People love being talked to like they dont know anything. Please, continue to tell us how we should all listen to you professor. How is your account even active still?

I think they know exactly what it means TBT.

They want innovation along with good execution. Pinheads are willing to pay for new and cool shit, but they need to feel like it was done as best as it possibly can for how much they are paying. The laser projection is a really fricking cool idea. The execution of it appears once again to have been screwed up by Sterns bean counters setting hard limits on BOM rather than taking real risks to make it work right the first time.

This is my main issue with Stern. They do some really cool shit, but just 10% more effort and it could be awesome. 10% more quality in coil stops and I would not be replacing them after 7 play. 10% more in the bolts that hold on coil stops and I woudl not be drilling and retapping flipper plates after 500 games. They are so close to excellence so many times, but they keep falling short. We all want pinball nirvana, we all find theme we love, and we all want things to really succeed in the long run. Hence why people get so much more frustrated by the inadequacies and failures 10ft short of the finish line.

Exhibit A : Anyone playing 3 games on ST knows that they should have made a better sculpt to capture the ball better. So much cool about this game and the potential... but then "god dammit" is all I hear when people are playing and frustrated with such a simple thing to have done right.

are you hearing that from noobs or from noob noobs ?

ram10 (resized).jpg

Another option.... for those not wanting to cut a screen and adhesively apply it.... paint is available. Super expensive but I'm sure a modder might just take up the offering if they find it works...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PB8BM7Q/

For many things, I believe it's more about bake-time than BOM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-ninety_rule). The ST/projector might be an exception.

I see it as a lot more than another screen, if coded correctly. If executed and coded well, it'a a lot different than the screen on the Hobbit, for example.

Projection mapping could make drop targets, standups, spinners, ramps, etc...a lot more interesting. The designers/programmers could provide a lot of direction/rules to gameplay and bring a lot to life.

There's a lot of potential here for a dynamic experience in areas of pinball design.

This would be a better option, and only $48 for 158" of the material. Applying it would be the trick, but this is a 1.8 gain screen and would likely make the projected images much better.

https://amzn.to/39W0nEX

or even better, this stuff:

https://amzn.to/37K3rSO

You could start a mod business upgrading the projectors and screens

lol not my thing, but hoping someone from Stern is reading Pinside realizing just how much better the machine would look with the proper screen material.

If not, I see a mod company coming out with pre-cut high gain screen material to install.. but really, it should come with this stuff from the factory.

likely part of it.

no matter the root cause of their culture, it is frustrating 100% of the time.

Why is the 1.5 gain one better than the 1.8 gain one?

Something tells me BOM or bake time were non issues on this one.
Quality.... Mechs.....Assets.....
The bar was set long ago.

57579802-1CD7-4720-AFE5-9919683849EA (resized).jpeg

Had a good game on a Stranger Things pro today new code and it's gone lol Second isolation mode was cool to see the other two and final showdown where not coded in yet which I figured. Does anyone know if the new code released today might have added some of those modes or still too early for that.

20200109_181656 (resized).jpg

Ditto for STTNG, which sits right beside TZ in my collection.

If you had any interest at all in history you’d know that game was a disaster and sold on strength of TAF. They had issues instantly on location, didn’t make ops any money, and taught Williams a lesson about “BOM.” You can’t make games like TZ and stay in business.

Pinball, which peaked with Addams, started to decline with the release of TZ. There’s a reason you could pick them up for $900 in the late 90s.

Goddamn this kid can play!

My best is 950 mil.

I was there genius. Of course TZ had issues but it was true pinball AMBITION. It was what you shoot for. B/W was not holding back anything near the end. If pinball had stayed popular we would have seen some great machines from B/W. I am more of a TAF person myself in part because of its incredible reliability. A perfect pin for me. And it certainly was not the pins like TZ and TAF that were the reason for the decline in pinball. It was video games. The people moved over to that type of entertainment. I was in my 20’s and always in an arcade in the 90’s. The pinball section got smaller and smaller. Then poof! Everyone went indoors to play XBox. I am well aware of what went down. Apparently you are rewriting history.........

You were hard pressed to get a TZ for less than $1000 in the late nineties, even one that didn't work at all, but it may have just depended on where you were located.

Pinball should “shoot for” staying in business. Games like TZ were counter to that goal in the 90s, and even more so today.

I’m not “rewriting history.” Games like TZ taught ops they should stop buying pinball machines.

If pinside ran stern they’d be out of business in a year.

TZ was not counter to that goal. It sold well. Pinball was losing its customers to video games. That simple. Bad timing.
I hope all this cover you run for Stern is really worth the pat on the back selfie with Gary and Stern coffee mug you get at the next show.
If the smaller companies start making better machines and taking enough customers away Stern will have no choice but to do better. And spendIng a bit more on BOM will not put them out of business. Stop that nonsense.

1.5-1.8 looks the same to me, I just couldn't find a roll of 1.8 on Amazon, but right now it appears Stern is just using matte white with no gain

The better screen material wants 1800-2000 lumens minimum. I'm really questioning if the Stern happy meal pico projector can meet that threshold.

I just imagine George Gomez bringing a pinball machine to pinside, made out of solid steel...

"HERE YOU GO F*****S NO DIMPLING, PLAYFIELD OF SOLID STEEL!!!
WE BUILT IN A PROJECTOR BRIGHTER THEN THE SUN AND THE MACHINE WILL ACT AS COOLING HEATPIPE!!!
EVEN BETTER YOU GET AS MUCH OF THESE MACHINES FOR FREE AS YOU CAN CARRY - BY HAND OF COURSE!!!"

Then he urinates into the crowd, set's his jet of urine on fire and noone in the cancer dumpster fire will even notice the difference while he's bursting out in laughter.

At least that would be a totally understandable action after reading trough all this...

To quote George W Bush, "That was some weird shit."

Typically that material would be used for ceiling mounted projectors that have a throw distance of over 12' minimum, so a projector of 1800-2000 lumens would be needed based on that distance.

Since the projector is such a short throw at around 2' it should be perfect, but then again I have no idea what the spec of the projector is.

Good way to look at it is if you have a 700 lumens LED flashlight and shine it on a wall 12' away vs shining it on the wall 2' away, the huge difference in brightness there is. That's why I think the projectors are fine it's just an incorrect screen material choice.

The interesting thing about all this talk about grey screens is that Stern in their promo pics actually Photoshopped grey screens on the ramps for more contrast. The image they show on the main screen is also photoshopped and layered on it.

So the graphics guy literally is trying to tell Stern to use grey screen material LOL

Undoctored photos direct from Stern.. notice the ramps...

dims (resized).jpeg

yco0yvhmjtxyesi55blk (resized).jpg

Look Stranger Things is what it is, I do not think Stern is going to alter it. I only wonder if this is the right process for a manufacturer to show stuff. If you go to the biggest show of the year and you bring you product to show, have it ready and shining in it's best form. Cars on shows are like that, they polish those things, show them in the best form. Gary looks to me as someone from the old world who thinks he can stop the streaming of his machine on the internet by just asking everybody to not make a video of it. Which is crazy in my eyes. Social media, streaming, pictures, cameras are here and everywhere. If you do not want it out there, do not show it. it's that simple. When you say you are the biggest and best pinball company in the world, act like it. If the machine is ready show it, let it be played, streamed, knocked on, shaken, etc. If you have doubts, do not show it or create an environment which suits it the best. This just says to me, we did not think this over. They can do so much better. But I think being on top just makes you lazy. Gary the salesman that he is says Stranger Things is my favorite, but you can not film it sorry is just lame in my eyes.

Shhhhh. I think Levi is finally sleeping right now. Don’t wake him up.

Nice Alek!

I don’t think the wizard modes were added with this latest update. They did nerf some of the big time end of ball bonuses people were getting from completing modes. Not sure how much though.

wow... wrong and doubling down.

The fact that you think the pinball market for sales, operators, or operating games is even remotely similar to the 90s is showing your old man. Come one buddy; you are better than this.

Crazy Levi, stop profaning God’s name. It is very offensive to us Christians!

I heard on this machine, new code updates will no longer erase high scores. You'll have to start putting dates behind your initials or the code # to differentiate.

Haha. Or just reset the high scores in the settings. Either way.

NO WAY! Stern hasn't shipped LE/PREMIUM yet. They need to just have this 100% figured out prior to shipping. Cut and dry!

This might turn into the biggest sales disaster yet for Stern. I still give them credit for doing something new, but maybe they should have skipped over this game and moved onto the next one, while they figure it all out.

Like I said I still think in the home environment its going to be fine! I'll keep saying this but tradeshows have the BRIGHTEST lights you'll ever be under. I think to some degree everyone is freaking out over nothing. You haven't seen the game in what would be normal lighting conditions, not the SUPER BRIGHT SUN LIKE convention space.

I'd be more concerned with the projector going out. In the end this game is going to be a PRO dominated game. Lets just call it already and move onto to a discussion about Guns N Roses when something gets published about that in a few weeks.

That’s been the case for a little while now, maybe starting with Munsters. I kind of think the high scores aren’t meaningful until code matures. New updates change rules and scoring so hard to compare.

with everyone bitching and moaning about dimpling on the playfield, ramp flaps and the projector not being bright enough, I'm surprised that no one has noticed that stern has cheapened out on the code side as well. past pinball offering have awarded 2 or 3 credits for a grand champion score, but on ST it's only a measly single credit?!?

stranger things - grand champion score (resized).jpg

what's next, a 1/4 or 1/2 credit for a regular high score?

Damn, nice score! How did you blow it up? Did you go heavy multi ball or modes or both?

not my score. I was using the image that Coolpinballdino posted a few posts above
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-stranger-things/page/91#post-5404567

Must be that new La-Z-boy recliner.

more like CE3K

I don't know why they don't just make the LE/Premium even more expensive, and include an actually half decent projector. It's not like it would add $hundreds to the BOM, and people buying either version would surely want the best machine they can have, delivered ready to go rather than having to depend on modders to come up with an actually decent solution, and having to mod the pin they've just bought.

It's ridiculous. Mods should augment pins, and be to individual taste. They shouldn't fix shit that shouldn't need fixing from the start.

I don't get the logic of actually setting out to deliver something that is subpar. Shouldn't there be some sort of pride in delivering a Premium/LE pin? Why would you want your big gee whizz bang feature to underperform?

It brings to mind Tron LE - which I coincidentally have. Tron Pro is amazing, but the LE has actual tangible bonuses and it looks and feels like extra effort was put into it. I don't know much the fibre optics cost Stern, but the Eli mod that reproduced it for Pro owners wasn't a cheap or simple addon. What happened to that mindset?

1 credit for GC and 0 for all other HSTD has been Stern standard for a few years now.

It is a setting that can be adjusted, but anyone on route would be silly to do so IME.
Replay is what most people will chase.

Agreed. It's amazing the way people like Levi feel the need to blaspheme when they have no belief in the person they use to blaspheme, namely Jesus Christ.

If you don’t believe in God, then go in peace and live happily; but why do you constantly feel compelled to use foul language on God and His only begotten Son and Savior Jesus Christ? It's looking more and more like a type of Tourette's syndrome.

More than likely, atheists really know that God exists, but some have had personal issues with their own father so they equate their relationship with God to the bad one they have with their father. And they want to hit Him and people who believe in Him; otherwise, as they like to point out God is no different from the Easter Bunny, and as people who don’t believe in the Easter Bunny just go about life happily without believing in the Easter Bunny, so also if you don’t believe in God, then go about life happily without God.

No need to blaspheme and use foul language on Jesus and people who believe in Jesus.

Omg this topic is such a dumpster fire.

Surely if politics is off limits on here religion is as well.

Agreed I don't drain many but this one is beyond ridiculous both about and not about the game, literally 1% of posts are even of relevance.
Onto the club thread and please all you experts on everything and keyboard warriors keep your stupid discussions in here.

What else is there to talk about? The shitty reveal with minimum video footage since Gary won't allow videos unless it's by Jack? I dare even call them videos and they are basically clips. Any other release has plenty of videos and normally pinside just bitches about how bad the player is and why couldn't they find someone better to play who can make shots.