I always add $400 when comparing SAM to Spike, because you need the ColorDMD to make the display even approach what we’re getting now with the LCD. I paid $4700 in 2013 for Metallica and a ColorDMD, and Stern Pros are now $6000 MSRP and street price. That’s a 28% increase over 8 years, but we also get the 8 years of improvements. I’m okay with it as long as I can still enjoy the game for a few years and not lose too much when I sell it.

MET came out at the same time as WOZ, I think that had something to do with it.

I can’t get nostalgic about price when those older, cheaper games had monochrome DMDs, incandescent insert lighting, USB upgrades (no SD cards), pixelated cabinet art and miles of wiring. SPIKE playfield swaps must be a breeze to do.

[EDIT: don’t get me wrong, I still love my POTC, LOTR and MET. But I’ve been impressed with the progress Stern has made].

Stern cut costs in ways that I think most people agree are sensible. The support pegs were a mistake, but they course-corrected on that. And the node boards are mostly an improvement over SAM. I wouldn’t have said that a year ago, but now replacement prices are reasonable, and in my experience they’re pretty solid.

metallik right, the playfield colors were inconsistent. Luck of the draw whether your playfield looked green, blue or red.

However...I’ll take Gimli’s callouts over the British guy in LZ, even with the lower quality audio.

Easily fixed, I just take the outlane posts out.

My guess is that Stern determines Street price by tracking what the used games sell for, and adds x%. You can’t expect Stern to sell a new LCD Pro for $5000 when people are paying that every day for a DMD Pro.

You may want to continue this on the pricing thread, instead of bumping your own thread with the same observations over and over. Friendly suggestion, and I mean it as constructive criticism. You may also want to pull back on using the word “whining”. People complain, but you don’t know if they’re whining unless the complaint is coming out of the mouths.

$4500 NIB, I’ll have some of what you’re smoking...we haven’t seen that price in 8 years.

I’m not sure someone who buys 104 games at a time can represent the rational customer perspective
Just kidding, and congrats on the bulk deal.