Just sit tight and buy a used LE from someone in a few months. You'll save money too.

He wouldn’t be saving money over a SE and then it needs to be near you or add shipping. I’m not saying I disagree to wait but you could be waiting a long time or paying near NIB pricing with shipping.

Patience pays off though. He can't add some of the missing features. If he wants the game as an le he should just wait.

I'm not saying this just because I currently have a standard but the game design is so fun that a lot of the added features are kind of an afterthought, however cool they are.

every mass produced game comes up for sale. even some very rare games too. wait it out. if you are like me, knowing the le has features that the se doesn't will eat away at you and make you regret getting the lower version.

Then wait, otherwise you are going to kick yourself every time you consider that you just have an se.

Standard plays just like the LE. I actually prefer the stainless trim. If you want one now, go with the new standard. If you don’t mind waiting, get an used LE later. Prices won’t be dropping that much for a while, since demand is higher than supply.

I have an SE that came New in Box with invisiglass as a “free” option. I put in a shaker, 140 bucks and absolutely love the game. I totally agree the stainless is nicer then the LE trim. It is not your normal stainless.
You are paying 1K for “mods”. There is no other game play differences except the color changing GI lights and there are many ways to determine which pirate mode your in. I do not buy invisi glass normally. I do not buy toppers normally. I would not buy the pop spinning pirate as an ad on. Nor do I buy any of the other stuff normally. However, I would most likely buy the star panel if I could. On the surface the LE it seems like a good deal but if I could select the options individually like when buying a car , I would only buy the shaker and star panel ( maybe 250 bucks)
If you are worried about buyer remorse now, I would wait for an LE to come on the market but may be a while as these are great games and will be a while before they hit the market. This is a great game and when playing it you will not notice most of the “missing” stuff. Best wishes

No difference in game play. I actually prefer the white GI because it is easier to track the ball and better illuminates the plastics. You get enough of a light show from the inserts and accent lighting. If you really wanted to add more lighting effects you could ad a Pinstadium RGB kit. The upgrades are worth it for the difference in cost on the LE, but if you can't find one don't sweat it. I would rather have a new in the box then someones used game that may have issues from early production.

Or just wait. As with other JJP games, they will re-run them and will come out with a new edition, something maybe called the Limited eye-patch version or some other name JJP comes up with.

I was looking at getting one for a few months, always wanted to own a JJP. I went ahead and pulled trigger on an LE when I saw what looked to me like cost cutting happening on the latest pin. I thought maybe they wouldn't re-run for the reasons you mentioned. Or if they did, they would do it YBR style and jack the price. But even if they never make them again, there's still 1000 of them out there, and people will eventually move them around like any other title.

If you prioritize 'new' and/or 'want it soon', the way is clear to me, SE. If the SE were missing a mech the LE had I might personally hold out for used, but it's 99% the same experience.

I'd buy a used LE if you can't find a NIB right now. The price jump from the SE is absolutely justified and worth it...and then some. JJP LE's are a no brainer and you will probably kick yourself later on if you went SE.

JJP already did the design/software. If there is money to be made, they will run a new batch in the future. I would think WOZ would be a harder game to build and the BOM cost would be higher. How many times did JJP run WOZ games?

99% the same experience at 89 percent the cost of an LE .

Put in a shaker and your experience goes up to 99.5% (sorry I am an engineer) with the better trim.

Sorry, I believe the SE is the way to go. Yes you are getting a slight discount on the SE/LE differences,but , most of them I would not buy at a discount (topper, plastics,sub hook up,invisi glass) anyway.

The LE topper is a joke. I don’t even count that as anything. The rest is fairly significant IMO. Is there any difference in the playfield lighting?

If there is demand they will make more. Even an expensive BOM in pinball leaves plenty of room for profit, and it’s definitely better to build more games than leave idle capacity in the factory. That’s why Stern does VE’s.

I like the stainless BW look. In fact, I really wish they would have chosen it for Wonka.

A buddy of mine picked up an SE and I gotta say, it doesn’t feel like much of a compromise.

The base level Bentley is still a Bentley, lol.

Where did you find the LE?

The RGB GI was a big deal for me, I like when the GI is a different color as it tells me that I need to be hitting something

Don't the RGB inserts on the SE change color and tell you the same thing?

Yes