Stern have taken something of a kick in recently and for good reason. I think some of their recent choices have been questionable to say the least and certainly over here in Europe we feel a little bit hard done by uh as far as Star Wars was concerned. But that's not what this video is about. This video is about celebrating what Stern do so well, which is making brilliant games, brilliant pinball machines. And in this one here, Jaws, which is what I'm going to talk about today, I think this is absolutely one of their best. This is a game that will will not leave my collection now unless something ridiculous happens. That being said, it's actually about to go out on rents for a little while, but that's fine as well because it means somebody else will get to enjoy it. then it will come back and it'll be like me getting a new game. And I've only just got this game back and as soon as I plugged it in, as soon as I started playing it, I actually had my best ever game, but as soon as I did that, I remembered why this is a brilliant game. This is actually my favorite Keith Elwin game. And I think if things continue, it could well be on its way to being one of my favorite games, my favorite games at the moment. I'm looking at my the top of my list there at the moment. We've got Attack from Mars at top at the moment. Deadpool second, Lord of the Rings, Monster Bash. This is right up there. It really will be at some point once that top 50 list settles down. This is going to rank very, very highly indeed. So, there's two reasons for me doing this video. Firstly, is is just to celebrate uh the Jaws because I've not really featured this on the channel very much at all since I've got one. But since I've got it, there have been so many modifications that I've done to this game. So, I want to celebrate some of the mods on here. I want to credit some of the magnificent mod makers, but I also want to show you my latest modification, which I've not actually installed yet, which hopefully you can see it here. It's it's an apron. Um, this this this part here is just holding the inserts for the apron, which going to say jaws. There's a a mouthpiece there, which is where the QR code scanner is on your inside of connected. Uh, basically these teeth are going to fit inside there. The red lettering on the jaw is going to fit inside there. And it's it's beautiful. It's it's real wood. Um, I can't remember exactly what it is, but it's it's it's a really nice wood. It's it's cherry or it's it's a really nice nice wood, really nice grain on it. It's been beautifully, beautifully designed and such an easy install because on the back, as you'll see when I install it, it just cuz it's got magnets on it, it just clicks in there. I mean, it it's sort of half installed already. One of the easiest installs you're ever going to do. And that's one of the reasons I wanted to get this back because I I thought, let me just get this final mod that I was waiting on and then we can do the video. We can celebrate the mods. I can show you why I love this game and maybe we'll do a little bit of gameplay as well because this game is an absolute pleasure to shoot. I say my final mods because the eagle-eyed amongst you may well have noticed this is a premium game. I've changed uh the translite here to the the protransite which I think is the best one. Since then I've been on pin side and there's I think I think the guy might be in Argentina. There's somebody that does mirrored back glasses and I've noticed that there's a mirrored one of these. So, I might well find myself having to get that. But there's some some great people on here from Davy Stumblo for to Hot Mods to Cab Customs to Precision Pinball Parts, uh, Cooh's Pinball Mods, and I'm just hoping I haven't forgotten anybody here. There's just some great mods on there and I and I want to show you everything that's on it. But just as far as Stern is concerned, we did a video about Stern and their cabinets recently, myself and Enzo, and I just want to reiterate a point that I made on there. Whilst I do think some of Stern's recent decisions have been somewhat disappointing and I think you could make the case that they've shot themselves in the foot at a time when everybody else seems to be getting better and seems to be improving. They have the capacity to be back up at the very top. In fact, they've got the expertise within that building to do so. And I made the point about Keith Elwin. There was a lot of negativity when this game was brought out. And I think there there were two things. It was that Broady was not on the playfield. I mean, I almost forgot to say I certainly don't play this and think, "Oh, no, Brody's not on the playfield." He features so much in the sequences of the assets because they do have what seems to be full movie assets. They're missing something from the movie. I haven't noticed it. Uh they've got the iconic music. Uh, I think they themed it really well. The other criticism of course was that the shark, this dude here, doesn't eat the ball. Uh, he doesn't. I But it doesn't bother me. I don't care. I'm so delighted with the uh with the sharks thing coming out the playfield. I haven't really got time uh to think about that particularly. And I think because of that those two negative bits of well they're not wasn't really publicity but ne negative critiques if you like that this game was a slow burner. I certainly remember it ranking very very low on pin side and it seems to be slowly working its way up the listings because people realize that this is a very very good game that shoots incredibly well and I and I well there's no doubt about it. I think this has got a very strong theme. When I say strong theme, I'm talking about strong licenses because when I've said recently that I don't feel that King Kong is a strong theme, there's certain people that like King Kong that will push back on it. I think what I'm talking about, I'm talking about licenses. I'm talking about international recognizable licenses. I'm I'm fully aware what King Kong is, but until unless a pinball machine comes out, I don't I don't see King Kong popping up on my list on Netflix, I don't don't look at my my list of DVDs and see King Kong in there. I don't hear people talking about King Kong. When I talk about real licenses that have allure to everybody, you are looking at Jaws. Jaws is one of the best movies any ever made. kind of historically one of the most famous films ever made. It's a huge license. It's a big license. James Bond is a huge license. I'd even say Stranger Things a huge license there. So, they're very capable Stern of getting big licenses. I just think sometimes what they've done with Jaws they don't often do. So, I often find that Elwin might get some of the weaker licenses. And I understand that that people might be slightly offended by that and maybe looking at um the X-Men, for instance, the um uh well, sorry, not the X-Men, is it the Avengers Infinity Quest? That's the one I'm thinking of. Um okay. I mean, I know a lot of people, you know, like comics, but is it internationally recognized the comic version? Probably not. And my only point is that sometimes if you want to claw something back, you're going to need to put your best people out all at the same time. So I just wonder if for an example, if Stern were to have said to Keith, you do Star Wars. Star Wars is in terms of a theme, in terms of a license, is about as good as it gets. It it's it's top level. I think if you would say to Keith Elwin, you make what we want is a Keith Elwin Star Wars machine. We're going to get the best coders on board. We're going to get the best artists, everybody that's in the building. We're going to make the mods on it next level. The uh the mechanisms, I mean, I think immediately Stern go straight back to the top. Now, I don't know what their next licenses are, but in amongst them, they're going to be some weaker licenses and they're going to be some stronger ones. If I was stern, as I say, I think they've got all the expertise in the building to make magnificent pinball machines. Um, and it's all about something we always say on this channel. Did you make the best pinball machine you could? And I think at the moment when you are looking at everything that goes into some of these magnificent modern games and I'm very, very lucky because next week I have a June arriving here. And thanks to Neil McCrae, I've got an Evil Dead arriving here. They're both arriving on the same day. You you couldn't have you couldn't have timed it. I guess any better or any worse. I I don't know. Um both both coming from complete completely different places, but they're both landing on the same day. Absolutely incredible. So, massive thank you to Neil because he's lending us the game so we can feature it and film it on this channel so I can do this sort of thing with it. Obviously, Enzo has already covered Evil Dead, but I've not spent any time with it at all and I'm really looking forward to that. But I think certainly when you would look at the Evil Dead, when you look at June, did they make the best pinball machines that they possibly could? Absolutely. These are We all know that Sterns shoot well. We all know that the flippers are going to work. We all know we all know that the the shots are are probably going to flow, particularly where Keith is concerned. But there's a lot more to it now. And I think these machines have become so much more expensive since well since the days of 1981 when they were making this sort of thing out of Fathom behind me there. They've become so expensive now that you want the sound, you probably want the art package, you want the theme, you want the license, you want the mechanism, you want the pinball moments. And you would look at JJP, which um I mean people just really the more people play Harry Potter the more they love it. Did Did they make the best pinball machine they possibly could? JJP, yes. Did Barrels of Fun with June? Yes. Did Spooky with Evil Dead? Yes. And it looks like they're doing the same with Beetlejuice. That's the level. That's the level you have to aspire to. That's the level. And I understand that that there was some excuses made by Stern that, you know, some of these what we might call them boutique pinball manufacturers, they don't they don't have the margins to meet. Maybe they don't have the the shareholders to pay out. They can they can operate on smaller margins. Ultimately, the consumer doesn't care. If I'm if I'm looking to buy a car, I'm just looking to buy the best car and a car that best suits my needs. I what I don't want to hear is that one make one brand of car is more expensive than another because that brand's got shareholders. I don't care. All I care about is the best car. Stern can get back to this and this is my point. Stern have all the expertise. They don't even need to hire new people. The experts already in the building that they give their and this is what I would do if I was Stern. give your best theme to your best designer, get the best artist, the best sound technician, everybody. Get them on board. Um, and make it interesting. Make a pinball machine that people can't say no to. And I think, you know, that's certainly something uh that some of the other manufacturers are doing. All right. Anyway, that's just my thoughts. And here is is the proof of the pudding. Here we have a game which is magnificent. Now this game and the particular version you're going to see here. There is the there is the the stern fan. I don't if you can hear it. It's that has come in at a very very interesting time. So that is the cooling fan which is just inside there. The more recent Sterns I've had here. I've had a Dungeons and Dragons here. I've had a King Kong here. They had the s they had more silent fans. So So Stern have rectified that. So um little things like that probably make a difference and and are and you can understand are seen as cost cutting. But this game here I feel is now because of the modifications is now at the level that I would consider some of the boutique manufacturers to be at. And somebody who is a mod manufacturer who is creating a modification for Evil Dead I spoke to last night and he said to me he was he's designing he's designing a wonderful mod for it and I' I've just got I don't know I don't know how much of it public knowledge and how much of it isn't. So I'll I'll say very very little just in case I don't want to get myself in trouble. But he said to me, "It's quite difficult to design it because spooky, to use his word, spook spooky don't leave a lot of room on the playfield for mods, which is from a design point of view is an annoyance for him." But what a compliment. It's because how packed that game is. That Evil Dead is so packed. You can't find any room to put this mod uh on there. This is not the case here. Did Stern make the best pinball machine they possibly could with Jaws? No. But the game is so good and there's so much scope for the modifications and I'm pretty sure by the time you finish looking at this game, you're going to agree that this is a magnificent machine. And and I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoy this game. When I play Jaws, I'm completely immersed in the world of it. And and that's not because of the mods. That's because they've got the themeing. They've got the license. That's because they've built the drama. That's because when I'm reeling, that's that's just spinning now. It's not making a noise in in game when when you're playing. That makes the clicking sound of a fishing reel. I understand that by hitting the chum bucket, I'm having to bloody the water. I understand. And the under the playfield, it gets increasingly more red as more blood goes into the water. The shark's fin comes up. You got to hit the shark's fin. You got to reel the shark in. Um, you are hunting different species of shark, but the tiger shark, the mako shark with the ultimate idea, the sorry, the ultimate end goal of catching jaws, catching the great white. Well, that's now there are side missions and there is they the rules are more complicated than that. But just on a base level that allows anybody to jump onto this game and and pretty much understand what they've got to do. But even if you don't, there's just this amazing fun moment. My daughter just just likes getting to the point where the fin comes up. She likes two things on this. This is the premium. She likes hitting the fin, the shark's fin when it comes up. And then when the shark pops out from under the boat, she loves that. That's all she wants to do. Hit the shark's fin and hit the shark. That That's fun. Those are those are pinball moments. But the integration with the sound um is amazing how little side missions, a feeding frenzy, different different things will happen throughout the game.