All this BTTF talk has me worried now. Ghostbusters is also a dream theme for me i definitely dont want one. Fingers crossed if it happens it also stikes the right chord with me. I find myself being less and less interested in what several of the designers at Stern put out these days. Not enough fresh layout ideas. Borg tweaks or combines things hes already done. Ritchie has his standard 2 or 3 flipper layouts he works off. I had had major hopes for Brian Eddy as i LOVE The Shadow but after Stranger Things i see that he also subscribes to the stick to what you know mentality. Id like to see what a Jack Danger layout could give us.

Pssst Gary, how about pulp fiction? Or kill bill!

I think you'll see great things from Brian Eddy down the road. Yes, Stranger Things is a typical fan layout (AFM/MM) with some minor tweaks on ball feeds. But I think he needed to adjust to a very tight build budget compared to his Bally/Williams days. The shadow is one of my favorite games too. I'll bet he gives us a gem on his next release.

“Roads? Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads”

roads (resized).png

I hope so, stranger things was a massive disappointment at reveal, not that it’s a bad game, it was disappointing because of the layout I was expecting something completely different like Shadow with shots up top, in the middle, side shots of s flipper etc kinda like what Elwin is doing.

LZ next or what? I need a new machine!

I was too. Bought the game anyway. Honestly it's a pretty good homage to AFM. Yes it's a basic shot layout and only two flippers, but so were MM and AFM which is what most people consider his best. I still prefer shadow for the uniqueness. Stranger things has actually grown on me the more I play it. It's got a lot of modes and sub-modes going on in it. Really hard to stay alive long enough to see it through completion. Still hope for something original from him next time.

How about Sin City!

Harley quin

Elwin or Lyman on BTTF would be an automatic buy.

Good thing it’s SR on LZ next!

Glad for the LZ fans that SR "may" be working on Led Zep.
Huge SR fan here and love everything pinball the man does.
I just wish I was a Led Zep fan

I have a glimmer of hope that LZ is just a code name for ?????? The Kings next amazing title

I'd be much happier with Queen over Zep. But honestly, I don't envy ANY music pin coming right after GnR. That bar has been SET.

Wait for Welk !

I heard from a source that Queen was next followed by BTTF, then Welk and then finally LZ

The only way to do Welk is the SNL skits with the Lennon sisters.

When do you think the next one will be announced?

Soon I hope

Whatever the title it will be the week of Christmas Stern is typically every 90-120 days... look back to Avengers Sept 2nd ? Last year Stranger Things week of Christmas... it will be the same strategy this year.

So I'm watching TNT tonight and it's been showing War of the Worlds and Edge of Tomorrow, both terrific movies. I was thinking War of Worlds would be a good pin...but maybe too close to AFM.

My #1 pin would be a Harry Potter. The goal of the game could be destroying Voldemort's 7 bits of life force/soul/horcrux. So much could be done. The Whomping Willow would be a great bash toy, since, well, that's what the Whomping Willow does. And so many characters and animals from which to choose. I think it would be a huge success. I guess it comes down to licensing.

Heard that the next Stern release will be announced on December 10th. Only a month a way now. Either music pin or BTTF and if BTTF, I’m in for the 35th anniversary celebration of the movie that began it all. Like Joe Kamikow said at Expo this year, “we hope to do this again, soon “IN THE FUTURE”, 3 words he heavily emphasized. So wether its next or at the first of the year, I’m in. Since Stern announces at least 1 boutique game every year, it might be next and is usually the time they announce one, with Lyman on code.

Zeppelin, please

Suoer glad he wouldnt likely be on a possible BTTF. His games have been so easy for me to ignore for quite a while now. I like 80s SR games.

Have you spent much time on a bksor premium? Fast fun game. But, i like fast shooters better so,

Exactly!!

Nothing wrong with SW and don’t forget SM and ST. Ritchie is an amazing designer.

All I can say is I will never be suckered into a Kapow SLE machine again. Batman'66 SLE was a one-time event. Terrible experience.

Like hell it does.

I think people tend to concentrate far too much on the shot multiplier aspect of this pin. I love how the shot multiplier works, but if you concentrate on that as your priority, you are not going to make it far into the game. And there is a *lot* to see and experience in the code on SW. It's actually an epic code set. Too bad that many people don't seem to appreciate how damn good it is.

I've put up some pretty huge scores on my SW, and I can promise you that it was not because of making the multipliers a priority. I used to, then I learned what a mistake that was. I fell in love with the pin once I *didn't* make the multipliers a priority.

As far as button mashing, I do agree with that to an extent. Tie Fighters and the video mode are things I could do without
.

Agreed, but curious, were you able to sell your SLE for more than you paid for it?

Came out within $500 of even. During the dark times of "lights in a box code" tried to unload it for $12,500 with no takers. Came back to around even at the 2 year mark. Now they sell for slightly more. But it wasn't just that. It was that the whole "SLE" package was 80% cheap, 20% cool stuff and there was no excuse for such an inequitible split on a $15k machine.

The cool-looking pinstriping was adhesive vinyl that shifted, looked like crap from the heat of your hands in a month or so and had to be removed. It should have been actually painted on for $15k. The awesome shiny foiled cabinet had NO warranty SPARE PARTS at Stern. So when ours delaminated at the shooter plate, they sent us a non-foiled front cabinet sticker that DIDN'T EVEN MATCH the rest of the cabinet. That cool looking topper had poor integration with the game, and it just didn't do much. Stuff like that. If you're going to ask $15k for a SUPER LIMITED EDITION you better be delivering that experience AT the sale and AFTER the sale.

So yeah, never falling for that con again. Stern/Kapow SLEs are a con, period. Been there, done that. Never again.

There is clearly a love-hate for this game. I'm proudly in the absolute hate. I think the layout sucks ass. The shots are boring. The annoying tie fighter crap is awful. The multiplier rules DO suck. The mode selection sucks. Pro has a ship on a spring, typical ramps and three mid-pf standups? The LE at least has the death lock and the high-speed engine.

I would have bought this game in a second if it was designed well with a good ruleset. I've played the crap out of it (mostly the pro, but I have had two long sessions on the LE), and it's beyond mediocre. Owners will rant and rave and insist, but you're going to have to face reality: MANY people who know and have played this game enough to know it well dislike it. It's the same as the Ghostbusters crowd. That's another turd. At least black knight, the most stripped down modern pin ever made, shoots well and has pretty good code.

Just to name a few I'm probably in on a

Back To The Future SLE
JAWS SLE
Led Zeppelin SLE
Goonies SLE
Labyrinth SLE
Big Trouble In Little China SLE
Princess Bride SLE
Spaceballs SLE
Killer Klowns From Outer Space SLE
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers SLE
Walt Disney World Theme Parks SLE
Bob Marley SLE

This is the reason Stern puts almost no effort or BOM into their $15k SLEs and $1000 (and rising) plexi no-imagination toppers. People still buy crap.

Not me. SLE burned once. Never again to be burned by a cheap, crappy, low-effort SLE from Stern.

If you got back within 500 of purchase, why do you feel burned? Not trying to incite, just curious. Thx

So...you weren't very good at playing it? Because when you light this game up, it's pretty epic.

I don't love it as much as my GOT or STh or even JP...but it's certainly not leaving my collection any time soon. It's a hard game and it kicks my ass, but there are so many ways to play it (like GOT) that it never gets old. Meanwhile, I think BK isn't nearly as good. So to each his own.

* Almost 2 Years of blinky lights-in-a-box non-code. We rarely played it and eventually realized code wasn't coming anytime soon, so it was put out on location where it performed poorly.
* Cheap SLE "extras" like the pinstriping that came off within a month and the cabinet sticker that delaminated
* No SLE-specific warranty spare parts to FIX issues like the delaminated coin door cabinet area
* Pretty great looking topper that did essentially nothing.

Just a poor effort all the way around for a "SUPER" machine that was $6k over the LE machines at the time. MAYBE $300 worth of BOM cost to get an extra $6k (remember, Stern only sold these direct, so they didn't have to share any of the margin with distributors).

Never again.

Ok

Your other points are valid.

But you knew (or should have known like anyone else that paid attention to the Expo announcement) about the code situation yet you bitched about it constantly. And putting an SLE on location isn’t going to do anything but devalue it.

Come on Harry Potter!!! (Hasn't been said in a while.. so making sure it's known there's still demand )

I don’t own the game (SW) and think it’s amazing. Lightning fast with an epic rule set that offers breadth, depth, and adrenaline. Top 5 pin for me, though GOT has a chance to dethrone that if/when I ever get to play it with the new code.

I was in the camp of hating this game (SW). At the 20 plays mark it started to make sense, at 50 plays it really started making sense, at 100 plays it became addicting, 200+ epic.

I've blown the game up quite a few times. It just doesn't matter to me. Feels like Aerosmith. I can kill it on the game, but I'd rather just walk away and leave the credits for some kid who has no idea what he's doing. Ignorance is bliss.

Any truth to Kanedas speculation of a Led Zeppelin announcement coming this Friday? I feel like Kapow BTTF should be the holiday announcement. Hmmmm

The multiplier aspect makes the game. Controlling and shifting the shots, huge risk reward building it up, timing it right for 40x... all great stuff.

I hope so!!

Me too..I need a new pin and I think I’m passing on GNR.

Who are these "many people " you have been given permission to speak on behalf of? Friends who personally comment to me about the game agree that its a game where once you understand the game and how to work the multipliers its addictive. The layout is SR butter. Btw it ain't hard to get a name up on one in the wild... I wouldn't be grandstanding your accomplishment so eagerly.