PinballSTAR is a Spooky Distributor...

I have been getting numerous emails a day asking to be put 'on a list' or to 'reserve a spot'... so I figured I'd put this little blurb out there for those wishing to order the next game from us. We do not (for the most part) take pre-order lists / save spots for any unannounced game for any company, including Spooky.

We do however keep an email list and will then contact those folks with the info when Spooky does reveal the next game including how to order through us. I do not feel it's fair to 'save' or reserve games (with some exceptions) prior to anything being announced or officially live with Spooky, so we just open orders when Spooky says it's ok and for the most part everyone has the same shot.

*** So all you need to do is email [email protected] and ask to be put on our email list for info on the next Spooky game and you'll get info when we know it / can share it.. Until then I don't take deposits, save spots, keep waiting lists, etc...

We all appreciate your excitement and interest in the best pinball company in Benton WI ! : )

TY
Joe Newhart
PinballSTAR Amusements

Ed -

We were Spooky's first distributor since AMH so we have so many prior customers now over all the games it's impossible to
save spots for all prior Spooky buyers like we had done for RZ and TNA. Just too many folks now to accommodate so with R&M we went with most games available to anyone / everyone to make things as fair as we can.

Joe

Oh I know Ed all good buddy. I’m just getting a lot of emails about lists etc.. so thought answering how it works for us here for everyone may help.

Congrats Spooky !
: )

To get our PinballSTAR's email list when ordering is open email Joe at [email protected].

yes you can - no difference buying through a distributor...
your distributor in Canada is Nitro !

If so it'll be in PinballSTAR's booth... we are working on it with Spooky - it's up to them at this stage... Fingers Crossed !!!
Joe / PinballSTAR
[email protected]

Anyone wishing to order Halloween or Ultraman from PinballSTAR (Spooky distributor) we ask that you send us an email today to [email protected] to get on our email blast list so at 9am CST tomorrow you get the 'ORDER NOW' email.. In that email you'll have a one click Paypal button to use to pay and get in quick and easy... I'm getting a ton of emails asking about our process to order and wanted to put this out there for folks as we are not doing phone, text, or website ordering - just via our email link. Looking forward to a glorious Spooky day tomorrow ! They killed it !

We made up this pic for our FB page too - pretty cool to have them both side by side ! lol

Email us today to get on our list for tomorrow...

Joe Newhart
[email protected]

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Ordering through PinballSTAR FAQ -

I am getting alot of the same questions so wanted to put them out here for everyone... All of us selling - Spooky Direct and other distributors all have our own systems for ordering... This below only applies to PinballSTAR.

1. You MUST be on our email blast list to get our 'READY TO ORDER' email. To get on our email list you must email us before say 8:30am CST this morning so we can add you. If you email after then we can't guarantee you'll get our email blast.

2. We do not do orders over phone, text, or direct email - it becomes impossible to control our inventory levels - doing it by our email blast and paypal has worked wonderfully in the past as many of you know. If you paid via paypal, and got a confirmation from paypal then you got your game. It's that simple. It will take us a few days to email everyone a confirmation email - please be patient.

3. CHECK YOUR SPAM... many times our emails since they come from our email service will be marked as Spam so if you don't see it in your inbox at 9:00 am CST - check your spam it may be in there.

4. In our email we will have paypal buttons you click to whisk you to paypal where you will pay with one click. You do not need a paypal account, but if you don't have one you'll just have to enter your info vs just having it all prefilled by paypal once you log in. It's easy quick and there is no risk of our website crashing or other potential problems outside of our control.

5. We have inventory levels set for each model - we have assigned them based on our allotment per game (so many for Halloween, so many for Ultraman) and also so many for Standard, Bloodsuckers, and Collectors. We have assigned the majority to Collectors of each game as we feel that is what most want.
We have plenty of games to sell.

6. Fang Club - This is a Spooky thing. It's purchased through Spooky. You need to have it in place to order early today. If games sell out everywhere there may be no later on sale date to the 'non Fang Club' public. So, buy your Fang Club membership today before 9 CST.

7. Can you buy one of each game - yes.

8. We only sell to USA - if you are overseas buy from Spooky direct please. You may get our email blast outside of the USA if you signed up for it, but please buy direct if so.

We are hopeful Spooky will have a glorious SELL OUT day today across the board. Spooky sells direct and there are a very few other wonderful hand picked distributors they work with - myself / PinballSTAR, Chris Meunier / Kingpin, Rob Anthony / Pinball Classics, Tommy Floyd / Nitro (Canada), and others outside of the US I don't know offhand... Any of these folks will do a stellar job for you that's why there's only a few of us - if one distributor is sold out try another you'll get the same A+ service from anyone. Our goal is to work together to promote Spooky and take care of any and all Spooky customers.

Hope this helps... Good luck to everyone... TY for supporting Spooky and your distributors.

Joe Newhart
PinballSTAR Amusements
[email protected]

PinballSTAR update at 11:19am...

We still have left :
Halloween SE (4)
Halloween BS (6)
Halloween CE (7)
Ultraman SE (0)
Ultraman BS (0)
Ultraman CE (12)

If you got our email blast feel free to order... If you didn't ask a friend who did... TY to everyone and CONGRATS to Spooky ! We probably will have some spares left after all this settles out as some people ordered from both Spooky and us then asked for a refund etc... If you want a game and didn't get one - feel free to email us and we'll assist until we are sold out...

Joe Newhart
PinballSTAR Amusements
[email protected]

PinballSTAR update at 3pm -

We still have left :
Halloween SE (2)
Halloween BS (1)
Halloween CE (8)
Ultraman SE (1)
Ultraman BS (2)
Ultraman CE (9)

If you got our email blast feel free to order... If you didn't email us for it... TY to everyone and CONGRATS to Spooky ! We probably will have some spares left after all this settles out as some people ordered from both Spooky and us then asked for a refund etc... If you want a game and didn't get one - feel free to email us and we'll assist until we are sold out...

Joe Newhart
PinballSTAR Amusements
[email protected]

All orders are evenly divided between all distributors and Spooky direct... There is no advantage time wise to go through one or the other... They are split in small groups between everyone every so many games they go back and forth... Best / fairest way to do it.

There is nothing to report yet... It took through the weekend for us to sort out just our PinballSTAR orders and they are still changing with people who double ordered with Spooky then us then asked for a refund etc... We finally got our numbers to Spooky Monday who now have to sort the distributors numbers into theirs then develop production schedules for each model. They needed model sales numbers for each game before they can lay things out. From there they will lay out allocations between themselves and distributors fairly and equally. This is a manual process for everyone and then we get people changing things and it slows it down. Anyone who ordered through us and actually took the time to read my email blast before ordering would have seen it clearly states the sorting process can take up to or more than a week and to please not ask for game numbers as all it does is distract us from doing the work that is needed to get you what you want. I have been working 12 hours a day at this and just today started trying to go back through unanswered emails etc... Bottom line is it takes time. If you have a game feel lucky of that - many don't have that even. You will get your numbers when the fine people at Spooky sort them out. Then they will give to distributors who then have to sort them out with our orders. We love that everyone is excited, but no distributor or Spooky is a fortune 500 company with 100's of people employed, we are all very small family run businesses... PLEASE be patient. Rest assured we are all working hard behind the scenes to get this done for you. It's very important to all of us as well. TY for your excitement !

Joe

I would also advise everyone to read some of the 'factoids' and numbers I've posted on our PinballSTAR page the last few days about how many game were ordered when - just through us / a small piece of the puzzle... I think 92 in the first 5 mintues... I did that for a reason - so everyone can temper their expectations of timing / numbers with reality. My point is this - EVERYONE ordered for the most part quickly. The guy who ordered 1 minute and 30 seconds in can be 150 down the line... We went through this with GNR - everyone says 'I ordered on day 1' where's my game... Well you and 100's of other people too... So it will take time to get everyone's game made. Spooky is a smaller company. Please be patient - as Charlie says every Spooky game every ordered has gotten delivered. The numbers will be assigned fairly and I frankly use paypal as the major reason being I get a time stamp on every order. I stand back and let paypal do the work - I don't take email, text, or phone orders for a reason. So when numbers do come out you will be somewhere from day 1 to 18 months as Spooky says it may take. Frankly they always beat their own estimates ! Anyway just some further insight to help those that may be anxious. Hope it helps everyone : )
Joe
PinballSTAR Amusements

You're going to get me killed with shit like that - lmao too funny - thanks for the laugh !

I owe you a beer ! Lol : )

PinballSTAR Update -

We still have 1 Ultraman SE and 2 Ultraman LEs available...

Email [email protected] or use the link in our email blast of Wed 7/7... If you don't have the email blast - email us to get it...

TY
Joe Newhart
PinballSTAR Amusements

Soooky’s ULTRAMAN will be in the PinballSTAR booth at Allentown Pinfest next week Fri 7/30 and Sat 7/31 !
And special guests Corwin ‘Bug’ Emery, 'Spooky Luke' Kastner, and AJ from Spooky Pinball will be there to hang out with everyone…
The game will be broken down around 5pm Saturday so these boys can get back on the road for their 14 hour drive back to Wisconsin - so get there early !

Allentown Pinfest website - www.pinfestival.com

Hope to see you there !

Joe Newhart
[email protected]

You are such a ballbuster...

I think it's funny, I'll get back to you... lol

Why is everyone left handed ?

FYI - PinballSTAR does not generally sell anything ahead of time... Frankly I didn't even know we were allowed to as that was never the case - but even so I still wouldn't have. I like being able to say everyone get a fair chance at most all the games we have vs what is happening say on Stern LEs where they are sold out and gone before they go on sale... We aren't being inviting to new people in the hobby by not letting them buy what's new. Would it be easier for us to sell them and have no hassle on sale day, absolutely. We turned 100 people away who wanted to pay prior / reserve a spot. So there's plenty of you out there who know that and have the emails to prove that point.

We are getting it now for CG's next game and we just say 'we'll put you on our email list'. It's an imperfect science no matter where you go, no different than any other company and their distributors this is not just Spooky. The only reason you guys give Spooky a hard time is that you know your number in line - with other companies you have no number just an order.

This happens with every game from every company - everyone hates the wait. When you get your game it will be a distant memory. We all look forward to getting everyone their games as quickly as possible - the excitement is truly apprecaiated.

They are doing all that... Have you seen them adding additions to their building like every 6 months - I've never seen a company grow like that before. The difference is that as production capacity / week increases they are also increasing number of games... Rick and Morty was 750 / Halloween Ultraman is 1,750 - HUGE jump... to be able to still be in 18 months is quite an accomplishment given that. They've met or beat every estimate they've ever made too - so the only person waiting 18 months is # 1750. They do a great job. I know you aren't bitching or anything - just wanted to share some perspective on the past and how far they have come. I've been with them since day 1 and frankly never imagined (nor do they probably) that they'd be where they are now. Good stuff, great family, great company, great story !

Zoinks !
We are Spooky’s first and biggest distributor !
Wanna be on our interested list to get ordering info ?

Email Joe at [email protected] !

Enjoy the pic of Bug in the PinballSTAR booth at Allentown Pinfest 2021 ! LOL

Joe / PinballSTAR Amusements

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Interested in getting info emails from PinballSTAR and easy 1 click ordering ? We are Spooky's largest and longest distributor. Email Joe at [email protected] to get on our email blast list !
Stay Spooky !

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