Stern - Avengers Pinball (late 2012)

[Strangeways]

well they have shown off their The Avengers - The Pin at a show - sorry no other details

They look like cheap toys out of China. This is not the way to introduce new pinball players to the hobby. A massive step backwards. Stern really frustrate me !!

[ktm450]

well they have shown off their The Avengers - The Pin at a show - sorry no other details

Here is a closer look at the playfield



 

[Freiherr]

Do they come in green?

[swinks]

agree with you Nino, and the frustrating thing is The Pin has the new board sets and the Avengers Pro has the older ones but at least the older ones are proven,,,, I think.

If they were priced under $1000 it could be borderline healthy for the hobby for families but $2500 to $3500 is a joke - that said if they were for $1000 you could one one and use the parts for a proper custom pin  

[Caveoftreasures]

Re the PIN, ever seen something designed for fun that wasnt designed to look like a toy in some way ?
What else would someone design that is aimed at young kids in a young family ??

The Stern Pro Pinball machines and the Premium/LE models look like commercial models, so isnt the PIN model designed to look like something a kid would want to play >, thats the whole idea isnt it......

Not everyone wants to spend $6600 upwards, there will be a market at $3 grand ish....
This PIN model will do more for pinball than a 30 year old pinball machine would.  30 year old pinballs make people think pinball is dead n gone.
We need brand new models and more often to get new familys into pinball..

[swinks]

Keep in mind the $ figures and dont mix it up. In the States The Pin is $3k and the Pro is $4k. In effecti if The Pin was sold here it would be around $4.5 to $5k. That's just too much and what family is going to buy that for their kids.

They need to aim at the zizzle  type pin to get it into new families with no pin experience at $500 to $750 and that's it.

[delarge]

Yeah, $3000 is way too much in my opinion. If the Avengers "The Pin" was $1000 or below, I'd get one for the pinball collection as a curiosity piece. I'm a fan of the overall Avengers design and colours. At $3000 or more, I could buy a proper pinball machine for that money. I don't know any families that would pay that much money either.

The corner of my office at work is begging for a pinball machine......I don't think I could sneak one of mine in, but a Zizzle or the Pin would be perfect. haha.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Caveoftreasures]

I have played the Avengers Pro and I like the machine. Cabinet art, translite art is amazing. Playfield art is very good.
I will say honestly, that Steve Ritchie and John Borg are better designers than George Gomez for my style/desire of a pinball machine.

George Gomez seems to always like straight shots on a playfield versus the style of SR or JB.

The top right corner of the Avengers is a little hard to see, and the game does need some leds instead of std bulbs on alot of the side inserts because they can be hard to see in a very lit room. So extra LEDs would be my first mod. The captain america inserts x 4 are easily visible, and the red arrow is half visible, but if that bulb was replaced by a Led, it would be much more 90 percent visible.

I need more time on the game, but i am confused because both the inner rollover lanes inserts cannot be seen at all because the plastics cover those 2 x inserts completely.??    Because u have to light both the inner and outer rollover lanes near the flippers to advance thru the game, I am perplexed as to why these inserts cannot be seen when standing in a normal playing position at all ???.........

Remembering that this Timezone machine is a test mule, I dont know if the plastics are the finished version or not....but as I said, I have to spend more time on the machine and look at it properly without 500 kids around, and without massive bright lights shining at the machine from every different position. The machine has a slight Transformers feel/look to little bits of it and the playfield etc, but basically it is a very nice package...
I have to spend more time playing it to do a proper assesment/write up. Gameplay is fun.

Would I buy one ? YES. 
DMD annimations are good, sounds are great.....just have to work out a few shots on the playfield and why the inserts for the bottom lanes are not visible.....I would have thought that would have been pinball 101 to have plastics there that are at least partly see thru, versus blocking those inserts....something isnt right unless I missed something with the very quick 5 minutes I had with the machine whilst others were already playing it...stay tuned for more info.

Brett 

[swinks]

thanks for the report back cavey  much appreciated

the LE guys have said that as well about the LOKI lane inserts with 2 not being able to be seen, it is odd to let that slip -

[swinks]

here is a screen shot at the show on a monitor above the avengers pin - very similar layout and ramps, probably re-printed the same playfield layout.

[Strangeways]

Re the PIN, ever seen something designed for fun that wasnt designed to look like a toy in some way ?
What else would someone design that is aimed at young kids in a young family ??

The Stern Pro Pinball machines and the Premium/LE models look like commercial models, so isnt the PIN model designed to look like something a kid would want to play >, thats the whole idea isnt it......

Not everyone wants to spend $6600 upwards, there will be a market at $3 grand ish....
This PIN model will do more for pinball than a 30 year old pinball machine would.  30 year old pinballs make people think pinball is dead n gone.
We need brand new models and more often to get new familys into pinball..

This "Pin" is too expensive to be a "toy". No family is stupid enough to spend $3000 on rubbish like this. It takes up almost the same footprint as a real pinball, so common sense would suggest a restored Fishtales offers better value, quality and resale value. Pinballs ARE Commercial items, so they should look commercial. They were designed to earn money, not please children for $3000.

This PIN model cannot even be located in the same room as a real pinball. Even a pinball 50 years old is better - because IT IS a pinball, not a piece of cheap looking junk.

To put it simply, I don't know if they have been selling these or not, but there is definitely no market for them.

[Ant]

Put one of these on the wall behind the avengers machine.

[Ant]

My son wanted this one in his room.

[Caveoftreasures]

Re the PIN, ever seen something designed for fun that wasnt designed to look like a toy in some way ?
What else would someone design that is aimed at young kids in a young family ??

The Stern Pro Pinball machines and the Premium/LE models look like commercial models, so isnt the PIN model designed to look like something a kid would want to play >, thats the whole idea isnt it......

Not everyone wants to spend $6600 upwards, there will be a market at $3 grand ish....
This PIN model will do more for pinball than a 30 year old pinball machine would.  30 year old pinballs make people think pinball is dead n gone.
We need brand new models and more often to get new familys into pinball..

This "Pin" is too expensive to be a "toy". No family is stupid enough to spend $3000 on rubbish like this. It takes up almost the same footprint as a real pinball, so common sense would suggest a restored Fishtales offers better value, quality and resale value. Pinballs ARE Commercial items, so they should look commercial. They were designed to earn money, not please children for $3000.

This PIN model cannot even be located in the same room as a real pinball. Even a pinball 50 years old is better - because IT IS a pinball, not a piece of cheap looking junk.

To put it simply, I don't know if they have been selling these or not, but there is definitely no market for them.

I hear ya........and see some of your points....any working pinball machine, modern or not is better than nothing.

But, these pinball toys were designed to please rich children/young families, thats the whole idea of it.....its like fishing, throw some fresh bait out n see if something bites....if Stern sell 1 or 3,000, good on them for having a go....some people will never ever buy old pinballs because of service n part hassles, and people just dont like very old stuff...this simple smaller pinball design is entry level fun....there is a market for them......

its just like selling small $13,990 4 speed manual 2 door entry level Hyundai cars compared to large expensive Commodore Station wagons at $35,000, theres a market for all prices n sizes.  People have to move with the times.....20 and 30 year old machines just dont cut it for 100 percent of the pinball market anymore.... At least they are trying something new...good on them IMHO.

[Caveoftreasures]

Put one of these on the wall behind the avengers machine.

That wall art is excellent.....

Also, alot of people think the Avengers Pro pinball cabinet is silver, it definately isnt, its almost like a icecream white mixed with apx 10 percent grey, it looks excellent.....it wont mark easy either the colour it is, it looks very durable....also, the std black/dark charcoal grey metal work, rails n lockdown bar etc all look very very good.
The colours work extremely well stock. Everything visual wise about the Pro is very nice.
I think alot of people will be very impressed with the cabinet art n translite art package when they see it...very very sharp indeed.
The colours on the cabinet art are just absolutely awesome and the art is pure genius from Marvel.

Whoever does the art at Stern, knows how to do some serious nice layouts. The translite has a explosion affect of something hitting the Captain America shield, and sparks/bright white sparks are perfectly and evenly brightly lit up accross the whole translite. its a very cool effect.

The George Gomez signed Avengers Pro translite I have stuck in my AC/DC machine looks so good, I have left it in the AC/DC machine cause the artwork is crystal clear.

I think the artwork on the Avengers Pro will impress alot of people.  I also can see that the Pro has also had a game code update done already, with another due by the end of the month. Powering along.....^^