Real industry people know their mission is to create fun - that is one mantra at least Gary is consistent on. They can create fomo with themes etc…, but without fun the gig won’t last!
Leaders need to respect their product and business is always on the brink of failure if they don’t deliver the fun. Those who think producing coinop is something that can be systemized and optimized into something to just maximize profit will burn up the business quickly
Quoted from VisitorQ:Let's me start by saying... I don't own a pinball company, nor do I run one. Hell I don't even work at one but I am a customer and have never been exactly thrill with Stern although I want to be. Big price hikes, delays, poor communication and a parts department that has their head up their ass. Sorry but his has been my personal experience so yours may differ but at least when I call JJP someone picks up the phone! Listen... This is not a witch hunt, I am not perfect and either is JJP so don't think I am trying to compare the two. However. For me, Stern could use some retooling of the company and now with Gary stepping down as CEO, we come to the my question.
Do you think Stern will become better as a company with a new CEO and some fresh blood leading the pack?
What improvements would you like to see?
Stern is absolutely crushing it in my opinion. Fresh blood? I don’t see how that would be a good business decision at all.
The only change I would actually like to see is some form of pre information on new pinball coming.
Real hype from them is what I want on new releases. I have never enjoyed the current release method in pinball.
I like a little more hype myself.
I couldn’t find the stern financials I wanted to present here, but I would bet they are very good.
Take the time to inform yourself. As a hobbyist, I know far more about these companies than is necessary for me to enjoy the product. The company employees grant interviews all the time. Not every executive goes to expos and interacts with collectors. That, in no way, hinders their ability to perform a job.
Stern has moved to larger production facility within the last 5 years and is about to move to an even larger facility. Despite economic challenges, they are making record numbers of products. I like to bitch as much as the next collector, sometimes more. This does not mean I could do it better.
I know I would like to see better QC on Stern pins, as we have to pay more for them now! Waiting for a special title, then,you get it and its not working right is a big fat turd you have to eat! BS I say!!!
Quoted from hawkmoon:I know I would like to see better QC on Stern pins, as we have to pay more for them now! Waiting for a special title, then,you get it and its not working right is a big fat turd you have to eat! BS I say!!!
Agree. Would be nice if they checks vs a 10 second checklist. Missing parts, loose screws, loose flippers, etc.
Quoted from unlockpinball:Is this going to be a repeat of Bally/Williams from 1999?
Yes.
Stern is going to release a line of boring pins with CRTs attached and will stop making pinball machines by October.
You called it dude!
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Yes.
Stern is going to release a line of boring pins with CRTs attached and will stop making pinball machines by October.
You called it dude!
The new building is actually the going to be the start of their slots division.
Quoted from pinballaddicted:Did you buy the game direct from Stern? You are meant to go through your distro for warranty and/or parts. What was wrong with the decal?
Frustrating, we have been waiting for some parts for over a year. That is not normally a sign of a bad company, more a sign of a bad line manager.Stern need to get onto this.
I did not get the game directly from Stern and I did go through a distro to get the decal but they were unsuccessful.
The short story is... I needed a head decal. I spoke to Stern via email about it and they showed that it was in stock but they told me that my distro had to order it which they did but when they did, Stern said it was out of stock. So then I emailed Stern back about it and got someone else who told me I had to order through my distro which I told them I did but they were told it was out of stock. Bottom line is my friend knew someone who worked there and they personally walked over to the parts department and sent it to him to give to me.
I mean it's crazy and honestly, that is the short version of the story!
I really, really want to love Stern and support them as a company but stuff like that is frustrating leaving a bad taste in my mouth which is why I hope they step things up a bit. Good customer service is hard to find these days...
Quoted from PanzerFreak:May want to listen to your own advice when it comes to dragging Toy Story through the mud regularly
The difference is I think the game is really unappealing, and shouldn’t be held up as some kind of “this should be the future of pinball” example. But I didn’t say Pat Lawlor is a hack, or JJP is run by soulless ghouls.
If you like Toy Story then enjoy it. Your fun shouldn’t be affected by some guy in Torrance disliking it. Nor should anyone feel the need to go beyond not liking a game to personally insulting the people who made it.
Pinball looking like a ticket redemption game though is a trend I will not be shy about dunking on. If that’s where JJP thinks the hobby should go that’s on them, I don’t need to bite my tongue about it being disappointing.
Panzer has a deceased uncle who LOVED Tolkien, therefore nobody here can make fun of Toy Story.
Sorry, I don’t make the rules.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Hell I just had a family pinball party with 15+ people and guess what the most played game was...Toy Story, followed by GNR.
That's because they were there 2 hours for a party. Kids are attracted to bright, colorful lights like flies on shit, and of course the theme helps. People who follow pinball and spend time on places such as Pinside talking about it have given it largely negative marks. It's almost as if you are JJP's acting defense attorney or something.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Sorry, I don’t make the rules.
True, but boy do you enforce them… 
You know why redemption games, crane grabbers, coin pushers, and general ticket dispensing monstrosities of all kinds have rainbow puke LEDs running full blast all the time? It works. Like moths to a flame.
Crane games earn like crazy. You can pull $8-10k a month in a good location with one. It's so much smarter than operating pins if you just want to make money.
I bet if you threw a family party with a couple crane games that people would try and grab the shit out of some cheap plushies the whole party long.
Quoted from usandthem:That's because they were there 2 hours for a party. Kids are attracted to bright, colorful lights like flies on shit, and of course the theme helps. People who follow pinball and spend time on places such as Pinside talking about it have given it largely negative marks. It's almost as if you are JJP's acting defense attorney or something.
Actually the party lasted 8 hours, there were no kids there. We were playing pinball until midnight. My two cousins who owns games (modern games) enjoyed Toy Story a ton so deal with it.
My goodness some of you anti JJP trolls here are too much. Now you are trying to mock my family who liked the game. Get out of here with that garbage, ridiculous and rude.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:My goodness some of you anti JJP trolls here are too much. Now you are trying to mock my family who liked the game. Get out of here with that garbage, ridiculous and rude.
Happy new year Panzer, I hope your year is full of RGB LEDs dancing merrily.
Quoted from Aurich:You know why redemption games, crane grabbers, coin pushers, and general ticket dispensing monstrosities of all kinds have rainbow puke LEDs running full blast all the time? It works. Like moths to a flame.
Crane games earn like crazy. You can pull $8-10k a month in a good location with one. It's so much smarter than operating pins if you just want to make money.
I bet if you threw a family party with a couple crane games that people would try and grab the shit out of some cheap plushies the whole party long.
Trying to insult my family as well? Just wow. Get out of here with your trash redemption ticket comments about Toy Story. Why some people here have such a problem with someone enjoying a game is beyond belief. Give it a rest.
I guess my two cousins who own pinball machines and are engineers are full of crap, they don’t know what they are talking about. Again let others enjoy the game without insulting them. Try it.
I don’t see Stern heading to “TS4 land” any time too soon, seeing as they have built and put out some of their best machines ever in the past 3 years. At least they are not subscribing to or sacrificing their over all presentation to the Karn-evil redemption make-over gods like some company (who’s name I won’t mention) does prior to them ejaculating their slot machine/redemption hell baby spawn all over the industry. Yes, TS4 has a carnival theme, but why do Wonka and TS4 make me feel like I’m stuck in a half smoky, cigarette ash-stained slot parlor where a gin-soaked, 62 year old waitress, who looks like Ernest Borgnine, is serving me a highly watered down highball and one look at her legs makes me pause and question my life’s choices, because she’s been wearing high heel pumps so long, her calves look like Arnold Swarzeneggers biceps?
Now that’s how to drag TS4 through the mud…
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Actually the party lasted 8 hours, and everyone there was over 20. We were playing pinball until midnight. My two cousins who owns games (modern games) enjoyed Toy Story a ton so deal with it.
My goodness some of you anti JJP trolls here are too much. Now you are trying to mock my family who liked the game. Get out of here with that garbage, ridiculous and rude.
Yeah we’ve seen this routine before.
If you insult panzer’s games you are insulting his family. There’s really nothing else like it on Pinside.
Bizarre.
Quoted from Bublehead:I don’t see Stern heading to “TS4 land” any time too soon
Not if Gomez has anything to say about it, that's for sure. He's thrown plenty of non-subtle shade at the LED explosion trend.
I'm not making up those crane game numbers btw, those are real earnings, I've seen the reports. They print money.
Just like slot machines, there are so many easier ways to make money making blinky lights than pinball.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Actually the party lasted 8 hours, there were no kids there. We were playing pinball until midnight. My two cousins who owns games (modern games) enjoyed Toy Story a ton so deal with it.
My goodness some of you anti JJP trolls here are too much. Now you are trying to mock my family who liked the game. Get out of here with that garbage, ridiculous and rude.
Oh, so now we’re going to make it personal? If that’s the case then you might just be a little too fragile to participate in a public forum. You know damn well I wasn’t talking about the kids in your family as being the only kids in the world attracted to bright, flashy lights.
Quoted from usandthem:Oh, so now we’re going to make it personal? If that’s the case then you might just be a little too fragile to participate in a public forum. You know damn well I wasn’t talking about the kids in your family as being the only kids in the world attracted to bright, flashy lights.
What do you expect from this guy?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-le-vs-metallica-pro#post-6388284
Quoted from KingVidiot:How often I see pinmonk here and in pinball stream chats bashing Lonnie is disgraceful. If someome wants to pay $140 to put a $3 usb pc fan in their pinball machine, by all means, but that kinda behavior warrants me advising people shop elsewhere.
Someone else’s writing ‘warrants’….absolutely zero from you.
It’s possible there is a broader audience for this message today.
Bublehead Theorem on Pinball purchases:
The over justification of the purchase of a thing with a highly questionable actualized or speculated worth or value is in of itself an almost guaranteed tell tale indicator of the initial purchaser’s level of buyer’s remorse.
Mike Drop.
Quoted from usandthem:Oh, so now we’re going to make it personal? If that’s the case then you might just be a little too fragile to participate in a public forum. You know damn well I wasn’t talking about the kids in your family as being the only kids in the world attracted to bright, flashy lights.
You made things personal insulting and implying things about my family who enjoyed a pinball machine of all things. I called you out for it.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:You made things personal insulting and implying things about my family who enjoyed a pinball machine of all things. I called you out for it.
That’s fine. Like what you like. That’s great. I hope your family plays it right into the ground. It doesn’t change the fact that your moral high ground debating ploy is weak.
Quoted from TheLaw:What does being an engineer have to do with anything?
I am an engineer and that makes me no more qualified than anybody else to give an opinion on a machine. That being said I play Toy Story on location and enjoy it. It just isn’t a game for my collection at this time.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:and are engineers
Hey, dragging us engineers into this fray unwillingly is not cricket dude. There are plenty of engineers who would like to forget their past mistakes and you dredging up bad memories of things like, yes, there really where engineers that worked on TS4 is not helping. But, hey, come on? Why pour lemon juice in the wound, right?
Quoted from TheLaw:What does being an engineer have to do with anything?
A very strange argument indeed.
I just wanted to share that I’m both an Engineer and a bean-counting MBA and I still think TS4 looks like ass and is shit value for the price.
Carry on.
You have to be joking about JJP not going downhill after Jack sold the company? See Toy Story 4 if you have doubts
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Had Jack not sold JJP would be out of business. Jack selling the company was the best thing that ever happened to JJP and it's a reason they are still here today. They are still making great products today, are they perfect no but the games being made today are just as fun IMO (if not more) then before Jack sold.
Soon every single one of Panzer’s relatives will have been personally insulted by a Pinsider, and every pinsider will be blocked by panzer.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Maybe that's what happens when you just start enjoying a game and not thinking about being offended over something such as a "mini" LCD screen.
There's plenty of legit criticisms for JJP but hating on the mini LCDs always confuses me. They aren't perfect but they're overwhelmingly dedicated to information the player can use right now.
On most moderns it seems any time I find a moment to glance at the backbox to get information about the actual game state like timers, counters, scores and running modes they're being blocked or preempted in favor of video clips, achievement pop-ups and other fluff. The worst offenders end up backlogged queuing up one thing after another announcing and celebrating things that happened 30 seconds ago.
Quoted from usandthem:Panzer put me on ignore.
It's a powerful strategy, I suggest deploying it more often in 2023, it will improve your year.
--
Back on the topic of actually Stern, I've been going back and re-watching their "making of" videos lately. Been thinking a lot about the process of making pinball, and it's been fun to watch these marketing videos with their behind the scenes peeks. And they are marketing, and I know how it works, and I still don't care and enjoy the enthusiasm on display.
They're honestly really well done videos. Well edited, well paced, and they do pull back the curtain quite a bit on things if you pay attention. Maybe you don't nerd out on the quick pans over CAD and take screenshots to study, but uh, I do. 
I was listening to an interview with Gomez the other day (apologize for forgetting the podcast, the really recent one he did) and he said something along the lines of if the license gives them freedom to work they can really do a lot. I think he was specifically referring to Deadpool at the time, but it applies to games like Godzilla just as much. It's true, you can tell which games have freedom from the licensor and which don't.
It made me want to go out and find a Deadpool on location and try it again, I haven't played it since it was new. Marketing works!
Edit: felt bad not remembering the podcast, so dug up the link. Nice job Joel.
Quoted from Aurich:It's a powerful strategy, I suggest deploying it more often in 2023, it will improve your year.
--
Back on the topic of actually Stern, I've been going back and re-watching their "making of" videos lately. Been thinking a lot about the process of making pinball, and it's been fun to watch these marketing videos with their behind the scenes peeks. And they are marketing, and I know how it works, and I still don't care and enjoy the enthusiasm on display.
They're honestly really well done videos. Well edited, well paced, and they do pull back the curtain quite a bit on things if you pay attention. Maybe you don't nerd out on the quick pans over CAD and take screenshots to study, but uh, I do.
I was listening to an interview with Gomez the other day (apologize for forgetting the podcast, the really recent one he did) and he said something along the lines of if the license gives them freedom to work they can really do a lot. I think he was specifically referring to Deadpool at the time, but it applies to games like Godzilla just as much. It's true, you can tell which games have freedom from the licensor and which don't.
It made me want to go out and find a Deadpool on location and try it again, I haven't played it since it was new. Marketing works!
Edit: felt bad not remembering the podcast, so dug up the link. Nice job Joel.
I watched the podcast too. Aside from genuinely illuminating things pertaining to Stranger Things and Gomez talking about his designs, it seemed like the interviewer was more enamored with having the chance to chat with Gomez than asking any tough questions. But we know that Stern is beyond reproach when it comes to being challenged.
Quoted from usandthem:But we know that Stern is beyond reproach when it comes to being challenged.
I wouldn’t go that far
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Panzer has a deceased uncle who LOVED Tolkien, therefore nobody here can make fun of Toy Story.
Sorry, I don’t make the rules.
Crazy, you were being extremely rude in that thread when we were debating points about the Hobbit. I just mentioned one of the reasons I like the Hobbit is because of my Uncle and I enjoying the movies together. You then proceeded to be your usual rude and obnoxious self. Really bizarre behavior indeed. Thank you for now saying deceased uncle instead of your cruel dead uncle comments.
Time to set you back on ignore, see you haven’t changed.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Soon every single one of Panzer’s relatives will have been personally insulted by a Pinsider, and every pinsider will be blocked by panzer.
Nah, just yourself and a few other obnoxious and rude Pinsiders pull that crap. Insulting people is something yourself and a select few on here enjoy doing for whatever bizarre reason.
I enjoy having discussions with a vast majority of Pinsiders but like I said it’s just yourself and a few others that are near constantly rude to others…or maybe it’s to just people that enjoy JJP games.
It’s a podcast, not a hard hitting press conference.
Would you go on a podcast with someone who was going to yell at you and try and ambush you with gotcha questions you’re not going to answer?
I wouldn’t.
I mean, I get it. I love listening to the Keith Elwin interviews, but I do tire of every other question starting with “you’re such a genius and this idea was so smart and I love your games, can you tell us about the making of this feature, that I adore by the way”. It can be a bit thick.
But it’s just some fans doing a podcast, I don’t fault them. Keith’s games make them happy. Nothing wrong with that.
And I find the answers often insightful and interesting even beyond the fan gushing.
Edit: Also to be fair, Joel asked about things like the 2 pops firing together and got a reasonable answer.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Nah, just yourself and a few other obnoxious and rude Pinsiders pull that crap. Insulting people is something yourself and select few on here enjoy doing for whatever bizarre reason.
And Happy New Year to you all!!
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Trying to insult my family as well? What an ass. Get out of here with your trash redemption ticket comments about Toy Story. Why some people here have such a problem with someone enjoying a game is beyond belief. Give it a rest.
I guess my two cousins who own pinball machines and are engineers are full of crap, they don’t know what they are talking about. Again let others enjoy the game without insulting them. Try it.
Good advice. Heed it yourself.
Quoted from PanzerFreak:Crazy, you were being an ass in that thread when we were debating points about the Hobbit. I just mentioned one of the reasons I like the Hobbit is because of my Uncle and I enjoying the movies together. You then proceeded to be your usual rude and obnoxious self. Really bizarre behavior indeed. Thank you for now saying deceased uncle instead of your cruel dead uncle comments.
Time to set you back on ignore, see you haven’t changed.
One of the few times I've agreed with you panzer. -
Quoted from CrazyLevi:What do you expect from this guy?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-le-vs-metallica-pro#post-6388284
That was a hilarious read, but it also begs an important question to the moderators: how can you allow negative reviews of Shaq Attaq if my grandpa played mine right before he died and said it was better than the Shaq-endorsed Epson printer he bought?
Quoted from KingVidiot:how can you allow negative reviews of Shaq Attaq if my grandpa played mine right before he died
Levi’s nana. That’s how.
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