I am enjoying the discussion here and agree with many of the pros and cons. I am a person that puts theme as one of the most important criteria so I really understand why some people would have to own this pin if it was a dream theme for them. It looks like it has a lot of potential from a gameplay perspective. Happy for those that love the theme and want the pin.

I loved the show as a kid but it long ago lost it's appeal for me. While I can deal with the campiness I would never be able to own it due to the "tinny" and repetitive sound effects which were a great part of the show in it's day. Those sound effects have run the course for me and do not have any appeal. The light and sound effects are a big part of pinball for me so the sound effects in this game would rule it out for me. I love the effort by Stern and certainly hope that this pin appeals to many of you and that it turns out to be great.

Happy new year folks.

Have to disagree here. The biggest hit to Atari was the hit on their reputation - they never recovered from that. If their reputation was not tarnished they could have fought back from the financial hit. Stern is in that category now with some of it's most loyal fans. Let's face it the general public doesn't give a crap about pinball so they aren't going to Alienate the masses but they are starting to Alienate the pinheads.

Quite a few of the long time diehards that carried pinball through the lowest points are moving on as they can't afford the hobby anymore. Operators can make more money with Video games or coin-pushers. Now Stern is slowly starting to annoy many of the folks that actually have money to spend.

Stern needs to be careful and respectful here. How long did it take Atari to fall? Not long.

Come on Stern - we want you to succeed and not end up in the hands of a venture capitalist (like Sears) or has that already happened?

For sure, Stern is biting (nibbling) the hand that feeds them. They are making money (for now) but the combination of price increases and lack of QA will eventually take its toll. After all Williams and Gottlieb were once very successful pinball manufacturers as well. Nortel, Blackberry ... also successful (non pinball) companies ... the list goes on. Consumers, while a fickle bunch eventually figure it out and move on. The time for Stern to address and fix these things is before they have a problem which affects their sales (profits) - once (if) the downward slide starts it is often much harder to reverse (and they will have less money to fix it).

The issues they have been having is definitely costing them sales. I now at least half a dozen collectors that are holding off on buying Stern NIB right now (myself included) - and not because I dont like the themes or artwork. It just doesnt seem like the value is there anymore.