It'll pick up again.

500 at a super premium price is a lot of machines. 500 is half the number of LEs.

The Australian distributor still has LEs for sale. How many distributors still have LEs for sale in the USA? If none, then OK, Stern may set a $20k+ sale price, but given the weakness of most countries' currency against the US dollar, I am not sure many SLEs will be snapped up by distributors outside the USA at $20k+.

What recession? Didn't your President say it doesn't feel like a recession to him, therefore there isn't a recession (despite 2 negative quarters of economic growth)?

What if ...

Stern has allowed all this speculation and hype to reach a point where Pinsiders think it's going to be a super expensive game which will never sell 500 units, and then announce at the 'reveal' that it will be the same price as the Bond LE (with Bond LE buyers having first option to buy)? If so, 500 units will sell out within a day.

But, hang on a second ... didn't most Pinsiders think Stern would never sell 1964 units of expensive Beatles ... but they did eventually. It took a few years, but they sold them. Maybe Stern will be prepared to take a few years to sell the 500 units at a super expensive price after all?

Ah! I don't know. Come on Stern! Make the reveal!

What are the going prices for
a) Luci,
b) TWDLE and
c) GBLE
in the land down under?

So, Dave, are you in for $19,999?

How much do you think the distributor is making if you pay $15,500?

I'll take that as a sarcastic comment.

How much profit is too much? What are distributors buying these pins for?

If some distributors are sending back to Stern some of their initial allocation, what is the general consensus:

a) Stern won't produce all 500 units
or
b) 500 units will be produced and all will eventually sell to other distributors?

While some Pinside negativity isn't constructive (negativity about Beatles for example: a brilliant game, both in build and fun factor, which plays 1000 times better than any Seawitch ever did, but slammed, often by people who never played one, simply because of price), negative comments about GB helped make GBLE one of the most sought after pins ever built. Without people pointing out the real playfield issues GB had, nothing may have been done to address the real problem. Negative comments about the flipper gap on GB however often came from people who didn't appreciate it was deliberately designed that way, and is very rewarding when you learn how to play better adjusting for the wider gap.

Negative comments are helpful, so long as they are constructive and balanced, and contribute to improving the resurgence of pinball globally.

That may be so, but there is no way the Australian distributor accepted all his initial allocation! He's only purchased what he knows he will sell. The rest of the allocation went back to Stern to offer to any other distributors who may want them.

There's no way the Australian distributor accepted his full allocation to sell these machines at AUD31,500. He's too smart a businessman to do that!

iceman44's theoretical build of 200 machines example at #6768, is probably a bit low, but perhaps not that far off the mark.

1. I am very well connected with Aussie pinball enthusiasts, including and especially those with large collections. We talk.
2. Yes
3. No.
4. So would I! But I can tell you ... NOT MANY! This title will be one very rare bird in the Land Down Under.