But that leaves a market open for the Happy Herman Mod. Come on, secondary market man.

But agreed. While the Cabinet, backglass, playfield art is on point. This figure looks like the time Herman got hooked on meth. Poor Herman ‍♂️

I see some Ben Affleck in there. Like Batman Ben Affleck.

Yeah it kinda doesnt look like Herman a lot. Its ok but something is definitely off a little lol. I wish they would have put Lily in his place so we could bash her fun bags! Fun bag multiball!

How about we post photos of all plastics and complain about them?

Whenever there's a shitty plastic art I just look at the Bill Murray on the GB backglass; that usually puts things in perspective.

Word. If anything, that proves he does a lot of fantastical elements GREAT, but faces are not the strength of Yeti.

All of the Eddie faces on Iron Maiden are awesome.

Proving my point. They are not human faces. He's excellent at the fantastical, but just can't do good human faces. It's not uncommon with artists.

I've never seen this pic of Eddie Munster (Butch) sitting inside the Dragula before. Cool!

Dragula (resized).jpg

The very first time I saw pictures of the game that was my thought exactly, Terminator

You have a good a eye my friend!

20619889-EBF6-467F-9118-DA71EBC5FAA1 (resized).jpeg

DF83F3D3-41C5-44FA-81EC-8D3E90C83631 (resized).jpeg

The problem with the Herman sculpt was they were shooting for that “darn, darn, darn, darn, <scowl>” look when Herman is frustrated, shaking his fists, then does the crossed lipped scowl... I got the reference immediately, but I watched WAY to much Munsters growing up. Everyone remembers Herman differently, but the current sculpt is not as far off from the vibe they were looking for, it just didn’t nail it like the funny Herman did in the diecast car, imo.

Whenever Herman is depicted in colour isn’t his jacket brown? It’s that grey jacket and black tee that makes him look like The Herminator!

Where are the bolts on his neck?

I have to say, love this game and so glad I bought it, I’m really enjoying it in my home game room and glad I didn’t listen to all the negativity in this thread.rock on! Borg and Stern!rock on.

I cancelled my MBr LE and went with Munsters LE. I've heard a lot of negativity toward my decision, and have to admit it was a difficult one. In the end, I think it was the right move for me...in regards to my likes/interests.

I have no idea why anyone listens to anyone aboot which game to buy.

I think because some people are so new at this buying game, every machine seems fun to them right now, like it did when I was 7 years old. Let these “youngsters” get a few thousand plays or more under their belts on great and crappy machines and they will be telling us what games to buy. I never say “buy” this pin as much as I say “try” this pin. I will definitely tell you when I think a game sucks, but only after flipping one, and not usually before flipping it unless looking at pictures of a theme/title feels like pouring molten lead into my eye sockets, then you get a hard pass from me, not a blanket recomendation of “Do Not Buy”. I am always cautious when I berate a pin title too, I hate telling anyone their beautiful new plaything is an ugly baby... but not everyone wears a list of what machines are in their collection on their foreheads. And one has to remember, some of these machines were the talk of the town when new, but have since got a pretty tarnished and checkered reputation over the years. Take BOP... a very shallow, easy to understand, all around boring title by todays standards, yet back when she was new, she had a good run because she made money, she was an easy (p)lay and it didn’t take but being good at the left ramp shot in order to do well... a very “one shot” trick pony title. Now, I agree with all that, even though I own a pair of mated Pinbot/BOP machines, She can, and at any given time will kick my ass, just as on any given day I can usually put myself into the billionaires club. I have too much nostalgia wrapped up in those two machines to ever sell, but anyone telling me BOP 1.0 is boring will get a curt nod from me in agreement.

Unfortunately some people do, other local collectors that read Pinball advised me not to buy it based on this thread, I buy what I want, when I want. So I bought one, and so far I’m liking it.

I have no idea why anyone listens to anyone aboot which game to buy.

Expesally somebody who has 30 games
Already. But this is the hype thread !

Canceled mine also for a Pro and saved some dough. My Distributor must think that I'm an idiot as I went back n forth a couple of times changing my order. I did apologize for that. My game should be shipped soon. Blind buy for Munsters but I can tell that I will like it just from videos. TWIP said that on the list of games from American Pinball for 2019, Sherlock Holmes is listed. I hope so. Some of the others listed are there to throw folks off the scent. SH would be an interesting one for me, especially if they go with Basil and Nigel who are Holmes & Watson for my money. Love those England/London mysteries with the fog and Big Ben.

Maybe it will be the newest Sherlock movie - with Will Ferrell!

I just switched from MBr LE to Munsters LE. Any word on when LE's are suppose to ship? Spoke to my distributor's secretary...so no info.

Got some good time on Pro and Premium. My thoughts are the Pro was a fun game but I did not care for the Premium(I am bias because I do not like mini pf's). The Pro has great art, nice bash toy, and the two ramps were smooth and combos were really enjoyable. I did not care for the lag in gameplay after Herman ball capture with magnet-wanted to press both flippers to cancel screenshot and hurry progression of second ball launch-could be tweaked with code update. Loved the skill-shot with option to hold left flipper for orbit-really hope they implement this for GOT code update. Overall it was a fun quirky game and I may like to own down the road but it does still feel like just another bash game from Borg. I liked it but I could think of a lot of other titles I would want before buying a Munster's Pro. I give it a B(comparing to what else is currently available NIB) and it would be a good addition to people's collections if they can relate to the Munsters. If you have no connection to the theme-I feel it would get old quick, especially in a smaller collection.

The Premium to me was not enjoyable. I did not care for black and white-washed out the art, and the green GI is too overboard on the Premium compared to the Pro. I think the white background really increases the reflection compared to darker Pro that the green GI was not as bright-at least to me. Then there is the lower pf. Ok what can I say I do not like mini pf's so my opinion is just that-an opinion. First I did not like the mini pf because-I could not see the playfield. The window is already so cloudy-you can barely see what is going on. I thought to myself-what a pain in the ass that would be to take off and try and novus? and then hopefully put back on level? Actual mini-pf gameplay was not enjoyable for me and I think the tiny flippers are just not any fun-wish they would have done a full size lower pf with ocular lens or something. I give it a C+ Overall my personal opinion is the Pro is the way to go on this one.

Also played Beatles again-really like it-hope they take a dive in price so I could choke down that pill to swallow to buy one

Also played Deadpool again-it is growing on me. It has a funky clunky layout like Ripley's but it still is a fun shooter-lots of unique shots. I could see owning a Deadpool Pro down the road

JJP POTC-growing on me-still trying to justify the price and figure out what the hell I am doing.

Big fan of rathbone and Bruce . Watch those all
the time. Had the DVD collection but sold them
once I saw they were on YouTube . That would be
An interesting pin.

Late feb early mar now for LE in your hands.

Put some time on the pro tonight. The music, LCD and art package are awesome. Gameplay was old hat Borg to the extreme, with the meaningless side shots being the biggest disappointment. I heard it was shallow, but it is crazy shallow. Zap and jackpots are cool, but that can only take the game so far. Spot is neat but kills flow. Aside from that, you get one magnet bash... All time worst for toys. Definitely will play it on route, but unlike many who have posted the opposite here, I'm glad I listened to the nay-sayers. I'd be very unhappy if I bought this machine. Clearly many others see it differently. Just my two cents.

All we can hope is that Sterns reads the disappointments and actually make some changes to the code for the better.

Star Wars got substantially better over time, but the core logic didn't change much, so I think Munsters will improve, but I'm not expecting a TWD or Batman'66-like complete re-think on the way the game works (though it needs it).

Stern don't really do toys anymore.

Maiden pro is a fantastic game but not if you like old school toys!

I am contemplating the same for a Premium. LE should be shipping soon, but I really like that B&W cabinet...….first world problems......

This confirms what I’ve thought from seeing it at release. Haven’t been able to play it yet, but this review demonstrates my issues with Stern. They charge big time money and give us very little to almost nothing in return. The same old worn out fan layout time and time again. IMDN was a breath of fresh air because a different style layout, but with a couple of toys that break down a lot if buying the premium or LE. My guess Sterns reason for bailing out on any motorized toys is because of not wanting to spend money for service and warranty issues. Stern has very high margins from my understanding and that’s good for them, but bad for us if it’s not balanced with value packed tables. Easy solution is make them of quality parts like Williams did.

Those with positive reviews appear to not be wanting to see that the emperor has no clothes or not willing to admit it, because of the beloved nostalgic IP of the Munsters. Make that same table with a no name IP and I bet almost no one would buy it. I’ve wanted to like it because I love Munsters, song and artwork, but no toys and stripped down, no big money going to be spent by value shoppers. What has happened to the pinball market? Is JJP the only ones that know how or willing to make tables with plenty of toys that interact with the ball any longer?

You haven't even played the damn game yet......DUH!!! Do you always let others decide what game that you like and buy?

I’ve played/owned enough Stern tables to be quite familiar with this table layout. Haven’t written my own review because I’ve not played it yet, but can’t see it being too different from other Stern offerings of similar nature. A Borg table with a low budget plays near the same.

I guess that with this title, Stern will learn that they cannot pull off anything.

But I agree, they need to step up their toys department for the pro level games. Certainly regarding 'ball interaction'

Like a theatre of magic trunk, medieval madness castle, cv ringmaster, twilight zone gumball, addams thing,

JJP has had a tough time turning a profit. Angel investors have kept it afloat...this won't last forever. JJP needs WW to be a "hit". It appears Pirates was a flop.

Pinball manufacturing has had a tough time modernizing. If you scale up (as Stern has done) and want to turn a profit, you either have save money building the games and/or put less in them. Building the games is still very resource intensive. If it weren't, I imagine Stern could justify beefing up the BOM. The other option is for Stern to cut profit margins. I have no inside info on what Stern's margins are, but I would guess they are 20-25%.

I'm sure Stern executives admire some of JJP's work, but I'm also sure they don't consider them real competition. Competing needs to include profits.

Most people think the game is fun and its selling like hotcakes so don't expect a major rewrite of the code because thats not going to happen i guarantee it. Seriously if i were you i would cancel your order on this game because you are not going to be happy with it and thats a shitload of money to spend on something that you don't like.

The game is fun and shoots well, it just needs more code. Right now, it's both narrow and shallow. Deadpool was similar and now it's a great game.

I think what they will learn is that this game is selling very well and they need to keep making games like this that sell well. This is a very good game. There are always people that bitch about the code on every single game that is made and this game is no different. Nothing wrong with this game at all. Its a great design that shoots really well with a killer theme and beautiful artwork and its fun. There will be some improvements to the code i am sure but this game is not a letdown by any means, quite the opposite actually.

How many bad Borg tables are there in your opinion? Also you do realize that there is only so much that a designer can do on a pinball playfield due to the limited area that he has to work with right? I dont know what people expect honestly. Every game that comes out people are like....yep more of the same, 2 ramps, 2 orbits, yada yada yada. Well thats kind of all a designer can do honestly, thats just what pinball is lol. Theres not much real estate to work with on a pinball playfield.

I disagree, there is lots a designer can do- Munster's is cookie cutter at it's best

Lots of games that fit 'outside' cookie cutter layout like....Deadpool, Iron Maiden, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, the list goes on and on. Look at all the classic Bally/Williams games and how they are all different. Yes some elements get copied from other titles but today it seems like cut and paste, especially with code for some Sterns. The good news is not all Stern's are cookie cutter and they have some cool rumored themes on the horizon. If Munsters does not do it for you-I am sure something else coming out this year will? Lots of good stuff coming-I can feel it.

We have now hit the start of stage 8 of the anatomy of an announcement.

1. Pre-hype leaks
2. Complaining about X feature and lots of art talk
3. Early release excitement just for a new game
4. Trashing release code
5. More Stern bot hype and LE flipper hype
6. First code drop to refine
7. Complaints about code, cost, and lack of features.
8. Who-Dey takes over with every other post defending the game, how well it is selling, how awesome it is, defending designers and code team

9. Can we get the next game announcement?

I’ve never said this Borg table is bad. It just appears low budget from a goodies standpoint. Borg probably had more toys and such on it. Stern bean counters and service people said no take them off. Their margin is way higher than you think. I’ve got no problem as I said with them making plenty of profit. Just give us value packed tables like Williams did or JJP does now. JJPs lack of profit comes from other issues, certainly not because of value. I know I’ve spent/spending a great deal with them, but satisfied with getting lots of value in return. Their tables are packed. POTC lack of sales is not from having a lack of toys. It’s packed and a great playing table. The IP is the problem there. The exact opposite of Munsters.

I’m wondering WHO-Dey? Are you on Sterns payroll?

Please. Has nothing to do with "real estate" on a PF. It has to do with time-to-market, risk taking, and inspiration. Two of the most innovative recent designs are Dialed In and Iron Maiden. Pat Lawlor had a long "rest" and was inspired to do great work (and JJP gave him the time & resources). Keith, OTOH, designed IMDN outside Stern with no constraints. Stern took the design and did a mediocre job producing it. Nevertheless, the layout is truly new/fresh.

Is Borg burnt out? Don't know, but he has produced many great games. My personal favorite is TRON (by far). IM, Metallica and KISS are also great Borg creations, though none of them innovate much in the layout department.

I totally agree. Sometimes I think Stern puts unrealistic timelines on certain titles for their designers. There is so much that goes into a pinball nowadays(including new LCD coding and development) and just a delay in trying to get certain sound rights or something can throw off a project. I do think Borg is a fantastic designer and several of his games have become some of my favorites. I wish every designer would get two years and an unlimited budget-that would lead to greatness.

I do have high hopes for Steve Ritchie's game coming out

A great designer is able to come up with new innovative ideas.

Check out Wayne Neyens the designer.

Nearly every design in the 50's was fresh, different, unique.

Would agree Dialed In is by far the best game to come out in this century. Maybe top of all time. History will prove this out like it did for great Williams tables. 20 years down the road and Dialed In will be highly sought after.

Iron Maiden is good too, just not fan of the theme. Tron is a blast to play and Borgs best, even though the artwork is lacking on that table. As soon as a vault addition comes out, I’m in.

Lack of layout innovation is the area of concern. Come on, typical back at the table fan layout, with two mono targets are not innovation, etc.

And the Pro/Premium mechanical and gameplay differences add to the complexity.

Time-to-market constraints are also related to the mechanisms. The Star Wars hyperdrive is the only really innovative mechanism Stern has developed in years. No innovative mechs on Munsters in particular. The "meh" factor isn't just with the layout.

Nevertheless, I'm in on Munsters Pro because I grew up with the show and the art package is first-class. The ramps also look like a blast. If the rules are boring, then it won't last and I'll likely have no problem moving it with minimal financial downside.