Yes, I was buying pretty much every LE that was released but I stopped at TWDLE not only due to high price but quality, loved the pin but felt cheated. Now its 7500 for a pro model and close to 13 000 for an LE, thats crapola.

ArchieBunker.jpg

Answer to the question: for me yes. GoT LE will be around € 9500 shipped to my home over here. That is a lot more than prices were a year ago and frankly I think the current titles are not worth it.

I am now seriously thinking about ordering an Alien LE from Heighway Pinball as an alternative. Also I would really like for them to become a big player so maybe Stern and JJP will consider another pricing strategy for countries that suffer from the exchange rates. Only problem is I promised myself to never pre-order again so I have some soul searching to do

I am pretty confident that Heighway will become a major player if Alien ticks all the right boxes. They have shown that they can ship a game with Full Throttle. Can't wait to see what Alien is like. I also think Homepin is toiling away in the background making all their own parts and boards and will also become a major player. Just waiting for the release of Thunderbirds.

I think Stern needs to adopt the Heighway pinball system in terms of swapable PF's, I know I would be interested as I have space limitation and the price would drop 30 to 40%. Why not have the option?

In A Nutshell: Don't I don't worry about foreign buyers buying power as the dollar is overvalued and will have corrections in the future, most won't be happy here about it, but it's painfully obvious to those that study economics. If you don't know what I'm alluding to, research the federal reserve, which is a private for profit bank cartel, that makes the Federal Reserve Note (no, it's not called a US dollar just look on the cash in your pocket), most of it which is digital (made out of thin air) and loaned to the US government at interest. This kind of gimmick is not sound money and history shows that this is that it's not sound monetary policy.

As Nate stated on one of his most recent podcasts, Stern still technically has the cheapest NIB pinball you can buy (but only barely). GOT is $5995 MSRP, which is probably like $5500 at distributor prices. Spooky is at $5995 period, Heighway pinball is at $6500. With that said though, $500 price difference shouldn't matter at that point. I would much rather have my AMH with a flipper fidelity speaker system and powder coated metal (and color changing LED strips on the cabinet and backbox), and complete DEEP code for similar pricing.

Honestly for me it's probably still cheaper to buy a SPooky pinball because I don't pay tax (out of state), but I'm close enough to pick it up in person. I'd have to pay tax on a Stern.

Cool! Thank you. They have priced themselves out of my market for a while... they have made some fun games, but there are many tried and true games out there for half the price, or much less even.

In my opinion they have. They aren't offering the features or quality of JJP but in Australia at least are charging almost the same money.

I was out when NIB Stern pinball over here went past $10k, so the last LE I bought was Metallica.

If JJP ever gets to a point where they are releasing even 1 game a year, Stern at their current price and current quality won't sell LEs here at all.

Outside the US I think everyone is taking a hit. I dreamed of someday buying a NIB, but now I don't even bother dreaming about it. The CDN $ is in the toilet.

Hell, nowadays I'm having a hard time just buying parts out of the USA.

What bugs me now is not only does it make a NIB unaffordable, but every idiot now thinks that their pin is now worth 30-50% more than what it was this time last year!!!

B and C grade titles are stupid money as well.......bring on the bubble burst I say!!

Go USA!!! And all the dumbass's here in the US talk about how great the economy and everything is. Soon we won't be selling shit overseas. And stern you pissed me off all the way back when I could buy a tron le, but pulled the stripped down pro vs the le BS. I can't believe anyone buys any of your extremely over priced games. This includes JJP and all over priced pin manufacturers.

Really?? 90% of the people in Alberta are/were over paid and under worked. Its about time for a wake up call.

As far as Stern goes, they have no control over the dollar. I agree there pricing keeps increasing but the fact GoT is 2K more in Canada and everywhere else, isn't there fault, that's our idiot government at work.

If a Stern pro is ever 5500 at my dist, I will never buy a pro again

I think they are overpriced right here in the U.S.

The overall quality and obvious measures of cost cutting are unacceptable at these price points. However, if Stern decides to build Jaws I'm a buyer. It's very easy for me to say no to Kiss and GOT.

..and herein lies the problem....fence sitting....

...yes they are overpriced but if they release xyz I'm in...lol!!!

It really is time to act and stop paying these prices, especially considering all the QC issues they are now having!! Wrinkled decals, warped playfields....unacceptable.

My first ever NIB was a METLE, looks to be my last unless the QC and price improves!!!!! NO MATER WHAT!!!

You're right, I am part of the problem.

dup post

Heighway can be a huge competitor at least for the european market. You can get a Full Throttle for 6,4k compared to 8k for a Stern Premium, it seems to be a bargain. And I would rather compare it to a premium than to a pro. Also the technology (not only because of the playfield swap) seems to be more than one step ahead. I don't like the theme and I think the art package is aweful, but the coming up Alien pinball machine can change the game.

I really would like to keep on buying Stern machines, but as long as the premiums are not under 7k - no way. 7k is already an aweful amount of money.

Personally I don't like the idea of letting everything being assembled in Asia or whereever. It's good to have a local production and pinball is really an american icon. But nevertheless Stern has to find a way to keep sales on running... If it works out for them at the current prices, they do a good job. If sales is going down, they have to think about ways to motivate buyers

Cool... So after running first System 11 World Championship, you will also go for the first System 80 WC
Sorry for being off topic...

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Nah, I am out of room so I can't get all the Gottliebs too

I had to sell 95% of my DEs and 50% of the Sterns as well to fit in all the SS Bally machines.

no room or money for new Sterns for me.

rd

Dibs on Tron Le

$10,000 USD and it's yours. Maybe.

rd

Cheaper than GOT

Prettier too.

rd

Stern have to cut their margins on overseas orders or they'll destroy that market. They reaped the benefits while the $US was weak, now it's time to be smart and cushion the blow for international customers.

totally agree Shastings, especially when figures circulating around suggested 50% of sales are from overseas

it will be interesting what happens this Friday if the US raise interest rates

Cool photo.

Here is how our distributor has priced NIB pins here in NZ.
NIB GoTLE is 13k NZ in Aus,(landed with their gst & shipping) 13k + GST + shipping = 16k NZ
That way we have no chance of getting one cheaper & that's why CC have priced it this way.
If we were paying the same price as our mates across the ditch 4 or 5 GoTLE would have been sold here already.

I was on the fence about the theme. I don't ride a motorcycle, nor do I have any interest in racing... however, after playing one for a few hours I must admit the theme is awesome. An original theme, sound that rocks, a villain you love to hate, artwork that craps all over GoT, and a great playing experience. It's a wonderful non-licensed title. More people should play Full Throttle before making judgments about it.

its not about anyone on this site buying games. If route ops stop that's an issue and I'm not talking about the "I have 1 game on route" route op. I'm talking about real ops who make a living at this not a hobbyist.

Aside from Silver Ball, all of the operators in my area say the same thing. The ROI on new machines is terrible and too much maintenance is involved. The same operators are running 50-100 cranes in a single location.

Yeah but you are in NJ, this is about non-US markets. Locations are dead for the most part in the US and the few existing ones are the "I have one or 2 machines on route" type. There are not a lot of large scale pin ops in the US. The foreign market is a higher % of route ops still.

The local Op only puts 1 pin a location. ROI is low.
We only get 1 new pro pin in NZ every Stern release. Comes into Auckland and gets moved through the country,then sold after its done the rounds for $500 less than NIB

Maybe since Stern places 95% of it's pins on location in Italy, they don't care about the 30% on location in the US.
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^^^^^^

Big trouble looming on the not to distant horizon.

Please share pics of the unboxing party.

I will in the good old thread... EM : Show us your EM Pinball Machines!
But most probably not before GoT Premium will hit the market...

Sorry... I didn't want to bash Full Throttle... looking forward to play this game! Still - Alien with Aurich involved in design seems much more interesting.

Yes, It looks like fun, but I'm I the only guy that thinks that cabinet design actually makes Sega's X-Files cab look good in comparison.