No guarantee that won't happen.

Dreamer. Crap happens. Deal with it. Fix it.

LTG : )

Tech wise I'd go ST because SAM is older and doesn't have nodes that seem to like to fail. Obviously, anything can happen though.

My star trek pro made it almost 14k plays on location before a bracket broke and I had to take it out to fix it. I didn't need to take it out but plays were slowing down and time for a fresh game. Screws always need tightening and you will need to do small solders here and there an rubbers get swapped out but no game will go without maintenance for 2 years.

Addams family is always a number one earner no matter where I put mine and it involves about the same amount of Maintenence and cost about the same.

I've had both of those titles on route (ST in the past, GoT currently).

Order some coil stops. They will fail, just depends when. Other than that, both machines were/are rocks.

Both have good flow. GoT has a better ruleset, IMHO. Tons of different strategy.

I have found bright and shiny earn better from most players. I have had a ton of different machines at the same location, and the newer Stern's have always performed better among the location players. The casuals pump a few dollars into the classics than move on. The players seem to ignore the older titles they have played 40,000 times already, and pump cash into the new one's figuring out the software. Metallica has been my best earner to date (over MM, WoZ, TAF, TZ, etc.).

Of course, all locations are different, and take my anecdotal data for what it is.

Probably won't matter much but there is a new star trek movie coming out this summer and a new show airing soon.

Last month my GoT premium out earned my ST pro almost two to one. Both games are at the same location also

depends on the nerd

but seriously both seem to do good on location

I'm not a operator but play a lot on location and they both get played a few times each time I see them

I prefer ST a little bit over GOT and would think it would earn better cause of a wider audience

What type of location is it?

I'd probably go Star Trek.

Star Trek. Reliable and consistent earner. GOT has longer learning curve.

Do you think Star Trek has a wider audience than GoT? I would think GoT has more mainstream appeal at this moment than ST does (with GoT having eight million viewers a week vs. ST having no show).

Star Trek has an amazing light show that would go very well in the taproom of a microbrewery, particularly if there isn't a lot of ambient sun.

I would think TWD Pro would earn more than either ST Pro or GoT Pro any day of the week. It should also have significantly shorter ball times than ST Pro. GoT Pro can be brutal depending on how its setup..

I traded my ST Pro for an Addams Family right before the location opened for business and based on the earnings and mix of customers that play it, it was a wise move.

I'm sure he is talking about a ST Pro.

Game of Thrones for sure. get the Premium, though. the Pro is too stripped down.

GoT is way, way more popular than Star Trek, especially among the craft brew crowd. (i say that as a huge Star Trek nerd myself .. and craft brew person)

Local arcade has both ST and GOT pros and the ST is barely playable. The DMD has issues and the game has ball trough issues. The GOT plays like it should but playfield looks like a orange peel.

I'm not sure what the condition of the ST is telling us, its getting tons of play and operator isn't maintaining it? I'm not sure what your orange peel analogy means either, would be neat to see a picture of it.

Well the arcade got both games around the same time and the ST isnt holding up as well as the GOT, there side by side and played about equally both are the newest pins there. Orange peel is a painters analogy for condition of the surface of paint but in this case GOT is so badly dimpled up it looks like a orange peel and im not ever going back to the arcade(timeline) since they dont maintain there games so i wont be able to get a picture.

GOT Premium is the best earner our location has ever had. Walking Dead Pro is second. Walking Dead has been extremely steady and reliable.

As an operator as well as a collector I can't recommend the premium over the pro. The additional investment will not earn more money. Save that money and put it towards another pin. I operate a ST Pro on location and it does OK. I brought in Full Throttle by Heighway and it has been slightly out earning it. (my arcade is mainly a redemption arcade for kids) Ghostbusters Pro will be here Monday and I'm looking forward to see how it earns compared to the other two.

Edit: We went with ST over GOT because of the fact that I have so many kids and thought it was bright and shiny and more kid friendly. I can't tell you whether it was the correct decision though. It doesn't give us any issues. I own both in my personal collections and don't really have many issues with them there either. Both seem very reliable.

For theme, GOT did nothing for me as I don't know anything about that world, but Star Trek was an instant attraction. Even as a pinhead, I'm not that motivated to learn the GOT rules because that theme has no relevance to me. I would say a lot more people overall are familiar with the ST world than the GOT world.

For repeat play (before I bought my own ST) I would play ST multiple times on location, but usually one round (4 for $2) and done on GOT.

A vote on this topic would have been interesting... My vote is ST...

Oddly enough, I run a pinball location for a taproom in a microbrewery and have both GoT and ST there. Both do well, GoT is killing it and worked flawlessly for a year but now I'm going through some bizarre issues but will get it fixed eventually. I'd go GoT. See thread below.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/only-three-weeks-until-a-major-service-call-on-gotcmon-stern

Game of Thrones is a gigantic cultural phenomenon, especially with the 20 and 30 something males that will be frequenting a place that specializes in microbrews. you will meet ten Game of Thrones fans for every Star Trek fan there. (and i am a Star Trek fan, but come on, GoT is ridiculously more popular)

I have a ST Pro at home and just played a GOT Pro on location. Both games are fun. Artwork on ST is better but you don't really care about that if you are putting it on route. I think GOT will be a better earner in the long run because it's very fast and that dragon will keep giving you extra cash from all the SDTM balls it will create. ST seems to be solid on route, you have a few people here including one that I guy went 13K+ without doing much to it.

Skip both and go with MET, IM or GB

I'd take Chrizg word for it....guy's been operating for quite some time and could give you great insight I'm sure.

These are both excellent location games.

As an operator and competitive player I would lean towards this direction also, except I would add TWD into that mix.

I'd also never put a Premium/LE on location personally. The additional upfront cost means it will take you a lot longer to recoup the purchase if ever and those have more toys which are prone to break.

The only benefit I could see of putting premiums on location is if there was a lot of competition in the area players may choose your premums over another locations pros but of course there are other variables.

I kinda agree with this but most places aren't that sadly. It sure doesn't sound like the place he wants to put it is one either. I'm not sure even if I had a location with big competitions that I would do it though.

ha...um yeah...TWD is "kind of a big deal." TWD can be really hard for a n00b though...that part may be worrying to you, but I'm not an op like these dudes.

ST is by far the lowest on anyones radar.

Don't be concerned with newer sterns holding up. There is always a chance of a lemon, but I have SAM games that have 60k+ plays on them and they are about a year old. If you take care of them, they will hold up. Shit will break on location like plastics and ramps, but that is pinball.

If the new st movie is good it might swing interest

That's why I said a lot more people "overall". Out of general population, I still say ST is more known. There might be some special overlap between microbrew and GoT, I don't know... just sounds like one speculative or sample data point that could be true or not. Shrug...

But as far as 10-to-1? Now you're just blowing smoke... I'd take a bet like that on sampling people at a microbrew all day. It'd be an interesting poll. What would you ask? What's the captain's name on Star Trek? What's the name of the space ship in Star Trek? Would would be equivalent questions I should ask for GoT?

I would do what Chrizg says! Why not just get GB, one of the games he mentioned, and role with it? It is the newest, hottest game. You are not picking the newest hottest game why?

In theory I agree with you, but if we're just talking aboot the new Treks and someone excited to see Chrise Pine's ugly lip on a backglass, it may be 10-1.

Availability might have something to do with it?

A friend of mine had a ST and GoT premium side by side at the same location. GoT has been doing MUCH better than ST which I find find sort of funny as I don't really care for GoT. What earns well may well not be the same as what pinheads like.

Both are big themes hence why they were chosen to be games.

GOT mainstream popularity today is for sure bigger than new treks. But star trek as a franchise has been around since the 60's so I just figure the audience is larger.

Also star trek has older and younger demographics since its not "adult" though that may help got with kids. But kids shouldn't be at a bar anyways

I didn't appreciate GoT until I started to understand the ruleset. I now consider it to be a very good game, and I really enjoy playing it. Both games have that great Ritchie flow. I think the ruleset on GoT is superior, but I'm such a big fan of the Star Trek universe, that I find both games to be very appealing in their own way.

I think GOT, despite the complicated rules, is a beacon for location newbs due to theme. Crank up the volume, and just hitting start and hearing that now-iconic music will make them happy. It's such a hot mainstream pop-culture event of a show...newbs will flock to it over ST, IMO. Sure, the ST movies make money - but it's also sort of "generic big summer blockbuster"...I don't think people have much of an emotional attachment to it. GOT, on the other hand...people are PASSIONATE!

I'm amused at the postulating that ST pin can only be related to the recent movie(s). So the machine has no meaning to people that haven't seen those? That's laughable. Star Trek is Star Trek and it incorporates all the tradition and history. So I guess people will have no emotional triggers to the new Star Wars pin because Force Awakens is weak?

Get back to me when GoT has a 50-year celebratory issue on the news stand.

Star Trek > GoT

Do I need to bring up how GoT LE's were left collecting dust at distributors?

I agree with the GB suggestions though, everyone flocks to them at the shows, and especially newbs...

Yes Star Trek has been around a long time, but it's done nothing over the last 15 years except release a couple moderately successful movies. Game of Thrones' popularity utterly dwarfs Star Trek's. It's the most popular premium cable show of all time. 9 million people watched the season 6 finale a few weeks back. That's HBO's all-time record for any show.

I mean, if you like Star Trek, great. So do I. But it's a fact that Game of Thrones is much more popular right now.

Absolutely. Star Trek may have a larger fan base overall, but at this moment in time, Game of Thrones is much more popular. If you want to strike while the iron is hot, GoT is a more logical machine to have on route.

We're talking about locations, not collectors. Millennials and the types of people that would be in an arcade/barcade would most likely be more interested in GOT than ST. Not to say ST wouldn't do well...but this is a "Vs." thread, so - ya know...reasons.

Color me... unimpressed...

"The first season garnered an estimated average of 16 million viewers per episode on ABC. During its sixth and final season, the show averaged over 11 million U.S. viewers per episode." What show is that referring to? Lost. So you're saying GoT is almost as popular as Lost was?

TNG premiered the week of September 28, 1987, to 27 million viewers.

For all we know, GoT is just another flash-in-the-pan like Lost.

Anyway, that's just for giggles...

But it's a fact that Game of Thrones is much more popular right now.

So you're saying what's popular in pinball is what's hot right now? Hhhmm, not so much. Yeah, we're talking about attracting new players. But the argument "hot now" is weak there too. I'm just going to say that's no more relevant than something being popular and having proven staying power for many years. One could easily argue the latter is more significant because it's a broader audience.

Stern knows this, if "hot now" really attracted the newbs like you're suggesting that's what Stern would be releasing. Because that would mean more sales. The truth is, the GoT pin release is a counter point to that argument, as is the Ghostbusters release.