Congrats! I'm in line to be in, with a spot in the December run. If the December run happens. So many other runs are delayed I won't be surprised if mine gets pushed back into 2022, but for now they haven't changed the schedule for SW.

I'm in the minority I think. I have been on my distributor's list for a Pro for months for the December run that's now delayed until next year, so I also will have the price increase and Insider Connected when I finally get my NIB. I've read a lot of comments and reviews about how the Hyperloop is possibly a best toy in pinball and well worth it, and opinions about whether the Pro shoots better. I've played both on location and an LE and leaving money completely out of it I personally prefer the pro. I do think the Hyperloop is very cool but for me it just doesn't directly change gameplay as far as I can tell and much of the time I find it not aesthetically pleasing and am not a fan of so much wireform. What puts me off the most though is the popup fork ramp and the high percentage of rejected shots, that area just feels clunky on the examples I've played but the Pro just feels clean and smooth to me in comparison. As far as I know, there is no difference in rules or gameplay between them, just that the Hyperloop acts as a physical ball lock instead of virtual but maybe I'm missing something.

I can 100% see why so many people favor the Premium, it's extremely cool and fairly unique and without my experience with shot rejections I'd be closer to the edge of deciding between them. I hear that with careful tweaking and maintenance the rejections can be tamed, but for now I'm keeping my list spot for a Pro because even if all else was equal for me personally the cool toy isn't worth so much extra wireform crossing the playfield right in front of the flippers and a big cutout through the death star without being used more in the code than replacing a virtual ball lock. Tastes differ and maybe I'll feel differently someday but I've been thinking about this for months on the waitlist and I still think I prefer to own a Pro. The best part is we all have a choice.

- Mystery scoop eject strength: can't find the correct setting so that it's properly thrown at the left flipper. Anything above 30 will result into a center drain (or close). Anything at 30 or below and the eject is too soft (but at least I can catch the ball)

The scoop eject should hit the left flipper, increasing power is better than decreasing in my opinion. If level it should rarely drain SDTM but if you still have issues you can turn on a short ballsave for "right eject" so cheap drains get a ball return.

- Star Wars ramp: can only make it with the right flipper, backhand does not work. Very narrow opening to register the shot

I've experienced this with Premiums more than Pros, not sure why. The left ramp is the second easiest shot for me from either flipper, if the left flipper isn't strong enough to make it up the ramp is your playfield steeper than 6.5 degrees?

- Left inner loop: relatively high rate of center drain after this shot. I've seen some comments about a small metal "nub" on the metal ball guide, will look at it

My right inner loop (returning out the left side) returns to the left flipper and rarely drains if I try to flip. Letting it dead flip to the right flipper is almost always my best option. I don't have a return SDTM from the left loop exiting out the right side. With both this and your scoop returning further too far to the right, perhaps adjust your level to the left a bit, it sounds like your playfield may be biased to the right.

- Flasher strength during Boba Fett escape : I get it it's to increase pressure, but man have they heard of photo induced seizure ? Is there a way to tune it down, besides decreasing flasher brightness

No idea on this, other than adding PinStadiums or something to even out the lighting. I personally love the contrast and use of no GI in some of the lightshows but it's a totally subjective thing!

- Increase timer for timed shot

Not sure which timed shots you mean, I have no issues with any of the timer lengths though, lots of timers and hurryups in this game!

- Anything else you would recommend looking at ?

NUDGING! Nudge skills make a HUGE difference in this game to me. The outlanes can be either drain monsters or barely even a factor if you nudge well. The best tip I was ever given on nudging is to think of the top of the slings as static flippers to nudge-up every time the ball is heading toward the outlane side of them. I find it easy to keep the ball away from the outlanes most of the time in this game and if it does get past me I can often still nudge or slapsave the ball back to the inlane. You can also lower the outlane posts if you like, you can always move them back to default if your skill starts finding that too easy.

- And yes, I know I will not be playing the game as it was intended, but after a few weeks trying to improve I've reached a point where I would much rather enjoy the game than being frustrated, even if this implies changing the ruleset and ball behaviour.

Forget about "intended" or "cheating". It's your game, set it up for your own skill and preferences, and it's not written in stone as you can adjust it whenever you like. Don't give any thought to somebody else's opinion of how you enjoy your own pin!

Cheers

The slings use leaf switches as do many other things. Looking perpendicular to the strips of metal there is a gap between the contacts, when the ball presses the sling rubber against one strip it pushes it into the other strip to make contact. A larger gap reduces the sensitivity (makes it need a harder push to make contact) and a smaller gap increases sensitivity. Be careful to not bend too aggressively, it doesn't take much to slightly change the gap.

You can definitely increase any minimum timer settings you find in the features adjust menu. My own approach is to work to make the shot anyway even if the timer runs out, once I find a shot and get more comfortable/familiar with it I find myself starting to be able to make it before timing out. It's a mindset thing, where I'm making "practice/learning" time a fun journey. If I was an expert already I wouldn't buy the pin, it's the process of going from "totally sucking" to "not too shabby" that I want to enjoy!

Most of my outlane nudging on SW is simple "up" often using both hands equally. Once it became reflex to do that every time the ball is hitting an outlane post it seems I'm able to bounce it out of there at least 4/5 times. I don't have my tilt set very sensitive and often I'm able to even bounce out from between the posts into the inlane when it was otherwise a clear drain. It doesn't take much, I suspect a lot of people underestimate how subtle nudging can be, it's more about timing than shoving the cabinet around. The ball bounces against a post rubber very easily and doesn't require much aggression.

There may be debouncing for some switches, but that's pretty much unrelated to sensitivity for this purpose which is just how much throw (distance) is needed to trip the switch. Most of the switches are mechanically fairly primitive, but this gives them great response time. A fair bit of the magic to dial things in comes down to understanding the mechanics enough to adjust springs and switches.

I like the shots and speed of this game, and the code is deep with lots of ways to do things, stack modes, or focus on specific goals. It doesn't have to be just about points but that's fun too. Managing multipliers and stacking is huge in this code, I enjoy setting a sequence of events as a goal or even just a simple specific goal with a target score.

I don't have the topper but am curious... does the motor sound happen even when the topper attract sounds are turned off but the motor is enabled? I see the R2D2 motor can be disabled in the menu, which I assume is for the topper and stops it from moving both in attract mode and during a game. I would expect the menu option to disable topper attract sounds to also stop it from making the motor sound even if the motor is enabled but does it work that way?

It's unlikely I'll ever find a topper but I'm interested how it works since I see this topic come up enough to notice.

They definitely can. There likely wasn't motivation to actually remove the code for a minor revision years ago but there's an upcoming code update with substantial code changes coming. Insider connected adds significant code content and appears to touch a lot of things in the code to be able to trigger achievements. They have demonstrated motivation to put effort into breaking PB for zero functional/feature gain (and even probably quite some hassle to them) so I'd be cautious about expecting they wouldn't bother with this. To me it's bad timing to attract attention to this before they have released the IC update code.

I was able to play a Premium and then had a couple days with an LE before I chose to buy my Pro. I had a spot on the run scheduled last year that got bumped to late this year and possibly 2023 or never (I haven't heard an answer to when the license expires.) My take was that the hyperloop is one of the coolest toys in pinball and I totally get why lots of people go Premium. However, my own experience was that as cool as it is it didn't really enhance gameplay and on the examples I played it actually frustrated me to a point I wished I was playing a Pro. I think most of this is subjective and my main objective factor was a high rejection rate for the death star shot having the fork ramp. I hear that with careful adjustments and tweaking that isn't an issue but overall the Pro just shoots cleaner to me and the hyperloop is essentially a ball lock. One of the most innovative and cool ball locks ever, but as far as I can tell doesn't really change the game and adds a lot of wireform that is otherwise unused. I think I'm in the minority for not particularly liking wireform, and I'm not a fan of it arcing over the center in front of the flippers especially when it's in use for only brief periods. Tastes differ and I get why a lot of people prefer to have it, but it's just not for me.

The other major difference is the "exploding" death star. It's a bit like the MM castle, cracking open and shaking instead of just the green weapon LED show on the Pro. I'm on the fence on this one, I wish the Pro had a version of it but at the same time I don't love the clamshell effect. I also think of of the downsides of the hyperloop is cutting a barn door in the death star for the track, which isn't to my taste aesthetically.

In the end, I tell myself it really is about the feel of the shots and my Pro plays so clean compared to both the non-Pro's I've played and for me that honestly is the main reason I chose the pro. I could live with the hyperloop maybe even come to prefer it if I could set up my example to play as cleanly. Whether it's worth the cost difference is entirely subjective I think. Since you have a Pro I expect it comes down to if you feel you are missing out in some way or just need a change. Upgrading will get you a different experience for the same game, I suspect if that's what you are after then the decision makes itself!

Switch 49 is labeled "10 Pt." in the manual. I've seen that label in a lot of pin manuals and as far as I know it is now sort of a generic term for a simple "points add" switch of some small amount. Next time I take off my glass I'll try to remember to tap mine a few times to see how many points it adds. If yours is always engaged, maybe try adjusting so it's working properly so it can register hits?

ok, It literally is 10 points per hit, so the label "10 pt." isn't lying!

Well, if Insider Connected with online updates and achievements isn't substantial, I tend to agree I don't expect anything else. Which is a shame really, I think SW is an ideal game for cooperative multiplayer and there is so much potential for collaboration gameplay. Imagine each player playing as a different character and mode stacking to destroy the deathstar and kill the emperor!

Nice to see the code IC code finally dropped. I'm not aware of the upgrade kit being available yet, I wonder when that will be. Might just be bad timing on my part but the few times I've looked since December I haven't found most upgrade kits in stock anywhere. I'm not even sure what bits in the kits are game-specific.

Where are people buying IC upgrade kits? They show preorder or out of stock everywhere I've looked and SW appears too soon to be on lists. I have a pro so expect there's nothing game-specific about the upgrade kit but details about these seem hard to find.

Thanks, I'll ask again then. He didn't have any when I asked and they still show preorder on his shop site.

I thought they were already out, the LE is listed on the compatible game list on the Stern website. I mounted the camera on my Pro's coinbox instead of the apron, I definitely wouldn't ruin the look of an LE if I had one by mounting the camera up there! Each to their own though!

Based on the hardware in the kit I got for my Pro, there's nothing game-specific if mounting on the coinbox. As far as I can tell the only difference at all between kits are apron-related, for my Pro kit they even just have you move apron stickers to the new apron with the cutout, the kit I got was all off-the-shelf components other than the camera. So now I have a spare plastic apron with a rectangle hole in it. yay. I 3D printed a mount plate for the camera and for home pins I think it's the way to go.

I think as long as the game has a code version released with IC support, the version of the kit doesn't matter if mounting on the coin door. It's really just a standard USB wifi dongle and blank microSD card and the camera is the only Stern-specific component.

I 3D printed my coinbox camera plate and although I do have a headphone/volume kit I've never installed it. It looks to me like there is easily enough space on the plate for the jack and volume pot under the camera, definitely doable with 3D printing and possibly doable on the metal plate kits by just carefully positioning where to drill the holes.

Not sure if this is what you have in mind but it's what I installed on my pro: https://mezelmods.com/products/star-wars-pinball-airball-protector

We don't know when Stern's license expires, but rumor is it's the most expensive license deal they've done and it won't surprise me if the next run is the last.

$129 probably is_ cutting us a break. This is the same company that just sent me a promotional coin (packaged in advertisement for the novelty swag company that made it) for my annual Insider All-Access membership goodie box. Nothing else, just a bubblewrap sleeve with the coin and a little snap case to put it in and no explanation.

"In addition to exclusive access to behind-the-scenes experiences at Stern, for $29.99 a year, Stern Insiders also receive a membership kit that includes a one-of-a-kind Stern Insider t-shirt and other surprises."

Surprises indeed. At least I'm not bitter and am eager to keep paying more for less. I will be a good pinhead and lap it up! I look forward to hearing about a price break on the combo!

That was my thought exactly, escape is a ball save and autoplunge, so it doesn't make sense to me unless the "skill" is beating the autoplunge to the ball. So I thought I was missing something about a skill shot I don't know about.

If that damage was somewhere I saw it often to the point it bothered me enough to do something about it I'd take a picture of that area and photoshop it with the heal tool then pay a few bucks to print on vinyl. Cut a small circle of the exact area affected and stick it down right over it, basically an image patch so it never catches my eye again.

I thought about it when I first got mine but decided as long as I can see the top inlanes and lights I didn't need to see the pops themselves. Often a trip to the pops adds one or more bonus multipliers via moving an unlit inlane quickly. I have a star destroyer model mounted over the pops but can still see the inlane inserts above the LCD and below the destroyer even with the LCD in original position.

I really like the PinStadiums. I haven't seen a GTF in person so don't know how similar it has to PinStadiums, it's their own lighting that seems intending to have similar results and afaict prevent using actual PinStadiums. I don't find anything distracting about the PinStadium bars, it's just a half-inch black margin against the side and I can't directly see the LEDs at all when playing, my view isn't obstructed or distracted at all. The entire playfield on my Star Wars is spectacularly lit and the PinStadiums Neo I have on it let me really have nice enhancement of all the lightshows including the darker modes like the strobing effects in Escape from Boba Fett and the moody blue/red Lightsaber Battle. I don't use overhead lighting and the PinStadiums give me a nice bright playfield in addition to lightshow color and effect enhancement.

They are a bit spendy. I could probably DIY my own equivalent with an arduino and LED strips but finding appropriate bar and diffuser materials would be my largest effort I think. But honestly I wouldn't save much cost and it's nice to just plug and play, and I'm happy to support modders that invest themselves in the scene.

I've not noticed this. What version of code?

I agree with everything you said and I'll add that SW is a perfect pin to improve nudging skills. I think nudging is an integral part of pinball and it's common for casuals and beginners to neglect. The outlanes in SW are greatly tamed with decent nudging skills and I'd estimate about 4 in 5 outlane drains are avoidable with good nudging skills.

You can't install on the original apron, it doesn't have the hole for the camera. They had to provide a special apron for some pins that have a different apron like Star Wars or Stranger Things or Batman66 so if you want the barcode scanner on the apron like a new pin you need to pay extra for the special apron for those pins. If you don't want to mount the camera on the apron for some reason (like preferring art or not using it much because it's HUO) then you can simply mount the camera somewhere else like the coin door and keep the original apron. Personally I very rarely use the camera (haven't used mine in months) and I don't like it mounted on the apron so I have mine down on the coin door, bonus is I don't lose the artwork in that triangle of space either or have the camera light staring up at me all the time.

I understand why Stern chose to put the barcode camera up top in your face so casuals will notice it, but imho it is unsightly on a home pin. The coin door on the other hand isn't doing much on a home pin, is out of the way yet very accessible if anybody needs to scan in, loses no artwork space and is actually easier to install there than replacing an apron, win-win.

The apron costs $150, surely a plate costs way less than that with or without headphone jack! Or just find somebody with a 3D printer, I printed my own for practically nothing. But yeah I hear you... Costs have a way of always creeping up in this hobby but I think mounting on the coin door is cheaper than the apron for SW. And I would guess that most people don't have a headphone jack but it shouldn't be much difference either way.

To me this is contradictory. You're not looking for the solution that you are looking for. The stock amplifier is the main obstacle to a good bass experience. Unless by "external" you only mean outside the cabinet such as a self-amplified subwoofer or similar. I have "external" amplifier mounted internally (PinWoofer.)

This. If ever there was a pin/theme supremely perfect for co-op, this is it. Really a huge shame.

I'd love to see multiple co-op modes, but if there could be only one I'm fine with the way each character has different "completions" spotted. To me those show how much thought was put into theme integration, with each character only participating in the scenes where they were present in the movies. If a character wasn't there for that event in the movie it's bypassed for them. Regardless, it would be great to see different options. In a perfect world we could choose both ways, have midnight madness as an option, and even direct paths to wizard modes when in the mood to just kill the emperor etc. It's a fun pin as it is, but more options = more fun! I really wish they would revisit the code on this one!

I don't disagree that it's a strange movie scene fit but that's what they chose for Hoth 1 and it doesn't bother me at all. Hoth 1 technically isn't the only way to do the video mode, all the characters can play it even though if I remember right only Han and Leia have Hoth 1. Luke and R2 can qualify it with the FORCE targets so it's not like you can't go for it on every game at least once if you like.
Personally I like the video mode just fine, I don't always get a perfect score and I don't always manage to have a good multiplier on it so I don't feel it's either over- or under-used.

If they do ever revisit the code (which I do not expect and would surprise me) I would want co-op modes to be a focus. But as far as I know historically Stern hasn't shown any interest in or revenue incentive for investing in new code features for machines already sold. I was surprised that after 6 years they did another production run, that's longer than most licenses seem to allow.

If mounting on the coin door it doesn't matter which apron you get in the IC kit, since you won't be mounting the scanner camera on the Apron anyway. So Pro or Premium IC doesn't matter, they are the same except for the Apron mount.

I 3D printed my coin door mount, but there are commercial options available too. I much prefer the camera off the apron since I go months without using it in my home environment and just use the left flipper button to choose my account. Even if I did have friends (ha!) play it they would only need to scan in the first time.

No idea here either why it wouldn't be compatible. I don't recall anything being different about the coin door on my SW Pro compared to my GOTG Pro. Perhaps PBL can explain, that's a curious thing.

I believe I'm in the minority for preferring the Pro. I had more time on a Limited and Premium before I decided to buy. I spent a couple days at a venue with several pins I hadn't played before and realized in the end that I had kept returning to the SW Pro and put more time on it than the others combined! I'm not sure I can articulate it well, but although I do think the hyperloop has one of the highest "cool" factors in pinball I came to really prefer the game without it. I enjoy not having the wireform across the playfield and the clean aesthetics of no tunnel through the deathstar but mainly the Pro just feels tangibly smoother to me.

Both versions of this pin are winners in my book. I really do think it's all about personal preference and neither is inferior to the other. I'm actually not a huge SW fan in general, other than being of an age such that one of my first cinema experiences was the release of the original movie and so of course growing up with the franchise as part of the culture. So knowing the characters and story of the original movies I do have enough connection to appreciate how deeply the game integrates the theme but it's mostly the shots and flow that have this one bolted down for me.

Challenges are subjective Regarding the reputation this pin has for "unfair" drains it's been my experience that while proper setup is of course a factor, I think many people neglect their nudging skills. For people who watch the ball rather than play the ball and give no input other than flippers I agree it can be a drain monster. With any fair amount of judicious nudging the outlane drains can be drastically reduced. Unless you have the tiltbob removed, if you never get any warnings you probably have either godlike nudging skills or are not nudging enough.

Otherwise it's just a good fast layout with a decently deep code ruleset that offers a good variety of paths and goals. I often don't even have score as a focus and play toward a goal of completing something specific. And there's always that multiplier to move around no matter what I am doing if I want to build score. My average scores are around 700M-1B and it's a blast when I get in a groove and blow it up even if I'm just replacing my 4th place high score. Many of my most intense "wow what a game" moments turned out to be low scores, when the kinetic flow and combos just hit so well. Lately when I'm in the mood for something quick I've been playing Luke and going for a quick trip to tie fighter multiball then a quick Hoth multiball on ball 1. Other times I do something direct, perhaps just try to escape Boba Fett or even video mode with 40x. It doesn't always have to be about the Death Star or Emperor for me.

Are the IC kits supposed to come with pin-specific art? Mine haven't included stickers and the instructions were to transfer the stickers from the old apron, which is one of the reasons I chose not to use the new apron and mount the scanner camera on the coin door.

My understanding is that they originally just disabled Multiball Madness but it was still in the code so could be enabled in custom versions but once they noticed people doing that they fully removed it from the code so it's no longer possible to enable. To me this basically forces choosing between Multiball Madness or Insider Connected.

Something I haven't been paying much attention is that they updated the node hardware to require a newer firmware version which may limit running older custom code on newer hardware. I'm not in that situation myself so haven't paid close attention to details, but a new run means the first SW pins built with the new version hardware so I would guess that not all custom code versions that run on existing machines today might work on machines from a new run.

I would love to see some code additions, especially a cooperative mode. Imagine 4 players each as a character all playing together to kill the emperor. I'm not sure Stern has incentive to update the code though, they are going to sell the new run units regardless.

Indeed.

Number of pinball owners relative to general population: Incredibly tiny. There are obscure video games on Steam with vastly more players than the total number of pinball machines ever built

Number of SWLE owners: Tiny relative to the total number of pinball owners

Number of SWLE owners who actually play them and pay any attention to online pinball communities: even fewer

Number of SWLE owners who vote on Pinside: 14

I guess to be fair... I don't own a SWLE but I have played one, and I haven't rated it on Pinside.

I am Groot. lol! There's also the absurdity of movie-looking models in a comic-art machine, oh the mashups are insane! People are crazy! and... GOOD! Do whatever the * you like with your own pins!