would be curious to see the comments on the folks who say keep the incandescents!

Wow... we are tied in the poll at 5 apiece. Strong conviction by both sides... By chance what do you think of Eiko incandescent bulbs?

So.... for anyone interested... here is what I am have decided for now.

I gave the game a long overdue service and cleaning and ordered PDI glass. Replaced the Delta ramp, all rubbers, fixed a couple of broken plastics, and gave a thorough cleaning to all plastics, play field, obscured areas of the play field, and the subway. In addition to adding PDI glass I replaced or cleaned dirty incandescents and the undersides of many inserts (novus 1).... Between new bulbs disbursed throughout, and having the incandescent reflect off the natural wood color has made a huge difference. LOTS of elbow grease.

The results have been pretty astonishing as the game was pretty filthy. PDI glass is perfect. I broke 5 billion playing in the complete dark- that was unheard of before the work as I couldn't track the balls with any consistent precision.

I haven't totally given up on the LED thing, but after having played an LED STTNG at a local place, the game didn't feel right to me. Granted, the LED colors were goofy and in poor taste, and certainly no HERG board. Other goofy mods were chroming throughout including the phaser handle.

I have to say, the best mods you can make to your STTNG are: 1) backbox speaker upgrade and external powered subwoofer (with crossover and volume controls), 2) PDI glass. 4) blue LED borg flashers and blue borg GI and green romulan flasher. Also have to make sure the slope of the game is near the maximum. I have read so many comments recently that this game feels "floaty" for many... my STTNG by contrast feels ultra fast and packed with power. The subwoofer and speaker upgrade makes for an amazing experience- I never tire of Borg Multiball on my machine.

I may yet add a shaker tied to the shield flashers to enhance the borg multi ball experience.