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Stern Insider Connected Setup - Getting Pinball Online (SDTM & Flip N Out Pinball)

Straight Down the Middle·video·10m 35s·analyzed·Oct 21, 2021
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

Zach Sharpe demos Stern's new Insider Connected online platform for achievement tracking and leaderboards.

Summary

Zach Sharpe from Flip N Out Pinball demonstrates Stern Pinball's Insider Connected system, a recently announced online connectivity platform that enables Stern machines to go online, earn achievements, and track gameplay. The video walks through account creation (free basic or $39.99 annual All-Access tier), Wi-Fi setup on a new Godzilla machine, machine registration via QR code scanning, and shows the resulting player profile with achievement tracking, XP progression, and verified location-based scoring. Insider Connected represents a shift toward connected, online-enabled pinball machines with persistent player progression.

Key Claims

  • Stern Pinball recently announced Insider Connected, enabling stern games to go online, earn achievements, and win promotions

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe, opening remarks describing the system's core purpose

  • Insider Connected offers free basic access and $39.99/year All-Access membership with sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive LE merchandise

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe describing pricing tiers during account setup walkthrough

  • Games shipped from factory with Insider Connected apron and QR reader come with up-to-date code ready to connect; retrofitted machines require one final code update to enable Wi-Fi

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe explaining setup prerequisites for machines with aftermarket aprons

  • Insider Connected tracks player achievements (39 on Godzilla), XP progression (900 XP max shown), and distinguishes verified location-based scores from home play

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe reviewing player profile data after registering and playing Godzilla machine

  • Registration requires scanning QR code on the machine itself and linking it to a player's Stern Insider profile via sternpinball.com

    high confidence · Zach Sharpe walking through machine registration process with Godzilla

Notable Quotes

  • “insider connected is going to enable your stern games to go online to earn achievements win promotions and much much more throughout this year next and so on”

    Zach Sharpe@ 0:50 — Statement of Insider Connected's core value proposition and multi-year roadmap

  • “this is no longer your grandparents pinball machine this is the 21st century and pinball machines are now online”

    Zach Sharpe@ 9:08 — Summary statement positioning connected machines as a modernization of the medium

  • “the only way to get verified points is on location so i'm playing here at the showroom not a public location per se how cool is that”

    Zach Sharpe@ 8:36 — Clarification that verified/tournament-valid scoring requires play at official public locations

  • “that's just the tip of the iceberg as to what stern pinball's insider connected will bring in the next month the next six months the next year and beyond just wait just just wait”

    Zach Sharpe@ 9:17 — Suggests roadmap expansion and future features beyond current baseline functionality

Entities

Zach SharpepersonStern PinballcompanyInsider ConnectedproductGodzillagameFlip N Out PinballcompanyStraight Down the MiddleorganizationPinball Networkorganization

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Stern Pinball's Insider Connected launched with QR code-based machine registration, Wi-Fi connectivity, achievement tracking (39 per game shown), XP progression, and tiered membership ($0 basic / $39.99/year All-Access)

    high · Full walkthrough of setup process, pricing structure, and resulting player profile showing achievements and XP tracking on Godzilla machine

  • ?

    technology_signal: Factory-standard Insider Connected aprons with built-in QR readers being shipped on new Stern machines; retrofit kits available for older machines requiring code updates and Wi-Fi connectivity setup

    high · Zach explains that Godzilla came factory-equipped with apron and QR reader; notes retrofit machines need final code update

  • ?

    product_strategy: Stern implementing freemium model with basic free tier and premium All-Access ($39.99/year) offering sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive LE merchandise

    high · Sign-up screen and membership tier description during account creation walkthrough

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Insider Connected includes per-game achievement tracking (39 achievements on Godzilla observed), XP progression systems (900 max shown), and player level advancement through gameplay

    high · Player profile shows 8 of 39 achievements, 55 of 900 XP on Godzilla; UI displays achieved and locked achievements with point values

  • ?

    community_signal: Insider Connected differentiates verified location-based tournament scoring from home machine play; verified points only awarded at official public locations

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:30
hello everybody i'm zach minnie with flipping out pinball street down the middle and the pinball network i'm super happy you guys joined me today because stern pinball recently announced what they're calling insider connected and i want to go through it with you today and what that means essentially insider connected is going to enable your stern games to go online to earn achievements win promotions and much much more throughout this year next and so on but first we got to figure out how to do it i did notice i'm super pumped to open up this godzilla by stern pinball oh i want to play it so bad and i want to get it online the only thing i noticed about this that's another video if you guys want to watch an unboxing so if you guys can see this decal here this is new i've never seen this on a stern game before but on the box it says insider connected scan this code to join don't scan my code i don't know about you but i am super eager to get online get connected with stern pinball and start opening up a can of webass to all of my friends out there and foes pink here we go so i got my phone out go to your phone's camera feature and then we should be able to scan that qr and then the link comes up at top as you see the browser will then link you to stern pinball's insider connected homepage from there we can open up our own account looking uh look at the all forums track scores team stern get started sign me up now you can sign up for free using basic access you can sign up for 39.99 a year bye bye bye bye using the all access this will this will enable you to uh get sneak peeks into the world stern access to behind the scenes content access to exclusive le merchandise so on and so forth right now i'm just going to sign up for free it asks you the country that you're living in your birthday you'll go next and boom i'm connected check it out boom flip and out zach go ahead and follow me if you want to i'm also under the handle z mini but once we get this wonderful godzilla unboxed on the apron uh or the arch as they call it there's gonna be a qr reader all we have to do to get this game linked up and online in our database is scan that qr code right on the game now before we jump into insider connected and start battling fools first we need to jump online with this pinball machine as a reminder if your game came factory with the apron and the qr reader already in it then your code should be up to date where you can jump in hook up that wi-fi however if you had to add this insider connected accessory apron you'll still need to do one final code update to qualify and enable wi-fi updating in the future this one came from the factory with this insider connected apron so we're going to go into the menu settings using the coin door buttons and set it up to our local wi-fi here at uh here at the showroom we'll go to stern insider connected setup and press enter

high · Zach notes 'verified zero' on his home/showroom play and explains 'the only way to get verified points is on location'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Insider Connected enables cross-session persistent player profiles tracking total plays, play locations, latest scores, and cumulative achievement/XP progress across multiple Stern machines

    high · Player profile displays comprehensive stats: last score, number of plays, play locations, all achieved and locked badges with XP values

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Zach frames Insider Connected as major modernization of pinball ('this is the 21st century and pinball machines are now online'), positioning it as differentiator from older machines

    high · Quote: 'this is no longer your grandparents pinball machine this is the 21st century and pinball machines are now online'

  • ?

    product_launch: Insider Connected positioned as multi-year initiative with significant roadmap expansion planned ('next month, next six months, next year and beyond')

    medium · Zach's closing statement suggesting substantial future feature additions and evolution of the platform

    • 3:53
    we have setup connection test connection stern insider connected and software update let's go to setup connection
    4:04
    wi-fi or wired we are going to establish a wi-fi connection
    4:14
    we can find a wi-fi network scan the wi-fi qr code or reset our usb wi-fi adapter we're going to go ahead and find our wi-fi network scanning for networks
    4:32
    there's me the minis i'll press enter and i will enter my password now that my password has been entered it's trying to hook up to okay so it did it hooked up already that was simple enough
    4:51
    it's showing signal strength at a 73 i guess that's good i don't know but the status is running and it shows that we are connected it also shows a qr code that says use this code to set up any other games on this wi-fi network we can test the connection if we'd like let's see how long it takes for a server ping and what speed we are we're running here now after i tested my connection go down here press enter for stern insider connected it says connected now now you can exit the system and you're ready to scan your qr code i went to sternpinball.com went to login and ask for your login
    5:39
    done done we are in flipping out zach i'll press this qr code scan your qr code at the bottom of the machine to track your gameplay i don't know if you all can see but up here it now says new machine registration pending complete registration okay everything is filled out now i will agree to the terms of use and of course i sent them off to my lawyer and they read all of them she said it looks good i will complete my registration we're good to go now that i've registered the game i open up my stern insider profile find the qr code and scan it into the system
    6:30
    now you'll see me up there zlm and my username flipping out zach i press start to start the game
    6:54
    [Music] godzilla multiball [Music] okay so i put a couple games on went back onto my phone into the insider connected profile and you'll see here it shows my last score when i played it last my user profile showing my player experience points achievements that i've gained how many times i've played it where i've played it and then shows the latest achievements i can go to view all
    8:06
    this is really neat so it shows how many achievements are on this game 39 using the pro i've got eight of those 55 xp out of 900 xp points i've got a long way to go and then it highlights and gives me points for what i have achieved how cool is that
    8:29
    yeah it didn't do very well you don't have to rub it in and you'll see up here it says verified zero the only way to get verified points is on location so i'm playing here at the showroom not a public location per se how cool is that now i'm going to want to go back and try to capture each of these each of these achievements way cool well there you have it that's just a little taste of stern pinball's insider connected online this is no longer your grandparents pinball machine this is the 21st century and pinball machines are now online and that's just the tip of the iceberg as to what stern pinball's insider connected will bring in the next month the next six months the next year and beyond just wait just just wait he's still there you thought i was going to close this video down without reminding you that if you're ready for a brand new stern pinball machine there's one place that you should go it's flipping out pinball.com that's flip the lettering out pinball dot com eight one two four five seven nine seven one one we would love to earn your business and to help you out for years to come what's next where you going for the godzilla call me let's do it
    10:00
    [Music] stern pinball recently announced that they're calling insider connected insider connected is an online program that gets your stern machines
    10:13
    okay the first thing we're going to do is get out your phone put it to the camera feature we're going to scan that qr code and by doing so it's going to do nothing the hell oh no dude