So are they.

Dictionary:

a game in which small metal balls are shot across a sloping board and score points by striking various targets:

Seems pretty straight forward..............

It's easy. Their games actually exist.

Just got done playing my WOZ Sounds like Stern is in denial and just hoping people will not look elsewhere. Unfortunately for Stern people are pretty smart when spending $5k-$8k on a pin and now with more options people can compare products offered by both JJP and Stern. Both companies make good games but there's just more options today then only one from a couple years ago.

Could anyone imagine Microsoft having the saying "The only maker of a real desktop OS on the planet"? No...Time to change that statement Stern, there's a couple new players in town. Even Microsoft acknowledges that say Sony exists by complementing them on the launch of the Playstation 4. Stern just acts like no one else is making pins and hopes no one will notice...

Denial: refusal to acknowledge a person or a thing

After 2.5 years of waiting for WOZ, the fire finally died out and I sold my spot to somebody who was enthusiastic about getting it still. When I ordered my Tron LE it showed up in a couple weeks. Until JJP can get their production in line with their sales pitch, Stern doesn't have a whole lot to be worried about.

As someone still waiting, I can say . . .
yup, dat be true.

yeah so true...

Real Pinball, as in machines that are using technology that has been in pinball for years. Standard look.

A LCD backglass is not a real pinball machine, according to them I guess. Probably according to patent laws as well.
Pinball 2000 had a different pinball pattent. As it did not fit the definition of a pinball machine, as it had an arcade monitor and P.C. inside.

Love my current Stern pins but hate everything about the company and how it operates. Keeps info from customers.
Refuses to give straight answers etc.

Company bad, machines good.

My question is why stop at planet?

Oh wait this could be why.....

Well technically I suppose they do, but may need to define your level of existence. WOZ exists, AMH exists, WOOLY exists, Predator exists. Many of those games have more complete code than the majority of the past STERN titles in the last 2 years combined if you want a measuring stick.

Anyone that bought in on WOZ has every right to be disappointed with the overall experience and over promise /under deliver style of Jack, but pretty insulting to numerous other game makers now in the hobby to insinuate that Stern is the end all be all. Sorry to see that the experience and long wait has miffed you on all pinball so much lately. Any way you slice it WOZ is still a fun game to play and delivers on many of the things promised (should have been expected IMHO given the reality of the situation/ creating a pinball from scratch). Hope you can get past the foul taste and realize that pinball and WOZ is still damn fun.

I agree.

Still waiting for my WOZ.

I hope one day jjp will be a major player but right now they are still in the minor leagues. hopefully their cash infusion will enable them to move at stern like pace of producing machines and keep the jersey parking lot full of cars.

Anyone still waiting who comes my way is always welcome to stop in and play mine.

Let them use what ever slogan they want.

They stuck it out when no one else did.

And are a big part of what is all going on today in pinball.

LTG : )

Still, had it not been for Sterns after Williams, Gottlieb, and the rest all bailed out of Pinball there would probably be no new pinball manufacturing today. They kept the game and interest alive. My hat is off to them for doing that and hiring some of the very best pinball designers and software folks around. It is always nice to have options and the more the better as far as Pinball is concerned. Boy, did we get spoiled in the good old days..

"REAL" is the name of their new system.

Right now there's still just one real *company* producing pinball machines in any predictable/dependable fashion.

Are they the ONLY source of machines? No. But the others are more "boutique" than "company."

Example: Someone wants to buy 2-3 machines for a barcade/arcade/etc.... and they want them this calendar year- how many options out there?

Obviously there's hopes that JJP becomes a going concern here- but they certainly aren't there yet! a quick check of this thread makes it look like there's been more announcements and press releases produced than actual pinball machines in the last MONTH:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/need-ship-update-for-woz-last-person-to-get-their-woz-post-order-date-please/page/17

i still think it's foolish for them to cling to "only" instead of "biggest".

Maybe. There's several folks designing and marketing pinball machines out there, but:

If you want a new pinball machine in February- how many choices do you have?

Its hard to believe they stayed with "real" in their description after making "the pin".

I guess I boil it down to the fact that if I want to buy a game that is ready to ship right now, today I have exactly one option... Stern. That all may change soon, but for now that is the reality.

In the end I realized I didn't like WOZ enough to justify the cost and the wait. I've played it and walked past it enough to know that it is not my cup of tea. Made the decision easy in the end. I figured it made more sense for somebody who actually wanted it to have it.

Now that WOZ is out of the picture, the pinball fires are slowly being stoked. I may even plug a game in again one of these days!

When I saw that guy as someone's avatar, I assumed it was photoshopped because I figured that no one would style their hair like that on purpose. I've settled on the explanation that he's trolling the world.

I seem to remember that in one of the recent interviews, he had to catch himself and added "full-time" and a couple other qualifiers. Why doesn't he just say "largest" and be done with it?

If that was the case than an ss machine is not a pinball machine because its not an em with score reels

LMK if you need a hand

Wrong measuring stick. There's a ST pro on location about a mile from my house. Nearest location OZ is a 100 mile round trip. No Predator or those others on location anywhere, that I know of. How's things around your house?

Call it what you want, but if it ain't on location, it doesn't exist to me. Period. That's the measuring stick.

Wow, they really do say that. Truth or not, it just seems like a super lame slogan that acknowledges awareness of competition. It might as well be "Stern Pinball: Oh yeah? Well...your mother!"

Yes, the huge honkin' screen puts JJP's product into the 'amusement device' category as far as Stern is concerned.

Real pinball machines have art that can be appreciated when the game is turned off, not a blank TV screen.

That would be a horrible pinball game

It's a little cocky and wouldn't be my style......but it is kind of true. They should at least add the words "major manufacturer".

If you watch the promo for "The Pin" you will here them tell you how real it is, a bunch of times.

I'm waiting for them to show up on CL...cheap.

I am fairly sure that the 2 Wizard of Oz pinball machines that I have played were real. Not holograms.

I saw a WOZ once . Nobody believes me , and they all say I'm crazy . But I know what I saw .

Too bad you can't say the same thing about the code and rulesets.

"The only maker of REAL pinball games on the planet"

Technically of course, Stern is indeed correct.

JJP, in 3 years time, has only produced a single game.

Stern is claiming they are the only maker of games (plural).

So unless JJP can ever get another game delivered, Stern will continue to be the only maker of multiple titles of Games.

JJP The largest pinball factory in the world!!!

Well if that is the correct measuring stick then we need to toss in 'playable' since if the game is in such bad condition it cant be played then it does not exist to me.

So... The closest playable location game with finished code to me is.... hold on I have to think about it... Fish Tales at the local movie theater. After that would be STpro which unfortunately has pretty shallow code currently. Next is XMpro which is unplayable due to so busted (operator has no pinball techs) and also code lacks completion. After that I need to travel a bit.

I still prefer to use my measuring stick since most of my playing happens in private collections. It appears that very soon AMH and Predator will be in local homes with code that is light years further along than most of the recent Sterns.

Come on, I think you really over exaggerate the code problem. The current rev of Star Trek code is pretty good. There's already way more to do on the Star Trek code as it sits than on fish tales. So if you consider fish tales acceptable code wise, you should consider Star Trek outstanding, by that criteria.

It's only a fairy tale.....

In pinball land every morning Gary walks to his magic mirror......
Gary: Magic Mirror on the wall, who now is the only maker of real pinball games in this land?
But this time the Magic Mirror answered: You are not longer the only maker of real pinball games. Over the seven jewelled hills, beyond the seventh fall, in the cottage of the seven dwarfs, Jack off all trades from JJP, makes even better ones!
Gary:Hmm, perhaps it's time to release the complete Metallica code and to put LCDs in our future games?
Magic Mirror: That would make you at least "one of the best makers of real pinball games"!
Gary: I think I could live with that.
And they all lived happily ever after.

JJP is a start up company. These things take time. All the complainers here...haven't you ever worked for a company releasing something new (or nex gen) to market? Predictions and promises of release dates are frequently wrong. Especially for young companies. It's part of the deal. Most people realize this and buffer their expectations.

Apple was once a start up ya know. These things can work out very well.

To compare JJP to a company that's been making Pinballs for 20 years is absurd.

"Games" is plural, as in more than one title.

I have probably put 50 games on STpro at this point and the code is not even close to that of FT. Games is super repetitive (start mode, hit shots in succession, repeat and possibly time out depending on how close to all modes being done) and very buggy (delay in data when for example starting multi upon finishing a mode).

I will say that I am not sure if the game is running the current revision but it just went on route 2 weeks ago so I assume so. What is the current revision?

Lol.... this might be relevant if we were comparing software companies....

with your measuring stick, i suppose the 20 or so people that have written virtual pinball code and rules are all "pinball companies" as well?

"may need to define your level of existence" lol... just LOL.

sounds like "that depended on what your definition of 'is' is"

You must be draining a lot if you are comparing STpro to FT in terms of depth of code.
I also the code may not be update on that game to the latest code.

what is the current code version?

Also, is there a ruleset write up of current code anywhere? I would like to know what I am missing.

I actually like the shot layout and feel of ST very much, but the code on the one I have been playing leaves MUCH to be desired. Not much to do once in a mode besides work on the shots in that mode and all the modes seem to be the same (hit alternating shots).
Worth mention that the dots are horrible on ST! Probably some of the worst dots I have seen in a long time.

Stern......one of the many money hungry companies in the world I hope go out of business.

Come on guys . . . criticism is certainly fine and even some witty humor come back comments is fine . . . but let's try not to go overly negative here. Comments should have some level of productiveness or humor or something to add. I am using the post above as an example, there are one or two others in this thread I could have also used.

That's a terrible thing to say, especially on a pinball forum.

If you don't like their product, don't buy it.

A lot of people are buying their games and hope they continue making them.

If Stern went out of business, how long do you think it would be before all the gains made in pinball in the last decade reverses gears and we live to see the end of pinball ?

I remember when Williams closed. Those were some bleak years, parts were disappearing fast. You really want that again ?

LTG : )

Really?