Rush makes a lot of sense, they’re the energizer bunny of old rock bands and the music works for 2-3 generations (thank you vinyl resurrection), and is GREAT for pinball. I just hope that the budget isn’t spilt on license like with Led Zeppelin.

After JM, I’m surprised anyone is making pins with complex motors.

I wonder if hookers and stiffs would sell pins.

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Yep. Game art is important to me, and it helped make the decision to buy Jurassic Park an easy one. I think it looks fantastic.

I’m not surprised that someone who makes a living as an art critic would find fault with lowbrow art. You’d hate my collection of Dirty Donny blacklight posters, and my Metallica would probably make you hurl. To me, lowbrow is a style, I like it, it’s not for everyone. I happen to think that Johnny Crap is able to separate his work for Stern from his lowbrow stuff, and the art on JP is not that style at all. People judging him here based on that one whimsical lowbrow print are kind of missing the point.

Now tell us about how Andy Warhol was terribly overrated.

The official toppers are embarrassingly bad. They need to hire Back Alley Matt to do these.

We’re veering off topic, but who would you consider good in this genre? I’m a fan of Doug Horne, Chet Phillips and Donny Gilles. Their stuff is all over my basement.

String art, big-eyed children and black velvet Jesus. Lol.

In 10 years we’ll just put an NFT QR code on the apron that represents the topper.

What’s next after Mando?? Lol

My friend told me it’s earning really well. It seems odd that Stern wouldn’t do at least one more run of Premiums for people that want them.

If you don’t think any of these games shoot well, pinball might not be for you.

Ah sorry, I misunderstood. It seems like a lot of Stern’s themes are talked up on Pinside long before they happen. Maybe they should stop listening to us, lol.

It also gives them a chance to incorporate feedback from ops and owners, e.g. adding “I...Am...Groot!” to Guardians. But yeah, if your game is orphaned by Stern you’re boned. To be fair, they’ve done that a lot less in the last few years, mainly because they grew the software team.

$2500, price checks out.

I’d like to see a game with something squishy or fuzzy on or above the playfield. With shag carpet instead of mirror blades. Something really organic. Pretty sure I will need to make this myself and when I do, it will only last a few hundred games.

Well, I was with you until here. I just bought your Tibetan Breeze fans because the coils on my STH overheat more than they did on LOTR. I don’t think anything has changed. I think the extra cost for dual-wound coils makes them a non-starter, sadly.

Munsters was doing poorly at my friend’s arcade until we enabled the ball save, which inexplicably defaulted to off. But it’s one of the few games he’s sold, so I assume it didn’t do much better after that change. Personally, I liked it better than BKSOR.

Stern could make a lot of people put their pitchforks down if they just communicated 2 things at launch for every game:

1. “When the game is finished, this is what the rule set will be.”
2. “We expect to release the final code in X months/years.”

It’s the “will they or won’t they?” that has people upset, and rightfully so. Buying a game shouldn’t have to be a gamble.

I’d rather hear that the final code is going to be a year late, than not knowing if it will come at all.

...and this is why I think GOT Pre/LE is one of the best modern Sterns. Multi-level multiball is really fun.

A distributor runs a business. The ones that get bigger allocations of LEs get them because they buy everything Stern sells, and some of those games sit in warehouses for over a year, just costing them money. And sometimes it’s the LE’s that sit and sit, until the game gets its legs (see STH LE).

All this to say that if I was a distributor and I know a game is going for $11k used, I’d be a pretty bad salesman to let it go for MSRP, NIB.

If you want your distributor to survive, don’t get mad at them for being tuned in to the market.

I mean if you feel that you’re being “grossly overcharged”, the solution is obvious: sit tight and wait for the price to drop. That’s how I got my GOTLE with the topper for $7200.

And the distros who do this “as a side business” are not getting the LEs, I’m almost sure of that.

Who’s going to tell him?

Oh wow. That’s actually pretty damned good.

There’s no denying the similarities between AFM and Stranger Things, but the differences are what make STH more fun to play for me. The motorized bank of stationary targets is replaced by the 4 drops. Shooting up the middle no longer destroys the enemy; now you get to do battle and shoot the enemy in the face. The square MARTIAN targets are replaced by narrower DEMODOG targets that make better use of the available space. The saucer on the far left adds a new primary shot, and that feeds the inner orbit with a little tweaking. And finally, STH has the cross-playfield skill shot. You can argue that this isn’t great for multiball, but it adds some chaos to the game and I like it.

Add in the UV kit, the LCD, the darker theme and the music and it’s a very different game than AFM.

I’m not picking on you, but this comment and many others in this thread make it sound like all Pinsiders ever buy are premiums and LEs. I take the exact opposite stance: I’m a Pro buyer, until I see something that persuades me to upgrade, like way better cabinet/translite art, or a major feature that has a lot of value (like 2 more flippers and an upper playfield). But normally, I’m stubbornly pro-Pro. I do know that Stern would struggle if everyone was like me, so I’m not out to stop the LE hype train. Just making observations.

If kids see more kids on pins, they’ll play more. Plus I want another Sean Aston pin to go with LOTR and STH (even though he’s hiding in the pops for STH).

On the Pro whenever the ball bounces off a post up there, that’s baby Yoda doin’ it.

Magnets are cool if they introduce some chaos and risk, like IM and AS and MET. This one just seems to choose an inlane for you?

Hey man, this thread is about the NEXT Stern pin. Give me my Jimi Hendrix pin and a few tabs of acid to go with my LE.

See my post above about “a few tabs of acid”

The cool thing about Blade Runner is that they could use the original and BR2049. I’d buy it for Rutger Hauer’s monologue alone. This scene would make an amazing wizard mode. “Time to Die”.

I would also take “Hobo With a Shotgun”.

OMG, no Will Ferrell movies you guys. I’ve seen that guy in his white underpants enough for 10 lifetimes.

“My brother and I used to say that drownin' in beer was like heaven, eh? Now he's not here, and I've got two soakers... this isn't heaven, this sucks.”

Boo, haters. I’d buy a Rush pin even if it was just a reskin of Heavy Metal (which was itself a reskin).

If Stern did “Cicadas: Brood X” they could release a vault edition every 17 years.

Just right. Every few years they release a game I love enough to own, and that’s plenty for me. The other 6 or 7 I’m happy to play on location or in a friend’s home.

Hahahaha, “f’ing magnets, how do they work?”

Pinchamp’s Metallica before he changed it back...
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(confession: I’ve considered loading some Jimi Hendrix into my MET or AS to see how his songs would flip)

Nah, it’s because it’s mostly the 40+ crowd that have the cash flow to buy a NIB game. I know some young guys are crypto millionaires, but most of us were still on a tight budget in our 30s. I was exactly 40 when I bought my first NIB (LOTR), and I thought it would be a one-time thing. I didn’t buy my next NIB game (Metallica) until I was debt-free (house and cars paid off).

I know I’m just dreaming, but I’d love to see a Spike2 version of Dirty Harry. Or any action movie that doesn’t have superheroes. I like a pin with car chases and explosions and helicopters.

Yes! With a “Jake’s Excuses” mode!!

If you’re gonna troll, at least troll in the right direction:

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ELO, like Queen, was a high energy band. That’s why they’d be so great for pinball. But yeah, it would be a very niche audience.

What are the odds that I’ll get my John Borg / Lyman Sheats Rush dream pin in 2022? I’m in on pretty much anything they release together, but Rush would be amazing.

It’s a big misunderstanding, BTTF is “BeTween Two Ferns”.

I just hated losing 50 cents in 20 seconds. And then waiting in line to do it again!

You were able to order early due to past purchases, right? I’m waiting to get notified that I can order one. I put in my order for Q*Bert today.

My solution to the LE problem is simple: pretend they don’t exist. But if one pops up on the market under retail and you like it, go for it. I love my GOTLE ($7200 with the topper!), but I haven’t seen any LE that was so much better than the Premium that I’d feel I was missing out.

Boo, you need to shred your Classic Rock card Jeff. No marbles on ‘96 Rock when we were both growing up. Also send me your 96 Rock license plate, you’re no longer worthy. Typed this with one eye closed

I’ll have to watch that. I’d rank them in the top 3 Southern Rock bands, along with Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Allman Brothers. Some day I’ll make a Southern Rock pin. And I’m a “damned yankee”, moved to GA when I was 10. I think Southern Rock is something special.

EDIT: honorable mentions for Marshall Tucker Band and ZZ Top.

I support this! I think GBLE is a lot of fun. Do whatever you have to to make it less mean.

Actually I love mean pins (TWD for example), but GB seems to push it into “unfair” territory with that huge flipper gap. I have a Congo, and GB seems much wider than that.

It can’t be that bad, I play my friend’s unmodded LE when I’m at his house, and I still love it. It helps to have a lengthy ball save.

[EDIT: just got halfway through episode 7, and now I regret posting this. It was great until the creepy Americans showed up]

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I’ve got a few episodes to go, so maybe I’ll enjoy how they end up. That room with the live models was cool - kind of an homage to Kubrick (Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut). All I know for sure is that the pickpocket girl is really cute.

Would love to have seen “The Who”. My picks for this game if it happens:

Baba O’Riley
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Who Are You
Long Live Rock
The Real Me
Magic Bus
I’m Free
Bargain
Another Tricky Day
Eminence Front
Love, Reign O'er Me (wizard mode)
Boris the Spider (end of game)

My guess is that they’re too hard to deal with, or the license is too expensive. But there’s always hope.

Stern’s sucked most of the marrow out of that Marvel bone. It’d be nice to see more streaming (GOT / TWD / STH), but I know those haven’t been the best licenses.

That’s definitely been true for some older games I’ve picked up. My Embryon had a beautiful playfield under all the grime. Bally’s “TuffCoat” seems to have held up really well.

Themes that started as graphic novels (comics), were released as a movie or streaming, and then became pins:

The Walking Dead
Deadpool

What have I missed, and what could be next? American Gods? Sweet Tooth?

Mando art was beautifully done, and I’m not even a fan of the game or the show. I agree the LE is stunning to look at.