Hey all,

I played this for the first time the other day (for quite a while.. loving this game!) and had a question -- the "stern quarter search" mode -- does that reference something I'm missing? I don't get why it's in a totally different style, with the very comic-y title and they added a copywrite date to it that looks like its 1983 or something? Is that just to make it fit in with the 80's theme? Just seemed weird to me..

Also the pro vs prem -- is the demo mouth easier to sink balls into in the pro? The premium seems like it hardly ever went in, very difficult to hit. Maybe that's adjustable though somehow? (sorry haven't had time to dig back 200 pages to look for this, didn't see it recently brought up).

Yeah that makes sense, I still thought it seemed out of place as it’s the only asset done in that style. But maybe that’s just me lol

Thanks chuckwurt for advice on adjusting. I think I’ll have a game shipping here this week if all goes well

May have to pick up some clear drops.. and also questioned what would happen with the projector image but sounds like it works.. it’s really hard to take accurate pictures of pinball lighting like that.

Do trough lights mess with the projector images at all (wash them out a bit?)

Did you make the part that goes thru the optical sensors opaque? They won’t detect unless you do something to cover that tab.. nail polish or a decal , possibly sharpie?

Same thing happened to me. Took some tinkering and testing until I realized. A heads up from anyone selling them would be nice

Regarding the UV kit— what is the purpose of the extra plastics that come with it? Is there a uv ink layer on them that’s not on the regular ones? And the new arch adds more uv light strips- is that true?

I’m wondering about the difference between this kit and the pin stadium one that my prem is coming with

That stinks no way to just get the plastics anyway.. yeah, I guess once the uv kits are in stock again I’ll have to pick one up

Does stern make extra LE back glasses or are they literally 1 for 1 with machines and if you break yours accidentally you’re screwed?

I dunno, prem price is creeping up. If they don’t make more I see it going to $9k while pros sit around $5400

Love to see a pic and link to the one you bought (unless they are generally a standard size??)

Going to say no

I think they’ll be some Huo up for sale next year for sure by owners ready to move on.. only question is if they’ll be $8k or $11k.

Actually that makes me wonder, besides tron, have any other sterns (premiums) ran up a lot in price due to scarcity?

Yeah, if it’s recreating all the effects then, the lack of plastics is really the main detractor. That and if you like pinstadiuns or not. I’m sure there will be no way to just get the plastics so if you want them your stuck getting the whole kit. Do they make that much of a difference?

Isn’t that setup kinda spendy vs cost of 2 coils?

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i don't see them skyrocketing like jjp pirates, but my money is on them both being valued at least 1 grand above that in a year. we shall see..

Hoping I got lucky with sti this time.. first time shipping a pin - Sth prem arriving today supposedly. The risk is def on the buyer. It’s tough to get games local if you are looking for something specific that most owners aren’t selling. Definitely prefer local when possible though

Arrived! Wrapping came completely off the shooter dice and sustained a minor scuff. Head decal scuffed at edge. Minor in my opinion, although unfortunate since it was mint prior to shipping. Not enough to pursue a claim.

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Oh it was protected. It was wrapped by the guy I bought it from - he did a great job. Blankets all around, leg cardboard, and then all shrinkwrapped. The head was up against something at some point and just rubbed at that point -- you could see the damage even on the blankets, it had worn thru them there -- I should have taken a picture but the guys were unwrapping it at the time.

Anytime you ship a pin I think you're just taking a chance.. there's likely going to be a little damage if you ship it with the legs on because it has to be secured somehow so there's likely going to be at least 1 rub point? With a full palletization, you're probably much safer from damage like this. But then who knows, it could get forked. The guys lifted this and walked it off the truck and into my garage. I'm sure it was probably forked or pallet jacked at some point in the trip though.

I used STI. I'd use them again, but I'd sure try to find a local game before shipping anything as it's a bit nerve-racking. Although the drop-off is nice.

anyone have a picture of that side of the head? I'm curious what rubbed off -- looks like it was a green stoplight?

Lol ok, I feel like a dumbass. I wasn’t staring at the whole picture, so focused on the damage lol -- all the online images I found were zoomed out too far to see what was going on

That’s not it, right where you circled? Looks like it to me, the nut that screw screws into??

I'd agree that the cost difference isn't really justified, but that said the pro is just a very different feeling game to me w/out the projector... that huge blank space that was so obviously made for the projector staring at you every time you play. Good luck prying a prem from someone right now though... hard to come by.

Speaking of Prem, I just messed with my TKO lock for an hour - Still not sure I got it dialed in. When a game comes with a multiple page guide on adjusting a mech to within a .07" tolerance that almost requires the use of calipers -- not only in a horizontal but also vertical positioning.. I think that answers any questions about the possibility of Stern producing another run of Premiums. Not worth it when you have mechs that require such tight adjustment. I really think they could have designed that better/differently.

I really wish that the right orbit didn't just hit pops and dribble back out too -- 1 more coil and they could have had the left orb ramp lift up on a right orbit to allow a full orbit underneath it. Hell it could have allowed full orbits either direction sometimes, and other times the left would divert up to the ramp return to the flipper. Would have been much more satisfying than the pops and actually net eliminated 2 coils from the BOM.

Yup, good trade bait. 1 or 2 prems or LEs seem to pop up every month right now for sale

Well.. except if you don’t get enough speed and it comes back down the ramp towards the middle. Right now I think that would happen every time I tried a backhand lock.

Hitting the bib loop is a better design imo- I don’t understAnd the desicion to have it just hit the drops - kinda boring .. you’re hitting those the whole game already

I was trying to do this on mine and going to shim it in back but got frustrated cause there was little access to put the shim in — do more things have to be removed to do that? Still having issues on mine

Anyone notice end of ball drains not registering as quickly as you’d expect? Like sometimes sitting there 3-5s after ball has clearly drained and sitting in trough until the bonus sequence kicks in. Maybe Not always but fairly often fir me.. just seems like it should be kicking in faster. Or is that normal?

If it’s ball searching def seems like a trough switch. I don’t get any ball searching, which is curious.. but also very low plays, I should check them just in case probably.

What do you prefer that pushes it that far over JP? If I didn’t pick up a Sth I would have probably ended up with JP, but I haven’t played it too much. Curious what makes one better than the other for home owners

Man, the TKO lock adjustment is so frustrating!! I adjusted it to the required width/height with calipers first time and it didn't work at all. Then I've been readjusting it, throwing balls up it till they seem to be consistent and locking the coil down.. testing and it seems to be working most of the time. Then I play a few games and by game 3 or so they never make it up anymore and 1/2 of them scream down the ramp to a drain and the other 1/2 don't make it, but do a post lock. It's like it keeps getting out of adjustment somehow.. I dunno.

It's such a cool effect when working but this is getting maddening.

A question as well -- I was adjusting projector images and it seems strange to me that the projector turns off during this. How are you supposed to line things up correctly if you can't see what your doing?! Is there some way to turn on the projector during the adjustments?

Interesting to hear that feedback on JP vs STh. Thanks all!

Ramp cover is there, I need to print the flipper coil fan brackets and wire up the fans though. I'm talking like 10 minutes of play tops, just testing though. I wouldn't expect them to heat up in that amount of time enough to go work working fine to not at all?

Yeah, pulled out and shimmed

Did a lot of tweaking this weekend -- I was convinced that my actuator arm had too much slop in it side-to-side, and I was able to get the ramp out enough to get access to the allen key head below to the piece of on the right that allows the arm horizontal movement but restricts vertical, and I tightened it down a bit. Then readjusted the ramp, pushed my shim in even farther behind it.. And now I get like 70% locks on the wall. Better than it was, and rejects tend to still lock rather than scream down the ramp. I need to video it in slow mo to determine what's going on I think. I'm certain my ramp is pulled forward of the wall, but it still seems to lose momentum on the transition, yet it's def not being pinched.

Anyway, I wanted to share that I followed suit and added the clear center targets and lit them from below with a blue LED strip and a custom bracket I 3d printed. Whoever did that a few pages back was right -- you can't capture it in a photo but it looks AWESOME. The flames on front, the glow below. It doesn't wash anything out from the projector imo, highly recommend it.

Thank you chuckwurt - I was able to get all the projector images tweaked with the coin door interlock in, didn't realize it was cutting all voltages.

Also, a note on the pinstadium UV/light kit that came with my game -- It works pretty good.. my first exp. with pinstadium which typically I've scoffed at. However, with out it - man the game art is pretty damn dark I realized. However they completely wash out the ramp projections. I blocked out the last 1' of lights on each side and it made a HUGE difference for those projections. Pinstadium should have put in the extra time to design these better for the game, you can hardly see the "jackpot lights" and other effects with them stock. I am ordering the UV kit from stern as well, and I think I will try a dual install as I don't think the pinstadium UV side quite lights up all the artwork like it should. It DOES light up the ramps in a nice blue glow though, which the UV kit won't do.

Yeah I wasn't understanding the ramp cover and how it would help -- but it's def. not slid to the far left, so I will try that. Love to get to at least 90%

yeah -- if this game hadn't already had them they aren't something I'd normally buy.. but given that we still don't know when the UV kits are going to ship, I'm happy to at least have UV for upside down for the time being.

If anyone else wants to try the clear drop mod -- I thru up the light bracket on thinguniverse. Simple but effective. Comet LED strip of your color choice + the GI tap from them. Grab 4 clear targets from Zitt s shop, and remember to paint the opto tabs on them opaque prior to installing. 2 ~25mm screws and you're good to go (verify that length prior to install, to ensure it doesn't penetrate topside of playfield).

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4907170

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Question - anyone know if you increase the mystery award difficulty what the increase means? Do you have to hit the unlit lanes twice, or?

I changed it but haven’t figured it out lol. I’ll do some testing . Just felt like mystery was coming up too much

Ok- I hadn’t focused on it before after I set it — it just looks weird when you’re used to normal lane change behavior. it locks the lane change down to right and left sides between the in/out lanes. So for example you can’t rotate an unlit right outlane all the way over to left inlane. It def. reduces the mystery awards.

Same issue.. it needs just a tiny more umph to make it around and so far I haven’t found the tweak to do it

Soldered my Polk to STh sub leads, makes a huge difference.. love it with the cleland package.

..yeah, seems like it would have been pretty easy to display those animated ramp graphics like you’re saying.. really too bad it didn’t get in there.

i have pinstadium as well and vs the one i played on location -- it's the same as for the upside down mode. BUT -- the EV effect /lighting was brighter wit the stern kit. However the pinstadium kit also illuminates the ramp edges on both sides to cool effect. The part that is different I believe are certain shots or moments when the stern kit will flash the UV for a second. I'm not sure when it happens.. but I remember it. Definitely does not happen with the pinstadium ones.

as for the projection mapping -- I also agree it's a great first effort. Jus saying, there IS quite a bit of blank time that could have even been that static image. I suspect they got what they could done to sell, and may have been planning a bit more in an update that didn't get done because of the low interest/sales. One can still hope for that update though... I get irritated when with the long lag to show the bonus on drains.

It cuts the 12v? power to the projector.. it takes a moment to restart .. I’m assuming cool down/ heat up period?

Yes- and it’s an excellent one. It’s a diy mod tho.. grab the drops from Zitt and then a light strip and a bracket for it.

Duplicate

Oh haha I guess someone does offer it! Probably easier to just buy that but if you dyi I have an STL for the bracket I can share for 3D printing

Here’s another shot. It’s hard to get a good picture - but it looks awesome in person. Pretty easy to install

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I assume cradling the ball till the timer ends?

Waitin on prem kit here since juneish? I think ..

Personally to me, the kit delay is what it is.. it’s not just stern, and even if it was if they had a choice right now between games going or kits - games make more sense. Crazy that some key component is delayed 5 months though.

1 blanket email from distributor and no replies to subsequent emails is more frustrating to me when the item is paid for.

Couple small bug fixes, including the snowball dance one. Really the rest all seems to relate to insider connected. I really wish they would have addressed the ball end hang ups where it takes a while to queue the bonus count ups.

Why the hell are some distros seeming to get stock while people are waiting on orders from spring 2021 to materialize from other distros!?! Related — thanks for the heads up!! But I am also in confusion how a seller website in 2021 doesn’t seem to even have a search function to find the damn parts, at least via phone. Lost patience to go try the computer, although at this point I’m sure it’s already sold

ha! Same happened to me, it’s been sitting in a repair pile for 6 months. Maybe a better placement somewhere else

Mine finally showed up from a July?ish order last year. I don’t know where you ordered from but it sounded like due to the supply issues some distros were getting kind of random shipments of stuff from stern from whatever they got manufactured that week or month.. I bet that stern at least makes enough kits to meet distros orders.. eventually

Why? You’d just change the anchor location of the projected images slightly. No need for adjustments on the projector