I've heard that it is indeed happening, but I haven't seen anybody selling them yet. Great, great, game.

Oh, and they also have new runs of Batman, 24, Shrek, Spider-Man, and Lord of the Rings coming.

Where does this information come from? Is it confirmed or rumour?

Stern employees were sharing this info during Expo when they had the Stern factory tour. Big Buck Hunter is coming after the holidays.

That is why I don't LIKE STERN and don't spend any time researching about them or support them, and dont own one. (over and over again) YES they are keeping pinball alive and YES Gary is always at the shows....well I don't really have another yes for them. The components and the construction and the wood that they use for the playfield and machine are so damned cheap and plastic. They can have all the SE's, LE's, and X'es and ONLY 500 made machines they want. Signed stamped and certificated the s**t out of, I still won't buy one. One last kick at the kitty Gary is saying. 'buy em up, buy em up'.....there is ONLY going to be 500 or 250 of them.

There is lots of people selling LE machines made by stern RIGHT NOW.....and not even getting half the price they paid for them. If and when stern goes "tits up"....the machines aren't going to be worth 1000's more, if there is slimers out there to make some money. Just stating the facts mam. (have to wonder why all the rest of the ' williams crew' has QUIT at stern?????)

........in 20 years us pinheads are going to ask each other 'remember that 2nd and 4th version of Shrek and Spiderman that stern came out with?".................................................................doesn't that sound stupid though to talk about a 4th & 10th release of a machine. COMON. ....oooh I have machine number 54 of 250 of the 5th 200 SE editions of the game!!!!!! Ya, (if you have seen that "robocop" movie you would get this quote)

"Ill buy that for a dollar!!!!"

LOL, there was even a pinball made for THAT MOVIE!! OMG!

correct 100%.

very well put jbscar. i can't add anything here.

Stern has to have a VERY lean operation to stay in business. You see these re-runs for a few reasons.

1. Operators and distributors ask for them around the holidays because buyers keep asking where to get a Simpsons or LOTR machine.

2. They have leftover parts from previous runs, so they do a small run to fill gaps in the production line between new titles.

3. Sometimes licensing agreements only allow for a certain number of games to be ran, later they're able to renegotiate more runs.

4. Sometimes they're an exclusive deal with a certain seller, like this LOTR LE run is a special deal with Jack at Pinball Sales for all the good business he's done with Stern over the years.

5. People gobble these up, so it's a very low risk way of filling the coffers before rolling the dice on a new theme.

As far as quality goes, it's pretty much a myth that Stern's parts are crappy. The games hold up just fine, especially in a home use setting. It's kind of like the Data East deal where people propagate rumors of bad quality when in reality it's not so bad.

Stern is doing what he can to keep the doors open, so to speak. While I disagree with the majority of the decisions he makes, I think he makes them with best intentions. In a really small market, Stern manages to stay alive, so has to be doing SOMETHING right.

GREAT post Jar155, I agree and think Stern has good quality and has used the best designers and programers,love their games as well as Bally and Williams pins.They could do things different sure,but they aretrying to stay in business.Would like to see some non themed games come out!with alittle better advertising and more young people seeing and playing pins-Like"my grand children" pinball could make a come back.Lets spread theword about how fun and skill oriented and exciting Pinball can be!!!

Well put, Jar155! I fully agree with what you are saying. The re-runs are an excellent idea, especially in the economic times being as they are. Not only the U.S. is suffering - I notice a big slowdown of the buying and selling of Pins here in the Netherlands as well. People just don't want to spend their cash on pinball machines and Stern must be feeling it. But even without the bad economy, I think it's a brilliant move of Stern to take a step back and look at which games were popular or which games are still in high demand and do small re-runs of them. And for games like TSPP (with timeless themes) it's also good for us collectors (that game is currently so hard to come by here where I live).

JBScar, I remember having some of the same feelings as you about the Stern games back in the day when titles like Striker Extreme and High Roller Casino hit the market. My enthusiasm "Great! a new game!" quickly turned in big disappointment. And not without reason... The fall was hard - Champion Pub, Medieval Madness, Cactus Canyon, Revenge from Mars... and then suddenly Striker Extreme. These games felt very cheap and played rather crapy as well - especially compared to the Ball/Williams games I had come to love so much. But Stern has steadily been improving their games and nowadays I really enjoy playing games like LOTR, Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean just as much as my Scared Stiff, Attack from Mars and other Bally/Williams titles.

You should really give them another try. Come by my gameroom when you're in Holland and play some well-maintained Sterns next to some great Bally/Williams titles.

Different? Yes. But in a refreshing way. Love any game with a silver ball in it.