I agree with it being a good time in Pinball. I find myself wanting a new game but unsure of what to get. I really wish we knew what jjp#4 is and star wars.

So many choices if you're living in the past.

Times are good, no.

I looked at the list... Then I looked at the list again and I am fairly certain that I will not be buying anything on your list. I also disagree with your suggestion that now is any better a time than any other time in pinball. It's always a good time to buy pinball machines.

I'm just curious... Does a machine have to be new for you to consider buying it?

I took this as "another" snarky comment about current themes.........yet your collection is almost entirely "living in the past"....the ancient past (not that there's anything wrong with that).

There doesn't seem to be much choice, these days.

Pinball themes are NEVER going to be cutting edge "hip". Too much risk. They want "nostalgia", they want tried and true.

You want cutting edge without licenced themes....wait for a P3 (I'll pass on the P3....it does not intrigue me).

I'm lobbying for a bassmasters pinball theme right now. Legendary license that's still current.

What choices? If I wanted to go buy a game now that's finished and ready to go, my choices are:

some stern games made a few years ago that they continue to rerun (metallica, TWD)
Hobbit
maybe full throttle? Though I'm not sure if they're actually making them currently?

That's it.

Batman not finished, Aerosmith not finished, ghostbusters still needs updates, etc. You probably wouldn't get your Alien order until next year, TBL is a mess, Rob Zombie is sold out and Alice Cooper isn't available for a while, etc. So what choices? Preordering something for an unknown timeframe isn't a choice.

I think the op was simply saying that there is more selection currently than simply only whatever stern is offering. With so many new companies offering games, it only adds to the options we have. Some good, some maybe bad, but still better than only one company producing games.

"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice"

amazing times indeed!

What about Congo and JM and Shadow? Those were new licenses at the time. Same with Jurassic Park.

They just did Ghostbusters, Batman66, Alien, and Aerosmith. How much newer do you want?

And......three out of four of those BOMBED as far as sales are concerned...so thanks for proving my point.

I agree we are heading to a buyers market fully. I am a buyer that makes me real happy.

I have an unmoving tom. I need a AFM or remake, mmr or mm and then a Tron. If I can't get a kingpin at that point I will be in trouble.

But I also have my eye towards a monster bash remake. Still I have plenty of places to spend my money now...

I dunno, i think most of us have always been so interested, and so intrigued to see what new title will be released from Stern whether we were planning on buying or not. Back then, that excitement happened once every 6 months or so. Nowadays we get to see and hear about a new release every few months; whether it's from Stern, Spooky, JJP, or some other upcoming manufacture. It doesn't mean everyone is going to jump on the wagon and buy every release, though it seems that way sometimes; it just means we get to have a little more fun in our hobby seeing what awesome talent is brought to us with the next design, theme, rules, art, etc... So yes, these are exciting times. Maybe not for buyers or sellers, but at least for those of us who love the hobby as a whole.

One other thing i'll mention. In the far past, before pinside forums, I bought a pin (usually NIB) with no intention whatsoever to trade or sell; i just didnt understand that side of the hobby. Then, a few years later; social media picks up, pinside starts gaining ground and i begin meeting more and more people in this hobby....good people at that. And that's when i start selling/trading the first pins i ever bought. Then, the disease sets in and i become more of a player than a collector (I only ever had room for 4-5 pins so keeping the same pins grew tiresome at times). So as social media picks up and more people get introduced to the hobby and stern only releasing a couple titles a year, i was able to buy just about every new release and sell/trade it months later at a very minimal risk $-wise.

Now, things have escalated even further; stern is putting out even more games per year, there's new manufacturer's, and more people in the hobby. And with all that demand, comes higher prices. So now there's more risk involved for me buying/selling/trading; taking bigger hits on NIB purchases than ever before. Luckily for me, the talent is better now too. Designers are putting out faster, more fun games that have me coming back more often; giving me the action and fun that lacked in yesterdays pins which is a key element for games to be more of a keeper as revisiting them can be so much fun.

So yes, this is a good time for the hobby and it has changed over the years. In some elements for the better, and in other aspects for the worse. But all in all, i love reading, seeing, and admiring new pins; whether i own them or not.

I don't know. All four of those machines had decent sales numbers and are all still desirable today.

I would say they are more sought after today. Most of those were considered turds for a long time. Back in those days they were hoping for over 6000 sales......without having to blow them out at discounted pricing at the end of the run.

All I know is when I saw them on route I thought they were a cool representation of the times. Almost like movie posters. Play the games and then go see the movies.

JM was a great representation of the movie...a piece of hot garbage.

And here is another choice you can add to your list. It's a prototype so I'm only taking a 500 dollar down payment.

Blue and yellow side rails are standard but you can get red and yellow for an upgrade fee. Watch out for that left outlane, it's a bitch.

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Actually the game is WAY better than the movie.

It's not really exciting though when the games aren't available to buy. I equate it to Sony and their PS4 E3 shows where they show off 10 mind blowing things whipping everyone into a frenzy but then those things aren't available for years. In two or three years when all of these things are actually 'buyable' then I'll get excited, getting excited before the game is done or available just never works out well (I've been trained well by the video game industry). Magic girl was basically the Duke Nukem 3d of the pinball industry. Alien is like Star Citizen. Star Wars is like the next Red Dead game, the game that's coming out soon that everyone is waiting for. No point in getting worked up about them until they're actually finished and ready to play.

That's the truly sad part.

I didn't want to comment on every game you listed. But my opinion is different on some of them. However, this one (TWD) I do want to say, don't judge a book by its cover. The game is a stone cold bitch. It took a long time (and some code updates!) before it clicked for me. The game is exquisite while being horrifically hard. The rules match the difficulty. You can overlook it if you want, but it is a well done game.