Quoted from sk8ball:
Fiction. You have been saying this for 2 years now. Stern didn't force me to do anything on Maiden. The vari-target was removed because the ball kept getting stuck. The subway was removed because there was no longer a vari-target dumping into it. There is no ban on subways. Not sure where you come up with your facts but as the designer I have the real facts.
Thanks for clearing this up. I never got to play Archer, but followed it online. Never saw the vari-target hang up the ball, so never even considered that as being an issue. It's an under-used design element, and I loved how it was used in Archer, so very disappointed to see it gone on Maiden. Doesn't stop me from playing it excessively, but still...
On the subject of a tacit subway ban at Stern (not existing), it's VERY weird that Stern machines don't have subways, year after year. Some of the same B/W designers that used subways in their designs freely at B/W turn out machines at Stern without them, time and again. So you understand how this begins to look after DECADES of subway-free Stern pin designs when B/W almost never (never?) went even one year without them.
And actually, while you're here, can I send you one of the Spike Quiet plug n play fan kits to check out? I would LOVE for Stern to have Meanwell put these on at the factory to eliminate the terrible ~35dB noise of the fan that's in Stern Spike pins now. I would like nothing more than for Stern to put me out of business with these kits I never intended to sell in the first place (but have unexpectedly become massively popular). Meanwell says they would do it (install the quieter fan at their factory when making power supplies) for a high-volume customer like Stern, but it has to be initiated by Stern. If I send you a kit to try it out and you can see that it reduces the volume to almost nothing maybe that will help Stern make the move to a more customer and location-friendly fan in the power supplies? Anyway, if you want to try, PM me and I'll send you one or two right away.