I have been hearing about people receiving these that do NOT have to go through Stern Army etc and already have theirs. If that is the case after I was told I would have mine early and the ONLY way I could have it early was to be a part of the "Stern Army" I am going to be royally pissed. There is no way I would have gone through this if I could just get it like everyone else early.

Stern Army specifically states you have to have a launch party location and this is the ONLY way you will get the game early, so it should not matter who I order from....this is more about finding out why on earth this seems to always be a thing with them. Some distributors have this game earlier than others and already on location. With exclusivity I would expect it to be here along with all the other places (Launch parties) if not what is the point of throwing the launch party and release dates?

Mine shipped today. My guess is Stern is not communicating correctly, OR the distributors are getting special treatment. My gripe is my location is probably in the top 3-4 in the USA in terms of volume of pinballs, and I have been open almost 9 years. A lot times pinball is a "good ol boys" club and if you are not friends with xxx someone or they know about your from marketing it is almost like you off the radar. Most people don't even know we exist outside of Nashville but to me it's pretty cut and dry. I sent my info to Stern Army (IFPA) with distributor info, etc, and mine is shipping (since they got theirs last week) later than others, and people without launch parties have them as well (at least from what I have heard).

Mine also shipped separate from the SD card, meaning I might not even be able to play it when it arrives.