Star wars home version...who's in

Did you think I was joking?

I don't know what's next. Won't pretend to have any info. Games I would like to see...

Scarface- if they take the Sopranos approach and let the f bombs fly, could be great.

Back to the future- think they missed the window in 15 for the 30th anniversary.

Led Zeppelin- as far as classic band themes go, they are running out of good ones.

Queen- see Led Zeppelin. Also may have missed opportunity to tie in with bohemian rhapsody.

Blues brothers- covers both music and movie themes. Unfortunately, and we seen this with gotg, they couldn't possibly acquire the rights to all the great music. Plus all the musicians appering in the movie Ray Charles, James Browne, Aretha Franklin, etc. Game would cost $28,000 to do it right, do it right...

Legend of Zelda- absolute dream for me. Love Zelda and tons of material to work with.

Mario bros.- same as Zelda. Gottlieb's version not doing it for me. My fear is a big name like this could get the Star Wars treatment. Slap a simple design on it and sell it on name only.

I could keep going but getting tired of typing.

Jjp would do better on all these titles. But this a stern thread.

People suggest 80's or older themes because that's all that seems to get released lately. Just getting tired of the out dated material. JP2 90s,Munsters-60s, Bksof-80s, Beatles-60s, Starwars-timeless but still 70s and 80s, Bm66-60s duh, IMDN, As, Met, ACDC- were popular in 80s and 90s, Kiss-70s. GB gets a pass because it was released with the new movie.

Deadpool, GOTG, GoT, and Walking Dead are the only games to be based on a popular theme at release date. This of course is just the last several years. You could include Tron, Avatar, Transformers, etc. Those would be in the 6 to 7 year old range just before they started this slide into the past.

We are all fans of the 80s. I also agree we don't need another comic pin. At least with Deadpool they didn't phone it in. Gotg, Xmen and Avengers

I think fast and the furious could make a good theme. It may be unattainable. They may get the name but no actors or sound clips. In today's market everybody needs to get paid. Actors, car manufacturers, hell the tire company on the cars will want likeness royalties.

I don't care what the next theme is, who's designing it, and who is doing the code. Just give me a relevant pinball that I can buy, run on the route for a few years, make some money, then sell.
No more dream titles for me. Casual players go on what they know. Munsters was cute, but I am in my 40s and they were 20 years old when i was a kid. BKsor, another nod to the old times. Elvira is another game piggy backing on its 2 previous games. Can't run it. I have bar/restaurants that have kids playing the games. One parent complains and it's out. Not to mention the price structure doesn't help.

If it was up to me I would tell anyone who complained to piss off. Unfortunately, as a long time operator of Jukes, ATMs and of course pins, you are at the mercy of the bar owner. The bar owner is at the mercy of any customer, no matter how bat shit crazy they are. I almost lost a jukebox location because someone played a rap song during dinner and an old bitty bitched. So for me in a family friendly location I need to consider things like elvira and her assets, black knight and the "scary" monsters, and other things that may offend anyone. Yeah, it sucks.

Don't think we will see any pinball based on illegal drug production. Considering every pinball in the late 80s thru the 90s had some kind of "say no to drugs" message scrolling across the screen.

Never seen stranger things. From what I read here it's a nostalgic driven show. My guess is the game will suck because it will be very limited. Remember, behind every fad of the 80s is an estate waiting for their check. I can see a pin with the name and characters but without any real 80s pop culture. Leading to a whole bunch of threads on pinside complaining about everything left out.

The Sopranos game focus was more on the characters and what they allegedly did. If you make a breaking bad pin I dont think you can get away with not mentioning meth.

I agree. Especially with Fortnite. Rumor has it they want to start connecting the pins online. If they linked Fortnite the pinball with the game with special items only acquired from playing the pinball, you would literally have tens of thousands of people of all ages hunting that game down.

Getting a license and all the supporting licenses is the key. I keep seeing diehard, but I would bet Bruce Willis would never sign off on it. Bttf is the same. The original de version was a joke. That's why you have horrible voice actors on GOTG and TWD. Ever wonder why the Beatles is only the early stuff? I bet that's all they had access too. Apple records probably wouldn't sign off on later music. I'm not a fan of Elvis or the pin but it was done right. The story I was told was Graceland contacted Stern and waived the license fees. I'm sure if who ever holds the rights to bttf contacted stern and wanted to do an anniversary machine with full support, they would jump at the opportunity.
I understand it's a speculation thread for fun. Just consider the whole picture and what a diehard game would be without Bruce Willis or Mad Max based on the original with out Mel Gibson on it. I dont think anyone wants those.

You're right...C'mon Saturday Night Fever/ Bee Gees

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Tom and Jerry could be entertaining. Having Uncle Pecos singing is a must have.

Throwing balls with magnets would be cool. It was awesome when twilight zone did it in 93

I think it's more of a pay attention to us tour.

Maybe the video mode can be the brothers fist fighting on stage.

What a sad list. I know, there are a couple fair titles on there, but over all not a good line up as a whole.

You take an old pin, slap a few beatle's songs from their worst era of music, and charge a premium price for the game. I always wondered why it doesn't get more love.

If they put half the effort into the Beatles as they did Iron Maiden, it would have been a hit.

The first time I played Circus Voltaire was at my distributor. He offered me his floor model CV for 1600 out the door. I passed because no one wanted to play them on location.

Back then was a glorious time. I had a retail shop. No ebay or pinside to compete with me. Most people came in the shop not knowing you could buy a pinball for home. Close outside were awesome. Baywatch, golden eye, dirty harry for 1800 new in box. Sure there were more. The real steal were all the big operators and distributors who were overflowing with junk pinballs that were happy to have me haul them away for cheap. Tz for 600 whirlwinds and diners for 250 to 300 each. Addams were hard to score but even then I never paid over 1500.

I miss those days.

I would love an original theme game. I picked up a GoT premium last year for the route. I never saw the show, never played the game, just knew with the new season coming it should do well with the occasional players. It didnt disappoint. I started playing it one day and really liked it. Anytime I am at the location I try to play a few games. The other day I was playing it and thought if it wasn't GoT but a basic clan wars type game, could it be more appealing. You could rip off some off MM ideas and give the clans odd names. Mix a little comedy in to it. Do a much better art package and not be committed to using what is given to you to use.
I dont know if they are afraid to take a chance on original themes. Last ones I can remember them doing is sharky shootout and high roller. Back then the games were...bad. Lisenced or not. If not I will keep my fingers crossed for that Facts of Life pinball I am dreaming about....you take the good, you take the bad

I had a sharkey shootout a couple years ago. The only reason I bash those games is because they were insanely simple. For a budget game it had appeal. I sold mine under 2k and the fellow who bought it was thrilled to find a game that cheap. When you consider it came out after wms was out of business, and all the wonderful things they did years earlier, sharky and high roller were a huge step back.

My fear on TMNT is which era we get. They have so many different shows/movies it's scary. Does anyone really want to hit the start button and hear vanilla ice....go ninja go ninja go ninja go

If cgc can redo wms games for 6k, I am sure stern could do lotr. I'm sure the licensing for lotr could be an issue. I think if they did the 3 game format with rgb lights big display and better looking toys on the se and le people would throw money at them.

I know that licensing for products is stupid complicated. Also base price on cgc standard is 6k now. I'm sure they could dust off the old contract. It's not like they are asking actors to do custom call outside or redoing any art work. With the new show coming out, they maybe reluctant to merchandise the old and want to push for the new.

I will happily give stern a percentage of my collections, but only if it's for features that are only available to location machines. Also, they better knock 2k off the price to help compensate us for our troubles. There is a reason touchtunes has 10s of thousands jukeboxes out there. You give away the product and make your money on the back end.

What we really need is a good Conan the Barbarian pinball with some of the awesome artwork I remember in the 80s.

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Agreed. The first movie was something different. Fun to watch. The second and third were just bad.

I loved Animaniacs. As someone else said, just not popular enough.

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I also think X men le and Avenger le are jockeying for third.

I'm just going on price. Xmen seems to be on the lower end for an le.

And I thought the Sex and the City suggestion was horrible.

You may be on to something here. Since this thread is mostly people asking for the same titles with no new info, how about we have a little fun?
What is the one theme you don't want to see?
Kardashians definitely qualified. Oprah the pin would be a close second.

So he mentions turtles and I continued watching. Lost some respect with that color puke on the cyclone

I don't want to be negative, just realistic. I think we get 1 game this year. We really need to see how this plays out. I am worried that even when locations are allowed to open, we will be limited to how we operate games. Everyone will struggle and dropping cash on new pins when you are either shutting off or removing 50% of the games isnt a smart move. As for the home market, until we see how bad the fallout is, people may be reluctant to shell out 6k to 10k for a game when they could lose their job without notice.
I do believe the smart play for Stern is to revisit a few popular games if the demand is there.

Stern would take an awesome theme like See and Say and screw it up. It would end up with the tired fan layout, 2 ramps, 3 pops, and a loop. Every mode will be a 18 minute long continuous mess with no clear goal and 18 lamps strobing 6 different colors. The worst part will come when they dont pay Fisher Price for total rights and use a voice actor to say "The cow goes moo" and its nothing like the toy we all grew up with and loved.

Also it will dimple and chip.

I guess I should have put up a sarcasm
Emoji.

Most of my games are on route. Only the older wms games are at my house. I just pulled Wonka from the route and sold it. Here in the detroit area there is no problem finding pinballs to play...pre covid

Kind of like Monster Bash, except it will cost $37,000 by the time they secure all the rights and pay royalties.

In the old days, you could buy a golden tee for home and it was no different then the arcade version. Then the golden tee fore came along. You could play all the courses but not the tournament. Now golden tee live comes out and if you want access to everything it's a monthly fee...and you still cant play in money tournaments.
I could very well see something like this in the future.

If you use their network with the built in wifi its $15 a month. That's in a commercial location. We do give them a cut of every online game played whether its tournament or money games. As a player in your home you pay them a fee and you can participate in non cash online games for ranking. If you dont pay that fee you can just play the courses. You cant keep stats or use any clubs or balls you might have on your player card.

Yeah cell service. That's what I meant. I never did the home model set up. I couldn't tell you fees on the monthly or yearly. I sold all my golden tees the past 2 years and am down to one. Couldn't be happier.

They need to fill back orders before they announce any game. If not, you will have half the orders cancelled and deposits moved to the new game. Dosen't make sense to announce anything.

I know a few people wouldn't be happy about a Harry Potter pin. I think it would be a great theme. Very few franchises have been generational themes. Star Wars, LOTR, and Harry Potter.
You can give honorable mentions to some. Indy, JP, and BTTF. I am sure there are others.
Personally, I wouldn't want a Harry Potter for myself. I would buy it for the route sight unseen.

Only one car movie that deserves a pinball...Cannonball Run.

That would be up there with Addams Family for greatest multiball start ever.

Agree on how theme changes an opinion on a game. I really love playing Metallica and just got a Maiden to slap around. I grew up listening to that style of music, so it helps me enjoy playing the game a little more. I have a JP premium here now and just can't get into it. Its not my favorite theme and because of that, the little things you would normally overlook become more obnoxious (I am sick of hearing them screaming about Nedry and I am ready to disable the dino head. It was neat the first couple times, now it just slows the pace.) If I really wanted to like the game those things wouldn't bother me at all.

I will be more open to TMNT because I like the theme.

For me, the double edge sword, would be a game like star wars. I was really excited and the game was a huge disappointment. Code wise, it's an interesting game. The playfield layout and art work were very disappointing. It made me hate the game because I wanted more from a big name like starwars.

As I read this all I pictured was Harley Davidson reskinned as jaws with a stupid shark instead of a bike.

I do love Jaws and I love sharks in general. I think a Jaws with JP style assets would be horrible. I would be more into a shark week pinball with a secret wizard mode that let's you hunt jaws.

Probably a JP topper. Trying to save a few bucks shipping them together

How about a really good monopoly game. One that has deep rules, good call outs, and just fun to play. It would also need to include Player vs player scoring. Something like if you complete a property set first and the reward is a multiball the next player to do it pays rent by giving you half the points he earns during his multiball. One last thing, it cannot be a reskin of the other version.

I like Maiden music, but damn, polka music would be hilarious.

Perhaps we can just get the music changed to Apocalyptica

I'm ready for a Tool pin. I know it wont happen. Since everyone is throwing out games they would like to see happen, I wanted to join in the fun.

I'm in if we get custom callouts by Betty White.

I don't think a Captain America pinball will happen. His name is offensive to a lot of the world. Disney gave the option to change the title to The First Avenger over Captain America the first avenger.

Don't you think Stern knows a Tron Vault will sell. My guess is that Disney wants to relaunch the franchise. If that's the case they won't sign off on a vault.

Nope, we meant Tool.

I didn't look close, but I played 2 different TMNT and both games had darker balls.

The key feature to making a Congress pin, make sure its coded so both sides of the aisle can say the game is biased the other way.

Did anyone watch Impractical Jokers last night? Patty Jenkins who directed the Wonder Woman movies was a guest. She commented on Brian Quinn's pinballs that he has in his background. For anyone who has not seen the show, he has a Tz, Imdn, and BM66. She points out the Batman and askes "Why don't we have a Wonder Woman pinball. We need to get one of those."
.

If you never seen the wrecked episode with the chili pepper cruise, it's pretty funny.

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Red, yellow, and black. Made me think Mortal Kombat. I would also like to add that a puzzle maybe more fun then some of games that have been released over the last couple years.

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They have a Star Wars one already.

I'm leaning towards this now...

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Maybe it is a Godzilla with a Welk sound track.

Is it just me or does the shooter rod have better artwork then the actual cabinets?

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I have played both the pro and the LE. Artwork does look better when you are standing at the game. Yes the shooter rod is big, but I was referring to the grittiness of the art. I just wanted more artwork in the style of the old man drawings.

Funny

I like doing paint by numbers pictures.

Great, a Zack Snyder Justice League pinball. It will require you to put the back legs as low as possible with the front legs to the top so it plays in slow motion the whole time.

I'm a little disappointed. I really like it when games have the dual in lanes, at least on one side.

Please keep insulting the thirty-something crowd. My phone is filled with guys in their 30s who always buy games. I will happily keep all their business for myself.

It is making me ill looking at that Spiderman. Please put some novus on that thing asap.

I'm not saying it is right or wrong, but when a distributor is only given one or two LE's and sells them for MSRP only to see his customer turn around and sell it for 10x the profit he made, they are eventually going to want a bigger piece. Now going to your loyal customers and doing some kind of half assed bid/auction is bad for business. Do it the less conspicuous way, give it to your brother and have him list it for 13k.

How about melon patch kids. They're not orphans, they're abandoned.
Bonus points if the game has a triple lindy ramp.

I would be into a garbage pail kids game.

I think the Mandalorian LE, on cost, is at it's high point right now.

Careful what you ask for. If Stern starts price policing, it wont just be LEs. They would want to control all 3 levels of games and you will never again find deals on NiB pros and premiums.
As far as allocation of the LEs go, every distributor has more demand then they get and most beg for more and never get extras.

If they made a Monkees pin that was as fun as Maiden or Metallica, I would buy it. I don't like or dislike the Monkees. I just want a fun game.

Let's get them toppers into production now.

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That's quite a few toys to pack into one game. I would really like a stern medical alert bracelet, I would hate to find out someone fell while playing and couldn't get up. I guess someone could mod it afterwards.

I take that as a $800 price increase