Little off topic, but being someone who grew up with an extremely rough childhood and being put in care before eventually being adopted by a very patient family, I just want to say what you have done is to be commended, its a soft spot when I read about people who have done what my parents did for me and if I'm ever lucky enough to win the lottery or come into some money my end I'll send you a few nib pins to make up for you putting your dreams on hold for your kids

Anyway back on topic, I agree with the sentiment of this thread and I have put my money where my mouth is, I was up for a GB but cancelled a pre order and got a NIB Ironman instead, I was up for a BM66 LE but backed out and brought a Star Trek LE instead, I love a lot of Stern games but I won't be buying any of their new releases when I can buy older titles that are more loaded, don't have QC issues and cost 1000s less.

I honestly don't know why Stern either doesn't just employee extra people on the code - well their is a cost involved so that's probably the reason, but why not reach out to the community, I'm sure there are a couple of people out there that not only have the experience but skills/knowledge to code and game and could easily polish games for Stern on a game to game basis, it would make Sterns games even more appealing and make the community feel more involved with suggestions of code getting listened to etc etc, ideally Stern could pay but I guess it could also work similar to colourdmd with voluntary work.

I think he was being a little sarcastic but let's be honest without a lot of us buying NIB pins they wouldn't have any company for their investors to invest in.

Couldn't agree more, people need to start speaking with their wallets if they want change.

Spelling mistakes are a Stern feature these days

Probably best to have not said anything at all, save you getting constantly asked, because people are now going to want to know, what you know, from people in the know ..... so with that said what do you know?

Don't joke, I already had the thought that Stern might try their luck with SW and sell it as another one of these "limited collectors" priced games like BM66, although with the possibly a pro as added to the line, as Id imagine if there was one theme ops would want out on route that could bring in some serious coin its SW.

That's a kick ass collection Iceman and those are all amazing pins, good choices my man

I think the whole anger towards BM66 and Stern has washed over the fact that "a lot" of us love Sterns games, yeah they make some turds now and then but on the whole they make some damn "fun" games and that's what we all want from pinball, deep rules are nice, nice artwork is easy on the eyes and lightshows and toys are cool, but a pin can have all that and if it isn't fun then its missed the mark.

I think a lot of the anger towards Stern & BM66 is because more people would like to be able to either - 1. afford one or 2. be able to justify buying one.

I am sitting on the fence with my feet dangling over #2, I am trying to justify buying a BM66 mainly because I love the show and at 30 I know none of my other friends are going to jump in on this theme and that crane was awesome in BDK so I am lined up as a buyer and I have had a lot of NIB sterns. It pisses me off too because I know if it was $2k cheaper I would have jumped off the fence with both feet planted and that's why I am sure there are a lot in those 2 camps above.

IMO Sterns biggest issue is not their crazy pricing, its there lack of care or respect for their customers, code is a HUGE area Stern need to improve, if code was better and updates where regular they would probably shift even more in terms of sales numbers which is certainly better for them in the long term yet they seem to be only looking short term which is a shame because as frustrating as Stern can be non of us can possibly want them to go under cause that would just suck for pinball as a whole!