Stern Pinball

"Stern Pinball games, if they keep going the way they're going, are going to look like Sega games. Ironic, that Sega turn into Stern. I don't think Stern is up the game very much. I don't think people are going to want these Stern games so many years from now."

Stern Pinball games will age poorly like Sega games did

"I don't understand why this scoring though on these new Stern's goes into hundreds of billions of points I think it's stupid I think it's a bad decision for one reason and one reason only I think it looks terrible on the LCD screen"

Pinball scoring in hundreds of billions is stupid and looks terrible

"I've sort of just been annoyed by the rollout of the game. And this constant sort of delay and inability just to show us anything to excite us to wet our appetite on the game. Annoyed me."

Stern's rollout of Star Wars has been poorly handled with delays and lack of communication

"I almost feel like Stern released Star Wars and then didn't let anyone play it as an F you to Pinside. I really do. I can't see any other reason why they just can't let people play it"

Stern released Star Wars and won't let anyone play it as an F-you to Pinside

"Stern makes games to stay in business, Stern doesn't make games just to create a game regardless of profitability"

Stern makes cheap games to stay profitable while other manufacturers fail by not understanding costs

"I know I'm saying this without seeing the gameplay, but is that my fault? That I haven't seen the gameplay? Was it three weeks now since we've seen the reveal of Star Wars and we're still waiting"

"All right, that's my out in my prediction. But I think Stern would be out of their mind to make Slayer Pinball. Who? What? Like, no. It's most likely going to be Iron Maiden, which I don't care if it's Slayer or Iron Maiden."

Prediction: Stern's next game will be Iron Maiden, not Slayer, as Slayer would be a poor business decision.

"They're charging a premium price. But the premium quality just isn't there yet. It just is not there yet. Stuff like the splitting cabinet stuff like the playfield issues. Stuff like using $5 toys in a $15,000 game."

Stern has quality issues despite premium pricing

"if you call me a Stern fanboy, I don't know how you can love pinball and how you can get excited about new pinball and not really root for Stern because they're going to do it over and over again. They're going to give you pinball at a frequency that no one else can do. And they're going to give you themes that no one else can secure."

Stern is the only real player and pinball fans should root for them because of their consistent delivery and licensing power

"Stern would do a much better job if they would allow these individuals more of an opportunity to tell the story behind the making of these games for better or for worse. I think a lot of the pinball critics would be silenced if they just heard from the people who are passionate behind these projects"

Stern would benefit from allowing designers to tell their stories publicly to reduce criticism and speculation

"You can tell that Stern's method is great at creating sold out products. But it's also really bad at catching quality control issues."

Stern's secretive release strategy creates hype but hurts quality

"Personally, I think Stern could have done a lot more with the area. I really do. They look like waffle irons like these two big black rectangles. They're very unimaginative. They're very uncreative"

Stern's LCD speaker panel design looks cheap and unimaginative

"I love that Stern does it the way they do it It's like it frustrates me, but it also it's exciting because it's like they make it like Christmas morning"

Stern creates the best hype by holding back information

"that's why Stern wins that's why Stern wins time and time again because as much as people want to complain about code and the decals or this or that or splitting cabinets for every headache that Stern has given people they've also delivered games and they've delivered happiness to far more people than they've delivered headaches"

Stern wins because they deliver games despite flaws

"the thing that just always it's it's it's on my mind every time I'm over a new Stern it's just the feel of the machine to me just feels a little cheaper than I wanted to feel and it's hard to describe it's hard to describe but whenever I'm playing a Stern it just doesn't have that solid nature to it that I get when I play like dialed in or hobbit or was or a ballet Williams game"

Stern games feel cheaper and less solid than competitors

"All I know is that from when I look at it, these are not as well-made cabinets. And it's just my opinion, from my experience, that these cabinets are not as well constructed. As the ones that were starting from all the way back into the 1960s."

Stern cabinet quality has declined with concerning construction changes

"If that happens I will quit doing this podcast. That's it, I'm serious. That's a threat to you Stern. If you make a Lynyrd Skynyrd pinball machine I'm done"

Threat to quit podcast if Stern makes Lynyrd Skynyrd pinball

"this sucks this is terrible timing right we are all excited for Star Wars and the last thing people want as they as they sort of think about the most highly anticipated Stern pinball machine of all time is that there's gonna be another major quality issue"

Stern cabinet splitting issue is terrible timing and shows quality degradation

"I would say that's pretty spot on worldwide. Probably domestically that number is maybe 85% or 90%."

Stern Pinball dominates with 92% market share through superior distribution model

"all the recent ones I played like AAerosmith and Game of Thrones, they just slow the game down. And I think they're just unnecessary in a way."

Stern's recent upper playfields on AAerosmith and Game of Thrones are unnecessary and slow the game down

"I don't think Stern's are collectible. I don't think you can look at them as collectibles and if we talk about Star Wars they're going to do the same thing with Star Wars. So for you guys like I'm one of them included I'm on a Star Wars list. I'm excited. I feel like I'm going to get one of the desired collectible versions of Star Wars but here's my prediction"

Stern machines are not truly collectible due to lack of competition

"If you want to invest in Stern, you want to buy a Stern game. I think there's no doubt you'll get your machine. If you want to go buy a spooky game, I think there's no doubt you'll get your machine. After that, I think you have to have doubts."

Only trust Stern Pinball, Spooky Pinball, and Jersey Jack Pinball to deliver machines without worrying about getting them

"Which manufacturer out there has never taken pre-order dollars and then not delivered a game? Which Pinball manufacturer out there has the best people in the industry coding machines? Which manufacturer out there, if it weren't for them, there would be no NIB Pinball machines."

Stern Pinball is the only reliable manufacturer that consistently delivers

"I definitely think that stern has turned a corner with artwork. I'm still waiting to see the quality match the price point."

Stern has turned a corner with artwork but quality still doesn't match the price point

"What can you say? What how can you ever be mad at a company that delivers pinball machines with this type of frequency and this type of cadence? And the code the code in AAerosmith is 1.0 which means this game is going to ship with pretty much complete code"

Stern Pinball consistently delivers machines on time with quality code - they've turned a corner

"the company that is cashing in on that resurgence is Stern Pinball and nobody else. Stern Pinball is making money. Stern Pinball probably made millions on Ghostbusters, millions on Batman 66. Everyone else is struggling to stay above water."

Only Stern Pinball is making money from the pinball resurgence

"If Stern would have just taken care of him, he wouldn't be on this crusade... You just spent eight grand on Ghostbusters. It should work. It shouldn't be defective"

Stern's quality control and warranty support is unacceptable, especially for premium priced machines

"I would consider Stern to be number two and on the list of companies that at least gets back to you, at least communicates to you... Stern doesn't miss release dates very often"

Stern Pinball is second most trustworthy - at least communicates and doesn't miss release dates badly

"you bought a stern it's like you bought a you bought a Honda or you bought a Kia or you bought a Hyundai you didn't buy a Rolls Royce"

Stern buyers shouldn't expect premium quality - you bought a Honda not a Rolls Royce

"if I'm going to go ahead and actually do this pinball thing again, I would definitely want to do it with you guys because of the fact that I actually want to see one of these fucking machines made."

Stern Pinball is the best company to work with for getting games actually made

"imagine pinball without Stern... It would have collapsed. It would absolutely have collapsed... There would be no Jersey Jack pinball if it wasn't for Stern"

Stern gets unfairly attacked and deserves more respect for carrying the pinball industry

"Only Stern can really create that environment of hype and rush to buy. Only Stern can do that because only Stern delivers the game to you during a period of your life where you're actually still alive"

Only Stern and Spooky consistently deliver on promised timelines

"Stern does not make spare parts for games that are older than 10 years old. They usually don't support games after five years. And whatever stock parts they have in their warehouse are usually they might hold up into 10 years and once they're gone, they're gone. They don't want their pinball games from 2003 to survive because they want people to buy new machines."

Stern Pinball doesn't support games after 5-10 years because they want people to buy new machines

"it's also frustrating too because you're like if even just a few years ago you know there's all this like talk of IP and Frenchman and Stern's protecting the IP it's such it's so not fun anymore because there and I work for major brands and creativity yeah and they are"

Stern's IP protection efforts are stifling creativity and making pinball less fun

"I can guarantee you this time around if Stern's in that pickle, our collectors will not buy their games in volume. They'll buy them in the LEDs and the stuff like that, but they will not be able to make anywhere near the number of games as a result they'll shrink, but they'll still be able to do the one or two pinballs again. That's how they'll do it. Instead of introducing maybe three or four titles a year, maybe they'll scale it back to two. But they do that. These other companies can't."

Stern Pinball will survive market stalls better than other manufacturers due to collector support, but will scale back production

"bang for the bucket... if you're gonna buy a machine you might as well go backwards... You're gonna get more and you're gonna get less unless stern turns a dime"

If you want bang for the buck, you should go backwards and buy older games instead of new Stern

"you basically have one manufacturer that's trying to monopolize them... force out competition order retainer supremacy"

Stern Pinball is trying to monopolize the market and force out competition for supremacy

"did you know... they're not even getting a real backglass on a super elite... They didn't even get a real button. No no mirrored backglass... They just get their three translites... Three plastic translites"

Batman Super LE doesn't even include a real mirrored backglass at $15,000 - just plastic translites

"Stern needs to get people new playfields if they had really bad issues. Look, this is because it's not personal. It's professional, and it's the objective right thing to do. You know, KPG, I wouldn't have gone about it the way you did, but you still bought a Stern product. It was still brand new. And while you had it over the first few months, conditions happened to the machine that should not have happened, right? Problems occurred that should not have occurred. And you deserve a new playfield, and you deserve it. Because you paid $8,000 of your hard earned money for a product, and the company should stand behind it."

Stern should replace defective Ghostbusters playfields regardless of customer behavior

"They've clearly figured out the issue with the Playfield problems, and Stern needs to make right here, because Stern knows that they shipped Playfields before they had the problem fixed. They know they did that. And as much as I love Stern, I don't I hate that they did that. They knew that it was a ticking time bomb. There was going to be the equivalent of a red ring of death for some Ghostbusters owners."

Stern knowingly shipped defective Ghostbusters playfields as ticking time bombs

"I think there is an unfair sort of anger and critique and impatience that people have with stern code"

Unfair criticism of Stern code delays, especially Batman code

"Where would we be without stern? Stern is the only manufacturer out there that consistently ships pinball machines to buyers and collectors and to operators. Without stern, there really is no conversation. There's no news. There's no Pinside dialogue. We'd still be talking about medieval madness from 20 years ago."

Stern is essential to pinball - without them there would be no conversation or news

"If you want to go buy a new inbox Pinball machine that's quality, that's coded by the best coders in the business, that is a great game, there's no other game in town but stern. There really isn't."

Stern is the only quality option for new pinball machines

"I think this is just a huge mistake... There's just no there's no pace here that feels right... They need to pace this stuff out better."

Stern's release pacing is too aggressive and hurts individual game excitement

"Stern showed this pin at expo right mid-October people were shown the pin people had the pin in their homes in the third week of December just think about that for a minute... between expo reveal and people physically having the pin was just a hair over two months"

Stern is the only pinball company that delivers games in a timely manner

"the fact that stern is making people buy mods in a bundle is bullshit... it's greedy enough to say that no one can sell mods but us. It's greedy as fuck to say you have to buy these mods in a package"

Stern's mod monopoly and bundling requirement is greedy and harmful to the hobby

"the reality is the only one is going to benefit during this era will be stern because stern will get their games out there"

Stern Pinball will benefit most from other companies' delays because they actually deliver games

"I wish that nobody at Stern would ever consider store-bought toys going into their machines. It is embarrassing, it is cheap, and we are past the point of them looking utterly lazy and pathetic when they do this."

Stern Pinball needs to become more detail-oriented and stop using store-bought toys

"They should have had a pinball machine for every year they were in business which celebrated the evolution of the company. Instead it felt like what Gary has said all along they are manufacturing company. They could be making desks and lamps they didn't seem to share the passion or love of the game"

Stern's 30th anniversary party was a cash grab that felt like an F-you to collectors

"I heard they were handing out pizza. I wasn't there for this her handing out pizza trying to get people Uh, to not go in the jack's presentation for the Lawlor game. I think that's a bit of a classless move"

Stern handed out pizza to disrupt Jersey Jack's presentation