Great! Glad to hear you got it working again, despite that brief encounter with a heart attack...

Plus they advertised and sold them all as a deliberate limited run of 1,964. Bogus marketing for sure.

From their press release 10/29/18:

The Diamond Edition, the highest level and most difficult to attain, is limited to only 100 units. The Platinum Edition is limited to only 250 units. The Gold Edition is limited to 1614 units.

But, we don't know how many that they made during the 1st run.

I didn't consider that they'd announce a total number but deliberately produce fewer games.

It's an unusual approach. Seems more costly to run a production line that way when they've committed to a certain number up front.

Agree that it's a great game.

Beatles kicks my ass. I sometimes walk away with 500K shaking my head. Other times 5-6MM and feeling like I actually know how to play.
still waiting for the over 50M game. Extra Balls seem to be the key but they are difficult to win. My inlane wireforms will not allow a caught ball to roll back and up over the extra ball switch, so there's a bit of luck involved with getting and extra ball, and risk in draining in the outlane.
Has anyone been successful with scoring an extra ball with an alley pass?

Stern has gotten pretty agile with different games coming on and off the line. Would be way more costly to inventory millions of parts and machines you aren't able to sell.

My understanding is Beatles is a real slow seller for them, glad there is enough interest for them to produce a few more. Who knows if they will ever end up producing the full run of 1964 though.

I am with you...I can barley get over 5m. Mine must be set way to hard.

Yeah, looks like the shaker wire was the problem, and the short led to the power issues (and faulty multimeter readings on the power distribution board). The original board is probably fine. One bad wire can ruin your whole day! It would be great if the system could somehow pinpoint the problem area, because a short like that could happen anywhere and could be hard to find.

Am I the only one who read this sentence like Donny Osmond was singing it?

When I started calling around to get my Platinum in February, I was told over and over again by several different distributors in different parts of the country that sales of this table were slow for a long time after the release in 2018. However, in the last 6-9 months for whatever reason, they started to sell a lot more often and were quickly running out.

I ended up putting a down payment on a Platinum with a distributor and when I emailed about paying the rest and taking delivery I was told that he had "accidentally" sold my Platinum and would just send me a Gold instead. I found a Platinum elsewhere and got my deposit back from the guy trying to sell me the Gold. While calling around to try to find another Platinum, I was told more than once "just take the Gold that is being offered to you, there aren't a lot of NIB left for that title."

I installed a platinum model translite on my gold edition Beatles at a cost of about $100. Apart from the cabinet art and silver trim, the only difference with the platinum is its production ceiling of 250.

I congratulate you for acquiring a great game. The value of that 250 limit is anyone's guess.

When the title was first released, a few platinums and diamonds fetched premium prices. Last year, platinums were selling for only 10% to 20% more than golds.

The diamonds feature the crystal glass backglass and are limited to 100 units.

Stern tried to replicate pricing with The Beatles as it achieved with Supreme. In my opinion, the customer base for The Beatles is largely older and more sophisticated and few buyers could justify the significantly higher price-points of the platinums and diamonds.

To be honest, I was looking to purchase a Gold, knowing that the only difference was in cabinet art; the differences didn't really matter to me, and of course the price differential, and I would have been perfectly happy to get a Gold. It was only when I was finally ready to buy did I have a problem locating one, and when I did, the prices that were being asked was astronomical; in some instances, Gold with what a Platinum was going for not all that long ago. I finally found a distro and inquired if he had any Golds left in stock, and he told me he didn't, but he had a Platinum that I didn't think was horribly priced, so I wound up going with that.

Yep, playing it over and over certainly has assuaged the sting of the high price, that I can tell you.

Things may have been different if Stern had baked a couple of new toys/modes/features into the platinum and diamond editions. I was happy to buy a gold because at the end of the day...ya don't play artwork. the playfield and rules work exactly the same on all 3 models.
Plus, I think the Gold looks great and I got a killer deal from my distributor in the middle of last year... I think they wanted to unload a pin that was just sitting around with little demand.

OK as a relatively new owner, can someone tell me what the round blue lights on the orbit signify? By any chance does it mark the progress toward Beatlemania? I've been trying to look it up in the rules, but haven't found the definitive answer.

Thanks in advance.

Not thrilled about this since so much of the marketing was the limited run of 1964 machines. Hopefully they will make it worth our while with some new code.

The blue lights on the orbit are independent of Beatlemania letters. They are lit by the drop banks and are used to determine the loop value.
FAB = 1 light, FOUR = 2 lights, 1964 = 3 lights. Each loop scores 2K for each lit insert.
This has some similarity to Sea Witch.

Ah, now I understand. Thanks!

I like the idea of an code update but would pass if I had to let go of the additional music tracks. Really enjoying mixing it up.

Hey guys, got my Platinum delivered today. Started a topic in the tech forums because there were some issues upon unboxing. If any of you have advice, I am all ears.

Thanks,

Tim

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-new-beatles-platinum-unboxing-a-problem

Quick questions for you guys. Is this a standard stern cabinet? When I see pictures next to other newer sterns it looks smaller (shorter). The reason Im asking is that I have a outback and cant transfer a standard stern and close the hatch. My TNA fit fine but tight.

Thanks
Rob

Same cabinet as all the modern Sterns.

the rear leg mounting holes are higher up in the cabinet which makes the cabinet look smaller.

Thanks guys, I figure that was the thing with the back legs. I dont see Stern making a special cabinet like they did with Primus for a higher run game. Also, if someone is looking to leave the club in the future keep me in mind. I would like to pick up, so somewhere close or in Ohio.

Thanks again
Rob

Day two with this pin. LOVING IT.

This is not going to get boring for a long, long time. What a clever table. So happy I did this.

Scores are improving on Day Two.

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Day three.

It only seems to get more fun as I get a better grasp of the rule set. Some of it still escapes me, but I will figure the rest of it out soon enough. I have purposely decided to do this the "old school" way and didn't try to learn the rule set ahead of time through videos on YouTube or posts here. We used to have to PAY to learn tables, kids. Hahaha.

On the same topic, I think they did a great job with marrying the old school edict of "hit the flashing things" with new school mode-based play.

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Hit my 2nd highest score last week. May have to see about getting a 2nd pin. I love Beatles, but which pin would be as fun with a little more "doo dads?"

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Me too. It would take a pretty significant update to sacrifice the other albums.

In my collection, TSPP and JJP POTC are a good complement to Beatles..

Great score btw.

I love my Metallica (layout, code, art, doo dads, and of course music are fantastic) but would only recommend it if you like the music.
In a bigger collection, I’d change “like” to “tolerate.” Get out and play a bunch of different games if you can before deciding.

Do alternate translites exist for Beatles?

Don't get me worse, I really like Christopher Franchi's art in general, and I love the Beatles' music, but I don't really need to see the band members. I'm thinking something along the lines of the Luci edition of ACDC (less guys, more girls).

How about dead babies and raw meat?

A lot of the new generation of Beatle fans will have no idea what you are talking about. That would be a radical back glass.

I just opening my Gold today ... I played about 10 games and now the spinning record doesn't spin. Any suggestions?

I go into the testing and when I say "start" it does to bumps/jumps then nothing.

I literally just opened this machine!

This may seem obvious, but maybe check all the connections and reseat the applicable ones. Sometimes things come loose in shipping.

But we do.

I wanted to put figures above the standup targets to better mark the spot for the shots. I had a helluva time finding nice ones that were the right size and fit the 1964 theme. I found these guys on Etsy from an artisan in Mexico. I think they look pretty cool! All fit easily except for John, which I secured with a little metal bracket fastened to the lock nut on the plastic.
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Batman 66 fits the bill -- kinda similar in terms of pop culture, but a very different game experience. They complement each other well.

Anybody else notice that their Topper is acting different?

Yes, it's telling me that Paul is still not dead!

Paul's birthday was yesterday, June 18. I also thought I heard a different callout at the end of a game, too.