OP

Quoted from PPS:

Two conditions around game numbers:
1) You don't care about which number you get and one will be assigned
There is no fee for this situation, and in this case we will assign a block (or multiple blocks) of numbers which have not already been 'taken' from list of available #'s (see (2)). This will be done somewhere down the road once we get all of the orders confirmed, etc.
2) You want a specific number:
Game #'s are managed centrally PPS/Mfg, and available thru distributors (PPS is a distributor for it's direct game sales). Distributors (including PPS) make requests or forward customer requests and we say yes or no whether it's available or not. PPS (with the mfg agreement) charge a fee to the distributor and the distributor (including PPS) can charge more or less - however they wish. This only applies to LE's, as for standards there will be no number scheme. This game #'s are what people want given feedback, but it's also a bit of management, requiring a large bunch of extra interactions just to complete an order, as well as then having to match up during mfg, which while it looks simple can create issues (customer gets right game, wrong #, etc), so there is a 'cost' to administer it.
Not a ton of #'s are reserved, and you can imagine it's all of the low #'s and the desired numbers. We don't want to dictate what distributors charge, as it does add some additional overhead up and down the line. This seemed to be the way it has done ...