Would I like to see a third Elvira pin? Sure, but I'd rather someone other than Stern make it. Stern creates decent pins on average, but their past track record concerns me. Talk of quality and code issues aside, Stern has never really impressed me with their designs.

Stern has been perfectly comfortable putting out pins that more or less followed the status quo set in the late 90's/early 2000. They suddenly embraced LCD screens after Jersey Jack/Dutch Pinball started making machines with LCD screens installed.

If there is to be another Elvira machine, it needs to be a true modern machine. Something similar to JJ's "Dialed In!" machine has done allowing smartphone interaction. It still just needs simple and straight forward objectives (ala Scared Stiff), but with something new that sets it aside from all the current machines. Maybe some small playfield cameras so it can show highlights of some of the shots from the game you just played.

I'm in agreement with you. I'm not against the concept, but here it just doesn't look right to me.

I'm also not a huge fan of the multi-color GI scheme. If they could tone the color saturation down a bit then maybe, but I guess as it is it just isn't my thing.

So I still have plenty of time to save up for that NIB purchase?

My $.02:

Elvira and the Party Monsters = EatPM
Scared Stiff = SS (it only identifies that it’s hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark)
Elvira’s House of Horror = EHoH

Now that I have that off my chest...

On the art, I like the cabinet art a lot better on the limited version over the standard cab as the limited cabinet looks to be more in line with the Party Monsters cab. At least SS’s cab fit in with the theme of the Terror from the Crate. The standard cab for this just looks too generic to me with just some swirl art and the text. It just doesn’t look like it ties in with the machine...maybe if it had a silhouette of the house in the background.

The backglass, maybe it’ll look better in person or in a better resolution. It just looks...off a bit I guess. Elvira looks more like she was drawn for a cartoon and not a graphic novel. Does that description make sense to anyone else?

The playfield. From the one picture I’ve seen, it looks ok. I’m not going to make a final judgment on that until I see everything in motion. It does remind a little of MM and shooting the castle. That is in no way a bad thing as long as the house isn’t just a static target. If we have to knock on the door three times to get it to open, or trigger other events to light up the rooms in the house like the mansion in TAF....it’s the little details that go a long way.

After seeing the features video, I’m actually quite pleased with how it actually turned out. Call me crazy, but this looks like it will have some of that old Bally/Williams feel to it...

...and yet as much as I would love to grab one as soon as they are available, Stern’s track record has me leaning towards waiting until at least the initial issues get identified and sorted.

I really do love the house though... I really can’t wait to see some actual gameplay video!

First, the previous Elvira games are not what I would describe as deep or complex.

They were simple, yet hella fun to play. Ramps that you could hit over and over and generally simple to play. That’s what made them attractive to regular players, the ability to be able to start up a game and actually do stuff without really needing to have a lot of knowledge of all the modes.

Second, why is it every time a new Stern game is announced, everyone is surprised that the code isn’t very far along? How many threads are here on Pinside for asking where code updates are...

Finally, after watching a good part of the Dead Flip video, it does look like to me that this game certainly has future potential. It does sounds like the plan for the game has changed since they first started designing it, when they mentioned early on that it was to just be about a haunted house and then adding the public domain movies once they found out later they were available.

Time will tell. Will I get one? Not at first, I’ll let the game mature for a bit.