So, I Played Stranger Things Pinball and I'm Done

Cary Hardy·video·22m 23s·analyzed·Jan 28, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Cary Hardy pans Stranger Things pinball after hands-on play, citing mechanical issues and bland gameplay.

Summary

Cary Hardy reviews Stranger Things pinball after playing it extensively and expresses strong disappointment with the game's design, mechanical issues, and gameplay experience. He details multiple widespread mechanical problems (loose rods, dimpling, gate issues, Demogorgon targeting difficulty), criticizes the bland playfield design compared to other Brian Eddy machines, and argues that even finished code won't salvage the game. Hardy concludes the game is boring and lacks kinetic satisfaction, and advises potential buyers to test it first before purchasing.

Key Claims

The virtual ball lock rod comes completely out of the playfield on multiple machines and is not glued, clamped, or bolted—only held in place freely, requiring Loctite fix
high confidence · Direct experience and technician confirmation; widespread reports on Pinside/Facebook/Twitter
Dimpling/cratering occurs within the first 10 seconds of play on the Pro model, requiring gate removal or adjustment to function properly
high confidence · Personal experience and multiple Pinside complaints cited
Demogorgon mouth shot requires precise machine leveling and pitch adjustment; Hardy only landed it once in many attempts
high confidence · Direct gameplay experience documented with footage
Premium and LE versions have identical hardware to Pro; only differences are projector and multiball telekinesis toy—not substantive gameplay changes
high confidence · Hardy's observation comparing hardware across versions
Callouts are delivered without enthusiasm, with 'okay' being overused and bored-sounding, particularly annoying during repeated gameplay
high confidence · Hardy's direct experience playing and hearing audio repeatedly
Hardy's Jeff Patterson/This Week in Pinball ranking is higher than what he would give now after hands-on play
medium confidence · Hardy's statement; implies lower current rating than initial impression
The left eject hole shoots balls toward drop targets unpredictably and appears to be an afterthought in design
medium confidence · Hardy's gameplay observation and design critique
Stranger Things Pinside forum thread has devolved from machine discussion into political/religious arguments, indicating lost community interest
high confidence · Hardy's direct observation of forum dynamics

Notable Quotes

“The thread for Stranger Things on Pinside has the ebb and flow of what I can only parallel to as basically the remission and relapse of cancer.”
Cary Hardy@ 0:32 — Sets tone for community sentiment and declining interest in the game
“I have to remove hardware from a pinball machine that's at least $6,000 in order for it to function?”
Cary Hardy@ 4:14 — Highlights frustration with design-required modifications on new premium-priced machine
“Brian, you've done better and I'm not going to sugarcoat it and I'm hoping that people can understand this and this is not your best work and I'm sorry this is not your best work.”
Cary Hardy@ 10:18 — Direct criticism of designer Brian Eddy; acknowledges his track record while calling out underperformance
“I would be very upset because the game is not what i like that's just me.”
Cary Hardy@ 15:40 — Frames critique as personal preference while warning potential $6k+ purchasers
“You put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig guys.”
Cary Hardy @ Late review — Sums up position that cosmetic upgrades (Premium/LE) don't fix fundamental design flaws
“I didn't really feel like i was really doing anything i mean every shot that i was making like oh another ramp oh another ramp.”
Cary Hardy@ 11:53 — Conveys lack of engagement and kinetic satisfaction during play
“When you have all the other machines from the designer of Stranger Things and you would definitely much rather play all of those games compared to the new one that you're right in front of that says something.”

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Brian Eddyperson Jeff Pattersonperson Stranger Thingsgame DemogorgonproductStern PinballcompanyPinsideorganization

Signals

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community_signal: Stranger Things Pinside thread has become site of heated political/religious disputes rather than machine discussion; community fragmentation and defensiveness emerging among owners
high · Hardy observes forum 'ebb and flow...basically the remission and relapse of cancer', notes thread 'has become only a way of insulting others via their political or even religion views'
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product_concern: Ramp is reportedly bending over time due to aggressive left eject hole design, which will further compromise Demogorgon targeting difficulty and mechanical reliability
medium · Hardy mentions 'smaller amount of complaints but i think this is probably going to become worse over time that the ramp is getting bent'
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design_philosophy: Stranger Things fundamentally lacks kinetic satisfaction; playfield is bland and barren; shots are repetitive (ramp, ramp, orbit); Demogorgon mouth shot is core mechanic but nearly impossible to land reliably; left eject hole appears to be afterthought
high · Hardy's gameplay observations: 'not much going on', 'I didn't really feel like I was really doing anything', 'another ramp oh another ramp', struggled to land Demogorgon shot once out of many attempts
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design_philosophy: Brian Eddy's Stranger Things design significantly underperforms compared to his classic catalogue (Shadow, Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness); appears rushed or misaligned with his typical standard
medium · Hardy played multiple Eddy classics at same location, found all more enjoyable; 'this is like your first one. And then this is where you're going to learn from'; calls it 'not your best work'
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Topics

Mechanical reliability issues (hardware/design flaws)primaryPlayfield design and gameplay experienceprimaryAudio/callout quality and deliveryprimaryPremium/LE vs Pro tier differentiation and valueprimaryCommunity sentiment and forum discourse declinesecondaryDesigner performance (Brian Eddy) and historical comparisonsecondaryIP integration quality (Stranger Things theme)secondaryCode completion and future updatesmentioned

Sentiment

negative(-0.85)— Hardy is highly critical and disappointed with the game across nearly all dimensions—mechanical reliability, gameplay feel, audio, design decisions, and value proposition. While he acknowledges others may enjoy it and attempts to frame critique as personal preference, the volume and specificity of criticisms, combined with his prediction of declining sentiment, creates overwhelmingly negative assessment. Tone is frustrated and sarcastic rather than merely disappointed.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.067

Okay... 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. The decline in interest for this game is quite evident. Limited edition machines are still available for purchase if you're willing to take that plunge. The thread for Stranger Things on Pinside has the ebb and flow of what I can only parallel to as basically the remission and relapse of cancer. Not only have I lost interest in this game, but I've honestly lost interest even looking at the forum thread about it. When a thread has basically deterred from even talking about the machine and it has become only a way of insulting others via their political or even religion views, then you know that the game has lost its fire. There have been quite a large amount of complaints when it comes to mechanical issues with this machine on the Pro. I was lucky enough to experience every single one of these complaints in the hour or so that I got to play, and I have the footage to prove it. But before I go into my complete experience with this game I want to discuss with you what those mechanical complaints are I think the most common and most like posted complaints and issue is the rod that shoots up to basically keep your ball from going down the ramp to do a virtual ball lock that rod comes out and literally just comes completely out of the play field and causes your machine to no longer be able to be playable so there's an issue with that and the thing is after talking with the technician because it happened to me and after talking to the technician he was very surprised because that rod is not glued clamped or even bolted to anything in the game it's pretty much just free to just come out of the play field he told me that he put some Loctite on there and the game after that played with no longer having issues with that. And this wasn't just me. Like I said, this is widespread across Pennside and Facebook, Twitter. People are having this issue. So when it happened to me, I was like, sweet, I'm part of a statistic. Jackpot! Ball two, locked. Ball three, ball four, ball five, ball six, ball seven. now i'm going to mention this even though it's a given and i shouldn't have to but i am going to bring it up dimpling cratering it's there it's always been there and this machine that i played had it. Within the first 10 seconds of playing this game, this happened to me. Now, I remember seeing some complaints on Pinside about this, and what was the fix for it via other users? Oh, all you got to do is just adjust that gate or remove the gate entirely from the machine. Are you kidding me? I have to remove hardware from a pinball machine that's at least $6,000 in order for it to function? But this gate isn't the only problem. I mean, there's been actual complaints about loose hardware all over this machine with people. And I'm kind of wondering if they're not screwing these hardware pieces to the plate field as tight as they used to, to deter from possible issues with clear coat. I don't know, you tell me, what do you think? In order to successfully nail the Demi Gorgon in his freaking ball hole, evidently the machine needs to be leveled just right. And the pitch has to be just right in order for you to get it. And out of the many, many, many times I attempted to nail him in his freaking ball hole, I only nailed it once, and that was pure luck. And I'll go over how that happened later. I've seen some complaints about whenever you hit the Demogorgon and the ball is returned to you from that right inner orbit. There been some complaints from not as many This is not a big widespread issue as a lot of the other complaints but supposedly the ball can basically feed directly straight down the middle And the fix for that? Oh, all you've got to do is just bend that metal railing right there so that way the ball no longer feeds directly. I mean, you have to straighten out metal on games and remove hardware and all this other shit just so your game can supposedly function the way it was intended to. Jesus Christ. But enough of the known issues. Let's talk about my experience with this game. So I put in over an hour on this machine trying to get the full experience. and that way I can say that I put a lot of time and effort into at least attempting to like this game. Of course, like I said, I had to deal with some of the mechanical issues, but once those were all resolved, the only thing that I guess I can complain about that I could not fully enjoy was being able to land the ball in the Demogorgon's mouth. That shot, I mean, I was beating the heck out of everything else around him, so close to getting it sometimes but overall it was not a good experience because i only got it in there once and sadly enough i didn't get that on camera so i have got no proof to even my brother that was with me that i was able to nail that shot my brother tells me if there would have been some hair around the hole then maybe i would have been able to nail it better some of you pin side people know what i'm talking about most of you know how i have felt about this game since it was even shown and that was that it was boring it i i didn't find it entertaining to even watch someone else play but then there was always that comments of like you haven't played it yet so therefore shut up i mean okay okay i have not played it but i do know what i like and i know what looks to be fun and what looks like i would enjoy that is from my own personal experience and i know that every game that i believe that i've gone over so far my issues and concerns have always made sense down the road now once again every time i talk about this machine i have to always preface the fact that yes i am completely aware that the code is not done the code can be the end all and what all to this machine supposedly but i'm telling you right now i think even with finished code i'm still not going to care for this game the shots are not fun i mean and i'm not the only one this is this is something that everyone has mentioned is that the game itself is kind of yeah it's it's a little bit boring and and that's the thing is that i felt that after all this time usually you're supposed to go oh you know one more ball one more ball just one more ball but it wasn't like that for me it was like i guess one more ball i was forcing myself to play this game and maybe that was because i had 20 other pinball machines down this row at this location to play and almost every single one of them almost but not all of them trust me there are other games in there that are not fun but like when you have all the other machines from the designer of Stranger Things and you would definitely much rather play all of those games compared to the new one that you're right in front of that says something and you've got the shadow you've got Attack from Mars you've got Medieval Madness and I played all of them when I was there as well and every single one of those I had a blast on it was great it was entertaining it was funny i mean it was it was just a good pinball experience whereas when i sat down i sat down whenever i stood in front of this machine and essentially forced myself to play this machine over and over again in hopes that maybe it would get better over time and it didn't it did not get better over time there's even been a smaller amount of complaints but i think this is probably going to become worse over time that the ramp is getting bent and that's going to cause the pitch and the ability to hit the demogorgon and part of the reason why it's getting bent is because of the eject hole on the far left basically just shoots okay this is i never get messaged until i start recording this is the kind of shit that pisses me off i feel like that the design Brian you've done better and I'm not going to sugarcoat it and I'm hoping that people can understand this and this is not your best work and I'm sorry this is not your best work but and like I said when you're able to see whatever else that you've done all in the same lineup and then you get to this one you would think that this is like your first one. This is where you started from. And then this is where you're going to learn from. That sounds harsh. It sounds bad, but this is just my personal opinions. That left eject hole seems like a complete afterthought that was just kind of thrown in there just for something else that does something in the game. And I said this before on other times is that I feel like and this can be implemented with code but let say for instance your ball gets into that eject hole Instead of it just ejecting out towards your drop targets and sometimes it hits them sometimes it hits this one or that one Maybe they could have made it to where it always hits a certain target. And when the ball gets into the eject hole, they can do this in code. Make the light strobe left and right like you do for your skill shot. and the player hits the action button to launch the ball out of that eject hole to hopefully hit the strobing target as an extra skill shot point gives the player a little more you know integration into the machine makes them feel like they're doing something because honestly throughout this game i didn't really feel like i was really doing anything i mean every shot that i was making like oh another ramp oh another ramp oh here comes the orbit here comes this and then complete utter failed attempts on this friggin demogorgon's mouth made my experience just like but and it's like i have to sit back and go even if i was nailing the demogorgon in the mouth would that have made much of a difference and i don't think it would i really do not there's not much kinetic satisfaction in this game and i found myself going back and forth between you know the almighty jurassic park limited edition down the row as well as many other machines that are on the line there and when i get to stranger things pro it's very bland very barren there's not much going on or whatever i mean this game obviously was built around the fact that they were going to put a projector in it and whether it and i brian has talked about this on streams and this is the projector was supposedly something that he was on board for wanted to do and stuff like that i i'm i'm inclined to not believe that but and if that is true then the pro although is the experience that you're going to get out of the game whether you have a premium or le that does not matter the If you have a projector in your game, that's simply aesthetics and just a little bit of visual difference for other people watching mainly. But it's not going to change the flow of the game. All the hardware is the same. All the hardware is the same, guys. Nothing's different in the LE or Premium to the Pro. The only difference is that projector and your multiball telekinesis thing up there. but even then that is something that i feel like is still not going to change the way the game really plays when you compare some other games with their different versions of their games it's like wow that's a big difference i mean i i would like to have that in a game because it's actually going to kind of change the way things are whereas this one is like well i mean if i wanted to spend the extra 1500 plus for a projector that I feel like I'm just tearing this game to shreds and I'm not wanting to do that. I'm not wanting to just crap all over something that everyone has been working on for over a year. But the thing is, as harsh as my words sound, it doesn't take away from the fact that I'm not the only one that feels this. and I believe as the days and the weeks progress more and more of these people that have either played it or even purchased it are going to feel the same way. It's just a matter that I already had the foresight as well just by watching it to be able to say that this game is not going to do well. some people need a little bit more you know hands-on and they have a little more faith and just believe that things will get better down the road and okay to each your own fine if you have faith in this game and if you love this game then by all means you you can have a good time with it go on i'm not judging you for liking this game and but for me i feel like if i would have been like all stranger things just got announced i'm dropping my six thousand here you go and then i received this machine i set it up and i played it i would be very upset because the game is not what i like that's just me now that le's are officially on the line and we're gonna start seeing much more streams and much more feedback with the projector this is where i believe we're gonna start seeing a lot more feedback and the decline of stranger things is gonna really start to go down the honeymoon phase is already over within the first month of this game but let's like you know design is one thing let's talk about the audio because this is something else that really pissed me off over time, it was the call-outs are god-awful, god-awful, to the where I was eventually just annoyed by hearing certain things over and over again. I mean that why I started this video out with okay because you trust me a lot of the times when you go for those center drop targets and if you don hit them at the right trajectory you bound to get a rebound straight down the middle and then a lot of the times you get a ball save and that is a very common phrase that you hear is the okay but every once in a while they'll throw in a ball saved but it's like None of the words that come out of his mouth seem like they are enthusiastic or really into what he's doing. It seems like he is bored with his own words. And that was the thing, is that whenever I was playing other machines in the vicinity of Stranger Things, I found myself getting annoyed by it. I'm like, oh my god, if I had to hear that call out one more time. It was getting very frustrating. I mean, so like when you hit your jackpots and stuff like that, jackpot. I mean, it's just you would think that the people in the audio studio would be like, yes, sir. Can you put a little more enthusiasm into the words that you're saying? That would be much more preferred. How about a little more enthusiastic? You know, I mean, something I can't even describe what it needs, but definitely what is in there right now is not what it needs. and just recently uh jeff batterson with uh this week in pinball did a first impression ranking system on you know how we feel about this game when it comes to just first impressions about what we see with the the game and stuff like that and honestly the ranking that i put in there in review is better than what i would give it now after playing it and there's a lot of you out there that are going to really defend this and i get it you have every right to defend your purchase that is just human nature if you own something and everyone's crapping on it it's only natural for you to go hey you know what no it's good because of these so-and-so reasons i get it if you own the game be happy with it play it enjoy it do what you want if i had to give any advice to individuals being interested in looking to buy this game. I would say play it first. Go on location, guys, just to make sure that this is something that you're going to want in your home and to keep. Look past that it's Stranger Things. I'm a Stranger Things fan as well. I've watched all the episodes. Trust me, I love the show, but I believe the integration of the show into this machine is quite poor. I really don't know what else to talk about. I feel like this video was turned into a Stranger Things just bash event and that is not what my objective was for this video my objective on this video was to give you my opinions after playing the game I mean I already see the posts now from people when it comes to owning this LE or premium edition I already see it I mean I'm already seeing the words now where they're like oh the animations on the display inside the machine and the ramps enhances the gameplay experience of this machine so much more no i don't think that's possible i mean you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig guys i mean so you put fancy pictures on your ramp it still doesn't change the fact that the ramp is mechanically the same and mechanically is going to do the exact same thing as the pro but if you want to take the plunge buy the premium buy the le buy your pro it's your money do what you want but again i highly recommend you play it first just for your own sake not only do i look out for myself when it comes to where my money goes but i look out for everyone else guys whenever my brother one time wanted to buy me something at a store for my birthday i was like oh this be awesome and i looked at the price and i was like don't buy this for me maybe maybe you can get it cheaper on amazon and sure enough yeah it was like 20 or 30 dollars cheaper on amazon i was like if you're gonna give me this it's fine but don't spend this much money for it you can get it cheaper this way and yeah i'm not supporting local stores whatever it was a big business so it's whatever but the fact remains is that i still look out for everyone else as well as myself when it comes to our financial situations so that's going to wrap up this video guys have you played stranger things and if you have let me know what you feel about the game do you do you agree with some of the things that i've said do you disagree with everything that i've said if so let me know down below and if you haven't already guys do not forget to hit that subscribe button down there that way you can be notified of whenever i upload something for your viewing pleasure and until next time peace out Oh yeah, and how I got the ball into the Demogorgon's mouth that one time was the fact that I launched it up, it bounced off of his head, hit the very tippy top of that ramp and that caused the ball to bounce up and then into his mouth. If I'm lying, I'm dying. Okay.