I had it 10 days. I couldn't stand it. The music, callouts and gameplay bored me to tears. There's many other Lawlor pins that are "fun".

I've kept pins for a time just due to theme I like though. Except for White Water, it's always a licensed one.

Billy was great in season 3, such a shame Stern limited this to season 1 and 2 especially since season 2 was by far the weakest. Season 3 had a nice ending/closure to it other than that cliffhanger involving H.......

We have been considering modding the camaro and the hopper blazer, but I think they will be too big for the game. The camaro is just over 5” and the blazer is 6”, both are pretty big for the playfield. If someone has a game and wants to be a tester for me, please contact me.

Yes. Billy, Escape from the Russians at the carnival/fair, Infiltrate the underground base, Destroy the portal/opening between dimensions. So many lost opportunities that could have been killer modes. Oh well.

I wouldn’t have minded the whole playfield being the mall from season 3. Sam goody loop shot and something with movie theatre.

That might be sweet. Maybe throw in a convertible Chrysler bash toy, LOL. Maybe they'll get to that and other season 3 things on the Stranger Things Vault Edition.

Any thoughts to making a large Mind Flayer mod, perhaps to place at the back of the game?

Mind flayer would be awesome as a topper I think especially if it would move and make noises integrated into the game play.

Yeah that's a bummer, I think season 3 is the best season so far. Between no season 3 content, the plastic ramps, and little additional mechanical features on the premium / LE model I've cancelled my LE preorder. I was fine with the game not including season 4 content down the road as seasons 1-3 feel like a complete story. However, the lack of season 3 content makes the theme feel partially implemented in my opinion. I'm still going to keep an eye on a pro in the future as I can see it being a very deep game if and when the code is properly completed. $5800 or so (maybe $5k HUO) for a well coded Stranger Things pro pin with David Harbour callouts and a ton of modes doesn't sound too bad.

As far as the projector feature goes it does nothing for me as it's not a toy that physically interacts with the ball. Stern never adds a lot of code to premium features so I can see the projector just rotating over through a handful of images. That leaves the backboard magnet as the only additional toy that physically interacts with the ball on the premium / LE. The backboard magnet will likely be used for one mode, Telekinesis Multiball, and that's it. It's not a question of whether or not the premium / LE will be fun (sure it will be) but what is being offered for the price. I'm just not seeing enough being offered on the premium and especially the LE to justify the price.

Of course, I will share with everyone when the code gets a little more developed. This gives me time to collect and edit all the music choices I'm thinking of.
It helps that I'll have the Pro as a game to develop and test on, and won't be flying blind.

Yup, I'm like Oprah Everyone gets it!

I didn’t realize you fixed GOTG! The lack of tunes is why I didn’t buy that game

TWD is a Cleland masterpiece!

Yup, best mod for TWD hands down.

All games have a theme, even if it’s non-licensed. A license usually helps players understand what a game is about instantly. An unlicensed game needs to do the same thing:

Fish Tales: It’s about catching fish
No Good Gofers: It’s golf...and annoying gophers.
AFM: It’s about stopping the aliens.
MM: It’s about mad kings & trolls & destroying castles.

Dialed In: It’s about...a basic 90’s guy in mom jeans with a magic cell phone? And drones? And a hologram theater? And disasters?

It’s an instant WTF...it doesn’t draw over potential players with the promise of an exciting and understandable premise. It’s a fine & fun game...but it’s failure to catch on is 100% its theme.

I always thought the art looked like Shia Labeouf in Transformers....just without the Transformers.

Dialed In is better off with all of it wackiness, it's what makes the game so much fun!

Dialed In: It's about stopping disasters.

I agree - but people don’t know that when walking up to it. It has to be explained. The title: Dialed In, doesn’t imply disasters. No one has to explain Earthshaker or Whirlwind.

Unfortunately, no. People buy new games based on license and wanting something new to play. Nothing to do with ranking! The notion that high tech correlates with ranking is misguided (to be polite).

Modern tech hasn't dramatically impacted gameplay in many instances (if we are comparing WPC/WPC-95 games with today's SPIKE2 games). The SPIKE2 board set is wildly simpler than WPC/WPC-95 (as you would expect), however it hasn't resulted in many player benefits. Sure, it enables better audio/video and more complex rules, however the fundamental mechanics of a pinball machine "under the glass" haven't changed much over the years.

WPC era and Stern games are all built from the same mechanical components. They have ramps, wireforms, switches, slings, pops, cannons, VUKs, optos, spinners, flippers, gates, drops, magnets, diverters, posts. PF's are still wood. Cabinets are largely wood. Pin specific toys are "hit or miss" in both WPC and Stern era games. JP2's recent TREX is awesome, Herman on Munster is a joke. Again, "hit or miss"...depends on the title. Toy tech between the era's hasn't changed much due to cost cutting on many games. At the moment, the R&D budgets are more focused on adding fancy graphics to the LCD instead of mechanical toys. From the players perspective, this is mostly "meh", since it's tough to admire the images as you are playing For spectators, it's cool...no doubt.

As RareHero pointed out, the success of CGC's remake business is proof of the demand for games that are 3 decades old. Modern electronics, same old mechs/toys.

I agree dialed in is better when it’s off

Seriously how hard is this? (sorry Keith

DISASTEROPOLIS

DISASTER SQUAD

DISASTER FORCE

DISASTER CITY

DISASTER MASTER

UNLICENSED SIM CITY PIN

So now that the game is out and you've played it what do you REALLY THINK...give an honest opinion. Is it the worst game Stern has ever made and I mean flat out the worst game they've ever made. Did you like it, do you think its incredible? What do you think of the two plastic ramps and the wall that basically hides half the game from sight? Forgot code people always talk about code, code doesn't save a bad playfield design, bad artwork, just overall bad game. Code can enhance a great game but that is about it. So what did you really think please share your ratings.

Here is another question! Do you think this game will hold its value after 6 months? What do you think an LE will be worth 6 months later... like the Munsters or like Jurassic Park. Just one more question... what game would you rather have Rick and Morty or Stranger Things based on the game itself not the theme. Who do you think did a better job designing their game Spooky or Stern?

Love to here some honest reviews of this game.

Played it for the first time today, got about 20 games in with a friend so saw a lot of balls played. At the end, it was kinda what I thought going in after watching about 15 minutes of the stream the other day. It's an unfinished game with lots of potential if code and rules are done properly, and nothing that blew me away. It shoots well, and the layout is reminiscent of two of Brian Eddy's classic games, so if you like those you are probably going to like this one. The ball lock is only virtual on the pro, so that is kind of a let down after seeing the magnet featured on the premium/LE. The demogorgon shot was difficult, I think between the two of us we got it in the mouth four or five times out of hundreds of shots at it. I consider myself a decent player, and usually can find shot consistency within a game or two, but this was not the case here. The plastic ramps do not bother me, and the artwork is ok. The light show is good and will probably be even better when the game is finished, who knows when that will be. I'm not a fan of the show, but that wouldn't stop me from owning this game at some point, but not before it takes great strides with code, rules, and scoring.

As far as value goes? No idea. I haven't seen a LE and have no intention of getting one so that is not something that I can speak to in any honest fashion. I also haven't played Rick and Morty yet so it's impossible for me to give an opinion comparing how the two games play.

I was quite excited for this theme, but after seeing the reveal and Jack's stream, I canceled our LE. I wanted to really like the game and the excitement almost caused me to keep the order, but the lack of showing the projector integration, missing 80's music and lingering Stern quality concerns weighed heavily in the final decision.

I'm floored that with new technology Stern didn't immediately show it off. That leaves one to think it's still not quite finished and the bugs are not worked out. The last thing I want is a title that's a flop in our home line up with unsupported "new" tech that will not surface on future titles due to rushing to get the game out the door.

Yes, he did a great job on GOTG; it's got an amazing soundtrack...Love it; and can't wait to see what he does for Stranger Things.

Armageddon would have been best. The culmination of all the disaster pins.

DISASTER BLASTER

Stern has never ever done this with any pin......since the pro/premium/LE system has been in place and people cared this much. They Roll out the PRO first....and the PREMIUM a few weeks later. That always means you have to wait to see the bells and whistles. You can complain, but it’s never been any different.

Not true at all. Munsters and Black knight showed the pro and LE same reveal same stream.

I played this game on location this weekend. To be honest I was in the middle at first. I had a few quick games and wasn't into it. Then I long playing 650 million game and really enjoyed it. I got to see a lot of the video and call outs. I'm a fan.

And way before that.

The last reveal I remember where they didn't show both versions was GoT for sure... and maybe Ghostbusters.

TRUTH! Cleland has saved pinball, and quite possibly, the world for all of us.

I for one welcome my Cleland Overlord and hope to serve as a human footrest in his posh mansion.

D27F10B4-AFC4-4853-9EF9-2C6E3168CF1B (resized).jpeg

One thing came to my mind today...

Usually Stern's Pro machines look more "bare" then the Premium/ LE.

Stranger Things may be the first game where the more costly game looks even sadder, with all the white stickers and the backboard magnet being "invisible".
I can't imagine they let the projector left on during attract mode; but on location it'd be a must.
Propably will be an Option.

Why would you assume that? Of course it’ll be on. It’ll never be off. The whole point of it is that it’s an attractive feature and a major part of the game. Can you imagine if RFM had an option to turn the monitor off?!

And Deadpool?

Because pinside decided the projector will break after 5 minutes of usage.

Hmmm... I'm afraid you're right...

...wich means I have to kill you now.

Haha yes!

If you're gonna have a stupid title, why not make it stupidly awesome? (see also Netflix's "Fuller House")

Dialed In is perfect for a re-theme vault. Fix the SIM card shot & re-name easy.

LOL, oh Pinside...

The projector is basically just another LED. It’ll be fine.

Wonder why the launch of this was so rushed? Really early 0.64 code, no Prele, odd timing just before Xmas.

Licensing?

I doubt the "leak" of the PreLe footage was an accident. Even though it obviously wasn't ready to stream, they needed to show something of the Prele at launch. Maybe licensing hadn't approved the extra images/video on the PreLe so they couldn't include it in the official launch. But the official launch would be lacklustre without anyone knowing what's possible with the PreLe projector etc. So leak the PreLe footage early.

Still don't know why they rushed it - why not wait until New Year when everything is ready?

Actually it’s PRO then LE and then Premium. Premiums start being made about 2 months after reveal.

With everyone talking about Dialed In instead of what the thread is about speaks volumes. Stranger Things is a BOMB!

In my opinion it might be the very worst game Stern has ever produced. Forget the theme as a pinball this game is not good.

This game is a stranger thing, because the strangest thing is why anyone would buy this game.

I only say that because when you look at Munsters, look at how fast the LE prices dropped. You can get an LE now for $6500... that is a loss of 2500 plus.

I'm nearly positive if you wanted to sell your Jurassic Park LE RIGHT NOW you could get really close to what you paid. JJP Pirates LE you can get more than you paid. Stranger Things will be one of these games 6 months from now going for 2k loss. I'd say if you really wanted one let someone get really bored of it and then buy it and save 2k at least.

How many games did you play on Stranger Things and what was your best score??

Actually I have a pico projector...

...wich is why I'm pretty confident everything will work fine (the image in the trailer appearing blurred is just the camera exposure so it'll still Show enough of the playfield and while that projector may not be very bright it's more then sufficient with that short distance).

BUT that thing does get very hot, you can burn yourself if you remove the heatsink and touch that thing.
So if that thing stays switched on it HAS to have an active cooling (wich a pico projector usually doesn't have).

I played it 8 times or so. A friend of mine played it and got 2.1 billion. I'm not a great pinball player my best game was like 100 million. I did or didn't like it based on my score... I didn't like it because the game is boring. The big billboard in the middle of the game should have been worked into the back of the playfield, and send the ramps around the back of the game. That billboard obstructs the game. I don't like plastic ramps but it added to making this game feel cheap. The artwork is terrible, the game has so many inserts you can't really seem any connection in the artwork. The backglass artwork to me doesn't scream Stranger Things. Outside of the two plastic ramps, you can't really see anything else. The game is not original, not unique, and simply not a great game.

Jurassic Park is a home run... why can't Stern try to hit a home run with every game?

Stern has released almost every game massively unfinished. I mean, we could go back to Wheel of Fortune...but it’s still happening recently. Batman ‘66. Ghostbusters. GOTG. They do it because they can. NIB maniacs will still buy the games no matter what. What incentive to they have to release a finished product?

Not just early code - but you have to admit 0.64 is even early for Stern.

But this game was clearly designed around the projector - why launch with the weakest version of the game?

Rushing to launch 2 days before Xmas, with the weakest version of the game, on really really early code. Whole thing doesn’t make sense to me.

Greed? They are just pumping out too many titles. Quality issues and incomplete code/mechs/etc. are becoming more & more obvious. Sigh.

I have no clue how Stranger Things will end up, but one thing I know for sure is it's way too early to tell either way. Odds are it won't be the worst game or the best game ever. It will likely be fun.

Let's see the full featured game with closer to 1.0 code and then dog it or praise it.

People dogged TWD, Batman66, MET, etc...when they came out, but as the games developed they became favorites.

You may be right, you may be wrong...only time will tell.

Trust me when I say, don’t listen to him

Obviously you're selling them. DUH!

Zach please tell me why this game is as good as Jurassic Park, Deadpool, Iron Maiden, Metallica, please i'm waiting to hear the response.

If you say don't listen to me then tell me why? Why is this game worth $6,000 for a pro? Tell us why you think if someone pays $9,000 plus for LE that six months later it won't be worth $6500. Please explain how you really feel this game is a home run. I'd like to hear your answer!!!

So maybe you think its a cheap shot because I said you sell them... but you do. Tell everyone why people should buy this game? Give us the sales pitch!

Is the artwork good? Is the game original? Did Stern go all out like they did with Jurassic Park? Are you saying this game is better than Jurassic Park? What are you saying exactly please explain!