I can tell you this, I'm not as anxious to buy a NIB Stern at the moment, especially at $7K.

As a pinball enthusiast, it's easy to get caught up in hype and just spend the money, but when I stop myself and think about all I can buy with $7K, I am happy to wait things out. I see NIB prices going up and up, but nothing grabs me for the extra money I would have to spend. Take my experiences with my X-men LE (laughable code at release, no urgency to make it right) and I'm going to spend my money once Stern shows me they've made a product that is for the consumer and not just something flashy for them to make their money and run.

Good Bally/Williams and out of production Stern machines are getting harder and harder to find, hence the price increase. These machines are proven and I'd rather put my money on a proven product.

I also think a lot of us are spending our money on Christmas, after all when we are buying pinball machines all year long we have to make up for it with our wives at least once a year!!