Same. I suspect both Spooky and Stern are locked and loaded. Once one of them announces something, the other will also announce. So, within weeks now.

Well August 1st was deadline for this year's Fang Club.

If they like money, they won't just stick to horror. R&M has a huge fanbase. Ultraman, I dunno. But if they keep doing niche pop culture stuff, they'll do well. Smaller runs that would be too risky for Stern. Pinball needs a company like Spooky. Everyone would go mental if they got a nice anime license. That's something Stern would never do.

Yeah. I'm talking 80s/90s anime. It was already covered extensively over on the Stern topic, but there are a handful of popular oldschool anime titles that are more popular and would have sold better than Ultraman.

Only way to beat it is not drain for 15 minutes. Turn off flipper holds. Love it!

Hope to God they don't cheap out and get rid of the solid state scoreboard though. I wish that was standard with all new games.

This. I give a side eye to the game room flex photos full of Stern Spike 2. Not even a Spike 1 to be found. EM is a stretch though haha. But yeah, half the reason why I'm into TNA is how different it is. It's as close to a Daft Punk pin as I'm gonna get. It really suits my tastes.

Original TNA was $6k. I expect it to be $7k, which is inline with base model Halloween/Ultraman. I hope they don't paywall the upgrades behind premium model pricing. The secondhand market will collapse for original TNA as long as Spooky makes enough.

Yet you have Rick for an avatar? ATHF predates R&M by 13 years.

That's subjective. Also he specifically used age as the reason he didn't know. I'm 41 and I know ATHF. I know very little about R&M despite it being more popular as you say. I was deep into adulthood and had little interest in animated television by the time R&M came out.

Sadly not necessary (for any pin manufacturer).

People keep saying this. What does it mean? Consensus is it's the size of an old Bally? I have a Hardbody and it looks fine next to new Sterns. Is that right?

I would hate to be a TS4 owner when/if price decreases for future titles. JJP has a really awkward and crucial decision to make. Just my speculation, but I think only 5% of the pinball market is willing to pay $12k for a pin. I think 5 figures is when the majority of potential customers dip out. I think it's really unlikely we'll see a $10k Premium from Stern anytime soon.

Desperate? I dunno. As a business, why leave money on the table? If you can make a product that people want to buy, that just seems like common sense. It remains to be seen if Spooky's gambit on the price will pay off or backfire. Also, a company does not owe the end user investment guarantees. We are not shareholders and pinball machines are not sold as investments (even though they residually can be). [EDIT: Unless they specifically said there would be no more TNAs ever after the first run. I don't know this.]

Just came back from viewing my receipt. The price sucks, but I did it anyway. Why? Because you'll never see a game like this from Stern or any other company. For me, value goes beyond BOM. It's how it makes you feel, and that is literally priceless (Hallmark moment). I appreciate the owners of 1.0 chiming in and saying they don't think it's worth $9k, as if they're somehow comforting us, but it's a little patronizing. You guys got in early, good for you. Unfortunately us late comers weren't so lucky and now we're paying the price. I'm fine with it for stuff I really want.

TNA 2.0 not sold out yet. I guess obsessing over it and getting my order in at 10:01 AM was a fool's errand. But better to be a fool than a poor sap without a TNA.

Someone's never played Fuckin Big Points mode on Sopranos.

TNA CE went off without a hitch. I'm glad there are so few people with taste in the hobby. j/k

Futurama would be bigger than BTTF. Hey that's an idea. What IP would have the biggest fanbase among the pinball demographic? Something that's universally loved? Personal bias aside.