Life is too short to get hung up on how i spell stuff. Sheesh. This guy

You should have quoted JodyG not me...I got your back dawg!

Lol. Sorry! Still new to this stuff. I’ll get the hang of it sometime !!

This is the worst new Stern release thread in the history of Pinside.

Maybe once the Prem\LE drops folks will go back to talking about the game and game play!

The irony, I didn’t enjoy Netflix Stranger Things but I’m loving Pinside version way more

Sterns fault.

Amazing but true.

If people keep posting in these poor quality Stern release threads, what incentive does Stern have to make these release threads better?

YOU are the problem pinside!!!

You guys sure have short memories.

I seen stranger things.

see ghostbusters and batman 66 also

Also Guardians, Munsters, and Star Wars.

No way, those threads were hilarious...this one is just sad all around.

Well at least this game takes some of the attention off of my beloved Munsters. Thank God, I thought it would never happen!

LOL, how quickly you forget GB Kpg.

That was an all time great thread & classic shitstorm reveal video. I miss those days.

Oh I remember it ! That one had some entertainment value though, this one is just bad.

Its your damn fault! NO man should know that much about lumens! Prick!

Munsters started out pretty good. It wasn’t until people realized the garbage code it was released with was essentially complete, that things went downhill. That and the Toys R Us lower playfield kiddie toy (pachinko ball included) abomination.

Hate the lower playfield, so boring, but I hate all lower playfields. I actually put money in the pro every time I see it still!

Pro is so much better. Too bad Lyman wasn’t on code for it.

Black Hole and Haunted House have great lower playfields.

Just sent the check off to pay for my LE - I know I'm gambling with this one, Lonnie on code for one (I promised myself I'd never buy another Lonnie game) the fact the projector will probably not blow me away, and the demogorgan being really the only cool toy on the entire playfield (and that's questionable too)

Well

I was going to list the good things here, but I can't think of any except it's a stranger things theme

Fuck

Well ! I'm crossing my fingers on this hahah ! I'm sure it will be fun, but Stern got me on the theme alone on this one. Well played Gary, well played.

One thing is for sure. I'll give my honest opinion on everything, good or bad, because I don't care if it hurts the value of a machine I own. I'm going to just call it as I see it, good and bad. And ill report everything here of course !

Saying he could sell a box of lights wasn't just a brag.

Just because one has the money to purchase a License / Franchise to produce a Title doesn't mean they should if they are not going to do it justice. Stranger Things is a innovative science fiction story that grabbed a lot of new viewers and offered many great ideas that could have been implemented into a pinball machine.
I was going to wait till I played it but after watching several hours of game play really no need. Wheres the beef? Where are the cool gadgets? I can't get beyond that big blank screen cutting the machine in half, what is it hiding up there? Nothing,really.
The circus colors from too many inserts, I agree with others, it should have had a moody, 70's color scheme.
Any machine that deserved a cool basement/ underground area with tunnels this was it.
Its like Chicago Coin purchasing rights to Tommy/ The Who and putting out a half baked bare playfield that would have been better served by Bally, Gottlieb or Williams.
When I first saw it I thought Stern was jealous of the Rick and Morty sales success and rushed a half-finished prototype on the Market to steal the thunder. This is it?
Good news, through talking about this thing. I apologize if I offended those who love it. Again, it should have been so much more, and would have been if another Manufacturer had acquired rights to build it, they would have cherished the opportunity to build an A List instead of hacking out another run of the mill game. I'm out.
I hope Stern doesn't do Jaws, I couldn't stand to see that dream machine half-assed.

The game sure shouldv'e had subways. I think Sterns games that doesn't have that feels cheap.

This post really encapsulates the absolutely bizarre state of this hobby & its customers. A person who knows he’s probably going to be disappointed, yet makes a $9k purchase with relative dispassion.

For sure! I also enjoyed Elektra and even though most may not agree... bashing the car on SF2!

Krull's full scale lower playfield looks awesome, too, but I've never had a hands-on with it. One day....

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I feel like threads get filled with these kinds of reviews every time Stern releases a game based on a popular license. Reviews from people who haven't played much if at all, but want to share their disappointment about the layout, art, code, rules, quality, etc. with a dozen other likeminded people that show up in every new game thread to do the same . We saw it with Iron Man, TWD, GoT, BM66, SW, DP, Beatles None of these games were perfect, or the way I imagine they could have been if someone else did them, but all of these games are ones I enjoy enough to have in my collection. Luckily Stern releases a new game every 3-4 months so those that want to complain about a game they don't own, plan to buy or play quickly move on to the next one.

People can certainly get a “feel” for a game, I remember when Ironman was released it got absolutely hammered, but I remember liking the look of the simple gameplay at the time and the crazy fast gameplay, it was my first Stern and I still have it.

TWD, BM66 and DP all grabbed me and I found myself enjoying the reveals and early gameplay reveals, even BM66 I knew as a fan of the crane from BDK I would enjoy that mech with the 66 theme and Lyman it was a risk I was willing to take. TWD & BM66 certainly matured from absolutely terrible to two of the best Sterns ever, but they still grabbed me on initial reveal, same with Deadpool, on reveal it looked different and fresh and had me hooked, the fact Tanio absolutely smashed the code into a fantastic game is brilliant.

But there’s been plenty of games that haven’t grabbed me GOT, I appreciate it’s a great game it just doesn’t grab me personally (it didn't on reveal) and I’ve played it a lot and it still just doesn’t do anything for me. SW is the same huge Star Wars fan but it just isn’t what I wanted from a SW game, another great game but for me it just doesn’t have “it” for me personally.

I agree these in depth reviews off people who haven’t played the game get old fast, especially when they have given them a dozen times and counting, say it once or twice and move on (but that works both ways, we have the pumpers hyping the game constantly and the haters bagging on the game over and over) but certainly a first impressions feel is ok from people.

Stranger Things was a disappointment for me I’ve only said it once before I think, upon reveal, maybe it will grow on me in time with hands on but at the moment it’s not grabbed me and given me the desire to do so, the demogorgan just doesn’t look fun and the amount of missed opportunities with this theme leave me cold, just my first impressions. Luckily like you said Stern pump out 4+ games a year so there’s hopefully something for everyone, what ticks my boxes won’t tick someone else, but that’s the joy of this hobby so we don’t all end up with the same collection of games as our neighbours.

So true. Same thing with reading the Munsters and Star Wars topper threads. Post after post of the toppers not working, not working even after returning and getting another one and/or just being over all sad build quality for the prices charged...yet people read the thread, acknowledge the issues and then say they are buying one anyway. It's classic when theirs shows up in the same condition and they post about it.
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Come on bro !!! Lol

It's not really hard to understand to be honest.

The machine is not actually "costing" me $9K. It's actual cost is what the difference will be between it's sale price. Let's say I sell it for $7800 in a few months or less. That's probably on the low end initially. The cost is really only $1100 to me since I'm getting it for $8900 delivered.

For $1100 smackaroos it's totally worth it for me to crack open a brand new machine, my family friends and myself having a good time and testing it out in my house to see if it's a keeper.

Worst case I'm not out much cash at all. I'm ok with that. And that's why I love this "bizarre" hobby because it's the only electronic toy I can get a huge % of my money back if I'm disappointed.

Cheap fun and dumbasses like me help keep Stern in business and the hobby climbing - so embrace don't hate brotha !!!

Tell that to the Rob Zombie / Thunderbird buyers

Lol true dat! You cant even sell one of those turds for any price!

Lol !

Well, Stern as a brand has its own market and values, it's a very liquid market and has a great company to support the products in case of issues. We know Stern isn't going out of business any time soon. Thanks to guys like me. Eh-hem.. Rarehero

I agree with you here. I owned TFLE and AVLE and both came out with code roadblocks and game play felt like chopping wood. So, I'm skeptical of anything he does.

Who knows, maybe Stern will blow the cob webs and do a Vault soon to get the line moving

Some of you Spooky guys have blinders to that company as well. You can still buy Alice Cooper brand new right now. Seems like with a low production and the amazing quality that would not be available. On top of that the operator who bought one here turned it on and it was immediately smoking. Does not sound like great quality control.

Hey that smoke was a FEATURE... not a bug.

.

This photo shows the projection alignment and focus screens. I was surprised by the large shadow on the right ramp. The projection area on the right ramp is much smaller than the white area available. The ball lock is cool when it works, I'd say at least 75% of the time. I was one of three mediocre players on a premium tonight flipping for an hour. We didn't get multiball even once but we all fed the demogorgon multiple times. We couldn't hit the left ramp reliably, hence the lack of multiball. Overall, I liked the shots and believe it has the potential to be a winner once the code is complete.
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I'm curious about the right ramp return. There's a white piece of decal on there as well.

That word “hate” is thrown around so much these days merely for having principals and rational critique. The “hobby” has ZERO to do with keeping Stern in business. Pinball machines exist without them. Great ones. It’s not my duty to keep them in business for making sub-par product. It’s their job to woo us. It’s not a charity.

It think that the code is almost complete. My son played stranger things and completed the whole game. The only thing that was missing was the wizard mode ( I think). It was just points, not a wizard mode.

Not near complete. Creators confirmed that multiple times. Three wizard modes missing ,tons of callouts and polish, upside down incomplete, mode rules, dirty pool, mystery awards, demo modes. Lock bar also hasn’t been implemented yet.

There a lot there, but a lot more to come.

If you compare it to Jurassic park, it’s not even to where that game was when it was launched.

I cannot understand why they release games like this...it's like buying a car but up till now you can only do 30 miles per hour, next month maybe 50 and within a year you'll be able to go 100

Its literally nothing like that

No it’s not. This game is plenty fun. Always fun to watch the game evolve. Good or bad.

Everyone hated TWD when it came out. I loved it. Played it countless times as the code evolved. Each time it changed I got to learn a new game essentially.