Stern STAR WARS club...May The Force Be With You

My problem is I'm accumulating way too many keepers and still want what's coming out

Guardians of the Galaxy (Archer) is a great theme too!

Dead flip posted on Facebook that we'll have 2 events this week.
I expect a SW video is one.
The other?
My guess would be a code release for Batman, maybe another title instead?

Thanks Stern for paying way too much for the license and passing the buck to us.
Oh well, at least we have this hairball and his fodder for a potential topper!!!

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Definitely my same problem. Good problem to have.

I'm in on a Pro because when it comes to purchasing LEs I'm now resorting to an old saying (and I was a GBLE purchaser)

Fool me once - shame on you.
Fool me twice - shame on me.

I totally get you Ice my man, I guess I am the only one that doesn't give a crap about a plaque that says 1 of ##, all I care about is the extra bling/extra gameplay an LE might have sometimes, SWLE doesn't have enough extra bling this time around, so like you said its Premium on this release which is nice.

Premium buying gives you time to sit back, drink some beers and watch the code/game develop stress free, something I haven't had on my last few LE purchases - self inflicted harm this addiction of ours

And I hope your right dude about GOTG, I would hate to see Elwin's "Archer layout" stripped down at the Premium/LE level, it looks like one kick ass layout and it deserves to be released in its complete form.

Has a layout image been leaked somewhere?

All the time. TFLE they removed a rotating cube. AC/DC they redid the mini pf clear. STLE they removed a warp vuk and added a slinger vuk + added apron double scoring lighting. GOTLE they found a problem with orbit shots and went back and.....uh....well.....they...ummm.......disabled a 2-way gate in the code in hopes no one would notice

Point is, they find problems or issues they want changed on full functioning prototypes all the time that seem great in CAD or white wood but don't work in a real machine. Company's used to put games on location for these testing purposes for this reason, like JJP did with DI. Stern moves too fast for that motto in order to keep production moving, so we have to trust in their engineers and design team that they'll get it right for production; Or we just let LE owners and early pro adopters be the guinnea pigs and testers...like we saw with the GOTLE orbit fix.

Bottom line is to not feel like you have to be one of the first owners. Even on LEs. It's a facade to believe that you won't be able to get an LE at a good price if you don't preorder. Over seas customers may be the exception to that rule.

Do you think Stern will really use Elwin's Archer layout? Have they ever made a four-flipper game before?

Maybe that's why Star Wars is such a simple design, they might be trying to offset the cost of producing Elwin's game.

Is GOTG really going to happen?

GOTLE, ACDC LE, technically Monopoly had 4 flippers but only 3 user controlled to name a few...

They went up to 5 flippers : TSPP

The "Certificate of Authenticity signed by Gary Stern" on the LE's is a very important feature, because their will be so many of those Chinese knock off Star Wars LE's that will flood the market. Only way to know you are getting the genuine article. Well worth the extra money.

Come play Star Wars Pro at Pintastic New England this Friday July 7th and Saturday July 8th! It will be in the Automated Services booth.

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Will attendees be able to take video of the gameplay? Or maybe even an official live stream?

I love the BM66 theme and that is why i bought the LE, 240 total. F ed up? Maybe but i don't care. Overpriced, yep.

I can def drink some beers like i'm doing right now, and i need a whole lot more patience but you are right this addiction needs some control somehow.

If they didn't hire Elwin to use the "Archer layout" for GOTG which wasn't even on the list at expo then the crew at Stern are idiots and i doubt that.

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Kind of hard to keep people from doing that at a show.

Great I was hoping that was the case and Stern werent going to ask to have it behind a curtain or something crazy.

I have been to plenty of shows where that has happened with upcoming product releases.

I bet dead flip streams this week before the weekend show anyway. He mentioned a big event showing stuff we've been waiting for this week. Can't wait. Hopefully it's the premium/le streamed.

I'm drunk and on vacation so take this with a grain of salt. ** stern. Wish JJp had the Star Wars license.

sober edit: that was a bit harsh. but still wish JJP got this one.

I keep thinking this thread couldn't sink any lower then trap door opens...

And they would face the same issues that Stern had with Lucasfilm over-controlling the brand image.

Rob

Yeah, the SW threads have been a shitfest for the past 2 weeks now. Nobody has anything to talk about though, so it is what it is. Hopefully that changes this week....

Rob

Like I said take it with a grain of salt. I've had a few beverages... but when I see jjp still pumping out code updates for woz and feeling like stern keeps skimping on us and upping prices every release. It starts to piss a drunk guy off.

But don't worry, tomorrow I'll feel better. Playing 18 holes in the morning. Drinking, boating and fishing tomorrow afternoon. Life is good.

You don't need to be drunk to be pissed off though. However, JJP releases 1 game every few years whereas Stern is doing 3 a year. If JJP was doing 3 a year it would probably be a different story.

Rob

Star Wars club membership REVOKED!

Made me think of a classic 80s non Star Wars scene:

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Right, because Hobbit is just as packed as WOZ was, and doesn't cost thousands of dollars more than ECLE's did, right? Both companies are guilty of this the last few years.

To be fair, the first batch of pre pay woz was way under priced for jjp profit margins. So to fairly compare, look at current jjp prices. The Hobbit is actually less than woz by at least$500. So technically jjp did charge less for what is perceived as less by most. DI is packed again, and is more than Hobbit once again.

Do you think I give a single flip what their margins are? They set the expectation of 6500 games then JACK'ed up the prices several times. That's their problem, not my problem as a customer. WOZ prices went up even as they stripped things off the game...they made a choice to do that, but the whole concept of them competing with Stern on anything resembling even footing went right out the window. They are *directly* responsible for a huge percentage of the price increases we have seen the last few years, because Stern looked at that 6500 tag, then them JACK'ing up prices several times, and went "Hey, why are we leaving money on the table when people will clearly pay more?"

I get what you're saying...I just don't care, because the simple fact is that in the end, the only thing that DOES matter on my end is what the prices are and what's on the games. Their excuses or reasons are irrelevant, and selling pins at a loss was a stupid, stupid mistake that should never be repeated. They're lucky they even survived that.

Yep, simple math, spreading the fixed overhead out over more units sold would help JJP. That is part of the "BOM".

As for code updates like the recent one to my Woz, that's the advantage of buying a JJP pin, they only have 3 in production right now, working on #4 so updates shouldn't ever be an issue and Keith and Ted are two of the best.

If JJP had the SW license we wouldn't see it for another 2 years. No reason to get pissed off, just don't buy it.

Most new companies will make mistakes early on. They did in pricing woz, and Jack admitted that. Once they were priced correctly, they then adjusted Hobbit price to reflect that. All my point was saying is that your original statement was somewhat misleading. You insinuated that jjp stripped Hobbit and charged the same or more as woz. I simply clarified that you're basing your woz price on a miscalculated cost. As of now, jjp is less for a Hobbit than either of their far more packed games. I also never thought you needed to care about jjp mistakes at first or their bom. Stern has raised prices and put less and less into games, while yeah, jjp is more expensive, but that was due to putting out a better product. Either way, it's all good. I'm just waiting for SW video this week.

Star Wars gameplay stream is supposed to go down this Wednesday or Thursday. Dead Flip just announced this on his stream today.

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Premium.

I just have to figure out what to sell to make room. Most likely Stern Star Trek. I just think they may be too similar to have both.

I wonder how long before we see an exploding death star mod for the pro?

timebandit

I played two games at Pintastic today and watched others play quite a bit more. The video, light show, and sound were great, but overall I found the pro underwhelming, primarily due to the wide open playfield. The long shots and loops felt/looked repetitive, but in all fairness, it wasn't an environment where I was going to get deep into the missions and hit the depths of the code.

Three of my five pins are designed by Steve Richie so there's no hate or crazy disappointment, it just reinforces the impression the game was designed for the Premium/LE and stripped down for the Pro.

I'm in on a premium and am hopeful that the hyperdrive accelerator and exploding Death Star add the missing "oomph" that the Pro was lacking.

I played a couple of games today too and generally agree with this. It's a hard environment to judge a game. The shots did feel good, it's wide open, but some shots are really fast returning to the flippers. Not knowing how to play the game or hear it makes it pretty tough to understand anything but shoot the flashing lights. Same goes for most games there. I thought it was fun overall.

So what kind of mods are we thinking might spruce up the pro that wouldn't really affect the game play? Seems like a tough idea to solve other than just placing figurines on the plastics.

Spaceships I think... X-Wing, Y-Wing and Darth Vader's Tie fighter. Maybe a Star Destroyer too... No figurines.

Rob

I picked these up for my premium, I've since bought Vader's tie fighter too. Not sure what will end up on the game, but these look amazing on their own so I had to buy them!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-announces-star-wars-pinball/page/76#post-3826948

Mind if I ask where you grabbed those?

Funko Pops as temporary toppers?

My step daughter bought me two of them for my GOT 2 christmases ago. Love them. Best toppers Eva.

Just gotta find some way to keep them attached and it looks like I'll be taking a trip to buy some tomorrow. Haha!

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That's a permanent solution, though, no? I'm sure I'll buy the actual star wars topper when it's out unless it's atrocious.