No need to be dissing on PB&J. always one of my go to sandwiches even if I have a pocket full a cash.

There are no politics on the rocketry forum.

When I said they were much less **conservative** than Pinside, I was referring to the overall welcoming and respect of other's ideas, even when much different than their own.

I don't think most distro's are sold out, or even close to it. I do believe that stern has sold all 100 of the first 10 packs though which is what is being said by several people. Some of the foreign distros might have sold their 10 games but in the US there are a lot of distros and a lot of games to go through. If you want a gold they should be available for a little bit at least and maybe for a pretty good while. I'd bet many have diamonds and platinums still available as they are feeling out the market to see how much they can get.

Of course, but all of this year's models have sold out already.

estes-model-rocket-saturn-limited_1_d23a224167773bf189d9ef5e6a4697cd (resized).jpg

Stern is never gonna get left holding the bag on stuff like this. That’s the point of games like supereme and Beatles.

Is there a bag to be left holding? Who knows. The holiday season is upon us!

Supreme is different. It was a contract game built by Stern. It's not a Stern game. Note the lack of Stern branding on it (other than the box it comes in), nothing on their website, not offered to dealers like a normal game, etc. If The Beatles group approached Stern to pay for 1,964 machines upfront and then they would manage the sales...then it would be like Supreme.

Stern is taking a risk on this game being profitable in the long run. I think it will be, but it's stupid how people compare Supreme and Beatles just because they have a high price tag and people want to shit on something they generally can't have.

At least compare it to Batman 66 SLE which was a blatant gashgrab.

ebay.com link: itm here is one for sale bidding starts at 25k and no you don't want to be a loser and get a gold or Platinum

I wouldn't get anything but a gold edition if I was getting a Beatles pin. Whats the point? They are the same game. Is it a status symbol?

ROFL!

No offense meant but that's because you probably weren't even a stain on the backseat of your Daddy's Oldsmobile back then.

If I had to guess, I bet you weren't even alive when pinball was in it's golden age. According to that reasoning pinball must be almost dead too. That type of stuff doesn't surprise me. Of course people from your generation are going to like acts like Justin Beiber and Miley Cirus more than the Beatles. That's what you were brought up on.

Don't kid yourself though. There aren't any bands like the Beatles anymore. You could take every rock/pop band out there nowadays and add them all together and they don't have the influence on society that the Beatlemania phenomenon had worldwide in just 6 years.

It's like the Model T .

Every car today is better in every way, but the Model T got the market going!

I could see how you could be somewhat unimpressed by the Beatles if you didn't live through their era. As Gatecrasher and others have noted, the Beatles changed everything in pop music and 60's culture--unreal the amount of musical influence and cultural leadership they had. I don't think this pin was built for Pinsiders, but it will be snapped up by Beatle fans who might just fancy having a pinball machine. Won't know (or care) about the different versions, they'll buy the one that looks the best to them.

You guessed wrong. I was born in 1965 so i heard plenty of the Beatles and Paul McCartney growing up and even owned some of their albums.

I do like the Beatles but im not crazy about them. I like the hair bands of the 80's and alot of 70's music also and some music before that even. I am more of a hard rock guy and 80's rock. Give me Van Halen any day of the week over the Beatles.

Not a very good analogy.

Yeah Van Halen had one good album (their debut). After that it was all downhill. Although I like Van Halen too, they aren't even in the same league as the Beatles. I think Eddie Van Halen would probably be the first to admit that.

As for the hair bands..... 50 years later the Beatles are still more influential than all of them combined.

Yes, they sure did pave the way for boy bands everywhere

“DON'T BE THAT LOSER WITH A PLATINUM OR GOLD EDITIONS!”

Now this guy knows pinsiders

You first.

Everybody has different taste Gatecrasher. The 80's was my era man, nothing but partying, sex, and rock n roll. "To me", the 80's was the best decade ever but im sure that most people older and younger than me would disagree. I loved it though and it was a total blast. I could tell you lots of great stories that would make you wish that you were a part of it believe me.

Seriously!

I'm trying to remember who started this thread!

Speaking of which I'm thinkin of bringing back the Beatles Lovefest thread...

Perfect analogy really.

The Beatles where the trailblazers for many other bands that followed.

They were more parent friendly than the thrusty "white boy who can sing colored, Elvis" or the Stones.

They were the first "boy band". Latter bands used them as the prototype, swapping members to make the band look right aka Pete Best .

They sold mega albums, but latter bands sold more (Like the White Album sold 18 million, but the Eagle's GH sold 40 million)

It's the same as the Model T.

Newer cars are faster, safer, larger runs, but they all owe something to the marketing/production genius of the T.

My favorite part of that ebay ad is:

COMES WITH THE FOLLOWING
- Flippers
- Lights
- Sounds
- Fun
- Guaranteed Collectible Status!!!

...that must make better pins better than collectible. All our games just tripled in value. Except you WWE owners.

Okay. Even better.
(So, having respect for other's ideas literally 'does' take rocket science, ha!)

Looks just like a stern matrix sheet to me.

Stern molested Batman 66 buyers?

For sure molested their wallets...

I believe that it was completely consensual reaming; no one bought one who could not afford it.

I wonder if the Beatles pinball machine will be among the most influential pins of all time? Oh yeah, the Beatles were a rock rock band and pinball is something completely different.

Stern/Kapow’s marketing scheme reminds me of a Reece’s cup commercial. You got influential music on my pinball machine. Oh yeah, well you got collectible pinball on my music.

Wasn't it Paul who said they were bigger than god? I was pretty young (born in 63) but I still remember some of all the hoopla.

This machines nomenclature gets me though. Gold, platinum and diamond. That's kind of like a drink at a fast food place instead of small, medium and large being large, humongous and bucket size. It's still small, medium and large no matter how you hype it.

It was John. He meant that it was a little over the top that people acted like the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. By that period of time, I believe that the band members were getting a little tired of Beatlemania and wanted their music to be the focus. They even stopped touring in 1966.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_popular_than_Jesus

Thank you for the propose use of the word "literally"

I think the regular price increases and higher then ever NIB prices has helped contribute to more arguments and heated discussions on Pinside. Imagine a home video / audio, or rocketry forum if prices suddenly increased 3-4x within 15 years with no end in site. How would people react on those forums if prices went up and quality went down in some cases? There would be just as many heated discussions on those sites at that point as on Pinside.

Also, for model rocketry and home audio / video there are options for newer products around $100 or less. Starting prices for NIB pins are far more with the barrier to entry beginning around $5k. The higher the prices of products for a hobby the more heated discussions about them there will be. If Beatles was $5k there wouldn't be nearly as much criticism.

^^^ my fav post of the day. thanks Panzer I agree. If some in a rocketry forum blew a gasket over the next Saturn rocket release, it would be shocking. Around here, not so much. NIB prices are too damn high! So of course it is easier to become more heated and vocal on Pinside.

I think people tossing this 5k price around is just very unrealistic.

More realistically with the theme and music/video assets they paid for MAYBE just MAYBE 6k-6.6k for the gold would have been a better starting point, platinum 7.5-8.5k and diamond 12.5k.

Still very expensive but probably more understandable.

Yeah the common sense thing would have been make 1964 Beatles Double-Diamond Edition games priced at $70k for 10 pack and MSRP of $7.6k. One edition and it is the Best of the Best. Invisiglass, laser etched side rails, lit scoop holes, full songs in highest quality possible, more songs, upgraded amp/speakers sound and external cabinet volume switch. F’k the licensing costs, get us some mother fU@3N Beatles songs to listen to while the game is going. How many? Well you have 9 now, maybe another 18 for a nice 27 songs.

Stern’s First Mistake was introducing three identical models with different art. Why? There was no need to create three models if you weren’t adding features to each model. Then at the last minute they washed their hands and proceeded to sell 10 pin mixed allotments to distributors at $70k. So at the end of the day, Stern is no better off from selling three models than one, if they’d sell out. Easier to market, produce and sell one model, so why create three models? stupid stupid stupid.

Stern doesn’t feel the impact and have flushed this stupid 3 models version down the toilet and can move on. In the meantime the market is totally FBAR’d. Distributors have games models nobody wants, distributors were encouraged to set their own prices and distributors have set aggressive and secretive pricing. Like a modern day numbers racket. There is a lot of smoke and clouds.

Stern’s Second Mistake was not setting MSRP pricing and preventing distributors from exceeding it. They could have had MSRP pricing of $5.5k / $6.5k / $7.5k and everybody would have been winners. Distributors who can sell Collectibles fans the Diamonds, Beatles fans the Platinums and Pinball Fanatics and New Customers the Golds. Everybody would have been set up for success and paid much lower.

And Stern’s Third Mistake - not adding more sizzle to the platinum or diamond. It appears to be laziness on their part, because I can’t list one significant improvement announced for the platinum and diamond models.

Unfortunately Stern’s early decisions drove the Beatles pinball train off the track at the sharpest bend and by not setting MSRP like they did for every preceding game ... Stern allowed the train to plunge into the rock lined ravine below. So how does that affect you? Well ... if you were interested in buying a Beatles at a lower price, it would be great news and might have juice overall sales. If your didn’t care about buying a Beatles pin, it doesn’t affect you. If you want to see one on location, you may be hard pressed to find one now. Some distributors may have a shortage of funds to buy the next title that you do want if funds are tied up. We’ll say this creates a small market blip before the market keeps flowing on. But we’ll understand this pin was the marketing disaster of 2018. “Worst for distributors, Beatles fans, Pinheads and new Customers”.

Other than some crazy LE, pin prices have kept up with inflation.

In the 90s, I was paying $3200 for AFM, that's $5,300 in today's dollars.

In the 70s, I was paying $1800 for KISS, that's $7,200 in today's dollars.

The 3 models were a reward for the dealers.

Dealers always cry that they don't get enough mark up.

So Stern threw them a bone.

Out of every 10 pack, 2 of the games could be sold to collectors for a larger mark-up.

Same as with anime dolls, each case has a single, crazy rare doll that can be sold for 10 times the amount of the other dolls in the box.

The rare doll is simply a different color. It's not larger or more fancy in any way.

Dealers love this because they get a handsome profit selling the rare doll for $300 instead of $30.

image (resized).jpg

Still available in New Zealand I got this a few hours ago. As a point of comparison a gold is about the same as I paid for a a dialed in standard.

Good morning ,

The Gold version of the Beatles pinball is now available for $NZ14,650 which includes gst and a written warranty and delivery to Auckland/Wellington and CHCH.

Numbers on this unit are limited World Wide.

The Platinum and Diamond units I will find out next week. These will be much more expensive and are available in very limited quantities.

Please let me know

Yes, I am excited. This is the license of a lifetime.

Joe and I have worked for a decade to get this license. This is the ultimate rock ‘n roll title with the ultimate music, performed by The Beatles themselves. Those of you attending the IAAPA Show, please play The Beatles game at our booth. You will be excited too.

Our Beatles pinball is what a great Beatles pinball, back in the day, would have been – modernized by George Gomez with music, art, enhanced rules, devices and more. And it is FUN – capital F, capital U, capital N.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6fyq0w6z8p3kcu6/AABn4bf3b2OkBls5xjhV5ZYha/Hi%20Res%20Beatles%20Gallery?dl=0

and a link to low res images -

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6fyq0w6z8p3kcu6/AAABOrYNXIX5Kl74XHrxfBf6a/Lo%20Res%20Beatles%20Gallery?dl=0

There will only be a total of 1964 pinball games produced. Of the 1964, there will only be 100 Diamond models produced. Of the 1964, there will only be 250 Platinum models produced. The balance, 1614 games, will be Gold models. No more will ever be produced. That’s it. Only 1964.

I’m with you. Have no idea who will buy it which is I was saying “if it works out this way”. I will be impressed if they turn this into a money maker.

DI >>>>>>>>>> Beatles pinball

It's weird, to me at least, that a decade of work and all this excitement only warranted a retheme of an old layout. Couldn't even be bothered to make a brand new game.