Should be: Stranger Things since the last season anyone will probably care about comes out in a few weeks.

Probably is: Jurassic World as its been rumored for years. New movies are junk but Millenials worship the brand so will do great on location.

Elvira: I'd expect BM66 pricing. Mostly as an insurance policy against weak sales of yet another old man themes after Munsters and BK3.

Elvira 3 was finished AGES ago so they must have some trepidation about release. Combine this with weaker sales of 3 old person themes in a row and yes they will probably use a Batman 66 pricing model to reduce risk.

It's like postage stamps, the less they sell the higher the price gets. Or iPhones whose sales have declined several years in a row but price increases made up the difference (until last fall when they hit the price wall)

If TMNT I suspect some custom Zombie Yeti art because none of the existing art styles for Turtles would be accepted in Old Man Caves (tm)

Now if Stern were really smart they'd license all the cool videogame music from the Konami games and have a "NES feel" without having to deal with Nintendo.

Gen X is a major driver in pinball's success now. We started playing in early 90's which is also when Williams started to lean heavily into licenses. T2, Batman, Jurassic Park, Hook, Addam's Family, Bram Stoker's, TNG, Indiana Jones... all things we enjoyed and served as a "gateway drug" to get us interested.

What if all the licenses back then had been 50 year old stuff? Bing Crosby Multiball, Gregory Peck The Pin, John Wayne's Cactus Canyon? Would we have cared? We laugh at themes like "Roy Clark The Entertainer" but that was just as dated then as many of these themes are now.

Any business should think about long term success, and in an industry that relies so heavily on licensing themes, some thought should be given to what people under 50 enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I'm 43. I really enjoyed TMNT back in the day and think the 1990 movie still holds up.

The bullseye is 80s themes. Appeals to Gen Xers and also millennials are strangely obsessed with that decade. 80s is the new zombies.

TNA did a great job with this (and shocker it was from a young designer) Had old school single level brutality but also the cheesy colors, sounds and graphics of retro 80s stylings (compete with an atomic theme)

Right now on YouTube the "fuzzy VHS, wow and flutter tape distortion, analog crappiness" vibe is really popular. Best Buy ditched CD and now only carry vinyl. Younger people are definitely interested in the older analog world so no reason they can't also become pinball fans.

"TMNT is a stupid idea, why would anyone want this?"

(sees pin with amazing Zombie Yeti art)

"SHUT UP AND TAKE ALL MY MONIIIIIESSSSSES!"

Stern to rumored to have Stranger Things license. They'd be stupid not to make it.

1) actual modern relevant theme
2) appeals to Gen X who buy pins because they grew up in the 80s
3) appeals to Millenials who play on location because they're obsessed with the 80s as a concept.

It's time for Stern themes to come back to the 21st century.

There's been 2 Jurassic pins already. I also don't think it's a license Gen X (home buyer) cares about much.

Yeah it's Whitestar. A friend of mine helped another friend use Titanic boards to fix his LOTR.

Wait... WHITESTAR? Didn't they build the Titanic? ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED! #moonLandingFake

Not saying Stranger Things is greatest show ever. First couple of new episodes have been "meh".

But it is super popular. And it's higher quality than the turd sandwiches that were the last 2 Jurassic movies .

Yes and without a license!

Yes, we need something cross-generational.

It's actually why I think BTTF would be kind of a dumb theme. That movie was about baby boomers and Gen X. What connection is there for younger people?

Spooky explored Holy Grail, at one point it was going to be my second game there.

Had some pretty cool ideas for a hackable knight mech.

A Back to the Future remake would make so much sense.

The joke about "who's president in the future?" even still works. Maybe they could fix the bad science of a plutonium rod creating electricity.

Why does the time period of the show matter? What matters is the show is current and relevant.

It's like saying Happy Days wasn't relevant in the 70s because it took place in the 50s.

Nostalgia is always in style.

That's a great idea Trey!

Yeah the fact a POS like Gottlieb SMB out-earns everything is a pretty clear sign of what actual location goers like.

I fear though that working with Nintendo would make Disney look like Sony.

Young people don't go to barcades? Are you serious? They spend more money at bars than any generation before them! And they're going to bars more and later in life because they're not popping out kids at age 23 like Gen X and BB before them.

Guess what's in bars? PINBALL MACHINES! That's where they belong, that's the original purpose. I can't randomly walk into a rich dude's basement but I can randomly walk into a bar.

Signed, Someone Who Actually Interacts with Millenials on a Regular Basis, is Friends with a Lot of Them, and Even Knows Some who own Pinball Machines.

Yeah Stranger Things 3 was kind of weak. The monster wasn't really well explained and the only one of the original team who really did anything was Dustin (the toothless goofball).

I think bar-fly millenials would have to own a car before they'd be able to get a DUI.

Look I'm not saying make Power Rangers, Pokemon (insert millenial catnip title here) pinball, just consider younger players once in a while. Stern claims to care so much about operators (and they're the only company making pins operators can afford) so why not consider the base of who's actually playing these games outside of rich Gen X basements?

It's not going to be a pin. I say this because last I knew the rights holders were still pimping it.

It's probably a poster regarding a SDCC panel regarding the now-filming 3rd movie.

Wow. Edit fail on my part.

The Duffer Bros are pinheads and were shopping the license around a few years back = Stern has the Stranger Things license.

It'd be a smart move. White-hot actual CURRENT IP theme, appeals to both the Gen Xers who buy games and millenials who drop location quarters, kids also love it and it takes place in the 80's which is the current "cool" nostalgia era. (80's is the new zombies)

Add in some licensed songs, do the score display in the "fuzzy VHS" motif (also very en vogue these days) and it will SELL!

A piece of curved spring steel.

Springs are actually kind of expensive...

That would be AMAZEBALLS!

Maybe this is the first web-connected Stern game?

It links directly to your eye doctor, if you have trouble reading the score it schedules an appointment for you.

Exactly. 1up Arcade found the price ceiling for these sort of purchases and even then sounds like they collect dust in weaker stores.

And yes I agree with Hilton the demographic of "really well off people who don't know how to use the internet" is probably zero if you exclude celebrities.

Holy crap, my "A piece of metal is cheaper than a spring" comment came true.

LOL the fake music.

Stern like any company has finite time and resources.

I think people are upset because they spent resources making a "machine for no one" instead of finishing code for existing games or putting more effort into new ones.

I'm sure they have a pretty good margin on this but even if they sold it for zero profit it still wouldn't be cheap enough to be a mass market item.

It's 4X too much for normies.

It might work at 1k but then you'd have to build in China. Then you have the issue of product size. It's not a flat pack like 1up. Think of the volume this box takes up, just for a 1k item. You could fit 50k of phones or laptops in that same volume. This is an issue for shipping as well as retail.

Consumer grade price, made in America, high quality.... pick 2.

Theory: What if the SW regular game "ran out of gas" sales-wise and this is simply to burn up the license period?

This might... *might* have a shot as a mass market retail item if it was flat packed, $1000 and made in China.

4K made in USA? Forget about it. Wal-Mart/Target wouldn't even return your calls about distribution. Iron Man Classic was a dud at $2800 and it was far closer to a real game than this thing.

You don't grow your market by targeting demos that don't exist.