This pin is hard to find pics for. I did find this but it looks look a home made job sitting on top of the factory art. I do have a Seawitch and air balls are no problem on that pin. And I can see where a new more powerful pin like Beatles would have an issue with air balls in mid-play field, like my Robocop I made a deflector for, b am having a hard time understanding how air balls would be a problem up in the back so far from the flippers.

I don't what kind of material Stern is using to make these new plastics, the the stuff of old will break. If the center piece is unbreakable then one piece would be fine, but if it can break you will be glad the deflector is a separate piece.

And i have to agree that an additional piece is cheaper for Stern instead of having to retool.

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I imagine the separate pieces is cost related. Cheaper and easier to replace one clear piece as opposed to one piece with the artwork integrated. Especially if YOU have to buy one later one.

Agreed. I don't know how they would have missed center target air ball issue, either.

Ordered multiple rubbers for outkane posts & they all were to tight. While going through a drawer I found earbud replacement silicones. The smaller sized ones work absolutely perfect!

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I played a Beatles on location this weekend and I was pretty impressed with it. Expectations were low, but I found ripping the upper playfield loop very satisfying!

The video screen animations were pretty good as well, I feel like Stern is improving in this area (though clearly not on par with JJP yet - no one is.)

A nice surprise to play!

Quick impressions of The Beatles target customer:

I suspect that I’m among this game’s target customer.  I’m a 59 year-old, longtime pinball enthusiast who prefers EMs to modern games, but who genuinely enjoys all things pinball/arcade.  At my age, I’m just old enough to remember huddling in front of the black & white Sylvania t.v. with my parents and siblings to watch the Fab Four perform on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964.  Evidently, 73 million viewers tuned in that evening to create a moment of television history.  I’m also not so old that I’m ready to downsize.  Indeed, two of my three kids are still teenagers at home and my wife is 50.

I never thought that a Beatles pinball machine would be made in my lifetime.  Consequently, I concede that I want to like the game and that my objectivity ought to be viewed in that context.  My favorite British Invasion band is The Zombies (hits include:  Time of the Season, She’s Not There, Tell Her No).  Needless to say, nobody will ever make a game based on The Zombies.

Despite my affection for the Beatles theme, I would not spend $8K for a game that my family would not play nor for a game that failed to appeal to my pinball sensibilities.  Thus, if The Beatles had been a ramp-laden, deep ruleset modern creation, with long ball times, I would have been far less inclined to purchase one.  Perhaps that concept for another Beatles game is in the offing, with a smash your Beatles LPs mode, after John Lennon declares, in a 1966 interview, that the band is more popular than you-know-who.  Perhaps “A Day In the Life” or “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” will punctuate a skill shot from the plunger in a future game.  Perhaps a yellow submarine will navigate through a subterranean playfield in a reprised Beatles edition. So many great songs and so much iconic pop and rock history makes the Beatles theme ripe for a variety of pinball concepts.  Nevertheless, I think that Ka-Pow/Stern thought through their target customer in designing this game. They opted for mostly early hit songs and an art package which evokes the frenzy of Beatlemania.

Years ago, I bought a miniature fantasy Beatles pinball machine, shown here, imagining what a real Beatles game might be. In a couple of days, I’m excited that I’ll have a The Beatles Gold to play in my line-up.  It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. . .I’ll chime in again after the honeymoon stage wears off. This might take awhile, however. It's possible that this honeymoon may be a long and winding road.

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I installed the Mezelmods plastic protector set, which protects the lower 4 plastics. The 1st photo shows a "before and after" side-by-side comparison in which the left original sling plastic is unprotected whereas the right sling is equipped with the Mezelmods protector.

As depicted, when I installed the new protector on the right sling, I removed the 2 large metal washer protectors. Also, I replaced the small surface metal washers with tiny plastic transparent ones. The new appearance better displays the graphics with a green hue and removes the unsightly opaque metal washers.

I did the same swap with the lower plastics. The other 3 photos show the game after the complete swap. These protectors are thick and well-constructed and I recommend them, along with others in this thread.

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My 17 year-old daughter likes Beatles Gold. Indeed, she noticed herself among the fans!

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I wonder if Sir Paul ever cringes about the line "She was just seventeen, you know what I mean..."

Right up there with: "I'd rather see you dead little girl. . ." in Run For Your Life. Lennon expressed regret for that lyric.

We put our protector set on last week. I completely agree with everything you said.

Ordering today..... you sold me!

I also bought a "Gold Leaf Shooter Rod " (2") from Mezel Mods a couple of months ago and it perfectly matches the gold trim on the pin. Very nice indeed.

Has anyone filed down the leading edge of the shooter lane metal ramp to avoid ball hop?
Also, the whole shooter rod/ spring action feels a bit rough.... at least compared to other games I have owned. This is my first Stern NIB. Is this normal for Stern? ...is there an effective fix you have used?

The ball matches up with the ramp a small ways up into the "V". You will not have any ball hop other than when it leaves the ramp.

Not overkill. I had the ball fly up onto that plastic on the left and into the outlane several times. The kit solves both problems perfectly. Well done, Stern.

I’ll add also that I’m not the original owner of my Beatles and Stern sent me the kit without hesitation. Again, kudos.

May I ask how long it took to receive? I recently sent a request via an online service/tech inquiry on the Stern website. I'm wondering if I will receive an acknowledgement or simply the deflector in the mail.

I sent my email directly to the service e-mail address. Received mine in a couple days.

I installed the plastic, but wanted to hold off on the metal piece until I saw if I needed it. To me, the metal piece was kind of an eyesore.

I understand the need for it as I have had a couple balls get thrown up there and head straight down to drain, but I am sondering if the plastic piece will be enough to prevent it happening again.

Stern sent it right out. You need to include your serial #.

It is twice as wide as the one I made, which worked fine, but certainly fabricated better!

Very! Love the topper.

See for yourself. I don't notice either piece, to be honest. But there's so much going on on this playfield that they're easy to miss...

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FYI Lennon took those lines from the 1955 Elvis song "Baby, Let's Play House":

"Baby, Let's Play House"

Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby baby.
Baby, baby baby, b-b-b-b-b-b baby baby, baby.
Baby baby baby
Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you.

Well, you may go to college,
You may go to school.
You may have a pink cadillac,
But don't you be nobody's fool.

Now baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you.

Now listen and I'll tell you baby
What I'm talking about.
Come on back to me, little girl,
So we can play some house.

Now baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you.
Oh let's play house, baby.

Now this is one thing, baby
That I want you to know.
Come on back and let's play a little house,
And we can act like we did before.
Well, baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby,
I wanna play house with you.

Yeah.

Now listen to me, baby
Try to understand.
I'd rather see you dead, little girl,
Than to be with another man.
Now baby,
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, come.
Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you.

Oh, baby baby baby.
Baby baby baby b-b-b-b-b-b baby baby baby.
Baby baby baby.
Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you.

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap songs are bad also..... basically wants to sexually assault under aged girls.

Go to any court house and start checking marriage records from 40s and 50s. Lots of 16 year old girls getting married. Many to guys much older.

For Beatles fans, like us, there's a film (entitled: YESTERDAY) on the horizon which looks to be funny. Below is the premise and the trailer:

"Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal. From Academy Award®-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) and Richard Curtis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill, comes a rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life."

Didn't think it would happen - but I joined this club yesterday.

Thanks to Zach at Flip N Out Pinball. Had a good time meeting him in person at the MGC show yesterday.

Welcome and Congrats!

Beautiful young woman.

I think this a title that I shall get at some point in the future. I don't have the room for it now - nor do I want to spring so much cash for a pin at this time - but the long term plan is to get home built that has an integrated game where the pins will have a common home (currently they are in the garage, spare bedroom, foyer, and even one in the back of the kitchen!) I was of the generation of the "Beatles afterglow" (I was born right about when "Yesterday" was released), and as an amateur musician myself, I am a fan of Beatles kitsch.

However, I wouldn't want to get this title if it were a dud, just because of the theme. I am an avid skier, and would like to have a ski-themed title, but none of the few ones that have the theme interest me (I actually still own Williams Alpine Club, which has a wonderful backglass, but the playfield is "meh", especially since I already have the superior Williams Apollo in the herd. (Alpine Club is for sale, BTW.)

As a pinhead, I came of age during the late '70s, with Bally Playboy particularly being special to me as I was just starting to like looking at naked women right about that time (of course, that was the first title I had ever gotten), and I seem to like the level of play that was of that era, with only the barest of fancy lane playfields being if interest (e.g., Williams Fire), and having no interest pins that have a lot of interruption of play or no bumper-infused randomness (Fire is pretty much the only exception to that rule). The Beatles playfield, being a copy of Seawitch, harkens back to the day when playfield was an art, rather than an exercise into how complicated can the rule set be - and indeed, seems to add a few bells & whistles to make it a good player.

Anyway, I am wondering if this title (i.e., the standard "Gold") will become so much of a collector's item that it will exceed the current high price. I have a hunch that there are not enough folks that have the intersection of attributes of being very strong pinheads & Beatles fans to eclipse the 1964 run, and that this title will drop in value to some degree, as Beatles fans will pay a bit of a premium, but most pinheads will be "meh" at such a simple design.

It's not a "simple design" - plenty of "pinheads" appreciate games from the 70's-80's.

The live video footage and theme integration are just perfect on this title.

I can't predict the future, but I applaud Stern for taking a retro design point with this game.

Agreed. Now ponder this. Would you add to your new Beatles pin with another one based on later songs like Sgt Peppers in a modern pin design? I really think that I would.

If it were as well done as the retro Beatles, sure. If it were like most movie "sequels" (i.e. uninspired), I'd probably "pass".

What if it was produced by JJP ?

Absolutely. I hope they do come out with a later "The Beatles" pin. I would do the same with Led Zeppelin - early music pin and later music pin.

Uh, I meant simple design relative to what today's pinheads buying new machines expect. I also like the design of older games that didn't just have a zillion lanes, and instead have a lot of random bumper play.

Whatever. I don't make pinball purchases based on "what today's pinheads buying new machines expect".

The Beatles rules aren't "simple"...they are well conceived and satisfying.
The Beatles LCD integration isn't "simple"...the live concert footage and overall theme integration is great.
The Beatles mechs (drops, magnets, spinners, album disk) aren't "simple" when compared with modern Stern games.

Stern *has* built some "simple" games. For example, Whoa Nellie and Primus.

From my perspective, equating no ramps with simple is just misguided. Beatles is fast and fun. Since almost all recently built games have "ramps", I think it's refreshing that Stern had the inspiration to do something different!

Haven't played one, and can't seem to find any info on average game length. So, I'm hoping y'all can provide some feedback as far as what your typical game time is and a sense for your skill level. (Yes, I know that you can adjust things to make the game more/less difficult. I'm just curious to know what people are seeing).

I would be willing to bet money on the odds that Beatles likely has the lowest average game times of any recent pinball machine from either Stern or JJP. So, if shorter ball times and quicker, but still high scoring, games are what you are after, Beatles is a great choice. Perhaps because it is modeled after a game from the 80's, it's game times are much more in line with other machines of that era (10 minutes or so can be a pretty good game), which is one of the reasons why I chose to purchase it. I would consider myself to be an above average (but not top tier) player and I prefer shorter game times, as I'd rather play 4 good games over the course of an hour on 4 different machines instead of playing an hour trying to grind out a good score on one machine with long ball times (which seems to be how most of the modern games are designed to be played).

This is exactly what interested me about the Beatles. It plays fast and tough, making the seemingly easy objectives considerably harder than they appear. Even lighting/collecting the extra ball is pretty straightforward, but is surprisingly difficult most of the time. I wouldn't consider myself a great player, but i have ground through plenty of deeper games enough times to know what it will generally entail. I've gotten within a panel or 2 from LITZ on TZ enough times and walked away with credits left on the game just because i don't have it in me to start the journey over again so soon. Faster, more difficult games like Beatles can keep me hitting the start button again and again though, especially because of the short ball times and frustratingly easy-but-tough objectives. It's great we have choices that cater to both extremes nowadays!

I actually had a real kick-ass game on the Beatles up at the local arcade, 16 million! Still, i didn't finish all the modes to qualify Taxman multiball (just had to finish Ticket to Ride and It Won't Be Long to finally get there.... Maybe next time!)... That game was probably 10 mins tops. I walked away after that game, but I'd been playing for at least an hour prior to getting that score... I'm already looking forward to going back for more!

Yep, and it's what makes it a great multi-player game! 80's games rock when you have other players over. IMDN and LOTR are both awesome games, but not so great for 4 players (particularly if the players are heavy hitters).

I have a WOZ now that we all love to play; however, it can be painful to sit and watch someone play a ball for, what seems like, 30 minutes. The only thing more painful is to be the person playing that ball. I am ADD/ADHD so I lose interest and, besides, my fingers start hurting. We still really like the game and won't be getting rid of it; however, when I only have 10-15 minutes to kill, I don't even think about hitting the start button. Sounds like the Beatles may be the ticket to ride.

I had a WOZ, traded it for Beatles.

You might want to have your meds checked.

Love all the info on here! Thanks to those who have posted stuff on Mezel Mods. I’ll definitely be looking into ordering some.

Has anyone else run into mechanical issues? I had to tighten down a loose nut on my FAB popups. I have attached a pic of the nut that needed re-tightening. I guess this is typical, however when I contacted Stern they wanted me to run the diagnostics which didn’t indicate a malfunction. Anyway, the symptoms are that the popups stay down. I recommend using a bit of locktite on it to ensure it doesn’t become a recurring problem.

Looking forward to reading more tips on The Beatles pin.

Keep playing!

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