The only game I ever pre-ordered and paid for was Big Bang Bar. Even then I talked to Gene Cunningham about his plans, and how realistic it all was, before I committed and send in my money. I even helped out in the pre-production of the game to make it happen.

BBB obviously had a certain status, which made me want to own one. I can't say that for any of the titles that showed up after that had that status, so I didn't pre-order. That being said I wish all upstarting efforts all the best and hope they will succeed as it will make pinball in general more interesting and fun. We've seen what happens when there is no competition around.

I am slightly tempted to pre-order TBL, because I see the potential and really would like to see DP pull this off and raise the bar for some of the other manufacturers out there.

I don't know the inside details, but:

MMr = Planetary = inhouse B/W parts
TBL = DP = order all B/W parts from Planetary + ship them to Europe for assembly. They may get a discount, but obviously there are extra expenses which end up in the price tag.

Plus that the 8.5K for MMr seems to me more like a "what we can get away with" price, while 8.5K for TBL may actually be a lot more closer to the actual costs. So what's the point about complaining about this 8.5K if it is close to the actual costs. Obviously they're not likely to do it cheaper.

While I do believe this to be true for most Stern LE's / Premiums and MMr, we'll still have to see a playfield design for TBL, as well as all the technical innovations they are supposed to put in the game. So this sound a little premature to me. DP's pricepoint is most likely subject to the US$ / Euro exchange rate, which simply is not very favorable when you live in the US. Add to that the costs (plus additional shipping and import costs) for parts and their price point starts to make more and more sense. It may still be out of your comfort zone, but that doesn't mean they are making the profits some are suggesting. That being said I wouldn't mind if the game was 2K cheaper, but if that means it will be less cutting edge, would you rather see that? Then they might as well do a stripped down Pro version and most will then prefer the 8.5K LE...