I’m about to buy a LZ Premium without IC. I already have the IC kit with the scanner on my AIQ. It’s set up with Home Team already. So I just need a regular WiFi dongle and a Micro SD card for my LZ? Nothing special?

Yes. You will also have to connect your scanner from your AIQ to your LZ for the initial set up. I just used a spare ethernet cable to make the connection. Pretty easy.

Thank you dude, this video and links where most helpful, just ordered enough of each to get all of my games online!

Absolutely no way I was paying nearly £300 per IC unit for each of my games.

I would think the actual number of people doing this that were going to buy the kits is pretty small, and not likely worth their programing time. Doubt they are losing many actual sales.

I’m one of those at nearly £300 a pop for an IC kit here in the U.K. I won’t be buying kits for my older spike 2 games but if I can get them online using home team, it makes me far more interested and keen to see what IC continues to add to games and brings in the future.

Anyone heard anything about an API for insider connected? I googled but found nothing. I’m guessing nothing yet if google failed me.

I highly doubt there's an API at this point but would love if there eventually was. Hopefully when the app rolls out we can get one.

An app can’t come soon enough, the addition of wallet passes was a nice touch until then though.

I think Stern should have said at the start the home team feature was coming. Feel a bit sorry for people who bought multiple kits for what’s turned out to be no reason.

still not known if this is a feature or a bug. in future updates it may switch back that a scanner will be an requirement for Home team to function.

It’s definitely a bug and I don’t feel sorry I bought 10 kits

Agreed. I also like that if a friend comes over to play, they can scan in themselves. Then again, I only bought one.

Well everyone has to buy one. It’s just a matter of whether you want to buy more past that.

What do you want from a Stern app that your current app (Chrome, Firefox, etc) can’t do?

I don't think it's a bug. Stern wants people on Insider, they're investing a lot into the platform and want as many locations and players as possible participating, hoping the added interest will drive game sales. That's much more important than selling $200 camera kits to a dwindling market, since all games going forward will come with the camera anyway.

It almost seems home team's main goal was to allow people to use Insider with cached logins and no camera. Only other benefit is convenience, home owner not having to flash a code every time they play.

One other thing.. the cameras themselves don't seem to be the most reliable, or at least the first batch wasn't. Having a way to login even if your camera is broken is nice, otherwise you'd be locked out of insider on that game. Not helpful for locations but good for home owners.

A quicker/modern interface so I can view my friends/connections games and achievements, also compare them to mine, my eldest kids who are PlayStation/Xbox age want to be able to compare against each other.

At the moment looking at your own achievements is a headache and painfully slow especially when your navigating backs to jump between games or friends.

The whole thing needs a massive UI overhaul especially before spike3 potentially introduces head to head games remotely between users, sony and Microsoft have done all the ground work in these areas stern simply need to copy it and catch up in the process.

It’s a bug or at any rate an unintentional consequence. They wouldn’t intend for you to have to move scanners around to register games. That alone means it was unintentional. Will they fix it? Eh maybe not since their goal is to get more games on the platform.

Nothing that you're asking for requires a Stern app. Just better UI for the apps they use now.

Come on grandad get with the times everything is app related these days, the future is here

Jokes aside Stern aimed this at casual, us hardcore pinball lovers would play regardless, this is all about making pinball feel more modern and interactive, most younger generations have everything app based, plus no one wants to navigate sterns super slow and clumsy website.

Agreed. Nothing is more aggravating than having to login every time you go the website.

I don’t get why you can’t just stay logged in. It is annoying.

NOTHING!
I almost sold all my Sterns it's so frustrating.

Is it that bad? I just tap the username field and the browser remembers my username and password, then I tap the login button. Sure, I'd rather it stay logged in all the time, but it's same effort I go through for every app I have.

Wade

The system could certainly use some improvements, but I think it's coming along nicely so far.

Ehh... worse is having an awesome, achievement-setting game... after forgetting to login to the machine

You can login anytime prior to the final score and get credit for all achievements to that point.

Ahh good to hear, will remember for future games. When using home team only this is not possible (yet?) but in this case I was playing the game that had the camera so I could have done it.

Can login while entering HSTD initials and get credit!

Can you log into a home team acct while playing without scanning a QR code? Holding left flipper I imagine may not work. Or does it?

No. Home Team login is only possible before a game is started. Mid-game login requires a scan of the QR code.

Well we are always talking first world problems in this hobby.

10 kits = $2,000
10 usb wifi adapters plus memory cards = $150-200

Yeah, but a lot of people dont seem to understand about this hobby...there is a lot of play money.

That user lists 16 games in their collection. Lets just be super conservative and say they are all Stern Pros...bought prior to IC, so $5K each (I know, thats probably a low number).

That's at least $80,000. in games. Do you really think $1,800. to upgrade ten to IC is a big deal?

A lot of people don't understand that some people have more money in this hobby than others? Pretty sure everybody knows that. Just because I can afford to drop 2K on IC doesn't mean I would if there is an alternative that costs 90% less...oh and less labor since I don't have to change out 10 aprons. I was just ragging on him because he made the same comment in the Star Wars owner thread. Secretly I think he wants Stern to require the QR scanner so that everyone has to buy them like him.

I've got them on all my Sterns, retrofitted, and not cheap! Did it all before Hometeam came out. I'm not upset about it, I think it's cool tech, and the online updating alone is worth it to me.

The best thing I've purchased as relates to the Insider Connect is the Coin Door dollar bill mount. I was hesitant on 4 or 5 LE's altering the way the apron was meant to look, this solves it, so I think this means you can buy the pro versions on all games (cheaper?).

As relates to using one piece of IC hardware to configure and then use Hometeam, that works great I guess if you're the only one playing your games, right? Or could a friend scan in on the machine with the scanner, add to hometeam on that machine, and then play on the machine next door (is it instant or would it require a reboot)? Curious on this.

Yes, adding someone to hometeam on a game with a camera will also add them to all other games under that person's account. Takes ~5 min to show up.

You have to have access to the coindoor buttons to add to hometeam, can't do it unless the owner is around with the keys. Simply scanning will add them as a guest for the next game, but not add to hometeam.

I agree with this - bought mine from TeeJayN as it was set up with a splitter to use the Node1 board and I didn't need to run a long cable to the back. Super easy and I left my apron alone. Even with Home Connect, I find that I forget from time to time to select my account before I start a game, so I end up using the reader to log me in.

Another vote for the coin door mount - I didn't want to mess up my AIQ LE. Works great and easy setup. I got the metal one because plastic just seemed cheap, but I have never seen it in person.

Stern says those Milestone Badges are live, but are they? I'm not seeing them anywhere on the site or on the pins. They'll be live at the next code update, I suppose?

Yes, you need a Wi-Fi dongle and Micro SD card, but the home team will have to be deactivated by the previous owner on LZ from his collection on Stern IC. You then need to hookup to your AIQ scanner just once to scan in your QR code on you home team network and setup your LZ pre as a machine within your home network. If the previous owner never had it connected to IC, then just setup as normal.

Account > My Profile > Badges

Oh wow, they really tucked them away huh. Thanks!

One thing I guess it's kind of neat about the badges is it's retroactive, so any games played prior to the badges release count, if you've played a bunch of games prior to badges check your page you should have some already

All the more reason for an app. The website is very cumbersome to navigate and to be honest isn’t really mobile friendly.

Did anyone else get acheivements deleted? (Lifetime ones) reseted to 0? Happened to me in Mando... all the lifetime ones (missions, hunter,etc) went to 0

Definitely a sleek solution, Stern should really add that to their cabinets or the head from factory.

Gary Stern probably: You kidding me man that would cost $1.75 a cab.

you may not want an live RJ-45 jack on the back of an arcade game in some locations.

But maybe they should as they use cheap wifi sticks that don't work that good in some places.