STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – DECEMBER 2019
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12/03/19

STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – DECEMBER 2019

The Stern of the Union Address will be presented on the first Tuesday of every month (holiday and vacation excepted).  Without further ado my fellow pinheads:

 

Elvira Launch Parties:

The official Elvira’s House of Horrors Pinball Launch Parties continue to take place all over the world!  With Premium models making their way out of the factory, there are still some launch parties left, so check out the final list and location nearest you for your chance to win an official Elvira Pinball Launch Party trophy and other prizes.  Launch parties are hosted in conjunction with the IFPA (International Flipper Pinball Association) and the Stern Army.  Official launch parties can only be held at official Stern Army locations!  For more information on joining the Stern Army please e-mail SternArmy@sternpinball.com

 

IAAPA 2019:

IAAPA is the premier trade association representing the diverse and ever-changing attractions industry.  Stern Pinball was on hand introducing and showcasing all of our newest games including Elvira’s House of Horrors, Jurassic Park, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars Comic Art and The Munsters!

 

Stern Army Updates:

The Stern Army continues to grow with members spreading the gospel of pinball across the globe.  Here are our newest members and the pinball locations they support:

  • Private Tom Menge of Illinois (Cool Music Stop Bar and Grill)
  • Private Mark Farina, Jr. of Arizona (H.O.P. Central Brewery and Taproom)
  • Private Laura Fraley of Virginia (Richmond Pinball Collective)
  • Private Peter Janovics of Texas (Quasars Arcade)

Congratulations to the following Stern Army members on their promotion from Private First Class to Specialist:

  • Specialist Brad Steinke of Minnesota (BlainBrook Bowl)
  • Specialist John Bowes of North Carolina (Boxcar Bar + Arcade)
  • Specialist Sean Bueter of North Carolina (Reboot Arcade Bar)
  • Specialist Augustus Eustis of Massachusetts (Southern NH Pinball Club)
  • Specialist Schuyler Lane of California (The Dip)
  • Specialist Barry Gluckstein of New York (Pocketter Billiards & Sports Bar)
  • Specialist Kevin Grillo of Georgia (My Parent’s Basement)
  • Specialist Bruce Nightingale of New York (The Silverball Saloon)
  • Specialist Mike Frasca of Maryland (Crabtowne)
  • Specialist Mark Carvey of Rhode Island (Flip Side Pinball Bar)

Congratulations to the following Stern Army members on their promotion from Private to Private First Class:

  • Private First Class Eric Sutton of North Carolina (Bill’s Front Porch and Cape Fear Wine & Beer)
  • Private First Class Jason Lynch of Australia (Empire Alternacade & Events)
  • Private First Class Dan Bitterlich and Justin Lafreniere (Quazar’s Arcade and Peacock Billiards)
  • Private First Class David Andersen of Colorado (Pinball Jones)

For more information and to join the Stern Army, please reach out to SternArmy@sternpinball.com

 

Stern Army Circuit:

Stern Pinball and the International Flipper Pinball Association launched the official Stern Army Circuit!  The IFPA will be tracking the WPPR points earned at all IFPA sanctioned events held at Stern Army locations throughout the calendar year.  Only one month left!  All top 10 finalists will receive prizes from Stern Pinball for their achievement.  For more information and live standings of this circuit, please visit – https://www.ifpapinball.com/sternarmycircuit/

 

Stern Army Black Knight Ransom Championship Tournament:

The Black Knight Ransom Championship continues to rage on!  This global Stern Army high score tournament ends February 29, 2020, so make sure you find your local Stern Army event and start competing!  For full details and current leaderboard on this exciting tournament visit – https://www.ifpapinball.com/blackknight/

 

Stern Insider All-Access:

Congrats to John from Virginia, November’s Stern Insider All-Access winner!  In celebration of Black Knight Friday, John received a Black Knight: Sword of Rage playfield autographed by lead game designer Steve Ritchie and lead programmer Tim Sexton!  Do you have All-Access?  To register and become a Stern Insider, please visit https://sternpinball.com/stern-insider/

 

Elvira Accessories Sneak Peek and Insider Giveaway Pack:

For All-Access members, check out a sneak peek of the upcoming Elvira’s House of Horrors shooter knob and topper pinball accessories coming soon!

In addition, congrats to All-Access members Ian and Gabrielle from Canada, Rob and Luigi from Australia, David from the United Kingdom, Michel from France, Claus from Germany, Don from Denmark, and Wayne, Cliff and Dave from the United States on winning the Elvira Insider Giveaway pack!

Do you have All-Access? https://sternpinball.com/stern-insider/

 

Engineering Updates:

We continuously make improvements to our games and over the last several months, have made improvements to the Spike2 PCB games’ software, making it even easier for operation and use of our games.  These improvements will benefit both operators and home game owners.  Cost per play (or free play) is exhibited on the LCD display and all Spike2 games now have Persistent Settings (adjustments, audits, custom pricing, custom message, high score, and more).  These settings/adjustments can be saved.  They will not reset when software is updated.

You can save settings, high scores, adjustments and/or audits from one machine to reload to that machine or another machine.  The Save and Load command, located in the Utility sub-menu of the Service Menu enables these functions.  We have also reinstituted the use of a coin door power interlock switch, cutting playfield power when the coin door is opened.  You will see many more system improvements in the future!

 

Stern Pro Circuit:

Congrats to all competitors at the final two events of the 2019 Stern Pro Circuit season, Free Play Florida and OBX Flippers Fall Tournament.  In the end, Eric Stone (AKA “The Weatherman”) emerged victorious at the Free Play Florida tournament  and Aleksander Kaczmarczyk (17 year old phenomenon) won the OBX Flippers Fall tournament.  For full details on the Stern Pro Circuit presented by eBay, and to keep up with the current standings and schedule, please visit – https://sternpinball.com/stern-pro-circuit/

 

2019 Stern Pro Circuit Rankings – Top 10
1st  Steven Bowden San Antonio, TX
2nd  Escher Lefkoff CO
3rd  Raymond Davidson Everett, WA
4th  Keith Elwin Carlsbad, CA
5th  Aleksander Kaczmarczyk PA
6th  Karl DeAngelo Fontana, CA
7th  Bowen Kerins Salem, MA
8th  Lewis Bevans Pittsburgh, PA
9th  Andy Rosa Flint, MI
10th  Jim Belsito Murrieta, CA

With the regular season of the 2019 Stern Pro Circuit in the books, check out this recap video from the largest circuit event of the year, the Pinburgh Match-Play Championships!

 

Status of Code:

We are continuously working to update and improve software for our machines.  There are always code updates and bug fixes in various stages of development; we will release them upon update completion.  Here are some of the latest updates and the status of things in the works.  If you would like to join our mailing list for code updates, please send an e-mail to Code.Updates@sternpinball.com.  If you do encounter any bugs please feel free to provide information to bug.report@sternpinball.com

  • Elvira – For all Elvira owners, please make sure you have updated your game to the most current code version (v0.87.0). This code contains bug fixes, additional polish and game enhancements that will significantly improve the gameplay and reliability of your game.  Be on the lookout for a new code update later this month.
  • Jurassic Park – For all Jurassic Park owners, please make sure you have updated your game to the most current code version (v0.95.0). This code contains multiple new wizard modes, bug fixes, enhancements and additional polish.  Be on the lookout for a new code update later this month.

 

Accessories:

Check out our Stern Shop for all accessories, collectibles, clothing and more including this month’s featured item: Black Knight: Sword of Rage “Fire Edition” LP Vinyl Album, while supplies last!

The Star Wars topper is available to purchase through select authorized Stern dealers.  It will be available on the Stern Shop soon.  All Stern Pinball accessories are also available to purchase from your local authorized dealer – https://sternpinball.com/find-a-dealer/

 

Stern Spotlight – Olivia Jensen:

“Hello!! I’m Olivia Jensen, and I’m a technical artist here at Stern. I work with the fantastic art and animation team making the graphics on the LCD screen, doing anything from motion graphics to storyboards to animation.

My passion lies mostly in visual storytelling and drawing, so most of the work I do is in preproduction with storyboards. This means that I am usually among the first artists to work on each game, sketching out what each mode is going to look like on the screen in a way that both tells a story and is visually exciting.

I graduated from DePaul University in Chicago this past spring, so I am quite new to the world of pinball. I try to use my youth and background in film as an advantage here, as it allows me to bring a fresh perspective to the team. I’ve learned a lot over the course of my time here and have been steadily familiarizing myself with pinball, and I am enjoying it quite a bit!

Outside of Stern, I am an indie animator and illustrator, and I love to spend any and all free time I have creating art. Although most animation work I do is digital, my favorite medium to work in is ink and watercolor. When I’m not working, I can usually be found sketching over a chai latte at a coffeeshop, browsing thrift stores for vintage clothing, or following my recent short film “waiting by the phone” around at film festivals.

My hope is that I can further immerse myself into pinball by playing and making more games! I take pride in the fact that I am a young woman in the industry, and one of my goals is to support women in games and film; I can’t wait to see a future where women are represented and supported in a positive way both in the content we create and behind the scenes. I’m incredibly proud of the work that our art team has been creating and I feel very inspired by the talent I am surrounded by!”

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END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)

STERN PINBALL

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

This limited software license Agreement (“Agreement”) applies to your use of Stern Pinball Software pre-installed on a Stern Pinball Machine and any Authorized Updates made available to you. BY USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, do not use your Stern Pinball Machine or any Authorized Updates. Please read this entire Agreement, which governs your use of the Stern Pinball Machine, Stern Pinball Software and all Authorized Updates. ADULT CONSENT TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST BE AN ADULT OF THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY IN YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE. YOU ARE LEGALLY AND FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ACTIONS USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE AND SOFTWARE AND ACCESSING OR USING ANY ONLINE GAMING PLATFORM, INCLUDING THE ACTIONS OF ANYONE YOU ALLOW TO USE AND ACCESS TO YOUR MACHINE AND ANY ASSOCIATED ACCOUNT. YOU AFFIRM THAT YOU HAVE REACHED THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, YOUR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN MUST CONSENT TO THIS AGREEMENT. DEFINITIONS.
  1. “Stern Pinball Machine” means a Stern Pinball arcade game machine.
  2. “Stern Pinball Software” means software (including but not limited to firmware) pre-installed in the Stern Pinball Machine, including all Authorized Content and any Authorized Updates that Stern Pinball may make available to You from time to time.
  3. “Authorized Content” means all Stern Pinball and third-party owned software and content incorporated into or used with the Stern Pinball Software or otherwise embedded in or utilized by a Stern Pinball Machine, including but not limited to graphics, images, music, vocals and voices.
  4. “Authorized Update” means an update to the Stern Pinball Software distributed by Stern Pinball or otherwise made available by Stern Pinball, including for download on its web site.
  5. “Unauthorized Content” means all content, including but not limited to limited to graphics, images, music, vocals and voices, that does not comprise Authorized Content or an Authorized Update.
  6. “Unauthorized Software” means any software (including but not limited to firmware) not pre-installed by Stern Pinball on a Stern Pinball Machine or that does not comprise Authorized Content or Authorized Update.
  7. “You” means the purchaser or current owner of a Stern Pinball Machine.
LICENSE. Stern Pinball hereby grants You a nonexclusive, non-transferable, limited, and revocable right and license to use one copy of the Stern Pinball Software and Authorized Content and any Authorized Update solely for your personal use, or that of your patrons and customers if you are a commercial entity, for playing a single Stern Pinball Machine. The Stern Pinball Software, Authorized Content and Authorized Updates are licensed, not sold, to You, and no ownership rights are transferred by this Agreement. The Stern Pinball Software Authorized Content and Authorized Updates are protected by U.S. and international copyright. All rights not explicitly granted to you in this Agreement are reserved by Stern Pinball.
  1. As a condition to this Stern Pinball Software license, You agree that:
    1. You will not copy, reproduce, alter, replace, distribute, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, display, perform, create derivative works based on, or otherwise modify the Stern Pinball hardware or Stern Pinball Software or any Authorized Update, in whole or in part; and will not commercially exploit any of the foregoing.
    2. You will not use or install any Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software. Use of Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software may result in your Stern Pinball Machine ceasing to work permanently and/or losing access to Stern Pinball’s online game network, either immediately or after a later installed Authorized Update.
    3. You will not create, develop, distribute or assist anyone else in creating, developing or distributing any Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software intended for use with a Stern Pinball Machine, whether to add to or modify the gameplay, any audio content (whether music, sound or voice), or any video content of any Stern Pinball Machine, or to gain advantage in any online or other game modes, or otherwise.
    4. You will not share any Stern Pinball Software, Authorized Content or Authorized Update with any other person or company and will not permit anyone else to access or copy any Stern Pinball Software or Authorized Content or Authorized Update installed on your Machine for any purpose.
    5. In view of the rights held by third-party owners of Authorized Content (e.g., music and video clips), Stern does not have the legal authority to give permission to stream the gameplay of Stern Pinball Machines.
    6. You will not attempt to defeat or circumvent any anti-piracy, security, and/or technical measures to control access to the Stern Pinball Software, features, functions or content, prevent unauthorized use, or otherwise prevent anyone from exceeding the limited license rights granted under this Agreement, “Security Measures”. Attempting to defeat or circumvent any Security Measure may result in your Stern Pinball Machine ceasing to work permanently either immediately or after a later installed Authorized Update.
    7. Stern Pinball may update the Stern Pinball Software from time to time without further notice to You, for example, to update any anti-piracy, security, and technical measure.
PRIVACY POLICY Your use of the Stern Pinball Machine, Stern Pinball Software and any Authorized Updates are subject to Stern Pinball’s Privacy Policy which can be found at https://sternpinball.com/privacy-policy/   WARRANTY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED HEREIN, THE STERN PINBALL SOFTWARE, AUTHORIZED CONTENT AND AUTHORIZED UPDATES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW, STERN PINBALL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, STERN PINBALL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT OPERATION OF THE STERN PINBALL MACHINE OR ANY ONLINE OR CONNECTED GAME NETWORK WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES STERN PINBALL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES; ANY LOSS OF DATA, PRIVACY, CONFIDENTIALITY, OR PROFITS; OR ANY INABILITY TO USE THE STERN PINBALL MACHINE, STERN PINBALL SOFTWARE OR ANY AUTHORIZED UPDATE. THESE EXCLUSIONS APPLY EVEN IF STERN PINBALL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. Some countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so this limitation or exclusion may not apply to You. These terms apply to the maximum extent permitted by law and unless prohibited by law. These terms do not change your rights under the laws of your country if those laws do not permit that change. TERRITORY AND CHOICE OF LAW This License is valid only in the country in which you purchased your Stern Pinball Machine. This License will be subject to and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, U.S.A., regardless of conflict of laws principles. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Cook County, Illinois, U.S.A. for the resolution of any dispute regarding this Agreement or the subject matter of this Agreement and to waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. This Agreement may be updated by Stern Pinball from time to time with the current version posted at www.sternpinball.com/EULA. Your continued use of the Stern Pinball Software an Authorized Update after an updated Agreement has been posted constitutes your acceptance of all of its terms.
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