It's a double edged sword. Makes it harder to get a new, limited game at a good price (and rarely as a fully informed purchase), but also easier to sell in a timely manner without taking a loss.

Nothing yet. I emailed a couple days ago and asked how to send more money too.

Pinballstar used paypal. Did you use paypal?

Joe stated if you got the PayPal confirmation than you are good. We won't hear more until they have the game numbers figured out. He stated not to request that information but to wait for his email.

Yea im good and wont be bothering them. Wasnt sure if the poster I quoted did though, since he didnt mention paypal and seemed to be waiting to hear back from pinballstar.com

They are probably so slammed and overwhelmed and still have a sales hang over... once the dust settles I'm sure the cute Wisconsin squirrel girl will help you out.

If you already got one through a Distro doesn’t that mean Fang club membership worked? I also had to order through a Distro and honestly I’ll do it more often from now on. Joe saved me hours of online headaches. ( no offense Spooky, but that 1999 website needs a revamp!).

If you ordered through a distro and you do NOT have a fang club membership, I believe you lose your order.

I'm not making this up or guessing, I'm pretty sure Luke posted this somewhere.

Yeah, I think I’m good with my $1500 deposit. I had sent him a message asking about sending him more along the way. Hopefully without a PayPal fee every time. It’s ok... there’s still lots of time.

I’m not gonna beat up on the paypal fees. Peanuts compared to what we're really spending.

I have a SPOOKY feeling that THEY will all come home.

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The fang club is taking more time than it’s worth. No way there’s money to be made as is.

It is a subscription model and has a higher multiplier for a business valuation.

Personally, I’d not require it for distributor orders as it makes 0 sense to even have distribution if they need to cross reference and verify membership.

Quite silly as it detracts from the positive customer experience.

Work on core values and make sure all decisions align with those core values.

Fang club gets you early access, it’s not a requirement to purchase.

And I thought this thread was running out of steam...

No way.

You sign into your account (which only Fang members can do) and then order. Pretty simple... Until the website store crashed anyway.

If you read the whole email from pinball star it states to purchase machine thru pay pal with them. And then go to Spooky to purchase fang club membership as Spooky will be cross referencing orders and memberships.

Let’s get this thread back on TRACK !

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Anyone else surprised there are spots still available at distributors?

No, same thing happened with RaM and there were only 750

Guessing most people don’t know distros have spots.

It’s a strange phenomenon - same thing happened with the Fathom remake. Haggis sold out through direct sales, but Nitro has had 10 of them available for several months.

Part of me likes it though as I don’t have to see the market ads for people trying to flip for profit (like Mando LE and GnR CE).

Spooky may be using Fang Club as a way to gauge interest in their company.

Kind of like when video game pre-orders were a thing. It wasn't about ensuring a copy on release. It was a form of marketing, it let the publishers know the demand for a title which was handy not just for physical printing but also what "drier" regions to buy ads for. And if a game looks to be a flop they can pre-cancel DLC and add ons.

i have some more glasses remaining... may be i can sell few here ?

Doesn't seem well suited for determining demand for a particular title given folks either (a) buy a membership blindly well in advance 'just in case' or because they like spooky anyway; or (b) last second so they can order.
Would make sense if they announced the theme well in advance and then waited to see member count and set production numbers based on that.
Otherwise, would perhaps be as effective and simpler to operate if it was an insider club where members get exclusive video/podcast access, earlier game info, etc., but not earlier purchasing privileges. (Not that info wouldn't get leaked anyway, but would be something interesting for members that doesn't over complicate their business processes including software requirements for their online store, etc.)

I really don't understand the point of the fang club. It would make more sense if there was a cutoff date for enrollment. The fact that *anyone* can still see the early access information and still purchase the game early negates any benefit to joining the club in advance. The 2-weeks-later public sale date means nothing... who exactly is the public? The people who just refuse to join the club on principal even though they want the game that's been revealed? There's nothing wrong with generating extra revenue for Spooky, but I can't see the benefit much beyond that.

Proudly ordered my Halloween CE through Nitro, can’t wait for what looks like an amazing game! This will be my first Spooky pin.

Nitro is the shizzle.

Now back to Halloween!

I have to admit I got my fang Club for two reasons. First I got it to support a company I think has great values and I wanted to help support them in what small way I could.
Second I just wanted to make sure I could get the new spooky pin if it was something I was interested in. Luckily for me I am in for Ultraman.

Clever marketing is what catapulted Stern to where they are now. Sure to us “pinball usual suspects”, all the social media stuff, merch, streaming, and LE FOMO seems silly…but it truly works, helps sales & grows companies. Spooky is smartly learning from that. With things like Fang Club, they’re doing a fun thing to grow a community. They’ve gone from a 500 game a year(or so) company to a 1750 game a year (or so) company. Guaranteed sales. That’s amazing…and fun marketing line Fang Club contributed to that.

I agree. I don't really understand the fang club. I added a CE and fang club and checked out. There will never be a public sale except for the secondary market. I like Spooky and we'll see if I stay in the fang club or just join if I want to pre-order their next pin.

Fang club is cool, they just shouldn't make it an ordering pre-req. Just give us some other cool benefits instead. Newsletter, insider videos on production, engineering, etc. I love Spooky and would love to have that insiders view especially since the podcast is gone now.

The Fang Club works, it’s good for Spooky. If ya don’t want early access and you don’t want to support them in that way, well... ya don’t have to buy it.

If you aren’t in the fang club then how in the world will you get this!

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Indeed. I joined the fang club before Rick and Morty was even announced because I loved the look of that first year poster. It's proudly displayed in my main floor hallway. And this year's goodies are cool too. Love the Lugosi plastics.

Ya I'm in the Fang club and ordered a CE. 4th NIB Spooky for me, so I enjoy supporting them, but the early ordering part is a headache at best for them and not a real benefit for anyone since the games are selling out immediately anyway.

<3

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The fang club has to be mostly based on extra revenue. They never announced the title prior, so how would it be used to gage interest in sales, if nobody knows what they’re potentially buying.
“Smart”!!

Not really relevant to the next spooky topic, but I nearly bought one of those surplus Alice Cooper games that popped up about a month ago. Luckily I was too late and could grab an Ultraman.