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Stern Pinball's Rush Gameplay Thoughts

Cary Hardy·video·15m 16s·analyzed·Jan 11, 2022
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Cary Hardy reviews Rush: praises design, identifies diverter/sound issues, recommends Pro for value seekers.

Summary

Cary Hardy reviews Stern Pinball's Rush game following Jack Danger's Friday Night Dead Flip stream, analyzing playfield design, mechanical features, and Pro vs. Premium tier differentiation. He praises the upper flipper accessibility and ramp diverter control but identifies issues with ball-slowing diverter behavior and sound effects that John Borg confirms need adjustment. Hardy recommends Premium/LE for Rush fans but argues Pro offers better value for faster gameplay.

Key Claims

  • The ramp diverter on Rush was slowing the ball down excessively during the stream, which John Borg confirmed is a defect that needs adjustment on that particular machine, not a design choice.

    high confidence · Hardy contacted John Borg directly and reported his response confirming the diverter should not slow the ball and would be fixed immediately if Borg had been present.

  • The moving ramp from Pro to Premium is not essential because it was up the majority of the time during the stream, providing limited functional difference in gameplay.

    medium confidence · Hardy's observation from watching the 2.5-hour stream: 'more often than not, that ramp was up' and he wouldn't miss it on the Pro version.

  • The locking fork mech behind the drop target is the only meaningful mechanical difference between Pro and Premium that will be notably missed.

    medium confidence · Hardy states this is 'the most missed mech' going from Pro to Premium because it pre-loads a ball for multiball but the target remains hittable without it.

  • The scoop exit sound effect and VUX shot sound effect are problematic and don't match the intended gameplay feel, and Stern has recently added new sounds that are being evaluated.

    high confidence · Hardy directly asked John Borg about these sounds; Borg confirmed they recently added new sounds and are evaluating them accordingly.

  • Upper flipper shots on Rush are much easier to execute compared to John Borg's previous game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

    medium confidence · Hardy compares the shot accessibility: Rush has multiple upper flipper shots that are 'much more easily obtained' versus TMNT's limited upper flipper options.

Notable Quotes

  • “If you don't like it, get out of the damn hobby. That way demand will go down and prices will go down.”

    Cary Hardy@ 3:55 — Hardy directly criticizes newcomers who complain about playfield design similarities, dismissing their complaints as indicative of inexperience.

  • “There's only so many things that you can do on this four by two foot piece of wood that makes the game playable.”

    Cary Hardy@ 3:05 — Hardy defends pinball playfield design constraints, contextualizing why designers reuse proven mechanical elements.

  • “If you plan on getting this title then I highly recommend coughing up the extra cash to get that expression lighting.”

    Cary Hardy@ 6:39 — Hardy specifically recommends Premium tier for expression lighting feature on Rush, unlike LED Zeppelin last year.

  • “He said if he would have been there, he would have fixed that immediately.”

    Cary Hardy@ 8:12 — Reports John Borg's response about the diverter issue, indicating manufacturing quality control concern for first production units.

  • “Ask anybody who's owned a Turtles or experienced a Turtles Premium or better and ask them which one they would think you should for and they will tell you the Pro is the way to go.”

    Cary Hardy@ 13:45 — Hardy defends his Pro recommendation on Borg's previous game, acknowledging community pushback but citing owner experience.

Entities

Cary HardypersonJohn BorgpersonJack DangerpersonRushgameStern PinballcompanyTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesgameX-Mengame

Signals

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community members comparing Rush's playfield to historical games and claiming design copying; Hardy dismisses these complaints as indicative of newcomer inexperience.

    medium · Hardy states: 'I'm going to start comparing this layout to every other game in the past... you're basically raising a red flag saying, I'm new to this hobby.'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Sound effects for scoop exit and VUX shot don't match intended gameplay feel and don't provide necessary functional feedback to players.

    high · Hardy spent significant video time explaining why these sounds are problematic; Borg confirmed recent sound additions are under evaluation.

  • ?

    design_philosophy: John Borg's approach to upper flipper accessibility on Rush represents intentional design choice to make this mechanic more approachable than his previous game (TMNT).

    medium · Hardy notes multiple upper flipper shots that are 'much more easily obtained' compared to TMNT, suggesting deliberate design progression.

  • ?

    community_signal: Jack Danger organized high-profile Friday Night Dead Flip stream showcasing Rush; Hardy compliments production quality but notes excessive tilt sensitivity during gameplay.

    medium · Hardy opens with compliment for stream quality but recommends Danger reduce tilt sensitivity for future broadcasts based on observed player behavior.

  • ?

    product_strategy: Rush Premium/LE tier justifies premium pricing primarily through expression lighting and locking fork mech; moving ramp was deemed non-essential by Hardy based on observed gameplay frequency.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.046

0:00
what we're going to do here tonight is we're going to play a handful of games um with room audio you're going to hear the same audio we're hearing and then towards the end of the broadcast we're going to plug in directly to give you a clean feed of the music and sound effects so that you can hear exactly what it sounds like It's not my phone.
0:45
Hmm. Maybe it's just my fire alarm. Or my smoke detector. Is that the game? It's the scoop shot. Do we sound good now? Everyone type yes. Everything but the damn scoop shot.
1:15
So now we're going to do direct audio for you, ladies and gentlemen, so that you can hear everything. Are you ready? Not like this. He set that up maybe on purpose.
1:26
Not like this. You got to like this! What's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below. So Friday Night Dead Flip, Jack Danger, and crew decided to put on a stream for all of us to see how the new game Rush plays. And as per usual, I will compliment Jack for a quality stream. No issues there. My only future recommendation is to turn down that tilt sensitivity you guys tilted a lot. This video should be short, but in a nutshell, if you are a Rush fan, then this game is right up your alley. And if you're not a Rush fan, this game is a great shooter. I must first discuss a little bit of what happens almost every time a game is revealed, and everyone gets to see the playfield from up above, and then for whatever reason, you get certain individuals that decide, I'm going to start comparing this layout to every other game in the past to see if they're just cutting and pasting and making us a new playfield, and you know, all I know is that the people that tend to do this, that compare this playfield with this playfield and then complain, you're basically raising a red flag saying, I'm new to this hobby. And I know I'm going to get some hate from those of you out there that are probably doing it, but that's what it is. You've got a four foot by two foot piece of wood. And in AutoCAD, there's only so many things that you can do on this four by two foot piece of wood that makes the game playable. there's a lot of options and especially there's a lot of things that these particular designers will go back in their previous rolodex to pick out things that they've done because they've worked before it's only natural even on movies guys you have certain directors that have certain styles and have reused certain things before i could easily take any game that's ever been made and say oh this game is like this game because the pop bumpers are right there or this flipper is up there on this area or this ramp I can easily do that It can easily be done And you can go through Rush as in any other pinball machine and point out certain things that have been done in previous games
Lord of the Rings
game
Austin Powersgame
The Shadowgame
LED Zeppelingame
Friday Night Dead Flipevent

medium · Hardy observed that the moving ramp was up >50% of the time during the stream, limiting its functional impact. Expression lighting explicitly excluded from Pro tier unlike previous LED Zeppelin.

  • ?

    product_concern: Rush diverter was slowing ball excessively during Friday Night Dead Flip stream; John Borg confirmed this is a manufacturing issue with that specific machine unit, not design intent.

    high · Hardy contacted Borg directly and reported confirmation that the diverter should not slow the ball and would be fixed immediately.

    • 3:55
    Duh. If you don't like it, get out of the damn hobby. That way demand will go down and prices will go down. And those of us in the hobby that actually are educated on the matter will be happier. With that being said, this game has a lot of similarities to other games in the past. I think the most common one that people are talking about is X-Men. Then you have a little bit of Lord of the Rings or Austin Powers with that. Whatever. I mean, what I definitely like a lot about this game is that the upper flipper shots, plural, are much more easily obtained in comparison to Borg's latest title before this one, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That upper flipper shot for that game, there's like two shots basically for that game essentially with the ramp as well as to do the loop around. And I felt that that ramp shot on Turtles was pretty tough to hit. Whereas this one seems to be much easier and whenever it hit it, it seems satisfying to watch at least. So I'm sure actually performing the task herself will be good. I'm liking the shot behind the upper flipper, the extra ball slash drum solo portion. It's reminiscent also to Turtle Shot to go into the layer to do your training. This one, basically, you shoot behind the upper flipper to lock your ball into the shooter lane, and that will launch the ball automatically around the orbit into the pop bumper. So that's why it says drum solo, because the pop bumpers are essentially beating of the drums. So the ball automatically launches up, swings around, and beats around in there for a drum solo. I thought that was pretty cool. The ramp diverter at the top of the playfield is also pretty intricate because on this game, in comparison to others, including Turtles, is that you can control this diverter on whether you want it to direct the ball to the left or to the right. You have a flasher on the left and right side of the playfield. Whichever one is pulsing is telling you where the ball will go when you hit that right ramp. If you use the lock down bar button, that will change the direction it will go. So for those of us out there that like that option, particularly on the game Shadow, then this is more closely to what we are looking for when the player has the ability to control the ball. And that diverter is on all tiers, so another thumbs up. Expression Lighting. Although it is not on the premium model this time around when it comes to comparison to Led Zeppelin last year, I must say that the expression lighting does add to this game. I feel like you're missing out on a good visual experience without the expression lighting. So if you plan on getting this title then I highly recommend coughing up the extra cash to get that expression lighting. Now there were a few things that I had questions about and one of those things was really bugging me throughout the stream and I needed the answer. I couldn't watch it live so therefore I couldn't ask and chat. So I contacted John Borg himself to ask him a couple of questions. And one of those is that I could not help but notice that the diverter was slowing the ball down tremendously. Every time someone hit that right ramp shot, it would slow the ball down almost to a halt depending on how fast they hit it. And I was like, this doesn't seem like something John Borg would do. I don't know why he would choose to go, hey, I don't want this ball to go too fast. because if anything guys this game feels like it's gonna be a pretty tough shooter if you want to get your ass kicked I highly recommend shooting this game because we watching people that are good at pinball play this game so you not getting the actual true experience of what you will be playing whenever you play it Something tells me I going to be cursing a lot playing this title John clarified for me that no, that diverter is not designed to slow down that ball, so there must be something that needs to be adjusted on that diverter for this particular game, because all the games that he has seen come off the line do not show that sort of slowing down of the ball. So from a design perspective, I don't have any issues, and the only one I had an issue with, Borg basically eased my mind to let me know the diverter will not slow the ball down on other games. He said if he would have been there, he would have fixed that immediately. Some other little tidbits I asked Borg about, and it's not even his field per se, because it's got to do something with the audio on this. I, for whatever reason, and as you saw at the beginning of this video that I majorly over exaggerated about, obviously as a joke, but I do not care for the ball exiting the scoop sound effect. It is something that just sticks out majorly for this particular title. I also don't feel it to be needed at all. You are also getting a visual indicator on the bulb above the scoop. That sound effect for exiting the scoop doesn't need to be needed. Usually you have that sound effect because, hey, the ball's coming at you. If you don't do something, you're going to lose your ball. Whereas if you watch this stream in its entirety, you will see that every time that ball comes out of that scoop, every player lets that ball bounce off the right flipper and onto the left. So even if you were to do nothing when that ball launches out of the scoop, the ball would hit your right flipper and bounce to your left so if anything just change the sound effect some kind of a sound effect it just sounds like it's just you know being shot up and that thing goes also for the vux shot i don't feel like that sound effect matches either maybe some kind of like you know bass drum hitting that gives it the sound effect of the ball is bouncing off of a bass drum and coming up back at you something different but those two sounds are the only ones that really stuck out to me as being not right. And what John told me is that they have recently added a lot of new sounds to the game, and they are evaluating accordingly. Now let's talk about the Pro versus the Premium. Do you feel like you should go all out and get the Premium, or do you feel like the Pro may be the way to go on this title? Let's discuss. So while watching this two and a half hour stream, the ramp does move up and down that directs the ball into the time machine. But more often than not, that ramp was up. The ramp goes down whenever you do not have a particular mode or action in place that basically will allow you to go into the time machine. The thing is, as often as you're hitting the ball and hitting things, it seemed like, I'm guessing, a majority of the time, there was always something ready to go when it comes to going in the time machine. So the ramp does move. I watched it, but I don't feel like it's needed. I just feel like it would be more fun to have that ramp always up, so that way you have the feeling of hitting a ramp and a little bit more satisfaction in it, whereas the premium, you have the chance of it being an unsatisfying shot. But like I said, more often than not, that ramp was up. So me personally, I wouldn't miss the moving ramp. The bass drum clock above the pop bumpers is pretty darn cool. it also keeps real time in attract mode so I thought that was a pretty nifty feature also. But I feel like it doesn't really change the trajectory or any kind of movement of the ball. It mainly aesthetic and yes I sure there is something in the code that also changes what going on but it just kind of gives you a nice visual of whenever you trying to reach midnight but it doesn really affect the play of the ball so I feel like it not so much of a must to have but it is pretty cool to see in action Now the VUC and wire forms of feedback to your ride flipper is also cool even though the sound needs to be changed I feel like that also kind of slows the ball down a little bit because you have a moment of the ball registering on the switch and then finally launching up and then coming back down to you. I feel like the Pro is more than likely going to play a lot faster whenever it's just hitting a solid target and coming right back down to your right flipper. So the ball is going to direct back to your right flipper without there being a Vuck in wire form. It's just I don't feel like the Vuck is going to be tremendously missed on that point either. You're going to get a faster playing game with the pro another thing that you will not be getting on your pro is the fact that these scoops are able to launch simultaneously out if you have two balls underneath the playfield i don't know i i don't feel like that's going to be something really big to be missed and it's one of those things where i guess i would have to really play a premium and a pro to really determine if that's something that like oh man i'm really missing out on that so just from watching perspective, I don't feel like that's something that I'm going to tremendously miss. Now, the only mech in this game that I feel like will be missed is the locking fork mech behind the drop target that locks a ball, and then you can hit that ball, and that ball knocks into a target, which also increases your jackpot value. I like it, but I feel like it's not going to be horribly missed if you don't have it because you're still able to hit that target without it already having a ball locked so you would still be accomplishing the same goal it's just that you're not going to have a ball ready to go whenever you do start a multi-ball so that is the most missed mech i want to say going from the pro to the premium if you feel like the extra money is worth just that one little mech that's up to you morg's last game turtles is also a game that I also told everyone that the Pro was the best way to go on. I got a lot of flack for that. And you know what? Ask anybody who's owned a Turtles or experienced a Turtles Premium or better and ask them which one they would think you should go for and they will tell you the Pro is the way to go.
    13:56
    And I'm not saying that this game is the Pro is the way to go. What I am saying is that if you are a Rush fan, then you definitely need to get your Premium in LE. for those of us out there that want a fast game that is going to be probably kicking the crap out of us then pro is the way to go now obviously i'm not a tournament player so some of these mechs and options that you're missing out on the premium would probably be pretty important for tournament players but that's the joyous thing about this hobby is that everyone's got their opinions and i want to hear yours down in the comments is rush a game that you feel like you need to get? Is the pro or the premium the way to go? Let me know down below. Special thanks to all my Patreons out there. Your monthly donations are greatly appreciated. If you haven't already, then subscribe button, ding my dong. That way you can be notified whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. And until next time, guys, peace out.
    15:01
    We'll see you next time.