2016 was a great year for pinball, 2017 will be better

My predictions:

Spooky's next game will be a very interesting licensed theme that attracts a lot of first-time pinball buyers.

Heighway's Alien will be released to critical acclaim, and they will have a hard time keeping up with demand for most of the year.

Nothing at all will be heard from American Pinball. Not a peep.

Prediction: in 2017 Santiago Ciuffo's pinball book will continue to receive critical acclaim. From the seller.

Stern will go to an Etch-a-Sketch type of display to cut cost on next game.

Gottlieb, Williams, and Bally were dead.

Predictions:

Gottlieb, Williams, and Bally are dead.

Wake me up if it changes. (I'm not even one of those nuts about their DMD games, don't really care about those as much as I care about Stern ones, that's not what my post was about, so especially wake me up if they start up the EM department again LOL)

My only Prediction for 2017, and I havent posted on the dedicated thread, is the uproar
to be coming, when Batman gets in the hands of long awaited owners...

I feel the code delay is not to make a Good game Great, but to salvage a game to just "good".

I hope Im wrong...seriously wrong....but the delays leave me feeling this way...Its been held up from a single
flip being shared for code...To me, theres code magic being done to save it, and Lyman may achieve it....I hope....

Sorry guys...

Star Wars LE will hit the 15k mark.

2016 was a good year for my business.

2017 will see some exciting things for my business game wise.

And when the freeway 169, East of me closes in March for a year. I'll survive the impact on my business.

Long shot prediction. JJP Dialed in and Stern Star Wars hit at about the same time in a battle of the pins.

LTG : )

Spooky's next game will be available for purchase and delivery in 2017.
Dialed in will not ship in 2017.
Stern pros will have an MSRP of 6K plus by the end of 2017.

I predict Gottlieb rises up and starts producing EM's once again!

Afmr comes out at 8k but fully modded and with colour.

Spooky announces and starts producing next title around Christmas '17.

Stern qc continues to suck, their prices rise and people still buy them to the point they can't keep up demand.

Gb code will take most if not all next year to finish and gb will go down as sterns worst rollout of a game.

People will turn on tbl due to lack of code updates.

Wooly announces production.

People will continue to bemoan rising pinball prices while continuing to pay them. Sheep will be sheep.

Batman 66 loses massive value within the first several months of release.
Kiss plummets with final code release on Christmas.Excess NIB inventory hits market.
Alien finally makes it into production, game fizzles out quickly like Rob Zombie did.
Dialed In = Massive failure forcing Jack to announce another version at a $7000 retail.
Aerosmith = Despite a great art package, it becomes a complete flop.
Ghost Busters = Best selling game of 2017.
Star Wars LE Pricing = $10,000 (1000 produced: 500 The Force & 500 Dark-side).
Rumors run wild that AC/DC vault will be released in 2018 with an all new Art package.

Debtor Kevin Kulek belatedly concludes he really should have "cooperated with the Trustee in the administration of Debtor's estate" when he had the chance!

2016 was a good year for pinball. Lots of new games, parts, newcommers, new locations, etc.

2017 will be even better

Here were my predictions for 2016, with a rundown of right and wrong calls. I didn't do too badly...

Stern will release 4 games, the first two of which will be Spiderman VE and Ghostbusters. One of the last two will be a music pin, and none of them will be Star Wars, which will be released in 2017. ALMOST RIGHT...EXCEPT THE MUSIC PIN - BUT IT'S COMING!

JJP will begin shipping Hobbits in January (even if they ship one in December just to say they shipped one in 2015!). It will be received very well, and the 1500 LEs will sell out. They will announce Lawlor's game at Expo in October. ALMOST RIGHT, BUT CORRECT ABOUT THE LAWLOR PIN.

Heighway will release Aliens to universal acclaim, and everybody on Pinside will get all up in Aurich's shit about the artwork because they're jealous that they couldn't do it. CORRECT...EXCEPT AURICH.

Spooky won't announce any new games in 2016, unless it comes at the end of the year like it did this year. WRONG. ALTHOUGH I'M HAVING A TOUGH TIME STOMACHING A DOMINO'S MACHINE...

Planetary will announce AFMr, even though all the MMr orders haven't gone out yet. WRONG.

People will meet me at TPF, and will be sorry they ever looked forward to meeting me. CORRECT.

Pintastic will double in attendance, will have HUGE names showing up there, and will henceforth be regarded as one of the premier pinball shows to attend in America. Beelzeboob's booth (this year entitled "Glory, Glory Hole-a-loo-yah!")will do absolutely no business (with the exception of Lloyd), and The Boob will pack up his shit and run home early like the big baby he is. CORRECT, BUT THE BOOTH NEVER HAPPENED.

RobT and McCune will not come back to Pinside in 2016. Or ever. HALF RIGHT. (HI, ROB! )

Centerflank will treat himself and switch hands. WHO?

Skypilot will still be a hack and will still abandon his children to hang out with people he pays to be his friends. CORRECT. AND I MAKE GOOD INCOME FROM IT.

Yzfguy and Schlockdoc will change their favorite color from teal to fuchsia, and will wear like-colored t-shirts to Allentown and Pintastic. Everybody will once again think they're "together." I WAS CLOSE; IT WAS MAGENTA.

Kaneda won't sell his LOTR. WHO?

I'll be offered a moderator position, but will decline because it's way more fun being a dick. CORRECT, BUT I SEEM TO HAVE LOST THE EMAIL.

I've got my predictions for 2017, but I'll keep them close to the vest this year. I don't want to poop on anybody's parade. Happy holidays, everyone!

Very funny, well done great swami.
Mof

Stern will have a programmer leave the company in one way or another. Either to Raw Thrills, a competitor, or simply retirement. Stay Tuned.

$15K by Christmas 2017.

The lack of code updates makes me think this might've already occurred.

long awaited kiss code will be released. it will be great code. pinsiders will still hate and cry about it

2016 blew chunks for pinball if I'm honest; but looking back - I think it should be considered the year of the streams - some excellent videos and streams came up in 2016 and it will be even bigger in 2017.

here are My hopeful 2017 predictions:

- 2017 will be the year of the programmers. Now that all this novelty and new technology (pinball arcade, home versions, LCD screen, spike system, etc...) are past us, Stern Programmers will get to focus on their games again.

- to me, stern had a horrible 2016; what with only releasing one new pin and being plagued with playfield and code issues. I predict 2017, despite price increases, stern will have a great year with 3 new releases (BM66, Aerosmith, Star Wars). The end of this year will have AC/DC vault and a matrix license rumored.

- owners of sterns 3 new pins will swear it's the best thing ever until code issues set in where BM66 will be the worst of the 3 out of the gate with questionable voice work and sound package, but will finally take the crown for best new game of the year due to Lyman's excellent code which won't happen til late 3rd - early 4th quarter; until then BM66 will be a disappointment. Star Wars will take a close 2nd having the best release code and a sweet layout on top of a popular license - it will be the must have pin of the year but will have a questionable art package. Aerosmith, despite taking 3rd will be the dark horse and turn out to be an excellent music pin and be one of Lonnie's best coded games... the LE will not be a great seller but some will consider the pro version to be better than Metallica, but that won't happen until 2018 when people actually start acknowledging this pin.

-RZ will get some sweet updates but still remain a less than desired to own pin.

-Spooky will announce and begin production on their new title and it will be their best design, theme, package to date.

-GOT & GB will get recognizable stellar polish updates making them hot sellers in 2017.

-hobbit will get a code update that blows people's minds and brings it to the next level which surprisingly helps keep JJP afloat.

-Dialed in will be amazing but price and theme will be overshadowed by an excellent comeback year for stern in code development coupled with their new releases as well as spookys stellar new pin that it will have a rough 2017. It will have a better 2018 when 3 more versions of the game are announced.

-Jpop and American pinball will announce another new pin....but nothing will come of it.

-alien will begin production but will have a rough road overshadowed by stern and spooky.

-pinside will continue to bitch about all things positive in this hobby.

- 2017 will be ruled by stern and spooky.

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As much as I love my GOT, unfortunately it was released with the stigma of bad playfield art and a flawed left orbit, and most guys never made it past that to the great, immersive game that it truly is. Sadly, I don't think it will ever be a good seller and will go down as one of the most underrated games ever produced.

GB is already a great seller, so perhaps that will continue next year. (But I'm sure a lot of people will dump them for SW when it's released.)