Help me understand something here: why do people care what the backbox is made of? I've seen a number of people in this thread complaining about the metal backboxes and wishing that they were made entirely of wood. Why?

Having the backbox made at least partially of sheet metal makes it lighter. And with as much as these things weigh, I'm all for making them as light as possible. I tend to change my lineup often, and so I put a lot of value in my pins being lighter and easier to move.

Man, crazy stuff. I was expecting a big increase for the LEs, just based on the secondary market and on the NIB flip prices.

But I'm surprised at such a big jump for the Pros and Premiums. Based on today's market, I felt like the Premiums and Pros were just about right-priced. NIB Sterns compared very favorably to the other manufacturers offerings, and to used Bally/Williams prices.

Maybe Stern actually wants to slow demand a bit, since they can't keep up with the current buyer base at all. This way even if they lose a few sales, the one's they do have will be much higher margin.

True, but up until recently the prices tended to go up $100 or $200 dollars at a time. Now $500 to $1000 price-hikes seem to be the norm.