Ha. Fair point.

Shortages and shipping problems are more than likely slowing or stopping the line. A lot of different parts all need to be ready at the same time in order to produce each machine

This world wide logistics/shipping issue has not gotten any better and the computer chips and anything else produced overseas are hugely affected. Based on these pinball delivery dates being pushed out over and over, I suspect that Stern has quite a few parts that originate off-shore, at the part or sub-assembly level. (I saw that Ford was considering shipping their 2022 new trucks from their assembly plants WITHOUT the onboard computers, and the dealers could then add computers which are shipped separately in much lower quantities, only when a truck is actually sold. This would conserve the very low production of computer units). I suspect Stern is like every manufacturer and has the same issue with getting parts.

That stinks! Sorry to see this. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of more to come.

That is exactly what i'm waiting for. Why put a deposit for a nib stern which I have no clue when or if i'm going to get it when I could wait for people to get out of the hobby. If stern were reliable with their production I would have bought a few nib like I did many time the previous years. But wait for 1 year for a pinball is a joke. If stern doesnt want my money the secondary market will get me what i'm looking for at a discount. The more people will start leaving at the same time, the better deals will be for my wallet. Just my opinion.

So, if a manufacturer can't get the parts to produce the item you want to buy, that means that the manufacturer has proven to you that it doesn't want or care about your business?

Geesh, man. Tough crowd.

“Fire sales” where people sell off their entire collection at a discount are very rare events. More than likely a person getting out of the hobby is going to ask market price - which is currently above MSRP.

Unfortunately (and oddly ironically), the best deal on a pin is NIB at MSRP - and the only way to get that is to make a deposit and get on a list. It sucks - but that’s where we are right now.

look at the used market you can get a DP premium for $10-12k (asking price) or wait for Stern to make them and pay $8k.

You make it sound like I’m unreasonable. The fact that people put a deposit on a pin months ago and now they are getting push further because they come out with an elvira super magical edition who can sell for way more than a pro or premium. I think it's disrespectful.

More like 9k but yeah, crazy that NIB are less then used right now

I hear you, now is a bad time because of scarcity. But it's not always going to be like that. When the shine wears off and the FOMO on the newest toy come into play price will drop.

You are right about that but if stern doesn’t catch up at one point who knows. Do you feel confortable to make a deposit and wait 2 ? 3 years ? I'm not trying to be negative but it doesn’t seems like these problems will just disappear and still, they come up with 3 or 4 games a year. That could become a monstrous backlog.

If Stern makes too few like Tron the used prices will stay high on select titles.

They did that to take care of distros, who are holding the bag on the production delays far worse than the guys waiting on NIB pins are. This is their livelihood, and hard decisions have to be made. It's not perfect, but it's something to help them out. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

So the theory here is that shortage of inventory and increase in demand will lead to price decrease due to abandonment of the hobby by those frustrated with the finite number of available machines in the marketplace? Bally/Williams went under in 1999 and hasn't produced a single game in 22 years now. How did that lack of production effect the secondary market of those games in the time since?

There is no theory friend just my 2 cents opinion. I'm not saying I have any clue of what's to come, I was just saying that I prefer to wait before buying NIB again. I know people who buy rolex and sports cars make deposits years before getting the actual product. I'm not like that. It's not like thousands of people did not already take my place in the line.

Couldn’t this once again come back to a parts issue from overseas though? “Waiting on the Deadpool parts, we have Elvira parts sitting in the factory, rather than making nothing let’s make something,” line of thought for their business.

The problem is they built a new 25k model while the people with deposits on the premium model continue to wait.

Right on 1000%

Hard to refute that one!

And they can source enough parts to build all these Godzillas but can’t get the parts for Deadpool and others for upwards to a year? So many parts are essentially the same as well. The bill of materials for Godzilla wasn’t even known several months ago.

Man, you guys that know everything should start a pinball company and get to it. You can all find parts and source materials in the middle of a supply chain nightmare, and anticipate logistics needs months and years ahead of schedule? You can't lose. We will be lucky that you all put your expertise to use. When can I put down a deposit on Game #1?

Anyone out there get their BM66 or hear of it being in transit? Just curious if things are rolling out as outlined earlier in this thread.

I am just amazed how hard it is to get a zilla and then hear that Rush will be hijacking the line soon.

Someone in BM66 thread said he did.

Most people get them shipped from their distribs, so I would think later this week.

Excellent! Thanks for the info. I’ve got a deposit down on ST but becoming increasingly skeptical that it’s gonna get cranked out before January.

We should take a page from the early 00s, when folks were parting out Fastbreaks to replace boards in the "better" WPC95 titles. Cannibalize the boards from shitty Spike games to build the GZs and EHOHs people want now. Everyone with a Munsters please line up on the right...

I just paid 8900 for a low plays premium and I felt really lucky to grab it. I
Messaged the person right away offering full asking.

Overall I have zero problem with delays due to parts availability for one game or another. I have no problem with Stern having to triage their production queue based on what parts show up at the dock every week. I’m in an industry being affected in very much the same manner. I completely understand those problems, and I’ll bet there are current titles right now that still won’t see their parts arrive for many more weeks or even months.
I have a problem with the level of communication from Stern to their audience regarding the delays with a specific title(s). With a diverse distribution network such as Stern, you have some distros who communicate as much as possible and others who don’t communicate at all.
Stern should do more to provide timely and up-to-date information and lean on their distributors to communicate this information back to their customers. OR simply post a “what’s on the line” schedule every week somewhere on their website. At least then people can see movement in the production schedule, instead of wondering if their game might be built anytime soon. It’s certainly better than no communication at all.
I get that we’re buying a toy and there are bigger problems in the world, but you look at Stern’s website and it’s buy all the everythings until you get ready to buy and contact a distributor and realize that you really can’t get a pinball machine right now, and there really isn’t a an educated timeline as to when you might be able to get one. I have no problem with waiting however long it takes. Stern is a private company and they truly have no obligation to do anything or say anything. But sending a letter to distributors that could be forwarded to customers at the distros discretion to say “hey man we’re sorry, but the world is still really wacky and you’re not gonna see any more Elvira’s for at least 8-10 months”...at least it’s something. Relying on your distributors to bear the brunt of calls and e-mails is fine I suppose, but you’ve got to arm them with as much accurate up-to-date information as possible to help them defuse some of the customer’s frustration when they call. With enough information, the customer might even be willing to switch to a game that Stern CAN get parts to build in a timely fashion. Perhaps that customer is still willing to wait on a particular title, but they would be a lot more patient with an educated guess as to how long the continued wait might be. Please Stern don’t make your customer hold out hope that “maybe this is the week they’re going to build my _____” for week after week or months on end.
Sorry for the long post and it might sound like I’m upset but I’m actually not at all. I just hate to think that Stern might be starting to boil in their own oil when they’ve come so far in just a few short years. I want to see Stern continue their upward climb, it’s good for all of us who love pinball. They’ve done an excellent job manufacturing the machines to a very high standard nowadays. It might be time to work on the customer service aspect.

I'm on Stranger Things watch.... Last week it was "next Monday" Any news?

Is it that surprising? They don't care about fulfilling their orders, they already have your money. They've been demonstrating this behavior for some time now.

What money do they have - deposits aren't sent to them and I don't have anything on order (reserved)

Any deposits are kept at the distributor level. STERN only gets paid for what they ship. They clearly want to get machines moving and it must be frustrating to have 98% of the parts needed for any one of their games. It could be as simple as they have missing node boards or playfield brackets. Anything that is missing will severely hold up production because you really need all parts to be available when building a cabinet or a playfield or back-box. Otherwise the playfield or cabinet or backbox needs to be stored somewhere in it's half-built state, and then put back on the assembly line a second time to 'finish' the sub-assembly when parts arrive. From a manufacturing point of view, nobody would do that as the logistics are just too great and costly.

This worldwide shortage is frustrating to be sure, but I can't really blame STERN, and their income is significantly hampered by not being able to ship NIB machines. I believe they are highly motivated to find 'alternate' source missing parts however they can, but some parts are single source or prices are beyond realistic during the shortage. A plastic star post that costs 4-cents when buying them in bulk from china may cost 40-cents when buy them locally, which adds $8-$10 to their BOM. CPU or memory chips may be 10x their standard price, which could add hundreds of dolars to their BOM. In some cases, certain parts are not even be available at any price in quantity. This is unchartered territory for a worldwide shortage of anything. Few workers in the factories, Few drivers in the trucks. Its a double whammy!

Do we know if Mando premium run is actually happening this month?

this, I've seen that they are supposed to be on the line next week and the week after, but who knows?

Got a call from my distributor that Stern sent off most of the Batman 66 today. It should be here in Texas by Thursday or Friday.

I think this thread is useful and prevents the distros from getting 100's of individual emails from us. Anyone heard the latest for JP Premium?

Agreed, I heard from my distributor yesterday that Godzilla is now going to be mid to late 2022, instead of Spring

I actually heard 2023 from a distro

Do you know if they had IC or not? You could probably tell by the final price if you have been billed yet.

My distributor called me yesterday to let me know they received my payment. The build is still supposed to start next Monday, 12/20, and go through the following week. He wasn't 100% sure the build would start on time (mentioned current the Batman build going somewhat slower than expected) or that they would receive all of their promised allotment from this run.

Thanks thats good info.

So based on this list from awhile back and what we know of the games completed so far this month, it’s not looking likely that ST or JP are going to roll out before year end. If they have two lines going, I assume by next week one of those two lines will be devoted to RUSH and the other line will be the “everything else’s”?

Anyone heard an update on Elvira 40th?

My invoice has Insider Connected on it. I’ll update once I get confirmation.

I feel for anyone waiting on a PIN right now. The "O" variant seems to have taken over peoples minds and countries at this stage.

Such a shame.

Rush? Is this official? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Rush fan but I don't understand why they would release another new pin when they can't build a pin I ordered in July and the Godzilla build date is 2023?

Thanks for the update!