First pinball machine for me too... and I also got my LE coming. Can't wait.

Someone else asked about the must haves, what do I need to protect it? The LE has the non reflective glass but what about protecting the playfield?

You are the first person I've heard mentioning that it plays brutal. Can you elaborate? I've heard it plays very fast.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) Unboxing Challenge & First Look!

AND WIN A TMNT BANNER

...poor Greg in this one...

Location, but it is being set up and tested at home until restrictions are lifted hopefully Wednesday.

It plays extremely fast both in ball travel and ball times, at least in my first ten games and with my skill set. The ramp shots are the tightest of any recent title. The lock shot has a wide entrance but is very narrow at the top. If you don't nail it the ball will rattle out. Hurry ups, etc seem to override the ability to lock but I'm still trying to sort out the rules. It doesn't seem the most intuitive game to me right now but is still fun as hell. I like brutal games like TWD, BSD and BKSoR. I'm not a top 1K player and probably just need some more time to find the shots and learn the rules and what order to try to accomplish modes / multiball / hurryups and stuff.

DOES THE SHAKER DO ANYTHING SIGNIFICANT??

Good question !

Stupid question, but bally Williams games would sun fade. Are you not afraid of those beautiful machines getting faded in that strong sunlight?

Indeed, definitely warranting all caps

We were planning a TMNT pin/1989 arcade party but all bars in Florida got shut down again shorty before we left to get the pin

First impression of the game is VERY positive, I didn’t play enough to get into the rules, but the basics - shot layout, geometry, art, light show etc are superb.

Best light show on any Stern pro and the most loaded/not feeling like its missing anything layout pro since Metallica.

I have some nostalgia for the franchise when I was a kid, but I’m far from a super fan and haven’t seen anything turtles related in probably 15-20 years. I’m glad I took a gamble on this game. Stern absolutely knocked it out of the park with this one.

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This is false:

The PRO has a different driver board.

The PRO can not ever spin in two directions. If it could it would have.

EDIT - Chuck beat me to it. Thanks Chuck

Thanks for the clarification Dwight (and Chuck). Ive gotta say, that dual spinning disc has grown on me a lot since the initial reveal. It might be my favourite feature addition on the premium, even more than the diverter.

I mean, it COULD if you kept the same driver board. Is that driver board actually any more money than the other one?

Yes.

Driver Board and list of other titles using this board.
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Soooo when are home use pros shipping?? I keep hearing different things.

Had another game session with a little less tequila on board. I found the shots a little bit easier and started having some more success. Game still plays fast as hell, like sometimes it's counting my bonus and I'm still trying to find out where the hell my ball went. Rocket drains off of posts and the 2x target mostly. I've been very pleased that the spinner doesn't seem to have the habit of causing shitty drains which is what is usually experiences with spinners or magnets. The ramp shots are tight and steep, but backhand-able on each side. The lock shot cannot be back handed as far as I can tell. The under-flipper shot is deceivingly tricky and ends up bouncing out a lot.

Anyone can explain to me how the naming of code progression works? Like 1.01... I never understood this since it seems those are just numbers- including marketing strategies. From what I understood 1.0 means the code is somewhat "finished".

I was looking at the new DF stream and saw all those dispaly errors, always when there are multiple awards like add-a-ball or bonus held...
how can this be 1.0 code? This was the case also on the reveal stream, its such an obvious bug.
just compare this to the JP 0.9 code, seemed to be much more polished.

and another thing, why is the theme song so redundant... repeating it self over and over again in so many ways aaaarrgh
it weakens the impact of the themesong in the important parts like MB... that could have been such a magical moment.

beside that, the game looks very nice, the flow looks so goooooood

EDIT, MY FAULT, THOSE ARE THE POP PUMPERS REWARDS, LIKE ON A SLOT MACHINE

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1.0 means feature complete to me. Bug fixes and polish should continue for months as more people play and find said bugs and scoring imbalances.

It is a meaningless human construct. You could shit on a thumb drive and call it version 9 billion.

Software engineer here! Can confirm this statement is true.

They added a ton of shit in 1.01. Personally I would have done a 2.0 based on that change log but Dwight is obviously way more modest than I am

Do we have any insight as to when the LEs and home pros are shipping? I want to play!

Isnt that just the pop bumpers cycling till you get a match 3 for the actual reward?

Yes, not even close to a glitch.

I believe it's even explained in the rulesheet that was posted a few days ago

My distributor told me mid July, but your mileage may vary. You can always ask your distributor.

I have heard folks don’t like the mystery award pop bumpers. I like those much more than having to put a scoop on the game To slow the whole thing. Excited to figure it all out!

Pict o pops. Think slot machine. All three images need to match to get the award. Haha

Question. You guys think this game code is deep enough to last a really long time in a home? I’ve heard a few guys talk about getting through the modes already, so just curious on opinions of people that played it.

Doubt they’ve been through all of them. Game is too new to say how easy or hard it will be to get to the cowabunga wizard mode. Plus who knows what tweaks and balances are to come in the coming months.

This game seems like it will be similar to SW and GOT. Lots of ways to attack the game, but not impossible to beat it. Just the right amount of difficulty for most players.

Nick from Buffalo Pinball mentioned that he, as an owner, stays away from mode based games due to the potential for them becoming stale. So, there are some that don’t like mode based games for the home.

I think linear mode based games could tire you out fast , but being able to have random modes helps add diversity. Having different characters to select at the start will provide different strategies as well as different high scores to chase. Finally the combos, hurry ups, and trainings look like they’ll offer side objectives that could be a lot of fun.

Deeper than MUN, but not anywhere near the code replay value of GOT or SW or many others.

The only issue I've had so far... A few times the ball has rocketed through the lock shot and not stopped or registered. Only when it really flies through. It really sucks though when the foot 123 shot happens and locks you out of everything else and seems to be worth nothing in terms of points. 150k? Another strange thing is I completed an entire mode in multiball and the value was only 500k. Obviously I need to educate myself on some rules and stuff but it seems like there might be some balance issues.

Anyone come up with a cool mod to cover that ugly wing nut?

What wingnut?

Sounds like you've got the mod this guys looking for. Show off.

The same can be said for EHOH and JP which I both own. But, it's part of pinball to figure things out.

Rob

Agreed

Actually it can be. Jack Danger did it once on his friday night stream. Although it's basically threading a needle.

Rob

The 2 direction wheel is one bigger reasons I went with the LE. It has a higher element of randomness to it I think. Are you getting one Shaun?

Rob

Pulled the trigger on a LE. Can’t wait till it ships. Was told mid July. Looks amazing, hopefully no playfield issues.

Thanks, this was my fault! great

yes, the ball stopper on ther pro is realy ugly. what can we do here? even a small sticker would work well...

Put on a little glider? does anybody know the dimesions?
This is 7,5cm wide one. But from pictures i did calculate about 10cm?
Still very smal

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Yeah, that thing! I have one on order and keep wondering what I could put there. I saw a pizza box on Amazon that looks like it would fit.

Another NEW SDTM Video

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles First Impressions & Gameplay

*a full gameplay video will follow later today*

Hey Rob, yeah, I'm in on a Pro. But it's sounding like I wont get it until you jerks get your LEs. haha

I do hope to see more Premium love soon. I am not one to second guess myself but all this Pro love is giving me some apprehension. I am sticking with my guns though. I know they haven’t been seen yet but I am sure they will worth the wait.

It's not being negative to ask more from manufacturers. Obviously the answer is yes but how much more for what's most likely an inexpensive board.

$6100 isn't enough yet I guess.

I just don’t try to act like I know what goes into a pinball machine production cost. It all adds up and I bet quicker than people think. I bet $10 here or there in production cost can swing a feature from being added or not.

And a $10 part is just the start. What’s the cost of software dev on it, service of the part, etc.

As stated above many past pros included this board in their bom. Writing two software routines to control the motor differently on pro vs. prem/le is more software dev work. Cutting the board out certainly does reduce a modicum of cost, but I am led to believe the driving factor on leaving it out was to create differentiation and drive pre/le sales. It worked on me. I’m in and didn’t go for the pro, even though it has the best art.

I guess “one way” you could “spin” it is, by leaving out the direct drive board it is one less component to fail. This potentially creates a more reliable game for operators. I think the struggle for some is the cost factor creating the differentiation in pro vs pre/le often appears extremely low. The delta in sales price is significant. Now profit isn’t a dirty word, but when the differences are a switch here, and a driver board there, and the rest is software it does feel bad.