I can appreciate and understand various delays due to the unforeseen complexity and general screw ups from suppliers and everyone else. It's a tough thing to do remakes and the overall outcome seems to be meeting the objective. The one and only thing I'm really disappointed about is the apparent lack of effort to ship in the order that customers ordered them. The first people ordering gold should get gold, same for all the colors. I'm glad for everyone that gets one, but for those who ordered at the very beginning (and in my case paid in full to JJP) it is completely insulting to have no priority. It's just like waiting an hour to get served at a restaurant, then seeing someone else walk right in and get served ahead of me. And, there just seems to be no excuse as to why dealers can't update their customers on order status. There is surely an EXCEL sheet somewhere with who ordered what and when. JJP - email your customers dammit! Just getting a message saying there's no news is at least a reminder that you didn't forget our orders!

Occasionally I notice an empty space in my game room and say, oh yeah, that's where my $8000 went. This will be the last time I do a pre-order on anything other than a Stern. If the LE is limited to 1000 and we're seeing LE's in the 300's right now, I assume that means all the all LE's will probably get made between now and middle of 2017. Can't see it happening sooner than that.

I'm hoping that the production rate in 2016 is overall better than it was in 2015. One would think with the Stern factory move being over, parts issues being addressed, etc., they can get more out the door in 2016. Also if they ever want to do a second machine announcement, they better get some more of the MMRs shipped first. Otherwise it will be laughed at.

I was updated by a local parts supplier who's very much in the know. He said a lot more MMRs will be coming off the production line at Stern in the very near future. One reason is that Stern, for what ever reason, is not ready to churn out the orders for Game of Thrones at full pace. So Stern has extra production time available to work on MMRs for now. The most recent post from Rick @ PPS Forum also said they're targeting ~ 250 units produced for December. I think that will take care of 75% of the LEs. Mine was ordered more than 2 years ago and paid in full more than 1 year ago from JJP. Still radio silence from JJP.

That thought scares the hell out of me! I paid JJP over a year ago. But did they ever pay CGC???

I am also one of those folks that paid in full in the summer of 2014. Just got this email from JJP this week:

"Jen told me you called regarding your Gold MMR LE. Good news! There are only a few Gold games ahead of yours to ship before you will be able to pick up your game! I'm hoping your game will be ready before the end of next week. I will let you know as soon as I hear that your game is ready to be picked up.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks and have a great day!"

Best Regards,

Katie English
Jack Guarnieri Service Co., Inc.
PinballSales.com

My thoughts exactly.

Just got this email today. Apparently pigs are flying and fat ladies are singing. They must really be getting to the completion of LE production if mine is now ready for pick up.

" Great news! Your Gold MMR LE is ready to be picked up at CGC. Please let me know when you would like to pick it up so I can let them know. Thanks and have a great day!

Best Regards,

Katie English
Jack Guarnieri Service Co., Inc. "

Okay, it did happen, so here's the pictures. Yes, I did personally pick it up at CGC. But that was sort of a special arrangement and they really, really don't like to do "will call" orders. Not surprised if they refuse doing this most of the time.

For reference, the machine number on this MMR Gold is 0713 made January 26th. Picked up the 29th...so that's what I'd call a fresh pin! Thinking about bottling the new pinball smell.

The unceremonious unboxing had to happen inside my minivan in a Home Depot parking lot, in order to make room for another pin I was purchasing the same day: Phantom of the Opera HUO serial 009!

As a side comment, while in the lobby of CGC I saw another Williams game disassembled. It had green aliens on the cabinet artwork.

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And set up the machine this morning...here's the surprises.

1. Upon closer inspection, the warning sheet taped the the playfield was a STERN Star Trek sheet. Hilarious!
2. Left troll does not work at all.
3. Right troll jams.
4. The back box key does not work with the lock at all. Until they send me a new lock and key, I will have to remove the screws to get in.
5. Two of the four metal leg protector plates were misaligned with the leg holes.
6. Indeed as noted by others, many / most of the inserts do not have white ink behind the black lettering. The result is the black lettering looks transparent and almost disappears when lit. No real fix for that. This is a January 26th machine. Despite all this, I still really appreciate this machine. Not every day that you get to open and set up a brand new Williams type game.

Can't wait to install this NOS Williams gold speaker panel that I've been holding on to for over two years.

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Yep. Finally found the backbox key hiding in the coin door. I looked twice before. It is really hard to see. Also I found and cut the zip ties on the trolls. They work fine now. I just didn't know since my machine came with a Star Trek unpacking sheet. I really sort of think the the Stern Star Trek sheet thing is funny and maybe intentional. It's Chicago humor to do something like that. But it did stump me on non-working trolls for a while : (

Just in follow up with some photos...My MMR was built 1-26-2016 and is SN 713. It has probably 80% of the inserts that are nearly transparent when lit. I don't understand why some have opaque white under them and some do not. I'm enclosing photos below. Notice how much nicer the ones with opaque white look as compared to the transparent black ones. If not a playfield swap - I'd appreciate a rebate. For sure this affects the value of my new machine. Years from now, some prospective buyer will say, "Oh, it's one of THOSE".

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I took a picture, but not going to post it. Let's just say it's "A" "F"anstastic "M"achine. I'm told by some insiders this will actually be in production when it is officially announced.