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The SPIKE System, thoughts?

Sam C

Sam C

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So it seems Stern have upped the ante and introduced a totally new boardset:

https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/posts/10152976555619244

Stern Pinball Debuts New SPIKETM Pinball System World’s Leading Maker of Arcade-Quality Pinball Games

Announces Next-Generation Pinball System

MELROSE PARK, IL – January 5, 2015 – Stern Pinball, Inc., the world's oldest and largest producer of arcade-quality pinball machines, announced today that it will debut its newest pinball electronics system, SPIKETM, at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. SPIKETM is a modern, scalable and modular electronics hardware system engineered for the rigors and complexities of pinball applications.

“The modular nature of the system will allow game designers to embrace new technologies to evolve the game of pinball while also improving earnings, reliability, serviceability and efficiency,” said George Gomez, Executive Vice President of Product Development at Stern Pinball.

The new SPIKETM system is based on distributed processor architecture and an industrial grade network protocol. These technologies reduce product complexity and simplify the manufacturing of the game resulting in a more efficient, reliable and easier-to-service game. The system is designed to facilitate integration of various display technologies such as varying size LCD displays both on the playfield and in the backbox. The scalable nature of the system allows for the integration of Wi-Fi and numerous new game specific features and technologies.

Experienced players will recognize a more engaging overall game experience and quickly appreciate the enhanced illumination effects and higher quality sound.

“SPIKE is the latest step in our ongoing program to leverage technological advancements to improve the game for all segments of our customer base,” said Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball. “Commercial customers such as operators and location owners will be particularly well served by SPIKE.”
New SPIKETM system benefits and features include:

Improved earnings:

• All LED lighting enables enhanced lighting effects, increases reliability and attracts new players. Included is the florescent light replacement by LED’s, which last longer, run cooler and draw less electricity.
• A new modern CPU and expanded memory allow the designers greater freedom to create new compelling game scenarios to attract more players and lengthen their engagement.
• A more powerful high definition digital sound system enhances the game experience.
Higher reliability
• New built-in automotive-grade circuit protection for LEDs, switches and solenoids reduces circuit failures from accidental shorts and environmental faults.
• Lower game heat reduces stress on components increasing longevity.
Easier serviceability
• Low-cost game modules are easy for any technician to replace and costly circuit board repair is eliminated.
• Reduced wiring complexity eases troubleshooting and worn component replacement.
• Improved system diagnostics make the system easy to learn.
Greater efficiency
• Reduced chances of failure from environmental conditions with robust solenoid, switch and lighting protection circuitry.
• SPIKETM system games use less energy than older models and generate less heat during operation.
• New controllable LED artwork backlighting reduces fade, saves energy and lasts longer.

The image shows a TWD with the new boardset installed so you would assume this system can be put in older games. What are peoples thoughts? Good? Bad? Makes the backbox look totally redundant now that the new board system is the size of 1 relatively small board? Are Stern moving away from the idea of replacing components and if something goes wrong, replace the entire board instead?

Some further images here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/5/7492891/wrestlemania-pinball-machine-stern-linux
Speculate away! :popcorn:
 
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• Low-cost game modules are easy for any technician to replace and costly circuit board repair is eliminated.

So does that mean irreparable? Wonder what their definition of 'low cost' is........
 
Someone on the yahoo group said this system is 2 years old, from the stern " pin " or whatever that low cost pinball machine was. Is that true or a wind up?
 
Now I only understood about 10% of the information given but the "Can support LCDs" section surely must mean that the days of the DMD are numbered.

Will this new technology see a reduction in the price of new pins?:p
 
Mickey Mouse Fisher Price Toy Town... thats what i think of it ;)

Wonder how much they are to replace.... ;)
 
same board from The Pin, using the newer Atmel SAM chip, aka generic ARM dev board, looks like using CAN or RS485 for coms to child boards. Nothing crazy or mind blowing, but a huge step up from the old 6809 stuff of whitestar. I dont remember what the old SAM boards were using, maybe another atmel chip.
 
From the Stern Facebook page, looks a lot cleaner.
 

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Too right it's about bloody time! Considering that a university professor has managed to single-handedly build a replacement Bally -35 MPU using an Arduino MEGA and the free PCB prototyping software/service Express to manufacturer a "shield" (an extension board that an Arduino can be plugged into) all by himself back in 2011 I think a company the size of Stern should be able to do the same for their modern systems!

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=70230.0

Here's the prototype shield board (green) with blue Arduino MEGA microcontroller attached in huge middle. Note the SD memory on the top edge. It contains audio samples that are triggered by the CPU so this kit even replaces, or enhances, the sound board!

image.jpg

Fitted in the backbox:

image.jpg
 
Yup - Pretty much...

In fact - No - The little blue thing is.... the green thing interfaces it to the rest of the machine :)
 
From what I understand the board isn't powerful enough to drive 1080p video and lossless audio like JJPs system. I don't think we will ever see a large LCD in a stern game
 
jonathan said:
From what I understand the board isn't powerful enough to drive 1080p video and lossless audio like JJPs system. I don't think we will ever see a large LCD in a stern game
Click to expand...

Issue is that 1080p video is almost free as it's commodity.

Adding it is not a problem, making it not look like it's been edited/thrown together by blind 7 years olds is. Pinball/video does not mix, everyone who has tried it has failed miserably.
 
Mostly agree with @abaxas. Pinball is pretty much about keeping your eye on the ball. Not always, but mostly. A large video screen is mostly wasted on the gameplay. It just makes a bigger and better canvas for the attract modes. Whilst WOZ has a cracking display you only need to glance at it whilst playing.
 
I've got no problem with video being integrated into pins but the bigger the screen the more obvious it is when it's not done well. I'd suspect that as an attract mode WOZ really does drag punters in compared to a new Stern. Probably makes little to no odds to the person actually playing the game - I'm constantly noticing new animation on DMDs that I've never noticed when playing only when watching someone else play.

Video grabs from modern films can look great if done well but how the hell do you create good looking video for non licenced games? If the rumours that licencing only costs $50-$100 for a pin are true then that's bugger all money to create your own footage on. Guess we'll find out on JJPs third game.

So saying, I'd be amazed if Stern don't go down this route. A small screen probably costs less than a DMD now and getting graphics onto it is probably far easier than programing DMDs - it's amazing how much some of those DMD artists can do with so little to work with.
 
Nedreud said:
Too right it's about bloody time! Considering that a university professor has managed to single-handedly build a replacement Bally -35 MPU using an Arduino MEGA and the free PCB prototyping software/service Express to manufacturer a "shield" (an extension board that an Arduino can be plugged into) all by himself back in 2011 I think a company the size of Stern should be able to do the same for their modern systems!

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=70230.0

Here's the prototype shield board (green) with blue Arduino MEGA microcontroller attached in huge middle. Note the SD memory on the top edge. It contains audio samples that are triggered by the CPU so this kit even replaces, or enhances, the sound board!

View attachment 13009

Fitted in the backbox:

View attachment 13010
Click to expand...

Yes arduino is perfect for pinball hacking and home brewing. There's more and more people getting involved with it which is great. I use arduino's in my RFM RGB saucer kit and i also use them in my bally pinball controller that i demoed back at the play expo event in October 2014. More updates on that this year. Classic Bally pinballs are getting more and more love these days. :)
 
I just ordered a "audio shield" for my Arduino. You know what I'm thinking... Bally sound module replacement/upgrade. It was only £9.99 and a few weeks to arrive from our friends in the Far East. It's this little gizmo:

http://www.geeetech.com/wiki/index.php/Arduino_MP3_shield_board_with_TF_card

300px-MP3-TF[1].jpg

Based around the VS1053 - Ogg Vorbis / MP3 / AAC / WMA / FLAC / MIDI Audio Codec Chip, should be fun to play with. At first I'm thinking of using it to add background music. The Arduino could monitor the score, or various achievments in the game via lamps, or even the sound triggers, etc., and trigger playback of various background music, to keep the "energy" going in games. I most interested to do this in PARAGON as it has the most basic electronic chimes sound module. Could really do with some background effects and/or music.
 
So with Stern's new Spike system...

Will they refuse to sell spare parts (like spare boards to the end user) like they do with SAM?

Will there be protection / region coding to stop us from being able to use boards from other countries (as with SAM)

Will the protection also limit the amount of repair work that can be done, as there is an entire section of the board that renders it dead if parts replaced/tampered with (as with SAM)

Will spare boards (if available) sell for about 600-700% of the actual cost to manufacture the board at third party retailers (as with SAM)

Will any part of the board be repairable, or are they going with the modular throw-away approach?

How many years until they stop supporting the platform? (try and buy a whitestar board now)

What will the repair options be after they stop supporting the Spike platform?

Will Stern refuse to sell custom chips etc to stop people being able to repair the boards?

Will Stern refuse to release code required to revive dead boards? (like SAM)



Bally pins from the 1970's can still be repaired today. Most of the spare parts needed to repair Bally boards are plentiful, and many of the common parts are still in production.

With every year, with every system generation, games become less and less repairable.

While it is nice to see that we can keep 40 year old Bally games going, and that we will still be able to repair these same Bally games in another 40 years time. Does it not worry people that at some point in the future, there will be no working (modern) Stern games?
 
Woah! That's pretty scary reading @lukewells! Whilst the chances of me owning a modern Stern are next to zilch this would seriously put me off buying a second-hand one in years to come. In 20-30 years I might be able to pick up a wrecked TRON that needs fully restoring, but what you're saying here is that if the SAM MPU is toast you're stuffed?

Given Stern's track record of software updates I'm beginning to see a market for complete replacement boards for SAM (like a Rottendog or Alltek for the old Ballys). Would that be feasible Luke? Sod repairing the old boards, just get 10,000 hardcore hobbyists to collaboratively reverse engineer or re-write the code.
 
You'd have a hard time reverse engineering what they have already done, due to the protection and custom logic in FPGA.

I guess the way forward in the future would be to rip all the sound and graphics and re-write the rules in something P-ROC or similar, and there would likely be a market for that sort of thing created by the uncertainty of repairing the originals, however, the amount involved in porting/re-writing a modern Stern game would be exponentially greater than the re-writes done for the Pascal Gottlieb boards or cramming all the Bally rules onto the Altek boards.

It does annoy me when the manufacture says "Hey look at our new innovative system - it's all for you to make things better and more wonderful" when the entire reason is always going to be cost reduction and more protection.
 
What us the official position if something goes wrong with a Stern pin then? I'm assuming if it's in warranty then you'll get replacement parts, but what if you're outside of that? Are you saying that for games made just 5 years ago Stern can't/won't supply the replacement boards?
 
these boards are designed to be replaced not repaired, they seem to be 99% surface mount stuff. these boards are cost reduction boards using off the shelf atmel sam arm cpu's, if they started liberal use of fpgas, thats a huge cost buying and programming them on the line. hopefully someone will post hires pics when they come out. will be interesting to see if the sdcard files/image are encrypted or not.

somehow I get the feeling there wont be much protections on these boards (ie: I dont really expect to see the rs485 bus encrypted), would be interesting to stick it under my old HP/Agilent logic analyser and look at all the channels at once tho.
 
BloodyCactus said:
will be interesting to see if the sdcard files/image are encrypted or not.
Click to expand...
I always find this sort of protectionism interesting in these situations. I understand why the likes of Nintendo encrypt and regionalise game cartridges for systems such as the DS. It prevents/limits unauthorised copying of cheap media for cheap systems - they make most of their revenue on selling the games not the hardware. But if the data on the SD card for a pinball machine isn't encrypted what are you going to do with it? It's bog all use without a $5,000+ piece of hardware. And the software is hardware specific unlike the DS example.
 
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