Is it technically planking?

My understanding of planking was where the playfield wood starts to swell and creates raised white lines in the playfield.

Mainly on games with age that were subject to either some big temperature or humidity swings.

But these are new games of course--where the phenomena is sealed under a protective clear-coat (that's also flat by comparison); different cause too perhaps--one theory presented: screening/clear-coat applied to wood that was too fresh.

I have seen this on new Sterns, but I wouldn't classify it as common.

Seems to be a minor cosmetic issue only vs. traditional planking; as Stern would say, within production run tolerances for a commercial machine (well, that was the old purpose of these games anyway ).

It will be noteworthy how JJP handles this.

Stern has identical issues with a small percentage their PFs--and their default answer is usually it falls within factory tolerances for a commercial machine.

Nothing sinister: this is just the way it was in this hobby before collectors ruled the day--Ops didn't worry about such things of course.

That said, these days if you put up enough of a stink, you'll probably receive an unpopulated PF for your efforts in a matter such as this from Stern (with photos and a proactive distributor in your corner to argue your case).

My understanding is would have to be a rather extreme/possibly a greater circumstance, to receive a populated PF from Stern--not 100% sure, just relaying what do I know for those effected...perhaps others have more information to add to this.

All said, it's perhaps a different situation here, given the number of collectors who bought LEs vs. commercial...perhaps more leeway will be granted/and it's a different manufacturer.

Cosmetic issue, somewhat subjective.