If they're your "former" distributor, then it should be easy to give us their name. I don't want to buy from them....

What was wrong with the playfield?

Wasn't there one in FL that was doing the bundles as the only way to get a GZ Prem during the height of unavailability? I remember seeing those adds all the time....take this bad Pro you don't want (Not necessarily saying JP Pro is bad), to get your GZ Prem!

I got a GZ premium from that guy in June without having to buy anything extra. Saw on pinside he had one, called him up. MSRP+ship to terminal.

I don't really blame dist for trying to bundle first. Stern shoves less desirable games on them. The Gz/dp/imdn/jp's they get they have to make the most of.

Plenty of dealers trying to sell pins for $1000s over MSRP.

It's up to you to find the best deal for yourself. Dealers aren't charities.

That dealer has been great to work with, I highly doubt it’s the same guy unless there is more to the story.

Well we agree on one thing.

But those package deals were laughable at the time. Interestingly enough I’m sure more people are wishing they took the Rush Prem/GZ Prem deal before the price hike

I never thought so. At the time many dealers were marking up their GZ allocations over msrp. Trying to use them to move pros or market saturated premiums seemed like a good way to get a GZ faster if you had any interest in the bundled game (I defiantly thought about picking up a Star Wars or LZ as part of a bundle)

Stern doesn't shove anything on dealers. The dealer received a JP because they ordered it. Normalizing this behavior as "trying to put food on the table" is not acceptable.

Additional Side note. I agree that Rush is really well done especially when you play it after Bond. But think that would get boring if they did that on every Music pin.

I didn't like the cartoon production of Aero and IMDN when they first came out but they are growing on me especially IMDN. Not sure what a fun shooter really is but I like to play IMDN and dont like Bond yet. Hope they pull a full BM66 or SM (2 terrible pins on release) on Bond.

Normalizing what behavior? The OP was pretty vague other than his feelings. He felt like the dealer made him buy two games. He said the playfield was “shit”, he “got the shaft” on the playfield issue, and he was lied to about shipping charges… just judging by human nature (and I’m pretty cynical) I could probably guess the story from those details which would also be why more dealers don’t bundle games .

That's just not true man.

I can't call stern and say
"Hey, I want 50 GZ, 20DP, 20 IMDN, 20 JP. and I will take 0 TMNT, Bond, Mando, SW".
It doesn't work like that. Your obligated to take those less desirable pins. if you want to be a dealer.
That's exactly why some of those games are still sitting in warehouses months after their last run, and why these dealers are trying to package them with better selling titles. It's hard for smaller dealers to have capital tied up in the 14th SW run. or trying to sell TMNT for 7k when you can get one barely used 6k all day.

They can order larger amounts of pins, but yea Stern supposedly requires the distros to order a min of each run units, so those distros sitting on unsold pros of a previous run, suddenly are gonna get a couple more units of the current cornerstone.

How long does it take them to produce 1000 machines? Any idea when the premiums will be up?

Late April. Give it a month from today and I'd be willing to bet we'll see unboxing pictures.

Two weeks if they’re firing on all cylinders

Saw on Flip N Out that IM is for Preorder 2024. Did the schedule change for it?

IM 2024 (resized).png

One of those is mine! Haven't been this excited for a new title in a while!!

Here’s hoping! Need the premiums on the line!

Interesting…maybe Foo demand is off the charts and they are reworking the schedule to make more Foo.

why wait when you can snag one of 14 IM (Pro, Prem, and Le) on Pinside's Marketplace right now?

Might as well buy NIB when used + shipping is almost the same cost.

Very cool. I heard 250 was a good week for them. Higher is definitely better.

I'd by interested in knowing how many GZ Premiums they built this last Feb but I haven't seen any guesses.

This is by far the strangest thing I've seen since getting back into the hobby (prior to a recent GZ my last purchase was back in 2012 or so and all of my machines were used).

I want a JP Premium to go with my GZ. Put down a deposit for one from the upcoming May build. When I go on Pinside all the used ones are more than I'm paying. Very odd situation.

Maybe that's another run? As far as I know, May 2023 Maiden is still on. I have one coming in again.

Car situation was like that in the pandemic, and some models are STILL that way. We get emails from the dealer we got our odyssey from a year ago that they'll buy it back for 110% of what we paid all the time.

It'll be like that in many sectors until supply catches up with demand. But yeah, it is weird.

Talked to Zach about this a bit to try and get on the list and May run is happening but his waitlist is full

Truth. Wasn't like that before but now it just makes more sense. Got my GZ Prem. And FFLE and IMDN are on the way. Happy to wait for NIB and less work than used anyway. Just click a button and the truck stops at front.

Probably for the market saturation thread but just coming back to the hobby and with so many games out there I am sure folks will see a change soon. Nothing crazy, but a step back in the normal direction.

Spoke with 2 local Chicagoland distributors this week and IMDN is still scheduled to have a run this May.

No issues with Zach, seems like a great guy, love his vids/podcasts and what he does for the hobby... but if you want a high demand pin. don't go to the same guy everyone else is going to. That's why this thread is full of "Durrrr... I ordered godzilla 2 years ago why haven't I got it yet?? That guy just got one no wait?! not fair!"

If you want Maiden in May, go to the distributor list and start making cold calls, You'll find someone with slots.

IMDN?

This - I always call around until I find someone with an actual open allocation for an upcoming game. Hardly have to wait at all unless the next run is way out there. If you go with a distro building an unlimited wait list - you could be waiting several runs before you get your game.

What's the scoop on Foo Fighters Premium? I got an email from my distributor yesterday saying June/July time frame, but looking at the production schedule here, I see a run up in April and no second run. I'm just curious if that's just when he thinks he'll be able to get the machine to me by from the April run or if there is word of a second FF Prem run coming up.

Definitely good advice. He was one of a few I’ve reached out to. I’m newer to the hobby so I’m just looking for distributors who will actually communicate with you when you need them. I’ve had mixed results in who I’ve used in the past.

There is a 2nd Premium run scheduled for around late July/August, at least that was what my distro informed me of. So unless it was moved up, I believe it's currently scheduled in July/August.

That's the second run of Prems, and the first run of home Pros in July. Hit up Stern's distributor list and try to find a dist with first run Prem slots available.

Ooops my bad - Yes Iron Maiden (IMDN)- always mess that one up….
Still on schedule for May

Nah, that June/July timing is actually pretty perfect, both financially and with life stuff going on (and while July/August is less great waiting longer, it's still fine). I've already put the deposit down, but if I ended up getting called in a month to come and pick up, and he was just padding the dates to under-promise and over-deliver, it'd actually be more of a headache scraping together the money for the remaining cost and arranging pickup.

Maybe they finally make more Maiden toppers. I know they were supposed to do a round of Aces High ones. Hoping they also do the other version.

On the same note when people feel screwed they won't buy from them again.Now things are getting back to normal do buyers go back to the distros that charged 1000 over retail or go to dealers like tilt, kingpin, game exchange gameroom guys ect that played the long game and didn't gouge customers.

You know customers are going to go wherever they can get the pin they want soonest at the price that best suits them.

I disagree 100%.

I prefer to build long lasting relationships and trust.

81633837-6A25-4C0B-9306-C6F2A7861DBE (resized).jpeg

I could really care less who or for how much you buy your pins. I am pretty sure that has nothing to do with this thread. Go start another one.

Some distros have merely *tried* to gouge me - I don’t bite. And then they lose my business forever.

Ya, that is probably a mistake. May '23 is it for Maiden.

Vanessa Yannish out of Iowa.

Lied to me about shipping (told me there was NO OPTION for curbside)

The game had clearcoat issues, she could not obtain a replacement.

I offered to pay for a playfield out of pocket, waited six months, (poor communication/ would not return calls)
She refused to send a picture of the replacement playfield before I would send her the money.

Still unresolved
Lesson learned...

Super disappointed in Stern as well, canceled two orders because of the situation.

Is Stern actually part of the problem or is it related directly to your distributor? You may want to notify Stern directly about your distributor issues.

Stern is aware.
Or at least her contact at Stern is. I have only been able to talk to one person in the parts department.

The dealer/company name to avoid is Operation Pinball.