Stern Pinball Arcade

It's a great app in that it's a wonderful replica of real tables. There are opportunities to try it a table before purchasing it, and has a good model of feeling like purchasing a full table is worth it. But it's filled with so many game-breaking bugs. Everything from randomly induced game ending glitches to tables not even starting up right. Currently, Star Trek is nearly unplayable as there are no table sounds other than the mechanical SFX, and the DMD only displays box outlines without any animations or gameplay variables. The issue persists through fresh installations of the app and through device reboots. For context, the device is an iPhone 8 running iOS 12.0 . I wish the devs the best of luck in figuring out the bug, and I look forward to being able to play again!

The tables play ok. The app did crash a few times when first downloaded, but I’ve since shut down and rebooted my phone and the problem seems less apparent. The physics are good, and there are always at least two free tables to play, often with a selection of several others. My biggest complaint is that I can’t see the DMD display on any cabinet due to the notch on the screen. Even ones where I would of been able to see it I can’t because they put a mini display that is almost the same size over it, so it gets blocked then it blocks the screen underneath it. There’s no option to turn off or move the redundant display either. Notched phones have been out for awhile now, and the solution is pretty simple, give an option to move the floating DMD, like a drop down menu with some options maybe. Why couldn’t of this of been fixed by now? The app is good, but not being able to see the dmd kills the immersion for me. I don’t know my score, what goals I need, or even what ball I’m on. I played the Star Trek table (which is pretty good), and my ball disappeared and had to relaunch it so I thought I drained it, and it turns out I had hit a goal instead. The dmd is pretty important, so not being able to see it really needs to be fixed if they expect anyone with a newer phone to buy any tables.

STAR TREK especially....GOES WHERE NO PINBALL TABLE HAS GONE BEFORE! This Star Trek table is the BEST PINBALL TABLE I HAVE EVER PLAYED, and I own all of your PA and SPA tables! $9.99 for one table is a bit high. I've obviously been a loyal customer since I own all of your Pinball Arcade tables. I've been paying $4.99 as each one has come out. And $4.99 is plenty per table, especially when Zen Pinball charges usually $1.99 per table and sometimes $0.99 per table. Granted your costs are probably higher than Zen's. But now to ask almost $10 per table seems a bit too much. Look, I love what you guys do. I'm sure it takes tremendous work to do what you do. You should be applauded...and thanked. At $4.99, I will continue to be a loyal customer. As far as your tables themselves go, Stern and Pinball Arcade is unsurpassed! Brilliant work! One thing on the AC/DC table though, I have the camera set to roam, but when the ball is at the top, the camera remains fixed. I would like to see the top of the table a bit too. That's all...kudos to the best gaming on IOS!

Update October 2017. Ipad Air running v11. No update from Farsight since my last posting a month ago. Still unplayable because the data box is virtually unreadable. This is not a user error. I have tried all brightness settings. Piball Arcade looks fine. It is only the Stern app, and it is on EVERY table. What a shame, if this was fixed I would give it 6 stars if I could. That is how good this should be. Come on, I paid my money. Fix this!!! ........... Huge fan of both apps. Have all tables. Dont play this at all as the score and info box is much too dark, so much it is basically unreadable. Has been that way for months. Dont you play your games? How could you miss this, and then not fix it immediately your customers have told you? I am not the firsto notify you. I would be furious if I was Stern. It is unplayable. Update: Still not fixed, and new poblems arose. The biggest one is AC/DC doesn't work any more. You guys have great talent, but you are spreading yourself way too thin. You are supporting too many platforms with few too programmers (ouya, really). Tables are released every single month on Pinball Arcade with obvious bugs, making it appear they are released before final testing. You may think people would rather have a table a little buggy but every month, then have to wait longer for a bug free version, but I assure you we will wait. My guess is you need the revenue monthy, but I decided I am waiting now until I hear the tables work right.

For reasons unknown, access to all in-app purchases has been removed. All the free tables are available but there is no place to purchase tables. I can see a button to restore purchases in the options menu, but that is the only place in the app where purchases are even mentioned. I’d also like to share my grievance where many of these tables were ripped from a perfectly functional app and placed into a new app with completely sub-par shell that uses the exact same engine. Some of which I paid for previously and will likely end up now paying for again. (Something I believe the owners of these pinball IPs were counting on.) :( That said; hey FarSight, why are the features in this app so utterly lacking compared to TPA? Gameplay - Great physics and good table recreations. I love the gameplay. Observations: - In the main shell, there are two tables in a banner labeled “Free Tables”. Beneath this is a scrollable list of 11 free tables, which include the same two free tables from the banner. When scrolling through the list of 11 tables, you are presented with duplicate links to the two tables shown in the banner above. Just seems like a waste space to show two instances of the same tables. - No local multiplayer? - Only 3 gameplay cameras?

I love Pinball Arcade so, of course, I picked up this spin-off. I like that Star Trek and AC/DC are here but, honestly, there hasn't been enough development for this title. Half of the tables can be found on Pinball Arcade, so there's not much choice. Added to that, buying new tables costs ten bucks which is outrageous. The PS4 version has been promising Ghostbusters since December (no word on whether the same title will be on iPhone as well) but it's STILL "coming soon". That said, Stern Pinball has had the same ten tables since it's launch whereas Pinball Arcade has managed to put up a new table every few weeks. I like the app but with no TRON Legacy or Spider-Man or Ghostbusters or anything new, this app is like a blog that's been abandoned by its author. The only thing we get every so often are vague "bug fixes" -- and there's no specific info on which bugs have been fixed. It's just "bug fixes" in the version history and that's it. The menus are also highly unappealing. Please make this better. This title has potential and it feels like Farsight has lost interest in the project.

Edit: I can not purchase Ghostbusters, due to network connection error, probably on Farsights end. Please fix and I'll change my rating back to a 4. The next issues is a ball control joystick now present in all games. Stern makes the absolute best pinball machines and Farsight has done a great job bringing the machines to digital format. No problems purchasing or running DLC table pack 1, however, unable to purchased Table pack 2 resulting in the app just closing. Star Trek and AC/DC are amazing. The lighting effects on the multicolor LEDs in Star Trek are the best I've seen on a virtual game and the sounds are fantastic. It makes me happy that Stern partnered with FarSight. Hi-roller Casino has some artistic errors on both the back glass and table on the backlight portions making words unreadable. Ripley's Special won't light even though it's active. Gameplay- outstanding flipper physics and acceptable ball physics. No 'english' implemented on ball. Missing Standard features - No 2-4 player options. Why can't I play this with a friend? Missing camera angles of firing the cannon view in AC/DC, no events camera option. No pro options like TPA. I want pro tips and the ability to explore the table and view the back glass.

In theory, this would be a great app. In practice it is a horrible bug ridden mess. Their “fixes” to things break other things. It is never right. Case in point, the AC/DC table. The lower playfield didn’t even work. They fixed that, but now the sound and score display no longer work at all. The Star Trek table is also now sluggish when previously it worked fine. It’s like they don’t even playtest their product updates when they roll them out. Ever.

There are only three apps, Williams, Stern PBA, and regular PBA that allow you to play virtual tables. The review from four years ago shows the same issues as 2023. Star Trek sound and dmd don’t work. Mustang crashes upon loading. Same for the challenge. All tables are sized differently and Ripley’s for example is too big regardless of camera choice. The iPhone X I have has my camera bezel obscuring the score so I have to play horizontal on tables like high roller during the video modes. However, this app is free. You get 10.5 ish modern tables with no stupid nickel and dime grinding like the Williams app. Use this app to decide if a table is worth buying on the regular PBA app is my best advice.

There doesn’t seem to be any in-app purchases for the tables I really want to buy like AC-DC and Star Trek for my iphone anyway. I’m running iOS 13 something on a iphone SE first edition for reference. There are a number of free tables that are pretty good, and the purchase packs are reasonably priced. I guess the games I want just require too much work to get the sound working beyond table noises on IOS. If they did, I’d give it 5 stars!

The game is pretty good you get 11 tables to play. Although for some reason the controls are all messed up so you gotta change them in the settings. F works well with me, there’s one thing I don’t understand is the fact that it says free tables above 2 of them, yet all of them are free. (Also remove tilting, it’s not an intended thing. Your not supposed to do it.

This game is impossible to play on tablets because when you try to use the flippers it swipes the screen and closes your screen. I have this game on my Xbox one and it’s much easier because the left and right bumpers on the controller control the flippers. The only way that tis game could work better is if there were buttons that you could use on the sides of the tablet.

It's so frustrating when I try hold the flippers up the flippers will drop the ball I really need ball control Stern Pinball Arcade just like Pinball Arcade.i enjoy Star Trek Pinball the only problem is the ball control is not working.i really need ball control feature because The pinball loses control when I am in vengeance Muti Ball, Vengeance Scoring, and Vengeance Battle.

This game is so great! I just bought this with my Nintendo switch and I will enjoy it super bad!! UPDATE: when I first installed this game there was no music coming from the pinball machines. Hopefully you can fix this. Thanks! Update: AC/DC pinball was not playing any music. Hopefully you can fix this. Thanks!

Thank you for fixing and polishing up A/C D/C!! At first you could not play in the lower playfield , ball wouldn’t appear and for the price it was upsetting, now that it works, I’m very pleased to say it as like all your other virtual pins, perfect!! Keep up the great work!! Can’t wait to see what new pins you will have in both of your pinball apps!!

Mustang table crashes when trying to launch, no sound for AC/DC table, just bumper and flipper noise and Star Trek table has no score or display shown with no sound just buzzing. I have these tables on my Xbox Series S and they play just fine,so I can only assume that they stopped support for this buggy mess on the IPad.

I love the tables. I gave 4 stars because I can’t enter my initials for high scores. It opens to do so but no letter characters appear to choose from. Maybe you have to purchase to do that. Not sure what is benefit of purchase although I can’t challenge other players either so maybe u need to purchase for that too.

The description claims that several tables I already own in Pinball Arcade should have cross buy. This app doesn't recognize my purchases, and the Restore Purchases option does nothing. As an aside - why does this app implement its own, odd, tiny little internal keyboard instead of just using the system hooks to the iPad's own keyboard? The use of the internal keyboard is awkward and slow, to say nothing of the impossibility of verifying that you're typing your password correctly.

Camera angles and everything are off. I can’t even login because the login boxes are cut off on the screen. I’m a long time Pinball Arcade supporter and spent a lot of money on these tables. It needs to be fixed! As of version 1.1.5 the camera angles still aren’t addressed for iPhoneX, even though said update was to correct it. It’s not totally unplayable as it was before the update, but still nowhere near perfect. AC/DC IS ONLY PLAYABLE IN ANGLE 3 and that still doesn’t cover the proper portion of the playfield.

I love the tables it already comes with when you first purchase the app. I really think STERN should bring back Family Guy and the tables they have in and out of the market; but other than that, no complaints.

This is great. Can you do. A Bally Pinball with the Adams family. Or. Sega. Pinball game with Jurassic park lost world. Golden eye. South Park twister and Godzilla it would be amazing if this happened I would. Love to see a sega pinball app or additions to stern like Metallica With. Greatest. Hopes nick Murray

I love this app! Pinball machines are sick, but my favorite pinball, which is Mustang isn’t working. I press mustang and every time I do it it takes me back to the Home Screen automatically idk why. Otherwise this is a good app.

Please update so this can be playable on iPhone 13! The top score screen is obscured by the physical camera bar on the screen! The game is playable but you can’t see the video screen or score while playing. Maybe make it so you can move the video screen???

I’m huge stern fan and wanted these games to be awesome . I can handle the delay on the flippers but what I really don’t get is why the music on the AC/DC table doesn’t work. The sound of the ball and flippers works but no music? That’s the best part of that game. I initially send an email but even reloading it still doesn’t work. What a shame.

change nudge type to swipe, when you restart the game, it changes back to default (touch) behind the scenes, but still shows "swipe" in the menu. So if you like swipe you have to toggle it back and forth every time you restart. sent video and multiple emails to dev team. seems like a simple glitch to fix???

I’d give this a higher rating if the Metallica table was added. It’s my most favorite Stern table EVER, and when the day comes that I can play the Metallica table without having to find a restaurant or bar that has it, this will get five Stars

But when you pay the most you have ever paid for an app and it isn't buggy it is annoying. Right now on 2 of my new iPads with ios12 acdc and Star trek audio only has bumper sounds. No music or any other critical sounds and the led board doesn't work among other things. Some of the other crappier tables seem fine. This is happening on my Pinball arcade app as well...

I was really looking forward to playing the AC/DC pinball machine and it was fantastic...until I got to the lower section. The ball never appears in the section and I just wind up waiting for about thirty seconds for the ball to reappear in regular play.

The sound cuts out constantly, the flippers stick or simply do not work, at least 20 times during a game, but the worst is that the game pauses, many times during the game, for no reason. I changed all of the settings hoping one of them would stop the pausing, but nothing works. Time to delete this waste of time game!

For some reason, all the tables show as free for me. Also, when I play Star Trek, the only sound effects are the ball hitting things and the flippers. I assume the machine is supposed to have music, voices, etc? Not gonna complain though if they’re all free 😂

Stern has so many awesome real tables that it’s baffling why they don’t make them available here . Not everyone has access to 5 thousand dollar pinball machines and not everyone lives in a area that has pinball

How do you buy the tables? Since this new update where does it let you buy the tables I don’t have? I go to the tables, even tap the push button and nowhere does it let you purchase one? What am I doing wrong?

Great tables if they work properly. For example Star Trek and AC/DC have a problem of no music and no sound effects. The only sound you here is the mechanical sounds of flippers, bumpers etc. Please fix. I hope you’ll add the Beatles, Deadpool and Batman Classic etc. tables to the collection.

Well I click on a few games to try and download and get no where so I guess the download is broken/not working so seeing it won’t get fixed 1 star but if buy some miracle it does get fix and the devs care about this app I will give it 5 stars!

iPad A1475 (discontinued 2y ago) is starting to lag on the Phantom table. Please keep testing on older iPads! People make them last longer than iPhones.

This app is a giant tease and missed opportunity. No sound effects or DMD at all on Star Trek and AC/DC tables. Only the sound of the ball and flippers on top of silence. When opening Mustang, the app just crashes. Stern has dozens of great tables that could be recreated in this app and I would buy every single one if it was done right.

Farsight has always been my go-to for pinball on touch screen. I bought all of the Williams and Bally tables before Zen pushed out their app, and I think that those that have both, will say that the Farsight has better Williams and Bally play. That said... I’m just going to say that I have an iPhone 8+s, and there’s no back glass on any of the tables on the Stern app. So, Farsight, if you want to recover well, let’s fix this. Okay, thank you.

Hello. I don’t know what you changed in your latest update, but now the Dot Matrix Display for the scoreboard and animations has shrunk in size. I have a harder time seeing the screen. Please fix immediately!!

Farsight... you guys have really blown it. No music on half the games... Star Trek is now a glitchy mess. Everything that I spent money on that used to work doesn’t now. Seems like you’ve thrown in the towel and let down the base that has always supported you. A real shame.

This is awesome! Please add Munsters! I’m Having so much more fun on the real Ghostbusters machine now that I have this app! Thank you!

The Stern Star Trek sound effects and music or not working on this table. All I hear are solenoid sounds from the flippers in the ball moving around the sound fxand any other sounds are not present. Very dissatisfied.

Years ago Farsight was the most exciting developer in pinball. Years. Years later, and abysmal update after abysmal update, Pinball Arcade and SternPA are consistently disappointing. Tables that were working break, new tables launch broken. I miss the old days of Farsight, and I hope they come again.

It seems to just stop and pause while playing. Old, non iOS looking interface. It’s obvious it looks like it is ported from another platform. Lame.

I can’t see my score for ac dc and Star Trek and they both don’t have any music so developers if you can fix that please i would like that

Iron Maiden, BKSOR, Aerosmith, Metallica, Elvira... The first 4 are our go tos, never played elvira

Is there any way to get my ghostbusters on stern pinball since I payed for it on pinball arcade?

Star Trek is fun, but the directions on how to play crash the app. AC/DC is fun, but it starts without the music often and the app has to be restarted to fix.

Great game I have top three scores!I don't think anyone can beat my me! Good luck. MRG

Great for every pinhead. When is the next set of tables coming.

Started up Star Trek.. no lights, no display.. just flipping the ball in a void.. I’d complain about it not being notch friendly but it doesn’t matter since the dot matrix doesn’t even come on. Hello Zen, I’m home!