Seriously. Just love the outright "bend over" motto they have. reminds me of disney.... "we are giving you magic, and tell this fantasy story to get you hooked... and then some sob story of why increases are needed with a cute twist on it so that the followers will line up to get bent over" lol

So bummed with the price. I was hoping 1k maybe 1500. Christmas is around the corner so I told my distributor to pass on this run and potentially I’d be interested in the 2023 run. It doesn’t appear to be a total limited run so they will be available next year

Agreed. Even 1k was high but was willing to pay around 1200ish. Legit cash grab with the $2k mark. Can't wait to see the $2500 godzilla topper in a few months LOL

They basically copied what lighted pinball mods was doing with their projector fan with static images.
The diorama looks cool but the holograms not so great.

So I guess mando will survive with out a topper!

The topper was the one thing that people (including myself) was holding out for on Mandalorian. Oh well.

I can't believe I'm sitting here thinking.... should I sell a pinball machine to buy a topper! OMG!!!

Yes Yes Yes... I waited and I am biting the bullet on this. Love it.. When its a home run than I just gotta go with it. Got one of my distros allocation.

Is this topper limited? Or just limited in people that can afford.

Topper looks great, no doubt about that. Fully integrated to gameplay, 3D holographic display, etc.

Price? Yeah..

Wondering, are they asking for proof of ownership of said pinball before you can order one? Or is this just a dream come true for flippers out there.. I'm seriously asking, I've never ordered a topper from Stern before.

I can see were this can go horribly wrong with people that really want one, but won't be high enough on their distributor's list..

Five grand by Christmas!

Unfortunately, yes.

I saw the video of the topper, was thinking "eh, for $700 it's not too bad, where can I order" and then I went to the press release for ordering/release date info and saw the $2k price tag...hahahahahahaha.

Uh, no way, that's completely stupid and a rip off. Almost insulting, lol.

Time to call the Fonz...

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I guess this will help to sell the remaining Mandalorian Pros and Premiums (Well maybe not)

So, the price is actually $2k USD? If so, we're talking about some $2.7-3k CAD for us Canucks, factoring in the exchange rate.

I tried to buy the topper. Was on the list with my distributor as of day 1. Seems he will only get a few.....so that will be a fight. 31 le's sold only 8 toppers available. This sucks huge and hold Stern accountable for this. But what can we do?

I was holding out to see what the topper was. I been told for awhile its really something. But I payed 6200 for mando pro. In the past few months the game is not really settled as a must for me. Only current stern pin bolted is deadpool.

When I seen it. That is cool. And with inflation and parts supply being jacked. I expected 1000 to 1200. But 2k na man I am out. Mando will be up for sale
sooner or later. I did not see any cool lighting effects inside. Just blue light. The screen seems to be just a 7 inch from the home games reflection on parabolic
glass. This is a trick that dates back years. Astroids Deluxe and Discs of Tron did this. Nothing new. And if the video is coming out the CPU node HDMI. Is there even a node board in this?

Hate to be harsh. I love the hobby. But 2K? Unless they show me something really super awesome. And it really has to be amazing. Na I am good. No topper should be a quarter of the cost of the machine. And I don't have FOMO that bad. Moving on.

How many topper exclusive modes are included? For that price, it better give 1/3 more gameplay on top of what's already in the game.

Topper looks awesome! But I'll put that 2K toward my next pin instead.

Sounds like the locked modes are more substantial than previous topper modes. Locking gameplay behind paywalls is insidious in a hobby where the hardware is really expensive. Only thing worse is locking them behind a subscription service.

Regarding topper, wait until after market when people try to sell this used...

I bet people are going ask stupid amounts like $4000 for a topper.

Ghostbusters topper people have been selling for $2500 I've seen before.

I like toppers but this is nuts...I'd rather buy another machine.

Only $4000? Have you seen how much that SW R2D2 topper goes for? And that one is not even that fun and actually looks clunky.. more than $4000! Maybe it would even go for real Beskar if it ever was possible!

With those crazy Bond prices and Bond SLE yet-to-be-announced crazier prices, now this.. lol! Yup, very rich hobby indeed!

I only buy toppers if they have some sort of interaction with the game or adds modes. I don't like the price but I really want this. I also think Stern is waiting to announce numbers because I think they want to see what the initial demand is. Maybe they will make it limited, unlikely.

Seeing what was in progress when hooking up the HDMI, I knew it was going to be a holographic projection and probably be their most expensive topper yet.

Knowing that, I set aside some extra in my pinball fund. I’m in on this as probably my one and only topper.

I like that they are using the Peppers Ghost effect rather than a projector. Should keep things more reliable

Can you imagine a fully decked out Tron VE, more Daft Punk music, LCD translite AND a similar topper? Just saying!

Anyhoo, with the current exchange rate to our CAD and looming recession, it's not the best place to put my money right now, lol

Watching the video on my PC, have to admit it looks pretty cool.

I think my pet peeve about topper locked gameplay modes is that it takes alot of programming to make a couple of modes exclusively for a topper that only a select few will own......on a game that has bugs and is not finished yet!

Hate midnight madness modes also - a waste of coding expertise.

Still can’t believe Stern are asking 2k for this, clearly they think that because a few toppers sell to people with more money than sense at 2-3k that all topper buyers will do the same.

Let’s hope times don’t get hard for Stern in the years to come because a lot of those that where around when they nearly went bankrupt, myself included, won’t be around this time after being priced out and taken the piss out of.

Cool, but for 2k no fn way. I love pinball and Mando was my first NIB pin. If i have to pay to get extra modes from a topper then I guess I'll never get those extra modes.

The reason this price gouging reminds you of Disney is because Seth Davis the new Pres of Stern hails from the Disney ilk. Hmmm, wonder if all this gigantic price raising comes from him? Taking the fun out of it for us loyal fans of Stern pinball. This topper should have been $1k tops. I remember when George said the new SW topper was going to be expensive and it was only $750?

At that price I would have hoped so…

My distro said more 2023 and there was no mention on it being limited

Hard pass…

Most companies that pull this crap get taken to the woodshed sooner or later. See Nvidia, they hosed consumers so they could make ultra profits off crypto miners, now everyone dislikes them and doesn't want to pay for their overpriced cards and they're sitting on tons of inventory.

There's a fine line between providing good value to your consumers and trying to extort them. With the new LE pricing and now doubling topper prices, I would say they're very close to stepping over that line like JJP did with Toy Story 4. Once you step over it, it's a very hard process to earn that trust back.

Question about the left orbit on Mandalorian.

Our machine had a problem in which the ball used to hit the rubber post, as it was coming down the left orbit, and get redirected SDTM. This, obviously, pissed off the players to no end. Ball time was down to 17 seconds per ball, way too hard.

I like how the left metal rail is adjustable. I was able to deliver a perfect ball feed to the left flipper, by moving the left metal rail away from the edge of the game.

However, I can't get it to stay in place. I'm afraid of stripping the wood, if I tighten the screw any tighter. The action of the ball hitting this wall quickly causes the wall to retreat backwards, though, and it gets out of position again.

Is there any workaround for this? Any way to add more friction to the screw? It's just a wood screw that goes through metal before entering the wood, and it's anchored solely by the wood, it doesn't bolt through (unfortunately). So, if I strip the wood, I'm screwed.

As a workaround, I removed the rubber cylinder from the left orbit (it's the post just behind the 3 standup targets in the left front). This isn't great, because I like the rubber cylinder there, as it protects that area from having a sharp metal edge that could be hit by the ball, but I don't have any other options here.

Has anybody else ran into this problem? If so, how did you solve it?

Thanks!
Josh

Man.... never thought I'd see the day when pinball got DLC/expansion packs...

It used to be everyone gets the same pinball game. Then it evolved to 3 levels and then super special versions and limited runs. We all seem to tolerate it. Then prices climb through the roof.. still we are like ok, everything is going up. Then a $2k topper drops after the JJP debacle. To make things worse Mando could use a couple new modes and some better code and the masses who own one won't get it. Terrible business model. This move convinced me that our Mando is next to go, and worries me about future pins and DLC/subscription/fee based platforms.

Also the mode names...

Mandalorian Madness? Beskar Bonanza? Talk about things named in a board room.
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If all owners here refuse to buy the topper I’m curious how many they would actually sell at 2k.

No one here has said they are going to get one at 2k

I think there are plenty of folks buying them up, based on the other couple threads that are discussing the topper. I think Stern knows that the average Joe probably isn't going to buy one, but the higher end, wealthier collectors can't resist.

Wouldn't fault anybody with the interest and the funds for buying one, but it's just way too much for me. Had a "spot" on a distributor's list since June of 2021 and told him yesterday to pass it along to the next guy.

I’ll out myself and admit. I am going to get one at 2k.

I’ve had my topper order locked in with my distro since last Sept when I ordered my premium.

As soon as the announcement video hit I called them to let them know I’m still all in.

When I got Mando, I also got the art blades, shooter rod, side armor, voodoo glass, and external volume control, and Insider Connected through the distro, then separately I got and did the grogu mod, Cara Dune shooter ramp decal, flaming speaker grills, and coin door insider connected camera mounting plate.

Given how much my family enjoys the game and how much I have into it already, it just wouldn’t seem right to leave it unfinished. That said, my family is Dwight S. & B. Eddy fans in general and we deck those machines out all we can and bolt them to the floor.

When you add all those extras together the topper isn’t really all that crazy given it’s licensed and 1st party. Stern needed to do extra coding and animations for it, plus testing, plus hardware and that was all done in America where minimum wage is much higher most places now and inflation is at 9%.

Given this is more than the typical “plastic and lights” they usually do, inflation, and the fact that flippers were going to have this thing at 2k resell anyway I don’t have a problem with it.

Sure, I’d rather it was cheaper. But if it’s gonna be 2k I’d rather pay it to Stern and see that money go to Dwight and crew than just be paying an extra 1k to some opportunist with buddies that’s hoarding inventory.

If 2k is a bridge too far for many, hopefully upwards of that leaves scalpers just holding on to unmovable inventory and disincentivizes them.

I know a lot of folks are not happy about the exclusive modes tied to it. But let’s face it. The toppers price is somewhat subsidizing extra software development. We all know it and many keep saying they want more code. More code.

I’m a software engineer and I don’t work for free.

I don’t expect them to either.

If topper purchasers are subsidizing that work, I think it fair that they should get to enjoy the fruits of that for at least a little while. Even if they are just paying a premium to beta test.

Once the topper runs are done they could open the modes up to the masses (if they don’t actually require the topper to function).

I think something like this was done with Jurassic Park.

Another way to look at it is this.

There are people overpaying anywhere from $1000-$5000 right now for flipped, used pros, premiums, and LEs. JJP is making 15k retail pins a thing with Toy Story 4.

Given that’s just widely accepted now as “pinflation bruh”, if one is willing to wait patiently and get their Pin at retail price, the topper is practically free.

My Mando Prem with everything I mentioned and a 2k topper is still cheaper than Toy Story 4 with topper at retail price. At flipper prices… fugggetta-bout-it.

I stopped reading at the moment you said you're going to get one, what else is there's to say? It's a great topper, for once actually has a purpose other than collecting dust. They will sell out and will be worth way more sometimes down the road. May even mean that games without it won't sell as well. But I have a feeling your game is there to stay, so congrats! (Edited: not being sarcastic, I mean it! If I could get one, I would - but not at that price Lol)

I’ll stick with mine that my son and I made with a 3d printer. Comet led strips allow it to interact with the lighting effects.

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Fair points, my dude! Happy for you. No shade at all from me towards the folks who are making this work.

Wish there was a world where folks who've been hyped about this thing from the beginning (okay, "folks like me") weren't getting priced out of the fun. If your theory about the price being tied to the amount of software dev time is true, I'm hopeful that they sell enough toppers to "recoup" that cost. I hope they eventually opt to release those topper-locked modes to the folks who couldn't rationalize the cost of (or couldn't get ahold of) a topper.

I'm reminded of a comment Gomez made in the recent 007 stream (not about toppers, but about home leaderboards):

"...we have to figure out a good way to do it, and keep everybody happy."

Topper-locked content does not seem like a good model for "keeping everyone happy."

I'm getting a topper

I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere down the road with future pins they have different levels of toppers just like they have different levels of tables. Pro/Prem/LE.

I do think the idea of timed exclusive code Vs forever exclusive is a good one.

Especially if the topper isn’t somehow directly tied to the functionality.

I remember talking to a Stern guy pre-covid who said they took a serious bath on the Munsters toppers by selling them at $400 originally. They couldn’t make enough of them. But that didn’t make them profitable.

At that price they covered BOM (bill of materials) and assembly. But they really underestimated the amount if QA they would need and the pain of that was felt in the number of defects and returns.

I don’t know a single person that got one that worked out of the box. Including myself.

The Black Knight topper was another one they woefully underpriced for the amount of testing it needed.

The challenge is folks want more than “plastic and lights.”

The Munsters topper is amazing. Sure Raven Multiball and the callouts work fine without the topper. But if you ever get a chance to play it with a topper it’s wild. That Raven will surprise you at least once or twice when he pops out to break your balls. It can be so jarring it might even literally cause you to drain! The call outs are still there without the topper but the

But these fancier toppers need a lot more testing and code just to function at all.

If you think about it. How many owners add toppers? Maybe 10 - 20% (pulling these numbers out of my arse. Anyone here feel free to correct me.)

But those toppers need dedicated code.

So… Stern is already spending significant time adding code to machines and testing it. And we all pay for that in the price of the base pin but can’t all benefit from it without throwing down some extra cash.

Not to mention the time they are spending on updating code for machines no longer on the line just so they could *potentially* use insider connected though many never will.

I think the difference here is we are more aware it’s happening so folks feel they are missing out.

Some still have no idea their old games can be upgraded to use insider connected or feel the features that are inaccessible to them matter enough to pay to upgrade.

I got a chance to play a few games at expo today that had the new topper. Some initial thoughts are that it looks great, so much so that I would drain while trying to look up at it. Although once a game ends, a lot of the lighting turns off. This topper is probably cooler for a bystander to watch someone playing than the player themself. None are for sale yet, just on display.

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