Stern Factory Tour

[Ant68]

Hi Guys  and Happy new year .
Just arrived back from the US ,family wanted to experience a  white Christmas,
Did the usual tourist things with a couple of deviations ,the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas( the owners an odd bloke) and a Stern Factory tour .
Played about 20 min of Big Buck Hunter,spent a long time talking with Gary in his office and mingled with staff , He invited us into his "Top Secret Room" were allot of R&D is made (very interesting).
As you know you read allot of mixed reactions and you read allot of people bagging him but my experience with Gary was absolutely fantastic the guy is a gentlemen and a legend . 
When we stepped foot into the factory (waking  through the snow to get there )the staff informed him that we had arrived ,he made sure he was the first one to greet my family ,personally introduced him self to each and every one ,shook every ones hand (5,8,11 yo and wife)
Factory was in full production of Batman, Spiderman and Lotr .The whole place was buzzing ,people everywhere ,pinballs every where etc etc .

We did the full tour it was awesome ,and my wife has now admitted that she can appreciate the cost of a pinball after seeing all work those Mexican ladies putting all the wiring harnesses together and building the playfields .

I mentioned I had a couple issue with some pins ,we discussed them and he assured me they will be sort it out.
I took over my Stern flyers and he personally sign each one ( of the 6 NIB I have bought)
I've got heaps of photos .

When we left he personal escorted us to a waiting taxi which he personally ordered,shook everyone hand again ,and thanked me for having an enthusiastic interest in pinballs and gave me a good pat on my back and said keep in contact .

Awesome experience .

 
Cheers Tony

[Homepin]

Sounds fantastic! What an unforgetable experience.

I really love doing factory tours (any factory really) as it's great to see how things are actually made. Always a buzz for me.

[Strangeways]

Thanks for sharing the experience with us, Tony. I would love to do the "Grand Tour", and to visit a "living and breathing" Pinball Factory is something we all would love to see. To be personally met by one of the most important figures in Pinball, and to spend time etc, would have made it a personal highlight.

PHOF is another venue I'd like to visit - Did you take many pictures ?

[markc]

Gary  Is a great bloke , did you see all the flyers and pinball items in his office .
if more like him ....  he has some great stories and is happpy to sit down and talk
its a great site to see the factory in full working mode and people everywhere and pins on the line

sounds like you had a ball and well done

mark

[Ant68]

Thanks for sharing the experience with us, Tony. I would love to do the "Grand Tour", and to visit a "living and breathing" Pinball Factory is something we all would love to see. To be personally met by one of the most important figures in Pinball, and to spend time etc, would have made it a personal highlight.

PHOF is another venue I'd like to visit - Did you take many pictures ?

    Yes ,I'll .post some photos later tonight ,
PHOF was good ,man his got allot of nice pins there .Caught a cab there ,spent a few hours  .Kids wanted to play every pin.
I chatted with the owner on several occasion while we were there ,and after spend quite a few dollars there I asked him if he would be kind enough to phone for a cab  for my family .
Wasn't the slightest bit interested in doing that ,and pointed to the book shop across the drive way and said go there .
I said to him that we feed the pins here and to go over there to ask for a cab wasn't right .He walk off.(what tha)
Anyway the book shop guys were awesome ,wanted to know all about Australia they phoned for a cab, didn't want money so I left $5 on there counter .

 

[Ant68]

Gary  Is a great bloke , did you see all the flyers and pinball items in his office .
if more like him ....  he has some great stories and is happpy to sit down and talk
its a great site to see the factory in full working mode and people everywhere and pins on the line

sounds like you had a ball and well done

mark

Your right Mark youngest son was pretty close to sitting on his lap playing with his Mickey Mouse phone , my other son found his rubber band gun  and my daughter was amazed with his $1000000 Bill .
They turn his office around a bit.LOL

[ktm450]

Great story 

[Caveoftreasures]

quote from Ant68

"I mentioned I had a couple issue with some pins ,we discussed them and he assured me they will be sort it out".

Man, he must have been embarrassed that no one single person in the whole of Australia couldnt have sorted it out.
Not even one of his stern dealers worldwide could fix these issues for you, that doesnt make sense at all to me.

I dont know, i wouldnt have said anything to him directly, to save the embarrassment, but thats me. Surely someone else from Stern could have helped you in the past ? 

[EricPinball]

Nice xperience,thanks for let us now

[Ant68]

quote from Ant68

"I mentioned I had a couple issue with some pins ,we discussed them and he assured me they will be sort it out".

Man, he must have been embarrassed that no one single person in the whole of Australia couldnt have sorted it out.
Not even one of his stern dealers worldwide could fix these issues for you, that doesnt make sense at all to me.

I dont know, i wouldnt have said anything to him directly, to save the embarrassment, but thats me. Surely someone else from Stern could have helped you in the past ? 

Hi Brett
I've got a NIB  that has been in storage since new(2004) ,I opened it a few months ago to remove the head box batteries , then repackaged it again.Upon me doing that I noticed some slight discolouration of the side armour.I mentioned that to Gary .I originally imported the pin NiB from Hawaii from a private collector .So there is no warranty .
It's been passed on to another person at Stern to follow it through and for Gary later to sign it off.
He could of easily said tuff luck but he was only too obliging ,
No one here in OZ would of help me because I needn't buy it from them + we are talking 6 year in the pass .
Very Noble I thought .


   

[Caveoftreasures]

Ant, fair enough. You did the right thing then ofcourse.

At least u are getting it fixed.
You kept it all that time and didnt pull it out and play it, you are very strong willed, i would have been itching to get her out and give it a real good play.

You have a real nice collection.
Hey Ant, what was in the research and developement room, spill the beans ! lol   

[Ant68]

Ant, fair enough. You did the right thing then ofcourse.

At least u are getting it fixed.
You kept it all that time and didnt pull it out and play it, you are very strong willed, i would have been itching to get her out and give it a real good play.

You have a real nice collection.
Hey Ant, what was in the research and developement room, spill the beans ! lol   

Well ,um um there might of be a couple of soccer playfield laying around (could be nothing)
Some plans of a bloke wearing and iron helmet (looked awesome) .

Also Gary mentioned to me that they are doing away with the side armour that covers the flipper buttons , they are going back to the older style(straight type) but will be selling  the metal part that  goes around the flipper button as a separate part . ( the tear shape part) 3 small screws will hold it on .
And why ? because there's more and more pins going into the home market there's no need for the extra protection around the flipper buttons,and also cost cutting .
 

[ajlaird]

Great story!

So how did you convince the wife that pinball was interesting enough to warrant two excursions?

[Ant68]

Hi Guys  and Happy new year .
Just arrived back from the US ,family wanted to experience a  white Christmas,
Did the usual tourist things with a couple of deviations ,the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas( the owners an odd bloke) and a Stern Factory tour .
Played about 20 min of Big Buck Hunter,spent a long time talking with Gary in his office and mingled with staff , He invited us into his "Top Secret Room" were allot of R&D is made (very interesting).
As you know you read allot of mixed reactions and you read allot of people bagging him but my experience with Gary was absolutely fantastic the guy is a gentlemen and a legend . 
When we stepped foot into the factory (waking  through the snow to get there )the staff informed him that we had arrived ,he made sure he was the first one to greet my family ,personally introduced him self to each and every one ,shook every ones hand (5,8,11 yo and wife)
Factory was in full production of Batman, Spiderman and Lotr .The whole place was buzzing ,people everywhere ,pinballs every where etc etc .

We did the full tour it was awesome ,and my wife has now admitted that she can appreciate the cost of a pinball after seeing all work those Mexican ladies putting all the wiring harnesses together and building the playfields .

I mentioned I had a couple issue with some pins ,we discussed them and he assured me they will be sort it out.
I took over my Stern flyers and he personally sign each one ( of the 6 NIB I have bought)
I've got heaps of photos .

When we left he personal escorted us to a waiting taxi which he personally ordered,shook everyone hand again ,and thanked me for having an enthusiastic interest in pinballs and gave me a good pat on my back and said keep in contact .

Awesome experience .

 
Cheers Tony

[Ant68]

Ant, fair enough. You did the right thing then ofcourse.

At least u are getting it fixed.
You kept it all that time and didnt pull it out and play it, you are very strong willed, i would have been itching to get her out and give it a real good play.

You have a real nice collection.
Hey Ant, what was in the research and developement room, spill the beans ! lol   

Well ,um um there might of be a couple of soccer playfield laying around (could be nothing)
Some plans of a bloke wearing and iron helmet (looked awesome) .

Also Gary mentioned to me that they are doing away with the side armour that covers the flipper buttons , they are going back to the older style(straight type) but will be selling  the metal part that  goes around the flipper button as a separate part . ( the tear shape part) 3 small screws will hold it on .
And why ? because there's more and more pins going into the home market there's no need for the extra protection around the flipper buttons,and also cost cutting .