It's just an initiative to have local pinball fans help to persuade locations to put pinball machines on route by sharing success stories and engaging locations about pinball. Their hope is when local businesses see pictures and read write ups of players gathering for pinball events and generating revenue at those establishments, those business would be more likely to allow pinball machines in their locations. In return, Stern backs events at these locations with prizes and exposure. Sure the program is a little cheesy, but I look at it like trying to promote location pinball is something I basically do anyway, so if I can get some fun prizes for my players and a little exposure for my events by participating there is no reason not to do it.

YES! YES! YES!

I also sent them a nice list of bugs and potential improvements and also posted it in the WWE thread. There is a lot of low hanging fruit that could easily be addressed and with it's unique layout, it can really stand out from the standard fan layout and recycled code they keep cranking out nowadays. I talked with Zach about it when he was hired on and said he would do what he could. Game is still in production, so it would be worth their while to do another code revision. That and the general good will and consumer confidence Stern gets from the community when they do code updates like that. I believe that there will be another WWE update in the future, but I doubt it is right around the corner.

StarWars Topper, GB code update...or Stern 30th Anniversary Coffee Table Book...

Here you go...

https://sternpinball.com/2019/06/04/stern-of-the-union-address-june-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1BFf2Mt6ttFYdQvnE2YPD3AO0OaEOxwvbg1aUF_5NHONxNWYO7sjOxc8U

"Status of Code:

We are continuously working to update and improve software for our machines. There are always code updates and bug fixes in various stages of development; we will release them upon update completion. Here are some of the latest updates and the status of things in the works. As always, if you do encounter any bugs please feel free to provide information to [email protected]:

The Munsters – Hope all of you Munsters owners are enjoying the latest v1.00.0 code!
Black Knight – Make sure you updated your game to the latest v0.94.0 code release from last month and stay tuned for another release soon!
Batman ’66 – There is a new Batman update in the works.
Ghostbusters code update remains in our schedule.
If you would like to join our mailing list for code updates, please send an e-mail to: [email protected]

Accessories:

Check out our Stern Shop for all accessories, collectibles, clothing and more including this month’s featured items, The Munsters topper and Black Knight: Sword of Rage shooter knob (available soon)!

The Star Wars topper is still in production development and we’ll make a formal announcement once it’s available for purchase. All Stern Pinball accessories are also available to purchase from your local authorized dealer – https://sternpinball.com/find-a-dealer/"

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BK3 here is not a great earner at the location I help out at maintaining games. Munsters is even worse. Both games were never #1 earners even when they were the newest games like usual...hell BK3 is still the newest game. Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool by far out earn both. The other games this location has are...

AC/DC (Pro) (Stern, 2012)
Beatles (Stern, 2018)
Black Knight: Sword of Rage (Pro) (Stern, 2019)
Deadpool (Pro) (Stern, 2018)
Ghostbusters (Pro) (Stern, 2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy (Pro) (Stern, 2017)
Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast (Pro) (Stern, 2018)
Kiss (Stern, 2015)
The Munsters (Pro) (Stern, 2019)
Star Wars (Pro) (Stern, 2017)

I was at Stern on July 25th and it was there. I noticed the parts for it in the assembly area, so I asked about it. I was told that the licensing issues were all worked out now and it was going to be produced soon. I asked about the extreme delay and was told it was a bigger problem with the topper because Disney bought Lucasfilm after the game licensing agreement had been worked out for the pinball machine. Now Stern had to go back and jump through more hoops with Disney instead of Lucasfilm and there were classification issues as to what the topper actually was. He said often things like toppers and add-ons get classified as "toys" with the parent company and Star Wars is very protective of the brand, especially with toys. Because they didn't know how to classify the topper and always who to talk to and which company to deal with, there was a lot of back and forth, delays and rejections.

Not that I could tell, but they were behind a cage and I was at a distance. It was the day before the JP reveal so "security" was a little tighter around there and they didn't want me to close to certain areas...even though we joked that everyone already knew what the next game was.