Should you buy a NEW Stern Pinball Machine? - Pinball Expert and Chief Creative Officer George Gomez

Stern Pinball's EVP and Chief Creative Officer George Gomez takes us on a behind the scenes look into the SPIKE™ electronics hardware system!
Complementing the immersive themes and exciting gameplay experiences of Stern Pinball machines, Stern Pinball’s powerful SPIKE™ electronics hardware system enables high-definition graphics and innovative animations. SPIKE™ reduces system complexity and energy usage, resulting in enhanced reliability and simplified servicing.
LOCATE TO PLAY - sternpinball.c...
LOCATE TO PURCHASE - sternpinball.c...
Learn more at www.sternpinbal...

[@richardmiklos]

"Should you buy a NEW Stern Pinball Machine?" Hmm... I'm so interested to see what Stern Pinball has to say about this.

[@moradabdelfattaheyssaali3203]

Omar 2012

[@richardmiklos]

@@djbarry2678 Yeah, ridiculously expensive. I just want 1 pinball machine when I'll have the money and I'm happy. Hope they don't disappear because of COVID. Another hobby of mine has suffered already.

[@anonony9081]

Police investigate themselves and find no evidence of wrongdoing is what this video is basically

[@goofyahhuncle5020]

69 likes... Nice

[@MrDirkles]

@@djbarry2678 Godzilla 70th in the UK is £11200 and that doesnt include a coin door which is another £300 😂.

[@JustinMBailey]

Thank you so much Stern. As a stern owner I would also love an official stern video about how an official stern pin is supposed to be cleaned and stern maintained. STERN!!!!!

[@flynnibus]

Thank you George for directly addressing questions people have raised about the design choices and keeping it at a technical level, not just marketing!

[@richa9719]

I own 12 machines and not one is a stern. Just too expensive IMO. Maybe I will get a used one someday. Love my Bally/Williams 1990’s machines!

[@PinballNewsVideos]

Genuinely interesting explanation of the Spike-2 system. Thanks George.

[@Stinkythumbs111]

Not sure what the title of the video has to do with the explanation of node board architecture, but it was fascinating to learn none the less.

[@dexavator]

Because there's a video named " Should you buy a NEW Stern Pinball Machine?" that says Spike system are crap since you can't fix specific components and have to change all the board when something fail.

[@manbearpig900]

The name of the video is exactly the same as a previous video made by a pinball tech in Australia that was quite critical of stern. This is a pretty transparent attempt to try and bury that video and instead for you to get a video just promoting their product. Super fucking slimy, if you ask me.

[@bricemaieralt]

Change the title of this video, the topic was "An Overview of Spike II." Thanks for the tour of a pin 30 years newer than any I have owned. That backbox looks so clean! Regarding Wi-Fi, that evolution is as overdue as was the migration from dots to LCD.

[@flyfalcons]

I have a feeling the title was to mimic a video by Pinball Expert with the same title, where he basically craps on the Spike system.

[@richm.7373]

George, first off, great video. I think this is a great idea for Stern to educate their customers on how the system works why its was made and the ability it has for expansion. Easily the greatest idea I’ve seen from a manufacturing company to help the user understand their product! This is such great information and a great idea you guys had to share it. These are the kinds of things Stern should continue to do. Bravo. Thanks!

[@RUMZ70]

Thanks for explaining the switch location in the backbox and how it related to safety and UL testing/approval George.

[@swainer8014]

Nothing a ferrite or shielding couldn't have taken care of.

[@turbografx7]

Great to see videos like this! George has always been one of my favorite people to listen to! Great work!

[@wildernessgames]

Very well done George, extremely concise and professional. Respect sir. -Mitch Mitchell

[@davidtucker4044]

Great Stuff George. Really appreciate you doing this - unsung hero as mentioned. Love Stern!

[@piotr0r_]

Thanks for the video, it's very informative. Yet I have really mixed feelings regarding this modern, multiplexed architecture. I'm an arcade operator in central, rural France, and raised in a family of operators since 1968. We've seen everything from EMs so Spike-2. I've been doing this professionnally for 7 years but I've been tinkering w/ pinball machines for as long as I remember. I do enjoy those Spike titles, they don't break down often, but when they do ... Boy. First one : Ghostbusters Pro, one flasher had the infamous short to ground. Two fried node boards, under warranty. How is this even possible? I thought there were protections? To be honest, the only protection that did its job was the power-supply itself, which was continuously power-cycling because of the high, abnormal load of the short circuit - those MeanWell units are indeed super good. Service bulletin : install a piece of insulator material between the flasher pcb and the metal rail. Our vendor (SFA , Paris) covered the costs, but still. Last winter : Star Wars Pro, on location. "Node board 8 not found". Found a badly burnt node board with fried traces. Culprit : the flimsy D9 diode. One of the legs broke off (due to flipper vibrations I guess) and 48 V wreaked havoc not only on the node board, but also the "smart" led boards. FIVE BOARDS were fried. Considering all of these boards have SMDs, it's getting super complicated to replace the components. It cost me 540 € to fix, no warranty (Avranches Automatic). This is completely unacceptable. Service bulletin : a ziptie and a plastic stud to secure the diode to a nearby transistor. Since the profits have plummeted over the years, that pill is especially hard to swallow. I do understand that modern platform need to be built around current components, but the future scares me. As primitive as they are by today's standards, WPC platforms were probably the most repairable, most logical, and pleasant to work with. Components are super cheap, easy to procure, and most of the initial flaws (general illumination, LM323Ks, etc.) are easily fixed - the only exception being the CPU ASIC. In contrast, I'm bitter to see that I have to replace entire and expensive modules when something breaks badly. It's not only not cost-effective, it's also not very sustainable. Hell, your SAM platform was probably the most reliable. Not a single CPU failure in all the titles I had, and only a few power transistors on the driver boards, once again, readily available and easily replaceable. I'm no engineer, just a simple technician, but instead of "more CPU cores for video" , more board REPAIRABILITY would actually come before more bells and whistles ...

[@FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

I've heard this quite a lot from experienced people

[@dougydoolittle5255]

I bought a brand new Elvira just 2 months ago after they released more machines into Australia. Have you had any issues with spike system crashing and restarting? Sometimes it happens during game play, sometimes after game just scrolling through high scores. I posted the last dropout on my KZbin just now. Its really annoying getting a crash with 590 million points on the board.

[@josephstyles5927]

This is what pinball needed!!! videos of how it all trully comes together!!! well done Stern and GG

[@IN_Pins]

Super interesting and insightful. Thank you George and Stern for taking the time to make these and addressing feedback you've heard from customers. Nice editing Jack. Looking forward to seeing more.

[@michaell1957]

Thanks George!! I appreciate all your brilliance and contributions to the arcade /pinball legacy.

[@Foxcitiespinball]

Great video! Thanks Stern Pinball and George Gomez!

[@alanmusicman3385]

George, this was an excellent overview of the system, thank you. Visually amazing machines too! What strikes me first off about this architecture is the trade-offs involved. Older generation machines congregated all the control functionality in boards crammed into the head unit. However, in those days very few individual components contained the density of functionality that is now possible and so diagnosing and repairing boards was possible for a lot more people. The advent of surface mount devices, stored program components (microcontrollers) as peripherals of the exec controller add another barrier to maintainability by anyone who does not have a full-on electronics workshop/fab shop. From a wiring simplification perspective it's great that you can distribute switching to happen far closer to the lamps and coils with node boards of various kinds and concentrate so much of it on two or maybe three boards. However, taken with the difficulty of repairing modern boards, that does mean that ANY problem that develops with a board necessitates board repair/replacement. In short, you go from (in the old world) replacing a TIP102 transistor to (in the new world) replacing a node board or returning one for repair. Unless you find a way to de-blackbox those as far as the home repairer is concerned, I think that the tech-savy and cost-of-ownership sensitive segments of your potential audience will continue to have reservations about investing in these products. I was expecting to hear that you guys were using CAN bus in some way for node intercommunication. For just one example, CAN is now fairly widely used by electronic enthusiasts in some layers of modern model railway/road systems for complex control and monitoring, which is conceptually not too different to pinball in functional terms (motors, solenoids, lamps, sensors etc). Also, I was left wondering why you are using serial lighting control boards and dumb LEDs rather than using RGB Leds with built in serial comms and memory (such as WS2812 and it's friends AKA NeoPixels). I'd have been very interested to see a segment on lampholders (surely one of the most problematic pinball components since time began!) and how you may have improved on those? Anyway, very impressed with what you have done and - reservations notwithstanding - I think it delivers some great looking stuff with sophistication which befits a C21 product - and I look forward to further developments and hope to be able to afford one of your machines one day! Best wishes Alan T

[@CaryHardy]

LOVED this! Thanks for sharing, George!

[@mikegrat]

While I finally get why the switch is where it is, I would love to see some innovation and have a remote switch accessible in the "normal" spot. Having a lineup of machines side-by-side makes it impossible for shorter folks to reach the power switch. Plugging the games into a power bar is an ok work-around but really should be addressed in the design. Love the video BTW keep'em coming GG :D

[@SteveJones172pilot]

I agree - That would be nice.. Even a software controlled "soft off" or reboot vs. actually removing power from the system using the existing switch.

[@BrianLiccardo]

Great video George and Stern. Cant wait to see more videos and as well more of your great pins!

[@Mark-hb5zf]

Nice Video George. The center area of my Munsters Pro playfield is rather dark (shame, given the great artwork). I added a couple of spot lights (2 LED) to brighten things up a bit, but as an electrical engineer, I realize I really need to be careful of overloading the transistor (MOSFET?) that I tapped into (using a Comet Matrix light) for the lights. Is there a better way to add spotlights, etc. to a Spike or Spike 2 eco system? While my question is about Munsters, it really is intended to be more generic. Is there anyway Stern can allow for the end user to safely add accessory lighting that is controlled somewhat by the CPU (as opposed to lighting that would always be on)? I see mods that tap into this and that circuit, and I always cringe a bit since I realize no one likely took the time to think about max currents and transistor junction temperature (sorry about the techie talk).

[@georgegomez5033]

Hey Mark, We are working on further docs & videos that we will release to further de-mystify things. Once you see those you'll know more about where to go to do what you want.

[@swainer8014]

I love pinball (playing them since I was a kid in the 80s). My first NIB machine was a Stern Ghostbusters premium. I've never had so many air balls and balls jumping over the wire forms and flippers in a machine. It was sold a few months later. I wish Stern the best. But as the phrase goes, Fool me once. . .

[@wrightguyz]

I haven't had an airball on GB Premium in 2 years since I installed a couple of low cost mods.

[@SWProzee1Gaming]

I like this. Please keep making these videos about Pinball. It is nice to know how things work in the machines.

[@BrianHamilton01]

So I love this video, I do have some feedback that you are welcome to take or leave :) - Um is a filler word that people use when they are afraid of being interrupted while thinking. You said it a lot ... teleprompters help a lot and there are a few cheaper solutions to this ... actually think you might have been looking at your notes under the camera ... - This being a stern channel, with the tittle you should by our games undermine the message you are in the end trying to convey which is look our brains and control innovation gives us a edge over the old way we were doing it! Maybe a better tittle would have been Spike2 demystified Love the behind the scenes!

[@g1tegCW]

@George Gomez, Thanks for the great explanation of Spike 2 system. It kills me that even after this excellent informative video, punks still have to chime in with "Stern So Cheap" LOL. Stern makes a fantastic product at a fair price. Not everyone wants to pay 9K+ for a base model pin.

[@swainer8014]

My Houdini, Oktoberfest and LOTR have their power switch on the bottom right of the cabinet.

[@WoodenBoatGuy]

It's fascinating to look at the evolution of solid state pinball machine. The first games from the late 1970s had just a few small circuit boards in them. In the early 90s the head of the system 11 games were totally packed to the gills with PCBS and the huge fluorescent tube light bulb. Now they have just the single tiny board in the big empty cabinet head.

[@swainer8014]

Dude. That cheesey florescent tube started with the Stern whitestar boards. Don't suck the system 11s into that. The system 11s actually had GI and flashers in the back box.

[@dakotamike]

As an aspiring pinball tech, and an enthusiast, I love these kinds of videos. It's great to get a better idea how all this stuff works. Awesome stuff, can't wait for the next one!

[@georgegomez5033]

Working on it!

[@knobstone]

Very informative and helpful. Please address the continued playfield issues on past and current Stern pinball machines.

[@expfighter5112]

Answer to the question is "NO"! reason? wait a year until the bugs are identified and the price drops by 1/2 or wait 2 or 3 years and get it for 1/4 of the price!

[@cpcw06]

please tell me how those price drops are working out for you now a year later?

[@tikibirdarcade6647]

The title is different to what the actual video is about. It's George talking about the Spike System . Minus that it's a fantastic video

[@camp7203]

I see many unique parts that anyone working a route of machines won't be able to fix without total replacement.

[@pinfarmer]

Some manufacturer schematics etc on how to diagnose and repair nodes would go a long way. I don't like the swap-tronics approach to diagnosing and repairing. Just thinking down the line when you need spares.

[@georgegomez5033]

pinfarmer Yep, we agree.

[@Wheelcranker]

@@georgegomez5033 does that mean that detailed schematics will be available, and if so, when?

[@avenger6944]

Will you answer George ?

[@georgegomez5033]

@@avenger6944 yes detail schematics will be available, some are available now.

[@georgegomez5033]

@@avenger6944 Hit the link and scroll past the vids. sternpinball.com/support/

[@DarthVader-jk2wv]

Thanks, George. Much higher level of integration than my LOTR and TSPP, making the wiring much cleaner.

[@DJSArcade]

This was a great video and helps dispel some of the FUD around the SPIKE system.

[@cardtrix1970]

You know, it's just so cool Stern is still making pinball machines; Everyone else has...disappeared; Williams, Ball, Gottlieb, Chicago Coin. All...gone! So...kudos to Stern, & all they put into their products!

[@joetechbob]

Fascinating deep dive into the Spike 2 architecture by George! Looking forward to more.

[@MaxAcceleration]

The aftermarket sales in parts are going through the roof on this architecture. Reminds me of timing belts instead of chains in cars. Less cost for us to build, more expensive for you later on. Can hardly blame them as most consumers are concerned heavily with upfront cost instead of long term repairs.

[@TallBoyGareth1]

Great video George 👏🏻 we definitely need more videos like this ✅

[@hectorcastrejon]

Great video and George sure seems like a great guy. Keep up the good work!

[@SG25]

Thanks for the video George. Keep them coming!

[@PragmaticTornado]

Considering many 90's tables easily go for about half of a brand new Premium LE table, I'd say it might be worth it to get a new one if everything clicks with regards to theme, audio, gameplay, difficulty etc. Only table I've seen in recent years that fulfills those criteria for me, is Dialed In. I wish more original tables were made, that aren't tied to some IP.

[@rlerman1]

Thanks for taking time time to do these videos, I like it.

[@robertgross4358]

Thanks George for doing this video! You guys really have a well thought out and extensible platform in Spike 2! Would be cool to have an add-on board for WiFi and a software update to allow owners to access the play metadata captured. I’m really interested in analyzing and trending my play over time... ok, so I’m a data nerd. Thanks again George!

[@SteveJones172pilot]

I agree.. I've been so curious if I could interface to the RJ45s just to passivly capture data and have fun trying to figure out what it's spitting out! A WiFi interface, and hopefully a supported API would make this "safer" from the aspect of not physically connecting, and would allow the geeks of the world to add any number of features to an arcade. I could imagine having a Raspberry pi with object detection seeing a person standing by a machine, and sending a message over the Wifi to tell Black knight to taunt the player into putting in a quarter.. The options are endless once there's an API to interface with!!

[@robertgross4358]

Steve Jones YES! Imagine if you’re an arcade operator, and you want to analyze the performance of all your pins. Plus, being able to trigger events for the player, even powering on / off the pin. Plus, being able to remotely monitor the health and status of a pin would be awesome.

[@joshuaclay2377]

Great video George!!!

[@jtamuse2509]

@George Gomez Do you have any recommendations of what dongles / harnesses to build or acquire, when troubleshooting or bypassing smart boards when troubleshooting? In other words, if one of the smart boards is causing certain features not to work further downstream, what do you recommend to use to bypass the potentially bad smart board?

[@georgegomez5033]

Soon we will release a series of documents and vids focused on troubleshooting; we are working on these now based on things that the tech service guys see.

[@aarond137]

Cool video. I have a new Munsters on the way. Can't wait! I would love to see a video on adding a subwoofer.

[@joshuaanderson7405]

This really was an awesome high-level explanation of a number of the choices and design considerations you guys went through on the platform. Thanks!

[@Jayslife104]

Keep posting these how to and learning videos , greatly appreciated

[@ravenhawk2188]

Superb Video , Very informative , many thanks

[@whodey3069]

I would have to say the answer to your question would be NO because you guys will not stand behind your product when someone gets a playfield with chipping or pooling clearcoat.....which is a pretty common occurance these days seems like. I want to buy Elvira and Jurassic Park right now but I have two bad playfields that you refuse to replace sitting in my house right now. Get with me and make it right and then maybe we can talk.

[@tdtrecordsmusic]

It would be really cool if we could get a spike system which is blank + programmable :) I've always wanted to make a pin from scratch. Having a system like that would change my dream, from dream to 'very possible'

[@etlandfill]

I loved this video and I've been hoping the series would continue as George mentioned to cover prototyping and things like that. Any plans to do those eventually?

[@sternpinballinc]

Stay tuned!!

[@hypnotank]

This was very informative and I'm looking forward to future videos, great idea guys!

[@user82938]

Would love to see some of the followup videos George mentioned. I don't think they ever got made?

[@stephgrandam99]

Thank you for the in-depth overview. Very useful as we build our collections. Patiently waiting for my T.M.N.T pro.

[@EquipmentReviewer]

Love ya stern. Ghostbusters is still my favorite.

[@TampaTec]

Very insightful 👍

[@PaulGodbehere]

Great video - More of this please!

[@dougydoolittle5255]

I bought a brand new Elvira just 2 months ago after Stern released more machines into Australia. Have you had any issues with spike system crashing and restarting? Sometimes it happens during game play, sometimes after game just scrolling through high scores. I posted the last dropout on my KZbin just now. Its really annoying getting a crash with 590 million points on the board.

[@AbeFlips]

Thats just awesome, waited for this so hard, can't wait for upcoming episodes. One day i will build my own Spike2 machine!

[@erwinfourot9284]

Love it! Can’t wait for more of those videos

[@blanck0037]

Sorry to change subjects. I ordered a premium godzilla through betson. This was back in December 2021. They said there still waiting to get them. It's June now. Is there a production issue?

[@tonerotonero1375]

Very interesting. This is a neat idea. I love the technical side of the pinballs, it is just as interesting as playing them. Impressive evolution that you never see unless you operate the machine or have one of your own. I look forward to the next video. Congratulations.

[@jackrabbt1]

Thank you George! This video was very informative. I enjoyed it greatly!

[@h2ocop123]

Awesome and informative vid. Super interesting learning the how’s and under the hood things going on with modern games. Please keep videos like these coming.

[@skrotnisse87]

Really interesting presentation. What programming language is used to drive the actual games inside Spike?

[@georgegomez5033]

skrotnisse87 The underlying OS uses a custom Linux distribution and the games are programmed in C++

[@SteveJones172pilot]

@@georgegomez5033 Thanks for the openness about this.. I think a lot of us pinball guys are geeks in many ways. Any technical information you can share is always appreciated, even if it is just for satisfying curiosity!

[@georgegomez5033]

@@SteveJones172pilot More on the way.

[@SteveJones172pilot]

@@georgegomez5033 Awesome news.. One more thing - unrelated to Spike2, but.. There are no strategy videos about Black Knight.. I have BK SOR PRO and although I'm slowly learning on my own, I can't find any good real reference to rules and how all the modes work, etc like I see for many other machines. Is that in the works? Am I missing it?

[@georgegomez5033]

Steve Jones Check out Deadflip- Jack did a series of vids on BK

[@didierume4737]

Not possible to repair a CPU Spike 1 for Wrestlemania Pro. Nobody has the part. The pinball is out many months ago.

[@proco_]

Great video guys. I hope this will become a regular series.

[@TheCompleteNerd]

Love your games! This was really cool to see. Will you be selling the node boards so modders can use them to more safely add lighting and mods?

[@michaelpost3562]

Love this! Heyy George, what are your thoughts on the aftermarket quite power supply fans? Are they safe?

[@georgegomez5033]

Michael Post - So the aftermarket fans just run slower, which wouldn’t work in the torture test but may work if you never see those extremes. The issue is more that to swap them out, you risk damaging the supply. The connectors and wires are very small and fragile. The power supply manufacturer also uses hot glue to retain the cables and they are inconsistent in how they apply it, so some units may be easier to modify than others.

[@zombie3833]

@@georgegomez5033 the pinmonk pinmonk quiet fan kit is quieter and runs faster. The stern fans are just cheap. I buy replacements for all my new games.

[@michaelpost3562]

@@georgegomez5033 thanks for the reply. Ill just stick to the factory fan.

[@georgegomez5033]

@@michaelpost3562 Good idea. :-)

[@dejangolja6910]

Brilliant ... thank you for that !

[@whiskyguzzler982]

This video completely changed my opinion of Spike - for the better.

[@RETROCENGO]

You are the man George👍🏻

[@buzzert1]

More videos like this please! This was very interesting.

[@mcnillerandsons7906]

@Stern Pinball - Why can’t your distributor give me an ETA on delivery of my machine? They say you’re giving them no info. Why can’t you give dates on part availability like Avengers shooter rod and topper. I’m being told you tell them Feb, then Mar, then April, then you can’t give them an estimate.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Super interesting stuff. Thanks for putting this together.

[@stephendonaldson2520]

Thank you George, this type of insight is really cool.

[@dangermartin69]

I would love to see you guys reproduce some of the classics from the early 1980's, such as Meteor, Flight 2000 and Galaxy but with updated sounds. They would be way less expensive to make and would sell like mad. No R+D really required.

[@thehellezell]

I'd love to get a (original or repro) Nine Ball or a Stargazer. R&D would still be required to translate them to the newer system(s) but, yeah, licensing and BOM should be quite a bit lower. Whatever savings Stern might make by reproing these would prob be offset by limited demand; and I would be doubtful that the savings would be passed along to the customer regardless.

[@TwirlingFern]

Just watched ThePinballExpert explain why these née Stern machines are hard and expensive to service and quality had dropped significantly. You get a very limited 2 month warranty, and if anything breaks you need to replace the whole circuit board for hundreds of dollars.

[@JonandChar]

Thanks George. Very informative

[@memyopinionsche6610]

But George Gomez.. when will there be an updated version of GORGAR?

[@cheecheeouroboros]

Awesome video! Thanks and please keep em coming. 🧡💕

[@jimrayno1361]

Great video!

[@davidjohnston1799]

I like how he's addressing criticism head on.

[@Thevinylhouse]

I looking forward to seeing the videos!

[@Alan-px6hq]

Bravo! Looking forward to more of these.

[@904PinballZine]

Yup @10:00 very common but very reliable HAPP power supply.

[@Lukes_Arcade]

Love it! I look forward to those future videos!

[@michaeljkasnter]

Yes Yes Yes , anything Keith Elwin/Zombie Yeti touch is Gold !!! I own 11 Newer Sterns-Spike 2 - Godzilla inbound!!!! Upgrade your flipper coils, games shoot 100x better

[@mancavemoviemadness7464]

Should I buy a new Stern pinball machine? I asked myself that same question 12 games ago. Answer must have been yes.

[@pinballlover4981]

Wow, You really have no love for your money. LOL

[@pinballlover4981]

Why buy 12 bad machines with low quality Playfields etc? Maybe You hit the lottery, you know, Easy comes easy goes ...

[@avenger6944]

Wait till one of those boards breaks.. With Stern's cheap ass warranty of only 60 (!) days they are just waiting to pick your pockets....

[@davidrendon9838]

Amazing man. Keepem coming!

[@andyb6120]

How comes you can get a top of the range power supply for under £100 that what would blow yours away but you charge bonkers money for a pile of POO?

[@JoebDragon]

wifi? will you also do e-net? and with on line updates the OS needs to have updates faster then the game code.

[@georgegomez5033]

Yes

[@carlpinball]

Great video!! when are the next episode with Gomez coming! ?

[@odiejlg]

Great video, I look forward to seeing more!

[@EdwardFielding]

My guess is the title is an SEO element to compete with a popular video from a certain operator from AU.

[@colmlougheed2410]

Sick of Node 8 board errors. Being robbed at this stage with the amount of replacements. Need a second one now for star wars (first one was done within the first 6 months) and now the second one but only after 2 years of use. Star trek also had its 8 replaced. The forums are littered with people complaining about that board... held to ransom.

[@MarkusQu]

Should you buy a NEW Stern Pinball? Sure you should! Support the Pin-Manufacturers, there are not many left....

[@redsteam1]

What does the acronym SPIKE stand for?