Recently the above is correct. Be nice if they up the quality though. Cabinets splitting, ghosting, clear chipping, soft wood. My distributor says warranty is shortened too.

Is this true? As of a year or so ago (the last time I checked) Stern's warranty looked virtually identical b/w LOTR and SW. Or does your distributor mean that Stern's tightening up their practice of providing free repairs out of warranty, which has historically been pretty extensive? If so, details would be important, as that would be a major shift in Stern customer support from years past.

Stern announces a pin, ships out pin short time after. Let's public beta test for code bugs. So awesome!

Thank Stern for Iron Maiden !!!!

90's games don't do much for me.

I've had none of those issues.

But it sure gets regurgitated over and over on Pinside, mostly from people who don't even buy NIB Stern games.

So I personally refuse to buy a stern pin until code is complete and or very near.
My trust is not back yet. Time will tell.
But there games don’t seem to have as many problems as others just an observation. Also they are damn fast pins. Some of the fastest ever ?!

All of my Stern games are awesome, especially this new IMDN that i cannot stop playing!!

I have to date not bought nib. I have seen first hand ghosting on a gb le with less than 20 games on it. I have seen numerous sterns where the decals have peeled from the head. I have seen 1 cabinet split at the corners. All of these were huo. The gb le took 1 year of the owner fighting with stern to finally get a replacement pf. The owner has not played 1 game on it since installing and plans on selling the machine as he is so fed up with stern.

That would be Steve Ritchie’s games, you know that King of Flow guy?

****YAWN****

Mr Ritchie yes of course but seems fast not on just his pins!

Why does it have to be complete right away?

I enjoy getting regular updates and watching the game evolve. It's like getting a new game every couple of months. At least the way Stern has been lately with GOTG, SW, and Batman '66.

I’ve bought several nib stern games. I’ve not personally had any issues. Not positive on exact details of stern warranties but something I will personally be getting an exact update on before my next nib stern. Just a little paranoid tbh

There is nothing quite like buying a brand new machine and watching code develop over the next several years for sure.

Truly cutting edge.

So i guess that explains why you bought your BM66 when it came with zero code from the factory then right?

100%. I felt a real need to experience all the excitement and anticipation first hand. Only problem was I wasn't sure how the playfield was gonna hold up while waiting on that code. It sure didn't look very good a few months down the road.

Well you picked the perfect game to watch the code mature on thats for sure. Lol

It was fun for sure! But I never did keep it long enough to see most of the rules implemented. So now that I got that out of the way, I'll only be buying games with complete rules from now on.

On something like Batman or most of their games it doesn't really matter as you are dealing with a 50 year old theme anyway. So what's a few more years waiting for the rules to be installed.

Deadpool or GOTG not modern enough for you? You seem to be really stuck on this theme thing.

At least with Deadpool they finally made it into the 90s. GOTG was a cute movie... 4 years ago.

Not really looking to buy another superhero or comic book pinball machine though. Plus I would want something that I could stand to look at every day.

Gotg was just in one of the largest movies ever. Stern is trying to make games that appeal to thousands of people, not a handfull that dislike everything that most people like.

Fast and Furious is the largest movie franchise ever. Guess they really missed the boat on that one.

Get yourself a DI on your wishlist.

It’s like a B/W game with modern code and lighting.

I was happy with my 8-9 Stern pin collection until I got Woz, DI and AFM LE.

I’m still happy with my Stern pins but man those JJP pins feel nicer.

If anybody knows how to teach us about fresh material and refusing to rehash things that have been done in the past, it's Odin!

DI has got to be the worst theme since Gay Cruise and the Gay 90's.

If there's anybody to point out my genius, it's always Levi!

No it's already 15 years too late for a Fast and Furious game, but hey that never stopped them before.

Listen to Lyman on this podcast when Stern had just himself, Borg and Roop as design/code guys and they were trying to put out game every 4 months. They still put out a lot of pins but now with so much more creative people, it seems like Lyman hasn’t done a pin since BM66 almost 2 years.

It’s not that bad.

It truly is.

That's your big answer for a great theme?

I'm in, but only if they have the kid from Sling Blade do all the custom callouts.

Yep, someone cites issues with games and you have nothing to add. Sounds right.

Maybe they can get that dude from NCIS New Orleans who starred in Tokyo Drift.

I've just always liked fast car themed games, but Mustang didn't really do it for me.

That is the kid from Sling Blade isnt it?

I never saw Slingblade.

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I'm very grateful to all the people who buy the newest Stern game as soon as it's announced. Keep it up!

I'm thankful they're willing to be the beta testers and help Stern work through any issues.

The more games that are sold, the better the chance Stern will update the code.

Also means more games on the secondary market when the next game is announced.

I'd rather buy a low mileage game that's been tweaked, modded and right in front of me over NIB. Can't do that without a bunch of NIB purchasers.

That's him.

"Hey ya'll, I'm driving a fast car and stuff"

I suggested Fast and the Furious back in one of the "There should be a rap pin" threads.

And if you haven't seen Slingblade you're missing out on one hilarious performance by Billybob Thornton.

Stern can make both these themes for all I care.

I kinda like the dude's style. Makes NCIS NO a top show. I haven't seen Fast 8 yet but I heard they were bringing him back. He did a bit part in Fast 7.

Really sad about Paul Walker, but the show must go on!

I just replaced the head decals on my Metallica. And it’s no big deal. I consider things like that to be little crap. They are minor inconveniences that can be sorted easily.

It’s the bigger ones I take issue with. The ones that shouldn’t have been messed with like playfield, or cabinet builds. Those have a bigger impact on the customer and are very expensive to fix both for Stern, and the buyers. Stern does some good stuff, but the fumbling around trying to get cost savings while jacking up the prices wasn’t one of them.

Dunno, if I was an op and it was a route machine, no big deal. If I was joe blow home owner who dropped 9k on an le? Bit of a big deal.

I love you fanboys! But no way in hell am I paying 6K for a hunk of lights and plastic. I'm good with the 1200 I spent on Flash Gordon. You guys talk about "code" how junkies talk about the quality of their heroin. I got the shit man but is the code any good? Don't worry my guy says the code is getting better next week. Back in the day, they didn't have code updates, you got what you got and they managed to create timeless games without a lot of code.

Can’t wait to see Sterns Godzilla pin

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In theory that is what you are paying for; a finished game. Other, like myself, don't want to buy an incomplete pin in the hopes that it'll eventually get finished. <insert cargument here>.

Once it is finished, then I'll consider it. I've wanted a Ghostbusters since it was announced. How long has it been? Two years now? It's still not code complete.

I can appreciate watching the game evolve. If it was a "reasonable" window of time, then I could get behind it. But, multiple years to get a game to even have the basic features that are on the instruction card would just piss me off. Thus, I'll wait and be happy(ier).

O-din is holding out for Stern to make a Death Wish pin

I'm almost done holding out that they will do anything I think is cool again.

Whole new set of different people to please and take money from beside me.

Just as well, if I really liked it it would need a playfield that would last.