Pics will leak today from the Webinar..... crossing fingers

Grandpa Munster was a huge basketball fan

Talked to him once out in the LA summer leagues. Seemed like a great guy. Late 80’s

Launch this BABY!!!!!

I thought that was for distributors?

Games are starting to be setup. Hmm those rumors...

Give it a decent ruleset, but make the software open with addresses for audio files and video clips. Bingo, you've got a completely re-themeable pin.

I would actually love this.

Later,
EV

I'm 100% out on this pin, nothing they show tomorrow will make me buy it, so I have zero emotional stake here. But I hope the black and white playfield part is true, and that it looks great, because it sounds like something that could be fun. If it's just the normal playfield art, but desaturated in Photoshop, that sounds pretty lame, I can't argue with that. But if it's actually designed for black and white, with some thought put into it? Why not?

Kinda surprised at how negative the reactions are already to something nobody has seen. The hype is there for the gameplay, and you haven't seen that either, so why the leap to negative?

How many times has Stern EXCEEDED expectations in the modern era?

There's your answer.

Some of you folks have expectations that cannot be realized. Stern could deliver you a 10 lb bar of gold for free, and you would complain about having to go somewhere to cash it in.

Every time they release something better than Striker Extreme they've done this .

People have pretty short memories around here.

Were you not around when Iron Maiden was released?

I want the whole cabinet filled with gold bars, one is not enough!

A> That was substantially developed outside Stern.
B> That was one of less than a handful of times I can think of.

I didn't say they NEVER exceeded expectations, but implied that they RARELY exceed expectations, which is true. They are not a try-hard company when it comes to impressing. Increasing profits is clearly their #1 focus.

the big question : who is not going to be in vegas for the big reveal?

montage03 (resized).jpg

I was told by a friend who sells pinballs they will be able to press the order button tomorrow ... the games i think are already made and ready to ship once the reveal is done.

When it comes to the art? I'd argue plenty of times, clearly they've stepped their art game up in the past few years.

Even the 'boring' Stern releases look good these days, no?

Heard similar just now from a distributor. They are going to be in the distributor webinar, and will know when and what versions can be ordered during that..

The art is where it should be or less. I would say in general it's satisfactory, but that's what is EXPECTED for the games they're doing. The only time recently I was very impressed and they exceeded my expectation was the Batman '66 SLE cabinet art with the foil and raised areas. That is VERY impressive "above-and-beyond" work when seen in person. But then that goodwill went right in the toilet when they didn't even make enough to cover WARRANTY issues with the cabinet and sent me a non-foiled coil door art to fix bunching and delaminating around the shooter plate. $15k machine warranty is no better than their $5k machines.

Yeah, but the trick was to set the bar ridiculously low first by releasing overpriced and under-equipped pins for a while, then sell us at the new and improved Stern pricing something that had again next to no toys but good gameplay (own a Refinery Edition IMDNLE myself and like it a lot, but no competition in the toys department for my my older Sterns).

I don't call that blowing anyone away, that is just good enough.

Looks amazing

Well I'm hearing the playfield on Prem is indeed B&W so I look forward to the teeth gnashing, nothing like a good Pinside gripe session to fill the cold grey days of early January. I know I'm having trouble getting back into my work groove, how about you?

It really seems like they would have made that an LE. Seems odd to make such a drastic change on the Prem. Maybe it looks and plays amazing though.

And yes....I should be working and not posting :p

Al Lewis was quite the character.

https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/05/the-politics-of-grandpa-munster.html

I think Premium customers are the ones Stern hates the most because they always want more for less, i.e. they want all the gameplay of an LE (god forbid they miss some game rule or toy present on the LE) but not all the cost of the LE tack ons that do nothing for game play, i.e. non interactive toys and figurines, exclusive artwork, armor, etc...

I think if Premiums are all B&W, this is a tongue in cheek stab in the eye at them from Stern... ok you want all the gameplay and toys? Fine, but you get no color artwork. No soup for you.

Then what do the Pro buyers get, a game with no playfield at all?

200 new posts and all I discovered is there’s an announcement for an announcement.

Pro - No toys but color
Premium - No color but toys.

Choose.

So what time is this game going to be streamed tomorrow, does anyone know exactly?

And all the complaints about the backbox art choices...
and the complaints about the premium colors...
And the complaints about it not being archer enough...

Yeah sure people loved the loaded Pro and the return of some things like PF rails... but that doesn't mean the complainers weren't still there.

IMO the answer is simple: it's a risk. They don't want people passing on the LE because the costs of the extra stuff is less than the markup, it's easy money. The Premium isn't as big a risk because if there's a backlash they just roll out Prem V2 Now In Color™ and people deal with it. They can't change the LE, it will set a bad precedent, but we've already seen the 'new' Premium thing before. Don't forget Metallica:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/04/will-the-metallica-table-help-pinball-ride-the-lightning-to-relevance/

No Monsters Premium at launch, just Roadcase, which people hated on. So boom, new Prem with Donny artwork appears.

Yeah I’m sure if people don’t like the black and white premium then they will come out with a new one as well

@who-dey, Pro buyers get a good game to put on site and make some money, and pinheads like us to put in their homes and play without the sticker shock of Premiums/LE’s. It has most of the gameplay and only us pinheads know what the casual player is missing. I am not knocking Pro’s at all here. There are Pros that I like better than Premiums, GOT and IM being two of them.

Yup!

Just size the runs right and go whatever way the market dictates.

Im a little worried (ok a lot worried) about the Black and White premium but im gonna hold judgment until i see it. Theres been many times that we thought something was going to suck and Stern ended up blowing us away and surprising us.

This is probably the most interesting game reveal that i have ever seen. Alot of unknowns, hype, and anticipation going on.

Won't all that weight split the cabinet?

Ya the games look good

My big worry was how much booze was flowing in the hands of the Stern Employees in those pics... That is either a triumphant celebration or the kind of hedonistic behavior you see by the army that lost the war... hoping for the triumphant celebration...

Yes.. I am supposed to be working, finding it extremely difficult to get back in to working. Love Pinside so Pinside is helping me make the transition back to work!

If there is indeed a Black and White edition, this would explain the leaks, Stern want to test their market before releasing. If the Black and White version is a flop, they can make a colour revision easily on a premium edition.

We're going to hold you to that. If we ever see Munsters in your game collection, there will be a public shaming as well as multiple pictures of the back of your head posted in this very thread.

I am a 5 hours drive from Vegas... you do not know how badly I am fighting the urge to drive there tonight...

And in black and white!

No question about it. A good crop dusting will blow a Stern cabinet to smithereens!

Makes sense.

So, would anyone ever consider getting a munsters slot to compliment their munsters pin?
Or, do you see no point or value with that for your game room?
Even though slots can become boring..some look cool all lit up in the gameroom, and kids do have a lot of fun with them.
Opinions?

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He was indeed quite a character.

Have nothing to add except I saw him in the West Village when I lived there briefly around 1998. He was chomping on a cigar waiting to cross 7th avenue and Christopher, as was I.

He had a simply unmistakable appearance!!

Although there are those doing it, how many LE’s really are bought as an investment? And of those doing so, how many are being left NIB? And how many people will actually never buy a pin from Stern again if Stern sold you an LE, then put out another LE that was better than your LE, and now all your NIB LE v1 are worth less because there is a better LE v2 now? Is this number of customers so many that they would never think of doing this? Doubtful. I think Stern would sell anything they want to, when they want to, as long as the market is there. LE buyers are pretty fickle... they like things being perfect. Including the exclusive “protection” they seem to think they are buying by purchasing an LE. I would never count on a moniker of “LE” being anything other than a way of describing the top trim level. Car makers have run into this problem in the past too, their response was “shrug”.

If you're a super fan who likes novelty objects with logos on them why not? But otherwise I can't think of anything more boring than a slot machine that can't pay out. It's like buying a Ghostbusters pin that only runs the video mode.

I'm ready to take that risk.

My brother will be there at CES tomorrow and Wednesday, I look forward to hearing his thoughts, and some pics/vids!

My guess is they open orders for all 3 machines tomorrow, but we will only see the Pro. Which just really sucks.

I'm supposed to place a pre-order on a LE or Premium that I can't see? Just like what happened with Iron Maiden.

Hoping it's not the case, and I can make a semi-informed decision tomorrow.

I can always wait 1-2 months until I can play a Premium. Which in my area is unlikely.