Just got back from playing the new SW. I have to say it was a lot more fun than I was expecting. Some of the shots were kinda clunky, but all-in-all it shot pretty well and I enjoyed playing it. The ball lock "mechanism" is really pretty cool and works as intended. Easy to knock the ball out, but much harder to land the ball into the perch. A few balls jumped off the death star wireform, and other than the bit of shot clunky-ness my only other real complaint was the size of the screen--way too small. It was too noisy to hear the sound well.

I think I found the future buyers for this one...parents! The kids were drawn to this SW like a moth to flame--could hardly get in a game once the kids got on it they were having so much fun. After playing it and seeing how enamored kids are with this pin, I think Stern will sell a lot of these if they get them to somewhere like Costco or Target. If mom and dad don't balk at the price, Stern may move more than you'd think. Much rather have my child playing pinball than goofing around on their phone all day.

I talked to Zach briefly and asked who designed it. He said Gomez did, which I figured after playing it. If this game played smoother, I'd like it better than the "real" Star Wars. I have no idea of what the cab construction is, or the quality of plywood for the playfield (etc.), and it did seem to sit a little lower than a regular pin (as J. Danger noted in his stream). If kids are the target audience, it should sit lower. At any rate, I think this plays well enough and looks nice enough that real Star Wars nuts will want to have one.

I don't know how the ball lock will hold up, but on the surface it is genius. So simple yet it works, is very unobtrusive, a semi-challenge to load and fun to knock the ball out of. I thought it was pretty cool.

Have any of you actually played this? It really shoots a lot better than I think you are expecting by just looking at photos. Not great, a little clunky in places, but still pretty fun. Price is the biggest issue.

One thing I noted at CAX was that the new Sterns got played the most and had the least downtime of any of the pins I was interested in playing. A lot of the old Williams, Ballys and DE's were up and down all day. Most likely minor issues as they always came back on line at some point, but the Sterns for the most part always seemed to be working.

That could happen. Just noting what I observed, which actually surprised me.

Its really unfortunate Stern cut so many corners and tagged this with an unrealistic price as it looks good and plays very well. Put this is a SW Pro cabinet and I’d be a potential buyer.