A good way to estimate # games produced is to look at the proportions of pinside owners to verified production numbers on other games. As far as I've ever heard that 1000-1100 number is pretty solid, and this thread looks like it's providing solid evidence to that fact. That number is significantly higher than others produced around the time, like BBH, CSI, and 24.

Mine, as mentioned, is a real late run and is #100.

Same here.

CSI and 24 were known to be ridiculously low. BBH I think falls in the middle somewhere, as it was re-run more times than IM was I'm pretty sure, although how many times were in each run is questionable.

You also have to think about who wants to own them. BBH as a theme doesn't seem to connect with home collectors. It does, however, seem to work quite well in certain places as a route title. I know of one op up here that hadn't bought a Stern NIB since Family Guy who bought three BBHs because they were doing so well for them.

I'm in Aus and have No:372

GoatDan and GoBlue, can you look for that little sticker under the left flipper area? I think you have the same sticker as one of the earlier posters 100/1153 that might not tell as much info as the other one

Mine is also #100. The sticker doesn't represent a production count.

Mine has 100/1153 and is #973

Lets run some stats. IM has a Pinside ownership of 157, which I'd guess has a higher collector % ownership than many pins, so if we assume 1100 manufactured, that means 14%.

To verify lets compare other high demand collector pins like MM's pinside ownership of 382/4016=9.5% and AFM @ 393/3450=11.4%, and MB 296/3361=8.8%. Is IM's collector ownership that much higher, or is the production number somewhere over 1300?

Going back to CSI, 24, BBH, Pinside ownership represents 23,21,23 respectively, so I believe the production numbers are very close between them. Applying a lower 7% Pinside ownership results in a 330 production run of each, which I think is pretty close based on the scarcity of them.

Has anybody just call stern and asked??

Stern officially doesn't release numbers of machines sold. Their former employees that post on this site that are now working for the competition even signed NDA's and they can't tell either.

The one former programmer working on WOZ that posts here from time to time once said look at the actual serial numbers and you'll have a good idea.

Low low production so far, rerun will be another 2000

I meant of the 100/1153 question? I didn't realize they didnt release production numbers?

You think they will do a re-run of IM? I thought the licence expired and they couldn't renew it?

Oh let's NOT go there Chad...already beaten to death!

Playfield #615
Manufactured 5/27/2010
No right ramp protector, had to order one from Cliffy.

Not trying to his post just caught me by suprise, saying 2000 units? It's like saying Tron SE running

If there are $$$ in it, I expect they will do it.

Mechanically, IM is a stripped down game which to me seems like it should have smaller BoM than bascially any other game they could run. Re-run them for $800-1200 more than their prior MSRP?

Ka-ching!

I am not really worried about them tanking the value of my IM, but if they manage to somehow vastly oversupply the game what can you do. At current NIB prices here in Canada, a new IM is about $6K shipped to me with taxes. The odds of me selling my current IM for that amount seems pretty small.

However, if anybody in B.C. wants a HOU IM for $10K, please drop me a line. For that price I can probably deliver it

That's exactly true. All these weekly threads on re-running IM are nothing more than pipe dreams.

Mine doesn't have any other stickers on it with any numbers. Mine was one of the last off the line.

Or, are games that are older tougher to come by because they went into the hands of route operators, and may have been stripped for parts and tossed because their main purpose was to earn coins on location - not to entertain someone in a home gameroom? Heck, I know of more MMs on location in Milwaukee than IMs.

You're naming two games that were supposedly extremely low production games with CSI and 24, and BBH (as well as IM) was sold mainly at least at the beginning to route operators. The goal of Stern with both BBH and IM was to create a random happening within the game that would make ball times shorter on location and see how that did with earnings, hoping to bring route operators back into the fold with this tougher style game. The collector community for the most part decried the game as one of the most cost-cut games ever, and said they had no interest in it.

The first four or five months after the game came out the pinball community was dominated by reports of higher earnings for it by route operators, not by people plunking down a ton of money on this, "stripped down" machine. I was one of very few people that kept saying that the game was amazing and that people should give it a chance. It took a LONG time for those who had them to sell out, and it is only since that point that the game's popularity has taken off (for good reason).

Regardless, it's really like comparing apples and oranges. I guess that's what I was trying to highlight with all of that. Oh, and you have to hope for true self-reporting. My IM is not part of that number.

I like how everyone "knows" this to be true. Ladies and gents, cash talks and if there is really enough reason to rerun the game, enough cash can restart any license as is. I don't think that IM being the flavor of the month will last enough for it to be worth it for Stern to rerun though.

Here's the thing... The initial collector response to the game was so negative that while there are people clamoring for it, the question is how many people there really are. On top of that, if a person is to believe like I do that there are a significant number of these actually out doing their job earning quarters, then at some point in the next year or two when the "circulated" number of Iron Men become much higher as they get pulled and sold, you'll see the prices come back down to a realistic level. Just like if you wait, you can still get them at a realistic level.

There were 2357 IM machines made.

There were 787 released with 129 going to non operators huo.

I've always wondered about the lack of production numbers from Stern and this is the best explanation I've heard.

There were 787 released with 129 going to non operators huo.

Wow! 129 going as HUO, I guess this makes them Limited- Limited Editions machines.

If this is true then prices will rise even faster as they will be harder to get than a CC or a BBB?

I would love to join the club of proud Iron Man owners- if anyone is selling one anytime soon near Denver-let me know- Thanks

So it's somewhere between 787 and 2357?

So far the figure of around 1100 seems to be spot on. Nothing to show this not to be the case.

How the heck would anyone come up with that number? Wouldn't you have to account for everyone mfg'd and then poll the distros and get 100% accurate info? Unless you're joking and I didn't get it...

I think it was a joke.

my bad, I quoted the wrong person and missed the joke, I better get another cup of coffee

Got a NIB IM from Belgium last summer. Has the ramp protectors so a later model.

The Playfield number is 1004.

Cheers Tony

A few euro NIB's came to Aus early last year, don't know numbers unless wamprat can add his as he got one of these. But euro must of had spars sitting around for a while, number is still under 1100

I just made up the number and waited for someone else to makeup another number. Goes to show you that production number estimates are snake oil.

Not when the numbers are written under the p/f and so far 1004 is highest and that was on the very late run

Official numbers are official numbers. If Stern doesn't release their numbers then its a guestimate.

I still don't get why people think that every playfield was numbered exactly alike, every single playfield was perfect and got dropped into a machine, and that those numbers aren't funky at all. Unless something weird happened, if there are 1004 playfields made, then there should be closer to ~800 machines actually produced if what I learned on the Stern tour at the time (it was before the final run, they had Avatar on the line) was correct and they were sending back 1 out of 5 playfields.

Who is to say that they didn't do a run of 1005 playfields and then another run of 1005 playfields with more stickers?

Unless Stern comes out and says that they sold XXXX number of machines, I think it's all just guessing.

We could consider that as a possibility, but so far we have no duplicate numbers reported (out of a small sample set of 23).

79
81
83
115
146
186
267
296
311
372
384
552
615
619
740
744
867
893
914
936
973
988
1004

_{Post edited by JesseB : added 2 serial numbers on 3/5/13}

Mine is 384

I believe that the playfields that get sent back to the subcontractor by Stern are repaired or replaced with same serial number. I am pretty sure that they don't just scrap them. Probably use the serial number as an RMA/tracking number. It makes sense from a manufacturing perspective.

You mean your IM or your "friends" IM?

Ouch a lot of cabinet damage to replace the bottom? Could you cut out damaged area and adhere a new bottom board to remaining bottom, the. Do same for top... Making a sandwich, suggest thin plywood... Hope it works for my IM anyways... Quote from Oronpuro in another thread. He and his friend must each have one?

decided to buy it from him...now can you lay off..you are paranoid and a kinda rude on alot of these posts to alot of people...lets end the negativaty...

long story and not telling you guys...lets just say I helped a friend and ended up with a pin and hole in my pocket...and yes game will be fixed better than ever. which has nothing todo with this thread of IM numbers ....

Well you have certainly deserved it! Paranoid? Please. Comfortable in my "pin" skin, which is more than i can say for you.

See you at the Seattle pin show...hope you bring your "friend" as well.