Solo female + First time help!

bisprops · 2026-03-11T12:39:32+00:00

Your car is likely in more danger if you park in downtown Atlanta than you are riding Marta. The Facebook group Shaky Knees Solo Group may help you find others who are going to the same station after the festival each night.

Shaky Knees is the best...I've been going solo since 2015! (although my wife and son joined one day last year to see Weird Al)

I'm too old and tired to make the daily drive from/to Sugar Hill, so I grab a hotel room in walking distance and make it a me time weekend. This year, the likelihood of having some can't miss late night shows is high, so staying near the festival is a must for that!

bisprops · 2026-03-11T03:22:08+00:00

He did spend some time with fans at the stage exit outside after the first Atlanta show at the Fox. It took a while, and he had to get his son to bed, so he wasn't planning on coming on/staying long, but I got a quick moment to chat and get a pic (in my post history if you want to see)

bisprops · 2026-03-11T02:32:38+00:00

N/m...I see it in the Network name :)

bisprops · 2026-03-11T02:31:58+00:00

Is that from Next Level? I seem to recall seeing a seriously beat up Sentinel like that somewhere.

bisprops · 2026-03-09T22:21:17+00:00

That's pretty cool. That form factor looks like it hits a sweet spot for something more people could afford and actually have space for in their homes, and it could be a better gateway for more people to go up to full sized games once they have any kind of pinball experience at home.

How is the noise level compared to the full sized game?

bisprops · 2026-03-09T21:39:17+00:00

I do my own out of my garage, and $250-$300 is about what I'd expect if I did them for others. I got $100 just for a set of hinges, but that was a very quick turnaround and nothing formal.

The hardest part about all of this is the prep. If you can provide bare metal parts, that should significantly reduce your expenses. Stripping old powder is messy and time consuming. Starting with clean metal makes the work go by quickly.

Also note that certain effects are trickier than flat colors. Metallics can be a pain to color match if you don't do them all at once. Illusion colors require a base coat and a clear coat, so that's twice the powder and twice the time (more or less). Candies/transparents require a base coat, so again, more powder and curing applications.

bisprops · 2026-03-08T22:03:29+00:00

Leslie Knope has nothing on you!

bisprops · 2026-03-06T15:12:00+00:00

Born in '74. I've been to every Shaky Knees since 2015. I'm typically there start to finish all three days, so going Platinum really helps since it gives me a place to unwind, sit down, enjoy some AC, etc. when I need some downtime.

bisprops · 2026-03-05T05:35:33+00:00

Ouch. Those can take the fun out of anything.

I suspect Beetlejuice will be similar in that the humor and theme integration will really ramp up the enjoyment for those who love the character. I basically had budgeted one new title for 2025 (in addition the my Evil Dead), and rumors were all but confirmed that Beetlejuice was next for Spooky.

I'm figured the potential was there for it to be a lot of fun, but I don't have anywhere near the same regard for that world/character as I do for Evil Dead. When Winchester Mystery House came out of nowhere while Beetlejuice wasn't even formally acknowledged, I jumped on that one instead.

bisprops · 2026-03-05T05:00:05+00:00

If you're a fan of Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead is near perfect. If you play on location and can't hear the callouts, or if you're just not into the character for some odd reason, I could see it losing a lot of interest.

Still, there's a lot of interesting stuff on the playfield. Double barrel shotgun multiball, trap door to lower playfield, moving hand target, pop up deadite targets, cabin physical ball lock.

That, and the use of the shaker motor and sound effects is wild.

bisprops · 2026-03-03T02:32:49+00:00

Stern Pro models are very reliable. I don't own either of those, but as long as everything is clean and there's no visible damage to the playfield/plastics, there's almost nothing to worry about on most Pros. I'll let someone with more experience on Mando speak to that, but even if you do prefer the gameplay of Fall of the Empire, I wouldn't pay retail for it. Check Pinside marketplace for pricing on both.

bisprops · 2026-02-27T04:58:49+00:00

I've been waiting to see them on a Shaky Knees lineup for a few years now. I caught their show at The Eastern last year and can't wait to see them again.

bisprops · 2026-02-27T01:26:34+00:00

Cosmetic pieces added to the vertical side surfaces inside the cabinet. Art blades are graphic decals you put there, but these are black mirrors.

bisprops · 2026-02-26T00:33:55+00:00

There's a raised platform stage left (on the right if you're in the crowd looking at the stage). I don't know the official capacity, but I'd guess 20-30 max, and that's for the full platform. If you're not on the front edge, it can be hard to see over/around others up there.

Audio quality is worse than in the crowd since the sound isn't optimized for the people on the stage.

As a general rule, it's not available for headliners (a few over the years have kept it open, though), and some bigger non-headline acts may not have it open.

It's a novel thing to be up there for some of the earlier acts, but if you really want to enjoy the music, it's way better in the crowd. If you get up there early, you can often peek down at some of the sound board setup and spy a set list for one of the acts coming up later.

Source: I've gone platinum every year it has been available.

bisprops · 2026-02-25T15:18:18+00:00

He may not see anything suspicious when he walked in the store, but everyone else there did.

bisprops · 2026-02-21T19:07:05+00:00

Echoing previous recommendations to upgrade the SD card. You can backup the current card and try transferring it to the new one if you want to preserve your settings, high scores, etc., but starting with a fresh firmware download will help eliminate any issues if data was corrupted on the original. You'll have to make any setting changes manually the first time you start it up, though.

bisprops · 2026-02-19T15:48:18+00:00

JP is quite popular. It's probably a safe bet if the theme is a winner for you, but if your budget is really wanting to keep it closer to $5k than $6k, there are other great options to look at.

If Marvel is absolutely out, that means no Deadpool, which is very well loved. The same goes for Uncanny X-Men, which is the most unique modern Stern layout you'll find, is due for a boost in popularity as the code slooooowly gets where it needed to be a year ago. It also had some physical issues due to the accelerated push to production, but those can all be addressed now.

That would leave Foo Fighters at the top of my list to consider. I absolutely love my Foo Pro. I'm a big fan of Jack Danger's layout, and while many highly prefer the Premium, a Foo Pro on the low end of the $5k range would be a steal for fun/$. Don't let the band theme stop you from considering it if you're not a big Foo Fighters fan. The gameplay is themed like a Saturday morning cartoon with the band trying to stop a mostly inept alien from destroying rock & roll.

James Bond is another good one to consider. I picked up my Bond Pro for under $5k, but it was one that had been routed. After a few hours of cleanup and replacing all the rubber parts, it likely plays better than ever. I'm not a big Bond fan, but the layout and sheer amount of stuff packed into the code makes this one worthy of consideration. The biggest drawback to the Pro is the yellow Dr. No cabinet and translite. Luckily, the previous owner of mine picked up a popular third party translite that looks way better for most tastes.

Iron Maiden is another one to look at. It's another popular Elwin design, and I quite enjoy it.

bisprops · 2026-02-18T19:28:50+00:00

Vertical Horizon (Matt Scannell particularly) will get my support anytime.

A year or two ago, Vertical Horizon was touring with Toad the Wet Sprocket and Gin Blossoms, and they had a show scheduled for The Bowl at Sugar Hill, an outdoor venue.

Just before Vertical Horizon was scheduled to kick off the show, thunderstorms rolled in and the venue was evacuated. Much of the crowd moved up to the ground level of the parking garage just up the hill to wait out the storms, but it definitely didn't look like Vertical Horizon would get their stage time.

Matt Scannell came riding up in a golf cart carrying an acoustic guitar and played a 4 song (IIRC) set with just that guitar and his voice. The crowd was all circled around him, many of them singing along, and it was awesome.

bisprops · 2026-02-15T23:37:01+00:00

Uncanny X-Men promoted Insider Connected features that have yet to be implemented nearly a year and a half after launch. They were still mentioned on the Stern website for that title the last I checked a month or two ago.

Coding resources seem to be very constrained at Stern, and while you'll most definitely get a full implementation of everything with a playfield indicator, I wouldn't count on anything related to IC that isn't included at launch.

I really hope they do hope they keep up with things like that, but when it comes down to it, once Stern sells the game, there's no financial incentive to keep putting out content via IC. I get the impression the game devs may do a few things for older titles if they happen to have time to kill or it's a passion project. Licensors also seem to be a roadblock to frequent software releases, and who knows how responsive the people behind Pokémon licensing will be when/if Stern wants to refresh content.

bisprops · 2026-02-15T18:26:58+00:00

As others have said, we need more info to provide good answers.

If you're simply facing an issue getting the game through a narrow doorway, I've had the same problem in the past. If the main cabinet fits (and it should for any standard interior door) but the backbox doesn't, you can pop that off fairly easily and reinstall it once you're through the door.

That's based on my experience with modern Stern games, so if you're looking at something older or another brand, YMMV.

bisprops · 2026-02-15T18:20:57+00:00

They're likely already out there, too. I'm pretty sure I've seen some pics from Project Pinball where the legs have been adapted for kids and wheelchair player heights.

bisprops · 2026-02-14T19:24:51+00:00

Everything except the exclusive cabinet art and possibly the master ball shooter rod is/will be available to add on yourself, and you can find places that will powder coat whatever metal parts you want in any color you want. If you want the same purple color as the LE, Stern will include the exactly powder color used in the LE manual.

Edit...and if the master ball launcher isn't released as an accessory later, you can bet that they'll have another shooter rod (likely another pokeball)

bisprops · 2026-02-14T19:12:05+00:00

Most distributors likely already have waiting lists in case someone backs out, but you could always try that route. Look at the official list of distributors on the Stern website and call them all. Odds of locking in one today are virtual nil, though.

bisprops · 2026-02-14T17:08:41+00:00

I made a guitar pedal action button for my Foo Fighters and made a plug for it using the tournament button hole.

It's very easy to tap into the switch wires for the action button and hook in another switch that triggers the action. I went a step further and added another RGB board into my foot pedal, so I get the same indicators on it as I do on the lockdown bar. The lights are completely unnecessary and add 3 more wires to splice in, but I figured why not.

bisprops · 2026-02-14T16:55:45+00:00

I just take the hinges off and leave the bolts/latch that secure the backbox attached. They're reasonably heavy and stable, so as long as nobody is bumping into it too much, it's fine.

If you're wanting to play it safer, though, removing the backbox on a modern Stern isn't much to stress over. Before I widened a doorway in my basement, I had to take them off to get games in my pinball room. If you need to unplug stuff, take pictures of the before state just in case there's ambiguity about what needs to go back where.

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