I would be tempted even with the "old technology" simply due to the theme and possible lighting greatness, and I couldn't care less about the run size of the LE, but in my mind the price is just WAY out of whack for what's on the playfield.

I mean, I purchased BSM brand new for $4350. Is Star Trek LE at $8800, with an almost identical layout, literally giving me TWICE the game?

Sure the Premium is less... but while I'm okay with the cabinet artwork, I'm not as fond of the backglass, or the red trim, and especially the DMD frame.

Thinking about it, maybe at some point if I get bored I'll be able to do an even swap... my BSM for a STLE...

Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed in you KwiKimart! Let's give this new game a chance.

To many others on this thread: I called the whambulance. I mean seriously, a 4% price increase and it's game over? No LCD display and you're ready to quit? Not limited enough?

I have yet to regret a single Stern Pro that I've bought. I feel a little sad for you all tonight. Well, and for myself because I have insomnia.

"Buffalo Turds" are simply THE favorite thing for everybody that gets them off of my BGE. I agree, get the BGE and still try to get the pin! Yummy!

Double post

makes woz more attractive.

Unless you guys are on board for an LE, I would wait until the dust settles. Why order a premium now or a pro when they are going to do many production runs in years to come. It reminds me of AC/DC where Stern keeps pumping them out of the factory and the number produced makes the price points start to decrease because of supply and demand. If I were going to get a premium or a pro I would not order now. I would wait and play it, wait till the dust settles, then pick one up for a discount from someone who pre-ordered and did not care for it. Premiums and pros will always be available so what's the rush-chill out and wait it out. LE is the only version that will sell out and become an instant collectable classic. My.02

4%? Price I got on an STLE was exactly $1000 more than my MetLE form the same distributor. That's the reason I put the brakes on. And that distributor is still the cheapest of the 3 quotes I got.

If ya wanna nickel and dime me a hundred here or there fine...a grand its just to much

This. And I'm a touch leery about the status of Stern code on recent pins.

I'd love an LE (who wouldn't), but for this price, I really HAVE to wait and see.

Now that it's Friday, and we're two days out from the announcement, it's getting easier for me to resist the impulse and go with my brain over my heart.

No LE for me because I HAVE to wait and see. Premium if the gameplay, features, and complete code are there and on the second or third run (if they ever arise). Unless the competition offers something better for the money.

Whew. Glad the impulse-buy phase of this new pin has come and gone (though I still have to withstand the laser reveal...)!

I juat bought a nice Roadshow. It looks like a much better game than Star Trek. Poor Steve. The man designs real pinballs and is forced to put shit games out for Stern. Maybe he should move to Jack

I assume you're just using dissimilar examples... but Road Show is a Lawlor. And yeah, it's one of my favorites!

imo, it's the "only to turn around in a few years to sell it at a profit"/"hold their value" parts that may be the real reasons why many aren't jumping on board...

i *think* (not *know*) that the many "for sale" threads with pins that used to sell immediately, yet aren't selling now despite repeated price drops (complete with commentary, some of it obviously a bit concerned, i.e. "i can't believe this isn't selling for that cheap a price"), is causing more than a few people to look in the mirror and get a bit dry in the throat...

- the "speculator money" is likely concerned that the opportunity to "hold and flip" for a decent profit is declining...

- the "player money" can no longer easily justify the price premium by telling themselves "i can easily sell this for what i paid for it whenever i want"...

ymmv, one man's opinion, etc.

Holy crap, that's crazy. The Pro only went up a few hundred.

You are funny. Yea, RS is very unlike ST and just about every other game stern has put out in the last few years because it isn't a generic fan layout with a few different features. I like Steve but I don't think this is his work. I think he was allowed to create along the guidelines he was given. Oh, This RS makes my 5th Lawlor game so I think I might be partial to his games.

Price and quantity wasn't so much a factor for me, as my purchasing history. I pre-ordered T/F LE, X-Men LE, and Avengers LE, so though it took three big price drops in a row to learn my lesson, I've now embraced "play before pay" and a pin cool down period so that I don't buy on emotion. I'm liking that 799 LE units are being produced though, because it should be somewhat available in the future to those of us who sit on the fence and wait a bit. I seriously doubt it will cost more 6-12 months from now than it does pre-order. And if it does, there's always the premium. On another note, I wonder what this game will do for the pricing and availability of STTNG over the coming year?

I agree,why hurry? The code won't be done for months. Has everyone forgotten the X-Men mess?

I love RS's unique use of cross-playfield shots. It's got a busy playfield with great toys, tons of lights for the time period, a lot of modes with an unusual linear progression style, and it even proves that two heads really are better than one!

I really want to like ST besause of the theme... but I have a very small collection, and the layout is just WAAAAAY too similar to Spider-man for me to possibly have both. SM is already a proven winner, so I can't risk selling it for this until ST is proven just as good... and we probably won't know that for a year or two.

Sigh...

There... are... four... lights!!!

I'm just the opposite... Increase the price and decrease the numbers. I mean if your going to pay this heavy a price you want something special and limited. They might as well do away with the LE and just do three different unlimited models. Once you start getting over 500 there is no LE anymore IMO...

what difference does it make? They all end up back here anyway. Just be a new era of containers.

The price point and number made also kills it for me. Just doesn't seem very limited at 800 units. The other big killer for me is I already have a spiderman and this machine has almost the exact same layout.

799 isn't an LE to me and the look of the cabinet is hideous IMO. I dropped out yesterday after giving it a full 24 hours to mull over the details. At 8k I'd rather get a classic instead of yet another Stern game. It looks fun and I like the fast looking layout but ill save my $ and if I have to get one ill spring for a premium. 750 is a lot of " limited editions " I also absolutely hate the speaker grill. For those getting it congrats I'm sure it will be fun.

I dropped out just because of price .

my finger was on the trigger for a Star Trek and Stern lost me on the price increase and the similarity to SM. With such a small collection I can't really have similar games.

Exactly, I have SM and STTNG. Why would I need the Stern ST. I also have MM and CC which are fan layout games. But, as I said before, I have never bought a new game anyway other than WoZ. I might get that in a year or 2

Typical Stern. 20 year old tech with the same playfield, now for $8500. Considering Avatar LE's were around $4500 not long ago, they can keep them.
The reason Stern is asking SO much money, is because people have been willing to pay it. If everyone drops out of this insanity, prices will go back to normal.

How could you say this with any level of confidence with no one playing the new game yet? We haven't even seen gameplay video. We know it has color changing LED lighting tied to software...that's useful and an improvement.

But arn't they only 3 color LEDs versus the million color ones used on WOZ?

I agree, and this post can apply to any new Stern Release that has the three versions to choose from.

So why 799 units????

From the boardroom -

Investors ' Well you sold 400 TRON LE and they are selling for $10000 now and Metallica LE sold out on day one. Any suggestions?

Stern. 'Let's do double the TRON LE run and raise the price'.

Investors. 'Too obvious to do 800 as people will notice we are doing twice the TRON LE run'.

Stern. 'I know, let's do 799, that will fox them'.

Investors. 'Brilliant. No one will work that one out'

Why 799?

I thought they were doing 750. Why not make it 800?

Is there some Trekkie 799 number I am missing?

No, they can change to any color. Prob not as high tech as WOZ, but just cuz WOZ LEDs can change to millions of colors doesn't mean they will actually be programmed to do so or that your eye would tell the difference between 10,000 variations of red. AC/DC and Metallica already have some inserts with the RGB color changing LEDs. Now, while on AC/DC for example, they maybe only use ~10 colors, if you go into the test menus you can monkey with them to see their range. Since the Prem/LE is using these RGB LEDs for all inserts, it's possible that we'll see an impressive full color spectrum light show like WOZ. It all comes down to the code and how it's used.

I want an LE, but have decided to take a chill pill. I'm betting at 800 units they will be plentiful and can make my decision like a rational human being .

Waiting for more video, possibly to play it first.

I fail to see why the exclusiveness of a LE matters.

You fail to see why exclusiveness matters on a "Limited Edition" ???

every game is limited edition. Once they stop making them, that's it. Limited is a relative term. The ones that buy to play, don't give a crap. The ones that are trying to use pinball as an investment, are shaking in their boots, when the LE drops in price. As all new games should.

It is indicated in the features list that GI will also be using RGB LEDs. I'm still trying to figure out if this is accurate and/or what it means.

I think you do, but I'll play along: supply and demand. The bigger the supply, the more likely that prices will go down. People don't want to lose a lot of money on the pin if they decide to sell it.

The GI will be individual color LEDs in sockets in programable zones, like Xmen, Avengers, ACDC, and Met Prem/LEs. The inserts will be able to change to pretty much any color like the color changeable inserts in AC/DC & Met Prem/LEs.

What I'm thinking is, Stern wants to have a large number of LEs because this will be the last time they use a NON-LCD screen. The next pin after this will surely have an LCD. So the big number in STLEs is attributing to the farewell to the Dot Matrix. Kinda like the Cactus Canyon to Pinball 2000 transition but without all the sudden cut-off drama to make things a smoother transition and profitable one for Stern...plus stern might be trying to get rid of all the left over parts.
I think SR believes more in dot matrix pins then LCD pins and because of this there is a larger push in numbers of LEs. I could be wrong though, just a thought

So simple and obvious.

Seems a little inaccurate to call those RGB though.

Or the Ford LTD. "LTD." Limited. It's a "limited" edition...what did they make, fifty million of those? "Yes, it's 'limited' to the number we can sell."

it's not really a collector's item, it's just another reason for stern to make more money.

they know collectors will buy it, so they slap a few color trims on, put the shaker back in (already there a few years ago for a lot less) and pump the price up like they just gave us more but in reality all that stuff used to be standard not too long ago... in a galaxy far far away... oops sorry wrong pin!

"Don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you." I'd encourage anyone who won't buy a thing because too many other people can get one, to drop whatever hobby they're dabbling in and find something they actually enjoy on its own merits.

Buy the damn game if you think it looks cool and is fun. Not because you are in some ego boosting elite club of limited editioners.

And if you are doing it just to try and flip it for more money in a few months to a year. (*&(*$&(*%)(*

Ok but unlike cars Stern is making the LEs for the collector. The premiums are for the player that wants the features but not interested in the numbered editions and of course the pros.
The LEs in this case are being designed sold and collected.....wait for it....by collectors!
It may not be everyone but to argue that's the wrong reason or to say it aint you is silly as it is clearly a market.

By the way it aint me either but I get where those folks come from and why they want it preserved. I stopped caring once Stern was fair about features and gave us the premium.

I would be more upset about pricing if the Premium didn't exist. But it does, so let the LEs go to those who want them.

Ah....cool!

It was a difficult decision, but I just pulled out for reasons mentioned in the post title. The game looks VERY promising to me, and I would've stayed in if they hadn't either hiked the price or made so many. Talk about a double-whammy. Hopefully I can grab one for a little less down the road. If not, there's always the Premium! I'm now looking forward to actually playing the game first, or at least seeing a gameplay video, before breaking the bank.

Agreed. I hope I love it when I play it and can find a way to afford it if I do.

Here is the price we are paying at todays rate for STLE. in NZ $ 10993.05us

Who in the U.S.A would pay this price?

My MOPLE was $ 9038.73 us

A little more than 4%

I'm on with 800 if many are going overseas.