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Is Stern Rush pro a decent pinball to play ?

John Beveridge

John Beveridge

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Joined
Sep 18, 2015
Messages
497
Location
East Kilbride
Just thought i`d ask the question as it`s a pin that doesn`t seem to get much attention. I was thinking about moving on a machine or two for change in the near future hence the reason for asking.

Also does anyone know what machines are actually available new should i decide to go that route ?

Thanks,
John.
 
I played the Premium at Fun Land and took to it straight away. They'd got the music turned down and it was hard to hear but, having looked at YouTubes of the pin, so far as I'm concerned the music is fine. Cary Hardy reviewed it and concluded the Pro was the way to go.

There's a known problem with the scoops chipping which just needs cliffys fitting straight away.

I'd like one actually. I wish I'd bought the Pro that came up on here but at that time I hadn't played it.

If you're going NIB try Phil at pinball.co.uk - looking at his website it appears he still has all 3 models in stock.
 
Thanks John,

Yes i watched a bit on video and the music was fine with me which helps of course. I am just wary of buying before playing but in reality i can`t simply go out and try all the latest machines .

If Phil has some in stock then it might be time to move on a couple .

Thanks,
John.
 
Hi John,

I just came back to edit my post because I'd remembered the "other" problem with Rush, and it's a bit more serious:

It's hard to sell, the one on here finally went to France I believe, the seller didn't even get an offer from anyone on the forum.

Definitely make sure you've played it and liked it before committing - I'd get to Fun Land or somewhere and play it a lot just to make sure before finding the money.

John
 
Hi John,

A pinball that is hard to sell is indeed a rarity these days ! It seems as if any new game that has so called limited availabilty makes folk snap up what is for sale with little thought to whether the game is someting they actually like to play. Still most people look at it purely from a money perspective and nothing else.

Yes i will look into the game a bit more before jumping into anything. It is so difficult to tell going by the few people that have had had most of the newer games as they sure won`t come out and say a game is rubbish or unreliable for fear of losing money. If someone likes a game fair enough but so often i listen to folk tell me what a brilliant game something is ..........until they sell it for a whacking great profit and then they admit it was a sh*t game anyweay !

Cheers,
John.
 
John Beveridge said:
Hi John,

A pinball that is hard to sell is indeed a rarity these days ! It seems as if any new game that has so called limited availabilty makes folk snap up what is for sale with little thought to whether the game is someting they actually like to play. Still most people look at it purely from a money perspective and nothing else.

Yes i will look into the game a bit more before jumping into anything. It is so difficult to tell going by the few people that have had had most of the newer games as they sure won`t come out and say a game is rubbish or unreliable for fear of losing money. If someone likes a game fair enough but so often i listen to folk tell me what a brilliant game something is ..........until they sell it for a whacking great profit and then they admit it was a sh*t game anyweay !

Cheers,
John.
Click to expand...
Part of the problem is it’s really really subjective… :(

I am regularly in central London near Funland for medical reasons (unfortunately) and play the pins that are on display there. They have a Godzilla Pro, Mandalorian Pro, The Beatles Gold, Turtles Premium, Jurassic Park Premium, Stranger Things Premium, Rush Premium, Led Zeppelin Premium.

I was one of the first people in the UK to play a Godzilla Pro, and - thus - was also one of the first people to get a Premium delivered. I still massively rate Godzilla, but don’t play it at Funland because I have one at home.

Increasingly, when I’m in Funland, I only play Jurassic Park, Stranger Things and, occasionally, The Beatles.
  • Rush, for me, at least, is totally ‘meh’. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing to commend it above the entire back catalogue of pinball machines manufactured since about 1979.
  • I managed to rack up some good scores on The Mandalorian despite literally shooting the razor crest shot over-and-over and almost nothing else. As such, I don’t rate it especially well.
  • Turtles has some very weirdly angled shots and the frustration-to-benefit ratio on them doesn’t really add up - it is a pretty standard ‘start mode, shoot ramps’ pin once you get past the shot angles.
  • Led Zeppelin Premium is doubtless a good tournament pin, but the playfield is weirdly empty. It’s okay, and I’d definitely play it above some other stuff, but it doesn’t really compete with the Elwins.
  1. Stranger Things is effectively AFM/MM with some modern code and worse graphic design. However, it is AFM/MM, so therefore really good.
  2. Jurassic Park is an Elwin, which means it’s (probably) automatically good if you like Elwin pins, although it’s more on the linear side than some of his other pins and some people find it unfairly hard.
  3. The Beatles is Seawitch with modes, modern lighting, an LCD and funky graphic design. So, if you like classics, go for it, although it’s not that widely available NIB.
  4. Godzilla is generally considered one of the best pins ever made, and probably a safe bet to purchase.
Apparently, CGC’s Cactus Canyon is relatively widely available and lots of people like it (I don’t, but seem to be in a minority there). You can also get hold of JJP’s Guns n’ Roses. Guns n’ Roses is also, sadly, a bit ’meh’, in my opinion but it’s definitely the best of the currently-available music pins I’ve played. Iron Maiden and Metallica are better than all of Rush, Led Zeppelin and Metallica, but I think both are out of production.

Again, all my opinion, so I’d try to play some of these before forking out the cash.
 
Rush is the only Stern in recent years I have returned to in the wild the next day to play more - this includes Godzilla, AIQ, Zep and others

F*** knows why cos I hate the band 😀But really enjoyed it playing it.

As ever though don’t listen to me as I love Popeye and Mick on a Stick 😃
 
Wow that is a good bit of information to be going on so thank you very much. Appreciated given that there is nothing up here in Glasgow out and about worth trying other than a Guns `n`Roses with a sticky flipper and a mind numbing ruleset.

It really is down to what you personally like as nothing else matters much after that . Much as i enjoyed AFM and MM they were never favourites of mine and that was long before the value of them now is enough to make your eyes water !

Cheers,
John.
 
John Beveridge said:
Fair enough !
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😁

To me it is a Stern churn title.

I'm not saying it's without merit, and some may love it, but, yeh.

Mando, TMNT, Rush..... yawn.

But! Just my thoughts. There may be game design in depth, which I certainly won't have seen, and most nay-sayers won't have got to either, so do listen to the people who like machines - they are the ones that have found the goodies within.
 
Well i thought Popeye was a pretty decent game at the time up against some of the best pins ever made and despite the theme it had a lot going for it. Rolling Stones surprisingly good to play although the music probably helped tke your mind off rather sparse playfield.
 
I played it last Sunday for the first time at fun land along with the other machines.

It's hard to say if I like it, it basically had a similar mech to Austin power time machine in the middle. You shoot it the ball locks in a magnet and then starts a multiball.

The video art pretty cool, but the sounds basically switched off so I have little to no idea if the sound is any good.

It's fairly simple and clear what your supposed to do, but I only had two games, it didn't pull me to play more, but this might be more to do with wanting to try them all (except Godzilla)

Surprisingly I found myself really liking the mandalorian it's pretty obvious what your supposed to hit, and I kept coming back to it.

JP I couldn't get into but I suspect its because I have no idea what your actually supposed to do and I personally seem to not like Erwin games, I hate Godzilla but that might be more to do with the theme than anything else.

For £7k it would be worth a trip to London, if you stay in premier in London Wimbledon South It's under £100 and on the northern line so only 20/30 minutes to the arcade. For £250 with travel down its worth it, if your unsure and I don't think many people have one. The hotel is also a shortish taxi ride to pinball rebublic where you can test all Neil's and Matt's games 🙂😏. Between Funland and pinball rebublic you'll have got to play most of the machines you might want to get.

The theme due to the band is pretty off-putting, however having played it it's not terrible and if one came up cheap I wouldn't be against owning one however it didn't get me to want to keep playing it. It's certainly a try before you buy machine and might benefit from the sound on🙂
 
Lot of us waiting on CCR in the UK.

Rush was met with tumbleweed on here and at the moment so has GnR

Its all about BOND at the moment
 
cmrl9 said:
It's fairly simple and clear what your supposed to do, but I only had two games, it didn't pull me to play more, but this might be more to do with wanting to try them all (except Godzilla)
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Yeah, this is my experience. It doesn't pull you in, so that you want to play more, when it's in a line-up with a bunch of other new Stern pins. Again, can't comment on the music (and I'm not a Rush fan), but it feels weirdly generic - like it's assembled from bits of other, better pins.

Also, the Time Machine shot is the main toy and it's like a worse version of the Lord of the Rings Ring. The Lord of the Rings ring is down all the time, so you can always shoot it, but - with Rush - you have a brief unsatisfying period of qualifying the ramp before there's anything worth shooting in the middle of the playfield.

cmrl9 said:
Surprisingly I found myself really liking the mandalorian it's pretty obvious what your supposed to hit, and I kept coming back to it.
Click to expand...

This is, basically, why I hate this pin in a nutshell :D (these things are so subjective). I'm sure there's more to it than my experience, but it does feel you can get an awful lot of things going by hammering the centre shot (and a couple of side shots) constantly while watching Mandalorian video clips: "middle shot, side shot, middle shot, little u-turn, middle shot..." There’s just nothing risky or interesting about any individual shot. Also, loads of extra balls, so the hammering never seems to end...

I kept thinking it was just hugely accessible but, at some point, it would open up into something deep and meaningful. And, then, I played this long game and realised... that was the game.

I couldn't even begin to imagine being Craig Pullen, or someone similarly good at pinball, and playing Mando. I'd have about three-hour ball times and want to gnaw my own arm off after the first twenty minutes (or subjective twenty minutes) 😀

cmrl9 said:
JP I couldn't get into but I suspect its because I have no idea what your actually supposed to do and I personally seem to not like Erwin games, I hate Godzilla but that might be more to do with the theme than anything else.
Click to expand...

I was obsessed with JP2 before I played it for the first time. Just really liked the moving T-Rex. So, I watched (part of) a 2-hour rules video. Basically, skill shot is flipping the ball down the wireform and then into the T-Rex's mouth (you can also backhand). There's a super skill shot up the right-hand ramp.

Mostly, I just enjoy doing paddocks. So, shoot the truck to light map. Shoot the T-Rex ramp to start the first mode. Then, it's really obvious what to shoot - it's the orange rescues. Hit the first rescue, hit the 'set trap' targets (best way of doing that on the Funland machine is upwards using the third flipper). After that, it's a single yellow shot to summon the helicopter and capture the dinosaur.

Qualify the next paddock in the same way. Rinse and repeat... The paddocks get more difficult as you go along (e.g. the dinosaurs move and eat the rescues).

There's also a T-Rex multiball that you qualify by hitting the truck lots of times.

Every shot is different, risky and tense. It’s just really exciting cradling the ball, watching a dinosaur moving towards your rescue, knowing if you brick the shot you’re out of the game.

I've never owned this pin. I'm not a good pinball player. It is rock hard, but I absolutely LOVE trying this again, and again. I've just branched out into trying to qualify the Chaos Multiball instead.

cmrl9 said:
For £7k it would be worth a trip to London, if you stay in premier in London Wimbledon South It's under £100 and on the northern line so only 20/30 minutes to the arcade. For £250 with travel down its worth it, if your unsure and I don't think many people have one. The hotel is also a shortish taxi ride to pinball rebublic where you can test all Neil's and Matt's games 🙂😏. Between Funland and pinball rebublic you'll have got to play most of the machines you might want to get.

The theme due to the band is pretty off-putting, however having played it it's not terrible and if one came up cheap I wouldn't be against owning one however it didn't get me to want to keep playing it. It's certainly a try before you buy machine and might benefit from the sound on🙂
Click to expand...

100% this 👆 As you can tell, there are huge differences in people's perceptions - even of the same group of pins in the same place :)

Definitely go to Pinball Republic. It's open Thursday nights and weekends. Amazing selection of pins - loads of the total classics (e.g. MM, TZ, TAF) as well as modern Sterns (e.g. GZ Pro, AI:Q Prem, Metallica). I think there's 50 machines in total.
 
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cmrl9 said:
I played it last Sunday for the first time at fun land along with the other machines.

It's hard to say if I like it, it basically had a similar mech to Austin power time machine in the middle. You shoot it the ball locks in a magnet and then starts a multiball.

The video art pretty cool, but the sounds basically switched off so I have little to no idea if the sound is any good.

It's fairly simple and clear what your supposed to do, but I only had two games, it didn't pull me to play more, but this might be more to do with wanting to try them all (except Godzilla)

Surprisingly I found myself really liking the mandalorian it's pretty obvious what your supposed to hit, and I kept coming back to it.

JP I couldn't get into but I suspect its because I have no idea what your actually supposed to do and I personally seem to not like Erwin games, I hate Godzilla but that might be more to do with the theme than anything else.

For £7k it would be worth a trip to London, if you stay in premier in London Wimbledon South It's under £100 and on the northern line so only 20/30 minutes to the arcade. For £250 with travel down its worth it, if your unsure and I don't think many people have one. The hotel is also a shortish taxi ride to pinball rebublic where you can test all Neil's and Matt's games 🙂😏. Between Funland and pinball rebublic you'll have got to play most of the machines you might want to get.

The theme due to the band is pretty off-putting, however having played it it's not terrible and if one came up cheap I wouldn't be against owning one however it didn't get me to want to keep playing it. It's certainly a try before you buy machine and might benefit from the sound on🙂
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Thamks for that info it does help to hear everyone elses opinions. Playing machines first is obviously the ideal way to go but unfortunately i have been restricted in my travels due to ongoing health issues which makes sitting in the car for any length of time rather uncomfortable !
 
VeeMonroe said:
Yeah, this is my experience. It doesn't pull you in, so that you want to play more, when it's in a line-up with a bunch of other new Stern pins. Again, can't comment on the music (and I'm not a Rush fan), but it feels weirdly generic - like it's assembled from bits of other, better pins.

Also, the Time Machine shot is the main toy and it's like a worse version of the Lord of the Rings Ring. The Lord of the Rings ring is down all the time, so you can always shoot it, but - with Rush - you have a brief unsatisfying period of qualifying the ramp before there's anything worth shooting in the middle of the playfield.



This is, basically, why I hate this pin in a nutshell :D (these things are so subjective). I'm sure there's more to it than my experience, but it does feel you can get an awful lot of things going by hammering the centre shot (and a couple of side shots) constantly while watching Mandalorian video clips: "middle shot, side shot, middle shot, little u-turn, middle shot..." There’s just nothing risky or interesting about any individual shot. Also, loads of extra balls, so the hammering never seems to end...

I kept thinking it was just hugely accessible but, at some point, it would open up into something deep and meaningful. And, then, I played this long game and realised... that was the game.

I couldn't even begin to imagine being Craig Pullen, or someone similarly good at pinball, and playing Mando. I'd have about three-hour ball times and want to gnaw my own arm off after the first twenty minutes (or subjective twenty minutes) 😀



I was obsessed with JP2 before I played it for the first time. Just really liked the moving T-Rex. So, I watched (part of) a 2-hour rules video. Basically, skill shot is flipping the ball down the wireform and then into the T-Rex's mouth (you can also backhand). There's a super skill shot up the right-hand ramp.

Mostly, I just enjoy doing paddocks. So, shoot the truck to light map. Shoot the T-Rex ramp to start the first mode. Then, it's really obvious what to shoot - it's the orange rescues. Hit the first rescue, hit the 'set trap' targets (best way of doing that on the Funland machine is upwards using the third flipper). After that, it's a single yellow shot to summon the helicopter and capture the dinosaur.

Qualify the next paddock in the same way. Rinse and repeat... The paddocks get more difficult as you go along (e.g. the dinosaurs move and eat the rescues).

There's also a T-Rex multiball that you qualify by hitting the truck lots of times.

Every shot is different, risky and tense. It’s just really exciting cradling the ball, watching a dinosaur moving towards your rescue, knowing if you brick the shot you’re out of the game.

I've never owned this pin. I'm not a good pinball player. It is rock hard, but I absolutely LOVE trying this again, and again. I've just branched out into trying to qualify the Chaos Multiball instead.



100% this 👆 As you can tell, there are huge differences in people's perceptions - even of the same group of pins in the same place :)

Definitely go to Pinball Republic. It's open Thursday nights and weekends. Amazing selection of pins - loads of the total classics (e.g. MM, TZ, TAF) as well as modern Sterns (e.g. GZ Pro, AI:Q Prem, Metallica). I think there's 50 machines in total.
Click to expand...

Looking at the time stamps on this were you just typing in your sleep to hit your daily word count ? :D
 
  • Haha
Reactions: JT.
Buddinblack said:
Don’t buy Godzilla unless you want me round your house every other week John! 😜 If your looking NIB GZ is the best option IMO. I didn’t try rush at pinfest (it does nothing for me sadly) I can see you struggling to move it on when the time comes.
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Cheers Alan, i will keep that in mind,
John.
 
Having no affection for the band and seeing some familiar shots I didn't expect much from Rush. I was pleasantly surprised by it, especially the code. Stranger Things and TNA were hard sells at one time, truth is hardly anyone knows the game very well.
 
For me, no. Layout is pretty poor with all the slots at the top of the playfield. Art is terrible and so is the music. The live concert footage is laughable.

Do not buy unles you REALLY like it as you'll not be selling it in a... rush (sorry).
 
I was pleasantly surprised when playing the premium at Pinfest. Not fussed by theme, but three flippers, playfield art is a bit, Disney, but steampunky bits were alright. That ramp shot was sometimes down and you had to get a lot of hits on it to do much so made me see what else there was to go for, and there seems to be lots to do on it rules wise. Can’t imagine losing the clock on a pro would be a big loss. Some satisfying shots like left orbit to a ramp shot off the top flipper. Depends alot on how they’re set up etc. Not likely many about though as everyone’s keen on Godzilla.
 
I am a big fan of the band..... Phil Palmer lent me one for a bit.
I have to say it was pretty well like Aerosmith and Munsters for layout - typical Borg.
I did not end up buying it.
At Retroids where it is now on site, the punters love it but most of them hate the band.
 
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