Man, respectfully, I couldn't disagree more. We have it on location and people FLOOD money into it. It's the total package that draws the new player, probably owing a lot to the big interactive toy in the center. Art/Sound/Lightshow/animations. Definitely our best earning new game of the last 3-4 years. And my favorite to play as well. I don't think that the game is nearly as brutal as Star Wars was, it only punishes bad shots. You put some more games on it and it will teach you to play better. I think that it's really a return to form for the king.

That's a bummer. I can see how if you don't like metal, then you won't like this pin. But each mode has its own unique music that goes with it. I am a metalhead, so I greatly appreciate the music package and don't find it repetitive at all. Repetitive in the sense that it is all heavy, chugging, and fast metal I suppose and someone who isn't a fan of the genre would find that because of that, it all sounds the same to their ears.

But for me, I love starting each monster fight and getting a new theme song to play throughout the mode, (my favorite being the Lich Lords--SO BADASS). The music in this game is far better than the limited (but good music) in BK2K. THAT was way more repetitive IMO.

Code will be fleshed out a bit, although I hope that the structure of it doesn't change too much. I love that there isn't a bunch of meaningless multiballs in the game as is, makes the multiball it does have valuable and worth getting. Not to mention it gives you another multiball when you finish "knight". I also love how clearly communicated the rules of the game are through the inserts and lcd screen. Less cluttered bullshit and unnecessarily obtuse objectives and scoring exploits. You know what you have to do with every shot, but good luck completing it. Easily my favorite game that Stern has made since Iron Man. So much fun to shoot. Always ready to go at it again.

It is exactly that. Over and over, fast and furious fun. Just with better art, sound and animations. It's most similar to Iron Man. We have them both in our bar.

Haven't had any problems with our shield, got near 1000 plays on it so far.

I feel that every game plays better steeper. But I'm old school, where if you played in a tournament, all games were set up steep/fast/hard. I can't stomach flat pitched games anymore, too slow and floaty.

The magna save is far from "unuseable" as it is. Don't be afraid of change, it's a slightly different dynamic having on the lockdown bar, but you get used it. I would even say that I prefer it. Think of it as a challenge, rather than a fault. I successfully use it all the time.

Perfectly said. Like I had said myself in a previous post. The button is FAR from unuseable, I even prefer having on the lockdown bar for the reason quoted above. You WILL get used to it, really isn't as big of a deal as you think it is once you really put some games on it. The magna save itself isn't situated to save the ball once it is fully in the outlane anyways, it only really grabs the ball as it bounces over the tops of the posts. You use it more as a precaution than to truly save a lost ball. This will not change at all with the button on the side of the cabinet.

Owning a location, I can attest to players struggling to start a game, even with a blinking start button sometimes.

Except that you need both to play munster madness with a multiball on both upper and lower playfields at the same time.

I agree completely. Stern nailed it.

Not the only one, I am on record as preferring it on the lockdown bar.

My point exactly. The people preemptively thinking about modding a button on the cab would be wise to play it first to understand this fact.

Knock yourselves out, ain't no skin off my back. I believe that anyone can do anything that they want to with a game that they have purchased. I was merely responding to the misconceived notion that it will improve performance. Know that the side button won't make you better at using it successfully, and therefore seems like a waste of energy to me personally. But again, enjoy your games however you'd like.

What? Are you sure? Or do you mean that you got to "K-N-I-G-H-T" classic mode multiball? Not the same thing. I would be very surprised to learn that your friend is a low-key pinball god! We have had that game on location for a few weeks now, with many top 200 players in town playing it every day who still haven't got to the final Black Castle wizard mode. Only one confirmed wizard mode in over 2100 plays so far.

Portland is a pinball mecca. Although, it also has a lot to do with this game particularly. Earns WAY more than the last few Sterns, including Iron Maiden Premium.

It's already a gem in my opinion. I can't wait to see a little more polish, but the game just kicks so much ass!

Definitely, it's a throwback in more than just theme. Back to when pinball was at its best in my opinion. Shots feel great, can hit any shot from either flipper, great sound, art, animations, and a simple and transparent rule set that is easy to understand, and HARD AF to beat. Bravo Stern, I LOVE IT

To each their own. I really like that ramp, feels good to hit from either flipper. Not difficult to hit but is very smooth and satisfying to do so. In fact all shots are easily hit from either flipper.

Yeah, it makes you wonder because our Grand champ is at 325 mil (the one confirmed wizard mode) and the 1st place score is 165 mil (pretty huge difference) with the rest of the scores in the 140 mil range. Ours must be set up much harder than that one. And ours HAS the extra ball. But kudos to y'all, those are BIG time scores.

That's how we set our games too. All the way up in the back, slammed to the ground in the front. How pinball should be set up in my opinion. DEATH TO FLAT GAMES!

Would've lost my damn mind! I struggled to enjoy 90% of the games at TPF because they were so flat. My business partner and I walked away from so many games after ball one, because of that problem. So damn floaty, and so damn LAME. *SHUDDER*

Haven't encountered this on our machine.

Definitely. Still unsure how to fix this issue. Haven't found a clear way to adjust the gate so that this doesn't happen occasionally. I noticed that in the latest code update, there was a line in the readme file that stated that their was a "fix" in the code to prevent weak shots to the shield from getting stuck. Although it still happens.

I upgraded it to 0.93 and it still does it occasionally.

I ain't gonna argue with the king, but we always set the games up steeper. Because even though there is a little more side to side action at a lower pitch, it's negated in my eyes by being much easier to save the ball from that added sideways action when you have the extra reaction time. Trade-off is a LITTLE bit more side to side action vs a game being ALOT faster. Flatter is never harder, just different ball movement. 6.5 is too flat to be any fun in my opinion, the added ball movement described feels like float. Added pitch makes a bricked shot rocket back at you, thus making it harder to keep alive.

It's not cheating. A game is always harder set up steeper. Anyone who disagrees can do a quick experiment, and see for themselves.

Luckily for us, the modern Stern games have incredible accounting audits, including for outlane drains, ball times, etc. I will be posting the results of a real life experiment soon at my arcade where I will set the pitch to 6.5 degrees at my bar, and we will look at the changes in the data after a few weeks of play. I will start a thread about it soon.

I think that’s the beauty of using a machine on location as a test. We have players of all skill sets that will play the game. Should give us a nice data aggregate of different types of players. From total newbies to casual players to serious tournament players.

Agreed as well, I will trade the "barrenness" of the pro for the fast and furious gameplay.

Exactly what I said when we got ours. Iron Man is my favorite stern of all time. But now Black Knight is closing the gap. Love this game so much because it reminds me so much of Iron Man. But with better art and animations. Steve’s voice works cracks me up every time! Sweet game!

Correct. And you collect KNIGHT letters by doing well in each battle mode.

You are correct. Also can get one from the super jackpot like you suggested.

All made shots on the game increase the power to your sword. Once it is fully charged, the center target in front of the knight will have the power insert lit. Hit it during a battle mode will help make the mode significantly easier to complete. Like in Sandworm, the shots won't be moving. In Magmabeast, a hit shot will stay lit instead of going out, allowing you to keep hitting the ramp or other shot you feel the most comfortable with. In Hell Hand, more shots are lit, not just the single one, and etc for all of the modes.

Agree completely. I love this game too. I can stop playing it. Definitely knocking on the door as my favorite stern as well.

Haven’t played one yet. Plan on it this weekend at the NW pinball show. I’m not usually into upper playfields, but I am excited to get some reps on the prem/LE just to make sure.

I don’t usually rate a pin until I have at least 20 games on it, so this weekend probably still won’t meet that threshold for me, but hopefully it’ll be enough to know whether or not we buy one to put into the bar or on route. I cannot imagine liking the prem/LE anymore than the Pro because I already LOVE the pro, but we’ll see!

Don't feel bad, the pro model is great fun.