Love this! But I feel like the dog needs to be twice the size...and, of course, more slobber & snot.

Also

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Yeah I would love to see my second run Rush Premium this summer instead of next year!! I have no interest in Venom so no big loss. Hopefully my future Bond LE stays close to on track since its a Kapow game and not one of the cornerstones.

I tend to like the looks of the comic or graphic novel type themes over themes with photos of actors on them. That said I can’t think of many animated shows that haven’t been done and wouldn’t be obnoxious as pins… maybe “Spider-Man: Into the spider verse” would be cool. Some cool film themes might be Kong or Dune.

Good on them for the delay. The backlog of games would just be nuts if they kept to their old release/reveal schedule. Also gives me a breather to test the waters on other games instead of thinking "well, I should just wait until Stern announced their next game".

Curious how this will affect the distros wallets if they don't have the typical in-rush of orders in April? Could drive up the price the distros charge to make up for the dip in sales. Wonder what Stern's mix is of backlog vs. taking new orders on current pins?

Good news for JJP.

Honestly I'm ok with all of this. People have been waiting months and even over a year for current titles. Every new title makes the backlog worse.

I don't think they care if they sell James Bond or Deadpool. As long as the pins are flowing.

Stern release

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Or it just allows distros to take more orders of current released games. I.E. more Godzilla/Rush pins and maybe Stern actually fulfils orders for games still in production before spitting out their new game. I don't think it really hurts a distro, someone will come to them and ask what games they are selling and available. They'll have the current Stern offering and hopefully other games and didn't put all their eggs in the Stern basket.

Who else is in line to announce a new game pre-aug? Spooky? I don't know when their Ultraman/Halloween production is going to end. I don't know if Chicago Games would spit out another release with Cactus Canyons still in production either.

I don’t know this it would actually be a dip in sales. Distributors aren’t sitting on inventory of old games. Whether a brand new one of another run of something still in high demand, the product is going to flow through distributors. If they get the same amount of games to sell either way they should be good. If backlog is worked through and distributors start sitting on inventory, that essentially means a lot of the issue is fixed and it makes sense to flow through new games.

Why? I'd JJP releasing a new pin in the next 6 months? Doubtful.

I read this as Stern trying to ensure that distributors actually get the quantity of games they were originally promised, not so much that they’ll be adding additional inventory. Using GZ as an example, I would think this is good news for anyone currently scheduled on a 2022 run, but i wouldn’t expect a bunch of new spots to open up.

Watch for an announcement from JJP in March.

I think this is a good idea from Stern and will make some unhappy customers feel a little better. They are so far behind this just makes sense. I bet when the next game is announced they will have a bunch ready to ship out like Stranger Things style.

I can't see JJP benefiting at all. Lots of news Sterns will keep flowing.

boob is right we need to help out crujones4life

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Why have they figured out how to make fun pins that don't have crappy playfields yet?

Time to start a rumor:
He says they've decided "not to introduce a new April CORNERSTONE game," Kapow BTTF in April confirmed!

Can someone explain “corner stone” game to me?

Most buildings have 1 cornerstone.

Thanks

I have to give props to Gary for finally giving in. I had this conversation months ago on how much Stern is pissing off their customer base by continuing the cornerstone release schedule during a 100 year pandemic with backorders mounting. Their argument is the licenses have all been negotiated and they must push forward. I did not think that was a smart move but I kept my lips shut and thought Gary/Stern was an animal. Well looks like the backlog finally caught up and everyone probably got burnt out and now time to take a breath and play catch up.

I am a firm believer that license agreements can be re-negotiated with different time lines due to the current circumstances. When it starts to effect quality by pushing manufacturing demand that is not a good combination. A perfect example is the RUSH debacle with the scoops. Stern pushed this one out like taking a shit after eating soupy Chinese food and missed key QC issues. They need to send a few games to Trent or Headquarters for a few week beta trial with Jack Danger reveal/s at same time. Just feel like they did little testing-those scoops are getting MANGLED and it makes me cringe. They would have caught the issues really early and Stern may have introduced a Mantis or properly beveled playfield with proper gauge generic cliffy. Looked at Halloween today and Spooky did the beveled playfield right with cliffy sitting flush with playfield -nice touch.

-Good for you Stern you made the right choice. Plus I am not hot for Venom-bring on Bond-James Bond.

-P.s. please do a vault run of KISS Pro-300 and re-theme Iron Maiden to ? w/ mirrored layout-easy cash-cha-ching!

So which designer is up next for the August release? Eddy?

That‘s their „bread & butter“ line games, that come as Pro, Premium and LE.

So not including their „home“ games, not their Studio/Boutique (more expensive/ no Pro) games (like Elvira), or contract games.

Is Jack Danger still going to do reveals now that he is a designer for Stern?

Can Stern hire Bowen for reveals?-pretty please

• Cornerstone, these are Sterns regularly released commercial titles, usually between 3 or 4 releases a year, consisting of a Pro, Premium & LE.

You also have their additional releases such as Vaults, Studio games, Home pins & Contract games.

This makes things really interesting I think.

Stern are smart and I think they have put COVID clauses in their licensing and release date of games. Giving Stern time to release when it is best for them. I am sure they have plenty of games in the pipeline and plenty of games ready to release.. I am going to enjoy this ride, I think whatever the next release is, it will sell out instantly.

when are the price increases to complete the backlog going to show up ?

Soon!

If it goes right JJP SUPPOSED TO BE ANNOUNCING THERE NEXT PIN AND VERY WELL COULD BE TOY STORY IN MARCH OR APRIL

Once caps lock was on he never looked back

Yea sometimes I get carried away and forget about it lol.

Toy Story will be interesting

Note CORNERSTONE release

bond is not a cornerstone

So you will have bond, then another cornerstone in august

It’s really no different than last year

These kind of post confuse me. If they make Bond will it be a home use machine and not the Pro, Premium, or LE versions?

Buy a Rush and you won’t worry about missing the summer release . Trust me !

Soupy Chinese Food... ???
Hahaha. Wtf?

It will be a premium only game like Elvira

Great news on the backlog clear. Its been frustrating waiting on JP premium.

The days of Stern releasing new games every 3 months are going to be challenged. With IC setup, there is no reason all current 17 games have to continue to play only one way. predict Stern will be releasing “new games software” to play all of those machines in different ways. No reason to approach the same game the same way all the time with IC. Think that will be a new money tree for Stern.

Hell yes to both. I have been begging for a rethemed Iron Maiden! Van Halen, Beastie Boys.. whatever!

How so?

A cornerstone is a new release not a vault,etc.

I think it will be 007 and it will be a cornerstone

I also think we may see a vault of some kind

Elvira, Batman, Beatles are not considered cornerstone games. I believe some refer to them as Studio games - games where the lowest tier is a premium model and the upper tier is a super limited, usually in conjunction with a 3rd party for the license (KaPow for example).

So is this what Stern defines as “cornerstone”?

I do not see 007 as a boutique Kapow sorry

007 is Kapow. Not cornerstone. I suspect it will be available in Premium, LE and Super LE similar to Batman.

And Elvira, and Beatles. Surprised so many people here don’t realize this

BTTF is Kapow

007 is Kapow

Seriously how many great themes can this guy destroy?

I read years ago a comment from Joe about possible titles? I forgot what he said

F Kapow

I wanted to get on list for 007 LE-but I have zero interest if a boutique game

Hoping 007 is cornerstone and they ditch Venom as cornerstone

Elvira wasn’t KaPow, it was a studio release which Kapow falls under, along with Batman 66 & Beatles which where both KaPow releases