Good g-d, are they capable of EVER releasing something that doesn’t trigger buyer’s anxiety for one reason or another!?!

I know pins are a hand-made special animal and some variation is to be expected, but it’s damn ridiculous that this issue only became a big deal 100+ years after the advent of pinball and is STILL apparently unresolved. Spending $10k on a toy SHOULD NOT be a gamble on any level at all! Imagine the outrage if Focal or Sonus Faber were shipping $10k speakers with delaminating wood veneers, off-center driver surrounds, or loose binding posts (or if Tele-Vue were shipping $10k telescopes with fingerprints on the internal optics or slop in the focusing mechanism.)

(Sorry for the (mildly) drunken rant, but I for one am sick and tired of hearing the “pinball is different” excuses and the resultant constant need to lower expectations! Give me a f***in’ break, man!)

No, but I really WANTED to!

I had extremely high hopes based upon the hype and was ecstatic when it was revealed and seemed to be even better in every way than I’d hoped, but the ongoing failure to fix this issue (they’ve had a couple of years to do so) utterly deflates all excitement (at least for me). $10k is a nontrivial expense, and I work way too hard to “settle” and accept the gamble that my brand-new game may (or may not) emerge from the box in less than “mint” condition!

I have about decided to use the GnR budget on a HW or possibly Houdini plus a nice older game; perceived lower risk of disappointment and twice the pinball action seems like a better deal to me at this point.