Stern Pinball

"we now know that Stern will not respect what an LE is. So like, if you buy a new Stern LE, I think, you know, I just be prepared to be disappointed"

Stern Pinball's multiple LE versions are greedy and burn early buyers

"I mean that Godzilla LE does not look that special. The only thing I would be looking at from a collector standpoint is a Ghostbusters LE, a Tron LE, a Batman LE or SLE. Those are the games where there's not that many of them out there. Everything else, they're everywhere and they look exactly like every other game. I mean, look how lazy Stern has got. They don't even change the Translight artwork between the premium and the LE now. That is lazy."

Stern's Limited Editions are no longer special due to lazy design practices

"And this was the greatest Trojan horse marketing move in the history of Pinball. That Stern Pinball has created a legion of crazy people that have FOMO to get a premium unlimited machine."

Stern's Stranger Things rerun was the greatest Trojan horse marketing move in pinball history, creating FOMO for unlimited production machines

"In the last few months, Stern Pinball has absolutely gone after its own secondhand market on two of the hottest titles during COVID. Jurassic Park and Stranger Things."

Stern is systematically targeting their own secondhand market by rereleasing hot COVID-era titles

"I think it was probably one of Stern's greatest moves over the last few years creating a way to connect the community of Stern Pinball owners"

Stern Insider Connected is one of Stern's greatest moves, creating community and achievements system

"I'm so tired of all of these Stern machines looking the same with the overly bright colors. I get it. Why can't they sync up the artwork with the theme?"

Stern Pinball's rainbow bright color schemes don't match game themes

"I was thinking to myself, can you imagine being a Guns N' Roses owner? And you've gone over seven hundred and fifteen days without a code update. And Stern's been updating the code to Foo Fighters since the game came out in March. It's absolutely embarrassing what it's like to own a Jersey Jack machine."

Stern Pinball has superior code support compared to Jersey Jack Pinball

"There are only 80 Batman SLEs out in the world. If you can verify that you're an owner, why wouldn't Stern sell you a replacement decal if you needed it? Now, look, the key thing there is if you need it, you need to show that yours is damaged."

Stern should sell replacement parts for Batman SLE owners who can verify damage

"Look at James Bond Premium and James Bond LE, look at those two games next to each other. They almost look exactly the same. Look at Venom LE next to Venom Premium. They almost look exactly the same."

Current Stern LEs lack differentiation from premiums despite higher prices

"Did Stern Pinball go after the Golden Goose and kill it? Did they look at their buyer base that has kept them afloat with all of these super expensive games?"

Stern is burning the collector market by dramatically increasing prices without adding value

"We could argue about Stern's creativity per cause, but at least Stern Pinball like gets the details right. They have the most professional looking website. They have merchandise. They have the most professional communications. They have everything kind of down to their kind of science. And I won't really fault them for what they're doing because they clearly own like 85 to 90% of the pinball market and they own it for a reason."

Stern Pinball dominates because they execute professional details even if creativity varies

"I just don't see 30 to 40,000 people out there buying these games at these prices."

Stern's massive new factory capacity doesn't match realistic demand at current prices

"Stern doesn't lose anybody that they want to keep alright. Let me repeat that Nobody leaves stern that stern wants to keep and think about it like this leaving stern has never been a good move for anybody"

Nobody leaves Stern that Stern wants to keep

"Stern needs a hit. Everybody knows that Stern needs a hit. They are going to need hit games if they are gonna keep the line moving. Stern is not gonna be able to go back and remake all of these older games at these modern prices. It's not gonna work."

Stern needs hit games to justify current pricing and can't keep remaking older games at modern prices

"The only thing they're changing on that assembly line are the side decals, which are just big stickers that they stick on the game. And then they put different armor on the game, a different translite and a different apron into the game... And all they're doing at most is maybe adding a couple hundred bucks in changes to the game."

Stern has turned premiums into LEs by charging $4000 more for minimal cosmetic changes

"Stern are still the most reliable. They really are. The reason why Stern are so reliable are you sitting down is because there's not much in it. There's really not much to go wrong with the Stern machine."

Stern machines are most reliable because they don't put much in them

"Stern has definitely hit a price ceiling with pinball. They have. The ceiling has been hit. Now a game that comes out that's $13,000, you're not going to sell it out instantly. You might never sell it at that price."

Stern has hit a price ceiling and games won't sell out at current prices

"Is Stern Pinball in real jeopardy of becoming the next Disney entity?... they overpriced everything, they got greedy... why don't we expect Stern Pinball to follow on a similar course"

Stern Pinball is following Disney's path toward oversaturation and overpricing

"Stern does not care about you once you buy the game from them. They don't care about the second hand value of the game. They don't see any of that money. So yes, they just burned 500 people today."

Stern burned 500 LE buyers and doesn't care about secondhand market impact

"The Stern bill of materials is probably less than $5,000 on that machine. I guarantee you it is less than $5,000 on that machine. And now all of a sudden they want to charge you $20,000"

Stern's bill of materials on James Bond 60th is probably less than $5,000 but they charge $20,000

"I'm also very nervous because it's Stern and Stern has been pretty greedy lately and Stern has been cutting corners on putting magical mechs into games"

Stern has been greedy lately and cutting corners on magical mechs in games

"But Stern has shown us over the years, people, they really don't care. They really don't care. They are all about the almighty dollar. The moment they released that James Bond 60th, they showed each and every one of us how much they care about us and our wallets and giving us value."

Stern doesn't care about customers, only money - shown by James Bond 60th release

"There's no way Stern Pinball is gonna turn over its super successful business model and then want to deal with thousands of customers. That's why they use distributors because they don't want to deal with the headaches of a very complex electromechanical device that they sell thousands of around the world."

Stern's distribution model is smart and not going away despite rumors of direct sales

"$8,000 is a distributor's cost for a premium. Now, a premium right now from Stern on its website is $9,799. So just looking at those two numbers, there is a ballpark of $1,800 to be made from a distributor"

A distributor pays $8,000 for a Stern premium that retails for $9,799

"what worries me about stern machines people, when you look at modern Stern, they really don't do a great job of creating an impressive environmental feel to the game"

Stern doesn't innovate enough in environmental design and lighting compared to competitors

"Are you happier they remove the scalpers from the market and Stern turned themselves into the scalpers people? You see what they did? Now they're saying that every single LE that comes out is worth $13,000 on day one. That is total hogwash."

Stern became the ultimate scalpers by raising prices to eliminate scalping

"Stern's ultimate goal is to trojan horse everybody into buying either an LE or a premium because that's where the margins lie. They will happily yank everything out of the pro and just make the pro version of the game what an operator would buy"

Stern is trojan horsing customers into buying premiums/LEs by gutting pro models of all mechanisms

"you know why every single Stern machine has an action button, even if the designer really doesn't want it, they have to design every game with an action button, because Stern is kind of cheap, they ordered every single lockdown bar with an action button hole cut into it"

Stern forces action buttons in every game because they pre-ordered lockdown bars with holes cut

"what happened to COVID, what happened to all the excuses that are rocking everybody else, this company keeps on rocking and rolling"

Stern Pinball continues to deliver despite COVID while other manufacturers make excuses

"We speculate about all these companies and what's around the corner and the only company that really executes well is Stern Pinball."

Only Stern executes well consistently in pinball manufacturing

"Unfortunately Stern has learned because we showed them they don't have to put more into the games and they can charge 30% more."

Stern increased prices 30% without adding proportional value

"I love Pinball a lot. But Pinball is just not a $20,000 experience. It's not even a $10,000 experience. We have now turned these things into baseball cards and that's why the people running Stern Pinball come from the baseball card industry."

Pinball is not worth $20,000+ experience and has become like baseball cards

"If they gave you their word that this was going to be an exclusive item to this machine, to this $20,000 James Bond 60th, that's what they said."

Stern broke exclusivity promise on James Bond accessories

"Stern Pinball getting a license like this is good news from a manufacturing standpoint. It's good news that they have great designers that grew up loving He-Man."

Stern Pinball getting He-Man license is good news from manufacturing standpoint

"almost every single property that you wanna see made into a pinball machine, Stern pinball has first dibs probably at everything. Everyone else is just making the leftovers that Stern doesn't want."

Stern gets first dibs on almost every desirable property

"Remember, when they made Ghostbusters, John Trudeau was not convicted of child pornography. OK, now they know that. I don't think they're going to go within a country mile of ever vaulting this game again, and now that everybody knows who made the game, there's no escaping this people. Do you think Stern wants the headlines that they're going to remake a game that they know was designed by someone convicted of child pornography?"

Stern will never remake Ghostbusters due to John Trudeau's conviction

"I think every single stern premium, now that they are absolutely going to make thousands of them, if you pay 10 grand for a stern premium, congratulations, you're going to lose $2,000 in a year. And I think you're going to lose $3,000 like past a year."

Modern Stern premiums will lose significant value due to high production numbers

"All of a sudden, it doesn't look like there's a lot of parody in the pinball industry. It seems like only one company is running away with it. And guess what? They really are. I mean, that's what's happening on a sales level. Every time I see people's game rooms, I see mostly Stern machines."

Stern Pinball dominates market with A grade - running away with sales

"They sure have made some mediocre games around some of the biggest properties of all time, but I think Stern moving forward with the talent on the field they have, I think they deserve that A grade"

Stern Pinball deserves A grade despite mediocre games on biggest properties

"My biggest fear of Stern pinball is simply this. I think they're going to flood the market with too much product... you're not just going to lose $500 anymore. You're going to be losing two to $3,000 because of the amount of inventory that's going to be in the marketplace."

Stern will flood the market with too many games causing major depreciation

"They basically gaslighted the entire pinball collecting world. They gaslighted the entire pinball community into thinking that a premium machine is worth $10,000."

Stern gaslighted the entire pinball community into thinking premium machines are worth $10,000

"It's like sleeping with a prostitute. Nobody brags about sleeping with a prostitute because you paid for it. And that's what the DLC content is on these stern toppers."

Using topper DLC content to access wizard modes is like sleeping with a prostitute - pathetic because you paid for it

"They have above and beyond and by far the greatest talent in the industry. They have the greatest designers. They've got many of them, not just one designer. They've got the greatest coding team. They've got the greatest artwork in the history of pinball."

Stern Pinball dominates because they have the greatest talent in the industry across all departments

"I would give Stern pinball an A rating. They are an A. They are like a 94% out of 100. They are pretty much doing everything right... I have to give them an A grade because I would have done the same thing if I were them."

Stern deserves an A grade despite pricing issues because they execute everything nearly perfectly

"But pros are for hoes, everybody."

Stern Pros are for hoes - dismissive of entry-level Stern machines

"And Stern has like 90% of the market. They really do. Stern has like 90% of the market. And here's my prediction gang. Stern is gonna put seven of those companies out of business in the next two years. Easily. Stern will put seven of those 14 companies out of business in the next two years."

Stern dominates market and will put 7 companies out of business

"there's probably only at most like $500 more in parts that goes into a freaking LE than a Pro of this machine, $500 at most and we're spending $6500 more... it's just a vanity tax, that's all it is"

Stern LEs provide almost no additional value over Pros despite costing double the price - only $500 more in actual parts

"If you think a stern premium and a stern elite are worth what we're paying, these games are probably only costing stern $4,000 to $5,000 in material and labor costs to make each game."

Stern games cost only $4000-5000 to make but sell for much more

"I mean, we keep sending a message to Stern Pinball. If you think we're suckers, you ain't seen anything yet, Stern."

Stern Pinball customers are suckers for buying $1,000 Godzilla toppers

"I think it's kind of scary now that Stern pinball has Keith Elwin and Jack Danger making pinball machines. They also have George Gomez and Brian Eddy and John Borg. How can anybody really compete with that lineup?"

Stern Pinball's talent roster makes them unbeatable