She is a voice actor who has been in all the Toy Stories as Bo Peep.

I'm not sure her name carries much weight, but the fact that they got the actual voice actors for Buzz & Bo Peep along with the perfect substitute for Woody, means something. You won't have something like AIQ, where the voice acting is abysmal.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001633/

It doesn't have to. As they'll eventually sell it and the game ought to maintain some level of value.

In fact most locations near me get the limited run versions of games when they can because they maintain their value better. In most cases they've been able to sell their beat-up games after a few years of earning well at a busy location for a couple grand more than they paid for it.

I have a hard time believing a TS4 LE will grow in value, but I don't think it's going to drop more than a couple grand. As JJP will likely only make enough to fill demand from their distributors before they switch over to their next title.

Just look through the Pinside archive for routed games. You'll see a bunch of Stern LEs selling for a couple grand over Msrp.

I'm fairly certain that is just Kaneda's.

That guy just like to cause drama. I'm pretty sure he said he'd never buy one after it's reveal, yet he somehow ended up with a CE pre order.

Yes, but he's been complaining ever since it's reveal. It is just odd that he ended up putting down a deposit after all the hate he had for it.

Nobody was accepting deposits until after it was reveal.

I've never heard of any distributor that requires a non-refundable deposit before the game is revealed.

I personally don't believe that is what happened. If it did, that is an awful practice.

It's located in NY and he just posted this. I think Kaneda got kicked off Pinside or something so it's probably someone else's account.

I could be wrong though. The timing just seems like it.

I think this all is more a disagreement on what is considered a toy.

In my eyes with TS4 the category of toys and innovation encompasses:
-the jump ramp
-the individual controlled Benson posts (especially since they're used to good effect predicting and blocking your shots in the gabby gabby mode)
-the location sensing spinner
-the Gabby Gabby bash toy mech
-the lighting (I consider this innovative, GNR is the only game with better lighting)
-the tablet
-and other small things like the camera (innovative).

I define a toy as a new or rarely used interactive feature to the game that is not particularly common to other games. Something that is found in around 5% or less of games.

Whereas features like pops, kickbacks, diverters, spinners, saucers, ramps, drop targets, targets, etc... are all fairly standard and found on most games.

By my definition of toy, TS4 does have a lot. I will say, none of them are particularly great by themselves, but together a 'B' rating seems fair to me.

Whereas a game like Led Zepplin Pro would be at a F in that category. Which is still a great game.

How would you define a toy?

Which is interesting, because I personally don't like the collapsing skyscraper. To me, it slows down the game too much and doesn't add anything to the gameplay. It's cool to see once, but gets annoying by the 5th time. Also, the diverter can really mess up some modes like Gigan. The mech itself just feels like a less cool Doctor Who mech.

That being said, the Mecha-Godzilla, bridge collapse, and magna grab toys are all great. The game itself is wonderful.

To me, it almost sounds like you pair toys with theme integration. IMO, Lawlor is the worst at theme integration at JJP. I think all his games play the best, but they certainly don't bring you into the world as well as Pirates or WOZ did.

If you are talking about the TS4 at Marvin's, that specific game plays terribly.

From what I've seen, the ball gets stuck going down the left in lanes (making the Duke ramp time out), the kickback was never setup right and always misses, the multi ball lock is janky and starts spitting out multiple balls in the shooter lane after a lock, the ball often falls off the right ramp wire form, the gabby gabby pop-up isn't setup well and rejects many shots, and the slings will phantom fire.

I like TS4, but that one really isn't worth the quarter drop until it gets some maintenance.

The TS4 at The Arcade plays much closer to how it should. Their Ultraman on the other hand plays poorly and last I knew their Halloween is completely down.

I'll probably get down voted to hell for saying this, but I'm personally more excited about my TS4 than CCr.

That is not to say that I think TS4 is a better game, I just find it hard to stay excited for my CCr when I honestly question whether I'll even get mine in 2023. It is also the Lyman code I'm most excited for. Knowing he was doing code on it was one of the main reasons I put in an order, but who knows when that will come into existence too.

I'm pretty sure JJP is getting close to doubling the number of TS4s when compared to CCrs in about half the time. At that rate, and with the low demand, I expect I'll have my TS4 in 3 to 6 months.

I really think people are overplaying it's difficulty.

I was at a freeplay arcade this weekend which has one. I personally found games like Rush to be so much easier. I don't know much about the rules in that game and I still had an 800mil+ game. That game felt painfully easy.

Playing 5 or so TS4 games, I was struggling to even get even half of the scenes completed and never made it to the wizard mode.

The GC of that game is held by the ranked 5 player in Michigan and if I remember correctly it was only around 4 million. So I doubt they got to the wizard mode.

Sure, the ramp shots and the carnival modes are very easy. However, those slings and outlanes are monsters and you need to shoot plenty of other less safe shots to complete all those scenes.

It's really only too easy if you're in the top 1% of players. Not trying to be harsh, but I doubt your in that camp. If you were, your line up would have more competitive games, like Elwins and less JJPs.

Also, you can always make a game more difficult if it's too easy by adjusting the rules, increasing the outlanes and removing post rubbers.

Last I knew the person he has the pre-order with only required a thousand dollar down payment...

Seems suspicious to me.

Welcome to the CE club. Abel is a great distributor too. You snagged a good deal.

The good news is that with Rush LEs, TS4 CEs, Halloween/Ultraman, and Legends of Valhalla all now being sold below or near MSRP.

The FOMO around these high end editions is clearly dying out. This should eliminate flippers and leave the games in the hands of people who really wanted them.

It makes me sad when I see an LE someone left in the box and stashed away to try and sell for double the cost a few years later.

I mean it's never going to be completely gone.

That being said, in the past, even poorly received games like TMNT and Munsters LEs were selling for $5k over MSRP.

I think the majority of people prefer Rush over those two games and Rush isn't holding its value.

Didn't both GNR and Wonka both receive substantial code updates about a year after release that drastically changed up the gameplay?

A great game should be both approachable and deep.

Looking at your collection, the best example of this is EHOH. It is easy to figure out and very approachable, while being very deep with code. There is a lot of new and interesting code to find behind almost every mech in the game. Look at modes like They Came from Space, Phone a Fiend, the 5 Gappa Angry modes, creepo the clown, attic multiball, super hand of fate, directors cut, the three secret room haunts and even selling the house. I don't know about you, but most these modes I see once ever 20 or so games and whenever I get to experience them, they are treats. Having modes like these that you rarely see make it so that during good games, you're likely going to experience something you hadn't experience within the last 50 games. This not only is fun but makes it feel like you're accomplishing something. Plus, if you get bored of the main objective, you can then start trying for other side objectives.

AIG fails to be approachable. It's deep, but not approachable. I've watched hour long tutorial videos on it and I still barely know what is going on.

Yes, not by a large margin though. Most are around the $11,099 MSRP.

I agree with it being one of Borg's bests.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/140946

The ramp shot should not be hitting the glass. The operator can adjust the flipper power for the ramp shot. In this case they need to lower it.

That all being said. Pinballs do hit the glass all the time on games from odd bounces. It's unnerving, but ultimately harmless. Some games intentionally make things hit the glass for effect (such as the EHoH gargoyles).

You're talking about having them remove at most, a couple hundred dollars in parts to sell the game for $4k less.

Dialed In and Wonka are likely JJPs two best games.

They probably were sold out. The distributors knew their allocations just before sales went live.

My guess is it's people backing out of their spot losing their deposit.

Why would distributors pay the deposit for someone else?

That is clearly a bad idea and hopefully they'll learn their lesson.

The person breaking the trust is certainly in the wrong as they're acting with malice.

However, it is also kind of dumb to essentially loan out $2500 to an internet stranger who can easily just disappear into the void on you.

Obviously, the distributor behaved with good intentions, but at the end of the day, they made a poor decision. They should learn to just stick with requiring deposits next time. After all, isn't this the exact reason behind deposits existing in the first place?

I think part of that was bad code though. It's one of those games where almost everything is lit all the time, that when someone steps up to the game they have no idea what they're supposed to be doing.

It suffers a similar fate to Elwin's Avengers. It has good code depth, but it's too complex for its own good.

The best games are easy to understand, hard to master.

That all being said, I certainly would prefer the Wonka code that is hard to understand & hard to master over the TS4 approach of easy to understand & easy to master.

I do think just adding some additional mini wizard modes for completing certain objectives and changing up the second pass to the carnival would add a lot to depth of TS4.

If you watch this:

It does seem like that was a clear goal of Lawlor.

IMO, Using the wrong your doesn't make someone look like an idiot.

It's very much a subtle difference and when speaking the language you don't have to make the distinction.

The fact that that we have all these rules for all these common words like its/it's, there/their/they're, and to/two/too, just illustrates how counter intuitive the English language is.

Pinside is an internet forum. It's not a professional work environment. Most people don't feel the need to proof read. Many people here are typing things out on their phones and have a hard enough time trying to press the right keys in the first place.

You also can't know the background of the people typing. I'm sure for many here, English isn't their first language.

I personally have Aspergers and really struggled in English. I've always been top in class in math and science courses. However, to my brain, English is just a random set of rules seemingly pulled out of nowhere and with every rule having a multitude of exceptions. It's the most counter intuitive skill out there because there is no rhyme or reason behind half the rules. I personally find it frustrating to be in a group of fellow pinball enthusiasts and wind up being graded on the grammar of my posts like I'm back in those dreadful English courses.

The purpose of language is to convey a message. If nobody was confused by the message, then they were successful.

I don't find a small grammar slip up to be any indication of someone's intelligence.

On the other side of the fence, I find most grammar nazis are just conceded individuals, foolishly trying to show internet strangers that they do in fact have a superior intellect. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you fall into this camp. That is just my first impression when I see someone doing what you're doing.

That is not to say that grammar isn't important. It is. I just don't think it's worth correcting if it really hasn't caused any confusion on the readers behalf. If it's causing things to be misunderstood or ambiguous, then by all means. Try to get clarification and feel free to help the poster understand why their grammar mistake has caused confusion.

The big screens allow a lot more real estate to show progress of the game. JJP typically fills up that space to show everything you'd want to know.

Where on many Stern games, you have to sit with the ball cradled for a few seconds for the menus to pop up and then you have to flip through 12 different menus to get the information you need. It's painful.

For this reason, I disagree, and think the bigger screens do add value. That being said, for a simpler game like TS4, there really isn't as much going on in the background to keep track of.

I also find that screens on the playfield are a nice touch too. As you can quickly look at them mid game without needing to cradle. You can shoot a ramp, look at the playfield screen and get the information you need, all before the ball drops to your lane. I find this much harder to do with backbox displays.

This coming from someone who has FunHouse as his profile picture and is the game you own.

You clearly don't like JJP games. You have most new Sterns rated perfect 10s and have JJP's Pirates, TS4, Gnr, and Hobbit all under 6. Just for more context, you rated one of the worst games ever made, Thunderbirds a 7...

What do you get out of the unrelenting negativity you bring to these threads?

As far as the post, it's almost like some people buy games and don't really play them.

They also have a MBr LE listed for sale with less than 80 plays on it... and I'm sure that has been in the collection much longer.

Not OP, but I still think Cirqus Voltaire is the prettiest game ever made.

The colors of the silk screened playfield and the hand drawn artwork on the backglass can't be beat. I also love how the backglass art is uninterrupted and fills the whole space. Throw in some powder coating and a colored DMD to really make everything feel complete.

TS4 comes second in terms of beauty in my book.

Though Ghostbusters and Magic Girl are close behind.

If the machine was set to factory settings, then the unlimited kickback is an award you can get from the wheel.

In settings, you can adjust it so that the unlimited kickback is on a timer, it really ought to be set that way by default as the left outlane is how ~80% of ball are lost.

In a home setting, you can physically tweak it to be more difficult by increasing the right outlane spacing and remove the post or just the rubber on the left outlane and there are hundreds of gameplay adjustments that can be used to make it more difficult in settings.

Flow isn't everything. Honestly, the games where you just chain ramps together can often start to feel stale.

Nothing is wrong with a good sharp shooter type of game. Where ball control is the name of the game. Tight shots are often more satisfying and having more dangerous shots can make strategies more fun.

Yes, JJP games are still noticeably more heavy than games from other manufacturers.

Are you referencing a certain machine? I somewhat recently helped a friend setup a LOV and it felt pretty similar to the weight of a modern Stern game.

In fairness, you have many machines now that you wouldn't be able to get for less than $10k anymore. Even Stern Premiums are essentially 10k now... You could easily just trade for one of those if you wanted.

With how many games you have, I imagine that you would find personal value in being able to have your son enjoy your collection and hobby as well. Based on what you said, this game could very well be that. If he gets bored of it quickly. Then just sell it, you'll probably lose a few hundred dollars in the process, but at the end of the day you'll feel good knowing you tried to nourish that spark you saw.

I personally have some games in my collection that I don't love, I just value their uniqueness. It probably wouldn't hurt to give JJP a try. IMO, they're significantly nicer to work on than modern Sterns.

Which is why I lead the statement with, IMO (in my opinion).

Sterns OS is extremely dated though. It really hasn't changed much since the Sega Whitestar days. Even Williams pinball 2000 games had a real GUI that would illustrate the playfield to help you diagnose switch issues or other problems.

Stern is really behind every other manufacturer when it comes to their operator menus.

Scrolling through the hundreds of adjustments, one adjustment at a time with about a 10 character limit on what the adjustments actually do is painful.

Plus on the physical side of things, JJP has the glide rails, ball trough locks, service outlets, connectors on most coils, etc. All things that make it easier to work on.

I definitely prefer working on issues for my TS4 over working on issues with my Stern games.