For anyone who has just jumped on to this thread, here's a summary of the last 3400 posts about the Beatles pin:

1. It looks great
2. It sounds good
3. It plays well and is a lot of fun
4. Operator owners are happy with it
5. Enthusiast owners are happy with it
6. The playfield design mirrors, and has made improvements on, a good older game
7. Stern are in the pinball business to make money and have priced it accordingly
8. It is expensive and there's a lot of people in this world who can't afford one

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I'll back him up on this.

You left out

9. It’s fun but I wouldn’t pay 8K for it

Fair enough. Let's add that point.

And include:

10. While others would happily pay 8K (or more for the non-Gold editions, which have exactly the same playfield!)

#9 (Number nine, number nine)- Many Pinsiders forget that they're consumers and have no financial stake in Stern and therefore no business cheering on Stern's pricing scheme.

And speaking of "Number nine, number nine", it reminds me of a potential #10, which is that the White Album or any Beatles albums 1966 and beyond is much better than the mop top stuff. Of course, there is Taxman in this game, which doesn't fit the artwork at all.

Played the GOLD edition today. This pin is a good time.

But this is the same Stern that had the genius plan that the player should be able to seel all the cool modes in one game, hence the super easy multiball games right before Stern almost went under. Gary Stern has some really dumb ideas and needs to be saved from himself at times. Ask Keith Johnson - he made a pretty legendary r.g.p. rant that talked about that and lots of other subjects.

Played Beatles for the first time last night and I must say I’m stunned that Stern/Kapow can sleep at night, after charging Charlatan prices for the Beatle/witch table. There is nothing to it? It’s the emporers new clothes syndrome all over again. Can’t everyone see that there is virtually nothing to this table? Boredom sets in after a dozen plays literally, in the way of game play.

The video clips of the Beatles are a joke. I saw on screen what I think was Paul, since the film lighting was so bad, you could hardly make out it was him. However the pop up graphics Stern created are nice.

Why would anyone pay an outrageous amount of money for this table ($8k)??? It honestly shouldn’t be sold for more than $3k to $3.5k, maybe $4k allowing for high license fees. The second hand market is not going to be kind to those that purchased this table.

After saying all that, in very small doses it is fun to play - occasionally. With only seconds played of each of the nine songs, they begin to grate on ones nerves, after hearing the same 40 seconds for the tenth time. And I’m a huge fan of those songs. The one caveat is the sound system Stern put on the table is its best feature. Maybe using the sound brower and adding full songs if possible, might help things out, but understand even if you do that, you’ll still only hear the programmed 40 to 60 or so seconds of a song.

So unfortunate that Stern/Kapow really blew this license, under the suspicious name of licensing fees. Honestly, the Beatles license the craziest, cheapest and simplist items, that it’s hard to believe it cost that much for licensing. Plain and simple, this was a blatant cash grab by Stern/Kapow. From this point forward, I will look sideways at anything Kapow has to do with Stern. Stern should not tarnish their reputation with this type of partnership. It’s not like Batman 66 that uses first class video clips and IP integration from the original show in abundance. That is a good example of how the Beatles table should have been done.

The Emperor has no clothes on.

Absolutely nothing you've said about Beatles strikes a chord with me...and I'm not saying that to "defend my purchase". In fact, I own every Stern music pin and I'm plenty critical of other Stern releases. Most recently, IMDN (because the Premium/LE mechs are so poorly implemented). You'd think that inheriting a design from Keith would give them a leg up and really nail the implementation. Nah. From my perspective, THAT's a cash grab...improperly implementing an otherwise fine design. Shit, the shooter lanes don't even serve up the ball reliably! No service bulletin? Give me a break.

Yes, Beatles is richly priced. Yes, Beatles is not a deep game (like most/all 80's pins). The video clips and music aren't annoying at all...they are well done. Casual players (i.e. people that don't frequent Pinside) love the game.

snaroff

Nothing more than a troll post....felt the need to post the same exact thing for the same people to read in 4 different Beatles threads. Funny!

Disagree. Trolls don't put that much effort into their posts.

Just because his opinion is *gasp* negative does not make him a troll.

Making things up like "4 threads" is more troll-ish than his honest review.

Sure they put effort in because they usually are super long rants trying to justify their opinion.

I didn’t make the 4 threads thing up, he literally posted the same rant in every single Beatles thread and there are several. That’s all I was saying.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion though, shit while we are at though, I’m of the opinion that Dialed In is no more than a 5k game just because I don’t like it and the theme blows.

Yeah, the Beatles.... Pffft! There's nothing to it. More coils than Deadpool. Three sets of drop targets. TWO opto spinners. Repeatable loop. LCD screen. Decent rule set that I think very few players bother to learn. Great art package and sound. More code updates to come most likely.

Do I own it? No. Do I want to own it? No. Is it a fun playing, solid game from Stern? Absolutely.

I one of those guys who buys and flips at a loss. Just probably addicted to NIB. Played game recently and is pretty fun and beautiful. Just worried I would have a hard time flipping it when I am done even at say $7K.

Hard to say..someone bought a gold for a private party put a couple hundred plays on it and sold for 7500 in a couple hours. I really don’t expect to see too many on the secondary market, even more so if they aren’t selling as some here suggest.

Definitely not trolling. I might not understand putting in multiple threads is frowned down upon. Didn’t realize everyone reads the same threads. Thought they were different ideas or interest?

Also, I like the game and wanted to buy it before release. But couldn’t justify cost vs. what’s actually there. I have no beaf with Stern or Kapow, except pricing. Which I realize distributors set, but think my distributor set their price fairly from a distributor stand point. It was the high wholesale price I have the issue with and the Kapow tax charged from Stern. I like Gary and glad it’s working for him as a company. He’s been through a lot and deserves it for hanging in there all these years. Just would like to see fairer pricing/value for money is all. Would not wish to see this business model continue and hope Stern sees the folly of this. If prices were better, the table would sell like hot cakes and Stern would make a great deal more money and not cause such controversy and backlash. I personally can afford any table(s) I want, it’s not that issue at all.

No worries, I feel the same way about many other titles like MB and DI.

Different strokes for different folks and that’s ok and the cool thing about pinball, something for everyone to enjoy!

I would much rather be putting all that effort posting about a game I like...!

You are luck enough to have a place where you can play the game. We do not and are really looking forward to having a go on one soon.

Maybe so, but the Beatles game is one I wanted to like and have it sitting right next to my Batman 66. Alas...

There has been too much negativity on Pinside about the Beatles pin, making a lot of peoples minds up before even having a go on the game. I get the game is not for everyone.

Beatles is a fun location pin.

Have all the platinums sold out?

I have to say this: The Beatles have sure out Ali-ed Ali when it comes to having their faces placed all over the pin. There is no doubt what you are standing in front of. Add in that topper and it is over the top.

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Looks around the usual level of topper

did stern ever release star wars topper?

It has been approved and "ready to be released"

Was it ever approved by the guy on Stern’s Facebook who has been “patiently” waiting? Lord, I hope so. If not they’ll have to face his wrath.

I played a Beatles today at CES for about 20 minutes. I was a total hater at announcement. Thought it looked ugly in pics.

Wow, gotta say, I realllly enjoyed playing it. Felt good. Didn’t feel like a modern Stern to me. Sound is spectacular. Visually, it looks great. I think the game is an A+. Would be a grand slam in a gameroom, especially if you get a lot of casuals or if you like older single level designs.

So, I take back everything I said about Beatles. Very cool game.

Wow. You've peaked my interest!

Before I place an order, is there anyone out there who was also a hater at announcement and remained one after actually playing Beatles?

AMD will have a gold here to play end January.

Its really fun pin especially when set up steep and fast. I set one up for a family member and everything is well done and it plays very fast. Everyone played it at Christmas and you cld not keep the young kids from hitting the start button.

only thing I hate is the price. Game is very fun.

I will caution that it needs more code, but sales seem very bad so I would assume WYSIWYG on this one.

And I think the least expensive "Gold" looks the best of the bunch (speckled Gold armor contrast with the cabinet looks sweet). Once more folks have an opportunity to see/play it in person, I think it will win many converts.

That seems to be the common theme.

The Beatles sang "All You Need Is Love" while they fully embraced capitalism. And like most musicians, they got screwed over by the recording companies in their early days. When I look at prices on Beatles website, my guess is the survivors live by the mantra, " screw me once, your fault, screw me twice, my fault."

Witness the long years it took for McCartney to finally get control of Beatles songs after M. Jackson bent him over.

None of the survivors need the money so they don't have to sell cheap. It is an envious business model.

It took Apple a long time to finally get The Beatles on iTunes. I would imagine the pricing negotiations was intense. Actually, I'm guessing the negotiations were more along the lines of "we understand you would like to be able to offer Beatles music on iTunes. And we would like to be on iTunes. Here is our price. Take it or leave it."

I sit here and try to figure how much The Beatles franchise charged Stern for the license for the "rare privilege" to make a Beatles pinball machine and think if the license was $1000.00 per pin the total take would be $1,964,000. Split 4 ways, each party would receive $491,000.

The Beatles Store is selling LE Box sets of Yellow Submarine for $196.80. This set is limited to 1968 copies. And only 44 units are left to sell.

Yellow Submarine Cookie Jars are sold out at $75.00 a pop.

Anybody want to plug in a guess to how much revenue The Beatles pinball license generated for the survivors?

I was excited to play the pin, but figured since I already had a Seawitch... I'd be out on Beatles.

I wasn't a hater by any stretch, I liked the whole idea of it actually.

Then I thought, "The games are different enough that you could have BOTH in a lineup!"

Then I thought, "This game is WAY more fun that my Seawitch!!!"

Then I sold my Seawitch.

I am playing it ALL THE TIME, and everybody who tries it, LOVES it.

The geometry tweak from Seawitch is substantial. The games play radically different. Beatles is the cool Granddaughter of Seawitch. Proud of her lineage, but she used the family fortune to make a name for herself!

I was able to spend some quality time on the Beatles at Flippers in NC while I was vacation, and I was left surprising impressed. I really didn’t expect much from it because while seawitch is fun, I would pick virtually any of the ~50 odd games there to play over it. Turns out the only game there that I spent more time on was JJP Pirates.

It just did a good job of making everything fun from the moment you hit start with the announcement of the Beatles, the difficult to hit top skill shot, and the jackpot on the bottom left behind the stand ups. Really enjoyed my time on it, and will absolutely drop some coins in it wherever I see it.

We received our Gold Model in early December and love it. I can't get the wife away from it. Because of the price I really did not want to spend any more money on mods. However, I took a chance and ordered the "Gold Leaf Shooter Rod" (Medium 2") from Mezel Mods. I couldn't be happier. The "gold leaf" on the ball absolutely matches the gold trim on the machine. It looks like it came from Stern that way.

Well said!

Played the Beatles at CES until I was sick of it! An OK machine, I really rocked out to the music though.

Set high score too!

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This pin is off the charts gorgeous and just really FUN to play

And....it’s the Beatles

The Ed Sullivan intro, call outs from Brucie and the classic clips of the Beatles

You play this pin and are just like WOW with the sound and the video

What a great representation of an iconic band at a historic time in music history

I’m enjoying it so much that I haven’t played my JJP POTC in 10 days...it’s that much fun!

Really? I had no problem keeping my smile in check when playing it..

Who's coding the game?

First time I've ever sung along to a pinball machine! I'd play this one every chance I got.

someone said it was externally contracted? It appears they have not listed anyone attributed for code.

Only Gomez as design and Franchi for art.

Dean Grover was the software programmer/rules guy. He worked for Bally/Williams before Stern. Jerry Thompson did the sounds. The LCD animations was outsourced to a person that does a lot of work with slot machines.