Both Shrek and Dale Jr. supposedly had production runs of 600 units. But I find it odd that Shrek is owned by 77 pinsiders and on 109 locations whereas Dale Jr. is only owned by 11 pinsiders and on 16 locations. How can that be if production numbers were the same?

Themes

i got it the home models stern made.

Wow quite a lot of opinions to sift through.

Assuming we are talking about modern Sterns 1999+, the lower production candidates tend to be NFL, NBA, CSI, 24, BBH, Striker Xtreme and Sharkey's Shootout. All my research tells me tells me there were less than 300 of each made. From personal observation, I have yet to see an NFL in person anywhere. The only NBA I've seen is at Universal's NBA restaurant. I've only found 1 of each of CSI, 24, and BBH on location since they were released. I have seen several Striker Xtremes, but Sharkey's Shootout maybe 1? I'm as confident in this list as one can be with research and anecdotal evidence, yet no ability to confirm the numbers... I'll put them in order of rarity first.

NFL- 85
NBA - 200
Sharkey's Shootout - 250
CSI / 24 / BBH - 250-300
Striker Xtreme - 250+

I believe all other Sterns had higher runs than the above titles

Here is an interesting thread from 2 years ago that deals with Stern production numbers, and there are some wide variations reported here by different posters. One guy even says that 3500 Shreks were produced. Haven't made it through the entire thread yet, but it's pretty good reading.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/do-we-have-any-sales-data-production-number-of-stern-pins

There were way more than 2,000 Striker's. There were 500 Shrek's. Most of them sold to CeC's. Your other numbers look better, but there are over 85 NBA's. Serials indicate that there should be around 200 NBA's. Stern usually ran at LEAST 200 of every single production title. Even the ones that sucked.

Keep in mind that not only people in the US buy Stern pinball machines. 50% of sales are other countries.

A heap of Striker Extremes and Sharkey's Shootouts seemed to come to Australia as fillers for containers from Europe.

I've seen nba, 24, csi and bbh all go thru auction at starburst. I know that's not an acurate indicator as to amount made, but I've never seen an nfl

There is a Dale Jr. in a LeChucky-Cheez near me.

It has to be Avengers Premium, if you want to count that separately.

Was NBA the first game with the SAM system?

It was WPT.

why? i think you're grossly underestimating the depth of the WWF/WWE fanbase - surely there is a bigger market for this theme than something like CSI or Mustang.

FUN has an NFL. I know of one NBA in Shreveport-Bossier.

BBH only seen one for sale never spotted in the wild

the one with an original layout

Any Stern with complete code? I kid I kid

Stevie Wonder.png

These for sure.

You have to look at Iron Man original. Even with a small VE the numbers are small. If you are including LE'S than the VE's have to be separated from the originals and maybe that's it? How many VE'S 100?

Ya, not IM original then...

Saw Steelers NFL pin at an auction here in Cincy last year. Reserve was like 3K and it did not sell. Only one I have ever seen for sale.

There was a Steelers NFL pin here on location for many years. That's the only one I have ever seen in person, but I've never heard anything about production numbers. I had also heard that there were apx 1100 24's made and I have seen a handful of those. I've heard CSI was only apx 350 units, so I voted for that.

It's too bad there aren't more CSI's out there. I think it's a really cool game and interesting layout by Pat Lawler. But a combination of the theme and the time-frame it was released really hurt the sales numbers I'm guessing. Pat has not done a game since then, correct? The new Jersey Jack will be his first in 7 years?

US version NBA gets my vote.

I'm still kicking myself for not buying a prototype that came up FS here a couple of years ago.

I've seen and played a couple of BBH pins on location and seems like quite a few FS recently.

I guess the obvious question is would I want to buy any of these pins?

Maybe BBH or NBA, the rest, no thanks.

I think BBH was at the tail end of the cost cutting era for Stern and just before JJP announced WOZ.

XMEN and XMENLE might be in the mix somewhere.

There was a time when you could buy a CV at close out prices under 2k. I have owned a CV, I like XMENLE better overall.

Quantity does not make a game great in and of itself.

double post

K that's just wierd!

I'd say NFL, Mustang Premium, or Metallica Road Case Premium.

..which they countered by nerfing the software development and shipping a half-assed coded game

I second that.

Nothing's wrong with the CSI code. You guys are just jealous that I have the current high score.

Honestly I don't think there are things wrong with most code on a lot of games. A lot of times people flip out about it but seriously, unless you play the games in easy joke mode or on 5 balls you won't be completing most of the features anyway.

Ask anyone that comes to my arcade how many times they can get to the "end" on most of my machines and I can assure you it won't be easy.

I understand some people flip out with animations and scoring and missing things but it's definitely blown way the heck out of proportion.

It's missing things to do. It has three multiballs and a couple other random things (DNA) and that's about it. The game fails to convey much sense of crime-scene investigations.. i mean, the main multiball is "skull multiball"? Microscope has been reduced to "shoot this colored light" You can't tell me Pat didn't have bigger plans for that evidence grid in the middle of the playfield... Upper PF shot is pretty useless, and the audio is lacking.

Are We counting Sega Days?

Viper night driving mini had 2 made

Golden Cue had under 20 before it became Sharkey's shootout.

I prefers not to count the one offs as Apollo 13 had a spinoff.

I have to say Golden Cue as they sold them to consumers.

Heard 24 and CSI are under 400.

BBH I heard was over 500 plus

I am talking about it as a general thing. I actually have not played CSI so I do not know anything about it. I had a discussion with someone about this and 24 and he swore CSI was better but 24 I knew was very underrated and fun. I have 24 but not CSI.

Im thinking csi because ive only ever seen one but have played and had a chance to buy 24 quite a few times but again could just be by chance?

Dealer inventory.

I'm amused at the story of SXs being container fillers. That would certainly explain where most of them went. Pretty sure that game killed the German distributor, but not 100%.

I would be simply shocked if there were < 250-500 NFLs, but I can't be sure on that either. 85 sounds ridiculous even for a filler game.

Also, 250 Sharkeys is laughable and absolutely wrong. I know for a fact that one was around 1000.

Also 250 SXs is also extremely laughable. That one is likely to be closer to 2000, though I know no one will believe it.

I believe it , I've seen quite a few of those . Never seemed like a rare game , to me anyways . An operator in the area has one at the local ski hill .

I agree with you on all of those except NFL. I never see nor hear of NFL at all, and that's a game where every one produced would almost certainly have stayed in this country, as well. 85 does seem way too low, but I'd say certainly less than 500.

Saw an NFL @ CAX in 2013

No need to rate it, it's just Striker Extreme. I have to believe most of these went to hardcore football fans and went straight into their game rooms and most are probably still owned today by the original owners.

Boston Pinball has 22 of these NFL games sold on ebay over the last 8 years.

Sounds like there's plenty of disagreement about sub 1000 production numbers on Sharkeys and Striker that they should probably be removed from the mix. That leaves only NFL and the "dark years" games 2009-2010, which makes sense.

NFL- 85
NBA - 200
CSI / 24 / BBH - 250-300

All these games had complete runs less than today's Stern LEs

Some of the other ones in this discussion and other Stern titles for comparison from Boston Pinball
http://www.bostonpinball.biz/ebay_1114.htm

LOTR 200
TSPP 193
Elvis 170
POTC 170
Monopoly 153
Sopranos 135
Nascar 133
Austin Powers 109
Playboy 96
Roller Coaster Tycoon 84
WPT 74
T3 73
Harley Davidson 70 (187 if including Sega)
Family Guy 64
ACDC 62
spiderman 58
RBION 57
High Roller Casino 56
Striker Extreme 46
IJ4 45
Sharkey's Shootout 44
BDK 36
Tron 33
Metallica 32
Star Trek 31
Shrek 25
NFL 22
Transformers 21
Avengers 21
WOF 21
X-men 19
Iron Man 18
Avatar 16
BBH 13
Rolling Stones 11
Mustang 6
24 5
CSI 5
NBA 4
Walking Dead 4