600 seems like a lot of LEs when they wouldn't do 666 for Maiden that could have easily sold that, but limited it to 500.

Wait...so the upper playfield is PLASTIC?

Ok, you called down the lightening, are you ready for the thunder? That is a VERY bold statement to make without flipping a machine. Even I won’t trash a machine on flow without flipping it first. I will trash a theme, artwork, sound, or even animations if I have seen or heard them, but to look at a playfield and say “this is going to suck” is like saying your date is going to suck when she first opens the door. Both statements may actually be true, but you won’t know how bad or good until the end of the date. Shroedingers pinball I guess.

Mod opportunity!

Any Black Knight for Stern jokes yet?

Love love love this new game!!!!!

Here is one thing we all have to realize. Why is Attack from Mars the most played machine at barcades? Because it is fun to shoot. It is not a licensed theme. If BK Swords of Rage is a fun game to shoot and the soundtrack is captivating and immersive it will do well. And having a 6-ball Multiball will be incredible. The artwork alone and soundtrack will be a huge win. I think it will do well in public locations. The toy alone will attract people who aren’t pinball nerds. We'll see what happens! This is a way better theme than Dialed In that will attract the non-pinball players. Everybody loves medieval themes. This one hits a home run!

Just poking a little fun here...

I like how on the feature sheet, it says "2 full size flippers on main play field" as if this is some type of special feature. Is this not, at a minimum, a "standard" feature of ALL modern (1950's-present) machines, save pitch-and-bats and other odd ball machines?

Sort of how car manufacturers advertise vehicles as having power brakes, steering, etc, which are essentially, standard across the entire line. The last car I'm aware of that didn't have power steering was the Honda S2000 (as it took away from the steering feel).

How did Williams survive making Black Knight and Black Knight 2000? I thought those games were on location?

Not sure how the manga save will work if you have time to hit the center button in the heat of the moment.

Just bought STLE so used my fun money, don’t want to sell anything. I’ll just wait and see how this develops maybe get one down the road. But this is the first Stern pin I’ve really wanted since TWD time.

I'll most excited to hear that Brendon Small is working on it. HELL YEAH!! That's Dethklok!

The words I wrote before the few you cherrypicked were "I wouldn't be surprised if it has the". Just starting a discussion about a pinball machine on a pinball discussion forum, not making definitive claims about gameplay on a game none of us have played.

It seems very much like a playfield designed to highlight the upper portion, so to remove the upper portion entirely would leave a bit to be desired. I think the Knight doll in the middle would be missed less than an entire playing surface that the ball plunges to, upkicks to, orbits around via it's own flipper, and features the primary game locks.

My initial impression is that the premium may be the coolest premium Stern has made in the Spike 2 era, while the pro may be their biggest disappointment since Aerosmith. Time will prove me right or wrong...I'm hoping for the latter.

I think the same. I would go for a bonus

Great games without massive public appeal suffer on location. I feel this would earn like Maiden, skilled regular players love it and the public walks on by.

Maiden does really well on the location we have it at, which is not a pinball bar. Both Pro and Premium rock the take.

BK2K was always a favorite of mine to find in the wild, and I was 18 when the OG Knight started kicking my ass and laughing at me in late 1980. My older brother has the OG, so I think it is time for little (yeah by title not stature) brother to get his Knight game on. I am in for a Premium at least. That is if my MBrLE ever- OH FFS! WILL YOU STOP IT ALREADY!!!

Don't have the funds to be a NIB person, but my Hobbit will be going up for sale/trade next year to either fund a DP, BK3K, or JW... Stern has been knocking them out of the park lately.

correct of course !
but if you're a pinball player, you know DI is top class for everything else but the theme (which is finally not bad when you're in the game, lets say its not appealing at first)

Be like me and never play a Premium/LE version of a game and buy a pro. What I don't know, I don't miss and don't care about. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to spending $2000+ extra to have a few extra gimmicks in an already fun toy.

If its Lyman on code, and could be a must have game. I like the original as a teen in 80's and enjoyed 2k in 90's. I am excited about this news of Steve new game.

This is a really good looking machine, it kind of has a Diablo 1 feel to it.

I'm a bit of a ways away from buying a NIB machine, but this one looks mighty nice.

Not lyman.. tim Sexton

No hard feelings, but so am I. I just don’t mess with SR flow fans as boldly and ballsy as you did was my point.

Tim has a really good grasp on what makes good pinball rules because he's a good pinball player and a rules guy. I have faith he will deliver on that end, so that's at least promising.

The stainless steel ramp portion on the upper playfield...is that just for releasing the balls from the lock?

Not sure, but it looks like plenty here would not mind having a Sword of Rage in their basement. :p

So if your date is going to suck what would be bad about that? Sorry had to say it.

Is Tim literally coding or is he designing / specifying the rules? As a former coder, just curious about that distinction.

Kerry King played the No Sleep Till Brooklyn solo, not the Fight for your Right solo...

Dialed In is also an incredible shooting, interactive, and deep pin with what is probably the highest quality custom assets when it comes to an original themed pin. Those items have helped create a lot of fans of the game. Theme alone doesn't equal success as we've seen many times before, the other parts need to be there as well.

Looking forward to seeing what Stern brings to the table with Black Knight Sword of Fury once actual gameplay video is released, more animations are shown, and code is completed.

Wow. No upper playfield on the pro model? That is the whole thing about BK games...they all have an upper playfield.

Its nice to see dual gi (white/red) and lots of rgb inserts on both models

If this game was designed by anyone else, there wouldn't be a single person claiming that pro layout is "flowey"

Yea I'm thinking the premium is a must on this title... but 7200+ is a lot of money's

No, that was the joke

Dang and I just bought a Batman! I guess another one must go for this...

Agree, I don’t know Tim but more than 1-2 people in the world can make great rules. I just hope they have time or polish and fix bugs. One thing I dislike about some Stern pins as the lack of polish of waiting 2 years for a omelet game.

Im working on an alternative translight for mine when it gets here.

Screenshot_20190326-141204 (resized).jpg

I'm hearing around $8800 shipped for an LE. I think that is $200 less then Munsters LE? Premium may be $7300 - $7500?

Theme will be fine. There's an evil Black Knight and you have to stop him.

You don't need to explain knights, castles, swords etc to people. You DO have to explain why cell phones, natural disasters and quadcopters are related though.

Coast 2 Coast has separate interviews with Tim Sexton and Steve R posted. Listening to the Tim one now.. hoping for some more details..

http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/episode-249-the-show-where-i-talk-to-tim-sexton-about-his-work-on-black-knight-sword-of-rage_142657

http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/episode-250-the-show-where-i-talk-to-steve-ritchie-about-black-knight-sword-of-rage_142658

Right now is the time I like to sneek barbs into a thread and hope the press of posts buries it quickly enough that only true hard core Pinsiders ever read back through it and upvote them quietly and hope it doesn’t blow up immediately in my face like saying “BK2K was the biggest piece of shit that was ever designed by Steve Ritchie, and I have played a Stellar Wars” just to watch my up/down ratio bounce back and forth for a few days.

It also has "the dummy shot" in the Black Knight.

That said, it's not a theme that someone across the bar will see and say "I gotta check that out" unlike a Ghostbusters, GoT, GotG, etc... But if someone is already checking out the machines, I think this will still attract casual players. And unlike those other games, it'll be a lot more intuitive of what you should be shooting for.

This game looks good!

Be glad the Pro model still includes a main playfield.

Have you played BK2K? Same exact thing. You see the ball flying toward the outlane, you hit the magnet button, and it "sucks" the ball back up from a drain, centers it, and drops it to the inlane.

Only installed from the factory on the LE. You can add a shaker to any model.

I think he's more concerned with the location of the button, not how it works.

Ah, good point. The magnet button next to the flipper button would def be quicker to hit....but Steve prob figured most location players wouldn't know it was there.

Can you follow up on this after you routed it for awhile.

That's cool but is Lyman coding it?!?!