Changes from original Seawitch I've noticed

A magnet at the top of the playfield
Spinning disc with magnet
Mystery reward standup on lower left next to 3 bank of drops
Super jackpot standup on lower left behind 3 bank of drops
Skinny standups near the loops entrances
One additional spinner (that looks kinda worthless) on the left
A few modes inserts including a 2 ball multiball and some spinner/loop/drops scoring modes

I noticed it has a special insert. I would hope that means you can win credits, which means it will have a coin door. That or it's probably a token amount of points...

I think it's also just as likely Apple Corps didn't want to launch at a pinball expo. That said, I'm surprised a Stern youtube video is the reveal and not like a Rolling Stone magazine or something else more likely to get the attention of Beatles fans.

Still it probably really helps to have a good starting point to modify from then starting from scratch

I think they know this will be for Beatles fans first, pinball fans maybe. They designed an easy and intuitive looking game for non-players

I think Stern should absolutely make a single layer game with the approachability of an EM or early SS. Just don't straddle it with a crazy expensive license that will make it DOA.

Significant changes? It's the same layout with some minor adjustments. A decent CAD tech could draw this up in no time. They can cut and paste drop target mech designs from the modern games into this. There's really not much new to be designed here. The spinning disc with a magnet is about the only interesting thing on the whole game.

How many possible whitewoods would they need to go through to make this? This game has so little new design about it. There's not an interesting bash toy like Groot, or a new feature like the bullseye target from IMDN, or the rotating disc from Batman 66, etc.

Who knows what the screen will be with Stern. It could be a no thrills score display. And don't kid yourself into thinking that this thing will have interesting code. Look at the inserts, it's just starting increased values on playfield features and a 2-ball multiball. They're not making some sort of TSPP level of depth.

All of that is fine by the way, Stern should make a simple game. But it's such a waste of a license and you can clearly tell the license ate up most of the BOM for playfield elements and R&D.

Oh you know Stern is setting aside 1-4 for the whales willing to pay even more for that plaque.

I get that they're mainly going after The Beatles collectors, but it still seems so arrogant for Stern to say they'll make 1,964 (I guess up to that number, I kinda doubt they'll make it there unless distributors are fine with these sitting for a long time and/or Stern reaches out to high end furniture stores to buy stock).

Like people complain about Supreme, but that was a limited 200 machine run that Supreme bought upfront. I wonder how long it will take Stern sell nearly 2k when by most accounts 2k seems like a good run for any machine, let alone one with such limited appeal.

I think Stern fucked up the marketing on this in so many ways. The video was poorly made, there doesn't seem to be any media buzz around it yet, and I'm really curious how Stern intends to get the marketing message to Beatles collectors. And no matter how much they insist it will be limited, 1,964 machines is not a limited collectable. They'll probably sell the most expensive games, make the investment back, and slowly work on selling the rest of the machines. I wonder if the license includes a hard time-limit on when all of these machines need to be built and sold by. Like if they don't have to rush production and shove a bunch of stock though the channel, I can see them taking years to sell that many games.

A 70 year old Beatles fan that buys it will play it for a month and a few years later the person managing the estate sale will be here trying to sell it as a rare collectible. Only 1,964 made!

If you want to get reductive, there are very few pins that don't recycle ideas. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that. Like Metallica and GotG are extremely similar, but they're both good games.

Like even with The Beatles, yes it's Seawitch with some tweaks, but it's still pretty different than anything Stern has made in years. Seawitch is a good game and there are some interesting changes for The Beatles.

I think Deadpool is a mediocre game, but it's not because it reused the sword ramp from LOTR (that's a cool ramp!)

I agree Stern shoots themselves in the foot with pinheads and collectors when they ship before the code is feature complete, yet it's dumb to let old software bring your opinion down on the machine as it exists today. Batman 66 was shit when it came out and now it's one of the best Stern games. GotG was boring when it came out, and now it's a solid game.

Next thing you'll say is that's not even Michael Nesmith's real hat

Vector isn't a great game, but the way it uses memory controlled drops is.

It would be dope if it had over the top lights in the back box and a buzzer when you roll it

I believe Joe K confirmed that they're as long as they need to be for the mode they're designed for. So some are 45 second clips and others are closer to two minutes.

How about we wait for the game to be out to figure out if it even needs a code update? The game seems super straightforward and how many people are going to be clamoring for some super secret ultra wizard mode. If they say it's 1.04 I bet they have all the major features implemented, are content with the animations, and have squashed the majority of bugs. Not every game needs an absurd level of depth that needs a powerpoint presentation to explain.