Class act right there. You know you could fleece customers but you don't. That's awesome. If I ever revert to buying NIB again, I'll be coming to you and happily make the drive from Ohio.

Looks like a fun pin. In for an LE, and sad to be letting go of Munsters to make room for it. Re: flipping: I buy to play, but don’t have a problem with the hustle. A market is a market, and things are completely nuts right now due to global conditions.

Got my Premium ordered today, got a premium release for October! I was told not many premiums will land this year.

So Excited !

Agreed. I contacted half the distributors in the US today looking for an LE. Found only two at MSRP, one close-ish. But, it gave me a real nice list of who gouges, who doesn’t, who replies quickly even when sold out, etc.

Premiums in October? When will the LE's ship? We are already mid September. I would not think LE's would be available until late October with first round of Premiums in November. Did anyone get conformation on time-lines?

No sorry but nothing was crazier than the mando launch. Loads more hype leading up. We're talking mando and Godzilla here... one of those themes is well not so big.

Its nice that u like that show but in this particular hobby Godzilla is way more appealing, especially considering they went oldschool because u know we are old.

Lets publish this list.

I was lucky enough to secure a LE, I have no intention of flipping it.

You weren't THAT lucky...there's a thousand of them, FFS.

Purchased 4 machines for my Ohio locations. The operator pro's are already on the line and will be done quickly. The LE's are next and at 80 pins per day will be done quickly as well. Then on to the premiums for October.

I assume it was 500 for US and 500 for ROW like usual?

Usually it's 500 or 600 total. 1000 is absurd, and I'm assuming everyone on a wait list was able to get one, especially with so many being pissed off about the price.

What's "ROW" ? overseas?

Rest of the World

I'm in for a premium. I wasn't initially excited about this but did a total 180 upon seeing the pictures and promo video. I still can't believe I'm paying as much for a Stern premium as we were for an LE not too long ago (last year?). A couple of years ago, when I picked up a JJP Pirates LE for 10k, I thought I might have been losing my mind; now that's less than a Stern LE. Crazy times.

Yes, correct. I just realized I mixed a term used in the car community with the pinball community. Based on all the hate I have observed over carguments and car comparisons in general to pinball, I apologize.

I'm in on a Premium. Paid my deposit today. Will be my 2nd pin and first NIB. Of course they raise the prices when I decide to get my first NIB!

In for my first pin. Put deposit on the Premium version. Local distributor here. Got it at MSRP with free delivery.

Premium for me. I wanted LE and asked to be on the list many months ago, so really dissapointed that with a 1000 of them I couldnt crack that list... But the premium looks amazing and Ill enjoy it. Love all Keiths games.

From what I've seen here and on FB, there's still a good bit of folks trying to find one.

I was assuming that Stern upped the number of LEs based on what they were hearing from distros about how many people were being put on a list. That's incredible if they're still able to sell them out that fast with that massive price hike.

Yep, the demand from the invisible hand of the market is ever increasing. We have been insulated a bit on Pinside since you have to really hit that enthusiast level before your joining this wacky community. In the outside world there's tons of people spending tons of money on tons of hobbies, everything is getting hit.

Likely some people are buying one or more just to flip and some distributers might take some out of their allotment to sell later. This artificially sells out the game. So regular buyers are left without a chair when the music stops.

In past I was able to but STLE several months out because the dealer had left over and same with AFM LE. But that was before scalping of games was so profitable.

In for my first LE (read: paid in full), stoked. It will look great placed between my AIQ and JP2!

From my Distro (one of Sterns largest) on his GZ announcement email..
“LE's sold out to our interest list in 90 Seconds.. There are no more Limited's available.”

Know your place Pro buyers....seriously, who would buy the 'shit' version?....poor people it seems.

ClassAct (resized).jpg

Don't downvote this guy for his post; any meme with Monty Python in it--no matter how offensive--is worth an upvote.

Yep, biggest issue if buying new in this environment is you can’t be indecisive - jump in based on pics/video or left paying more/waiting much longer on a pin.
Not exactly an ideal way to spend 8-12k

It's this type of small-minded thinking that gives Pinside a bad rap...

I'd hope this was a joke. But here you never know. It's all relative and it is clear many people here are very wealthy, but to own a single pro model stern someone is doing pretty well for the world at large to spend that much on a toy.

If this was a serious post shit like this is what would turn off newcomers and think pinball is a hobby for out of touch entitled rich people

Also most Stern pros are just as good as the premiums but less bling.

Some are better.

Ya, the Keith Elwin games especially seem to do a great balance of making the pros a full fledged game, while still making the premiums enticing.

Until recently I had a Kiss pro and a Iron Maiden premium and besides the art package which is highly subjective, I was thinking I really could have gone with a Maiden pro. The Kiss pro seemed basically identical besides a couple one trick pony gimmicks.

The Godzilla premium had a couple cool mechs which pushed me over the edge, but I'm sure the pro will play great also.

I am in on an LE, It will go next to my Ultraman

So, about those magnets…thoughts on Ninja balls vs. carbon balls? Will the magnets in this game magnetize the chrome balls, hmmm? I hope not; magnets are not a problem on my AIQ or JP2, but WOZ, yes, need to run carbon balls there. Where do you think GZ will fall, carbon vs. chrome?

Whatever you do in WOZ. A lot of magnets in Godzilla

Ball baron carbon work great in guardians, huge difference from chrome

lots? I thought I only saw 2? One in the bashtoy and one in the captive eh... ball/tube?

I know this sounds like bragging but I'm sure I ordered before anybody here. I placed my order 3 years ago, or whatever the day was that Spooky said Stern got the Toho license. I became one of those 'sight unseen' guys and went to my distributor and said I was ordering the LE or whatever was the top model and I'd pay full retail regardless of whether the game was a hit or miss. When one of the Stern guys came on Pinside last year and said there was mud-fighting over who got the right to make Godzilla I actually dropped off a 1K deposit the next day and have been dropping off money ever since and finished fully paying yesterday. Of course, I was expecting 9500, not 10500, but whatever, I was prepared for 15K in case of a Super LE. As a result, I thankfully didn't have to pay over MSRP.

I was actually prepared to buy a Pro and and LE if there was to be no Super LE. I budgeted 15K. Once I found out that it was Keith Elwin, I figured there would be little chance of me buying both. The game would have to be substantially different, the way Steve Ritchie's games are (ex. Black Knight, Game of Thrones) or the art package on the Pro would have had to be much better and different than the LE (ex. Munsters).

For me, this was the number 1 theme. The only other theme that could appeal to me almost as much would be Pink Floyd... that and a few oddball old science fiction movies from the 50's that will never get made.

Ditto.
Except I paid my deposit yesterday...

Also adding a shaker. I think a shaker is mandatory for this theme..

Im guessing some folks are basing the sellout was crazy due to godzilla but forgetting the main reason was actually for those keith elwin loyalists like myself... I actually wanted an LE but prem was only thing available from my distro.

Okay, just the 2, but I’d definitely do the carbon or whatever is in WOZ

Put my deposit down last night for a premium. First NIB I have bought at launch. Is it November yet?

Thinking of preordering a Premium. Question: Has Stern released what the art blades will look like? The LE's look great, but Stern has disappointed me in the past with art blades, like on Mandalorian. The LE gets great looking ones that fit with the playfield art, but the regular art blades are just a bunch of "floating heads". I'm hoping for no floating heads here.

Meanwhile Back at Stern factory the guys are hard at work making games.

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Can anyone recommend a good distributor? Or would it be better to just order/pick up right from Stern? What kind of prices are you guys getting on a Premium?

I've only bought one NIB pin from the guys in Colorado, don't remember the name, Game Room Guys or something like that...

You're thinking of Game Exchange in Denver.