Just got mine from good 'ol AYCE Gogi in West Hills, plays really well, I'm happy
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I actually didn't even know about the scoop issue as I don't tend to follow such things too closely, had to search around to see what you meant. But yeah looks like the metal cover on the lower scoop is starting to take a beating. The perils of being an early adopter I guess.

Stern's killing it with some of the recent Pro's, both Godzilla and Rush Pro models are a blast to play! I even thinking I may prefer the ramp always going into the time machine on Rush Pro.

Been banging on my Pro for a few days now and love it! Plays faster than I was expecting which is great as I love fast and flowy games. For comparison I wasn't super crazy about Jurassic Park, good game but I thought it a bit cluttered and a touch too slow. Shots are reasonable to make, seems like lots to do even on the Pro model. I love doing the shot through the left bumpers, looping it around then catching it on the top right flipper into the scoop, very satisfying. I haven't noticed excessive drains or the ball flying over the flippers as others have mentioned Borg games tending to do, at least not on my model, the game seems fairly designed to me. Also love how they handled songs, you can pick a favorite to just keep playing in the background and it only gets overridden by modes, then it comes back to your selected song once done with a mode, very cool. Drives me nuts on other music pins when the song keeps cutting out. Mine doesn't have any issues out of the box except for the scoop protector which eventually I'll replace. I emailed Stern about it and they got back to me right away saying they are working on a replacement part. This one is an easy recommend to me even if just the Pro, it's awesome.

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Yeah Godzilla is one of the better pins I've played in recent memory, admittedly I like it better than Rush. I played the Pro version of Godzilla as well and honestly it's also great, but spring the extra for the Premium if you can.

That's how I got mine.

Deleted, I sorted the issue.

I wonder if that's a temporary fix because Stern support just emailed me this today, apparently they are still working on a final fix.

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Same here, I'm even finding I prefer solid black speakers compared to the see through speaker panels. Kinda also wish the two labels weren't in that area as well and that it was just pure black with the screen in the middle.

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Oh so all one has to do is reimage an SD card with an image form that link and presto, you're on the latest version? How did I not know that all this time lol. I've been using the Insider Connected updating lately but it's just too darned slow, I'll try the SD card method next time on a fresh sd card.

I sort of did the same, in my case took a screen shot of the code, uploaded it to my google drive then made a google drive shortcut to it on my phone screen. So one click to see the image.

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My main concern is that the pop bumper to the left will be hurling balls at full speed right into that metal plate with the two screws, that can't be good.

From the nib ones I owned:

AC/DC Lucy Vault: Distributor took over an hour to fix the canon which didn't work right out of the box.

Black Knight Sword Of Rage Pro: No issues at all.

Elvira LE: My most problematic Stern machine, ramp getting stuck, gargoyles getting stuck, had to remove the house to make some fixes, etc...

Godzilla LE: No issues at all.

Rush Pro: Aside from the scoop taking a beating, no issues at all.

So for me Rush has been pretty good.

Looks interesting, do you have pictures of it after those thousands of plays? Curious how it's stood up.

I don't mind Stern's fix, but that left pop bumper will be hurtling the ball right into that exposed metal plate and screws regularly, is that really ok or is that something to worry about?

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Mine just shipped so hope to install it soon, do you recommend using an acrylic washer under the posts to prevent bunching or you think that's not necessary? Just asking as someone else mentioned they did that.

Just installed the Ninja replacement scoop protectors, took about 40 minutes start to finish. Played a bunch of games, they seem to work really well! I'm happy that the original angles of the game are kept in tact, so the ball can bounce off the RUSH targets into the lower scoop, etc, as originally designed which is very nice. I think this will hold up for me at home just fine. I'll still get the Stern protector once they offer it in case a future owner wants it but I'm not installing it, gonna keep this one on. Thanks for making this!

One thing, I think there may be a typo in the instructions. Regarding the screws circled in yellow, it first says:

"Premium/LE: You have an extra plate that needs to be loosened to remove the protector.
Back out the screws shown in yellow about 1/8”."

Then later it says:

"Premium/Pro: Once your protectors are removed, go back to the yellow highlighted screws you loosened in the
previous step and tighten them back down. The new protector will sit under the plate."

I think that second part should say "Premium/LE" rather than "Premium/Pro"?

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It's unfortunate but unlike most any other products out there, with pinball you have to go the diy route sometimes and figure out fixes yourself sometimes with 3rd party options, just the way it is alas. Having said that the Ninja fix is really cool and imo much better than Stern's because it keeps the original ball path lines intact. On this game the ball frequently flies past that lower scoop area and the Ninja fix keeps that great fast flow feel whereas Stern's fix blocks it which will result in more ball impacts/slowdowns. I tend to prefer pro models for fast and flowing ball movement, so that the Ninja fix keeps that feel on the pro to me is awesome. Looks like the future Cliffy fix will do the same, I may get that as well just to have.

It's not too bad to install but two strong suggestions. One is to make sure your ratchet set does indeed have that deep socket 3/8", that will really help, and definitely have a magnetic telescoping pickup tool handy, helps keep washers and such from disappearing in the nether regions of these machines. If there is an unreachable place on a pinball machine, a loose washer is basically guaranteed to find it.

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I watched this video, dude explains the game fairly well.

My pro was built Jan 14 and I haven't heard back from Stern either, every time I emailed them I would get the same canned response that their engineers are working on it. Don't care anymore though as I bought and installed the protector Ninja makes which works great.

I initially filed a support ticket via their support page here:

https://sternpinball.com/support/contact-us/

...and reply emails came from [email protected] from Thalia Cruz. To clarify from my previous post, they would always reply and fairly quickly but it's become the same "engineers working on it" response so I haven't replied back anymore.

Yup, seriously people should just get Ninja's dual scoop solution and enjoy their game. Side note, the material they used for their fix is really interesting, makes me wonder if that's in general a better way to go than the typical metal scoop protector.

That makes sense to me because the blue version has been out a while now but Stern support still talks as if they are working on a solution.

It would be cool if they had an option to show concert videos or the original music videos. I like the concert videos, but having the original music videos would be a nice hit to the nostalgia.

Is there any way to get a backglass version of the Pro translite?

No issues on my Pro with the latest code. Just a theory, but maybe it's a sign that your sd card is going bad? Maybe todays update was larger than all previous ones and hence is now using space on your sd card that is bad, which could cause the game to lock up when you song select.

Oh I didn't mean the usb thumbdrive you're installing from, I meant the sd cards inside the pin itself may be going bad. I think there's two in the head, a full size sd card and a micro sd card, maybe one of those is in the process of dying.

It's definitely slow via Wifi. We have gigabit internet at home and a top of the line Wife 6e mesh router that is not far from our pins. Other wifi devices in the area work really fast but the pins are always painfully slow. For example I just ran a speed test on my phone while standing next to my Rush pin and it gets well over 200 mbps. I still update via wifi because it is convenient, but I basically start the update then go check the pin in about 2 hours. My Rush is doing that at the moment.

I do wonder if upgrading the sd card and micro sd card to faster models would help, I know some cheaper cards will dramatically throttle down read and write speed when in continuous use so maybe that's what's happening here, not sure though.

Your list of games is interesting because the last games I've purchased from most recent to least recent are Rush Pro, Godzilla LE, Halloween CE, Elvira LE.

Elvira was cool but, and I can't explain why, the appeal of it just faded far faster than I was expecting. This is from someone that also owned and loved Scared Stiff and Party Monsters. I also found it to be the most fiddly game to maintain that I've ever owned. So I sold it.

Halloween CE was very cool and if I had more room I may have kept it. But ultimately I find I prefer the general feel of the new Sterns so I sold it.

Godizilla LE is great, but I've thought of selling it because truth be told I play my Rush Pro significantly more. Still an excellent game though.

Rush Pro I bought the instant it came out, mine is a first run and it's still getting lots of play. I do like the band though which will be a big influence for sure, but I find the game is just simple to jump in and play and it shoots/flows very well. I have no plans on selling it any time soon.

For reference I like mayo on burgers so make of my opinion what you will.

Yup, I didn't mind his post at all, it seemed respectful to me.

Side note, how in hell are some of you getting such high scores? My best is still just 144 million I do get a lot of side drains though, so for those that seem to get crazy high scores are your outlane posts set like mine? I usually just leave stuff as it came from the factory figuring that's how it was intended, but crikey I can't get anywhere near the scores y'all are getting.

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Hmm I wonder if the setting is arbitrary, like the way it's set at the factory just depends on who has setup the machine or if Stern did indeed change the factory settings for the post. Mine was one of the first to be sold and it has them high up. Ok thanks, I'm gonna change mine to be lower.

Is it possible that it's a timing thing where if both the ramp and clock stepper motors operate at the same time they can overload and take out the node board?

Seems to be Premium/LE only as it pertains to the moving ramp and clock. Maybe someone could try disabling just the clock since it's cosmetic only and see if that stops the node boards from breaking.

I've owned both Stern and Spooky NIB pins and they all have issues unfortunately, just part of pinball.

It can be really frustrating especially given the cost, but eh I love these machines so I keep coming back. I am thinking of switching to only buying Pro models going forward though. I'm finding they have *far* less issues than the Premium/LE models, you can get them right away which I love as I like playing them during the honeymoon phase, and been finding I tend to prefer the play and art packages on Pro models lately.

No issues with mine at all, still working strong.

My Godzilla had one and in that particular game it did work well, but aside from that I find them to not really be necessary. I've had various pins over the years that have had one but I don't plan on adding a shaker to any of my current and future pins. To me adding a subwoofer is by far the better option as far as how to get some nice smooth rumble, shaker motors I find can vary between nice and abrasive to where I often ended up just disabling them. But that's just my take, I'd definitely suggesting playing one out in the wild to see what you think.

I had a Godzilla LE right next to my Rush Pro at home for a while. Godzilla is great but 9 out of 10 times I'd play Rush over Godzilla, hence I sold my Godzilla. I just love Stern Pro's, they always seem to play fast and furious.

Those 3 make for an awesome lineup!

I had that issue on mine but I noticed the playfield was resting a little too low when in place. So what I did was put some felt under the two brackets that touch the cabinet when the playfield is lowered into place, effectively raising it just a little. That solved my shooter rattles and now it plunges smoothly.

His last ball bonus alone was 10x better than my best game score.

Is anyone getting multi billion scores on a pro or is that mostly just on premium models? Curious if I just absolutely suck on my pro, or if the premium is much easier.

I guess I suck then, still at just 320 million on my Pro after 300 games. It's ok though, still absolutely love this game!

We moved from Seattle to Thousand Oaks back in 2005, small world! Lived in Kirkland and Bellevue for about 6 years, very much enjoyed our time up there.

I figure the clock is mostly decorative whereas the ramp is functional, so perhaps try psysically unplugging the clock but leaving the ramp connected, then see what happens? Just in case the issue only happens when both operate at the same time.

Does the game require the clock be connected though for the mode to work?

Oh wow so just disconnecting the clock and turning the machine will blow up the node board? I had no idea that was even possible, ok never mind then.

This is how my Pro came from the factory, left peg in the middle, right peg at the top.

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Hey all quick q. I currently have a sub connected to my Rush Pro using the Pinnovators gizmo and it works great. Was wondering, I have a spare set of tower speakers lying around, is it possible to get all that hooked up as well? I setup the tower speakers on either side of the game and I'm digging the look, now just wondering if it can all be connected! I do have a spare a/v receiver but hopefully there's a smaller solution that would work, like maybe a board that connects to the main Stern board, that connects to a small amp that can be stored in the machine, then speaker wires to the speakers.

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It's that Pinsub kit, looks to only have one out to the sub and it relies on the sub's amp. I figure external amplification would be needed to hand the tower speakers. I did see that homebrew audio thread but it seems fairly involved and mostly focussed on backbox speakers, I was hoping there was a something more plug and play. I'll probe around a bit, I figure I can't be the 1st dude that's thought of doing this.

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I got the $20 Pinsound line out adapter, an $80 Fosil amp from Amazon and reused some old Klipsh tower speakers and a Velodyne sub that I bought back in the 90s. Sounds pretty good, what surprised me is how much more pronounced channel separation is.

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Perhaps a little cheating But hey for just $100 and some old gear it works well! Only thing that confused me is the machines internal volume control still works implying that the Stern amp and eq continue to be part of the audio chain. I thought the line out would bypass all that and rely purely on the external amps but that's not the case. It still sounds good although I did have to disable the internal Stern eq and disconnect all three internal speakers.

Thus far only $100 on my Pro, basically the Pinsound adapter and a small Fosil amp to let me connect some old tower speakers and a sub. I'm not sure if I'm going to spend anything more as I'm finding I like the basic clean look of the Pro models more and more. Guess I'll see when the topper and expression lights come out.

Is there any way to know which version one has?

Ah my order was 2022-03-22 so looks like I have the old one, I'll pm you.

Still haven't broken the billion barrier, but getting there. After 400+ games it's still my favorite pin of all time.

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Getting the game level seems particularly important for Rush. For example before leveling mine the scoop would launch the ball to varied locations but after leveling it shoots it to the right flipper every time. I used a digital level and got it to 0.0 both near the flippers and at the top of the playfield, along with a 6.9 pitch.

Oh that's interesting, I'll definitely be trying "essential" as default mode is a little busy, may peek at "minimal" setting as well.

I did, I figure my old scores don't apply with the new code so why bother keeping them, I reset them all.

I'm the same, love my Rush but wouldn't mind a Foo pro and LZ pro. Although I'd swap your Star Trek for a Bond pro.

I used some old tower speakers and an 30 year old sub I had lying around on my Rush machine and it sounds great, however I do think the best bang for the buck by far is just adding a sub. Even better is that you can share a single sub with a whole row of machines making it such a cheap value add.

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My local place got Bond Pro right when it launched and I wasn't crazy about it when I played it back then, but now it's my favorite machine at his location and he has all the new pins. I suspect I'll end up with one at some point.

Hmmmmmm, that's a negatory on that one.

For what it's worth the $75 Pinnovators sub mixer let's you set level individually on all 5 inputs. I had used it with 3 pins at one point and it sounded fine to me although I'm not an audiophile. Not using it now since I'm down to just one pin.

This is how my Pro was set out of the box.

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I've got pretty fast internet and yet my Rush Pro update today took around 3 hours via IC. I don't get why it's so horrifically slow compared to every single other device in my house, maybe it fights a dragon after every 1% downloaded.

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I can hit the right ramp 90% of the time when "lite lock" is off. When it's lit my ability to hit that ramp drops to 2%.