Milwaukee, WI
If there is a buyer out there who truly values it at or more than 12K and has the means to purchase it, it will sell at 12K to that person.
If there isn't, it won't.
Pricing is elastic, and challenging to do for a product creator. Stern and JJP figured out that certain people are willing to pay much much more for pinball than previous buyers expected, and are more than willing to oblige to your large pocketbook.
And if a distributor is being strange in how they distribute - that sucks, but that's the way they want to do business. If you are unwilling to do business with them, that sends a signal.
Part of the key to lowering prices is being *unwilling* to pay. That will eventually lower prices. Don't simply complain - don't pay. When we complain - we get things like The Pin.
