The metal apron on the Stranger Things Premium has a mount for the QR code reader under the right-side card. I'm curious why you decided not to use that.

Yes, the topper used the open middle slot. The cable provided in your kit was more than long enough to reach the one in the playfield.

It’s just a personal preference for the coin door. The apron would be fine if it was my only option.

Installed the coin door mount for Pinball Life Audio version from @gotfrogs. Was simple install. Ethernet cable included was very long which made it easy to run the cable from the apron, under the playfield and zip tie to other cables under the playfield, then alongside the cabinet through the existing cabinet wire holders and to the coin door. Plenty of slack and able to raise and lower the playfield without any interference.

I had 1 minor question on how to remove the audio jack and volume knob from the coindoor plate, so I messaged gotfrogs who confirmed the proper procedure for removing the items. My only comment might be to update the PDF instructions to include which tools to use to remove the audio controls. I was pretty sure what I needed to do but wanted to be sure so I didn't break the Audio Components/Connectors.

Very satisfied with this install and much easier than having to remove the apron on my JP Premium and get to keep the artwork as well!
Thanks Gotfrogs

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Added The Beatles today.

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God that thing looks stupid in a coin door.

-So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald. striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier. And do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga gunga - gunga galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

~Carl S.

I mean, does it look good anywhere? Stern cheerlead game on fleek tonight.

Hey look somebody had to say it.

If you can’t stand it just cover it up.

It looks absolutely ridiculous In the coin door.

Carry on.

Gotfrogs. Do you ship to Australia?

Yeah , just be careful. I ordered one then realised that our coin doors are different over here. My fault ‍♂️

And completely unnecessary had Stern done things the right way. Everyone is already walking around with a camera in their pockets. We should be using an Insider Connected app on our phones to use the camera we've already got to scan a game-specific QR code that is either generated and displayed on a game's LCD panel and/or simply supplied on a sticker or card that can be placed on a game's apron. We log in to the app, so Stern knows who we are, and we scan the game's QR, so they know what game we're playing. Boom. Done. An Insider Connected "kit" should have consisted of a wi-fi dongle and little more.

We don't have a patent on that method, nor is a patent on reading a QR code possible anyway.

It comes down to two questions: Identity, and trust. The question any service that prioritizes these questions are around what more positively identifies you, a specific phone, or a specific QR code, or a combination? This is hotly debated, and we placed our bets. There are entire conferences and areas of study on these topics. I don't think there is a right answer.

From a product management standpoint, our goals and Stern's are the same, to increase engagement and reduce friction, we just approached it different ways.

I founded a company in the late 90's that had to pass security audits on a regular basis by its customers for compliance. In that case, it came down to biometrics, because the identity/trust was regulated! I'll be honest, that was a bummer (though the systems were cool in a geeky way to work with).

The nice thing about pinball is we can try different things over a few years and see what feels best.

Folks, I did a video showing the install of the kit and insider connected itself.

Pretty easy. I also give some advice on cable management.

Anyone got a quick link for someone with 2 games but only one IC kit how to get the 2nd game online without removing all the stuff from the other? Is it possible?

I bought the mount over at Marco Specialties. Super easy to install, but was annoyed that Marcos placed their product sticker right over the QR code. Thankfully, I didn't need the instructions.

Not possible! You are going to need a second kit.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-share-stern-ic-reader-with-other-games

Hi, Just ordered an insider connected kit for my LE. I'm in Australia and have the Oz version (As mentioned here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-insider-connected-qr-code-reader-coin-door-mount#post-6709774)

Did you ever get a template working for this coin door type?

How would the machine know who is playing as the machine would not be reading the QR code to load up your profile

My guess would be when you scan the code with an app on your phone, your phone would report back to stern who you are and what machine you are playing on. Then when the machine reports it data back to stern over Wi-Fi it can correlate the user and the machine data.

Once the correlated data is compiled stern can send any info it wants to the users app or to the pin

The issue is getting the server to push the user's info to the pin in a timely fashion. With the scanner on the pin, it instantly recognizes the user from their unique QR code, and then can request (pull) the full play data (e.g. achievements history) from the server. The pull method is just going to be more reliable and a better user experience, which is probably why they went that route. And they can sell a piece of hardware.

I agree they want to sell more hardware for sure, but that small amount of data being pushed to the machine would be almost instantaneous.

It's not the amount of data that's the problem. The issue is the server finding the pin. It's way easier for the pin to establish the connection to the server.

Again that should be instantaneous when the pin boots up it registers with stern it will create a virtual connection between the stern server and the pin. Stern wouldn’t need to look for anything. This a basic configuration used across the it industry. The same way the phone app connects to stern.

Yes, but then every IC-enabled pin needs to establish a heartbeat with the server so they can keep the connection. That could become a problem (along with all the phones now talking to the server).

Pins are a small footprint the number of pins and pin users is tiny, I manage applications with hundreds of thousands of connections and it’s no big deal. This is really basic stuff everything is going to be connected eventually as part of the Internet of things refrigerators cars microwaves cameras doorbell’s etc. having a pin connected to an app sending and receiving metadata is rudimentary, I’m sure it’s about selling hardware . Anyway it was nice chatting about

Yeah, I'm sure they debated the pros and cons of push vs pull, and ultimately went with what they had more control over. And being able to sell some hardware was surely a big factor.

After getting hooked on IC on my Godzilla I finally broke down and ordered a kit for my Jurassic Park. I wanted to make installation easy and also keep my lighted arch plastic so I ordered this coin door kit. WOW! Installation was a SNAP! So glad I got this. If your on the fence on this, just jump in! Totally worth it!

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Quick shipping and super fast, simple install. Would recommend over the factory in the apron look for older games, especially premiums

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For another connection option, I connected to the node board in the cabinet using this splitter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q2QJP77
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I got frogs

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Just ran into this $60 QR code reader on AliExpress:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803873055616.html

Looks like the same one?

Another great mod from Gotfrogs! OEM quality and fit perfectly. Took about 15 minutes to install.

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Done. I’m happy to recommend this product.