I am pretty excited for Connect, gives me a chance to play against my mates who are 2+ hours away from me on a regular basis, I also think the achievements are a great idea and incentive while adding more objective based depth to a game on top of the games physical high score tables.

The only real question I have a round Connect is the retro fitting of it, Godzilla was designed around it so the apron and artwork fit nicely around its integration especially the LE, but how will it look on older games? I would like to see new art apron packages from Stern included in the Connect or make them an additional product at a reasonable price and I would buy Connect Apron Art to go with my connect.

Just think, by NOT subbing to Insider, you could buy a new $9K pin every 1̶8̶.̶7̶5̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶!̶ 225 years!... they'll still be $9K in 2246, right?

Another way to look at this is dividing $9000 by $40 for the % of the cost.

A $9 burger. Will I pay $0.004 for the extra cheese? Yes. If the extra cheese investment makes you pause, maybe a $9 burger isn't a wise financial decision for you right now.

It's worse than that! 18.75 years assumes you're paying $40/month.. it's more like a $9k pinball machine every 225 years if the $40 fee is annual.

Either way... to make this a food-gument ( ^ love the cheeseburger analogy): we're talking small potatoes in a big stew with the $40 fee.

fixing my post!

From the email today:

For all Stern Insider and All Access members, Insider Connected™ and Insider Connected™ All Access will be replacing the Stern Insider and Stern Insider All Access programs. On Wednesday, October 6th, 2021, you will be able to convert your existing Stern Insider or Stern Insider All Access account to Insider Connected™ or Insider Connected™ All Access. This conversion honors your existing membership at no additional cost. In the future, we will send Insider Kits, only to new members who have not previously been members of Stern Insider programs.

You will receive an email on Wednesday, October 6th, 2021 with a link to the new Insider Connected Web App that will allow you to convert your existing Insider account to an Insider Connected account. You will be guided through the conversion process, and new features will be available to you.

Get ready to join Insider Connected!

That's why I couldn't log-in to Insider All Access today...

I had the same issue. Tried to log on and the Stern website said that my password was invalid for a password that has previously worked for probably several months. There was a click button to reset the password and when I pushed that button, the system said that it sent me an email to reset my password, but that email never showed up as far as I can tell. Now I see why...

$40 /year player and op's fees per game are??

Yes, they changed the main login button to be the insider connected login. However, if you go to this page, you can still login. I encountered this situation yesterday.

https://sternpinball.com/account/login/

Zero Dollars!! The idea is the Ops put the game out and then it is available for all the players out there.
Smart move, or very few games will be connected, and nobody will renew the subscriptions.(ops or players)

How do you do that exactly? Dremel down a penny?

You pay a penny and receive $0.006 in return. Easy!

Nah, it's just a penny from 2019

Burn! Well done.

Has anyone been able to sign up? I can't get it to let me register.

Still broken.
Are they doing like a press briefing?

"You will receive an email on Wednesday, October 6th, 2021 with a link to the new Insider Connected Web App that will allow you to convert your existing Insider account to an Insider Connected account. You will be guided through the conversion process, and new features will be available to you."

Can’t get it to work either!

No email yet

I was just able to create an account and got verified. There is a username associated with your profile....

I just signed up successfully. I did not receive an email.

I guess I'll wait for the email since I'm not sure how they transfer the old Insider membership otherwise...

Tried to sign into my existing free insider account and that didn't work. Signed up for a new free insider connected account and that worked fine. Went ahead and did the upgrade for the all access. Got the confirmation email, but my account still says free. I'm sure it'll take a bit to update.

Is there an app for IC for the iPhone? I can’t find one.

My understanding, no app. Just go to insider.sternpinball.com on your phone.

Yay! I’m in! My existing username is registered probably from when I flubbed the system, but I changed it slightly and it worked!

BCD1EE8B-F153-4F25-B8A2-2B40EF9A5B99.png

I also am in.

I can't wait to use this thing that I dismissed upon announcement as completely useless and undeserving of my interest!

I’m gonna do it first, so get in line!
80 second after logging in, I find the UI bad and the webpage lacking.
Account deactivated. Never looking at it again. 0/10

Hmm no more info on the retrofit kit yet. On the machines page all it says is "If you already own a Stern SPIKE 2 game, you will need a Wifi Retrofit Kit to connect to the Insider Connected system." without a link to where to purchase one.

I see you had the same issue as me. Had to shorten my name to RC_Cola. Too many characters with the full username.

Can anybody use this on a pin today? Is there any reason or benefit to signing up if you don’t own a modern stern?

Do you plan on playing on location? If so then yes. Also insider connected is replacing the older accounts.

Hmmm. Seems like a very narrow scope since it’s only modern stern pins. Some arcades here don’t have any of these pins. I use Pindigo and it’s no frills place to track online scores. I’m probably gonna try Scorbit as it covers many pins (they claimed Stern pins at one point, not sure if that’s still true). I just don’t want to have 5 apps to compete and track scores.

The thing Stern has been cooking for years... is post-announcement and facing down their own big reveal at expo and still can't name a price?? That screams "we don't know what we can get away with..." -- not someone committed to making it cheap. If you were commited to cheap, you'd be subsidizing - clearly they aren't. Remember, this is the same company selling $500 toppers... 'cheap' is a relative term.

Remember when people kept saying "nothing of value..." to hack?

How on earth is having a QR code anyone can pass around more secure then a simple authorization in the online system. Maybe Stern is investing in printer ink factories and thinks printing QR codes is the next big thing?

Are you asking me these questions? I don’t have any of these answers. I suggest asking stern when their forum opens up.

Anyone know if we need the email link to convert our insider account or if just signing up does the trick?

I think just signing up does the trick.

I just saw a thread on pinside selling a few plastics for Elvira for $300. People were loving them. Static plastics. No lights. No interaction with the game. A few plastic ramp/scoop/light cover. $300.

$300 for unlicensed 3D printed plastic. Pinside: "wow, what a great modding community we have!"

$500 for an officially licensed Stern topper, with LEDs, animatronics, and actual game integration. Pinside: "GARY STERN IS LITERALLY JEFF BEZOS!!!!"

statements - not questions

Stern Forum? Lol... moderation training straight from their facebook page

It didn't for me. It wants another 40.00.

Pay Up

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After that webinar connect sounds cool however here is my concern. They are definitely eventually going to charge. Let’s say i have 10 new sterns and the kit is $300 a game

That’s 3 grand to get all my games up and running. Then what? They decide to take 33% of revenue? Or maybe 10 a month per game? No thanks. To buy the kit i need some sort of reassurance on how long i can expect to have the service complimentary. I don’t want to sink a bunch of money into something i will only use for 3 months.

That being said I’m not stupid if it truly does raise revenue significantly I’ll be happy to pay.

Great notes - thx for sharing!

I'm glad they are thinking of these promotion and currency things - I just highly doubt they will get them to anything critical mass anytime soon.

And the scenarios they outline still don't need the QR reader on the game...

If I had a QR code on a receipt, I can scan that in the app, scan the game's code, and go... Sure you have the friction of needing the app, but that's what YOU WANT. You want people signing up and using your app... you want that hook in people and their data.

What is an anonymous person scanning a printed receipt anonymously into the game tell the Operator... how many burgers the place is selling?? No, you want to know who that player is, and if they come back, etc.

I'm still flabbergasted Stern thinks adding $200 in cost to every game to AVOID having your player use or need a phone in 2021 is a good approach.

The remote settings is interesting and welcome... along with audits and alerts we hope.

Has there been any talk about push notifications in the app at launch?

This signup is so borked... old login doesn't work... password resets don't work... and it claims my email domain is invalid. Srsly? They can't even work out simple account migration... and they're gonna take-on prizes, digital economy, etc? LoL

They've made a "fun" game of signing up. Thought I had gotten to the last step, after selecting your avatar and whatever, then it said my username and email were taken. Now I can't login or get past entering my email if I try to sign up again, no matter what I enter.

Not like I can use this for anything right now so not sure why I am bothering, but here I am trying to fit a square peg into a, apparently, round hole nonetheless.

Man you are really on a roll today!

Tranquilo amigo…chilllll….I’m sure this shit will all work out fine.

CrazyLevi didn’t have any trouble signing up!

did you convert your existing account or create a new one?