Legal disclaimer: This isn't entirely out of the blue.

Last night on the Dead Flip IRL stream, Jack was with Jody and Zach from Stern, out on the Vegas strip. At one point VE's of Classic Sterns was brought up as a very loose hypothetical. Just to gauge interest, the titles Star Gazer and Quicksilver were mentioned. I chatted that I'd be interested in a Quicksilver NIB (even more so a Seawitch, but Quicksilver was referenced so I went with that).

Jody saw that and asked how much I'd honestly be willing to pay for a Quicksilver NIB, and I replied honestly - $4K for a carbon copy, $4.5K if it had upgrades (enhanced lighting and whatnot). In hindsight, I wish I had mentioned $5K for a Seawitch, but I didn't. He said $4K-4.5K would never happen. It was also then briefly mentioned (for comparison I guess) that TNA is selling for $6K. My last reply on the subject was that I thought there was some available space between SM Home Edition and the Pro model and I thought retro titles would fit in nicely, and that if (IF) it sold in high quantity it could be worthwhile.

I honestly think TNA @ $6K is why my $4-5K range for a Classic VE makes sense, but I guess he disagreed... which is totally fine btw!!! In a Quicksilver/Seawitch, I'm conceding thumping kickass music for digital chirps and sound effects, the HD display, the inline drop / scoop feature, multiball, color changing everything, laser cut side rails, and probably a lot of other things I'm forgetting. All I'd ask for out of a Classic VE is the same quality backglass and that it play true to the original.

Let's have some assumptions in place as to keep this as legit as possible... AND NOT TO THREAD DRIFT!

1) No changes or upgrades to sound, rules, lighting, build. No LE's. Just one edition - classic edition which is as much as a carbon copy as possible.
2) QC is fine. We don't need another thread about that. No "I'd buy if Stern could..." please.
3) It is your favorite Stern you're gauging. So if you like Seawitch, think of that. Star Gazer?... work under that premise.
4) We don't need "It'll never happen". A member of Stern, even as a hypothetical, asked a group of pinball enthusiasts last night. So why not open that question to a larger audience and give some free marketing research to them?
5) Did I mention that we don't need "I'd buy if only they'd fix..." comments?

So because it was brought up, even as a pure hypothetical, what would YOU be willing to pay for YOUR personal favorite Classic Stern VE NIB?

Apparently the stream from last night isn't uploaded yet, as I couldn't find it anywhere during lunch, but I'm saving this space for a link and time-stamp if/when it becomes available.

That's the thing, perhaps if Stern started a "retro style" line of older pins but with new designs and whatnot, I can see that being up there in price. That's a lot of design, research, development, testing, and everything as it's basically "from scratch". That's why I said I'd be game in the $4-5K range for established classics as they already know where everything goes, the rule sets, and the BoM. Additionally, the BoM's of classics are arguably much less than something like TNA which has a ton of extra stuff going on.

I'm currently splitting time equally between my SM and Gorgar. There is something wonderful about simpler, single level games that have some straight forward objectives that are still a challenge to get done.

Not everything has to be 2 ramp, pops nest, dozen modes, crazy displays, stacking multiball, w/ flashing leds. That's why there's a market for classics and just something different from the status quo. It's in part why 200 have dropped serious coin for TNA.

There is something to be said about the popularity of classic games and why they're not just all thrown in dumpsters and set on fire.