The Pin by Stern

[Carl Spiby]

I'm sure most of you have seen this by now. The 'cheaper' Transformers table they created primarily for home use. I've just seen their promotional video on Facebook and I'm really dissapointed that they're making pinball seem so tacky. It looks like its made of plastic and its the most ugly thing I've ever seen. It reminds me of those Best Buy £200 pretend pinball tables.

Stern shouldn't cheapen themselves like this. If they want to make their tables more accessible to the home user, maybe they should take a hit on their profit per unit. Surely there's a tonne of profit in a $5000 pinball table!? I know you have to take into account the licencing and design but if they sold more at a lower price then wouldn't that benefit them just the same?

Gary likes Stern to be known as the ONLY pinball manufacturer but this seems like something the LAST pinball manufacturer would come up with.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

OLD MAN STERN has lost his mind, although it makes it easier for his illegal imagrant staff to buy one.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Surely there's a tonne of profit in a $5000 pinball table!? I know you have to take into account the licencing and design but if they sold more at a lower price then wouldn't that benefit them just the same?

Even though the parts can be made by machine, assembling those parts into a working pinball table is an incredibly labor-intensive process. I'm guessing that's where most of the cost lies.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Sseven look at pic's of STERN assembly line or even Jersey Jack...I'm not trying to be racists its economics.

 

[Richard B]

That TF table is crap. Previous HUO machines still at least somewhat resembled their coin-op counterparts. I thought this was a joke at first.

 

[dtown8532]

I can't fault Stern for giving it a shot but I'd just rather buy a couple used pins if we're talking that kind of bucks.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Well they've banned me from posting on their wall because I wasn't brown nosing them

 

[Tabe]

I thought this looked like a great idea - until I saw the price. $3000? C'mon guys. If you're gonna shoot for the home market, you gotta under $1000.

Tabe

 

[Richard B]

I suppose they have to do what it takes to survive, though I think such a terrible quality table for such a high price is a big mistake. I suppose these are probably cheap to manufacture, creating a huge profit, but you have to sell one first.
Pinball machines are a luxury item, and companies that produce them suffer the most in a bad economy. I hope Stern survives, for they are what's keeping the prices for all (except for a few rare or Top 10) machines from getting too ridiculous and unaffordable. They already had to slash their work force, and, despite what you may hear all over the media, the economy isn't turning a corner or improving. It's going to get worse - a LOT worse.
I think they'd be better off just reducing to one table a year, and maybe go back to one model, like they used to do.

 

[Mark W**a]

If stern is looking to expand business... Why the hell doesn't Dave N Busters carry stern pinballs. They buy new arcade machines and there's tons of them throughout the country. Instead they are trying this crap... I need to work for sterns marketing dept lol

 

[superballs]

If they really are trying to expand the market, why not simplify.

First, re-release some older EM tables or early SS tables. How much can it cost to re-maufacture 8-Ball Deluxe or some earlier tables?

Why not design something with a bit more old school simplicity? They don't have to make it electromechanical but something with a fairly simple layout, bells even! But controlled by a simple rom. Add some music or take advantage of some other now simple technology that these old machines didn't have access to at the time.

They have how many decades of design ideas that they could incorporate into newer machines. Don't get me wrong, i like some of the newer designs even if they are complex, but i love an older simpler game too. And i'm sure that I'm not alone nor am i a rare breed. I would love to have a nice stable of tables from different eras or design paradigms. Give me a newly designed EM for 600-800$ and help people who are currenly priced out of owning a table of their own into the market. Expand the interest and the userbase.

Think about it this way. When XBOX360 and PS3 were released there were several different "models" at different price points. Some regarded this as dumb but in reality it helped expand the early userbase. Not everyone needs the most complex machines. Some are going to be happy with some drop targets a few lanes, saucers and bell sounds. Others might want something more like the early-mid SS machines which would be at a higher price point. Some basic to mid level DMD machines at 1200-2000$ maybe and more advanced machines, well the sky can be the limit there. I think at this point in time, well coin-op just isn't the way anymore. Home users need to be the focus but i think they are doing it wrong.

 

[151120]

First, re-release some older EM tables or early SS tables. How much can it cost to re-maufacture 8-Ball Deluxe or some earlier tables?

I'd like to see more of this as well. There is at least one company that has tried. I don't know how successful they are with it, but I'd buy one if I had the extra dough.

http://retropinball.net/king_of_diamonds.html

 

[superballs]

Wow 3900$ for that. Well i guess that answers my question

 

[Kolchak357]

It's not that much more for a Tron Pro or an AC/DC Pro. This doesn't make much sense to me. Who is the target market?

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

retarded short people with cash to burn!
1,100th post!

 

[SilverBallFiend]

Hard to justify this as an alternative when the price point isn't that far off from actual pins (and you can find a ton of used pins that are way better that cost less).
Not sure what Stern was thinking when they made this monstrosity.

 

[Kolchak357]

If they could make a modern pin with a simple EM style layout for $1,500 to $2,000, then maybe you would have something.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Check out the quality on these things

 

[jrolson]

horrible, just horrible....

 

[Kolchak357]

I wouldn't have brought one with jacked up decals around the key to a show.

Is the cabinet wood or plastic?