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

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.

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.

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.

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”?

My guess is the title-specific parts are the reason. They get their initial order of parts for that first run, then have to wait on the next shipment to arrive. In a normal year, it’s not a big deal. But if their next order of ‘Zilla-specific parts is still bobbing around in the ocean for another 6-8 months then it’s pointless to build the other 95% of the machine until they have everything. Just move it back in the schedule and work on machines that you have 100% of the BOM to build. What really stinks is that it seems like the initial parts order is only enough to cover LE’s and Pros. Seems like particularly lately the Premium buyers are the one left to wait until the second round of parts arrive, whenever that may be.

The one that baffles me right now is Stranger Things. It seems like that game is finally hitting its stride and now it’s ending. Considering that there has been a huge gap in time between last season and the upcoming season of the show, you’d think that Netflix would be very agreeable to a deal on extending the license for not much more money. Especially when Stern seems to have decided to go Pro-only for the remainder of its production run, I would think they would want to get the most for their money when this title stumbled for first year or so during the thick of the pandemic.

Sorry to hear this, but I agree with you.
If my ST doesn’t get built before the next price increase then I’ll likely follow suit. I had to do that with BM66. It just became way too much money for not enough content.
At some point, we as consumers need to push back. We can’t push back to Stern’s suppliers, but we can push back to Stern…who in turn need to push back to their suppliers. There is far too much acceptance of rampant increases on everything right now.

Thanks for the info! I already have every mod/accessory that I wanted for this title sitting in my basement…just waiting on a dang machine to ship!

Sent message to distro today via pinside (as instructed by email from pinside market) to check on status of ST order…I’ll report back if/when they respond!

I’ve not heard back from distro regarding StrTh via email yet. Will try to call them today.

Copied from Pot8er’s post in the StrTh club thread:

Just talked to my distro. Said ST is shipping next week. He said he couldn’t get a straight answer whether they had insider connected or not. I DMed stern on Instagram asking and will update if they reply.

Sometimes I assume too much, but I’d assume due to the code update released today with IC code included that any new StrTh rolling off the line would have IC included. Again…I usually assume too much…making an ass of myself in the process!

As I understand it, they are only running Pro models from here on out. Not sure when exactly the license runs out.

Per Zmeny on TPS podcast, on the line at Stern through the end of ‘21:
EHOH 40th
StrTh pro
Beatles
DP premium

Apparently also affects NIB in stock…was on a distributor website yesterday, and they are offering a BM66 premium for the low low price of Twelve Thousand Dollars. Yeesh.

I didn’t hear him mention it specifically but I was working while listening so I might have missed it. I was jotting the titles down while listening and working in an excel spreadsheet at the same time…multitasking is not my strong suit. Zach talked about it somewhere around 2/3 of the way through the latest TPS podcast.

Hahahaha I actually hit the 15 second playback button, just to be sure I heard correctly.
Premiums are the new LE’s…
You heard it here first, people!

Good point… He said they were running them, but he did NOT say how many. Ha!

Woo Hoo! Congratulations! I wish I’d kept my order, but I had to tap out after the last price increase. I’m sure I’ll regret it sooner rather than later!

At least in the weird pinball year of 2021, considering all of the delays and shortages…who knows, there might actually be fewer premiums in existence than LE’s? Especially on the newer titles with higher numbers of LE’s being produced. We know exactly how many LE’s they’re making, but we don’t really know for certain how many premiums are out in the world.

1) Your distro is good people.
2) Tell me which of the pinball gods you’re praying to…I want to know them.

Woo Hoo! Congrats!
Sounds like the good people on the production line have really been cranking it up, for the past couple of weeks. Hopefully that means the parts bottleneck has let up a little bit (for now).
Stern! Let’s goooooo!

Sounding in this thread like maybe pushed to summer…

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/deadpool-cancelled-and-no-eta-in-sight-

I hope so…I’ve yet to receive an invoice for mine. Planning to call distributor tomorrow to check.

Distro received Stranger Things today. Keep ‘em coming, good people of Stern Pinball!!

So it sounds like Stern finished up the last run of StrTh the past week and a half or so. Did anything else get run? I assume next week will start RUSH time, and assuming that they do just the LE’s and Pro’s first then we’re probably looking at 3-4 weeks of just that machine? Anyone heard what might be back on the line after the initial RUSH rush?

What’s the deal with Deadpool? Did they go through all their stock of ramps on the last run of BM66 or something? Wowie wow wow. Hate to see folks waiting so long for that one. Seems like between DP and Mando they just keep kicking those cans down the road.

Could be due to all the goddamn snowstorms wreaking havoc with freight lines the past couple of weeks.

Has anyone heard when the next release will happen! I’m assuming end of Q1 or beginning of Q2? Just thinking, once the new title has wedged itself into this plan it’s gonna push everything following it by a month.

Three runs of Zilla pretty close together…is this going to be TAF of the Spike era? Hugely popular and a go-zillion units produced?
Also I know it was mentioned already that there will be no run of Maiden this year, but the fact that there are two runs of Star Wars (one standard and one The Pin) gives me a sliver of hope for a run of Maiden.

There just can’t be that many people out there who still want a Star Wars…
There just…
There can’t be.

Lol…the few, the proud! It’s a great game and I enjoy it so I hope you didn’t take offense. My meaning was that it’s been available for awhile and if there is demand then I would think that a run of a week or two would take care of everyone who still wants one.

Same. Let’s keep the dream alive, brother!

Agree 100%!

Woo Hoo! Go Stern Go! Congratulations!

You should contact your distributor, typically they don’t ask for payment in full unless the game is complete and ready to ship. If it shipped then your machine may be tied up with a freight carrier, so you definitely should get in touch with your distributor/dealer.
As I understand it, Stern does a run of a specific title continuously. It would be too difficult to sprinkle in a few builds of another title as the bom is much too different from one game to another…I think it would cause more harm than good in terms of delays.

Hmm the only scenario that makes sense to me is if Stern invoiced the distributor in anticipation of production that week, then ran out of parts. Otherwise, I can’t understand the distro asking for payment in full prior to them being invoiced by Stern. I don’t know if that’s the exact situation, but in my line of work (office furniture) we get invoiced on the day that the product leaves the factory.
You purchased via authorized Stern dealer, yes?

Possible, but my guess is that Stern didn’t tell them to pay the invoice for a game that didn’t ship? Might be worth taking this conversation to a new thread (if not already)…there may be other distros who would see it and can offer advice as to how to navigate the situation…particularly if there is no concrete updated information provided by the end of this week. That seems like plenty of time to know the path forward if there were in fact hiccups with the process when Stern discovered they were out of parts to build Zilla

Definitely call them. If it has in fact shipped, they should have a PRO number for the shipment. Once you have the PRO number, you will be able to track the shipment with the freight carrier. That’s if it has shipped…If not, then I would imagine they have at least some idea from Stern as to when the machines might get completed and sent out the door. Maybe the distributor is being given no information, which is possible…but I can tell you that when one of the manufacturers I work with has no answers I keep bugging them until I find someone who can provide answers.

From the sounds of it, they just need to start a spin-off company…
Godzilla Pinball Company, by Stern

I’m guessing it is, in Australian dollars.
Ceemunkey is from the land down under.

Here’s hoping that Stern doesn’t source any parts from Shanghai…

Seconded! They really appreciate it and these folks are helping make our pinball dreams a reality. Even a few bucks to buy lunch or a beer after work is better than nada.

Hearing all these people getting their Zillas on the way makes me happy! Time for a song! (Sung to the Blue Oyster Cult tune)
OHHH YO! STERN GETTIN EM OUT THE DOOR! GO-GO-GODZILLA! YEAHHH!

I would imagine that Stern will extend the license on IMDN. Considering demand and the fact that the band isn’t super popular these days, I would think that they could get an extension for minimal cost.

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.

Congratulations! Woo Hoo!

Go Stern Go!!!

Is the there a different thread for accessories or is this the place to ask about expression light kits for Led and/or Rush? Just curious as it seems like the expression kits have really taken a back seat, and just wondering if that’s going to continue now that FF is on the scene.

If Rush owners have been pillaging the LZ kits, do you think there might be at least a little glimmer of hope that more LZ kits will be run? Especially considering that it sounds like maybe Rush kits are shipping soon?

True, that is a fine idea!
“LZ owner ISO Rush owner for light kit swap”

For those in-the-know…does Stern ever talk about production timelines for accessories (more specifically toppers, EL kits…electronic-y things) or is that just sort of a you-get-it-when-you-get-it level of communication?

I started a gripe thread to focus on accessory delays. Feel free to whine and complain there.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-accessory-availability-gripe-thread
I assume all of the accessory bits come from China, so I imagine one day there will be a flood of EL kits when they finally receive their shipping containers.

I’ve found in general most dealers/distributors have a sub-par level of communication. Really the only way to get info is to call them and hope that they answer the phone. It’s not their fault…most are very small operations and the profit margins on new machines aren’t very high. So they can’t justify hiring a customer service person to help improve their level of communication. That doesn’t contribute to the bottom line. Their money is better spent on marketing to increase revenue. It is certainly unacceptable to offer no response to customer emails at all (even an automated ‘we received your request and will get back to you as soon as possible’ would suffice) but I doubt we will see much of an improvement in communication until the market cools off. Business is good, and unfortunately most dealers/distributors seem ill-equipped to handle the level of support needed for timely communication with customers.

You are 100% right, it is unfair to lump all distributors into one group and I thank you for the insight and calling me out on that.
Unfortunately I think you are all at the mercy of a manufacturer who doesn’t have to earn the business like you do. They make the great games and leave the distribution network to deal with the question of “when is my stuff going to ship?” That is very unfair of them, especially when they seemingly provide you with very little information in terms of timing (and probably to some degree allocation). But as the saying goes, it all rolls downhill.

HA! Well as long as sales are through the roof then there is no problem, right?
My former employer was like that…no need for internal improvement if the finances are in the black…just keep on truckin!

Come on Batman ‘66 Vault!!!
DC/Warner Bros is probably looking for quick cash to help recover from their latest box office blunder.
In an alternate universe without slimeballs, a Ghostbusters VE would’ve been nice!

You’ll be getting calls from distros like this… “Oh hey buddy, remember when you called 18 months ago looking for an IM and left a message and I was too busy to call you back? Well I just so happen to have one in stock now, and I’ll throw in free shipping and a Stern koozie & t-shirt! Whaddya say, ol’ chum?” I think you’ll be able to find stock of pretty much any current title you want, at whatever distro you want to buy it from. The ones with the best customer service will survive.

I think maybe Pros are on the line rn.

Anyone have an idea of when BKSOR Pro will be on the line? Last I saw, I believe people were saying sometime in June?