Yikes! Glad i got another pin to hold me over until jp is run again….

I just picked up a JP prem with 100 plays (now almost 300 lol) and it was a good choice it seems!

Just curious if my DP doesn’t happen and my Elvira is iffy as well. Is new Alien pinball machine any good? I’ve played a few times but can’t decide on that as I was aiming for the DP first.

reports are that it's different, interesting, and great but definitely check out the owners thread for all the teething problems. I have a deposit down and am holding on.

Sorry you feel this way. Has nothing to do with believing you. You made the claim. You are the one who blacked out your invoice date for some unknown reason. As a former accountant, we go by two things. “Trust but verify.” And, “Does it pass the smell test”. You took your ball and went home, who is being childish?

I am getting one soon. A few friends are getting it too.

I think the build date on the game pic I posted earlier solidifies my “claim”.

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Let’s just move on.

Only played it once but it was really cool and had some fun shots.

When? And, are you buying?

I’m waiting patiently for my Godzilla premium.

Me too. Maybe one of us will win the raffle?

My distributor sounded super positive on the July GZ run happening and him getting his allotment. My JP is coming from a different distributor and that one is getting a little shaky.

Not that I really want to continue this dumb debate. But, I couldn’t resist pointing out that the back of the game in the picture doesn’t mean it belongs to the mostly blacked-out invoice. Still fails the smell test. But jimmy crack corn and I really don’t care.

Incorrect sir! Look at GNR, JJP

What is going on with the May run of GZ Premium and the July run of JP premium?

So what is on the line?

I got an anonymous message following my post from a few days ago assuring me that Deadpool Pro and Premium were indeed on the line (at least last week, if not also this week).

(Post 2228: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-is-on-the-line-at-stern-pinball-delays/page/45#post-6927436)

Edit: not quite a few days ago, haha. Time moves slowly when you’re expecting a new machine I guess!

Someone I know got their Deadpool this week.

Still don’t really care, but thats yet again something entirely different. Show the whole invoice or just stop

pro or premium that is the big question

Pro

I just got the update from my distributor that I’m 2nd in line for GZ premium. He is only getting 1 machine from the may run and 3 from July is what he’s told at this time. The guy in front of me is still waiting for his house to be built to have the room for his game so I he might pass so I get my game later this month. (On my way to go Sabotage some house in construction) LOL

I said proof. It shows no information. Looks like you just typed that up. Lol.

For Pete’s sake, why does it matter?! Billygrippo got a deal. One that most of us couldn’t get. Congratulations to him. Let’s move on to something that helps more of us, like is Stern still dealing with water all over the factory floor?

We have a Gunners. and love it.. No game is a turd, only people are turds.

Jealousy is VERY powerful and tends to go hand in hand with being incredulous.

I’m admittedly jealous…but I’m more interested because i can’t make any business sense of it. Is the distributor margin big enough to offer “any premium” at $1100 under MSRP

Are there compromising photos at play? Inquiring minds…

There is some margin to play with as in the past some distributors have sold at MSRP and included free shipping. This sounds more like a deal to a friend where it was sold almost at cost.

Back to the regularly scheduled programming. Jack do you have any info on the latest production schedule?

Wow, 3 pages of someone arguing about someone else’s business… play more pinball and relax.

It is an avengers people, move on! At the end of the day it is 8k. The only weird thing is that the invoice has a column for discount and no amount is in that column. What is the status of GZ Premiums for May?

From what I’m being told they’re shipping out next week

All this talk about Stern focusing thru Summer on building for the backlog is comforting. However, any time Stern starts running any title, they seem to fall way short of orders and usually the reason given is parts shortages. I wonder if Stern is making any headway? Easiest metric of that would be # games backlogged at beginning of month, additional orders and backlog at end of the month. Oh well we may never know, if things don’t improve.

Lmfao

This is by far the funniest thread on pinside !!!

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It has its moments. I for one cannot wait till I receive my gz premium so I don't have to follow it anymore.

If I may….Used to be able to buy a used newer machine for 1k ish under NIB price .Now people want 1-2k more than NIB price because of a massive trade war going on and they can’t get the new titles out .Meanwhile, I’m sure they’re playing off the used pin price .So they keep jacking prices up even after deposits are down .Does Vlad have his hacking team infiltrating the pinball industry also ? Lmfao sure sounds like it

Bottom line we’re in “it will be ready when it’s ready “ times .Adjust accordingly

If you are a fan of the first two Alien films, I *doubt* you'll be disappointed. It is a great pin. I haven't played the Pinball Bros. version, only the original Heighway release. While the original's 'display-in-the-playfield' is kinda neat at first, you tend to always look up to the backbox when you're playing to see the larger screen. You aren't missing much if anything. On the plus side, I prefer the newer Alien's cabinet ... I don't care for the original Heighway one with the thin, rounded backbox .

I believe Alien is a better game than Deadpool by a gnat's eyelash. It's merely the theme that makes Alien better to me ... I am not a Marvel fan, but LOVE Deadpool's retro sounds and humor + it's an awesome tournament pin.

There are a few ... but I can't think of a release in the past 20 years that's a bona-fide turd outside of Thunderbirds. I always thought High Roller Casino was a "turd", but my kid loved playing it at Allentown and I have to admit that I didn't find it to be as bad as I remembered it (I was a Bally/Williams and 'classic' Stern snob for the longest time ... I rarely gave any Gottlieb SS, DE/Sega/early Stern Pinball pins a real chance ... I missed out on a lot of fun for that stupid reason).

Even the Stern releases people trash (CSI, 24, NBA, Rolling Stones) are 'good' pins. Not great mind you, but they're not the turds some people claim they are (many people that trash those pins probably never played them for more than 30 seconds or are only concerned with owning the top 20 of the top 100 list).

I am not a big fan of JJP's GnR, but that's more of a subjective opinion. If that pin were Megadeth or some other metal band I loved from back in the day, I'd probably be singing a different tune .

Dp is shallow and the humour is repetitive. The sounds are also annoying.
It would have been a great game 20 years ago. We can do better than DP now.
Lol not a fan!

Soooooo… what is on the line?

I'm sure they do. Stern doesn't have a problem getting disco balls made or plastic Wolverines whipped together ... the semiconductor shortage has crippled many industries.

I have a Star Wars LE that is a paperweight right now since a node board on mine blew (a voltage regulator shit the bed ... the main 48V to 6V regulator died and it took out the 3.3V regulator which also took out the processor on the node board ... this suck since I don't have access to the firmware to program a new CPU ... I have to wait until they're back on the market or pay one of the companies that is asking $400-$500 for one (assuming they even have them in stock these days at that price) ... I'll hack/figure out Stern's frigging node board updating procedure before I pay anyone $500 for a frigging cheap ass board that retails anywhere from $99 to $150 ... that's not a dig at anyone asking top buck for a replacement BTW ... if the people selling those boards for $400 were asking $100, someone would have bought them all and would ask $400 anyway).

Getting back to the shortage ... I'm sure Stern stocks up on parts since quantity discounts can drive the price of one of their more complex node boards down to $20 or so by my estimates. JIT production would almost triple the cost of their electronics that they use on all of their machines. They probably use JIT for any PCBs that are specific to a machine, but those boards tend to have very basic, easy to get components on them (like LEDs or buffer ICs for switches).

Each of their pins uses around 4 node boards (maybe more). Any node boards that drive solenoids use a transistor predriver IC from Microchip that is used by the automotive industry (MCP1401T-E/OT) ... good luck getting those. Some boards use 4 of them, others use 8. Let's say Stern uses a total of 20 solenoid drivers per pin ... they'd have to have 20,000 of these parts on hand per run of 1000 pins. These parts have a 30 week lead time ... and the larger companies with deeper pockets are getting a much, much higher allocation than Stern. Moreover, driver transistors (PSMN027-100PS) Stern uses also have around a 1/2 year lead time. There are pin compatible parts out there, but Stern might be stuck using their specified part and will have to wait with the thousands of other companies to get their allotment.

Those are only two of the many parts they're fighting to get too. While I'm sure Stern has some inroads at the companies that provide the parts they need, they're forced to delay shipping their product much like any other company out there be it a behemoth like GM or a small company like the one I work for. This shortage is impacting almost any company on the planet that produces electronic products.

The only way Stern could have prevented this was to procure a future-telling crystal ball in early 2019 and order a couple hundred thousand parts to make it through a situation nobody thought would happen. I doubt the one on a Capcom Pinball Magic would work since I don't think it has any future telling capabilities (I swear it did one time, but that may have been the booze I was drinking), and our knowledge of physics hasn't allowed us to observe future events in a crystal ball as far as I know. I can't blame Stern one bit for what happened.

For a minute I thought this was the unpopular opinions thread…

I am leader not a follower

What is on the line?

1)Find a spot-on replica of a dinosaur bone via online merchant.
2)Throw it over the fence at the construction site.
3)Get notification from distributor that you have been moved to P1 in line, due to previous P1 experiencing a total work stoppage at their construction site while an archaeological team investigates.

I enjoyed Deadpool Prem a LOT, but it really is hurt by missing those two quests/bosses they cut. Makes it grindier than it should be once you're not dazzled by the facade of lights and humor.

You may not have to do either of those things. Hit up Borygard here on pinside. He fixes node boards. If he's not too backed up, he might be able to get you back in business reasonably. I don't know if he keeps spare parts like CPUs in his node board boneyard, but it's worth a shot to see if he can help.

Just paid my full deposit on a dp pro via player1 in Canada, game should be here in a few weeks.

They had me on a wait list since July 2021. Time flies!