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Stern Tech School: New Service Menu Navigation

Stern Pinball·video·9m 48s·analyzed·May 2, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

Stern reveals new graphical service menu with improved UX rolling out across Spike 2 platform.

Summary

Stern Pinball introduces a new graphical service menu system debuting with King Kong and rolling out to all Spike 2 titles over time. The redesigned menu features improved navigation, color-coded visual differentiation of non-default settings, grouped adjustments by category, and enhanced diagnostic capabilities including switch history tracking and inline coil power adjustment during testing.

Key Claims

  • New graphical service menu will be introduced with King Kong and included in all games moving forward

    high confidence · Kyle (Stern Pinball) official tech school video, explicit announcement of feature inclusion

  • Service menu will be introduced in back catalog of all Spike 2 titles over time

    high confidence · Kyle stated commitment to retroactive rollout to existing Spike 2 machines

  • Switch history feature tracks erroneous switch closures caused by vibration or misalignment

    high confidence · Kyle demonstrated use case for diagnostics tool in switch test menu

  • Coil power can now be adjusted within device test menus without accessing separate adjustment submenus

    high confidence · Kyle demonstrated trough eject power adjustment during ball trough test

  • All Stern Insider Connected settings previously scattered across menus are now consolidated into single change settings menu

    high confidence · Kyle demonstrated consolidated settings including login timer, play again timer, Home Team options

Notable Quotes

  • “The first thing you will notice is we have a full graphical user interface. This new graphic service menu will be introduced with King Kong and will be included in all games moving forward, and over time it will be introduced in the back catalog of all of our Spike 2 titles.”

    Kyle, Stern Pinball Tech School @ ~0:15-0:35 — Official announcement of feature scope and rollout timeline

  • “Through that color differentiation, the ones that are colored yellow are options that are changed away from factory default.”

    Kyle @ ~1:30-1:45 — Key UX improvement: visual feedback system for operator awareness of custom settings

  • “Something switch history might be useful for is if we are getting an erroneous switch closure. Maybe you have something adjusted a little bit too close and vibration is causing scoring or another feature to activate.”

    Kyle @ ~3:15-3:35 — Practical use case demonstrating diagnostic capability improvement for troubleshooting

  • “One of the neatest new additions to these tests is the ability to change the power of the coil in this menu without having to search for that in another submenu in a game specific adjustment.”

    Kyle @ ~6:50-7:10 — Highlights workflow efficiency improvement in service menu redesign

  • “We've tried to group things like together, so they're easier to access and there's less moving around different menus and selections to find what you're looking for.”

    Kyle @ ~9:15-9:30 — Design philosophy statement: information architecture prioritizes operator/technician usability

Entities

KylepersonStern PinballcompanyKing KonggameSpike 2productStern Insider ConnectedproductTech Schoolorganization

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball producing educational tech school content demonstrates ongoing commitment to operator and owner education/support

    high · Official Tech School video series providing detailed technical training on service menu updates; content is polished, comprehensive, and targeted at operator/technician audience

  • ?

    announcement: King Kong confirmed as platform for debut of new graphical service menu with planned rollout to Spike 2 back catalog

    high · Kyle explicit statement: 'This new graphic service menu will be introduced with King Kong and will be included in all games moving forward, and over time it will be introduced in the back catalog of all of our Spike 2 titles'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Service menu improvements address operator pain points: reduced menu navigation time, better visual feedback on custom settings, consolidated settings organization, integrated coil power testing

    high · Kyle's emphasis on grouping related settings, demonstrating inline adjustment capabilities, and explaining diagnostic tools like switch history for troubleshooting

  • ?

    technology_signal: New graphical service menu represents significant UI/UX modernization of Spike 2 platform service infrastructure with improved information architecture

    high · Move from text-based to graphical menu system; color-coded visual feedback; consolidated settings organization; inline coil power adjustment capability; switch history tracking

Topics

Service menu redesign and UX improvementsprimarySpike 2 platform feature updates and rollout strategyprimaryDiagnostic and troubleshooting tools for technicians/operatorsprimaryKing Kong game announcement (feature debut)primaryStern Insider Connected integrationsecondaryOperator education and supportsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Professional, educational tone with emphasis on user experience improvements. Kyle presents new features as solutions to pain points (workflow efficiency, diagnostic capability, settings organization). No critical commentary or community controversy present. Positioning focused on operator/technician benefit.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

Hi, I'm Kyle with Stern Pinball and in this video I am going to introduce you to our new service menu. The first thing you will notice is we have a full graphical user interface. This new graphic service menu will be introduced with King Kong and will be included in all games moving forward. And over time it will be introduced in the back catalog of all of our Spike 2 titles. While our new service menu looks different, it functions largely the same as what you are used to with the current system. The black button or select button will choose a selection or move forward. The green button will move backwards or deselect something. And the red buttons will change the selection. For example, if we wanted to enter device tests, we will move to that selection using the red buttons. We'll enter that menu using the select button. And if we needed to get out of that menu, hit the green button. Let's take a look at our first menu here, the quick adjustments menu. This is a list of some of your most commonly changed adjustments in a pinball game. You know things like free play, lowering the knocker volume, turning down your high score to date reset number. Take a look at some of the registries here. Some of them are yellow and some of them are white. What we can see here is through that color differentiation, the ones that are colored yellow are options that are changed away from factory default. So when you get your game, right, the factory default is no for free play. So now we've got that showing in white. You can also see on the right hand side of the menu here what the current value versus the default value is. Let's take a look at something that has more than two options. Knocker volume. Here you've got low, normal, very low. If I change that from low to very low on the right hand side, we'll see what we currently have it set to and what the factory default value is below it. For many adjustments, we have descriptions describing what it will change and how it may affect gameplay. We'll take a look at some of those when we go into the game adjustments menu. Let's take a look into the diagnostics menu. We'll start with switch test. In our new switch test, when you activate a switch, it is going to show us on the right hand side the location of that switch. If you notice now, the left in lane is a red square. If that switch was activated, it's going to be a solid square. On the left hand side, we're going to get all sorts of information about the switch, such as what board controls it, what connector does it report to, and some other information such as the part number for the switch. There are a few other capabilities of switch test, for example, switch test with history. So now the game is going to track each switch that I push. And now you can see on the screen the last couple switches I've hit over the last few seconds. Something switch history might be useful for is if we are getting an erroneous switch closure. Maybe you have something adjusted a little bit too close and vibration is causing scoring or another feature to activate. This is a good way to catch it in the act. We can take a look at the coil test menu. Here we can choose between either firing a single coil or let the game cycle through the coils in order. In single coil test, we'll be able to see the location of where the coil we're firing is and some information about the coil on the left hand side. Again, node board connectors, what type of coil it is and a part number. Taking a look inside of LED test, it's going to start us off in a single LED test. So, using the service buttons here, we'll be able to scroll through and light each controllable lamp individually as shown on the user interface on the left. If we hit the enter button, we'll be able to select a different test. We can go into the general illumination test and this will light each strand of general illumination. The map on the right hand side is going to show us which lamps should be lit. And if we go into all LED test, the game is going to illuminate every single light on the playfield. The last few things in the diagnostic menu are the node board test which functions largely the same as it did before and lastly the technician alerts. This is where we can see any present technician alerts that the game may be reporting. After diagnostics we can move into the device tests. In the previous menu system we had game specific tests. Here we've separated into another menu we're calling device tests. In the device test menu let's take a look at the ball trough test. So, here we've got a representation of what the ball trough sees. One of the neatest new additions to these tests is the ability to change the power of the coil in this menu without having to search for that in another submenu and a game specific adjustment. Now, when we come to the ball trough test, if we wanted to lower our trough eject power, all we need to do is hit the minus button here and we can test it at that current power we have it set to. If we're happy with how that's adjusted, simply hit the back button and we can save that. Yes, we do want to set 200 as our new trough eject power. Some devices will have this ability to set coil power through a test in the device test menu. Moving on from the device test menu, let's go and check out the audits menu. Here in the audits menu, we have our audits divided into subcategories. For example, if you're an operator, we want to take a look at how the game is earning. We can go in here and see all pertinent information in one subgrouping. Or maybe you want to see some scoring information. You know, what are the ranges of scores you're getting on your game? Here we can go into the score menu and take a look and see what is our average score. How many games have scored between 50 and 74.99 million? Moving on from the audits menu, we can move on to the adjustments menu. The adjustments menu is going to allow us to adjust things in the game software. For example, let's take a look in the gameplay settings menu. We'll go into the player and ball settings menu and see these sorts of things that are grouped together. So, balls per game, how many tilt warnings every game, what is the debounce between switch hits, how long is the ball save timer on for. You can see here in this adjustment menu as well that we have descriptors of what these adjustments mean or what they do. For example, target game time here is going to describe what this adjustment does. This changes the ball save behavior to guarantee a minimum game time keeping the ball saver active as needed. We can select that and we could raise the target game time or lower the target game time depending on what you want. Let's take a look at another submenu and game adjustments. Here we're going to go into the machine settings. In this menu, we're going to have things to adjust more how the machine, the game itself operates, not necessarily the game software. For example, we can go down into coil settings. In this menu, we have all of the coil settings grouped into one menu. Flipper powers, slingshot powers, trough eject powers. You remember from earlier, we are able to adjust the trough eject power in the trough test, but it still exists in the coil settings menu as well. As you can see in these adjustments menus, we've tried to group things like together, so they're easier to access and there's less moving around different menus and selections to find what you're looking for. Now, let's move on and take a look at the Stern Insider connected menu. This is largely the same as what we've been using for the last few years. But there is an addition down at the bottom here in the change settings menu. All of the settings regarding Insider Connected that used to be scattered around are now grouped together in this one menu. Such as the login timer, the play again timer, do you want home team on or off, home team options, they're all now in one menu. Now, let's move on to the utilities menu. We're going to take a look at one of my favorite features, the presets. We get a lot of questions sometimes on what do these presets actually change. Now, if we wanted to install competition, the game is going to show us every single option that will change and what it is changing to. Let's take a look at the competition install. If we set the game to competition, we can now see that for example, the target game time is now set from a fixed time to no target time. The tilt debounce has changed. We'll see here that everything in yellow is something that competition preset is going to change. Then we've got these selections at the bottom here that are not yellow. These are things that the game is already set to. The competition preset would have changed these values, but the game is currently set to these values. So, that was a quick look at our new service menu. We've worked hard to make it easier for you to make adjustments and work on your game. Thanks for watching another video from Stern Tech School.