# Stern Pinball Launches Home Team Feature for Insider Connected

**Source:** Knapp Arcade  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2022-08-03  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.knapparcade.org/stern-pinball-launches-home-team-feature-for-insider-connected

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## Analysis

Stern Pinball has launched the 'Home Team' feature for Insider Connected, allowing homeowners to store up to eight player accounts on their machines and quickly switch between them using the left flipper button without scanning QR codes. This feature simplifies account management for home collectors and families, with account settings syncing across all registered machines.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Home Team feature allows storage of up to eight Insider Connected accounts on a single machine — _Official Stern Pinball announcement via Knapp Arcade article_
- [HIGH] Players can access their account by holding left flipper button for two seconds without scanning QR codes — _Official feature description in announcement_
- [MEDIUM] Account setup on one machine carries over to all pinball machines registered to that Insider Connected account — _Author interpretation of feature functionality; stated but not explicitly confirmed in official language_

### Notable Quotes

> "This means that homeowners who want to hunt achievements on their Stern pinball machines no longer have to scan their QR code to log into their own games."
> — **Knapp Arcade (article author)**
> _Explains the primary pain point Home Team solves for home collectors_

> "Pretty cool. I'm definitely going to set this up for my family on all of my connected pins."
> — **Knapp Arcade (article author)**
> _Positive sentiment endorsement of feature from influential arcade content creator_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; announced Home Team feature for Insider Connected platform |
| Insider Connected | product | Stern's digital connectivity platform for pinball machines; now includes Home Team feature for account management |
| Home Team | product | New Insider Connected feature enabling up to eight player account storage and quick-access switching on home machines |
| Knapp Arcade | person|media | Pinball content creator and enthusiast reporting on Stern Pinball updates |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Insider Connected platform features and improvements, Home collector experience and usability, Account management and player progression tracking

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Author expresses clear enthusiasm for the feature, characterizes it as solving a legitimate pain point, and commits to adopting it for family use. No critical concerns raised.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Feature design responds directly to home collector feedback and pain points, indicating Stern's ongoing refinement of IC platform based on user experience data (confidence: medium) — Author notes they were 'waiting for this update' and characterizes it as addressing legitimate usability friction, suggesting community discussion of feature requests
- **[product_strategy]** Stern Insider Connected Home Team feature launched to improve home user experience by eliminating QR code scanning requirement for account access (confidence: high) — Official announcement of Home Team feature with specific functionality details (flipper button access, eight-account storage, cross-machine sync)

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## Transcript

I've been waiting for this update from Stern Pinball's Insider Connected ever since I first heard about it. This morning the company announced that it's new "Home Team" feature is now available on connected machines. This means that homeowners who want to hunt achievements on their Stern pinball machines no longer have to scan their QR code to log into their own games.

Home Team allows game owners to store up to eight Insider Connected accounts in their machines. Once it is set up, players can hold in their machine's left flipper button for two seconds, select their account and play without ever having to flip through their photos or log into the IC website to find their QR code again. Pretty cool. I'm definitely going to set this up for my family on all of my connected pins. It sounds like one only has to set all of the players up on one machine and it carries over to all of the pins that they have registered to that Insider Connected account.

_(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 812ba729-5ba6-46a1-a791-d6fd0f81aa58*