I just started getting into Big Buck Hunter big time to the point where I'm looking at buying a game. If the new version does not offer a "home" version then I really can't see buying one. If I have to pay to play at home, then what's the point of investing in the machine? I may as well just go to my local location and use theirs. I guess it might be nice for the random few people in the world that don't have access at all to a machine, but I imagine those numbers are quite low.

Makes me wonder what the final pricing is really going to come in at as well. If the individual modules are really close to $1K a pop, then there's also really no reason to buy an older used game and upgrade - the cost of the used game plus the new content will likely be as much as the brand new game fully loaded. Guess it's all speculation at this point in time...

Looking forward to seeing how everything shakes down.

Sorry in advance if my questions are boneheaded, but I still don't quite understand 100%. Maybe you can help me out? I'm looking at buying a game for home:

Mini online for $6199 + I can add in the home plan for $29.99/month to get all content. Do I still pay additional for treks/adventures on top of that monthly subscription? If no, then am I correct in assuming that if I'm not paying to play, then my scores aren't counting towards the world rankings? If yes, how exactly does that work - - i.e if I stuff a $20 bill in the game to play, it's my game, i just open the coin door and take it back - - is there another cut that ends up having to get paid back to Raw Thrills or whoever it is?

Also, I assume the Panorama version is what the traditional/normal cabinet is called?

Awesome, that helps alot, thank you for answering. One last question from before - - is it safe to assume the monthly subscription of $29.99/month allows for unlimited monthly freeplay of all content?

Anyone know if you can switch back and forth on the HD models between online and offline playing and how hard or easy that is to do?

Also curious, if I have my own home game and have it set for online and pay for play, how do the finances work if you're putting all the money into your own game but playing "pro" or in weekly tournaments? I assume Raw Thrills takes some % of what is put in (and i'm sure it's logged in the system). I.e. if I have one of these at home and want to pay to play in weekly tournaments, etc. do I get to play a lot cheaper since it's my game and have access to the cash box?

Any pinheads going to the world tournament this year?

Awesome, hope you make it. Will be nice to catch back up. Are you going to be competing, just for fun, or working?

Duplicate

I'm still trying to get some more details and understanding here, but for the life of me I don't understand everyone's complaining about Raw Thrills offering the "Pro" mode at home. Maybe it's because this group doesn't fully understand what "Pro" mode is? Here's my perspective:

- Sounds like there's a monthly fee to have it online so that you can play whatever content you want as much as you want. Perfect. This play doesn't qualify towards the weekly tournaments with payouts coming from Raw Thrills and doesn't add to your pro playfier profile for the annual tournament.

- Now it sounds like they are offering the *option* to also be able to play the "Pro" mode from home. Yes, this costs more money, IT HAS TO. The "Pro" mode allows for thousands of dollars of weekly payouts from Raw Thrills to the top players as well as building a pool to the million dollars or whatever it is that they pay out at the annual global tournament. For all those that dont see the value, that's fine, shoot better. I know my case is not common, but I won over $2K last year between weekly tourneys and my global tourney finish (another local buddy of mine won over $10K this year). Additionally, for me, I have to pay $3/trek to compete and build my weekly/global scores - being able to play for $2/trek at home with a perfectly calibrated gun is HUGE and would literally save me 33% of what I spend monthly on Big Buck - that's enough to probably cover the $40 monthly fee and pay the machine back, lol.

Anyway, to reiterate, you gotta pay more for the pro mode because it pays more out to the players. if you dont care about winning money or building your global leaderboard scores then there's absolutley no reason for anyone to play the Pro mode.

Please let me know if I'm misunderstanding any of this...

King Pin - I'll be emailing you about pricing and timing on a mini.

Just brought home my mini reloaded cabinet courtesy of Chris aka King Pin. Super smooth and fast transaction. Highly recommend him and his team as a distributor.

Anything I need to watch out for or be aware of before I boot it up and start figuring out how to get everything up and running, etc.?

Yeah, there is no denying that Raw Thrills is making a *killing* on this game.

Easy to see how pinball had a period of dull drums when you can have a game with almost no maintenance taking in 100X the money in a quarter of the time.

When I was reviewing the fine print in the signup for the "Coin up" account it looks like there's also an operator option, but that still has a $30 or so monthly service fee. I assume Raw Thrills would still take a portion of whatever additional money was put into the game...