There's no reason to not buy a Stern if you're knowing what you're getting going into things. As far as the unforeseen disaster situations (ghosting, peeling decals, etc.), Stern has generally made those right by the customer.

I personally won't deal with the NIB headaches from Stern anymore, but if someone does their research and are willing to deal with possible hassles, then they should go ahead and order. Stern makes great pinball machines, that's undeniable.

What gets me is that people are willing to spend $5,000-$9,000 on a machine without educating themselves on the risks and common issues. If you're taken by surprise by a common issue with a problem on something that expensive, that's on you to some degree. Educate yourself first, and if you still feel good about it, pull the trigger. If you have doubts, wait on things or scour the secondhand market for a more proven product.

Yeah, but, you're wrong. First of all, JJP has gone to great lengths to ensure long-term serviceability on their games and allow for future hardware compatibility. But that's not the discussion here anyway.

For those of us that have been in the hobby for a long time, we're used to being able to diagnose, fix, and maintain our own games. Stern is taking that out of the hobby. Even if you can do work on the surface mount components, you can't even diagnose the problem in the first place.

I've replaced literally thousands of components in pinball machines over the years. Knowing that Stern is threatening my ability to keep doing that sucks. The price they're charging for these boards is astronomical. They want to charge you for a node what it used to cost for an entire board. Doesn't make sense, and it doesn't add up.

Then you have to take into account that SPIKE is half-baked and problematic. A code update can disable your game for weeks. A code update!

Oh, sure, it's easy to swap in a new node board, but it's $150-$300 instead of $2.00. That's the rub.

If the boards were reliable and reasonably priced, people wouldn't care so much. But they're expensive and faulty. Also, the unique revisions of boards for specific games is problematic for several reasons.

The system wasn't ready for release, which is evident by the high failure rate, the lack of documentation, and the constant revisions between games.

It seems like they're pretty good at replacing the first board but people are paying up for the second.

Node board issues aside, I still say that it shouldn't stop you from buying a machine if you understand that it's a factor in ownership. If you simply can't handle it, don't buy. If you can understand that owning a pinball machine incurs cost beyond the initial purchase, and you're ok with that, there's no reason not to buy a Stern (just get educated so you know what to expect).

I won't talk someone out of buying a Stern, but I just don't like the SPIKE platform at all.

He takes suggestions for future videos. Go ahead and ask him on YouTube to make one. There's been an ongoing conversation about the SPIKE system in the last few months, so it was a timely topic to address right now. Not sure why you wouldn't want to be made aware of possible issues. You're a NIB buyer. It's good to know these things before buying in.

It's good that you have the patience for it, and I'm glad you haven't had bigger issues. But there are plenty of people who have had far more trouble with far less play. It seems like a crapshoot. But even in your case, wouldn't it have been better to solder in a new transistor in 5 minutes rather than send out for a new board? Lots of lost time waiting for those replacements.

I think you're just supernaturally good at advocating for your customers. This is why people should definitely buy through a distributor that has that pull with Stern.

Oh, that's enough with the white knight act. The most problematic pinball machine I've ever owned was my Ghostbusters LE. Fantastic game, but absolute crap build quality and non-existent quality control. It wasn't inspected before shipping, and neither was the replacement playfield. They couldn't have been, because neither were playable as they arrived.

You feel it's some sacred duty to jump in and defend Stern blindly at every turn. But guess what? This narrative exists because so many people HAVE HAD problems. From ghosting to peeling decals and from cabinet splitting to node board failures, there have been a lot more issues with Stern machines in the last 2-3 years than we've ever seen from them. If you don't find that concerning, then you're just being ridiculous.

Knock it off with the accusations of manufactured drama. There are TONS of documented issues. The only way you can't see it is if you have your head in the sand or you're lying to yourself and others.

And to reiterate what I said earlier, I wouldn't talk someone out of buying a new Stern, but I would help them understand what sort of issues they could run into. If they're fine tweaking and fixing out of the box, then they shouldn't be too worried. Major issues will get addressed by Stern, but lots of small and annoying things will be on the owner. People should definitely be aware of what problems they can run into and then make a decision whether or not they feel comfortable buying.

There's no excuse for shipping a non-working game though. Shipping damage happens, but shipping a game with multiple things installed incorrectly doesn't just happen. It's a lack of caring, a result of cost cutting and poor management. Mistakes are forgivable, incompetence is frustrating and should be called out. Stern is far more guilty of the latter than anybody else in the game right now.

A customer buys an LE edition of a game and they can't even catch that it's not flippable before boxing it up? I mean, seriously...

You always fall back on this. This isn't a thread about all manufacturers, it's about Stern Pinball. Of course everybody has issues, but are they honest mistakes or the result of cheapening down product and process? It's obvious that Stern's issues are a result of doing so.

I've already said that I'm done buying NIB games from anybody anymore. Too much headache and hassle. Luckily Dialed In came flawless, but I was nervous the entire time I was waiting for it. I've bought NIB Stern games going back to the original run Iron Man up through Ghostbusters LE. It's disheartening watching as they've become more and more relaxed with quality and quality control. To say that this isn't happening is dishonest.

Again, mistakes in building, packing, or shipping are forgivable. What Stern is doing these days is hard to swallow. People get extra mad and throw bigger fits over Stern's issues because it's obvious that they're the result of trying to squeeze both ends of the margin game. They cheapen the product and remove features, but they also raise the price. It hurts on both ends.

Stern quietly fixes a lot of problems beyond the warranty, even to the second or third owner. They just don't want to be held to it. I get that. But they did kind of go heavy handed with the new language. I still expect that they'll take care of issues that aren't due to the customer's poor maintenance though.

Pinside is still small in relation to the entirety of the pinball community. I really doubt it was just Pinside that put pressure on them. Pinside is just the most visible element of the pinball community online.