If this happened and featured Salma Hayek, I would have to buy!

No way Stern releases a Slayer pin...that would be better fit for Spooky.

Everyone always says they want more unlicensed themes, but then everyone ends up bitching when unlicensed themes come out (ex: Dialed In & Oktoberfest).

DI does get a lot of praise...for the game play. A majority of people just despise the theme, which is what my post was in reference to. I was strictly talking theme. I for one love DI but hate the theme.

From Dusk till Dawn, Kill Bill, and The Hateful Eight would all translate well to pinball. Love Tarantino.

Who? Just kidding...that dude sucks.

Fraser is totally forgettable in every movie he's ever been in...

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I heard Joe Kaminkow discuss this on a podcast recently. The price differential is all down to the cost of licensings the IP for the games. Beatles for instance is a very expensive license to obtain. He also discussed how insanely difficult it is to even obtain these licenses outside of just the costs (I remember him giving an example that he sent Christmas cards to a lot of key stakeholders at target licenses for years just trying to maintain contact and preserve goodwill).

I'm not sure if either of these were the actual episode, but here are a couple interviews Joe did with the Head2Head pinball podcast.
http://www.head2headpinball.com/2018/07/03/episode-50-joe-kaminkow-from-kapow-pinball/
http://www.head2headpinball.com/2018/11/05/episode-68-joe-kaminkow-on-the-beatles-pinball/

In going down this rabbit hole, I refreshed my memory. I believe the interview was on the Super Awesome pinball show (EP4)
https://toppodcast.com/podcast_feeds/the-super-awesome-pinball-show-podcast/

But these types of features deemed detrimental to competitive play can typically be turned off.

Zombie Yeti just shared and old Stern Jaws t-shirt design on instagram with the caption "I need a new one btw *hint *hint"

I bet you're right.

A fraud of a fraud

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I just had a thought on what Godzilla could be a codename for...Zeppelin. Back when the late 90s version of Godzilla came out, Puff Daddy ripped off Kashmir for the main soundtrack. Not sure if this has been discussed before, but it seems like a plausible codename theory.

It's like a mix of TOTAN and CV feeding a subway. Looks really cool.

I am prem all day on this one. I agree the pro stripped out too much, but the armor on the LE is god awful. I'd rather buy prem and add my own choice of powder coat later.

yancy just killed me with this one

No reason to vault ACDC. I like the game, but adding updated art and a LCD will do nothing to improve it.

Is this a prediction? Or is this information from a reliable source?

In a word, Christmas.

I’m 34 and much more excited for LZ than another super hero pin. Really tired of those and love Zepplin.

One good thing about LZ looking as appealing as a bag of dirty diapers is that slow sales should free up some line capacity to work down the back log.

Borg posted this on fb today...chum for the fish. Man I hope they drop BTTF!

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My better half wants a boy band pin so bad. She said a mashup of Backstreet Boys and Nysnc is her dream theme

Can't see Stern going public any time soon. That could change in time as they continue to add to their proprietary technology, and dare I say it, additional subscriber services. That's what all the big boys want...consistent, long-term, massive subscriber list and lots of assets. I could see a company like Disney eventually buying out Stern, but I don't see them making Stern a separate publicly traded company.

Back to the next Stern pin...or perhaps more importantly, the obligatory factory Friday

Elwin always has a truck up his sleeve. Cannot wait his next one. If it's BTTF I'll be buying day one. I've tried finding a distro with an LE spot left and haven't had any luck yet.

Normally I disagree when I see these types of comments, as there are always bulls and bears in a given market. It does seem that we are edging closer and closer to a cliff in the pinball market. Stern will keep pumping out anything that makes money as long as there is a market for it (definitely nothing wrong with that). The real question is how much demand is there for a given product? Personally, JP is really high on my list of games I want to add to my collection. I also own several LEs. For me, this is a pass because there are so many premiums out there for below retail for sale and the gameplay is missing nothing.

So if collectors are passing on these games, Stern has to find new purchasers of pinball machines. Everyone I talk to who isn't into pinball is shocked when you tell them how much a game is (especially something like an LE). I imagine it's a pretty hard sell, but there are lots of brands out there that create their own market and successfully sell overpriced items to consumers for years (look at any luxury good like a rolex, Louis Vuitton etc). Lots of consumers out there willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money to set themselves apart from the crowd.

It will be interesting to see if Stern can pull it off, but I think it's more likely to blow up in their face. Only time will tell.

Definitely a November announcement, but it will be BTTF. *not me trying to manifest BTTF into existence*

Eventually if distros can't sell what they are holding in inventory, they will go bankrupt. Obviously Stern has to consider the consequences of flooding the market with more games than can actually be sold to an end user.

Was just about to post a comment point out the apples and oranges thunderbird is throwing out. Let’s see that first graph showing sterns price point in relation to inflation over the same period. Can’t show a 2010 to current chart then drop a last few months decline in inflation rate chart. You’re skewing the information to fit your narrative.

Pinball is alive and well in Wichita Kansas

The Arcade in Wichita Kansas. It’s been mentioned multiple times.

Deals about to be had. I’m going to need a bigger basement

My comment was in reference to used prices coming down. Starting to see some deals pop up again.

Noobs. I paid attention to kman when I first got into pinball. Doesn't take long to figure out he's just a hype man. It gets old quick.

It's fine to think of pins as a capital asset, but don't expect them to make you money through appreciation. Yes, some do, but many do not. My goal has always been just try not to lose too much money on the damn things.

If the manufactures don't wake up and adjust prices down, there are going to be a lot of games not moving and distros going out of business. I agree completely that they moved prices too high too quick. I get why given what games were selling for on the second hand market, but that shit is over as you said. Tesla has been dropping prices. If they can do it, so can a bunch of pinball manufacturers. Hopefully they wake up and read the writing on the wall.

Something to be said for the crazy few who do buy everything and put them on location. It’s nuts monetarily speaking, but it is fun.

This. Beat Thanos for the first time a couple months ago and thought, “ok I’m probably done with Avengers.” Wrong. Just played it, and it shoots so damn well. The time it takes balls to return on various shots is so perfect during mb. Nothing like having one ball up the center ramp, another on the captain marvel ramp, and another one on the fat ramp. KME is truly the GOAT.

Re-run of MET seems imminent

I shared this thought in the Tron VE thread, but definitely has relevance here.

Given Stern's latest announcement they will re-run high demand dmd games, Seth Davis' connections to Disney (owner of Tron rights), and the overall love of Tron as a game, it makes sense Tron would at least be on the short list. Between Ghostbuster, Tron and LOTR, Tron seems like the easiest fit to me. Ghostbusters is a killer theme, but the layout is not exactly a unanimously loved game. I would love if they fixed the airball issues with GB and replaced the dumbass euro lanes that ball hop worse than anything I've ever seen. LOTR seems like a real longshot given that the rights to LOTR were purchased by Embracer for $395m. I can't see Embracer re-licensing for cheap. My money is on Metallica for the first of these DMD re-runs, and I bet it happens in Q1 or Q2 of 2024.

FOMO is dead. We aren't stuck at home mentally masturbating over grainy leaked images asking where we can get and LE or put a deposit down. Glad those days are over.

My money is on Metallica re-release on Spike 2. Their next world tour starts in May, so the timing seems right.

I'm expecting the MET "vault" to be treated a bit differently than other remakes. Mainly, as I'm expecting this to be the first of the DMD games run on the spike platform. George has already said publicly that remaking these older platform games takes a lot of engineering, so we know it's coming in some way. Borg makes sense to be as it's been a while since we saw a Borg game. It makes sense to me that the release would coincide with the start of the tour.

I could see that as well. Stern has been promoting some of the older rock games a lot lately, which has also played into my guess. It is just that though...a guess. Only time will tell, but it is fun to speculate.

These paired with a pair of pinshades and the dad becomes unbeatable.

Same. I went that route for a while to get the better half as hook as I am. I don't even buy based on theme alone for my self at this point. Play it, and if it's a good time, buy it. That's all that matters at this point.

Remake of Cheetah!

I remember hearing GG say he tried to take Steve's WW and go from there but ultimately scrapped it in favor of a totally new layout.

They seem to be shipping a lot of Pulps. Really enjoying the Pulp they put on location here in Wichita.

Same. I've been holding off on both Pulp and Labyrinth to see if any pop up used for way off retail like all the other games selling right now. I really enjoy playing both, but don't feel the need to rush to buy either one for some reason.

Not sure pulp and CC are a great comparison. Everyone seems to be going bonkers for the theme. Hard to say at this point on Labryinth. Even the higher demand stern LEs don't hold their retail value with 1000 units. I be Labryinth can be bought under $9K within a year.