I’m in on an LE. Now the waiting game!

When did you order and through whom?

no way an SE would ever go down to $4500 even with chipping / pooling. Think of the 10-25 year old titles that sit around that price range....all in some state of "non-mint" condition from years of use, bumps and bruises....can you think of ANY $4500 game that would be more desirable than a GNR SE come a year from now? This will ALWAYS be a premium product - minor playfield issues or not.

So out of all of the people in this thread with an LE on order, who has called and cancelled? I'd love to know how quickly I am moving up the line as a result of the cancellations out of protest here...

If push came to shove and your distributor called you today and said "yup, ready to ship! please pay this invoice, youll have your game Friday of this week!" - how many would actually say "thanks but no thanks...call the next buyer in line!" ?

Demand on this is through the roof. We are all hypothetically looking at months-long wait period at the moment and have not heard a peep from JJP with any details just to make this whole thing more disconcerting...yet are we cancelling in droves??

Game has been in hand over a month, about time to see the first short-attention span owner put up an LE for sale second hand, no?

Where are the LE owners who are growing bored of this already coupled with frustration and angst over their chipped / pooled playfield? Now that you've played it and got your fill for awhile, why not sell it off and get back in line for a new one again with (hopefully) resolved playfield? I've got cash in hand! lets talk!

I’d buy a used LE with playfield issues right now no questions asked. Whose ready to cut their losses and get out of the horror of the playfield concerns?

In nearly three weeks (based on the timing of the Facebook photos lately of the LE's on the line) they have made only 30 more LE's??? That cant be right. If they are making 10 a week they are going to be on timing worse than The Big Lebowski! I cant believe that to be true. Even Spooky makes more than that!

JJP deleted my Facebook post yesterday. I wasn’t being obnoxious, just making observations and asking questions. I am also in on an LE.

The photo yesterday showed by my count approximately 95 machines boxed. The comment suggested all we’re headed overseas. Previously they had confirmed via Facebook that LE were back on the line November 3rd after a short run of SE. Assuming 1/3 of the 96 are SE held back from that run for overseas shipping and the other 2/3 are LE made In the last three weeks since November 3rd that roughly equates to a production cadence of 25 per week.

I hope I am wrong. That’s about about all I can say. If they switch to CE now and barrel through all of them (as they probably should to satisfy the highest end buyers) that’s approximately 5 months before another LE or SE gets screwed together and put in a box.

Unless they drastically ramp up production.

This is essentially what I posted and got deleted.

I also mentioned that Spooky has done a much better job of communication under similar circumstances (demand far outweighing supply and production capacity). Literally everyone knows their place in line. Let’s at least get to that place. It’s not too much to ask!

JJP - please just communicate! Why is that controversial to ask?

If they can’t articulate every buyers place in line then they have a problem Internally.

They either don’t have a plan in place, they don’t have full faith and understanding in their supply chain and logistics or they don’t have enough staff or the right staff in that department to manage.

Or they know the facts and just don’t want to tell anyone directly...which is arguably the worst scenario.

This isn’t that complicated. Companies all over the world with far more complex products and far more extensive distribution networks (think automobile manufacturers) figure this stuff out with a very high degree of accuracy and confidence every single day.

I’m not suggesting how to do it, I’m asking them to explain it to us and give buyers a sense of confidence that there is a plan sorted out and give us all at least a rough timeline. that’s my point.

Fair enough, and thanks for responding. Mentioning spooky wasn’t necessary, I am happy to own that. Your saying that my number is “way off” is the closest thing to direct communication on production relative to reasonable speculation based on photos posted by JJP that we have seen thus far from JJP to my knowledge.

Care to expand on that??

I am THRILLED to be “way off”! I am an LE customer in line with a deposit through a distributor. That means my game is closer than i thought. Also I am a previous owner of HOBBIT which I think is a fantastic game. I only want to have a productive dialogue and I am not alone. I’m your ideal customer. Communicate with me!

People think I’m nuts but I don’t even care about the playfield issues conversation! You have a game sitting there with playfield issues and want to sell it to me if I accept “as-is” and forego warranty coverage? I’m in! Where do I send the money?! Shoot me a PM!

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My old home had this horrible situation as well. We moved and now my gameroom is right on the first floor by the front door!

Heres what I did:

First a little context. The lower run was finished wood stair treads and risers with no carpet runner or anything. One side was open railing, the other had a full height wall. The landing was carpeted other than the nosing of the top stair of the first run. The second run was fully carpeted and had solid walls on both sides and a typical handrail on one side. Your situation might be similar.

I have a 800lb Harbor freight appliance dolly with the kick-out wheels.

1. take game out of the box, protect it and strap it to the dolly as normal (bottom of cabinet toward the dolly)
2. with help from at least 1 other person on the bottom side, pull the machine up the first run to the landing.
3. There is not enough room to make a turn here with the dolly and machine together. Remove the dolly while the game is hanging (safely) over the edge of the landing to give you enough room to slide it out from under the game.
4. Take the dolly up the 2nd run of stairs and move it out of the way.
5. go back to the landing where the game is sitting at the top of the first run - with help from friends, shimmy the game onto the landing while rotating it 180 degrees.
6. slide the game laterally so it is sitting in front of the 2nd run, bottom of cabinet facing the stair treads/risers.
7. Gently tip the game down so the cabinet is resting on the carpeted stairs - coin door facing up the stair run.
8. One person pulls the game up the stairs (open the coin door and grab the cabinet edge to pull)
9. One person pushes the game from below.
10. the game slides over the carpet (no damage to game or carpet).
11. Once you get close to the top, the person on the bottom pushes the bottom/back of the cabinet up and then gravity takes over, the bottom person can push the game safely onto the second floor.
12. Catch breath / address wounds / crack a beer
13. reattach the game to the dolly and safely move it down the hall to the game room.

3 movers. you don't want to risk it with just two. You can make the job a lot easier too if you take the head off. pretty easy to do with a JJP game and knocks about 40 lbs off the weight, makes it much more maneuverable. I did that with a hobbit. it was a game-changer.

Agreed! In the same boat. Fingers crossed for a Christmas miracle!

Facebook post today shows LE on the line right now.

This is awesome!! So glad you can share this excitement with your daughter! That looks amazing!

Wow will be interesting to see what market will bear. $12k is a pretty tall ask for a 1 of 5000 machine that is sure to depreciate long term below its original MSRP at 9500. I suppose if your putting a price on instant gratification, this is the litmus test.

This is a silly comparison though in the context of reality...LE vs CE.

The CE is a sold-out unicorn that comes with a $20,000 price tag (plus or minus - we shall see what the second hand market actually bears). So the obvious and only answer is the LE!

This is just no longer an apples to apples comparison where the only variables are the 3,000 premium on cost and a series of really great features that have arguably an equivalent value proposition for the added 3000 cost.

The variables now are a $10,000 (DOUBLE) cost premium and what amounts to a total lack of availability.

Would I prefer the CE over the LE I have on order? Of course!

Did it make sense financially for me at the moment when it was actually available to consider 12.5k vs 9.5k? not really...9.5k is a stretch, lets be honest!

Does it make any sense financially or otherwise to jump on a second hand NIB CE for $20,000? definitely not.

Does the Coma Lock have the ability to put the ball back in play? or does it just drop the locked ball into the trough and then the trough kicks a ball back into play?

best case, they wrap up CE production by the end of February, switch back to LE and maybe by mid-late march? I don't know, no one is saying anything but that seems to be the current best case speculation and that is ONLY IF you were a day one (or perhaps week-1) preorder...anything beyond that the backlog probably puts it to later in spring.

Prepare for a long wait! They haven’t even delivered all of the orders from October 2020 yet much less the full backlog. Did your distributor give you an estimate? I’d guess September or even later if you just jumped on a preorder.

Zach at flipping out is the other one - and they are at the new hiked price by the way.

I guess since LEs are a sure thing for the long term they are switching to SE to just get them over with and out the door on this final batch and then spend the next year+ cranking out LEs

I don’t think I could convince myself to be happy with the lack of RGB hot rails, invisiglass, shaker and the red artwork and trim - not to mention the entire upper playfield

Of course! Honestly it’s the hot rail difference that probably bothers me the most. They should offer a replacement kit for SE owners for the hot rails for 300-500 bucks. I bet it would sell to the vast majority of SE owners instantly.

Add me to the list of “ordered during the first week” and just paid final invoice and was told 2 weeks or so.

Is cost an issues for you? GNR LE is $10,500 plus shipping. A used AIQ premium is $7000-7200. That is a big difference that could find another game entirely!

By the way, take your wife’s lead - if she’s on board with GNR LE. Make your deposit immediately and be happy.

Anyone see any photos or have any proof that LEs are back on the line? Based on distributors taking payments and giving the pinball favorite answer of “two weeks!” They should be going in boxes and CEs are done? Or is this a second line fired up?

Big Lebowski has the best upper playfield. Loop shot, targets, the car toy. Doesn’t get much better. But i will check back in after I unbox my GNR LE

Any recent LE invoice payer (last week seems to have been the busy week for distributors collecting payments) get a shipping date yet?

Wish I could! Soon enough... paid for my day 2 order last week before last for an LE. Hoping maybe the week of 4/5?

There was a bag/folder on your box when you got the machine that said “OPEN FIRST” that contains, among other things, the plaque that goes there.

If they are that close to going in the box they have been on the line at least several days. The USA distributors who called some of us for payment two weeks ago and said “a few weeks for delivery” would suggest these are USA-bound games to the last batch of day 1 thru - day 7 orders or thereabouts

When did you order? The continuation of fulfillment for week-1 orders back in October has officially re-commenced. Several of us paid in full through distributors two weeks ago and were generally told “a few weeks” for delivery. I think we will start to see delivery confirmations starting this week. But it really depends when you ordered.

Same boat here! Mine is officially in Charlotte as of this afternoon and scheduled for Monday. Hoping they might sneak it on the truck for tomorrow delivery!!

788 arrived in North Carolina today! This game is a face melter like I’ve never experienced!!

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I had the same experience last night going to 1.21 from 1.19. Love the simplicity!

I ordered mine thru one of the bigger distributors on 10/16. Received yesterday.

By the way, they appear to have started using standard flipper rubber and NOT the silicone rubber any longer. Everything else still has the clear silicone rubber.

Yes, my machine is new (unboxed last week - maybe 100 games or so). My right spotlight does what you are describing. It works but I know exactly what you are talking about. Wires aren’t bound up. I need to take a closer look and report back. It doesn’t seem to have quite the same range of motion as the left spotlight but it still works in all four directions. I’ll report back with any updates

Where are you guys getting Mylar sheets to just have on hand? Any particular product? Something from Amazon?

Correct. Adding a rubber will 100% cause more bounce and more drains. This is designed to NOT have a rubber

Legitimate question here - I have an April build LE with 200 plays on it plus or minus with absolutely zero issues like this - did I just not play it enough yet for it to start falling apart?? Are there wildly inconsistent playfield quality levels? I’ve ordered washers and will install several as a precaution but frankly with this thread being what it is the last two weeks, it expected to see mine crumbling....any other owners NOT having issues??

are you playing on the beta code? The changes haven't been released in official code release yet but the new beta code has drastically lowered (and added options for adjustment) for coil hold power for the flippers and diverter.

you are in for a treat. this playfield issue thing is a shit-show without question but that doesn't negate the fact that this game from an overall design, implementation, theme integration and technology perspective is an absolute gamechanger and new paradigm we may not see again for another decade. Enjoy the moment, friend. Unbox that shit, set it up and enjoy the face melting.

Worst case you become jaded, pissed off, anxiety riddled and can easily sell it for 1000 profit or more...

Again, playfield issues are a mess, this is NOT a good situation for JJP but for owners? hard to beat the fact that even if you have issues, you can sell for profit? how fucked up is the entire pinball market that that is a reality? Its true...

I completely appreciate this crash course in technology - but let’s be honest, you are talking to a bunch of entitled guys with more money than we know what to do with (hence buying 10000 dollar toys all the time I suppose) this is way to much work to figure out, can you or someone just develop a turn-key kit and overcharge all of us for it so we can easily just put something idiot-proof and fully baked In our machines!?

Thanks!!

Have there been enough games delivered and enough transparency here amongst owners to build a narrative that suggests it was better to order from a large distributor or a small distributor or JJP directly in order to get your game the fastest?

I would think with the amount of buyers here and with open dialogue this could almost be "reverse engineered" with a reasonable degree of accuracy to suggest how production units were prioritized amongst distributors...

Would be potentially valuable information for future releases...