Before Stern started cutting costs. . .

[Gonzo]

. . Is something that I've heard a few times.

Most recently on Spiderman and then Star Trek there were comments on the threads that endorsed the above suggestion.

"Ahhh, Spiderman. Stern's last machine built without compromise".
"Nice ST, probably the last Stern produced without cost-cutting"

Paraphrased of course but those are the sorts of comments I've been seeing pop repeatedly up since I joined the forum.

Then somebody yesterday was suggesting that 90's pins were just built better because they were designed to get buffeted in arcades.

So what's the truth? £6k + seems like an awful lot of money for a new machine that is built cheaply?

Are Jersey Jack Pinballs better? What about Chicago Gaming Co?

I just thought that it would be useful information considering there are a few newbies who are looking to purchase.

 

[Mfresh]

My experience with JJP was that the build quality of my Dialed In! was appalling. More or less everything that could fail did fail, an opto which was apparently glued in position fell off, the mini screen had to be replaced, the trapdoor flap was not correctly made, etc etc etc.

All the Sterns I have had have been relatively reliable although all had a few teething problems that needed sorting out of the box (Batman 66 turntable was not aligned properly so the ball would get stuck, Elvira HoH opto on one ramp was not set up properly causing phantom switch closures) but nothing major, and reliable ever since.

The old bally williams I have need maintenance as you would expect.

The most reliable out of the box is the American Pinball Oktoberfest.

These are small samples though so your mileage may vary!

 

[Pooman2084]

My experience if JJP is that they use better quality materials, but they sure aren’t great at putting them together. My DI constantly suffered gremlins from things Not assembled correctly.

 

[Pooman2084]

Ha, you beat me to it Paul.
The real kicker for me is that JJP use a different mechanism for lifting the playfield meaning that it was about 6 inches higher than a raised Stern or BW.

In my games room this meant I couldn’t actually lift it to work on it. It simply never crossed my mind that this could happen as other games were nowhere near conflicting. The ceiling height must be at least 7ft , possibly closer to 8. I had to ask someone over to hold the PF up whilst I worked on it. I estimate I had to lift it at least once a week to put something back together or to repair some other game breaking problem.

I’ve had some Stern games and they’ve all held up pretty well but the last one i bought new was Metallica. At the current pricing I’m out of the NIB game.

 

[mark9]

Agree with the comments about JJP, owned two not sure if I'd own another.

Had many Sterns and found them to be very reliable electronically, but they do lack cabinet and playfield build quality, even pre Spiderman and going way back to the Data East days (which has the same stupid playfield support system they still use now). The pf service rails being replaced with pegs on the pro's like the old DE's was one of their worse cost cutting moves, but I believe they've gone to back to the rails now in all new pins since Iron Maiden.

I own two Chicago Gaming remakes and they have been ultra reliable, more so than Williams/Bally were in their time, and the cabinet build quality is pretty much on par with the old cabs.

 

[Deleted member 2463]

JJP is a **** show sadly. But with effort you can get them running well.

Stern in my view are pretty decent, you have to dial games in when you first get them but after that they are very reliable. IMDN was annoying with the captive balls but just needed some threadlocker. If you don't think WMS carried out cost cutting you are kidding yourself on.