I agree but with correction...

they best priced "bare bones, entry model" NIB pinball available

It is honestly the one thing I really hope we see with Deeproot or someone else... the ability to make an entry level pinball for 4500 or less.

I firmly believe there is a market and also the ability. It would take some changes but many of the puzzle pieces are there.

unless I missed the memo... TNA is long sold out...

you missed more than the memo if you think TNA is stripped down.

TNA is a comparable build to a premium Stern in all aspects.

not joking at all!

Add up all the features in TNA from custom soundtrack, full light show, awesome upgraded speaker system, tons of controlled mechs, 3 flippers and tons of slings, beautifully engineers danesi lock mech, amazing code package, co-op capabilites, real BG, etc... as I could go on and on.

As someone that routes and collects games from all manufacturers (TNA on route and 2 members have it at home also), it is honestly not even remotely close. TNA is BY FAR the best built, easiest to maintain, rock solid game I have ever had the pleasure of operating. Stern is WAY WAY WAY down the list on quality of build. From metal thickness, component quality, pf quality, etc...

If you are thinking of AMH build quality as what Spooky is, then you should actually spend some time looking over their games as they have progressed and improved leaps and bounds to where they are now.

If you dont find TNA fun, then that is your opinion and I dont think anyone can help you there.
*granted you seem to be more of a LE collector type person and you have a SWEP1 in your collection, so...

sometimes you route something for theme alone, even if it is a real PITA to keep running.

i.e. GOTG is by far the biggest headache of any game I have routed in the past 5 years.
node board issues, drop target issues, groot issues, lighting issues, intermittent weak flipper issues, chipping pf issues, loose parts out of box and falling apart.

unfortunately no.

It has been one steady headache after the other.
Granted most issues seem to be worked out now, but it has taken a disproportionate amount of time and effort to do so.

It is not like we would go sell a non-functioning game off for someone else to deal with and when you route games, you deal with problems as they arise.
Unfortunately each successive Stern has had more and more issues with evident lower quality base parts.

It has been going on for a long time I am sure but TWD was the last real quality build we saw.
Aerosmith we got pretty lucky on (granted a split cab out of the box).
Most of the others post TWD have been lots of the same issues and getting worse.
GOTG just happened to be the worst of them all for mechanical things.

Pf quality continues to get worse and maiden and beatles seem to be the start of that new issue.

sounds like a flaky connector issue. bummer you had an issue.

Been routing one since #2 came off the line a long time ago now and pretty much error free.
There is good reason it has been out this long and still gets moved around.

Those drop/optos all need to be working correctly for everything to know what to do with that lock mech.

so new Stern PROs are about $700 over priced?
I would agree with that.