Hello all! I'm considering picking up a Rush Pro and was wondering: How many people here love the game but aren't big fans of the band? I think Rush the band is fine, but I'm not a "big fan". The pin has shot well when I've played it, and I figured it'd be something different to own.

Also, I've seen mention of color blindness making it a bit harder to play. I've red/green color blind, and really hate not knowing what I'm shooting at Wonka has been a bit frustrating at times.

I took their online test a few years ago to see if I'd be a good fit. "Unlikely" was the result, despite knowing how cool it'd be to say "Excuse me while I put on my Pinball enhancement glasses..."

It seems like there's plenty of stock everywhere. There's no point in making more if there's no need, and people are still clamoring for other pins that aren't available.

Alright folks, I'm one day and twenty games into my Rush Pro. First off, I think the music of Rush is fine, but I've never been "into them". John Borg is my favorite current designer (goodbye Pat, happy retirement, come back soon!). And, I've played hundreds of pins and owned about a dozen or so. This one is somehow different, but I can't put my finger on it.

Previously, I played maybe ten games on it at a show. That's it. My new mode of buying pins is "I wonder how that will feel playing at home. Let's find out". I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm playing, other than "hit the blinking shots". Yes, I have the Tiltforums rulesheet printed and ready to read...when I yield. Maybe in a week, maybe more. I like to figure things out myself to start, but this one is still quite a mystery to me.

This pin feels GOOD. Like, "I don't understand why it feels -this- good, but it does." Better than any Stern I've played in the last few years. Now, I know I'm high on that New Pin Feeling, but this is different. Despite still not really knowing what I'm doing, everything feels satisfying. Especially the dead-end shot. Why does that shot feel so good? Don't know, don't care. It does. I've played a hundred games on Godzilla and have never felt this good shooting the ball around. And Godzilla is The Greatest Game Ever Made, And Ever Will Be, Amen! (or so I'm told)

So anyways, there's my $.02. I know you all like the game, otherwise you likely wouldn't be on this thread reading these words. I like the game, too. But there's something...different...that I'm especially loving. And as I look up at the 236(!) pages of existing thread, I just remembered this is the first pin that I didn't read the ENTIRE owners thread before buying. Maybe you're all gushing all the time. Maybe this is all old news. Maybe it's my Bourbon Pear Cocktail talking. Whatever it is, I'm happy I discovered this pin. Game on!

I don't want to derail this thread into a "pinball bubble" thread, but think about where pinball demand was 20 years ago. And then 10 years ago. And then 5 years ago. It's skyrocketed. Could it continue to skyrocket? Sure. But when interest in established things skyrocket, it historically has dropped sharply at some point. This isn't a comment on pinball, just simply the ebb and flow of the popularity of already established things.

As someone who sold a Halloween and bought a Rush a month later - good luck. You're selling a Toyota to buy a Saab. Their customer service is extra responsive, which is great because their pins are poorly engineered and built. Fun games? Yes. Lots of soul? Yes. Made well? Well....

Be careful about that 5% rebate from the CC - I find it doesn't apply to these pin purchases. If you look at the pics, the 5% back is clearly showing on the chair, but not the pin. If you see one with that 5% rebate, I'm all ears!

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Every single pin I've seen so far (including all the ones showing up in "The Stern Store" today and days previous) is lacking that 5% rebate label. There was a Godzilla Premium in the Stern Store for $9k a few months ago that got me VERY excited considering the 5% rebate...but the rebate wasn't listed.

If they ever have it, I'm...you know, quite interested

I think I fixed it, but I'm still curious to hear input on this. During a manual plunge the ball appeared to veer left into the upper right flipper about 30% of the time. I think I found the culprit - my plunger was misaligned a tiny bit to the right. I've adjusted the plunger and now it is 98% better. My question though is: What's really making the ball appear to make a hard left into the flipper? There's nothing on the right to bounce off of. The guides on the left are positioned correctly per the sticky at the top of this thread. I can't figure out what would cause that veering.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HHhGc1V_98eGTJkSD2f_DfHU3SbFuKbn/view?usp=sharing

I think this is almost always the case. I haven't found a Premium yet that I thought was leaps and bounds better than a Pro, but it's an option for people which is great. I will say I just discovered last night that the dead end shot on the Rush Premium doesn't naturally bounce back to the flipper. I LOVE that shot, and just seeing it shoot up the habitrail makes me sad after having played the Pro. Again, thankfully we have choices!

I would have replied sooner but I was busy seizing. Those look cool, but I wouldn't be able to stand watching someone play a game like that!

Many! My biggest recommendation is to play them first. Others here recommended Iron Maiden, but for me it's near the the bottom of modern pins. John Borg designed this game - you may want to check out his other pins. I just sold my Metallica Pro and that's a Top 5 game for me.

I thought the same thing when first I saw it, but I've found it to be a surprisingly open shot as-is. Have you played it yet?

I think that's a reasonable question that I ask myself often. For me, almost every manufacturer has been hit or miss for service (Spooky has been the only one that's been 100% great) but especially Stern. And yet, I still buy NIB from them despite swearing "Never again!". Why? Because it's either "Give that company who serves me poorly my business and get their game, or not...and not get that game". And they have games I really really want that I can't get used for a reasonable price. Contrast that to Ford and my local Ford dealer who did a TERRIBLE job with a new car I had - I plan to never buy a new Ford or use that dealer ever again. But it easier, because there are so many other options that I want equally or more.

I imagine when the used market calms down a bit I'll be more used-exclusive.

This can't be stated loudly enough. I rest it on a trimmed paint stirrer across the flippers to make sure it's 100% parallel. I find eyeing it to be extremely difficult.

I sold my Metallica and a month later bought my Rush. Metallica is a top 3 game for me, and I still love it. But I feel like Rush is like a warmer, fancified Metallica - a lot more going on, and super flowy.

I have a specific question the Premium owners here: Do you -like- the features of your Premium? Not to be confused with "do you like the pin overall", I mean do you like the clock, the moving ramp, etc? With most pins I actually like the Premium upgrades, but specifically on Rush the moving ramp and clock do nothing for me, and the changing of the dead end shot to the upkick-into-habitrail I actually like less.

And, this isn't trying to bash on Pros vs Premiums - I'm just trying to get people's opinions about the Premium features of the pins they own and see if there's something I'm missing.

So I was trying to figure out what awarded an extra ball and saw that "eight ramp shots" would qualify it. I didn't believe it, because eight ramp shots would be waaaay too easy. So I decided to test it out.

And yeah, after trying non-stop for half an hour, I can confirm it's true.

I think it's just one more piece of the Condition Puzzle, like number of plays. There was an Aerosmith for sale recently that was showing 2k plays...and a horribly, blackened beat up shooter lane. Clearly the number of plays wasn't accurate. Or, they cranked up the trough power to hear it eject over the cranked up music (that's a thing, right?).

He didn't say he wanted everyone to stop buying toppers, he said -overpriced- toppers. And if everyone indeed did do that, they'd simply offer cheaper toppers. But, that's not what the market wants. They clearly want $1700(!) toppers.

I think topper pricing has less to do with BOM and more to do with what they can sell it for. Unlike a pin, I think they could sell these toppers for half off and still make excellent money. But instead people are gobbling them up for $1700. And if they sell out quickly, they're not going to be "only" $1700 next time. In the general world of irrational valuing and pricing, I put pinball toppers near the top of the list.

Maybe I wasn't clear. Demand and BOM both effect the pricing, but differently for toppers and pins.
I think if the BOM of a Stern Pro goes up 10%, they'll be increasing the price mostly BECAUSE of the BOM.
I think if the BOM of a topper goes up 10%, it will be irrelevant - they'll be increasing the price mostly based on what they can get for it.

Mine does this maybe 20% of the time. No visible broken welds, everything feels tight, but I haven't tried the "turning it counterclockwise from underneath" exercise. I guess that's next.

Am I the only one that has a magical machine that DOES have the ball save on during multiball? Pre and post update. I've heard several of you say and confirm it shuts off during multiball, but I can tell you with 100% certainty my ball save indeed works during multiball. Often, to my unwarranted benefit. Perhaps it's because I increased the time from 1s to 2s?

I haven't seen any difference in my scoring, but I'm also paying zero attention to record colors as I'm color blind and it's quite difficult to keep track of. Your drop seems drastic! 100B doesn't seem very high (no offense). Just for giggles, try focusing on "getting good" at just one thing to see what happens. I love activating the drum by dropping the three instrument targets, hitting the pops a million times to increase that value (my record was around 500k/pop) and then getting the ball behind the top right flipper to start that scoring. 500k a pop can lead to some big scores fast! Who needs colored records!

I know you're not asking "why isn't my score higher in general", but maybe you were (inadvertently?) chasing high scores via some scoring that they've diminished. After a few dozen game I'm not seeing it here for me.

The way I see it is the upgraded speakers will absolutely sound better. Costing 5% of what the whole machine cost, would it add 5% more enjoyment? Maybe, but not likely for me.

I've had killer audio systems at home and in my car, and this is what I've come to realize: Once you appreciate and get used to something, you care an awful lot less about upgrading it. I don't imagine people who have only heard a modern stock pin saying "Man, this really needs to sound better." Just like how practically nobody bought a pin and thought "Man, you know what this needs? Something on top of the backbox." without first seeing toppers. I don't fault anyone for wanting those things, but the fact that they're hyped up and normalized in our circles absolutely effects our impressions of them. For me, the only real exception is bass you can feel. During every game of a bass-heavy pin (Heist and Halloween come to mind), I appreciate it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if everyone's upgraded sound slowly reverted back to stock over time, few would notice.

Stock, and everything feels perfect.

You may want to post this fact in the JP Home Pin owners forum. They've been known to trim them and use them. I don't know if they're economical to ship, but they may find homes there.

When I see all of you get excited and you can't stop talking about buying $140 (or $180!) shooter knobs, or $1700 toppers, I shake my head and think "Wow, this is absurd and ridiculous!".

Then I remember I excitedly own and can't stop talking about my half dozen pins worth $3k-$11k/each, and I'm sure many of my friends and family shake their heads and think "Wow, this is absurd and ridiculous!".

Thanks for the perspective, mirror!

I think a reason they're possibly discontinuing them is there's likely more than "a last few" out there. Automated has had stock continuously for months.

It took me two years to get a replacement playfield for my BKSOR, with many false updates along the way. I wish you luck!

I loosened the mounting screws, rotated it hard, and tightened them. Zero improvement.
I placed some washers underneath the scoop to "definitely" fix the problem. That seem to help for about 20 ejects, now it's back to STDM half the time. (I haven't checked underneath yet to see if those washers shifted, but that's unlikely)
It seems inconsistent, and a bit frustrating to "fix" it over and over and continue to have the same problem.

Turned it down. Turned it up. It changes it, but it doesn't make it any better. I'll have to look into the bending method, but as I try to imagine the surrounding metal this seems like the wrong place for that. Orbits, yes. Here, I'll be curious.

ANOTHER observation/solution regarding STDM scoop ejects: The coil that shoots the ball out of the scoop isn't 100% square with the scoop (at least on my machine). If the plunger isn't hitting the ball straight up the scoop to begin with, that's a bit of a problem. I loosened the screws to not only the scoop but also the coil and firmly rotated them to be as inline as possible. It was miniscule movement, BUT, it's now working 100%. I also removed the washer solution and put the power back to 185.

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We understand where you're coming from. We know your heart is sincere. Having said that, here are three immutable facts:

1) You're a liar, liar.
2) Your pants are on fire.
3) Said pants are hanging. On a telephone wire.

Yes, it works great. No, I don't have a part number. Something that (oddly) no one seems to talk about is if you have an issue with the pin, Stern will actually help you. They have that inner loop fix. It takes less than five minutes to install, and has worked 100% for me since installation.

On one hand, I'm always amazed people will buy a $7-$10k piece of equipment and then spend more money fixing issues vs putting it on Stern. On the other hand, I got sick of trying to "fix" the rattly plunge and bought the $20 mod. I hated doing that, but it's a 98% fix and no more contacting Stern about "is my shooter rod aligned".

I agree 100% and I think your logic is, indeed, super solid. If others really, truly find value in it (or any other purchase) that's great, have at it. But it appears a lot of people -don't- see the value, and yet are still buying it. Well, toppers and lots of things in the world in the last few years. But spending 20% of the core price of an item on an "upgrade" is rarely worth it to me.

Having said all that, around 2010 I did put a supercharger on my 2000 Miata, which was probably 30% of the value of the car. Worth every penny!

Famous last words from several people I've talked to in the last year or so. I used to do a majority of my business with them but it's hard when the communication is so poor.

Well, it's less of a team and more of a dedicated individual.

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Wait, YOU'RE the one guy that loves LZ?

Kidding aside, I'm curious how/why you like it. I've only played a dozen games on location and liked how it played, but I understand not everyone likes an open playfield.

Doubled my previous post-update high score tonight. Proof that even if you're color blind, have a difficult time knowing the rules, and still don't understand the "collecting records thing", you can Escape the Black Hole in Cygnus X-1 IF your superpower is "keeping multiballs alive".

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I've received NIB pins from Stern with literally no packing on the bottom. Just wood against cardboard. It was a miracle that it arrived unscathed.

I don't think I've ever seen the ball cleanly shoot through the Time Machine without at least an attempt to grab it.

In case it's not clear (like it was for me the first few times): When you press the button, the playfield lights "swing" from side to side, I -think- there's a noise, but the coil won't fire to actuate the gate until the ball is up there. Then it fires as-needed.

If you're super nervous about any repair/modification, just take a picture of Every. Single. Part. at every step. Remove a nut, take a pic holding it next to where you removed it. Then keep going. When you're reassembling, just look at your pics in reverse. It might be overkill for most, but it makes it incredibly difficult to get stuck in the process.

I read and re-read this several times and still don't understand.

I'm not sure where it's getting hung up. Once I enter the right orbit it will definitely make the orbit no problem. Can you provide a picture?

That's odd. I paid attention to mine last night and if it enters that orbit, it never hits that. But I guess tiny variances in the pins might cause some to do that.

I think Rush is the first pin I've owned that I really haven't tried too hard to progress through the main modes. After almost 500 games I still just like going after what feels fun at the time - often building the drum value and then activating that. I got it to 600k a pop once - that was exciting for about twenty seconds

Alright, forgive me for saying this, but what if the problem is...you? And by you I don't mean you, but our hyper active awareness of the problems that exist. You're probably the most active person on this thread, and I'd say by default are neck deep into the issues on here. It's like anything else - if you surround yourself with a problem 24/7 it's likely going to seem like a bigger, more widespread problem than it really is. Are there problems with Rush? Yes. Stern? Yes. Distributors? Yes. The industry? Yes. But, as a whole, are they all pretty awesome? Yes.

I'd guess in the last 500 posts, there are more mentions of accessory "problems" than anything else. Just like the news. Is that really an accurate description of the Rush experience (or the world around us)? No. It's just a small facet. Granted, when it's happening to you directly, it feels worse. But it's still a tiny detail.

Perception:
PROBLEM WITH TOPPER
PROBLEM GETTING TOPPER
SHOOTER LANE BUBBLES
UNRESPONSIVE DISTRO
UNRESPONSIVE STERN
PROBLEM WITH TOPPER
PROBLEM GETTING TOPPER
SHOOTER LANE BUBBLES
Rush, and the pinball industry as a whole are awesome
UNRESPONSIVE DISTRO
UNRESPONSIVE STERN
PROBLEM WITH TOPPER
PROBLEM GETTING TOPPER
SHOOTER LANE BUBBLES
UNRESPONSIVE DISTRO
UNRESPONSIVE STERN

Reality:
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
I have a substantial problem with x
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME
RUSH AND THE PINBALL INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE ARE AWESOME

If you got 400 million on the FIRST ball, that could easily have been a 1-1.5B point game if you just played ball 2 and 3 like ball 1. I know, easier said than done. But excellent regardless!

I crack myself up. On one hand, I consider myself pretty decent at Rush now. I've got about 50-75% of the rules figured out. Then tonight, I'm on ball three in The Spirit of Radio (I think) and as the ball drains I hold the Weapon button as a last resort. My 220M score almost doubles from a 196M point Weapon.

On one hand, I'd kinda like to know why on earth it was THAT high. On the other, I kinda don't care. Something to do with colors and records and multipliers I bet...the parts of the game I don't have a grasp of yet! Nothing like ending with an awesome score and not really knowing why...

Play it. It's a neat game. It feels like an Elwin - lots of loopy shots that are non-traditional. I liked it, despite not being a huge fan of Elwin's flow. It is very different than Rush.

And this is why HangGlider2 should play Foo, because I think Rush is buttery smooth. Like, I played LOV with my nephew for his first time, and then played Rush for his first time - we laughed at how different they were, and how much more refined Rush was (and I like LOV). I didn't originally answer the question because I haven't played a Premium Foo yet, but I think they compliment each other.

I've played two Rush pins that played HORRIBLY compared to mine. And I played a Wonka that an extremely knowledgeable and well respected owner/event coordinator had that, again, played pretty bad. I can't put my finger directly on it, but I'd say having all the coils set correctly and everything "right" in terms of rubbers, small adjustments that get out of whack, etc, make a huge difference over time. NIB? I think they likely all feel great overall.

So on one hand, this looks pretty cool. I'm not into modding at -all-, but I think it's neat to cleanly change the ball path so dramatically like that via the mod. On the other hand, I love how the dead end shot feels and would never change it!

Anyone with a Pro update their code and now have what sound like Premium callouts? I'm getting a lot of references to the time machine ramp/bridge being up which I don't remember before.

I switched to the 5.25" Kenwoods and regret not getting the Kickers or something better. They are definitely better than stock, and I literally hear things I didn't hear before, but they still don't sound "right".

And yeah, I have that exact same sub too . But if you're happy, that's all that matters. I've tinkered with the EQ a LOT and still feel like the sound is a bit "sucked out".

I very much like the Pro. For me the Premium adds extra complexity and not enough reason to spend an extra $2500. Try to find a Premium to play, but if you like the Pro that's a safe bet for you.

I hear you and feel similarly. I set mine to...2 seconds?...because I don't think the default settings are assuming you're getting ANY STDM from the scoop. But we do, so this is how to offset it. In the end, it rarely saves a non-SDTM shot so I feel like it's close enough to the intention of the default settings. On a related note, keep trying to fix the alignment of the scoop for the SDTM problem. For me, it's occasionally loosening the mounting screws and rotating it a hair to get the scoop more inline with the coil under the playfield.

Yes, definitely. If the count down is happening, and you hit that ramp, all the values go up and the timer pauses (or resets?). It's a fun but infuriating mode because despite my best efforts I've never, ever hit that bottom target intentionally. If the ball is at the right flipper I usually aim for the instrument drops and it'll ricochet over to the Rush standups.

Look under the playfield. I have a Pro so can't directly comment on this specific situation, but if the side scoop is anything like the bottom scoop it means the coil is hitting ball via preferably a straight line out of the scoop. Look under the playfield and make 100% sure that path is straight and clear. Mine was slightly crooked and I needed to rotate the scoop and coil a bit to make them line up. Any time you bump the coil strength up to max and it's still not working right it pays to pause and figure out what else might be wrong.

It looks like "All the Alex Lifesons" likes Rush. "He" liked it three times.

The target behind the instrument drops on my Pro. Whenever it's time, I have to psyche myself up a bit because I know it's not -that- hard of a shot to hit, but...

As for that right ramp, I can hit it all day long I've come to find some shots for some people are super easy or super hard for no apparent reason. I can repeat the jump ramp on No Fear over twenty times in a row - but I had a 5% success rate hitting one of the (similar) orbits in TMNT.

Proof that it's always worth ending a game "on a good note": After putting in a dozen games on AIQ I decided to move on to Rush to finish. I could NOT get a good game in, which drove me nuts. But I have a rule: Always end on a good (or at least fun) game. And I did. Before I officially reached ball two, with the help of an extra ball or two I doubled my previous GC score and completed Cygnus Books 1 and 2 (my first time for Book 2). It was bonkers. By the time I got to ball three I was at year 2100 and quite frankly didn't know how to progress to 2112. I could have stopped and done some research, but what's the fun in that? So I finished out the game and had a good time. I told my wife it was "the best game of pinball I'd ever played". Especially awesome when during the previous ten or so games I played I didn't even break 50M.

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I find the exact opposite. My only similar "problem" was that was I was too distracted by other shots and wasn't continuing to focus on the mode during multiball. I really really hate cradling during multiball and never do it, and seem to progress through modes fine on-the-fly IF I can keep my focus.

If it's honest and sincere feedback, I'm all ears. If it's 18 posts about a clunky Time Machine, then that's a problem.

I think If there's any place for someone... especially an owner...to share opinions about a pin, it's in the owners forum.

With all this mention of "sweets spots" and "facts", I think it's worth noting the two aren't related. Finding something sweet is an opinion. I find Rush to have the best flow of any modern Stern. The right ramp is super smooth and easy. If someone disagrees? Cool. We have different opinions. But they're just that - opinions. And I'm totally ok with that.

I was in the same boat and this is what I found: Once the mode started, I'd start shooting the song mode shots but then something else would start and I'd get distracted by those shots. Every. Single. Time. Once I decided to focus only on making the song mode shots, I got to book 2 and a new high score. Another small detail: I often have a drink or two while playing at night, and I realized my play was much better consistently if I didn't drink. On all my games.

Do yourself a favor and buy a digital level. Those bubbles can be comically off - I've seen pins at the correct pitch have the line going through the middle of the bubble.

We're gonna need some more back story here. This sounds like an impossibility (though I believe you). It's like me telling you my buddy went to a golf course he's never played on and hit five hole in ones while catching a bear cub that fell out of a tree and then a local cheerleading team emerged from the trees to celebrate.

Details please!

Alright, I've thought you all crazy for spending $500 on expression lighting. Then I played my new LZ Premium at home for the first time with the lighting. And now I get it. It's synced perfectly with the music and gameplay, and is pretty cool.

Still not $500 cool, but pretty cool

I think most of what you said is helpful but the 500/week capacity stat is tricky to use. If they were ONLY making Rush it might work (assuming they're working at capacity). But they also may have had another game or two on the line. Either way, you're right, there's no way to tell for sure.

I think this is fine advice, but for what it's worth I've contacted Stern...hundreds?...of times and only needed to contact the distributor once. I find it's a needless step 99.9% of the time.

Tell me that "belt" isn't just a playfield rubber. That would be hard to believe.

Over the last two years, there's been 360 mentions of "expression lighting". Super cool if you want to talk about all things expression lighting, over and over and over. If you're not? It makes you want to stop following a group for awhile and just check in on occasion due to the saturation.

Based on comments, 90% here will say yes. I'm a no. Cool? Yes. Worth the money? No. But if you're an LE customer, we may value things differently.

I'm always interested when I see engineering fixes like this. I wonder, why didn't Stern make this small tweak? Did they run out of time to optimize the design? Was it "good enough"? Or is there a reason the designed it exactly like they did? We'll likely never know, but good job improving the flow regardless.

Skill shot/programming question: What, exactly, ends your ability to accomplish a skill shot?

Sometimes the ball leaves the shooter lane, hits no other switches, I let it drain, and then pops back into the shooter lane ready for another launch. Over and over. Other times, the seemingly exact same conditions cancels the attempt and auto-launches. Any ideas what the difference is?

I can tell you two issues with all of these answers. They make sense, but:
1) There have been times the ball leaves the shooter lane, hits zero switches, and then immediately autolaunches.
2) There have been times the ball leaves the shooter lane, hits zero switches and repeats literally a half dozen times allowing me seemingly unlimited attempts. Comical when it's happening, but confusing when it doesn't seem to be consistent. I feel like it's a programming glitch. The switches appear 100% fine.

I don't think I've ever thought "Those rubbers/whatever got in the way". I agree it looks funky, but I like it.

I have two solution, one is more painful and maybe unnecessary:
1) Loosen that whole assembly from under the playfield and twist it firmly in one direction and then tighten the screws. This worked for about 50-100 plays for me before the problem returned again.
2) Make sure the coil is firing straight into the scoop eject. On mine, the two are slightly out of alignment (per Stern) and they recommended taking the screws out, aligning it better and then re-screwing into the bottom of the playfield.

I did one, but not two because oddly the problem went away on it's own. Hopefully you get yours figured out!

I've had 3-4 Sterns have a poorly mounted sub. The woofer mounting surround is compressed which allows the cone to hit the grill at the bottom of the cabinet. Unmount the sub (or just loosen the nuts holding it in) and see if the noise continues. They'll send you a new sub if that's the problem. It's a poor design.

They may not really be Easter eggs, but there are several call outs that are ripped directly from the Metallica pin. When I pointed this out at release I was ridiculed for making the observation.