Stern seems to care more about the bottom line over customer satisfaction.

I would not be surprised if they do this 40th Anniversary run before the Premiums just to ensure that the Premiums are made next year with their new, more expensive pricing system.

From my understanding, EHOH is going to have an MSRP of just under $11k next year, which is a big jump up from their current $8500 MSRP. People tend to forget that EHOH, like B66 is one of Stern's special premiums that come with an additional upcharge, currently those sell for about a grand more than normal Premiums.

Hence, pushing the EHOH run back to 2022 will certainly make Stern a lot more money.

Uh you forgot the free shipping

-

You can say that again

That would really suck, resulting in my Munsters LE being the last NIB pin I ever purchase from Stern, if in fact, they do pull that crap.
Fool me once, Shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Meanwhile, I am going to keep my deposit intact and also keep the faith that Stern honors their word, integrity, & commitments to their customers.

crazy talk.
Here how it is not crazy ..
Spike 1 or 2 or 5 system=same sheet = (not spike 1 like i said which was one year earlier like WWE LE at 5,5k 2015 )
but still the Pin uses The spike system
/Real pinball Components as Gary Stern said / Flippers/coils yatta yadda /
almost the same exact size playfield but cheaper material but not by much / Touch smaller cab and head .
smaller DMD but again no big deal as these two in comparison dont save much
few less node boards for the less stuff on the particle board playfield

All the Commercial Grade games pro through what ever top of the line model they come up with is just a SPIKE homepin Game without calling it THEPIN / Should be The Pin/ThePinPro ThePin Premium Thepin LE thepin SLE thepin SLE2 thepin Superduperle2 4oth /
Same components side by side except a few variations . SO when i say it is a homepin with a COIN Door , that is what it is.. These are cheaply made Pinball games that are only about 2.5k in materials if that /

did not say equivalent but close

The Pin Run by spike . The regular games run by spike / hmnnnn seems crazy

Not really.

Most were complaining there wasn’t enough difference between the LE and SLE (trading card, a piece of a couch (not “the” couch), mirrored side art and speckled powder coat) for a 50% up charge to what was already the most expensive LE. I don’t remember any LE owners bring upset they got an LE and not an SLE. The primary issue was not getting one or the other because the LE+SLE count was 450, the lowest “limited” total since Batman 66 at 320.

If there is anyone looking for an LE40, PM me and I’ll give you a contact for a distributor with an available game left as of a few minutes ago.

Someone at Stern just won a bet.

If only I had that kind of money

JJP already has it's ace in the hole if they want to- Pirates SLE+, 250 made, for $40K each. They'd be sold out in the first hour. Flippers would be asking for $50K within a day. Now all the SLE+ owners will have bragging rights that they have a toy that's worth more than a lot of peoples brand new cars.

I priced out a Godzilla Premium a day or two ago, the theme and gameplay looks great. OTD price? $9520 cash. For a Premium. Of course, after July 1 we are paying tax on that $9K game. WOW.

And to think that my last premium, just a short time ago, cost about $7600-ish to my door (pre-July 1st when the FL tax requirement kicked in). To aquire the same identical pin, I'd need an additional $2,000 just 6 months later. And yes, out of state distros are now charging tax as required.

I also heard that a lot of people that had Mando orders at the old price are now being asked to pay the new price by Stern or take their deposit money back. All the while they are making several other machines as a priority over Mando. We can argue parts supply issues, but I don't think there are very many rare parts in Mando that they aren't using in Godzilla and other machines. So pushing new machines out at the higher price and forcing the old orders to not fill and then asking for the higher price is not a good way to treat customers. And from what I understand, the distributors hands are tied because they are getting the price hike also.

The "people are paying it" thing does not make me feel any better. The funny thing is, I don't know who these people are, for the most part.. I get the barcade owners and those that are wealthy enough to not care, but when I introduce new people to my collection, they always ask how much a machine costs, and even back in the day when you could get a Stern Pro in the $5K range most people thought it was absolutley nutty money to be spending on toy(s) like pinball machines. But there are enough people to not care, apparently.

Who does this hurt? The long term collectors with limited space that usually sell a game to get the next one. If you are lucky that you held your last game before the big price hike, good for you. If you sold it before, you're SOL. Only by pure luck have I not sold a Pinball Machine in several years, but I almost did and I don't think I'd replace one at the $2K higher price. But if you've had the space and $$ to keep most of your machines, you've done pretty good in the pinball investment market!

new release!!!
elvira 40 its not 199 produce its 991 due to high demand
shame on Gary
like he do with b66 sle only 30 heee no we do 80
you can call your distributor for godzilla LE its a fake sold out distributor still have it in stock but just for SPECIAL customer you have to cry a bit and they will sell you one…loool

only spooky respect what they said???

My distro says 24k and taking offers north of that

Why not? I say go Stern go! Make hay while the sun is shining. If people are buying why wouldn't you? Anyone complaining about what Stern is doing just doesn't have a clue!

Go Stern Go!

So he’s got an auction going?

Now it’s not even flippers flipping - it’s the distro’s. Stern still leaving huge $$$ on the table.

gary dick slapped all the SLE owners in the face by making this move

this is gary

yeah Eric .
I am with you man ..
Just like that Simpsons i sold you for like 4200 . what are they now 7k..lol
And Pro prices are a freaking joke.
Not so much diff Now from a ThePin to a pro in price .. And just a few node bards less or just one node board less .

only an Idiot would buy a ThePin for the little amount more it cost for the stripped down or loaded up thePin to a What they call a commercial stock pro.

I have a buddy that has been talking about getting a pinball for a little while and he asked me the other day about it. I told him don't do it. Just come to my basement and play the pins I have. Being a friend I couldn't recommend a game to him with a straight face

Have a premium on order, called my distributor. He said keep your premium order this one is going for “stupid money”. Stupid money was $25k. He said you play your pins, unless you plan to not play it and keep it as an investment with no or very low plays don’t buy it. Great advice actually. Why buy it you’re afraid to play it and “hurt” the value. However, if you want one before Christmas and are willing to spend an extra $15k, then maybe I guess.

It's funny to me that people say this.

Seems to me Stern customers tend to be extremely satisfied. They keep buying Stern pinball machines and seem to be happy when they do. The 199 people who bought this 40th edition game are likely very satisfied. Or else why did they buy it?!

Folks want things just right, just this way or that. I want new games, but I also just want my backordered game. Everyone also wants instant gratification! How are they doing x when I want y!?!?! y makes a ton more sense than x!!! Come on Stern!

Because if they start pulling this crap on a regular basis, I stop buying their LEs (and so do a lot of other buyers). If an LE isn’t truly an LE, what’s the point? I’ll start buying Prems and throw some powdercoated armor and side art on them myself.

Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me.

Has anyone heard an actual price out of stern?
Or are all these just speculation?
American distro can charge what they want, I heard some other countries need to follow msrp.
Stern suggests “calling”
Can anyone confirm price out the factory??

I don't see why people would lie, they've called their distributors and reported back...there doesn't seem to be a "price out of the factory" or Stern would have listed it. This is in the Beatles LE model of "get what you can."

Stern doesn’t just give each distro a discerner price.
Distro all pays the same.
So what is that price.

This is a test from Stern, they had a flop with Beatles diamond edition but now given a winning pin they can charge market price which is a lot ( see $25k Tron LE for example ).

My guess is dealers are paying 13-15 for these from stern

That hasn't been the case since before Tron....where the heck have you been? Tron was MECHANICALLY the same as far as ball interaction, but the LE has Daft Punk Multiball, and the pro does not.....after that......different mechs on every LE/Premium.

Except BM66 was the same

Tron LE was more than Daft Punk Multiball. Mechanically it had a drop target bank & moving Recognizer…other differences were the Recognizer 3-bank registering hits differently based on the Rec’s position, LED boards in the inserts (first time), fiber optic lights on the ramps, silver outlines on the PF art, color change from red to blue on the disc.

All Elviras have identical playfield design.

Are these sold out yet?

I am guessing not. This reminds me of Beatles Diamond Edition. I believe, with a bit of patience, these distributors will start dropping prices way below $20K. Just a hunch. This is just a guess, but I think distributor pricing is around $12 or $13K. All guesses, as I am not privy to any of this.

BM66 had no "Pro" version either, so that's literally not even a comparison point. Neither does EHOH for that matter. The point is that Stern has NOT done a job at *all* over the vast majority of their games over the last 8 years or whatever of "keeping the gameplay identical" unless you're only looking at premiums vs. LEs, which is patently absurd to even say, because they've NEVER made a single LE that had a playfield feature that a Premium doesn't????

Sorry, you are right on that.

No. Not sold out. And not $25k+ either. But >$20k.

1/2 the number at 2x the price will take a little longer to sell out. If you want an LE40 for bragging rights or the purple armor you should be able get one for a while.

And I’m liking the 40th anniversary logo less and less. It dates the game. The beauty of Elvira is that the character is a timeless classic.

That "paranormal" purple is paranormally hideous.

I never bought into the piece of couch is worth 25k group so this doesn't impact me directly however the only thing that made sense to me about people spending that much more money was b/c it was rare and rarity, regardless of hobby, demands a high cost. I get that.

Now - I have no idea why people would spend that amount b/c it seems like the biggest pinball manufacturer is OK with releasing another super rare version. JJP did it and others but they are small potatoes compared to stern. It's b/c of this reason alone, I understand why some are pissed b/c it literally was the only reason why they bought it.

If you think they're happy b/c they have a super cool machine, then you're missing the bigger picture.

Oh no, there will be a new 40th anniversary topper and Stern will just charge $5000 from the get go to eliminate topper flipping!!!

The Price is $25,000

This is exactly what my distro said. Stern won't even allow him to post a price. It's basically "make me an offer".

My distro had them at $25,000 and sounded like he was sold out.

This is also a way to reward distributors, like Beatles Diamond "attempted" to do. They don't make 100% margin like this on ANYTHING.

I'm told the MSRP was $25k and the distros I've talked to were sold out at that price.

There are some still available for $29k+ if you look around.

Why complain? I seriously think Stern left money on the table with this 40th anniversary edition. These could have easily gone for over 30k MSRP , especially if they would have just thrown in a crappy topper.

People love feeling special and nothing says I'm "special" like a 30k pinball machine.

They know the same thing the rest of us do: that human caused climate change is a thing and it's not going to get any better because people aren't willing (by nature) to change until it's too late, so they're just trying to get off planet with all the money they bilked out of us.

Even if they do, it won't matter. They're not going to be able to get enough production and manufacturing in space by the time it's too late (for them, or humanity in general) to have any kind of life they would actually find acceptable. If my money spent on Amazon is what finally enables humanity to have any chance at leaving this rock before we're obliterated...I'll be happy to keep buying from Amazon.

Will never understand why people think the rich are just going to take off into space LOL....enjoy your vaccum toilets and limited food selection. Without the planet, there's nothing left to support stuff in space, and we aren't even remotely close to scratching the premise of "The Martian" much less having a comfortable life up there.

Call me crazy but I ordered one yesterday. Most distributors got 2 or 3. Like 120 in USA only. Some I called said where not selling theirs until they sold out elsewhere so they can get a premium. Most are $25 plus shipping and gone but some were asking $29k.

Distributors didn’t know about this release before hand. Found out like us. I’ll do a video once it arrives.