The updates would be fine, but if it would add $.50 or more to the cost of the game I doubt they would add it.

The seasonal or temporary changes would be nice, but considering they can't even release a game with finished code these days, do you really think they would keep a server online to add seasonal changes to a game? As it is with a UBS update...I'm guessing they could easily have different messages or modes for different times of the year or even time of day if they wanted to. My guess is.....they don't want to. More work with little to no pay off for them.

So if it were implemented correctly and kept running...I think it would be fine. If not, it's just technology for the sake of technology and really not very beneficial for most. Not everything has to be wireless, WiFi, Bluetooth or connected. I have friends that have their Xbox setting right next to their router and use the wireless because they, for some reason, think it's better than being wired. Ohh fancy! No wires, signal issues, slower speeds, less reliable...yeah...that's great! I'm sure I've heard of pinball companies discussing wireless updates in the past, but I don't know if any went with it or not. I'm not that familiar with JJ or American Pinball games.

My guess is also that they like people doing updates nice and slow so if something is wrong it can get caught quickly by the early adopters. Stern has been known to upload and pull some codes pretty quickly. Though I have never heard of any causing any issues, beside sometimes introducing new bugs or making the rules and general code crappier.

So it might be nice, but I don't think any of the pinball companies are ready for it yet....maybe in the future....maybe...

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It would be a waste of money for the manufacturers.

It’s not as simple
As just sticking wi fi in the game.

Every been to your parents and tried to use the wi fi? Nobody knows the password and if they can find it it has 45 characters. Ever been to a bar and used their wi fi? Quite often doesn’t work or isn’t offered.

This feature would hardly ever be used or set up correctly at a bar so little incentive to design and implement a pointless feature when everybody is screaming for code updates all the time and complaining about price increases.

I actually think it's a little antiquated and weird that the new pins aren't WIFI enabled. Almost every point of sale system at every bar, restaurant, and retail establishment in the US is WIFI enabled and the establishments handle those just fine. WIFI chips themselves are pretty cheap (under $2) but they'd probably be better off using an entire self contained module to connect with the table's interface. Would prob be $20-40 assembled on the high end. Very likely I'd pay for this option.

What a no-brainer here. Even washers and dryers have wifi and an app on your phone to control them. No reason this can't be on a pin, don't agree with the naysayers here. Good grief you can buy a toaster that connects to your phone.

I totally agree. Didn't the P2K games have some form of internet connectivity?

Multimorphic P3 has a placeholder for WiFi update but it's not enabled yet AFAIK. IIRC BOP 2.0 also has a menu stub for WiFi update as well (although much less likely to ever be enabled). The mini-PC's that run these types of games have built-in WiFi so there's no real extra hardware cost. Of course it might be telling that nobody spent the time to finish the software to enable the feature.

Multimorphic already has wifi-enabled multiplayer game play over a LAN (local area network) on their P3 pinball platform, WAN (wide area network) connection is coming soon...

https://www.multimorphic.com/

You can play their game Cosmic Cart Racing with up to 3 other players simulataneously over wifi at the Texas Pinball Festival this weekend.

It’s 2019. Absolutely no reason internet connectivity isn’t in pinball. Heck, I had internet as a teen back in 1994 and could play doom online against another opponent. I hope someone will implement this in future machines. I was at a friends house recently who has a WiFi connected refrigerator that could check weather, watch YouTube, etc. No reason it couldn’t be slowly implemented into pinball.

In recent podcast interview with Lyman he mentioned WiFi-internet connection is coming later this year, will be improved in 2020 and then further refined in 2021.

So we will see what he means late this year.

Yep no reason it’s not in them yet. Wait it will soon.

You can't count on the location to have reliable WIFI, but the operator could have all their pins simply tethered to their phone. When the coin door is opened, the pin could check for WIFI and then report if there is an update available, just like reporting errors when the coin door is opened, and ask if you want to update now.

A phone App that collects audits and shows you trends and overall income calculations is just a small step beyond that. The App would also know the current software versions of your pins on route and notify you if there is a software update available, or service bulletin.

2nd gen Apps would help repair and maintain to improve uptime. If there was a credit dot, the App could suggest steps to take and get updates on current known fixes from the manufacturer, and show you manuals and parts info, etc. The Apps could also track repairs and usage and recommend what spare parts to carry.

Sadly adding wifi is not just as easy as adding some cheap hardware to each machine, you need to find a easy way for people to enter there password data / write that into the firmware. But the biggest head ache (and every one forgets about it) is the server, you now need to support a server to run all of this! and most likely employ a full time system admin to look after it, you need to first design / write the whole system (wont be cheap) then make it secure and support it 24/7. Its a massive nightmare. All these Iot devices are a nightmare but its usually a company's core product so they are setup for it already. They will probably add in the future if sales ever did start dying as some sort of "new innovative feature" to get people back hehe.

They've apparently been working on wifi for a while, I heard ages ago (I think it was from Gary) saying that one good example was that location pins can send location data to Stern Pinball Arcade so that the users can get notifications whilst travelling: "Hey! You've been playing Ghostbusters a lot on the app, there is a real Ghostbusters pinball within 1 mile!"
Diagnostics, stats, updates - all these can be sent via the internet. Can't wait for it all to eventually come!

Unfortunately SPA appears to have been abandoned. Pinball <simulation> is hard.

Yup, its a big job. Of coarse a manufacturing company like Stern already has a ton of IT supporting all aspects it's businesses.

That would be soooo dope!

I think this discussion needs to look forward rather than backward. Remember lots of innovation is created before the perfect world exists to consume it. Think of the discussions that must have happened in California 10+ years ago when TESLA was looking to build electric cars before there were any electric charging stations. They pushed forward and people installed chargers at home, and THEN charging stations started appearing in the public domain. The value of the connected electric car was higher than the hassle of getting there. There was real value, not just something different.

So, for Wifi in Pinball, two related topics need to be discussed:
1) The mechanics of putting wifi inside a pinball... This is plumbing discussion, and must include discussions about the type of Wifi tech, the cost for it in hardware and software, security, the addressable market which is the likeihood that owner and/or revenue route locations have Wifi. (Have you looked for a Wifi signal lately in any home or public/retail setting that you did NOT find it? While it is possible that the Dew Drop Inn doesn't have Wifi on premise, it is VERY rare that it happens.)
2) The reason for putting Wifi inside a pinball... The value inside a pin for any enthusiast owner and/or route operator. In other words, the business around creating a centralized server clearinghouse. What is the value for a player, route operator and manufacturer, etc. Actually this should focus on how the ability to trade data over the internet would be explosed to the player and/or operator and manufacturer. What would you be able to do with connected data that has value? What would the player be able to see that is unique and of value to them. Would they buy more units? (remember the settings and rules are all programatic, the backbox screens are all visual, etc. so the sky is the limit on cool creative things you could do if connected to the internet) Could the manufacturer detect bugs more easily? Could they save money somehow? How could the player be attracted to drop more quarters into the slot if data was real-time? Does the route operator really update firmware in the wild, and what does it cost them to do so?

Candidly, #1 above is the easy one. Putting the plumbing in place is cheap and easy relative to a $6K-$7K machine. #2 , the VALUE of doing so, is the important topic. Something like this either needs to MAKE money or SAVE money for the manufacturer (and subsequently the route operators).

Talk amongst yourselves... LOL

This is done. The Multimorphic P3 has wifi enabled head-to- head gameplay right now. Game over. Support them.