Stern Pinball

"There is a level of arrogance at Stern when it comes to the community... They don't care to come on and talk to people in the community. They don't care to engage us as much. They ignore us. They just think we're suckers who buy everything and we kind of are like they kind of treat us like the babies and idiots. We are."

Stern Pinball blacklisted Kaneda because they don't need to work with podcasters - they treat the community like babies and idiots who will buy anything

"stern doesn't even care I'm gonna say this we're not their primary target they know that losers like us that listen to podcasts every week that are on pinside for hours they know we're gonna buy their games they don't need to engage with us"

Stern doesn't need to engage with enthusiasts because they know we'll buy anyway

"I think it's going to make so many stern games when it comes to humor feel like like like G rated movies for kiddies. Like how pathetic is it that Rick and Morty is going to give you that adult humor you want? And stern release Deadpool, who is the Marvel universe's irreverent like adult theme character. And they don't even have any curse words in Deadpool, right? Deadpool's for kiddies."

Rick and Morty will make Stern games feel like G-rated movies for kids with its adult humor

"Why isn't Lyman Sheats working on every Keith Elwin game? Why isn't Lyman Sheats working on the best designers games that Stern makes?"

Lyman Sheats coding obscure Elvira instead of major titles is waste of talent

"I'd rather them see that than do what Stern is doing, which is instead of letting people flip games that are in high demand... They've increased the price and so Stern is making money on the potential flip and not even giving any room to flip a damn game... We're paying the flip price from Stern. Those are the real blood sucker additions"

Stern is charging flip prices directly instead of letting market determine value

"The reason why Stern had its best year ever because it is not because of the games that came out in 2019 because unlike everybody else, Stern Pinball doesn't just sell you brand new games from one year production lines. They sell you games from multiple years of production lines."

Stern had best year ever in 2019 not because of 2019 games but because they sell multiple years of production

"these games now are so expensive toppers are $750,000, LVira with a piece of couches $15,000 and I'm here to say it like these games comparatively next to like a Star Trek the next generation or World Cup soccer they're like embarrassingly barren and empty and without hardly anything interesting on the playfield"

Modern Stern games are barren compared to 90s Williams games like Star Trek TNG

"our game at Houston in the shape it was was likely had more value in it than a $15,000, you know, Elvira signature edition and maybe with some touch ups, a collector's edition, wonka."

Criticism of Stern's Elvira Signature Edition having no value despite high price

"if you do clear ramps and things like this then they should at least have decals in them and I shouldn't have to go and buy them for a really expensive game like Jurassic Park"

"he then calls up Stern Pinball and says I just put your new code in and it broke two of my node boards they won't send him new node boards for free they want him to pay money for those node boards now I that is garbage response"

Criticism of Stern Pinball's warranty handling for code update failures

"I don't think Stern's trying to beat BLE Williams under the glass I think Stern's trying to beat us or beat them with better you know new themes or big themes great artwork and great coding but I don't think that Stern Pinball is mechanically pushing the envelope at all in fact I think it's the opposite"

Stern Pinball is not pushing mechanical innovation - they're removing features for cost savings

"then they should at least have decals in them and I shouldn't have to go and buy them for a really expensive game like Jurassic Park and then I buy a decal of T-Rex footprints"

"stern distributors are their greatest asset they are a stern distributor will call you up and make you feel like that you're special... they create that fear of missing out"

Stern distributors manipulate customers with fear-of-missing-out sales tactics

"It's will stern spend the money to get the necessary assets that I think you would need to do stranger things justice. So for example, you can't do stranger things without the iconic music from the show... I mean, they didn't even get the license for a Jeep Cherokee."

Stern won't spend the money needed to properly license the iconic 80s music that would make Stranger Things pinball great

"the big story that Christopher Franchi was talking about was basically how the designers at Stern are under so much pressure to deliver games at a certain price point that they have to pull stuff out. That's really innovative and creative and I love the story of John Borg just going crazy when he had to remove stuff from the monster's game"

Christopher Franchi interview revealed that Stern designers are under too much pressure to deliver games at certain price points, forcing them to remove innovative and creative elements

"I think stern has enough blockbuster titles that I bet Godzilla is like on the sealist somewhere for them of like maybe we'll get around to making it one day but in the meantime they like completely robbed it"

Stern Pinball should rescind their Godzilla license and give it back to Spooky Pinball who are true fans of the franchise

"if it doesn't have muscles, motor, you know, sports cars, superheroes or, you know, somebody with a big gun, then they're not interested, you know, it's got to be all this macho stuff."

Stern only wants 'macho' themes - muscles, motorcycles, sports cars, superheroes, or guns

"Stern had an issue with, you know, their artists working for other companies. So if you work for Stern, you didn't work for anybody else. And if you work for someone else, then you didn't work for Stern."

Christopher Franchi believes working exclusively for Stern was limiting his career opportunities

"So here's what I think is going to happen. You are not going to see anything new from Stern pinball. There will be a bunch of Elvira's and Star Wars games there. They're going to sell that."

Prediction: Stern will not show anything new at Pinball Expo 2019, only existing Elvira and Star Wars games.

"the monster's got, got stripped down. I remember a day dealing with a poor Mr. Borg where he was really frustrated about having to take something out. And he was basically kind of going through the game and just pulling everything out like screw it"

Franchi believes designers want to put maximum effort into games but get stripped down by management

"You are not going to see anything new from Stern pinball. There will be a bunch of Elvira's and Star Wars games there. They're going to sell that."

Stern will not show anything new at Pinball Expo 2019, only selling existing Elvira and Star Wars games

"what happened all of you ran and bought it like suckers...They're opening up their game. They spent so much money on their game and the code's not finished"

Stern customers are suckers who buy unfinished games with cost-cutting measures

"Stern Pinball as a company has blacklisted me. They've given me nothing. They don't let anyone talk to me... I've extended the olive branch for over a year now to just try and get Stern to participate or give me something on this show"

Stern Pinball has blacklisted Kaneda and won't provide any information or access

"They deserve it. They just they just deserve it because they get you games quickly. I mean, I mean, it's just it's just that simple. Every other pinball manufacturer makes you wait months and months and months to get the game."

Stern deserves their high profit margins despite only putting $3,000 into games because they deliver quickly

"They have they have a tsunami coming of titles and things that are just going to blow you away."

Stern has a tsunami of dream themes coming that will blow people away

"we all know charging $15,000 for these games was Kaneda's idea. I can go back and find the podcast in which I said it and they executed it to the perfect degree."

Charging $15,000 for games was Kaneda's idea that Stern executed

"If Stern Pinball said for 500 bucks a year and I told this to Zach Sharpe, I emailed him. I said, Zach, you guys should definitely do something with Stern Insider Club where you could pay more."

Stern should create a VIP Insider program for early access to limited editions

"stern deserves every single penny they get with this new approach of you know certain times having limited versions of games without much added to them they deserve to sell off 50 those L virus because for years stern has been the only company that is consistently manufactured games on a timely basis"

Stern deserves success with limited editions because they consistently deliver on time

"Stern is like the Titanic. Everyone else is just a lifeboat on side you know on side inside the Titanic. If that thing goes down everyone's collapsing with it"

Stern Pinball is essential to the pinball industry's survival

"they announce a game they get you the game they and and you get it within a month or two they don't allow you enough time to back out they don't allow you enough time to even play the game they don't allow you enough time to see the finished code they've already got you"

Stern Pinball uses smart marketing tactics to get customers to buy before seeing games, delivering less for more money

"People are buying a $15,000 pinball machine before they've even seen it played once. They don't even know if the game is any good. There's no reviews about it. There's no nothing. They're already fully committed."

Stern's marketing strategy is genius - they create FOMO and sell games before anyone sees them played

"I think they're creating manufactured scarcity with these like signature, serious edition. So, beer is like broad, it's signed and we threw it in the coin box and that's another five grand and here's a piece of the couch. I mean, come on, like what is this crap?"

Stern's high-end editions are cash grabs with manufactured scarcity

"Stern is doing something right now that I think everyone needs to wake up and realize. They're just clobbering. Clobbering. The competition with cadence."

Stern is clobbering the competition with aggressive release cadence

"Just having a glass translite is not good enough just having a shaker motor is not good enough just powder coating the armor is not good enough... The playfield's not different the experience is not different the code is not different there's nothing special about it... And a year from now everybody knows that Jurassic parks that are LE versions will be selling for like $7,000"

Stern Pinball limited editions are overpriced with minimal differences, market is softening on LE values

"We still though have not heard from Stern on this. What is Stern doing? Stern's been very quiet... Are people getting phone calls from Zach Sharpee or from anyone at Stern Pinball from all the Jurassic Parks that have been affected? We haven't seen anything yet. So the ball is now in Stern's court to do something on this issue."

Stern hasn't responded to clear code issues like Jersey Jack has

"no widespread issues here at Stern can't speak for other manufacturers though"

Stern's response to playfield issues is inadequate - claiming no widespread issues while problems exist

"What did Stern do? They sent people who had ghosted insert problems, fully populated playfields. Do you know how expensive that is to do? But they did the right thing and they made those customers."

Stern handled the ghosted insert issue correctly by sending replacement playfields

"I think Stern Pinball, as much as people give them crap, I think overall, when you look at the volume of games that Stern ships in comparison to the volume of games from Jersey Jack or Chicago gaming or spooky, Stern games hold up really well. They do. I don't see Stern club threads turning into troubleshooting threads that often."

Stern Pinball has better quality control than other manufacturers

"you know who's expanding Pinball Stern fucking Pinball they're the only ones that are expanding Pinball they're the only company that is built to expand Pinball they're the only company that can ship hundreds of games a week to locations all over the world"

Stern Pinball is the real company expanding pinball, not niche manufacturers

"I think it's fair to say that Stern has had mediocre titles with the Beatles, with the monsters and with sort of rage black night. I think it's fair to say that those games all failed to capture the imagination of pinball buyers and players."

Stern had mediocre titles this year with Beatles, Monsters, and Black Knight - all failed to capture imagination

"the reason why I love just everything Stern does and Jersey Jack does... they don't rip people off"

Reliable manufacturers like Stern and Jersey Jack are what the industry needs

"stern games. They're one thing they're now missing. Okay. They're missing polish... The amount of screws that Stern has in a game is just embarrassing. Like everything's got screws through it. Everything."

Stern games lack polish compared to other manufacturers, with too many visible screws and cheap-looking parts

"I really do get confused as to why the marketing team over at Stern doesn't realize that that we're the ones who care the most. And I just think they could do a better job of synchronizing it all at once."

Stern Pinball's marketing synchronization issues with game reveals

"none of these versions just sort of screamed out like I have to have it and I think the fear of missing out on getting a Stern LE like on day one or day two I kind of think like those days are getting to the point where they're over"

Stern LEs no longer create fear of missing out and aren't worth $9000

"It's like holy crap. Like this thing is loaded. Like it is packed. I mean, there is a lot going on in this game... they forgot to put half of this game into Black Knight because Black Knight compared to this has absolutely nothing."

Jurassic Park pinball is extremely loaded with features compared to recent Stern releases

"I think additional code updates in games that happen years after the game come out is the biggest loss of revenue for Stern pinball ever... it's crazy to me that they don't understand the revenue potential to charge additional money to get, you know, very enhanced code updates down the road."

Stern should charge for major code updates instead of giving them away free

"This is going to be the week in which we see the next new Stern machine. You heard it here first. This week we will be introduced to the next major cornerstone title from Stern Pinball."

Prediction: Stern will reveal their next new machine this week.

"The Pinball hobby is growing and they are capturing the majority of the money that is flooding into the Pinball marketplace. They must be blown away... they've seen so many, so many charlatan companies come and go, so many other people try to show them how to do it in the Pinball business. And the Pinball business is booming and they are collecting most of that revenue and they deserve it. They deserve it."

Stern deserves their market dominance after surviving near-collapse and outlasting many competitors

"Stern Pinball in the next six to twelve months is going to open up a can of whoop ass so big on the rest of the industry it's going to be funny... they are about to dominate and they're about to put everybody in their place"

Stern will dominate the industry in the next 6-12 months with upcoming releases

"I think Stern is annoyed that I hear stuff and I predict reveal dates. And they, I think they try to throw people off. But we're going to see it soon."

Prediction: Stern tries to throw people off by changing reveal dates when he predicts them accurately.