Sixteen (16) culled playfields up for auction:

(7) Silverball Mania (rejects rescued for potential wall art)
Bidding starts at $50 ea.

(4) HIGH SPEED
Bidding starts at $350 ea.

(5) WHIRLWIND
Bidding starts at $450 ea.

20 Megapixel "life size" photo links available in the auction descriptions so you can do your own inspection. There will be no doubt exactly what you are bidding on.

ebay.com link: ns_silver

KEVIN
Classic Playfield Reproductions
http://www.classicplayfields.com

_{Post edited by KevinCPR : Ebay link screwing up}

Finally got myself a Canon DSLR for christmas, after wanting one for many many years. I didn't realize the resolution was THAT crazy. I've still got a lot to learn on the camera, though.

As for the Space Shuttles, there were a few (7-8) "Bronze" candidates left - as some of you who got to be "insiders" know via email exchanges the last few months. I removed the whole Space Shuttle entry from the site over a month ago, because too many people started chasing me for these Bronzes. Like 20+ people...

All of you knew they were in clearcoat, and Steve was concentrating on High Speeds and other things at the time.

Half of them came back 2 weeks ago. I got four. They're already sold and shipped to people ahead of those still asking/wondering. I'm awaiting the rest. Steve says next dropoff... Then I will move along to the other potential wants.

Once they are all gone to those who take them, those emailers further down will be emailed to say there are no more.

In the meantime, I can't keep an ongoing status conversation going in email to y'all. I wish I could, and normally I could, but it's not 2 or 3 interested people. It's now about 15. Four got served, 1 forfeited his chance when they came in.

The remaining SS silvers sat on the site for a good 6 months until they were gone. The bronzes nearly a year. This rush on the bronzes from late November onwards was quite a surprise. I always wonder what event or post spurned these kind of rushes in the 11th hour. More like 11:58...

Try to purge your cache, or hit refresh to get the latest page. I had yoinked the SS entry to stop any more surge.

In this case, I've not reached the point the playfields are all spoken for. I'm waiting to see what happens.

So yes. Sometimes it is too much to ask. Sorry. That's just the reality here, for me. Can't speak for others in the hobby. Not looking for sympathy or anything. I will totally admit there are limitations in how closely I can communicate. In this particular case, everyone will get a response, but in due time once I parse along through each individual buy of each playfield as they come available. Unfortunately there isn't 20 minutes, because the other 100+ emails that pound the site Inbox per day are there too. I know, a good "problem" to have - but it can indeed be a problem to solve. I'm almost resolved to stop offering anything that isn't sitting here ready to go in a box, and avoid stuff that is coming in from clear weeks (or months) later. Maybe it's just dangling a carrot. I'll have to decide.

Not at all. Happens all the time. I'm not going to lie.

It's a "privilege" (not the best word for me, but I'll use it) sometimes to get a private 1-on-1 timeslice out of me to update a direct drawn-out sales cycle over months, yes. And that's what it takes to handle some of these weirder buys where something isn't sitting here ready to ship yet, because for example, I'm waiting for it myself. But the guy(s) want it when it comes. No question. So naturally they chase me. I don't blame them, but on the other hand I also assume they know they've not been written back because there is nothing new to tell since the last details were discussed in their last email response from me. ie: "Haven't heard anything in a while. Any idea whats up with the Space Shuttles? Are they back from clear yet? Let me know"

One might say... simply type "No. Still in clear" {send} and it takes 5 seconds.

But those who email with me know that's not how I communicate when I do. (look at this post - eek) I try to give details, give dates as I know them or estimate them, plus I don't want to come across as snippy, short, or rude. So what do I end up doing? I skip to the next email from a new person who I've not talked with before on a same subject, and answer their new question. Then the next. Then the next. Then I'm tugged away on something else, may not get back to the computer for an hour or two, and come back to 30-40 new messages with fresh questions from new people... then I sit down and continue on... notice at this point the request-for-update emails are up and off my screen. Do I ever get back up there? Yes - when the Space Shuttles come in. In the meantime, it's not intentional. It's me stretched to the max. It's my responsibility, and I take full blame. I'm so used to it now, as it's been like this for many many years. Most tend to learn that and bear with us. CPR's idiosyncracy. Just like people get used to Steve Young. Pinball Resource's idiosyncracy.

I'll put it this way. CPR isn't really set up to be a bona fide vendor, so that is our weakness. We do sell direct, but unlike most other vendors, our role is truly manufacturer. That is our strength. Sorry to say, but even if 100 guys in email lined up with $1000 each in hand, wanting me to discuss this and that... it's just going to be clunky and end up being more than I can handle. But if those same 100 guys not needing any discussion, go to PayPal and make their orders as described on the site - then the boyz here will daily be going through those PP transactions, packing them up, seeing them off (usually within 24-48 business hours even at the busiest of times). We've got that part down pat.

Email falls on me. Only me. Because all the other roles here have always been making/producing/shipping stuff. That's what all the other guys do. I don't want them near a computer. Their role isn't to know all the timelines, locations, and estimations - which are needed to handle the questions in the Inbox. Even if there was a full time hired email person, 95% of the questions they'd end up leaning back and yelling "Keviiiin !!! what's the answer to what this guy wants to know?"

You should have seen what email was like BEFORE the "Read This First" stuff on the Contact page. I only put that there because I had to. Things were getting crazy. You think our new release announcement threads on this site change 180 degrees into 50-100 "what CPR should make next" suggestions... you should have seen our inbox.
There is a reason there has never been the shop's phone number on the site

Look, appreciate every last customer. Many have been with us through the whole ride since 2005. Many understand the constraints on me and run their orders totally self-sufficient. Yes, some orders are drawn out and involve discussion/waiting/patience. Not as simple. I wish I could do a few hours of email a day and be really good at coverage. But a day is 1 hour emails tops, I do the best in that hour I can, and the other 8-10 hours is moving production along and actively being a part of it. Without our Distributor group taking a huge load off the selling/shipping duties that would otherwise fall totally on us, I don't know what we'd do.

I think if vendors in the hobby have a reputation of coming across as distant from good communication, I can testify that it probably has to do with scale. Pretty much all of us are "cottage" scale, as the hobby is exactly that too. I'd love to have a "front desk / secretary" that fields all the communcation in and out. It would be fabulous. But we're too small to afford such a position, but big enough to desparately need one.

I'll try to invoke a "lightbulb moment" by attempting to describe it this way:

Allocation of production.

For the easiest example, let's just use playfields. Forget glass and plastic. Let's say CPR's annual production capability is 1000 playfields a year. It's some fixed number. In reality, this is true for any production setup. Whether it's Count's Customs in Las Vegas (how many custom cars can they pimp per year), or Stern in Chicago (how many machines can they build in a year). So for this example, let's say 1000 playfields per year.

The question becomes: What will those 1000 be?

The way we're handling it now is trying to hit 7-8 playfield titles per year. So that touches 7-8 waiting audiences. 7-8 games.

For example, that 1000 may be sectioned into 175, 100, 200, 125, 150, 100, 75, 75. In nearly all cases, those allocations are specifically planned to be usually enough to a) provide one for each person who emailed their request ("preorder") in the 1-3 years prior and b) a couple dozen left over to hang out on the site for 1-24 months (depending on how long they take to sell). May be a month. May be 2 years and they're still here.

So let's first answer the ask many have suggested "why doesn't CPR make more than enough playfields to provide a sitting stock that hangs around for a year (or two), so latecomers who get the games after the fact have an opportunity?"

Answer: OK. Sounds like a reasonable ask at first. But wait a minute. That would mean the barebones "100" needs to become "125" or "150". The barebones "200" needs to become "250" or "275"... you see where this is going... The allocation of that 1000 starts to dry up really quick... and then we're down to 4-5 playfield runs per year instead. Extending out the list of 20+ playfields people are waiting for from us over the next few years, to 4, 5, or even 6 years out ! (instead of 2-3 years out)

So yes, that year of 1000 *could* become 150, 275, 200, 175, 200... and we'd have 30-50 (per run) unclaimed playfields sitting on the shelves for stock that lasts a good 1-2 years after the initial release. But it costs the hobby 3 more new playfields that year that *could* have come out. ie. those "sitting stock" playfields could have been other entirely different playfields (which would sell immediately and now - not sit)... AND satisfy three more waiting audiences.

So from a business standpoint, ask oneself: would one want to sell 1000 of 1000? OR... 800 of 1000 with a 200 piece surplus per year that sells "later" and grows 200..400..600 as each year goes by?

Then there is the ask: "why not re-run that really popular sellout playfield from last year (or 3 years ago, etc) ?"

Again, sounds logical. Of course it *would* probably sell like hotcakes, and sell out quickly even a second time. No question. BUT - allocations, again. OK, let's make one of those runs this year a re-run of a past playfield. Instantly, there goes one new release. 7-8 playfield runs a year becomes 6-7 ... +1 re-run of a past playfield. One audience gets pushed down the line and has to wait.

Plus it gets crazier... there are probably a dozen or more "hot" re-runs that could be done in the 100-200 range again (EBD, Centaur, Fathom, Eight Ball, Whirlwind, Black Knight, etc)... so think about that math: Just to go back to the past releases, and do just ONE re-run per year - will take 6 years just to do the six aforementioned examples (ending with Black Knight in 2020 !!). That's with just ONE re-run per year. After six years, pushing 6 new release playfields (almost a year's worth cumulatively) down the line a further year - making 7 years.

Now think of trying to stick TWO re-runs into the annual allocation. Now bumping two new releases out of that year... and so on.

Both factors above: a) the ask of longer-lasting stock b) the ask of re-runs , have a downside. They turn us away from moving down our list of new playfields that have never had their first run yet. ie. new releases.

I guess it gets down to what people would rather we be doing with our playfield production time.

We opt to concentrate on all those playfields we are taking names for. The new releases. The guys waiting. The ones already ran in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010... well.... they're in our rear view mirror now. Those had their 15 minutes of fame. To go back to just one of them in, say, 2014 - is pushing a new release to 2015, or 2016. One action indeed has an opposite reaction.

Now somebody may say "well expand by 20%+ and add that extra capacity to handle a re-run or two per year without disturbing the 7-8 new runs you hope to achieve."

Answer: Well, in theory, that would work. But that applies to any work environment. Sure, Count's Customs could hire 2 more guys and add another bay to their shop, and do 45 customs a year instead of 40. Then when they're doing 45, they could do that again and go from 45 to 50. In theory, Counts Customs could do 500 cars per year if their setup was 100 artisans and a shop the size of five Costco's. It's a matter of scale and size. Are we looking to move past 7-8 playfield runs per year? At this time, no. We think that is *astronomically plenty* for this hobby on an annual basis. People are *already* telling us they can't afford the playfields at the rate they are coming out, when they want 1 of every second release we put out (or sometimes every!). It's bankbreaking for most already.

To use an analogy of Stern for a moment: if Gary's factory (and you've all seen it) can put out 5000 machines per year... do you want 1 title @ 5000? or 2 titles @ 2000 + 3000 or 3 titles @ 1500 + 1500 + 2000 ?

So for us and our playfields, it's maximizing output variety vs. more eggs in less baskets. One side offers lots of titles getting touched, but the downside is high & fast sellout risk. The other side offers longterm security/freedom to buy playfields sitting in stock for a long time, but the downside is less variety and longer time to get to the next title(s).

In conclusion, we ARE going to do playfield re-runs. We HAVE done playfield re-runs. It's just a matter of when. The timing. Letting demand build back up. The first say 150 "sellout" ones are easy... but a re-run of another 100-150?? Tricky. See, the second time around, all the guys (for 2 years) who raised their hand got one. What you have the second time around are those who just got the game for the first time, those who missed the first run... there may only be 30-40 people "in" for that re-run.... so you made 100... and 60 sit in stock for 3 years. Again, that 100 *could have been* say, a new release like Banzai Run. With all 100 selling out within a couple months.

For plastics, we're trying to incorporate a re-run every 2-3 new releases. For glass, we're hoping to try a re-run every 6-7 new releases. Plastics and glass are a different world (and why I ignored them in this whole topic) because they are one of those things where we are releasing 3-4 plastics set runs a month, and 1-3 backglasses a month. So production velocity is high, and we literally can "burn through" plastics and glasses. Us considering occasional plastics or glass re-runs doesn't disturb the flow enough to worry about it. For example, doing 30 plastics sets in a year - it's easy for 6 of those to be re-runs. Because the hobby still got 24 new releases - and people are more than happy with that.

Hope all this makes sense. Enough for now. Time for me to get off the interwebs and stay off again for a while.

KEVIN
Classic Playfield Reproductions
http://www.classicplayfields.com

_{Post edited by KevinCPR : grammar}