Well, to be fair, the homebrew had some fancy stuff under the playfield that the Stern bean counters cut.

I’ve just been given word of a last minute sale on The Beatles Gold Texas Pinball Festival Demo Games if someone is interested in picking one of these up. Only 2 available at this great price! Contact me via PM or at the store for details.
972-488-9622 ext 202

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I guess this is an example of everyone has different tastes. I played it for the first time (14 plays) at Pinball Pete's in East Lansing. I don't get it. I thought it was less than "meh". The music clips are spectacular, but the game play was just plain boring to me - hit 3 banks of targets and go around the big loop. No ramps, no novelty, nothing. It seems like a regurgitated SS layout for $9K. I guess I will be one less guy competing to buy one new or used. I literally have no desire to ever play it again.

I will say that if you are a Beatles fan, I can see the attraction. Its probably similar to BTTF.... essentially crappy games but the theme is why anyone would own it.

You stated your honest opinion. And since you have played it this is more than just wild-eyed speculation. I don't know why you got down voted.

So, it is the price that has you all bent out of shape?

I picked up a tidbit of speculative info. on another post. This is CPR play fields talking.

Here is the link. The relevant post is post #53

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/cpr-playfield-preorders-are-meaningless/page/2

In the last paragraph, CPR is talking about royalties and license fees as part of the cost of making and selling repro play fields.

RE: " In some cases royalties and licensing alone can cost as high as 25% of the full retail value of the PF."

Obviously, I have no idea of what Stern had to pay The Beatles for the privilege to make The Beatles pinball machine. Considering the amount of time it took Apple Computer to get The Beatles songs on iTunes, plus the fact that The Beatles got hosed by their record companies (like most bands), and that Stern needed The Beatles more than The Beatles need Stern ( I doubt that Ringo and Paul were just jumping at the chance to be on a pinball machine), I'm guessing Stern has had to pony up in the 25% range; If you have another percentage, bring it.

Using 25% as constant, $6300.00 + $1575.00 (25%)= $7875.00. So, Stern does all of the work. Makes the design. Takes all the risk to produced this pin. The distros take all the risk to inventory and sell this pin. And The Beatles Store just sits back and collect royalty checks. For those of you who have called Stern greedy, what is your take on The Beatles Store? Is The Store singing "All you need is Love" like they are a bunch of hippies? Or is The Store singing "Money, that's what I want"?

Stern could have told The Beatles to take a hike, and just done a remake of Seawitch. There would be no music but the pin would still play like The Beatles with all of the 21 Century upgrades. And nobody here would even be interested in a $6300.00 Seawitch.

I just think people should think twice before they start shouting that Stern is trying to bend everybody over.

The Platinum/Diamond are oddly/richly priced, but word on the street says Stern charged the distributors the same for all 3 models (as a holiday bone to throw them). I have no issue with the Gold street prices.

I'm not a huge Beatles fan but still find the game interesting/challenging. For those of us that grew up playing 80's "drop target" games, it may be easier to love? Who knows. I also think the art package is beautiful. I also like the speed and fairly short game times (useful when playing with 3 others).

No game is for everyone..that's for sure.

I completely agree with you. I also believe that your figures are very accurate.

Has anybody made a set of nice instruction cards yet for this pin? I can't stand the ugly Stern yellow...

Thx!

Dunno what you're looking for, but I whipped this one up quickly. If someone can send me a hi-res scan of the fab 4 outline on the lower right, I can do that a bit better. There's not much online of that.

Beatles Instruction Card.pdf

What can be done for the other card?

Maybe the British Flag that says Free Play?

TY!

Free Play, John and Paul experimental edition? (If the joke isn't too inside...)
Beatles Free Play Card.pdf

I like it!

Why is the Beatles always lower than other new sterns? Is it a different kabinet size?

Yes. It’s the same size as Early Sterns like Seawitch and Meteor.

No way. Beatles is a taller cab. Steeper slope up to the back for side blades. It is deeper, too. Compare the difference in space from the bottom of the coin door and the bottom of the cab.

The front legs are mounted higher up the cab to drop the front.

The top of The Beatles cabinet is lower in the back since there are no tall ramps or toys, similar to vintage pins, but not as low.

example of various pins that was posted here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-beatles-kapow-stern-pinball-official-speculation-thread/page/62#post-4717832

2 more pinsiders own a Beatles. 2 more locations have been added. Wishlisters have increased from 25 to 33.

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Beatles store has still sold zero since late November. Prices are being cut everywhere else, which doesn't say "huge hit". Even discounted, they're still about $1k too high, but if it gets into the low 6s, I can see them selling quite a few.

Got any links showing the cut rate prices?

No one is going to put that information online. Call around to distributors you have a relationship with.

I played a Diamond at Silverball in Asbury Park over the weekend. It didn't do anything for me and I could not figure out why. It was just "eh" - I thought that a 20K toy would have been more cool. The sound was turned all the way down. Outlanes had what looked to be either planking or surface peeling that did not effect game.

The extra $12k for a Diamond or $7k more for a platinum gets you a different powder coat color and a mirrored backglass (that may only be on the Diamond)...thats it. $400 topper is extra lol.

Still want to get some time in on a gold edition. Went to Marvin's Marvelous Mechancial Museum a month or so back and it was down. The powder coat on it looked like the nicest powder coat I've ever seen on a Stern.

I gave it another try yesterday a Pinball Pete's in East Lansing. They had a Munsters LE right next to it. Frankly, the Munsters made it look even WORSE. Beatles is more expensive and it didn't look nearly as good (Munsters playfield is A+) or play as good. Beatles is still "super meh" to me.

I spent a good hour playing the Beatles, and quite frankly I still don't get it. I find this game to be awful, not much to do but to shoot randomly at stuff, the ball is slow, the rotating disc quite useless and the top right flipper kind of being in the middle just to let the player bother himself.

Total miss for me, this one will go in my "Even for free, my floor space is more valuable" list.

Just curious - and no offense intended - how much of the rules set do you know? Have you happened to watch any excellent players play the game in streams to see the strategies/techniques they employ?

No offense taken. I don't know much of the rules set, and I have not watched any videos either.
I usually look at what blinks or lights on the playfield, try a bunch of things that seem to make sense (like hit the drop target in order, find the shots, get in the different holes..), and play over and over until I get somewhere.

With that being said, I'm sure some people love it and I would likely not enter a debate on that, there is a pinball for everyone, and this one is not for me.

Have played a bunch of games at the 2up recently. It is set up perfectly at that location.

The more I play this machine... The more I love it. The music, the flow, the callouts, the spinner, drop targets, the spinner, the super jackpot and skill shot.... Did i mention the spinners

This machine, for me, is a pure joy to play and always leaves my heart racing and face smiling.

This game is right up there with Tron for me on how it makes me feel when I play it. Pure euphoria.

It takes the fun of EM machines but updates it for the ADD generation.

That being said I do think it is too expensive and wish it had more songs.

Perfect pin for a 3+ pin household and very family friendly

YBR +$5000 - a monkey

Sales are still happening. I finally got to play 3 different units at TPF. I like it but I don't love it. Since I already have a Seawitch I am not jonesing for one.

Even with the more open loop I did not have much better luck hitting multiple loop shots than I do with my Seawitch. And that target that sits behind the lower left drop targets is not a give-me; That shot is tricky because it likes to exit down the left outlane. The music was nice. I did not think I would be impressed with the music but I was.

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If money and space were not an issue, I would like to have a Beatles. However, I also got to play Munsters at TPF and I hope in next 6-7 months that I can figure out a way to squeeze one of these into my tight spaces.

I liked The Beatles. I liked Octoberfest. But Munsters really pushed all the right buttons.

My guests have had the opposite reaction...they prefer the look, colors and gameplay of Beatles. The Beatles retro design is also a change of pace. Munsters isn't nearly as inspired as Beatles. Munsters left my collection almost immediately...

Beatles official website pinball sales since late November - still zero. They sold the first 10 pack, the diamonds and platinums and 2 golds out of the second 10 pack all in the first 3 weeks or so. Then sales flatlined. I've heard of deals on gold machines to get them moving. I'm assuming it's coming from Stern or Kapow to dealers since they have over 900 golds left to move if they make a second run to hit that 1964 they wanted to run, and those are not selling at $8k, and they're DEFINITELY not moving at $10k.

Where are said deals, please!

So your saying they sold as many stripped down Beatles as JJP did loaded POTC lol

Since you will not or cannot reveal the source of your 900 units number that makes it suspect; it it like if you tell me you can walk on water then I want to see the picture.

That said, I have made a recent observation that I choose not to reveal that leads me to think you are correct in that sales could be more robust.

I also have been looking at Pinside’s ownership numbers for several pins, not just The Beatles.
And when I saw that Ghostbusters Premium had 500 units produced but it is shown that 700 people own a Ghostbusters Premium and that there are 130 places to play a Ghostbusters Premium for a total of 830 Ghostbusters Premiums in the wild, or 330 more than the 500 produced, that throws all pinside ownership data in the trash can, as far as I am concerned.

But here is a kicker. Stern said 1964 Beatles are to be produced. In reality, only Stern will know how many will be produced and shipped. So, if Stern does not the Beatles sales numbers it could decide to stop production and no one would know the difference. And even if people did know the difference, would they even care? A shortened production schedules would mean that all Beatles pin owners would own a pin that will be “more rare” and I don’t think any current owners could care if that situation were to arise.

If demand has been met and Stern did stop production then everybody would win. Yes? No?

Pretty sure those are COMBINED premium and LE number your are quoting...

This.

42 days since your last update on Beatles sales.
This is where it stood then.

Cotton 42 days (resized).png

Here is where we stand today

7 more owners

4 more public locations

10 May 2019 (resized).JPG

and the comparison to Munsters Pro which has been out for less then half the time.

Munsters 10 May 2019 (resized).JPG

In short, Beatles sales have basically dried up at this stage and Munsters is already ~double it.

I'll be buying one in August... Most likely through the stern rewards program.

...And Munsters FS ads are 5-10x more plentiful than Beatles FS ads. Guess a lot of folks aren't happy with their purchase...

“ Touché pussycat!”

Tom and Jerry

We get it man. Enough.

just sharin some #s

no need to be sensitive about it. I still love the game and think it is one of the best Stern games in the past 5 years!
I think it continues to demonstrate how the pricing model failed miserably.

Yeah. I have noticed. I have my indicator that "tells" me sales are not as robust as planned. But it is only one data point, but that needle has not moved for 2 months.

I got to play, Munsters, Oktoberfest, Alice Cooper, and The Beatles at TPF. I liked them all. But I bought a Munsters.

Ha Ha Ha. The Beatles mostly got hammered for no ramps and too much money. For some reason coding has not been an issue for The Beatles; I guess because it is based on a 35 year old design.

For $500.00 less for a Munsters Premium, you got the two ramps, an extra (mini) play field, and a code that everybody seems to love to hate.

So, nobody is happy

Zero Beatles Store sales since late November. Distributors are cutting deals on Golds and have been for a couple months.

Thank god! Think of how terrible pricing would get if this shakedown action figure case pack rarity model had succeeded.

What are the golds going for now?