Stern Pinball

"when I see a big company like Stern hasn't really, really, really engineered stuff as cool as that rug or the upper playfield or the bowling alley. It just reminds me and it should remind all of you. You're getting what you pay for with Stern machines. They're not putting the engineering complexity into their games."

Stern doesn't put complex mechanical engineering into games compared to smaller companies

"This is another example of how Stern Pinball doesn't really test these games very much before they send them out to customers. How do they not test this? How do they not spend a few months with the scoops on rush, making sure that either the playfields didn't wear or they needed scoop protectors?"

Stern Pinball doesn't test games enough before release - Rush scoop protector is defective

"Do not, and I'm just doing this to save you money, do not pay over sticker for a pro or premium of a machine... you're going to lose so much money because Stern is going to remake all of these pros and premiums."

Don't pay over MSRP for Stern pro/premium models

"Personaally, again, this is me personaally, I don't know how you unbox a $25,000 Stern Elvira. You watch the playfield dimple to all hell because those Elvira playfields are horrible... You spent like $20,000 more just for $500 in decals and painted armor."

Stern Elvira 40th Anniversary is overpriced for what you get

"The world's number one pinball company that has more volume than all these other companies combined, that releases four games a year, that has the most mouths to feed, that has the most at stake, that has the highest rent and overhead, the world's number one pinball company, Stern Pinball, doesn't do this crap."

Stern Pinball doesn't need non-refundable deposits unlike smaller companies

"Now think about nowadays, who is Stern competing with? Nobody. They have no competition. There is not a single Pinball company out there that even makes Stern think twice about the games it's making."

Stern Pinball has no real competition, which is why their games lack innovation and magic

"Stern Pinball realizes we are not going to show you the game until it's on the line, why is that so hard for everybody else to do, it's so easy to do it that way, just don't ask for people's money until your game is being built"

Stern Pinball's reveal-and-ship strategy is superior to other manufacturers who show games months/years before delivery

"that interesting battle between him and Stern all of those years where Stern just wanted to rush games out. But Lyman needed more than a year to make a game great"

Stern rushed games out while Lyman needed time to make games great

"Stern loves it when they release an $11,000 game and seeing itself for $15,000 right away. They love it. They don't want to stop scalping because what scalping is doing, it's showing them that they have not come close to the ceiling yet"

Stern loves scalping because it shows pricing ceiling potential

"Stern from a gameplay standpoint absolutely laps all Jersey Jack games. It just does."

Stern absolutely dominates Jersey Jack in gameplay flow and energy

"Do I think these games are worth the prices? No, they're not. We all know that. These are not worth the prices. Stern is completely fleecing all of us."

Stern is completely fleecing customers with current pricing

"Stern has zero competition. There's zero competition. Nobody can make pinball machines, really, efficiently. Nobody. There is nobody else out there that is doing what Stern does. They make a new game every three to four months and they make hundreds a week. Nobody is even close."

Stern can charge whatever they want because they have zero competition in making pinball machines efficiently

"But Stern gets it to the only drug dealer in town that could cut up the dime bags fast enough because that's what these people want... If you're the only drug dealer making drugs and this is a drug and it is and these grown men don't need another pinball machine, but they're addicted to this."

Stern is like a drug dealer - the only supplier feeding pinball addicts

"The real eye-opening thing today is that Stern once again is using each new game to trojan horse a higher price into the pinball market."

Stern is using each new game to trojan horse higher prices into the market

"And without Stern Pinball, there wouldn't be much pinball to analyze because nobody else can do what Stern does and that is get a new pinball machine even in pandemic times. They get us new machines every three to four months."

Stern dominates the pinball market because no other manufacturer can match their production speed

"Stern can sometimes do really piss poor direction on callouts when they're working with, like, talent."

"If you took 99 million people and surveyed them, put Guns N' Roses next to Led Zeppelin and say, which one do you think costs more money? You would get 99.9999% of people would say the Jersey Jack machine looks like it should cost way more money. The only person that would vote for the Stern is someone named Gary Stern or George Gomez."

Jersey Jack machines obviously look more expensive than Stern machines

"And ultimately, stern pinball, are you ready for it? Has the best quality. There is no one who even comes close to Stern's quality."

Stern has the best quality in the industry

"if you were to say which pinball company is efficient, has the best quality, has the best code, has the best games, the best themes, it is unequivocally stern pinball. That is why they are number one."

Stern Pinball dominates the industry in all key metrics

"When you look at the prices of these toppers and shooter rods and people begging to get Batman inner art decals, Why do people who buy Stern machines have to beg for accessories that Stern made for those machines? So my wish is Stern goes down every single game and remakes those accessories and gives them to people who bought those games. I don't think anyone who bought a Ghostbusters should have to spend $3,500 on a $500 topper."

Stern should remake all accessories for past games instead of making fans pay inflated prices

"they control about 90% of the pinball volume and they have about 99% of the games you really want and that's just where Stern is at... They control the entire market."

Stern controls the pinball market and has no real competition

"I don't think anyone should be paying like $5,000 or $3,500 for an Ecto 1 Topper. Look at the thing. It's cheap... It looks like it was made in China for like 30 bucks."

People paying $3000-5000 for Stern toppers are overpaying for cheap plastic

"Stern should just do a platinum series. That's the top of the top and the platinum series is just like 200 or 250 of every title they make and they would sell everyone and they could charge 20 grand and all these rich guys that are bored out of their mind that need to have Christmas morning happen every other week are going to buy them."

Stern should create platinum series of 200-250 super limited games at $20k for wealthy collectors

"I think Stern is going to the same well too many times. So many superhero games, so many dad rock games, where's the originality? Where is the diversity in the lineup of machines?"

Stern Pinball is going to the same well too many times with superhero and dad rock games, lacking originality and diversity

"I would argue no Stern is worth anywhere near. Anywhere near $9,000. Let alone 10,000. Let alone $20,000. No Stern is worth anywhere near that."

No Stern pinball machine is worth anywhere near $9,000-20,000 given their low production costs

"maybe we should be telling Stern Pimba why can't all the L virus look that good, maybe I shouldn't have to spend 20 grand to get L virus to look that good, I should be able to spend 10"

"if you ordered a Godzilla premium today, guess when you're being told you're going to get your game, you might not get your machine until November of next year"

Stern Pinball has a serious one-year manufacturing backlog problem that will make 2022 brutal

"There's one thing that is just so embarrassing so sad looking and that's that tiny little display between the speakers stern Come on we know that an LCD display is like 30 bucks at most and this is still a 4500 dollar item"

Stern's tiny display on home games is embarrassing for $4500 price point

"I think Stern pinball is going to bake into this new system. A lot of different revenue streams and micro transactions as ways to get you to have to keep spending money on your pinball machine well after you buy it"

Stern Insider Connected will be used to extract more money from home collectors through microtransactions

"This is what pinball is supposed to be. It's supposed to be attractive and I do think when you look at these modern Stern machines with all of these art packages sure we can nitpick but for the most part these things do pull us in. They do look great. They look better than all the games from the 90s."

Modern Stern artwork is colorful, bright and superior to 90s pinball art

"Stern sells thousands of each title, and we really don't see many people having a lot of quality issues with Stern. So I would argue probably that Stern is the best quality pinball machine. And if you look at the amount of games they sell, I don't go into Stern threads and see page after page of like issues. We're seeing that more with Jersey Jack."

Stern has better quality than Jersey Jack based on issue frequency

"I think Stern needs to do a much better job showing us these games for the first time. Because when we see them, our first impression is forged by these videos that wash all the colors out, and they don't do anything to get you excited."

Stern's marketing and reveal videos are horrible and don't do justice to their games

"when you look at what JJP is putting into their games it justifies the price when you look at what Stern is putting into their machines it doesn't justify the price... there's not nearly the level of craftsmanship in a Stern machine as a Jersey Jack machine and now they cost the exact same price"

Godzilla's pricing doesn't justify the value compared to Jersey Jack machines

"we also can't go back and forget that Jersey Jack Pinball gave us the greatest launch ever with Guns N' Roses. The Guns N' Roses launch video and the excitement around that game and how they drop that game on the world is still. So many levels above what Stern does with their launches."

Jersey Jack's Guns N' Roses launch was levels above what Stern does

"But Stern's going to win. Stern always wins. And the reason they win is because they can manufacture."

Stern consistently wins because they can manufacture and deliver games on time, unlike other companies with constant delays

"I think it's safe to say that after Black Knight and I mean this, after Black Knight, Stern pinball will most likely never have a bad theme again."

After Black Knight, Stern will most likely never have a bad theme again

"I think it was long overdue. I think it's been coming for a while"

Stern's $600 Pro, $1000 Premium/LE price increases are justified and overdue

"as everyone else waits and does nothing. There was a tiny window of opportunity in which stern had no new games on the line. Mandalorian's been out for a few months and what has everybody else done? They've been asleep at the wheel"

Stern Pinball dominates through consistent releases while competitors sleep

"$500 increase on the pro a $750 increase on the premium and they are deciding right now on the LE's whether they will raise The price by 1,000 or 1500 bucks"

Stern pricing will increase significantly across all models

"if you're gonna charge me Stern Ten thousand dollar plus for an LE version of the game you got to make it limited 750 is not limited... I think 500 needs to be the cut off on all LE machines"

Stern should limit LEs to 500 units, not 750

"Unfortunately, we're about to see a stern increase in price. I'm hearing that stern machines are going to go up $500 across the board. And so now a stern LE is going to be $10,000 with no topper. Two loaded stern LE machines are now going to set you back $20,000 to $24,000. This isn't the hobby you guys all fell in love with."

Stern Pinball price increases make games too expensive

"This is why Stern Pinball just dominates. By the time you actually have time to study the game and see if there's anything in it you love or hate. It doesn't matter. It's in your house. They've taken your money and you've got the game"

Stern Pinball dominates because they actually ship products quickly unlike other manufacturers

"stern pinball for as big as they are it is a little cookie cutter another comic book another movie another dad rock band at some point it gets old it gets stale"

Stern Pinball is cookie-cutter with repetitive themes and doesn't connect with the community

"where is the magic under the glass where is it where is the magic in Mandalorian under the glass I am far more excited to look at these spooky games than I am when I look at Mandalorian at least spooky tried to do stuff that was super creative and super unique"

Mandalorian lacks magic under the glass and Stern just mailed it in

"They robbed spooky of their ability to make their dream theme and I think it's somewhat disgusting. I do. I know it's business. I know it was a shrewd business move but it would be like if I had a pinball company and you know me as Kaneda and you know that I want to make the Akira game and Jody Dankberg walks in and takes the Akira theme from me"

Stern taking the Godzilla license from Spooky is disgusting

"Imagine if people bought Mandalorian and we got Carl Weathers on just 50 machines to personally call out each of those owners by name and give them a shout out in their game"

Stern should create a platinum series with unique mechs and personalized celebrity callouts for ultra-high-end market

"I don't want to see people who buy a Stern product have to spend two to three thousand dollars to get a topper on a machine they just bought from us in the last few years"

Stern should continue manufacturing accessories people want and not force customers to pay inflated secondhand prices

"Stern pinball machines just feel better. They just shoot better. They don't have as much in them. They're not as interesting from an experiential standpoint... But Stern pinball machines just feel better and they just shoot better and I understand why so many people are in love with Stern machines because of the way they feel."

Stern machines feel better than Jersey Jack despite having less content

"They have got all of you... They have brought you to this place where the stuff you value... All that stuff cost them nothing. And they've been able to charge you thousands of dollars more for stuff that is pure vanity"

Stern Pinball has successfully manipulated consumers to pay thousands more for cosmetic upgrades that don't improve gameplay

"I hear that Stern Pinball is raising the prices on all of its titles by $500. That's coming next... We are going to be at the point pretty soon where a Stern LE is $12,500."

Stern Pinball is raising prices by $500 across all titles