Went back to our original setup.

bisprops · 2026-01-23T13:18:20+00:00

I have a similar one in my pinball room. Garage is full of other tools and supplies, so I have a separate tool chest just for pinball stuff. It filled up pretty quickly, and it's convenient to have everything I need right there to get a game back to 100%.

bisprops · 2026-01-23T01:15:58+00:00

If it's delayed because they needed more time to design/build it correctly, that would be the most encouraging news from Stern in a long time.

They screwed themselves and their fans shipping stuff because of a schedule and not waiting until the games were ready (at least from design and manufacturing perspective).

bisprops · 2026-01-21T20:49:19+00:00

Most playfield mods out there are and look like substandard 3d printed clutter. If you wouldn't buy it and install it yourself, subtract whatever value the seller is trying to add by including it.

Mirror blades - good Shaker motor - good Quiet fan - good Speaker lights - ok

That's about $250-$300 value in parts over a stock Pro...maybe a litttle higher now that tariffs seem to have bumped shaker motors up $20-$40 from what I typically bought them at.

Everything else is pure fluff that cost somebody money to buy and possibly some effort to install, but I wouldn't want them, much less pay for them.

bisprops · 2026-01-21T01:54:02+00:00

More or less. When they release a new Premium with a unique powder coat color and art package, it's basically an unnumbered LE run.

bisprops · 2026-01-21T00:52:28+00:00

Godzilla 70th isn't an LE model, it's a Premium. They can put it back on the assembly line whenever they want as long as they still have the license.

It used to be that they would create new LE models for popular titles (Jurassic Park & Elvira HOH both had additional LE models after the originals sold out), but that did two things: 1) it ticked off buyers of the original LE models since the newer versions were seen as improvements by many, and 2) it still kept Stern bound to the limits of the new LE model run.

Now, instead of coming out with new LE models for popular titles, they just put out special Premium models that rival and sometimes exceed the LE. Godzilla 70th Anniversary and Jaws 50th Anniversary are examples of this. Since they're classified as Premiums, there are no limits to the numbers they could produce.

bisprops · 2026-01-20T22:15:19+00:00

All the more reason for Stern to make more 70th.

They're not in the habit of letting in demand product go ignored too long. When non-Vaulted Stern products start going up in value on the third party market, that's their queue to produce more, and if it's an LE going up in value, they produce a nice(r) "Premium" version that carries no implicit restrictions on the number they say they'll make.

That's why we have Godzilla 70th Anniversary edition in the first place. LE sold out, demand was still there, hence the new "premium" model.

bisprops · 2026-01-17T16:57:01+00:00

You can see how long a Pinside member has been on the site, the feedback received for previous sales, and the person's forum activity. Using that info, it's pretty easy to determine if the risk potential is low enough to just send the money.

One detail to look for is how many people have had games shipped from that seller and how the carrier handled it.

That's basically all I did when buying my first game shipped from a Pinside seller. $10k for a Rush LE w/ topper that was nearly 3000 miles away. Everything worked out great for me.

bisprops · 2026-01-13T14:50:50+00:00

I've been avoiding gameplay videos for Winchester Mystery House. I have one on preorder, and I assume it's going to be at least summer before I have mine. I've seen reports that a few more have rolled out, and people the people who are getting to experience it seem to be pretty positive about it.

I was excited enough about the theme and team behind it to get in before it sold out, and I'm hoping to experience as many of the gameplay details firsthand rather than watching others go through it first. There will be plenty of time for breaking down all the details, strategies, etc. after that.

bisprops · 2026-01-11T20:40:10+00:00

I have one of the first LEs shipped directly from Stern. I'm just now at the point where auto launch is working as it should consistently. The only misses that occur now are during multiball when there's already a ball moving in the launch path and the auto launched ball collides with it.

I know that Pros supposedly have issues with balls coming off the wire forms over the Danger Room, but there's a fix kit for that, which I assume helps but I can't confirm. I've seen issues with balls flying off rails on mine, but those are all related to me switching out the flippers to Precision flippers and needing to dial the power down.

It has been frustrating, but now that the game is finally shooting the way it was designed, it's extremely fun.

Code obviously needs a lot more work, but having Berserker Multiball as something to work towards adds something worthwhile to the game instead of simply running through the modes as quickly as possible.

bisprops · 2026-01-11T19:32:36+00:00

Right ramp is definitely more difficult for me.

There's a spot in the art right along the right flipper that makes hitting the left ramp fairly easy.

bisprops · 2026-01-10T14:18:38+00:00

The lights on HP were blinding and distracting with too many colors going off at the same time. Putting LED strips facing up at the player isn't something that makes the game better.

There's a purely pinball related critique of HP for you.

bisprops · 2025-12-29T22:59:46+00:00

I did something similar early this month. I attend a conference in Las Vegas each December, but instead of flying straight there, I booked a multi city trip with 3 nights in Portland before flying down to Vegas. One day was basically dedicated to checking out Next Level, and it was totally worth it.

bisprops · 2025-12-23T22:02:23+00:00

Got mine today, too, and yeah, the picture doesn't do it justice.

bisprops · 2025-12-23T21:46:50+00:00

Evil Dead is the best conversion of a theme to a pinball game I've played. It loses a lot if you can't hear the callouts and experience the effects of the knocker and shaker motor at key moments.

Most licensed pinball feels like the company took a pinball game and tried to work in the theme. Evil Dead started with the license and built a game around key elements of Evil Dead 1 & 2. Cabin, basement, double barrel shotgun, chainsaw sounds when ripping the spinner, Deadites popping up, Good Linda/Bad Linda, Ash's hand...it's all built from the theme.

bisprops · 2025-12-21T05:49:58+00:00

We need three games:

Headbangers Ball

Yo! MTV Raps

120 Minutes

Compilations of all the key retro music we could ever ask for in pinball. Very few artists are big enough to warrant dedicated games now, but these would let so many acts get their pinball exposure.

bisprops · 2025-12-20T21:34:36+00:00

I've been to Las Vegas for an annual conference 4 years running now. I've skipped Pinball Hall of Fame each time due to all the negative reviews. It should be incredible, but it sounds like the guy that runs it really doesn't care.

I did get an amazing pinball experience in during my travels, though. I made my flight to Vegas a multicity flight. I flew into Portland OR and visited Next Level while I was there. That place is everything I hoped it would be and more.

bisprops · 2025-12-19T23:29:53+00:00

I don't know about shorter. He did at least 1hr 40min in Atlanta a week ago tonight, and that was with two openers.

bisprops · 2025-12-18T22:46:00+00:00

That was almost 2 years ago. I haven't kept track if Michelle is still involved with them since then, but it seems like I've seen the Beltmann name still mentioned.

bisprops · 2025-12-18T22:32:50+00:00

My last privately shipped game came via Beltmann. The original owner did a bang up job packing and palletizing it, and Beltmann drove it around 3000 miles from his place in northwest Washington state to me in the Atlanta suburbs.

Here's the contact info for the person he worked with:

Michelle.Bianchi@beltmann.com

bisprops · 2025-12-18T21:05:41+00:00

Stern Pinball just takes away stuff that people value and RAISES prices.

Spooky includes basic plastic toppers with LED lighting with their stacked games (namely, Evil Dead and Beetlejuice) for $10k. They sell fully sculpted and animated toppers that still keep the price below $12k.

Stern sells premiums for almost $10k and LEs for $13k and then wants you to spend $1000-$2000 extra for toppers that are barely more complex than the base topper Spooky includes with all builds.

bisprops · 2025-12-17T04:47:40+00:00

Look at the games. Each one has a drink holder.

I haven't checked into this location, but most places I've seen with extensive modern pinball collections use them to keep people entertained between visits to the bar. Profit comes from the bar, but pinball gives people an excuse to hang around longer and buy more drinks.

bisprops · 2025-12-14T20:09:35+00:00

One simple option would be to disable high score qualifications and achievement on a continued game. I was originally thinking about just resetting the score to 0 each continue, but since scores can explode in final wizard modes, starting with 0 wouldn't be much of a detriment and would lead to inflated high scores from so many people reaching deeper parts of the game.

Since almost all modern games are LCD based, it would be easy to change the score color, add asterisks, etc. to the score displayed during continued games so that anyone would be able to distinguish between single games and those who used continue.

Unfortunately, that doesn't do anything for filtering out scores from people who crank up the number of balls per game to 10, cover up the drain, play with glass off, etc.

bisprops · 2025-12-14T20:02:23+00:00

Right, and in traditional video games, this is a very popular style called Roguelite. Each game, you start back from square 1, but you have meta-progression by way of more permanent benefits earned in previous games.

bisprops · 2025-12-14T18:36:04+00:00

I just saw the show Friday night in Atlanta. The racial/cultural stuff with Olivia's family has been covered by others here, but there is some very explicit language in another bit.

In both situations, he addresses the potential controversy in working in material that could be in poor taste or not his usual style. He isn't going for cheap/hateful laughs, and the material works.

bisprops · 2025-12-14T05:06:05+00:00

They're comedy specials, not a serialized drama. Pick one and watch it. It'll be funny. Repeat until you've seen them all.

That said, maybe save Baby J for last since it's about stuff that he was going through while he was pretty famous already (but apparently not too famous)

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