Since 1983 we have accumulated extensive experience throughout the Pinball Machine business. In 2016 All Pinball Australia created the Pinball Expert show. Our shows purpose is to provide straight forward technical tips and advice along with candid reviews, assessments and information for buyers, owners and players about new and used Pinball Machines of all ages and brands.
If you are new to the Pinball arena or more experienced, we invite you to contact us for expert technical help and advice researching or repairing any Pinball machine or Arcade Video game.
Visit our Website: www.pinball.com.au or telephone us anytime on: 07 3901 5430.
Thanks for keeping them honest! It's too bad knowing that many of these will be decommissioned due to too much repair will be required to keep them going. I've got a 55 year-old '69 Super Bally Ball Bowler that I play daily. It's crazy knowing that it's better to buy older machines to allow lower repair costs. Any thoughts on the quality of The Big Lebowski by Dutch Pinball?
Modern Stern pinballs made since 2015 are far less durable than previously. The quality fell off a cliff! I've only seen 2 Big Lebowski pinball, they're decent BUT being a low production, boutique pinball and manufacturer, it's a concern about ongoing parts and support...how long will this company exist?
Point taken. had to replace the spotlight in the apron of my Godzilla, no it’s not as simple as a $1 47 bulb or even a 555 it’s on its own circuit board and it’s like $10
The entire lighting system was changed just to save them a few dollars in assembly time AND to create an new path to selling very high priced parts to owners.
I refuse to buy newer made - new - era stern pinball machines even here in america! they are overpriced for what you get! ill stick with companies like spooky pinball who make awesome pins like the Scooby - Doo where are you pinball,,Looney tunes, Halloween etc,,
So etching you didn’t mention. If the inside of the cabinet is dirty/dusty, that’s a big indicator that the owner didn’t take care of it. I recently saw a machine that the playfield looked a bit dirty and the rubble rings were all cracked. But, the inside of the machine looked like hell. I passed on it because it needed quite a lot of reconditioning.
Wow! Our friends just bought 2 modern pins that we have been having a lot of fun playing... We are going to buy 2 machines for our place so we can go back and forth with them... Those machines were going to be a Jurassic Park Premium and a Deadpool Pro... We've already been into our dealer to discuss pricing and terms and I was just doing some final research on maintenance/durability when I came across this video... I think the lack of corrective action from Stern over the past 7 years is mind boggling... I am completely rethinking how best to spend that $20k now... Might need to pivot to the used market.
That's very wise, I suggest every buyer examine the facts and think very carefully about the value for money and maintenance costs before buying a new Stern pinball.
Stern game's are all the same Playfield layout, if you own one game you own them all , but don't waste your money and buy a classic when they had imagination and creativity, stern don't know the meaning of these two words
Interesting looking back at the beginning of a big downturn in quality. I just had a tech tell me he carries aftermarket power-supply fans to replace all the stock ones in new games (like Godzilla). They’re ABSURDLY loud, Gomez ADMITTED this years ago, and they STILL USE EM! 🤷♂️😖
I can't answer that in a brief way that will be useful to people as we all have different tastes plus there is a huge variety in Pinball and games from different decades can't accurately be compared BUT, I'll answer with just a few titles among a great many good games from each era as follows. From the early mid 1970's Jacks Open, Jungle Princess, Aztec Odds and Evens. Late 70's to mid 1980's. Stellar Wars, Firepower, 8 Ball Deluxe, Paragon, BMX, Solar Fire, Black Hole, Elektra. Late 1980's, High Speed, Spirit, Rocky, Space Shuttle, Lights Camera Action, Simpsons, Earthshaker. 1990's, Surf N Safari, Terminator, Lethal Weapon 3, Starship Troopers, No Fear, Star Trek Next Gen. Stern was the only manufacturer from 2000 and since that time they have never made a truly great game but they have made some pretty good ones. South Park, Simpsons Pinball Party, Spiderman, The Walking Dead, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Kiss, Deadpool although I don't recommend buying any of the last 3 as they are Stern Spike System games.
@@PinballExpert This was more than I expected, so I was grinning to read all these names. I’ve got coffee-table volumes on the history of pinball & so love listening to you break down these eras & their standouts. I enjoy your channel because you’re the furthest thing from a shill & like many others, you don’t blindly wet yourself over a new pin you bought as a shield against buyer’s remorse. You’ve been burned & you’re saving ME & others from the same. Thanks for this answer and I’ll continue watching! ✌️
Sorry for multiple posts, but this is some heavy info to take in! When I saw thousands of Jaws units ship with that chumline plastic sinking, causing a gap/ramp that scales airballs into the upper right corner, and what this guy did to fix HIS, I literally did this 🤦♂️ They KNEW it was a huge issue!
Should I get a Monopoly pin w a mint playfield but slight cabinet fading on one side for around $5k or invest in either Avengers (for the shooting, not theme) or new HOH, both Premiums? I’d love to hear any opinions because you may save me a lotta grief. Thanks to anyone who answers. 🙏✌️
Monopoly is a decent game and fairly well made. Don't touch Avengers, it's a Spike 2 game. These are low quality, far less reliable and money pits to repair. Be careful about any buying recent titles, they can be troublesome lemons that owners are trying to get rid of!
@@AceofSpades-zi6zx Thank you for the feedback! I’ve been getting the vapors over this decision. I’ve had others tell me the same but for slightly differing reasons. Your bothering to reply gives me hope for this community. 🤙✌️
@@PinballExpert Your opinion matters to me. So, thank you very much. I AM gonna get the Monopoly. The money I save allows for immediate color DMD upgrade & LED kit, too. 🤙 Hot tip: Americans, buy your color DMD’s from Andrew at Retrocity in Australia. 🇦🇺 I saved $200 buying there for my TSPP & it looks GREAT! 👍
SIXTY DAYS?!!!! 👀 If you believe in your quality THAT little, just go for a bigger lol and make it 26 hours after delivery? 🤔 There’s really no practical difference. Holy MOSES I never knew this!! 🤦♂️
I don't like Stern machines, they're too boring playfield-wise. I find myself gravitating toward Williams and Bally in any arcade. The thing I notice a lot is the flippers go bad after a year or two. Shocking how I run into more major faults in Stern machines compaired to almost little to no faults in **Unrestored** and restored machines from 1970-2000s
There are siegecraft boards now for older machines so you can LED them without ghosting or flickering. I did that to my 1979 Stern Magic and it looks beautiful.
As an embedded engineer, it is very challenging to diagnose all faults internally and display correct messages. It basically requires replicating all failures and accurately diagnosing them internally. Sometimes issues get masked (think faulty wiring hiding a blown fuse). I get that its difficult. Feels like the right thing for stern to do is to invest properly into this development. I don’t think its the end of the road for stern, they just need some upgraded investments. Also, sounds like the level of support should be increased and the cost of replacement parts should be reduced to cost + minimal margins if stern is at fault for supplying parts with low reliability.
That's a well considered analysis. The big issue with Stern is, they are ONLY interested in maximizing profits and sales. They're not remotely interested in actually making better systems or better products that will benefit owners.
The end comment about the home models holds true now. Look at the new Venom pro. Its completely a different game than the premium. Jaws pro has the same tendency. I have only seen the videos of Jaws, but it lends itself to the trend
Any update on the Stern pinballs? Was considering a new Stern purchase and watched this video with some concern. Has Stern improved during the last 2 years? Thanks for the good, detailed content!
They're getting worse. Here's just one example, a change to lower grade screws on Flipper assemblies have been breaking off. Unfortunately, my advice is, definitely don't buy a new Stern pinball.
I believe Jersey Jack still does the old sam system, at least from what I remember. Look at williams and bally games, though not new, are far more practical than stern machines.@@GuitarsAndSynths
Assuming that the spike board is going to fail every time is a pretty hefty assumption to make so you can feel that you have a stronger point. This isn't how you make arguments, you need to justify your position from your weakest point or you just end up looking like an idiot and only people in your echo chamber and other idiots think you actually have a good point.
Comparing pinball machines to mass market devices where there are sometimes millions sold is disingenuous at best. And even with the economies of scale working for these other devices they even have to draw the line on their guarantees. Stop being so slow, pull your head out mate.
The controller board is only monitoring switches. Indeed it's so simple that 100$ FPGA device can be used as a direct replacement on wms systems. Stern are price gouging, it's as simple as that
After waiting more than 2 years for a vital element to be available again we have MARKSEAL back in stock and in plentiful supply. Visit pinball.com.au.
Thanks for the insightful warning against Stern pinball machines after 2014 with the Spike 1 or 2 system. Harder and much more expensive repairs plus low quality power supplies with noise fans are anti consumer.
I really haven’t felt any Stern machine has given me reason to get one. The Ghostbusters was the only machine that seemed appealing until I played it. Stern feel so light and shonkey with the amount of powerful vibration involved. I will never every drop the money on something that seems so poorly designed.
I bought a brand new Elvira just 2 months ago after they released more machines into Australia. Have you had any issues with spike system crashing and restarting? Sometimes it happens during game play, sometimes after game just scrolling through high scores. I posted the last dropout on my RU-vid just now. Its really annoying getting a crash with 590 million points on the board.
Restarting occurs quite often in Stern pinballs, the cause is often the power supply unit. It's pretty low quality and barely up to the task of supplying the required voltages and peak current loads. Actual examples I've seen are, a partly shorted coil or failing LED lamp that's drawing more power than usual. This will often cause the power supply to shut off and restart. Your problem may just be a defective power supply OR something that's making the delicate power supply shut down and restart. It's probably not going to be a quick or easy job finding the cause and it certainly wont be inexpensive IF you have to pay for the repair.
@@PinballExpert ,I've had 1 of the 30 or so drop outs, between games with no playfield activity, just scrolling through high scores with flippers. Lowest possible load than machine standing in standby mode.
No I would not buy a new stern pinball I did buy a VPN machine and have been thinking to buy a mechanical one my brother doesn't like the VPN but because my budget I got one and I'm happy enough with it but I do want a gorgar for sure any ways my brother told me to go see the new sterns at a furniture store here in the u.s. so I went over to check them out so they had godzilla Dr no j.p. and Foo fighters I think so I played them all I got bored with them in minutes then I looked at the chinsey plastic on them not only that it reminded me of a toy grade of a pinball machine you got back in the seventies then I noticed as I played the flippers were that chrome cheap plastic that looks brittle and as they flicked it seems like there was play in the movement like any moment it was going to break or un hinge the machine looks nice from far away but it didn't act like a pinball machine should and the play ability was too simple so when I get a real pinball it will be gorgar but everything you said is true. I wish stern no harm I want them to make a good product so any ways I got home and my brother asked what I thought and I told them the machines don't play very well.
What are your thoughts on Bally made pinballs and others? Very informative video and very surprising. It certainly has me exercising caution moving forward with any Stern pinball.
