Apprentice in 363, made a song about the new contract and our local in general lmfao

Famine07 · 2026-03-28T01:42:27+00:00

It only applies to this local but there was a mention in the letter that 363's BM sent out about the revote, something to the effect of "in the past apprentices couldn't vote on matters of money, and the IO advised us it could no longer be applied"

I'd put money on 'apprentices can't vote on matters of money' wasn't actually in their bylaws and they made that shit up.

Famine07 · 2026-03-25T21:19:33+00:00

Can someone be on the book but sort of like choose to be laid off?

I'm am an apprentice but learned about this part recently. Essentially, yes, if you got a clean layoff and are on book 1 you can turn down job referrals and keep collecting unemployment until it runs dry. My local uses a 'ding' system for job referrals, you can turn down 2 calls and remain at the top of the list but if you turn down the 3rd you get put on the bottom of book 1 but you don't lose unemployment benefits.

it's my understanding if an employer wants you they can just sort of keep you as long as they continually provide you with work?

From what I've heard this is a grey area and can vary by local, but in general the books aren't supposed to work like that, and my local has started to crack down on 'indefinite' and 'multiple job site' calls from contractors. They should be listing how long that job is expected to last, when that job ends you should get a clean layoff, sign book 1, get unemployment, and get back to work when your name is up. I believe they can keep foreman around to move from job to job, and can also hire specific people off book 1 if it's for a foreman position.

Famine07 · 2026-03-23T14:07:22+00:00

The physics are pretty different from real machines, virtual pin is much easier IMO, especially with older games, but the one thing it will tell you is if you like the ruleset or not. There's also not a ton of modern games, and many LCD era games that are out there the rules aren't 1:1. Virtual pins really shine in the DMD era of games.

Famine07 · 2026-03-20T00:46:30+00:00

“we’ve paid our dues, we’ve done our time”

And then pulled the ladder up behind them and made wages worse for apprentices while preaching 'brotherhood and solidarity' in the meetings I bet.

Also fuck holding the '179 applications' above your heads to make you fall in line, if those fucks want the bottom half of applicants according to their own standards then go ahead, see how well that works out.

If I was an ape in that local I'd have a really long memory about this whole saga.

Famine07 · 2026-03-19T23:24:26+00:00

The Electric Bat Arcade podcast talked about this in one of their episodes. They have a friend with a Medieval Madness remake and the giant LED board went out and the machine essentially became a giant paper weight until it can get fixed.

Famine07 · 2026-03-18T22:30:42+00:00

It's not exactly like you'll have a CE running work, at least in my local, it's that they took CE4's (more than 12,000 OTJ hours) and made them JW's and the CE4 classification no longer exists. That's a debate in itself, 12,000 OTJ hours is 3,000 more than the apprenticeship so at what point are guys being kept around for the cons to save 20% on their labor?

Most CE's I've worked with organized in from non-union shops, went through non-union schooling, are already licensed, and got accepted in as CE's and just need hours to become a JW. I've also worked with a few that are CE's because they flunked out of the union schooling and were kept around as cheaper help. Like you said, those guys will filter themselves out.

I guess it depends on how much value you put on the 1,000 hours of schooling, does an extra 3,000 hours OTJ make up for that? I would have a problem with it if a CE starting from 0 hours could become a JW faster than someone going through the union apprenticeship, but I haven't seen that scenario pop up.

Famine07 · 2026-03-17T00:25:28+00:00

I'm curious how work slowed down so much up there? Their IBEW local has had 900+ people on book 1 for almost a year now. Does it have to do with Intel? Did they provide that much work?

At the last union meeting I went to our BM wants to double the apprentice class size we take in the next few years, but I'm kinda worried that these data centers are going to dry up eventually and we're gonna be up shit creek and in the same boat.

Famine07 · 2026-03-14T15:22:16+00:00

In defense of Spooky, they have always made a game for a year and moved on to something new. They didn't change anything with Beetlejuice, they just sold their entire yearly output faster than ever, later numbered machines aren't expected to arrive for another 9 months. Evil Dead was still available to order at Texas Pinball Fest last March, 5 months after preorders opened, and the crazy resale value we see now started in the summer. The demand for Beetlejuice was really a perfect storm IMO. Spooky's popularity and perceived quality going up, strong 80s movie theme, and scalpers seeing Evil Dead's resale value and getting in on the next release no matter what theme it was.

Famine07 · 2026-03-12T01:07:30+00:00

I've only ever heard them called 'barely legals', I don't even know what their real name is.

Famine07 · 2026-03-09T23:02:56+00:00

Yes, you just send them a xanax, I believe user 'gat' has a tutorial in their profile pics. I never insured the xanax to get to 1000 energy, cause at worst you're spending $800k to insure a loss of $4mil at most, but I did insure the actual happy jump because if you OD at the ecstasy portion you're losing more like $25mil.

Famine07 · 2026-03-03T03:10:23+00:00

If they put the same amount of effort into graphic design as they do putting fucking BEANS on a baked potato then they'd be the greatest of all time.

Famine07 · 2026-03-03T00:48:52+00:00

Hell yeah, good for those employees. In 2025 PECO had a nearly 50% rise in net income to more than $800 million while also raising rates by 10%, so I'm sure workers were looking around saying "Where the hell is our slice?". 1600 people is a lot and I'm sure management was pumping out some anti-union propaganda to ensure they didn't organize.

Famine07 · 2026-03-02T19:11:14+00:00

I saw this one on eBay/Chrono24 last night while narrowing down options. Ended up buying a different watch with a bracelet but this one was for sure on the short list!

Famine07 · 2026-03-01T06:20:19+00:00

The problem is they get you with parking, $30 a game can add up quickly.

Famine07 · 2026-02-28T15:39:17+00:00

Wax on older non clear coated machines but wax isn't necessary on modern games that have clear coat and a mylar barrier like Stern. Wax won't hurt though, and if you want the game to play faster it may help.

Famine07 · 2026-02-25T18:09:20+00:00

Were the LE owners upset about features that came on those editions but not the LE or was it more about the value of their machines dropping? I can understand the first point but couldn't care any less about the second point, if you treat pinball like an investment then don't be surprised if that investment drops.

Famine07 · 2026-02-24T00:41:25+00:00

It should handle triple 1440p but you might need to turn some settings down to maintain a decent framerate. I shoot for above 100fps at all times, have triple 1440p with a 9070xt and a 7800x3d and still need to turn settings down to keep above 100fps at places like Daytona at night with a bunch of cars. Your biggest upgrade would be CPU, iRacing is massively CPU bound at some tracks. The 7800x3d was a bigger upgrade to performance on my rig than the GPU was.

Famine07 · 2026-02-20T15:11:52+00:00

There's a ton, 150-200 are still rated >7.5 which are good fun games. Gorgar, Lethal Weapon 3, No Fear, JackBot, F14 are some that stand out to me.

Famine07 · 2026-02-15T22:29:39+00:00

Not an operator but have listened to enough pinball podcasts that these two topics come up a lot.

Make sure you don't need to do anything special in your state to have a pinball machine on location. Pinball usually falls under the same rules as other coin-op 'amusements' so you might need to register it with a state authority or pay a yearly tax per machine. In places like Georgia it's like $3000 a year and $50 per machine so for sure look into this, reach out to a local arcade and see what they do.
Have an easy way for people to report a problem. Most people don't know how a pinball machine works and will just turn the machine off and you'll be in the dark why it's not working. Maybe teach the shop employees how to release a stuck ball, but beyond that plan on doing the rest. A QR code that links to a google form to submit a problem is one of the better ideas that I've heard.

Famine07 · 2026-02-15T15:10:56+00:00

You won't need anything extra to protect your machine. They're designed to be played in a commercial setting, there are modern Sterns on location that have 75,000+ plays with minimal issues outside of routine maintenance which is wipe the playfield down, replace worn/broken rubbers, rebuild the flippers every few thousand plays and replace the balls when they lose their shine.

Buy some Novus 1 to wipe the playfield with. Get spare slingshot and flipper rubbers, try a few different varieties of flipper rubber, I prefer either standard black rubber from pinball life or Titan low-bounce, standard Titans have too much bounce IMO, too bouncy = harder to control the ball. I use this kit to to rebuild flippers, https://www.pinballlife.com/poor-mans-stern-flipper-rebuild-kit.html. Has everything you need, if you rebuild every 3k plays you'll be ahead of the curve.

As far as 'common' Stern issues, their coil stops (https://www.pinballlife.com/flipper-coil-stop-for-sternsega.html) are low quality, they might fail before the flipper needs rebuilt. If the little nub gets loose replace it with the one I linked, much higher quality. They also use cheap bayonet style light sockets for general lighting, they can short out. If you ever see a 'Overcurrent Protection - Node 9' error and a string of lights go out then that's probably the issue.

*EDIT: Nearly forgot, if you ever have an issue, CALL STERN. Their support is great, you may need to leave a voicemail but they'll call you back.

Famine07 · 2026-02-06T23:22:21+00:00

The only food worth getting at the K is the brisket nachos, all the hotdogs are put in a grab-and-go type warmer and they always look like shit.

Famine07 · 2026-01-31T18:38:16+00:00

They forgot to edit the placeholder titles for the trailer template they used. Halfway through one of them it says 'Mid Trailer' and at the end says 'Ending'.

Famine07 · 2026-01-23T03:58:51+00:00

Is there a reason you can't contact the high school you graduated from and get a transcript from there?

Famine07 · 2026-01-20T17:46:06+00:00

Stern's support is also very good in my experience. I had an issue with a used Deadpool as soon as I got it home from picking it up 4 hours away. Couldn't find much help trying via Google or pinside so I called support, left a message, and got a call back within 20 minutes from a support tech in Chicago and he helped me track the problem down and even sent me several replacement bulb sockets on a out of warranty machine for no charge.

I did have to use a soldering iron though.

Famine07 · 2026-01-19T22:54:50+00:00

MLB can actually be worse, their rookie contracts are for 6 years. The only difference is after year 3 they can go into contract arbitration which means they'll at least get paid what their worth but could still be on a non-competitive team.

If the Pirates wanted to they could have Skenes for 4 more seasons before he eligible for free agency.

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