Pinball Veterans vs Spike 3: Here's Why

Cary Hardy·video·13m 15s·analyzed·Dec 17, 2025

Analysis

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TL;DR

Spike 3 cabinet design shift trades traditional craftsmanship optics for manufacturing consistency and durability.

Summary

Cary Hardy analyzes Stern's new Spike 3 cabinet design, which eliminates traditional miter cuts and glue-based assembly in favor of removable metal brackets and bolted construction. While community perception frames this as cheap IKEA-style manufacturing, Hardy argues the engineering changes improve consistency, reduce defects, simplify installation, and maintain structural integrity—positioning it as a genuine upgrade despite aesthetic concerns. He praises George Gomez's transparency and candor during their interview while critiquing Stern's pre-launch communication strategy.

Key Claims

Spike 3 eliminates both miter cuts and glue, the only two manufacturing constants in over 50 years of cabinet design
high confidence · Hardy directly states this as a core technical shift discussed with George Gomez
George Gomez guarantees Spike 3 will last as long as any previous cabinet design
high confidence · Direct quote from Gomez during interview, with Gomez explicitly inviting scrutiny ('Call me out on it when it fails')
Spike 3 cabinets have been tested via drop tests and are 'rock solid' based on Walking Dead unit feedback
medium confidence · Hardy reports feedback from early units but acknowledges field data is still limited and will require time to verify
The new design likely breaks even or costs slightly more to manufacture than Spike 2, with long-term savings from fewer field failures
low confidence · Hardy's personal interpretation ('a part of me also wants to think') rather than confirmed information from Stern
Community resistance stems from optics and IKEA furniture stigma rather than legitimate engineering concerns
medium confidence · Hardy's reasoned analysis of psychological perception vs. actual design merit, supported by technical details about bracket placement and testing

Notable Quotes

“I guarantee you I guarantee you that this will last as long as anything you've seen before. Call me out on it. Call me out on it when it fails.”
George Gomez @ early interview segment — Direct, emphatic confidence statement from Stern CCO about Spike 3 durability; explicitly invites accountability
“We have had a tried and true method of building pinball cabinets for over 50 years now... the new Spike 3 cabinet eliminates both of those variables [miter cuts and glue]”
Cary Hardy @ mid-video technical breakdown — Frames Spike 3 as a genuine paradigm shift after 50+ years of consistency in manufacturing approach
“We perceive this type of assembly as cheap IKEA style... We are assuming this to be a downgrade due to our experience with items like IKEA bookshelves”
Cary Hardy @ optics analysis section — Identifies root cause of community skepticism as perception bias rather than technical deficiency
“Name me another interview with someone from a manufacturer that has done two straight hours of questioning and getting rocks thrown at him”
Cary Hardy @ George Gomez reflection segment — Acknowledges Gomez's extraordinary accessibility and willingness to defend Stern's decisions publicly
“This should have been done before the product got in the hands of people before that the things started to get out of hand. If you immediately show us... the new Spike 3 cabinet... Some nice cool footage shots, panovers... cutaway shots from you guys dropping the cabinet on the floor”
Cary Hardy @ communication strategy critique — Identifies Stern's pre-launch communication vacuum as primary cause of FUD; prescribes specific remediation via Jack Danger demonstration

Entities

George Gomezperson Cary HardypersonStern PinballcompanyJack Dangerperson Spike 3product Spike 2product

Signals

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business_signal: Stern investing in media relationships and transparency; George Gomez personally engaging with critical content creators (Cary Hardy) known for negative commentary history
medium · Gomez appeared on Hardy's show despite Hardy's 'vast history of poking the bear'; texting at 4:50am post-interview; expressed desire for future casual conversations; this represents shift in manufacturer accessibility
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community_signal: Online chat during Gomez interview contained toxic commentary; Hardy acknowledges 'pretty toxic people in this industry' and expresses concern about moderator absence
medium · Hardy references seeing complaints from viewers about chat behavior; notes it may have been 'only time' Stern allows employee to appear on his show if toxicity continues
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community_signal: Significant online community backlash to Spike 3 design perceived as cheap/IKEA-style assembly, driven by optical/aesthetic concerns rather than technical engineering doubts
high · Hardy explicitly identifies perception bias as root cause; community was unaware of testing, durability guarantees, or manufacturing rationale before video coverage
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design_philosophy: Spike 3 design explicitly engineered to eliminate known cabinet issues from prior 50+ years of manufacturing history; parameters implemented to prevent recurring problems
high · Hardy: 'Every cabinet design has had faults, and that's one of the reason George designed this cabinet the way he has, identifying known issues and putting parameters in place to eliminate them'
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market_signal: Stern's pre-launch communication strategy for Spike 3 was insufficient, allowing FUD and speculation to dominate before transparent explanation was available; George Gomez's long interview intended to prevent 'John Wick fiasco' escalation

Topics

Spike 3 cabinet engineering and manufacturing redesignprimaryCommunity perception of manufacturing changes as cost-cutting vs. genuine improvementprimaryStern's communication strategy and media transparencyprimaryManufacturing consistency and eliminating variables in productionsecondaryDurability and field performance of new cabinet designsecondaryRelationship between pinball media creators and manufacturerssecondaryPinball community sentiment and toxicity in online spacesmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.72)— Hardy is cautiously optimistic about Spike 3 engineering while sharply critical of Stern's pre-launch communication. He strongly praises George Gomez's professionalism and transparency. Concern about community perception and online toxicity is present but not the dominant tone. Final stance is 'give it a shot and let time tell.'

Transcript

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what the issue is for, you know, and I'm throwing myself in this, you know, a lot of us don't like change. And the thing is, I think this change is is kind of, and I even made up the one post that I did make, I said a lot of people are not even going to notice these changes. It's those that actually like are really hardcore enthusiasts, the veterans that are going to like dig down, open things up, and really dig in there to see these differences. And I think it's the unknown of longevity. When people buy a a Spike 2, if someone buys a Deadpool right now, chances are that you've got a history, a pedigree of knowing what they're going to get and how long it's going to last because they have a history. I guarantee you I guarantee you that this will last as long as anything you've seen before. Guaranteed. All right, there you go, guys. Call me out on it. Call me out on it when it fails. We have had a tried and true method of building pinball cabinets for over 50 years now. During those years, we have gone through a variety of changes and a variety of upgrades. And these changes/upgrades were arguably made for the best. From making it easier to manufacture, controlling costs, alterations to welcome in new technology, and from what I can tell, the new Spike 3 cabinet is all of those things. One of the problems with this cabinet is that we have gone through over half a century of cabinets and there are two variables that have remained a constant and that is miter cuts and glue. And with a Spike 3 cabinet, it eliminates both of those variables. Now, if you watched my interview with George Gomez, then you may have already heard the reasoning behind these changes, but we're going to go over just real quick some of the major points. Number one, this cabinet is going to eliminate variables in manufacturing. Now, my career is in manufacturing. Granted, a very different field of manufacturing, but the wishes still apply. The product you are making needs to be the same every time. If not the exact same, then you need to be within engineering tolerances. And that is a very difficult task to do if your main operator or assembler is human. Spike 2 and his predecessors relied a great deal on trust. In the end, George or the inspectors had to trust that the assemblers on the line used the appropriate amount of glue. There was no true way of knowing if the cabinet was solid without causing damage. Whereas now, a simple visual inspection will suffice. The more variables that you eliminate in manufacturing, the smoother of an operation that you will have. Number two, this cabinet is going to allow for installation of the accessories to be an easier process. The side rails are now removable without having to deal with a top screw that required the lowering of the cabinet or the hinge to be moved. And this is no longer the case. I have never installed expression lights, but according to George, that process is going to be easier, too. Number three, this cabinet is as strong, if not stronger, than the Spike 2 cabinet. Now, I put this portion at the beginning of the video because I feel that this is definitely one of the major concerns and George wants to put those worries to rest because they have tested the cabinet in multiple ways, including drop test. Now, this is something that is going to take time. People are going to have to get their hands on the new cabinet and see for themselves, but from the feedback I have received, the Walking Dead cabinet is rock solid. Now one more point that I want to mention that wasn't really verbalized as being true but is if this was due to cost cutting measures, where did they do this solely to save on cost of manufacturing? Now I do not believe this to be solely based on cost cutting. It I think this is definitely a part of it. A part of me also wants to think that this probably cost maybe a little bit more if not breaks even on manufacturing costs, but I believe it to be saving money for them in the long run because they're going to have less failures in the field. Theoretically, if these cabinets are truly better, then yes, this will be better for Stern on cost and it could potentially be better for the consumer with product integrity. I see it as a win-win. So, the main points are pretty positive. We should be celebrating this right now. I also mentioned in my interview that we don't like change. But I think the real problem here is merely optics. We perceive this type of assembly as cheap IKEA style, if you will. We are assuming this to be a downgrade due to our experience with items like IKEA bookshelves. I'm sure most of you have assembled some sort of IKEA furniture or other cheap type of furniture only for it to fall apart the next time you have to move it or move to a new home. And then we see that the price hasn't changed for these games either. No one wants to pay more money for a product that looks to be cheaply crafted. But evidently looks are deceiving. Yes, we have new metal brackets across the interior of the cabinet. Yes, we have new holes near the legs, all of which will only be visible whenever you are tearing into the game or removing or putting on the legs. Every cabinet design has had faults, and that's one of the reason George designed this cabinet the way he has, identifying known issues and putting parameters in place to eliminate them. I say we give this cabinet a shot and truly discover if this, in fact, is an upgrade. Time will ultimately tell. George is damn confident that this cabinet is great. And with his knowledge and experience in this field, I trust him a hell of a lot more than I trust IKEA furniture for that matter. So, what do you have to lose? Unless you're buying Elites, then you're losing thousands. But George says they're also working on that. I've been receiving a lot of compliments in regards to the interview with George Gomez. Um, and I I I love hearing the feedback. I am very grateful for him coming on to the show to discuss this. And I hope to in the future to have him on again just to shoot the breeze, not to be throwing arrows at him or anything. I I would I would love to have a casual chitchat and discussion opposed to me like torturing him and having him defend the company that he represents. I think it went pretty good. Would I have preferred certain things to be different? Yes. I I think uh I mean it is what it is, but I mean I I I could have worn a different shirt. I was wearing my uh my Devil Horns uh Stern T-shirt. I could have changed shirts. I literally just had gotten off work and that's what I was wearing. But uh I would have loved to have some moderators in chat. I I'm all about free speech. You can say what you will and believe me in the chat. People were saying what they will and but I think some of it went a little too far. I didn't get a chance to see everything, but I have heard a lot from people that evidently there are some pretty toxic people in this industry in this hobby. And I know that I have stumbled across quite a few of them myself. I mean, for all I know, this may be the only time I ever have George Gomez on or a Stern employee in general. I think that him coming on to my show speaks more about him than almost anything else. I mean, you're coming on to my show. I have a very vast history of poking the bear, of making fun of the decisions that are made there, of talking a lot of negative. I'm going to be honest, there is a lot of negative that does come from me in regards to some of the decisions that they make over there, but it's just merely my opinion on that. And um I I think that I'm glad that even though that there are disagreements that I'm still able to have a conversation with the people at all these manufacturers, let alone Stern and to be able to also just take in the information that is bestowed upon me to get a better understanding of why these decisions are made. I think that will be beneficial for everyone in the long run to be able for me to give you information and have it be more accurate and have more reasoning behind it. And I think that was another reason why he probably came on the show was the potential of me putting out a video and causing another John Wick fiasco. I think he was trying to nip this in the bud before it got too out of hand. And I'm glad he did for multiple reasons. And uh I I'm hoping that this is a relationship that will continue to uh grow. Obviously, like I said, we've had conversations, but they've been very minuscule. This was our first in-depth conversation kind of thing. And I'm hoping that we'll have more in the future. I'm sure we will. Hopefully. But this George is a machine, guys. He was there at work all damn day. And then he stayed late to come on the show and take arrows for another two freaking hours. Two hours. Name me another interview with someone from a manufacturer that has done two straight hours of questioning and getting rocks thrown at him for crying out loud. He did all that and then he's texting me at like uh almost 5:00 in the morning and the only thing that was bothering him was he wished that he had a better camera. He was like, "Man, I really wish that I would have had a better camera." I think that was bugging him more than anything else cuz he really wanted to represent and show off what they're doing over there in the best light possible. And hopefully in the near future, we're going to get a better tour and representation of the Spike 3 cabinet from like Jack Danger, I think. And this is something that we discussed during the interview. This is something that that should have been done before the product got in the hands of people before that the things started to get out of hand. If you immediately show us like, "Hey guys, this is Jack Danger from Stern Pinball and I'm here to show you the new Spike 3 cabinet like and and just kind of go through it. Some nice cool footage shots, pans over, like these are the things that you're going to notice that are different on this cabinet going forward." And this is going to be in place going forward. And then even have cutaway shots from you guys dropping the cabinet on the floor and showing that the cabinet is still fully intact. Things like that are going to be like, whoa, okay, cool. So, it may look different, but hell, it looks like it's sturdy as hell. Okay, so it's going to put a lot of things to rest. So, communication definitely needs to be improved over there. So, I think that's pretty much it. I think I've said my piece on this. I I don't know where else this needs to go from here. I mean, time will ultimately tell when it comes to if this cabinet is an improvement or not. It's getting out on locations. And like I said, from the feedback that I've received so far, the cabinet is solid. So, you may not like the aesthetics of the brackets inside of the cabinet, but luckily, you're not going to have to be staring at them. They're inside the cabinet. So, now that I think the dust has settled, we've got all the information. What are your thoughts and opinions on the new Spike 3 cabinet? Let me know in the comments section down below. I mean, I I really do hope that the cabinet is stronger than Spike 2, but if it's not, if this cabinet in fact just like is a big bust, like there's going to be a lot of issues in transit, it if it turns out that it is a bad design or something, it will be content creation galore on this. But I don't hope for that. But that's what it's going to be if that is the case. But there's going to be faults. I don't see this as being a perfect design, but it could be. But like I said, time will ultimately tell.