Rumor has it they are finishing code on this nonsense.

Unless they turn around and look as bad as The Pin.

Sure those aren't guys with just really long hair.

That makes me want to try one the pin looks fun.

thats waison and his brother

Do they come with it?

ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the pin is really mobbed.

while I'm not a fan of 'the pin', I'm not going to bash their efforts. Its bad enough that most the world has turned its back to pinball without its fans trying to burn whats left of it.

I hope the Pin does well, and Stern sells a ton of them. Even if it's a sub-par experience, if it gets a young generation hooked, it means a larger audience, which is only good for pinball as a whole.

Redemption machines are hot with the kids, and I personally think its sad that pinball has refused to acknowledge that. In fact pinball has been pretty stubborn in its ways for the past 30 years, probably says something for the state that it is in. The standard game has been 3 balls, and get the highest score you can, and unless your in the top 5, you walk away with nothing but the experience. Even if your in the top 5 players, all you get is your initials on the leader board. Its been that way sense the 70's...

Why not do something different? How about a redemption machine (tickets) where for $1.00 you get 3 mins of play, unlimited balls, and the higher the score, the more tickets you get? If the table is designed right (even allowing for score reduction for balls lost) you could make pinball very appealing for kids again in arcades.

TSPP at mr. Cheezes location spit out a 150 ticket for the high score. (may still have one somewhere) But if the kids aren't raving about it in their text messages, or it takes too many plays to figure out Sorry can I have that drink now?

I only thing in this world I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that if you or I constantly slept with any 9 year old boys in our beds, sexual contact or not, we would be in jail for the rest of our lives.

Lets not even go there! Yuck.

wot dos this have to do wit Chuck e cheez?

Why don't they just spit out x no. of tickets / score, like the skee balls do?

When I was at IAAPA in Orlando in November, the Stern booth had one machine (I believe it was XMen) with a redemption ticket box attached to it. There was a huge pile of tickets around the base of the machine since they were worthless there of course, but it was spitting out tickets based on score. I don't seem to have any pictures myself, but it was just a long skinny box attached to the right side of the cabinet.

There is a Tron at Gameworks in Schaumburg, IL, where they have a redemption ticket box attached to it to use on the prize booth.

It's not for high score, it's more like winning a replay, at the CEC by me, which has had an Elvis in it since it was new. Still there last time I was in there with my kid. Won dozens of 150 ticket tickets over the years. I'll never forget turning in a pile so she could get one of the "prizes no one ever wins" from the top shelf!

They have it set for 10 character high score names, and it's Elvis, so of course I use my handle "DANQVRYMCH".

Maybe the Pin can find a home at Chuck e Cheez. Can it take tokens?

Not stock.

150 tickets for a high score is obviously not very appealing. The fact that there is a problem with pinball and what kids want to play, doesn't mean that there are no solutions to that problem. You just need to be able to adapt and exploit what they want, while still giving the operator a profit.

Giving (x) number of tickets (lets say, a ticket for every 10k points for the sake of example) is a very appealing prospect for players, but not one for the operator. While most small kids would walk away with a handful of tickets for there efforts, some pin-head will come along and with a few bucks walk away with multi-million scores and the entire spool of tickets.

Solution 1: you need to have a reward curve. While your first few thousand points awards a ticket for every 10k, once you get to a certain score you only get a ticket for every 20k, then every 50k, etc, until you can limit the amount of tickets any player can walk away with to an amount that the operator is comfortable with. While still allowing a 'bonus' amount for getting a high score, or for completing missions within the playfield.

Solution 2: if you are on the timed 'infinite balls' mode of play I suggested before, you loose 10% of your score for loosing a ball. While you may have gathered 10 million points and a hundred tickets, a few balls lost and your back down to 8 million and seventy or so tickets.

Solution 3: you get 5 balls during play. when you loose your first ball you loose 10% of your score, when you loose your second ball you loose 20% of your score, etc... untill your 5th ball removes 50% of your score and your game ends. However, your able to 'tilt out' with a button at any time to Bank the points you have scored and end the game. Its a 'push your luck' feature I have never seen on a pin before.

Kids love playing games, and if there is a pin sitting in someones basement free to play they will spend hours on it. But when a pin is sitting in an arcade flanked by 2 redemption machines they know they will get tickets out of no matter how bad they are at them, they would rather walk away with tickets. If you sat down and figured out how to exploit that desire with a pin, kids will play them in the arcades.

Xichai Wu played them, He likes them!

This is just like the Bally and Williams booths at old AMOA and ASI shows all over again. Gary knows how to sell product!

I for one am "all in" and wish Stern All the success with the idea. After my visit to CES, seeing and playing both, my biggest disappointment was to see the layout for both Avengers and transformers were identical. Playfield artwork different of course, but targets, ramps were identically positioned. The lights and sounds were entertaining and would definitely hold young players attention. Price point on the machine I find questionable but it should adjust accordingly after time. Great idea, just hope the idea lasts to mature both in build and design.

Thats nothin but funny !

I'm annoyed that it's such a great game I don't spend time on any other hobby.

They are junk.

Non serviceable by the home owner, and will be in-op in short order i am sure..

Service will be unobtainium.. who will be fixing these during the warrenty period ?

They wiil be a nightmare to the purchasers, and be returned more often than not within the first 30 days..

As one pinsider here did pretty much imediately...

not to mention they will have zero resale value...

Not all of us on pinside are super rich, and we are addicts of the silver ball.... sometimes we have to stretch to buy $2k pins...

the average Joe that would even entertain this due to not knowing any better, will more than likely NOT have the money available to dump on this thing..

As our economy is generaly in the shitter...

At the pricepoint these are at, i feel they will sell very few, and the ones they do will shit the bed.

There are more than enough problems with "commercialy built Stern pins" let alone with this low end POO POO...

Imagine a newb "The PIN" buyer, even comtemplating how to fix it...

DO you understand now what i have been talking about getting to the underside. Kind of like rolling a car over to change the tranny.

543377_10151342008209244_2055580743_n..jpg

The worker sure looks happy!
Sorry to backtrack, but look what I found! My crowning achievement!
DSCN0934.JPG

In the interview with Engadget, Gary said it was easily serviced by homeowner.

Just like servicing a TV or a computer, local service companies will do the work that a homeowner can't do.

Dell Computer will send you out a new card to fix your computer. If you are uncomfortable opening your computer, they send EZI out (at least in my area) to put the card in.

If your Denon or Kenwood stereo breaks, ABL might be the local service center.

You get the idea...

That is very far from what Gary said. He talked about the homeowner being able to lift the glass to replace rubbers and fix stuck balls, and that's it.

That sounds very easy to service to me.

Sorry. I guess you're saying that for the limited work the own can do, it will be done very easily.

I totally agree. I just think that there are lot of things that could go wrong that the owner won't be able to fix (loose wires, broken switches, bad LEDs, etc.).

He's probably happy to be getting the F out of Dodge after humping it all week.

We are used to fixing our 25+ year old games.

These are brand new, with limited wiring, new switches, LEDs soldered directly to circuit boards, etc etc...

When was the last time a LED burned out on your TV or DVD player? Probably never, because they are soldered in place.

has anyone here actually bought one? I would like some pics?? Jpop

These are good points. My counter is just that stuff breaks and QC isn't perfect. And a pinball machine -- even a The Pin -- has a lot of stuff that can go wrong.

I wouldn't expect my TV's LEDs to have a problem for a few reasons:
1) There are relatively few of them compared to a pinball machine, and can be inspected easily.
2) I'm not bouncing pinballs around them.

Nothing is perfect.

Your furnace has a lot that can go wrong.

You replace the belts, and the HSI yourself, because it's easy.

You call the service company for the Heat Exchanger, because it is beyond your skill set.

Same with any other appliance.

...

The everyday pin issues we all fix ourselves these owners will not know anything about...

look at all of the newb questions we all have asked in the begining....

My bet is these will be down more often than not..

I cant wait to see how the service company thing work out. I think tht will be like watching a trainwreck in progress...

Hey John, There was a guy on here that had one... his wife bought it for him...

It was broke within a day and they returned it right away...

And he quoted multiple issues...

he posted a thread about what machine to get, as he wanted a real machine...

I guess thats a positive, sort of... a new guy here gettin into the hobby with real games now..

Why would you hope for others misfortune?

Whos hoping ?

I want to see if any actual timely and cost effective service really happens....or if it will be a total jerk off session for the customers...

I think it will be a disaster... My opinion of course...

we had the same issue at Zizzle, as we sold thru sears....but it was easier for us to help the customers as we knew the game 100%. The guys in the blue sears truck did not know pinball. Sears would return games to us for a refurb back to the customer...or we sent parts. worked great. Jpop

When these things are out of warranty, what will the labor rate be for a pinball tech to come fix these turds ?

these customers will be buried in these thing for sure...

can you imagine what the bills will be for switch adjustments, and other normal pin stuff that newbs have NO clue about...

These people will be calling for service if the flipper rubber falls off...

you will see alot of customers just bail on them an NOT put the money in it...

Most of our issues are with games that at 20 years old that have had millions of balls through them and were left powered on 24/7 for dozens of years.

The Pin will probably be on a hour or two a week.

If the owners get into pinball, they will learn how to service them like you did when you got started.

Or they can call the local service company.

I service games for customers all the time in their homes and businesses. Owing a pinball game does not mean you have to know how to do repair work, just how to dial a phone.

My home service rate is $60 a hour, same as a plumber or furnace tech in our area.

"The Pin" looks more like something you could save up your tickets to WIN at Chuck E. Cheese.

Some people go to a dealership and pay $50 to have their oil changed, when you could do it yourself for $12.

Some people call the appliance repair service because the light bulb is burned out in the refrigerator.

Who cares?

If someone does not want to lift the glass (or lift a finger), let them call for service.

Look, all i'm saying is the guy here on pinside that had one said it failed pretty much right out of the gate...

he hated it, and sent it back....

Got a refund........not everyone that buys one will have the same problem..

BUT, they are cheaply made games... they have to be, in order for stern to make a profit.

Stern sells these at a profit...Stern makes way, way, more per unit than the distributor does...

What does Stern have in them done in the box on the dock ?

Common sense says they are built cheaply, and will have issues... all pins have issues...

Pins with GOOD build quailty have issues all the time...

As to your argument that its NEW not 20 yrs old, and it shouldnt break, that makes no sense.. you should know that.... the 20 yrs old pin is built well...

put a 20 yr old "the PIN'' next to a ToM, and see which one is worth the dump fee's...

I've got to be honest, you sound like a Sad Sally.

I played The Pin at Costco, it's fun to play.

I hope it brings joy to many people's lives.

Hey, The Pin may not be the big leagues, but hopefully it will be a good entry ramp for new pinheads to come up through the minor leagues. There is fun to be had with a machine like this.