Run away from this disposable pinball machine!
Stern doesn’t even readily acknowledge it ever existed, there is no service manual available (apparently it was never even written), the only way to access the bottom of the playfield is from underneath the game as it doesn’t flip up, it uses very early SPIKE boards which are probably NLA, and there is no parts# reference to aid in ordering repair parts in the future (which probably don’t exist anyway). Some of these issues could potentially be overcome by someone with experience, but a pinball newcomer would be much better served buying a game which is supported by the manufacturer and/or pin community, has full manuals available (very important when learning this stuff), and has parts that can be easily identified and replaced. Unfortunately, these “PIN” models don’t have much of a knowledge base around here because they are quite dismal overall and most of us avoided buying them.
This game and the identical Transformers version were Stern’s early test-efforts at doing a “home” game on the cheap. They were meant to be sold in “gameroom” stores along with furniture, bar stuff, pool tables, and overpriced multicade games packed with bootlegged ROMs. The machines were far too compromised in a variety of ways to justify their cost vs. simply punching a bit higher for a legit Pro or a comparably priced used game, and by all appearances few were ultimately sold.
The Spiderman “Pin” that came next was a little better overall but still much too expensive for what it was (and is also seemingly neglected by Stern).
The current Star Wars “The Pin” seems to be a much better effort, but again, at a street price of $3900-4000 it just isn’t a good value considering all the $4k used games out there or even a new Pro at $5.5k. Also, they still haven’t posted a manual on their web site, which calls into question how truly committed they are to these games (writing service manuals takes significant effort and it would be reassuring to see that they were motivated to do so, a lack of effort in this regard would suggest Stern is taking the same half-assed approach they did toward the earlier Pin models).
Peabody, MA
