I was thinking the same thing! I didn't get into pinball until 2005, so it was only Stern at that point but WOW there is a lot of exciting things going on.

And don't forget the Catcus Canyon Continued, color DMDs, LED displays, playfield/backglass reproductions, and so on. Lots of new innovation besides new pins/companies.

It really is amazing when you think about it. Not only so many new companies popping up, but just look at the community. So many people restoring older pins, people starting up companies to make mods (toppers, lighting, controllers). I don't know what caused all this, but I'm glad it's resurged.

the "best" time was the 60's/70's, when you had multiple established manufacturers each cranking out a new machine (sometimes 2) every month...

Obviously in the 90s you had thousands of machines for each title put in public and played by countless people. Now most of these machines are going into basements, but that is the state of things so I'm happy that there are many people making machines now.

The interesting thing is we've still got only "1" company producing/shipping them. Seems like it is far more difficult to get games out the door than some anticipate, so I'm afraid of some spectacular failures with some of these announced projects.

This IS a great time for Pinball. The only problem occurs if there are TOO many good machines coming out at once. If someone REALLY wanted a Metallica, WOZ, Predator and then Star Trek...whoa!

It seems like it would have to be an arcade-like situation with PLENTY of machines. When I mention this to friends with restaurants, bars, etc, they still think the machines are too expensive, they don't want to deal with repair issues, insurance and permits are too much. Bottom line is the small return is not worth it.

I would disagree

Numbers are too low for "all" those other companies.

Yeah, hard to count it if a company is making less than 250 machines...

There were 1200 Pinball Magics made by Capcom...plenty of people have never seen one in person. There are going to be what...300 Predators? 30 Cap't Nemos? (just did a search I don't know if that's correct)...etc. How many machines are all these makers going to produce? Is it enough for you to even see one? Throw in Juicy Melons...tthey made a game...are we counting them as Pinball Manufacturers?

That's what they said 3-4 years ago. I tell the the price these days and they tell me to "F#$@ off."

Yeah, Predator 250. When you're making 30 machines or less it's like a Custom Build. Not many people will ever get to play...shame. UNLESS, Stern or somebody picks up the Capt Nemo machine and runs with it....

Maybe harder to retrofit a concept to your own parts/practices then start anew

Probably the truth. It's a shame that some of these great boutique machines will get such limited play...

The only people that will see/play games from these small manufacturers are those that have friends or families into the hobby enough to buy these NIB. The Capcom games, while low in production numbers, were made for ops and were on location to a degree and there seem to be quite a few in collections these days in my experience. Same goes for some of the rare Segas like Godzilla (I know of 4 in collections in my area alone).

Exactly me point...does that fill you with "excitement?"

Shiver ME timbers! NO!

I love the interest and growth, but the hobby is just too damn expensive to expect much more out of it. And prices keep climbing, with no end in sight. Fun for those who can afford it, but not gonna do anything for broader exposure or a return to anything but niche location play.

Sort of true. There are a few of my friends that would love to get a Pinball like Metallica but the price is WAY out of line for them.

The price needs to be able to come down to really make pinball have a resurgence, lower prices and more reliable games would help location. From what I've seen (your opinion may vary) stern's last few machines have actually hurt location pinball as their broken so often. Every person who finds out I have pins tell me about how they played acdc/avengers/tf/xmen or whatever but it broke mid way and took their money then they joke about if my pins actually work or are just paper weights. Maybe it's just bad ops around here but either way if pins were lower cost for the people who want private machines and they were more reliable that even a bad op could keep them maintained there would be a market who would play them.

Predator is around $4750. Nemo €4300-4425. Sterns Pro are in the same price range or less.
Second hand "lesser" Sterns may be found for much less than that: got my WPT for less than $2k.
Add a $400 EM to your lineup and you can get a decent variety of pins for a reasonable fee.

Stay away from the most seeked pins (Do you need a LE??), avoid buying the next "hot game" and I swear this is this best time for Pin lovers for a very, very long time!

What's this?

Certainly seems that way! And amazing how quickly it went from the worst time in over twenty years to the best time! Just when we feared the light might go out, it now blazes on like never before! Great time to be a Pinhead!

Exciting for the home buyer side of the hobby maybe. Depressing time for the location side of the hobby.

In 1992, which you mentioned in the subject line, more than 100,000 games were built. Last year, Stern built maybe 6000. Most of the boutique builders are targeting the home buyers. The home market will never buy in the numbers operators once did. Pinball machines in the home are $6000+ luxury items. There isn't enough wealth in this country (or any other country) to bring back those kind of manufacturing numbers.

The best way to support the hobby is to play on location regularly and encourage others to do the same. It's going to take more than home buyers to bring this hobby back to what it once was. If there are no location games in your area, or the few that are there are in poor condition, put your own games out on location.

No Problem ....SALE!!

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cactus-canyon-p-roc-project

Stern's "The Pin" addresses many of your points.

only "the pin" isn't cheap and from what I've read breaks down a lot and is a pain in the ass to service/work on and isn't designed in the slightest for being place on route....

It's a start to helping the private market grow for regular families and I really like the idea if they can lower the price a bit more, but it doesn't solve the main point of my post about needing to be more reliable because a large portion of ops these days seem to be terrible.

Why do we have such limited info on these other pins being made? I really like the look of Captain Nemo from what I have seen.

Artwork is truly beautiful!

Quetzal pinball website:
http://quetzalpinball.com/

Nemo thread:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/captain-nemo-by-quetzal-pinball

Well, this thread has not been active for a while. Future buyers received info by email. I will post a few new pictures if Antonio allows it.

No offense, but $4000 is ridiculous to most people. Like, are you out of your fucking mind money to spend on a toy. $2000 is a joke, and what? That's used? And it might break or I need to work on it? It only sounds like a deal because we're inmates in the asylum!

I hope the hobby stays strong, but don't get too excited about it growing in leaps and bounds. At best interest from those with the money and warm memories will keep showing up.

I get PR from Stern's agency, they sent me this:

"Within forty-five minutes of the news breaking, the Metallica Limited Edition Master of Puppets version sold out, an all-time high for Stern Pinball. Sales records were also set for the Pro and Premium versions.

A surge of pin players from Metallica devotees to gaming aficionados swamped the Stern site to get a firsthand look at the new game. It didn’t take long for the millions of fans and purchasers to knock the server offline, resulting in what Stern Pinball determined as a very successful launch."

Hey, great, I'm pulling for it. Don't think it's all gloom. But tamper it with realism. Metallica isn't going to reconvert the world.

in the US the Stern Pro's etc are around $4500 back here in the Netherlands they are €5500 that is about $7200 due to taxes import etc. And the LE's are even a lot more expensive. So probably not for everyone around here i am afraid. The hobbit LE is €8000 that is $10.500 so you are very lucky to live in the US!

Yes

Agreed Take a step WAYYYY back and look at the entire history of modern pinball(60's to now).
Hey day 70's
Dark ages 80's...video killed the pinball star including Gottlieb which closed early 90's
Renaissance Era 90's 2 giants merge and create iconic A titles best era for innovation,pinball dies it's first death with B/W withdrawing.
Life Support(2000 till now) Thanks to Stern for keeping vigil.Scott

thinking about this thread some more, I will agree that without question it IS an exciting time for pinball.

Also, the other thing different between now and the 90s is the internet. So, even with low production runs, we can all learn and follow these new titles, watch videos of them, read reviews, and all share in the excitement, whether or not a unit will be located near us (or owned by us) or not.

VERY limited amount of machines being made.

Whoa. Talk about hype! Weren't there 250 initial U.S. purchasers? (And, of course, there weren't 250 individual purchasers, but 250 machines.) Millions??? The story is good enough already. Exaggerating only damages your credibility.