Say something positive with your next 10 posts. I dare you.

He’s been on the fuckin warpath today!!!

Same boat... I'm just going to wait until things settle in...

Well I seemed to have solved this complex puzzle Stern has created. Not sure why but I was able to, finally, sign up and login.

And... now I get to sit here proud of myself being able to login to a currently useless website.

I'm signed up and following Levi. I can't tell if I feel cool or like a complete loser... Thoughts?

Need more information.
Have you ever pre-ordered anything? If yes, skew loser, if no skew cool.
Do you routinely rail about pricing? If yes, skew cool, if no, skew loser.
Do you play tournament pinball? If yes, skew cool, if no, skew loser.
Do you own or have pirated any music by Ini Kamooze, Lou Bega, or Lil' Jon & tha Eazt Side Boyz? If yes, skew cool, if no skew loser.

You’re not really a loser until you follow me

Loser.
The cool kids have already deactivated and sworn off the entire program

You have to admit, with the limited amount of pins IC covers, this seems like a fail on arrival. If you buy a Godzilla and all your friends bought a new Godzilla and they’re getting it this year your set. Mice nuts group of users

Overall, this looks like IC could be fun down the road.

if they can roll out all 17 spike2 games before end of year (and actually be able to produce/deliver the hardware) then I have high hopes, but right now there is not much incentive to jump on the IC wagon. also I only own Star Wars and Avengers:IQ so I will have to wait
- and I suppose they chose those 6 games at launch because they are the best selling? otherwise a game like led zeppelin really doesn't make much sense

Right now im just pissed that I can't get on the service to see and that they didn't chose one of my games at launch

But 2 years from now we can hopefully laugh at our scepticism when we all roll around in Stern coin and PTSD from trying to get that last achievement.

It really all depends on how you distribute and setup those QR codes. If you introduce someone to pinball for "free" maybe they will plug more money into it. If they really like it maybe they will setup an Insider Connected account.

I am very curious how granular this QR system will be and how robust the management and reporting system are. Learning that these QR codes will be used for much more than just importing you profile piques my interest as a nerd and makes a heck of a lot more sense why they chose it. Depending on how flexible this is, an operator could dream up all kinds of ways to use these. If our local Op gets a Godzilla I will certainly ask him for a walkthrough of the tools.

Unless they are planning on dropping a ton of Elvira machines soon I don't think you've been able to buy one for the better part of a year. Hmm maybe it is on the line, but then what is Black Knight doing in the first 6? It didn't sell well and is out of production.

I was not a part of Stern Insider previously but are these Game Guides new? TMNT in particular. In fact all of the other ones are the wrong link or a broken link.

https://insider.sternpinball.com/documents/5/TMNT-Rulesheet.pdf

Yeah, no way to convert an account from all-access that I can see, if you went ahead and created a new account using same email address. I think Stern dropped the ball here by not getting out conversion account emails before going live or just doing the conversions automatically. My guess now is that anyone who created an account yesterday using same email address just wiped their "paid" all-access account, and now Stern has no record and you will get no conversion email. That is my guess, which means people will have to individually contact Stern with some sort of proof to get their account upgraded to the Paid version. Resulting in a lot of extra work for Stern on the back-end as well as annoyance to all-access customers.

I'm waiting for the email just in case for that reason

Listening to the webcast for Insider Connect, George or someone else stated you'd have to create another account, so I did so at that time. THEN, I found this thread talking about a conversion email going out, so I basically screwed myself due to bad info (apparently) on the webcast

Still no email .......hmmmm

No it doesn't - printing out free QR codes is the equivalent of just handing out free quarters. As the OP you have no idea who that person is, or if it's 1 person or 10 people. You at best only know how many times it was used.

Worse is, you don't want a QR code that can be reused for free games - because otherwise that code is basically a hole in your coinbox. So that means QR codes need to be limited used... that means making QR codes for promos on receipts can't be static they need to be dynamic. To be dynamic means integration between whatever is generating the QR codes and the thing printing them. Has stern talked about what POS systems they are integrating with and how? Notice talk of any of that or partnering??

So that leaves stern's current pitch as printing out static coupons... which everyone should be familiar with the limitations of a paper coupon and a teller (the machine) that is completely ignorant of the buyer.

As an Op it would be cheaper for me to just tell the bartender to give each new person you see an extra $1 and tell them to pick any game to play... then to spend $2k to update my machines to have a scanner to do basically the exact same thing.

OR

They could have static printed out coupons that the buyer redeems with their APP... and then had the APP tell the game what to do. Then, you have a profile, you have a backend that can validate if this player can use that coupon again, you have tracking of who is using them, you have motivation and attach for people to get your App. I don't need fancy dynamic codes... I don't need to worry about excess... in theory I don't even need to involve the location if I didn't want to. And I've have metrics on all the use, and I'd know who my users are, and I'd have actual metrics on how the promotion is working towards driving additional sales (because I can tell who used a promo and what their future sales are).

Saving trees isn't the only reason people push their promotions through their apps these days!!

All of that goes in the toilet when you instead give out anonymous coupons in an effort to avoid using a phone/app.... and insult to injury charge people $200/machine to participate.

QR codes are not secure in any fashion - they are a simply a shorthand to something else... if you don't link it to something known or trusted... it's basically just an open door. This is why you should always be linking back to your profile, even in the case of promos. And if we are tying to a profile, you probably have your phone or your card.

And everyone is moving to using your app as your 'membership card' because of the advantages it has.

I'm interested to see how similar this will be to scorbit and how they rolled it our on the jjp willy wonka. I'm enjoying it on my wonka.

So anyone have an idea when we can order a kit for the first batch of games?

My guess is you just put on the receipt “sign up for stern Insider Connect using promo code #pinballbar for this establishment, get a QR code for a free game(s)”
…along with their permanent QR.

I'd suggest just reaching out to your distributor and asking them to put you on an interest or pre-order list and specifying the game(s) you want a kit for-- that's what I did. Don't think any distributors know when to expect them to be available yet.

Ops can physically print off custom QR codes and give them out.

Exactly and those codes will likely have a use limit so it can be a one time use, limited or unlimited for or until a set date. Not sure why Flynn is going full on meltdown with this

They can also be used to allow staff access to certain adjustments of the games without keys like volume or EBs, etc.

They did talk about partnering during the web cast.

Tried to sign up.
Typo'd my email and didn't notice because my old man vision is blurry these days.
Finish the process.
Don't get the email.
Go back and re-read the "we sent you email" page. See the mistake.
Try to sign up again with the proper email.
"Username is taken".

RIP.

And to do that onsite, I need a smartphone to signup... so why do I need a QR reader on the game again to achieve this use case?

Or are we going to increase the cost of every game $200 to enable the scenario where the user can read that sign, then go home, go online, print a QR code, and come back with that QR code and sign in?

Which is more probable?

Oh and if you have a guy scanning a QR code along with no app, that means your game now has to have the User Experience to either selection/acknowledge that they are redeeming their promo.. or you gotta make them print out yet another seperate QR code as the redemption.

Remember how people make fun of the old people that print out Mapquest instructions instead of just using the app? Ain't nobody got time to be printing out single use QR codes when everyone has a phone in their pocket.

Explain exactly how you are going to get these programmatically printed QR codes made and distributed. Then you'll start figuring out the dependencies and the liabilities.

Ehh, idk about that. Electronic distribution is definitely easier/quicker, but it still seems pretty straightforward in concept for an operator to print out a few sheets of "free play" QR codes (~100 or so on a single sheet of 8.5x11 paper, maybe?) to give the location to keep in a bowl behind the bar.

Operator could also negotiate a deal with the location such that they "sell" the sheet of free play QR codes to the business at some discounted rate, and the business gives customers a "free play" QR code with purchase of a 16oz Coors Light. Operator still makes money on the plays (indirectly), people who might not have played pinball are now able to get their feet wet, etc. Everyone wins.

Paper is still convenient imo. Bartenders have to work quick, and grabbing a slip of paper is a lot faster (for them) than figuring out what a customer's cell phone number or email address is in order to send it to them electronically. Plus, the QR code could be theoretically set up for one free play on each game in the location, or 5 free games in any combination, etc. That's ALSO easier than a bartender counting out tokens each time they sell a 16oz Coors.

I just created a new account using the same email address from my insider account. I’m sure i will get full upgraded access by the time I need it - I’ll just shoot them an email if need be.

Like I said before.. it basically becomes the same as handing out money at that point. As an Op now I gotta stock the bar too? And pay for it's redemption tool? Why is this better than being able to give out a code the person redeems themselves on their phone?

And in this model the only thing the Op knows is how much is going out. He doesn't know to whom.. how it relates to future sales.. who are using it.. doesn't know if he's reaching 500 new people or just 5. All problems that would be solved and enhanced if you gave PROFILES coupons - not just handed out paper token credits that are used anonymously.

Oh and let's not forget that stack of QR codes is not secure in any fashion... now people just start printing their own once the algorithm is known... big hole in your coinbox. By not having any association between use and USER/PROFILE you lose so much.

No op wants another service call "hey, the coupon pile is out..."

Both use cases that could be solved without putting $200 worth of kit on every game and no way would you be asking people to setup an email address, etc. The bartender gives you a code or QR code that the person takes a photo of (or you distribute in some way if you care). The user is invited to redeem this coupon and do so via the app. They scan the coupon in the app, and then scan the game, and they play.

No paper piles to stock...
No static QR codes lying around as a liability...
You can limit re-uses
You can make your QR generator just be another phone/terminal without any POS integration
You drive people to install the app
The platform knows who is redeeming coupons
The platform would be able to track success metrics from users of these coupons
The platform now has a hook into that user to push future promotions
The platform now has the potential to know a ton more about that player going forward

None of which is possible if you just hand out paper tokens... and pay $200 to add a scanner to every game.

Why does the grocery store make you sign up for their loyalty program instead of just marking the price down on the shelf for everyone if everyone can get the same discount? Because they are driving people to enroll and give them that constant customer contact.

Adding to the BOM of every game so you can avoid the phone requirement is a shortsighted move that greatly limits the potential and usability of the platform.

... so totally unrelated question, is there a way to hide certain users’ posts?

Edit: found it by clicking on their profile summary, in case anyone else was wondering

Personally as an operator, I think all the features they showed have potential benefits to players and operators. I also don't think trying to make some comparison to the $200 estimated cost for retrofit to one feature makes any sense, it's apples to oranges. The question is, do all these features combined make sense for an extra $200. Only time will tell but I'm optimistic. I like the QR code cards for potential uses. The one I like the most is the volume control. I keep getting requests to lower the volume during the day when bar is empty and someone plays. We could keep two cards attached to the game for high and low, so players can increase volume when busy bar night, and bartenders and go over and lower if needed during day. Not sure exact logistics on that, but certainly an improvement compared to having to lower volume constantly.

For one I didn’t think the operator would be making them, more along the lines of a bunch of promotional pre programmed QR codes, that could easily be put up on the LCD to offer any new user to Insider (stern will need an incentive once this gets an APP & an APP is a must to bring in the new generations and make it user friendly) a free game.

Loads can be done with this, I totally get it’s not for everyone and we have a lot of people that don’t want pinball to evolve but unfortunately it has to and the younger generations love APPs and achievements for instant gratification.

Thing of beauty ain't it!?

Has anyone received the actual email from Stern as of yet to transition your account?

I signed up a couple hours ago just to make sure I secured my username. Not sure if/when I'll use it, but wanted the username.

Pressing F for your signup now..

I didn’t get the email, but I signed up with my same email address and the paid account transferred automatically for me.

I'm guessing they figured that out within last 15 hours and made a change. Mine is still a free account even though I was All-Access.

I think the nice thing about printed QR codes is the lack of friction in the bartender/customer experience. The bartender just has to hand them the "coupon." Could be taped to the beer can already, even. No counting out tokens or giving them "cash" that they can just as easily blow on more beer instead of giving it to the pinball machine. They just walk over to the machine, scan it, and play. No logging on to anything or redeeming it to your "Stern Wallet" or anything like that.

I'm not an operator but this seems like it opens the door for some creative promotions and some "outside the box" thinking when it comes to negotiating with the business owner. Even better if you happen to own both the business and the machines.

But you don't know any of that today either, it's just coins in the box-- right? I think you're unfairly expecting this to scratch EVERY itch at the same time. It's different use cases that accomplish different goals, and that should be OK.

I was imagining a scenario where the operator generates a set of QR codes, associates them with his location's machines, and distributes them. Wouldn't it be pretty tough to spoof one of a few hundred valid QR codes that happen to be associated with that location? I guess anything is possible but I just don't think this is a big enough concern to be creating a stink over.

I would, if I worked out some kind of deal with the business where I'm still profiting off of those QR codes (maybe just slightly less for the sake of the promotion).

I like your architecture, and think it makes sense for folks who care enough to go through the registration process... but I also think you're over-estimating how likely a "non pinball" person is to go through that many steps to play a pinball machine they wouldn't have dropped $1 of their own money in anyway. "Receive a coupon, scan a coupon, play a game" is just way simpler in my opinion. Is it the fanciest, slickest, most secure implementation? Definitely not. But it also doesn't have to be. Sometimes simpler is better imo.

Nope. I just ended up making a new one because it wasn't like I had all-access previously or anything that needed to transfer over.

So what's the purpose of the QR reader on the game if I need some means to get the QR code from the screen to the game?

Can confirm that if you already have All-Access and go to create a "new" account now with the same email address, it'll automatically associate the two accounts and carry over your subscription. Proof:

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Yup just did that as well. Went smooth.

Promotions are good - yes.
Adding $200 to every game to enable promotions that I can't track the success of - Not good.

I'm not paying an extra $200 for my machine today either.. but now I will be. The point is by requiring the system to be functional without a co-resident app, you cripple the potentials. On top of that, insult to injury, you're asking me to pay extra for this 'benefit' which really is an inferior solution for some petty use cases that are easily covered if you accept the app setup friction. A compromise that is COMMONPLACE everywhere else.

Want that coupon at the grocery store? enroll
Want that McDonalds promo? enroll
Want that gas discount? enroll
Want that 20% coupon from that webstore before you buy? enroll

Yes, setting up an app is some initial friction - but it's common place. Heck, you could even allow the app to work WITHOUT ENROLLMENT for some things. Instead... 'please pay $200 a game when everyone around you has a super computer in their pocket'

See prior list of issues with static QR codes.. they basically become currency you have to manage OR allow reuse and hence become a bottomless pit unless you use user profiles.. and if you do that... why not just use the app in the first place? Who is this mythical user who will have a profile at home, but no access to it away from home?

Again you're tying value to the codes... they now become some form of token currency to manage and not usable.

If you want simple.. like I said before... give away credits... not pay $200/game for the privledge of giving away credits.

I bet 24months from now you see Insider Connect without any QR scanner on the game.

Same here.
I entered the required information with my initials, an icon and such and got a confirmation email to click on a link to activate it.
The key thing is that I was able to print my QR code that fits in my wallet from the insider menus there.
There is a discussion forum on the Stern insider area that is not yet active.
You have an option to upgrade to "Insider Connected" for $39.99 per year, but it is not required to print out your QR code.
The code is on a dotted area on the paper that can be cut out and the cut out portion fits in your wallet.

My local distributer, Player One, biggest distributer in Canada didn't have a specific answer, just said "Pricing and availability will be later this year".

And to give them a call in a few weeks for an update.

Why do you keep saying this (over and over and over and over and over)?

Do you know something we don't?