I was in for the ride with WOZLE, and am in for Hobbit LE too. What Jack and the team continue to achieve is amazing

JJP is definitely the benchmark for pinball quality now.

I won't be pre-ordering from JJP again. So so slow. And no updates re delivery dates.

Yes crazy prices, but bear in mind Europe has 20%+ import (sales) tax vs approx 5% in US, so it's not the retailer ripping us off.

It also means it's a lot cheaper for US folks to get Alien from UK.

The shipping is surprisingly cheap for such a heavy, large item, particularly when done by the container load.

All that said, NIB prices are so high now, it puts me off buying new. Yet we all still do it

I pre-ordered 8 pins, 8 I tells ya. Never again!

WOZ
Hobbit
MG
RAZA
Predator
P3
Nemo
MM-R

My success rate on these to date (1 of 8 received, 3 of 8 court cases, 4 of 8 nearly there, honest) has been somewhat less high than I would have liked. On the plus side, Nemo (with gold plating!) should be completed by end-Nov, and I may get it by Xmas, assuming islamic bandits don't get to it first I also got into collecting jukeboxes while waiting for these pins, which has been fun. One of these jukes was used in a West End show recently in which Ben Whishaw (who plays Q) was stripped down to his underpants and got tied to it, but I digress. That's Ben for you.

More seriously, making new pins is a slow and painful business. I certainly wouldn't contemplate such an endeavour.

Yep, I'm drunk in the jacuzzi again. Soz.

EAG is next Tue-Thurs in London- Europe's biggest such show. I hear that Hobbit/JJP won't be there. Why??

http://www.eagexpo.com

I went to the EAG show in London, and JJP was not there as we know. I find this moderately concerning. It's Europe's biggest amusement industry show, and although mostly not pinball of course, Heighway Pinball and Stern (via the Electrocoin stand) were there.

Are cost considerations really that critical for JJP right now? Do they anticipate Hobbit delays being so far out still that it's not worth taking orders? Has interest in WOZ declined so much?

I get the 'can't be everywhere' argument, but surely you need to invest to grow a business, and, specifically, to be at Europe's biggest industry event? Particularly if you claim to want to grow the operator market. For example, the Sega and Bandai Namco stands (and many others) had lots of redemption ticket games, which I thought would have been right up JJP's street. Maybe next year, I guess...

I agree about the delays getting to the 'too long' stage now. It's put me off pre-ordering. There are machines I'd like to pre-order now, but I'm highly reluctant to do so again.

That said, if it's just putting down £1k or so, and nil else until ready for shipping, that model might work, but even that I'm thinking about after being so badly stung with Jpop and Predator, and long delays with WOZLE then THLE, MMR, P3 etc.

On the positive side, Nemo will be arriving soon (the gold one that Antonio has done such a lovely job on), and MMR within 2 weeks hopefully as it recently arrived at UK port

Due to all these delays & Jpop/Kulek shenanigans, I actually switched to jukebox collecting! Also bought some vintage arcade machines. So it's diversified my interests, which I guess is a positive.