Nah not better but different. It's hard to argue with a game that's not a shooter or half the game of a Wonka.

Wonka is such a great shooting game with super depth, it is most definitely getting more love as people are exposed to it and have it in a home environment.

I disagree here. I think it’s more that this hobby is full of sheep and macho dudes that want macho themes. As soon as there was a whiff of doubt and displeasure with Wonka (about theme, rules, whatever) a lot of people tuned out immediately (OMG, they changed brat Multiball to kid! I’ll NEVER buy this!! Nobodies lips are moving! Nothing is in sync! Aarrggghhj!!).

It also takes time to get familiar with a complex game with a deep, well integrated ruleset, and few people bothered to take the time or couldn’t. I shake my head at owners that give up on a game like Wonka after a couple hundred plays (or less). You don’t know shit after 200 plays. Strategy options on Wonka are off the charts. Im still learning after 4 months of constant play.

Factor in playfield issues (and the attendant self righteous factor) and it snowballs. And with so many other games to choose from, it makes sense Wonka slid.

But now people have played it, experienced the theme integration and understand the rules. People realize it’s a great freaking game, and they want it. Duh. Compared to what other machines cost and deliver, Wonka is a no brainer.

There are more “pinball moments” in Wonka than any game I can think of. And it’s definitely a world under glass. Isn’t that what everyone wants? It also might be Lawlor’s best flowing game. In history. The positives outweighs the negatives by an order of magnitude.

Damn you gene Wilder and that creepy movie........I pick mine up in a couple days..

Love my timing recently. Traded for a GNR SE right before the price hike. Got my Wonka and Dialed In a few months ago from a divorce sale and now Wonka is basically sold out.

Different people have different tastes. I don't like Wonka, had to play it in league. Doesn't float my boat.

People on here are sheep. There are patterns to values and desirability.

Game is announced to first few weeks/months its the greatest thing ever. All other games are now inferior.
People figure out the code has issues. Maybe it is just scoring imbalances, bugs, etc. The game takes a slow dive down the top 100. Code updates may slow or stop this, but typically the game loses interest as newer games come out. People dump the game so they can be other titles, prices go down. Once it stops being available new, prices spike for awhile. Good games, the price stays up, but otherwise it is a temporary spike while the stragglers who wanted it, but didn't buy when it was new scramble.

Other things that drive values, history of the game (BBB, TBL before production started back up). Flavor of the month (Radical getting attention streams jack its price up).

Play it more... I am a decent player and play tourneys here and there ( at least I did pre covid)

I didnt like it either until I spent real time learning it.

Its not a game you can play 10 times and get whats going on and why its works.

Its a great mix of hard and easy shots and can be a ballbuster.

Exactly right. A handful of plays and you won't "get" the game. The callouts will seem confusing, etc.

TBH when I got my Wonka SE I was ready to push it down the stairs the first night
The next day I spent more time with it and starting making sense of things, and it quickly grew to our most heavily played game.

The first time you experience that wonka boat ride with the shaker getting stronger and stronger is pretty cool.

Hitting Wonka's Office was (and remains) a big pinball moment for us too!

Im curious does the game just end? Like after you escape Nebula on JP, the game ends, thats it. I kind of like that but I dont know what other games end like JP does. Like an actual closure and you can move on with your life and another game kind of thing.

Jjp’s laughing all the way to the bank I guess. Not sure what’s so humorous about it. What was humorous is all the people buying Zep LE unseen and without playing it. And justifying $5,600 for the barren Zep pro. That’s downright hysterical.

And so are all the people coming in here questioning - or even caring - that Wonka’s are selling out, let alone finding it amusing.

I am a new guy (old though) here and new modern day pinball buyer. I have always enjoyed pinball with my limited skills and old machine T2 in my home. So I decided to use some of my new found fortune to buy some pinball machines. I went through many lists and tried many machines. WW just kept jumping out as the best machine I could get. Looked at some 9/10 older games like Addams, Twilight, and new games like MM, WO.

I can tell you as an outsider looking for fun shooting all around themed game WW is head a shoulders above every other pin out there for us new buyers. I hated chasing games and the crazy pricing but wanted the best playing, attractive game for myself and other who come over. My wife is a Guns and Roses lover and we said what happens when others come over like the neighbor kids? They won't even know who Guns and Roses are, but Willie will draw them in like kids to candy. I wanted Led Zepplin cuz it reminded me of T2 so much with the ramps and love that, my wife does not like Led Zepplin so no dice. The other game that was a close second was WO but I did not like the maintenance issues it was having so it moved down to my number 2 machine. I may get a WO after WW gets good and broke in. I am wondering if one gets Jersey Jacks burn out cuz the games all have simular looks?

No, Wonka's Office is what you get for the 2nd Golden Ticket. Much more game left to pursue!

I don't want to spoil it for you or others who might not have seen it yet.

Wonka was killed by pinside. It was released to much fanfare and acclaim but the early on playfield issues fed the negative pinside hive mind. I was one of those that was super excited for Wonka, played it at Allentown and fell in love, but couldn't get over the $9500 price tag which included a chipping playfield.
After covid hit and I was locked in my house I finally pulled the trigger on an SE. One of the best decisions I've made. It's one of my favorite movies and I love gene wilder so much.
I understand the negativity here. It sucks to have shit quality chipping playfields when you pay a premium for them. I had to just swallow it down and pull the trigger. My playfield is luckily chip free. In today's market we just don't have many other choices if you want to continue to get new machines.

Have you gotten more then 3 golden tickets yet?I posted a high score of 17 mil. last night it’s legit on factory settings and still only got to and past Wonka’s office.This time I played around in office shooting required shots left to right.I scored a lot of points with the 500 Wonka bars and 8x bonuses I have blisters on my fingers!

My wife has gotten 3 tickets, once. I still have not. Both of us are still engaged with it and trying though!

It's all about managing the Kid MB jackpots while also pursuing the other goals in the game. If you mess up the kids, your game is likely shot.

Kind of a shitty response.

To someone who has owned 100 plus games, been in the hobby over a decade, and was playing it in league over a period of months. Your opinion is invalid, you need to play more, is bullshit.

No. It is not. My opinion isn't the end all be all, but it is valid. Over the last five years I'd lump it in with stranger things as my biggest disappointments.

I totally disagree. As an owner of both games MM is every bit as good if not a better shooter than Wonka. The only thing Wonka has over MM is a very deep rule set, and I could argue thats not necessarily a good thing.

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Wasnt meant that way... It was a suggestion since I was in the same boat as you.

I didnt like it either until I had one to play for a month or so.

Your opinion is totally valid not everyone is going to like everything.

Im just suggesting you give it another shot since to me its the best game of the last 5 years.

Wow, you guys are defensive. I want JJP to succeed. I’ve bought 5 of their games NIB. I generally like them. What I found humorous was all the people that jumped on Wonka in the past few days. Everyone didn’t just discover the game finally this week. The code didn’t change. They just got caught up in the hype and went from Wonka not even being on their radar to furiously searching for a CE for $12k+.

Given it enough shots to know. I can see why some like it. I don't. To me I would much rather spend my time on Houdini, which is less popular, but to me more satisfying.

I see a few CE on ebay.

My favorite thing about my Wonka SE was trading it for a really nice original AFM.

Hmm I felt the opposite, sold my AMFRLE and got a Wonka CE instead. AFMRLE got repetitive.

What hype? Is the creation of this thread “the hype”? Where is this hype of which you speak?

Slowly, over the course of 2 years people have come around to the fact that Wonka is good. That it’s bad reputation was overblown and undeserved. I did so myself 4 months ago. I was negatively influenced and got over it. Thank goodness, or I wouldn’t own one of the most enjoyable pinball machines I’ve ever played.

In the last month, it’s become obvious that pinball production is behind (or non-existent cough, cough) for all manufacturers. People want games. Wonka’s were available so people bought them. And now they’re almost all sold. Same with DI. I’m sure a bunch of crappy Stern games (that distros have in inventory) are selling too. Lol. The market is hot and there’s limited supply. People are even blowing up Kiss! (Note: I like Kiss).

I’m not seeing hype, but if people want to hype Wonka, go for it! It totally deserves it. It’s earned it.

Congrats!

Also, don't use clamps!

If only there were a more innovative - and protective! - way to ship a machine!

It’s a miracle these games get anywhere in one piece!

In my earlier post I mentioned that WiWo is the only in box ready to buy and ship JJP. However it appears this is not the case. DILEs are still available too.
Another Pat Lawlor game (like Wonka) which is a blast despite the apparent lack of love for the theme.

We should look to Deeproot to solve this.

I felt the same about Wonka. Just too much sitting around watching the same clips playing over and over.

It's all good, everybody like different things and tastes change over time. Lately I'm more into playing for points and not having to spend 45 minutes to break a high score.

I also think Led Zeppelin is one most fun and original games ever released. Shoots like butter and the way it's coded to reward skillful play with big points is pure genius... so that probably shatters any credibility I had with most folks reading this!

Wonka was fun too, and worth checking out for sure.

What value will the CE hold in the future?

I believe they guarantee it will hold between 98.7 percent of it's value adjusted for inflation.

Since there is SO much speculation as to why people are buying Wonka and Dialed In 'suddenly', I can at least offer my personal reasons as a player/collector.

I have a buddy whose opinion on game I trust quite a bit. He likes games with great shots, some flow and depth of rules/modes. He has been talking both of these games up (and JJP games, in general) for quite a while. I get first 'dibs' on his games when he is done with them, and two weeks ago he mentioned that his Wonka and Dialed In were never leaving his collection. That got my attention, so I started looking around, and I decided to go NIB from JJP (they had a few Wonka CEs left), even though I have been avoiding newer games due to play field issues. We LOVE the game. My wife and step-son have been playing, and even my step-daughter and her boyfriend have shown interest. LOVE it.

Well, after JJP quickly sold out of Wonka CEs, and I started to read about a run on the title in general, I felt like I got in just in time. SO...that got me thinking about securing a Dialed In...again, a game I was ALWAYS going to get, at some point, but loving my Wonka CE so much and seeing what was going on, I happened to find a DI CE NIB yesterday, and then came on Pinside to see people talking about a possible run on THOSE. So, do I count as a "I just have such deep pockets, and I HAD to have them just because of FOMO even though I don't care bout the titles", or did I start to see the writing on the wall as far as both of these titles I wanted because of reputation becoming harder to find NIB, so I pulled the trigger? It is the latter.

Yes, I paid NIB CE prices for both, but since I expect them to both be in my collection for a LONG time, I am very happy. So, I don't know what other peoples' stories are, but that was the reason for 2 JJP NIB sales this past two weeks.

Lol. Thats about what I was quoted! When did the pinball hobby start evaluating games by rate of returns like a 401k? lol

Then you just have bad taste. Stranger Things is a player too. Don’t sleep!

LOL - Mini investments for me with some fun in between

Damn! Sun, snow and a NIB. You've got it all!

I have TWO brand new in the box Wonka CE. If interested let me know.

I currently have 28 CE models in stock at classicgamerooms.com. We are not price gouging like some dealers.

Its still a great game!

I bought my NIB CE last week from a distributor who had one in reserve. #441 I ordered it immediately after watching ZMeny and SDTM video (yes I was emotional)! And let me say...this pin delivers! It is a gorgeous work of art in every way! 2 days later they were shown as sold out on JJP website where the CE had still been available for months.

Joe from PinballSTAR thank you...our CE #441 is amazing! the whole family loves it. This thing is a forever keeper.

Under consideration. Thinking of selling my SE with mods and get the CE since the LE's are sold out. Love the game.

I’ve been contemplating the same thing for a couple of weeks. That CE looks amazing