Does that mean Bond LE is actually sold out through to customers or just sold out to distributors? Are there so many people backing out because of such a high priced Bond LE distros be sitting on inventory like TS4 CE?

All good points. Too bad that Stern decided to turn on us home buyers, all in the name of a few scalpers. Stern has become the scalpers. We all get inflation, but this greedy cash grab has zero to do with inflation. If it was inflation, then why did the Pro only suffer a 1.45% increase over Rush Pro, but Bond Premium went up 7.78% msrp over Rush premium. Then add insult to injury to us the faithful long time buyers of LEs; a super spit in the face price increase of 17.12%. A mega greedy cash grab directed solely at us home buyers. Stern has sunk below in many people’s eyes on this ill thought out scheme to punish the LE buyer most of all, just because they think they can and are able to get away with it. Hard times are coming and we will not forget how poorly you treated us Stern during the good times!

If it was really inflation then why didn’t the price increases equally reflect that across all models??? It is because Stern knows their Commerical arcade buyers would tell them to take a hike and refuse to buy another pin from them. Stern has taken the HUO market for granted and obviously doesn’t give a flying flip how we feel.

Just like this meme someone made earlier bears repeating….

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Does anyone know when the reveal is going to happen for the 60th? Thought it was today in London?

Yoko continues to strike again and again. What a mess of a human being….

What kind of prices did Bond pinball get or was it at the auction?

Could it be an insufficient code issue just like we’ve seen on Bond cornerstone, as to the real reason its not launched yet? Or will it be at the last day of the Bond 60th celebration in London? Holding it up also holds up the decision of many of us on which way to go, but have had to commit to LE already anyway.

This is the unfortunate part of the whole idea of the 60th. People at first will be led to believe they’re all sold out at a ridiculously high price, only to find out they were not sold through to consumers. The price you paid will take a dive many thousands and settle at a price they should have been launched at to begin with. History in this hobby always repeats itself over and over.

Lol, yes, love those “this time will be different” cheerleaders. Justifiers always choose to ignore history.

The strength of USD is already having a dampening effect on Bond LE sales in the international market. Check websites around the world to see they’re still not sold out on Bond LEs. LEs of lesser popularity will not garner a whopping 17+% LE price increase like Stern has done on Bond. They’re just way too high and Stern will learn all over again with the 60th. So foolish going down the road of overcharging for a product just because you think you can and worried scalpers are going to take your profit.

There are many of us that have purchased LEs at or under $10,5K pricing. Bond LE at $13k might just be the last one we purchase at these crazy high prices, except for BTTF, if that ever comes out. All the weaker LE themes might not get our money in the future. It may take the market one or two LE releases to learn few will buy in the secondary market of the future, at such high prices.

And your source is?

LOL, too funny! What a great profit margin! Few industries have that kind of gravy train. Relatively no competition to speak of is the reason Stern can get away with this. Throw another large manufacturer in the mix and watch has fast the margins will slim down, if 2 or more big boys were competing at the same time. All other pinball makers; which are boutique companies, don’t count.

Well, you’re certainly right, there is a great deal more involved than the BOM. Plus pinball is very hard, unlike many other industries, there is so much involved to get right or like you say, many would be willing to take the plunge.

Lol, too funny (35k pesos)! Wonder if few will sucker into much of anything over $17kish? We all know what happened to those that FOMO purchased Elvira 40th & Beatles. They all got stung big time.

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.)
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…and a Mona Lisa is just canvas with paint slapped on it, lol. Price is a feature. Stupid pricing will not be a good feature, even if it’s a da Vinci (Elwin).

500 - 60th Bonds is a crazy high number. It’s not like the 80 Bat66 SLEs, even though an entirely different machine to GG’s game. Will FOMO buyers be holding the bag on this?

Just us folk whom are on the list for the 60th discussing the calm before the potential storm, lol.

This makes too much good sense. Make 2 version levels, one exclusive and one regular. Win win for everyone and keep prices down, not a silly 500 only club at pillaging high costs. Stern could make them for years to come.

It maybe more like we don’t want to believe that’s the final version, lol.

Well Pinballaddicted, have fun gloating, as it turns out the leaked photo was correct even though Keith tried to lead us all otherwise. Lol

Well that was when we were all speculating and Elwin was in turn trying to make us believe the leaked image was not real. Few of us wanted to believe it was official. The “reals” looked like they were part of a screen where it normally sits, with a different style topper than Stern usually makes. The art work is still full on ugly. Happy New Year to you too! (Bond LE still blows it away!)

Freak, about time…lol.
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Stern is not allowing product to be returned by distributors out of the goodness of their heart. It’s an old Disney trick to not let the cat out of the bag, that few to no one wants Bond 60th at high scalper pricing. Disney’s ultra priced Club 33 is kept a secret, as to numbers and pricing, to ensure membership stays exclusive and prices stay high. Davis has been taught well how to gouge the wealthy and keep it a rich boys only club. Expect to see more of this type fleecing under his leadership. Stern is not going in a good direction and is basically flipping us long time loyal customers off. They don’t want distributors discounting Bond 60th, ticking off the gullible that paid $20k, as happened on Elvira. It’s highly possible Stern never makes all 500, because everyone can now see the emperor really is wearing no clothing (already conclude the game shoots well).

Does that mean you might be pulling the Walther PPK trigger on Bond60?

Do you think they’re going to sell out and hold value too?

From the dealers I’m speaking with in the USA, no it’s not sold out. And it’s being discounted as low as $17,4k. What will it be for you?

Agree Kman does not count….

You’re kidding us right? You’d give up all those great games for just one overpriced Bond60? What about your Bond LE?

Finally listened to IC podcast with Keith: there is no Bond film footage in the game. It’s strictly a throwback game, with throwback code and old style scoring and game play. If anyone thinks anything different they’re kidding themselves. Direct question to Penacho where he replied its all old school. No Bond film asserts like the cornerstone.

If we were to ask any person on the street which game’s MSRP is $20k and which one is a Stern HomePin $5k version: without hesitation everyone except this small community would reply: Bond LE $20k version and Bond 60th throwback $5,5k Home Pin version.

You my friend quality as a true Stern apologists. They can do no wrong in your eyes.

According to the podcast, the programmer says its purpose is to display gameplay objectives, kind of like a power point presentation. Here is an actual working example.
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This thread, like all real forums is neither negative nor toxic. It’s full of good comments, helping us to see past the FOMO smoke and mirrors to the real lack of Bond assets in a game claiming all 26 films are being represented here. Sure they are, with $10 poster art from every film and all 6 JB characters placed on the backbox and PF. That’s it! It’s like Elwin explained, a game solely designed for short ball times, point tallying, all the while “fighting ball gravity”.

No modern game story telling immersive movie clips, just a good looking and hopefully playing layout that could have been themed anything with a spinning hat. That’s the only thing on the PF that makes it Bond or at least a one off villain sidekick character Oddjob. What’s toxic and negative is the sucker punch thrown by Stern at all of us gullible enough to be fleeced by them for $20k big ones. Thanks to this thread, I’ve snapped out of the typical Stern FOMO trance and enjoying it all from the sidelines. Thanks guys for a very positive thread that makes a great deal of sense!

In the words of the guy who started this whole Bond craze…
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Right from seeing Bond launch fiasco with such little code in the game, at .53? Then learning from Stern that the hold up on code was getting all 6 film’s clip material approved by Eon, being the reason. I thought then, how in the world will they get all 26 films with music assets, going into the exclusive super high priced 60th happen??? Well we now know, it’s never going to happen. That is why Stern is staying ninja silent on such an important decision making subject via omission, flat out trying to deceive us. That’s why there is no actual game play videos. Few if any would buy this $20k monstrosity with almost zero Bond assets. Remember all the vitriol after seeing gameplay video that concluded there were zero movie assets in JP or AIQ? What makes Elvira so good is all the new material done for it by Elvira herself that immerses players into the theme of the game. Bond60 is devoid of any of that immersive theme game play. It’s simply nothing more than an old school throwback layout that could be used for any themed game, with applied copy and paste poster art. $20k, no way.

Even with exchange rate, $31,5k is an insanely high price for not much more than a pro or even Stern homepin? Again looking at a comparison posted earlier…
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It’s more like pointing out the lack of value in a +$20k offering versus what less than $5k will buy. My niece in Lubbock Texas purchased their first pinball machine, Jurassic Park Homepin pictured in the comparison for $4,5k and loves it. She and her hubby thinks there is great value there and can’t understand why anyone in their right mind would pay $20k for less.

Stern is imagining a customer that does not exist for Bond60. Like there are actually 500 Bond collectors which have almost no interest in pinball, just waiting to buy a JB60 game. Trying to expand their market in the dumbest way imaginable, with a subpar product for the price they are asking. Pinball enthusiasts are their actual customer base and we’ve for the most part rejected being fleeced by Stern: scarcity is not enough.

This is not true, you misunderstood him. Code is at .90 now with no movie assets in sight. That means code is nearly complete, as reported by the programmer himself. Listen to the podcast on IC to hear out of the mouth of the programmer himself, this is an old school game, with no movie story telling assets in the game. It’s strictly about 2 things only: 1 Scoring reels for points focus (they cover the back box screen area they’re so important) 2 Earning IC achievements. Keith also backed that up by saying it is a game strictly about making the shots and getting the best score you can get, “fighting ball gravity”. The scoring reels are the main focus, just like old school throwback pinball.

More cooperating evidence from our owners club:

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You got that right, no Bond collector will care, just like they don’t care about pinball either, lol.

PanzerFreak was trolling the whole time and never stops, lol. However Stern’s timing is so bad to release an all time high priced pinball machine. We just went through the TS4 little on the PF $15k debacle. Now Stern is releasing a game that also has little on it, no movie assets, with an art package not near as good as TS4 for an outrageous $5k more? The discussion has now gone from JJP fleecing customers to an even more outrageous money grab by Stern. Stern acting like they are completely oblivious to the TS4 fiasco. So idiotic on Stern’s part that even apologist's are having a difficult time making up excuses. Apologists try to shut down those speaking the truth by labeling them "negative". Stern ripped off the rage target from JJPs back and supplanted it squarely on their own, which is a dunderhead PR move of epic proportions. No way would any smart company enter these shark invested waters over profit from just 500 games, if they wished to have good feelings in the pinball community. The extreme profit plunder is not worth the bad press or tainted memory everyone will have from this toward Stern. Just ask JJP how that worked out for them…

If $$$$$$$$tern wants to keep their customer base, yes they owe us a product with value for the hard earned dollars we $pend with $$$$$$$$$$$tern or we will all go elsewhere. Their backlog of orders will vanish, like it does for any other overly greedy company that attempts to fleece their cu$tomer$ with very small BOM$ for huge dollars, $$$$$$$$$$$tern ask$ u$ to $pend with them.

Will be interesting to see how the 60th HUO price holds out in the future. If the BOM would have even remotely matched the outrageous price, no question, it would hold or might even gain in value. When a company is asking that kind of MSRP, it better be worth it in most people’s mind or it will surely go south in price down the road. The 60th is a throwback game: is there enough content to hold pinball players attention over the long haul, unless into the simplicity of besting your last score? (Apologist downvote away, lol)

Lol, fixed it for you. This game is directed at anyone that will pay their asking price. Although we see that’s in big question too, since there is widespread discounting going on just to try and get rid of them. Most any brand’s reputation/image in the market place is of utmost importance. They guard their image like a hawk and pay PR firms big dollars to do so. It appears Stern doesn’t seem to care what happens to their’s. Is the big profit off of a measly 500 games worth that to Stern?

Thanks for letting me know, I’ve removed it and had made reference I was not the first. I get why those that have purchased this want to defend it. Heck I almost pulled the Walther PPK trigger on it too, lol. But then slapped myself into the reality that there are just not enough buyers in that high stratosphere to want to buy my HUO 60th if I wanted to ever get rid of it. Few buyers at $22k with tax will ever even pay close to that. In Texas, the oil baron days are pretty much gone, lol. (And now an even more worrisome indicator is our Texas basketball card collectors are not buying either! )

Now that’s a good one! And so cheap at only half price! Lolololo!!!

Wait, thought it was 500 60th, not 1k or is that just a typo?

Excited for you guys to get your dream Bond 60th! Can’t wait to hear about game play. I grew up not far from Vegas and have been there many times. Some parts are pretty fun and sure have enjoyed the concerts. My wife and I used to go there during the week and could pickup a deluxe room for as low as $15 a night any weeknight and golf. Weekends those room rates jumped to several hundred.

Your “scuttlebutt” is more on point than @pinballaddicted. He can’t provide proof, because there is no evidence. It’s only rumors that he keeps perpetuating, because he’s a buyer and wants to believe the fantasy this extremely barren overpriced game is worth the price of many automobiles. It might be a sad day for anyone who pays these high robber prices, when they try to on sell the 60th. Just as RA77 stated about the 60th: ‘NIB prices over stepped a reasonable mark.“

As a good friend of mine from down there told me, Bond LE was an entirely different tale. Didn’t sell out straight away only because buyers were waiting to find out about the 60th. Once they heard the shocking price of an insane MSRP of $31,5k, they immediately paid for the prior shocker sticker price of $20,5k for Bond LE. Only because of that reason did Bond LE finally sell out. No one in their right mind was going to pay $11,000.00 more for the 60th, that has only a quarter value in it of the Bond LE. Let’s face facts here and stop the fantasy hype about what really happened in the market place. Ask any outside onlooker which game would/should sell for more and 100% of the time, they’ll choose Bond LE and always think Bond 60th would/should be in the Pro priced category.

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Crazy Stern is scamming buyers so badly, they won’t show any gameplay video before shipping, since Stern knows many would cancel. Proof FOMO buying has gone wild, for the rumored dozen that even purchased a 60th. Lol

It’s a tell tale sign Stern is taking so long to ship 60th. They’re stalling so distros have more time to suck people into the emptiness known as the 60th. Once shipped, the cats out of the bag that its empty as, with no assets whatsoever, not much more than any old game of long ago.

Hmmm, if Stern felt that way too, don’t you think they’d show game play well before now?

Game looks fun like $8k Beatles does. Kieth makes it look easy, while others bring focus into reality that its drain crazy at times. No assets finally 100% confirmed. So what’s the extra $12k for again?

I’d buy this all day long for $8k. Stern could keep their new factory humming with that price or maybe even a grand less, priced like a pro. Its been appointed like a pro that’s obvious, except that a pro has all kinds of IP assets in the game too.

But they did it with Seawitch when they made Beatles, so why not 60th too? Nothing sacred about the 60th. Almost certainly in the future, they’ll repurpose it again. $tern loves lots of $$$$$$s, so its a given if people want it, they’ll build it at a mass appeal being lower priced like a pro. $tern will still make a profit killing, since there’s not much in the way of BOM anyway. It’s the layout people want. It will be repurposed for certain, not just left to a lonely 500 or even less. Because of insane pricing its highly doubtful 500 will ever be made, unless heavy discounting happens like on other crazy priced machines.

Wait did Stern change it to 250 6oth instead of 500?

Its a wonder.

With all the great machines debuting this month, why would anyone buy a gigantically overpriced pin like 60th? Can already see by teaser that FF will blow it away.