After WOF came out many rgpers were ready to claim pinball oficially dead. Now we are complaining about what one of SIX manufacturers is selling off-cycle special edition. People are making it hard to appreciate the new golden age of pinball!

Stern needs to figure out a way to get into the used game market. They are missing out on the millions of dollars their games make in the secondary market. I'd bet 60,000 games change hands every year and Stern is leaving a lot of $$ on the table. A LOTR game that has changed hands half a dozen times only profits Stern for the first sale. I'm thinking they need to build is some sort of gps tracker chip that disables the game if it is moved more than 100' from your house. Call it a "Security Feature" that allows you to get your game back if stolen or lost. Then, the next owner has to pay $500 to get it updated and re-established for their own home.

Maybe install them on all games (Sega, DE, Stern) at shows and locations so they can capitalize on their back catalog of games? Maybe get the B/Wms license, they like money too, right?

Another idea: Stern "Home Route" line. Home purchased games "credit up" when you call a special "Collector's Line" and hit the number of credits using your dial pad. 10 cents a game, less for bulk purchases. They won't work otherwise. For $5 per game you can get full credits for a night in case you are having a party and don't want to be on the phone ordering credits and such. Maybe have a special "CEO Edition" where for an extra $10k you can have credits for life (unless you sell the machine then new credit charges/transfer fees apply).

Or maybe an edition that does play for free in the home but gives you a little shock, nothing dangerous (I'm not crazy!), just a soft little jolt that you can barely feel. Maybe it would affect kids and pets a little more but for an adult it would be almost nothing. Then you could pay for credits if you know you're having a lot of people (especially kids!) over. That way everyone could play as much as they want and not get charged(!).

You and I would probably not get along in real life.