What a crazy hobby. $8000 for a pin is now a great deal. That was crazy money not long ago. Still is for me. I do think the CE at $6000 is a great move. Be nice if they could get the cost of the color upgrade down to really compete with the Stern pro that has lcd display. In the long run, maybe a little more competition at the pro level will cause Stern to drop pricing.

I get that. JJP games and Stern LE's are quickly approaching 5 figures. Then you got the special edition, super limited, or whatever that is well over $10000. There are countless threads of people complaining about price increases and high cost of games. You can always compare things to something more expensive but $8000 is still a lot for a pin imo. I remember seeing a MB at Pinballz in Austin for $20,000. If you found one for $15000 that would see like a good deal in comparison. Still doesn't add up to me. Prices go up because people are willing to spend more.

I had a chance to play JJP Pirates last weekend as well. Gorgeous game but didn't do it for me. Deep code is overrated imo. It's nice to have a lot of shots, variety of modes, and challenging goals but learning the rules shouldn't be a college course. MB is a true classic and even though it's not my favorite 90's game, I rather have it than most new games. Tough to beat the total package of great art, dots, callouts, and sounds. It's easy to learn for beginners and enough depth for experienced players. With any game, it's important to play a bunch of times before thinking of buying one. If a game is fun after 50 plays then it should do well at home.