Stern will reveal its Super Limited 60th Bond game at the Texas Pinball Festival. Or not.
Keith Elwin is Keyser Söze who is in reality, John Greatwich.

(Super Limited Troll)

I do not think any distro knows what is going on. Stern have decided to keep the info to themselves. In Aus our distro is on holidays until the 9th Jan. That is a good thing for us, gives us a few days to decide. I am leaning towards no at the moment. I do not want a game just because it is expensive. I want the game to be killer first.

If you want a better price, buy more devices.
Applies to almost everything.

Does not apply to pinball machines. The more you buy, the more expensive they become!

Being told today price is expected to be in the mid $20k range with a $5k deposit non refundable, $1k transfer fee, final price determined later.

Hearing the exact same thing.

They're asking for a $5k non-refundable deposit on a machine that they won't tell you the actual price you'll pay in the end? Even for Stern, that's a new level of crazy.

Yeah. This seems very unlikely.

Chalk it up to this particular dealer trying to weed out how to handle the excess in interest versus the availability they’ve been given. It’s probably not stern policy but an indication of price atleast.

Not Stern. Just Distro weeding out process

And of course driving FOMO

You get a look on 1/3 and then have to decide right then whether or not you are going in lock down for $5k.

I believe you will always be able to get a game later at $25k

We have already learned this !! I have

Just out of curiosity, who feels comfortable at $25k for this game currently?

Nobody!

Haven’t even seen it yet. So no

It has to blow us away I would think. At least for me.

If “all Bond assets” means sticking art on the PF and that’s it then I’ll be happy with my LE

Surely they don’t think they can Beatle us again? Didn’t work 1st time.

I like Beatles Gold at $8k

I don't think $25k is completely out of bounds, but it really depends on the gameplay the game delivers and how ugly the cabinet art is. That leaked image was atrociously bad and not $25k classy.

Let’s not forget sales tax and shipping too.

What the hell is a $1k transfer fee? I call some weird Distro bs.

Huge note....Not all Distros operate the same

If by some miracle it was Franchi art…that would go a long way…but we know it won’t be.

Comfortable guess the price is landing in that range

Not comfortable at all that I'll be buying one

Not me. I think your distro may be a little worried about how many games he/she can sell and is trying to lock sales in. Stern have said nothing to their distros. That is a lot of coin for a game and you are gambling on Elwin if you commit now.

There was a twitter thread a couple years ago asking "what phrase can you say normally now in conversation that would make people from a few years ago think you were crazy?"

My favorite response was "Please put your mask on before entering the bank".

Imagine going back to 2014 and saying to someone "Yeah, I don't think $25k is out of bounds for a pinball machine".

Inmates in the asylum!

No kidding. I remember clearly thinking the Supreme machine was a ripoff, and it WAS. Now its price seems quaint.

Barf on the price of this thing. They can have them.

$25k.. lol. Pinball games aren't realistically worth $10k. I can't imagine anyone outside the hobby thinking $5k makes sense. We (the buyers) and the manufacturers have created this insanity.

These aren’t the same set of dummies that bought a Supreme pin. Gucci fashionistas

How many of those? Less than 100? 50? Ugly garbage

I wouldn’t give you a nickel for one

Realistically, how can any game look like it’s worth $25k after reveal. Nothing in the reveal can change that. Even with Elwin designing and we found out Franchi was on art, how much more amazing can the layout be than any other single level game?

Literally the only thing driving that kind of value is rarity and FOMO and we already know that.

I can’t think of one thing that would change that. Maybe if we suddenly found out on launch day that Lyman had coded one last masterpiece to rival B66.

Meh. There are some pretty unique features I'm interested to see how they're implemented, like the EM-style-but-solid-state scoring reels and the in-playfield screen. IF those are done well, and the cabinet art isn't the atrocity shown in the leaked pictures, I could see it having value as a limited-edition Elwin with unique code and design. Sincerely doubt I will have one, but am very interested to see how it works/plays.

A Lyman masterpiece would certainly help.

I can picture the non pinheads walking up to the Stern booth and seeing those Bond pins.

“Wow that’s look cool!, How much?”

$25k. Shocked look on faces, speechless, jaws dropped, walking away from the booth laughing their asses off, “what kind of idiot would pay that much for a pinball machine”.

That’s anyone outside of our hobby!

Sadly, I can remember thinking wtf was wrong with me for spending $5200 on a LOTRLE 12 yrs or so ago.

Lyman isn’t going to be making any more pinball machines.

Maybe it’s time to stop bringing him up every time a new pinball machine gets announced and whining that he isn’t doing the software. It’s unseemly.

Gomez already said it has the poster art on both sides so it's probably going to look very similar to the leaked photo below (but with mechanical score reels).

Bond60 (resized).jpg

Really, no more Lyman games?

Love Lyman and what he did. All his games are my favorites. He is the THE standard of coding greatness

It’s not unseemly. Nothing wrong with remembering greatness ffs. Lyman needs to be at the top of the pinball Hall of Fame

There you go. “All the Bond assets”.

Let the New Year’s party and drinking commence!

You keep saying they can’t ask $25k for a game without Lyman Doing it. You don’t think that’s a little weird?

Come on bro.

https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/whoa-nellie-big-juicy-melons-stern

If it comes with a topper, that alone is worth an extra $5000.

Yeah I am interested to see if they differ from the reels in my Primus.

Gomez seemed to indicate the ones in Bond 60th were a new mechanism with a more EM-like action. The BJM ones were too smooth in action as I remember it. We'll see. If they're just a rehash of the BJM ones (and the permutations Primus and Pabst Blue Ribbon), I will be disappointed.

lmao so funny

That ain’t what anybody is saying. They can ask whatever they want. They think Elwin is the $25k goose.

Elvira was done by Lyman, his last masterpiece. He’s just the best ever and the standard by which a $25k coded Bond is going to be judged.

The real future problem isn’t this Bond 60th of which 500 isn’t really “limited” at that price. Never been done before

It’s the FUTURE price of LEs, premium and pros.

The Golden Goose might be wearing down

Didn’t realise he said that.

Even so, say it’s got new reels, a new way of implementing an on pf screen, and an incredible topper, what could possibly make it worth almost double Bond LE that we dont already know?

Likewise, how bad could it possibly be on launch that you would suddenly say it was not worth $25k?

You’re either in or out at this point. I don’t see how reveal will change anything.

Not whining, just a mark of respect.

I don't understand this leaked photo. It's too well done to be a fake. Nobody put that much effort into faking it with all the details, that 100% came from Stern.

Presumably it's just in a standard cab with a mockup on the LCD screen for the mechanical bits. But if the rest of it is real, and given what limitations they've had with assets from the license I believe it, what a weird way to present a $25k game.

A grid of posters and a list of movie names? Compared to other expensive packages, like the "send a video begging for one" Batman 66 it's so ... lacking. The money is for owning an exclusive collectible, you'd think people would want something attractive for that.

I'm so genuinely curious to see it flip, an Elwin single level is very attractive as an idea for me. But nothing about that leak says lust to me, just a big ol' shrug. You don't play the cabinet, but for that kind of money I've got to love every inch of it!

The main problems I have with this image are:
1 No reals in the back-box.
2 Stern does not make forward placed toppers with square backing.
3 Elwin himself asked, “what makes you think the image is real?” Casting big time doubt on it.
4 Its just plain ugly with almost no forethought from an artistic view, even 60s art view.
5 For rumored $25k or there about, it has to be much better than this? (My Thunderball LE blows this mockup away in every category imo.)
BE4C766E-6051-4961-83B6-82EA9F881D41 (resized).jpeg

100% think $25k was the number from day one and I get Stern starting there.

I hope it kicks ass and looks phenomenal. I want one because of the theme. I don’t care that Elwin is on the layout. Have a few of his great games.

That PF screen though, i feel it’s gonna get old. Don’t pay much attention to it on the OG Alien and they took it out of the reboot for a reason.

Some light show scoring feels cool stuff is great BUT the only reason pinball advanced to where we are today at these $$$ is the LCD and video assets.

Thanks Jack for that.

5k non refundable sight unseen on a 25k beast?

1742BA75-4546-4098-8600-AAC82FE2B74E.gif

Supposedly that represents the image someone took in Europe where they were going to originally reveal. And there is some view of the pf as well.

Can’t be enough gimmicks in it to make it work. You gotta love that theme first and foremost.

Disagree. The actual reveal of the game will tell us a lot more about the game than a mere rendering we have seen to date. And then there’s the price and consequent supply/demand and how I see the future might play out. Then I have some more (but it necessarily enough) intel to decide whether I’m in or out. I don’t have enough to decide at this point.

Again, it's all about supply/demand. Back in 2011, I invested 13k in a HEP AFM Restoration. Ended up selling it for 10k and took the 3k hit. Considering pinflation, this game would likely be 25k if the CGC remakes weren't run. My TRON LE sold for 21k one year ago.

If Stern/Keith produces a killer game and only builds 500, it will sell out quickly. If it looks repetitive in any way with other games (like Beatles/Seawitch), only the rich collectors will bite...and I'm sure there are 500 of them worldwide. I'm a value guy by nature, so it's unlikely I'm in at 25k. That's why I drive a Corvette and won't write the check for a Ferrari