Stern Pinball

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"for a thousand dollars, people, this flat plastic junk, it's total garbage what they're charging for this stuff"

Stern's Godzilla topper is overpriced garbage that doesn't match the quality of the game

"These companies should be putting more in these games for this much money. Everybody knows it."

Stern charges premium prices while leaving games empty, relying on mod community

"I think Stern would do a better job with it now."

Stern Pinball would do a better job with Harry Potter than Jersey Jack

"I don't think these companies, especially Stern, and I'm talking directly mostly to Stern, I don't think they're trying to get as many of the assets as they can"

Direct criticism of Stern for not pursuing better assets

"Nobody's wondering if Stern Pinball is making games. They do nothing but make games. They always make games. There could be a world war going on and Stern Pinball would get out there four to six hundred games a week like nothing stops Stern's production line."

Stern Pinball represents the gold standard for consistent production

"If you want to buy Pulp Fiction LE in the United States of America, it is basically $9,500... If you want to buy the same game in Australia, that game is $19,500. And that is because the one distributor, which is the only place you can get it, is setting the price at that."

Stern Pinball's international distribution monopoly creates unfair pricing

"Jack Danger walks into Stern Pinball with some design ideas. He walks over and there's Keith Elwin. There's George Gomez. There's Brian Eddy. Hey guys, what do you think of this? He's got the most talented people in the history of Pinball by his side to make sure the game's amazing."

Stern's design team advantage over boutique manufacturers

"It's such an indicator of how powerful Stern is. It's the ultimate flex in all of pinball. Think about it. You were going to let you take our designer to help you sell your game and we won't even care about it because he has sold us so many food fighter machines."

Jack Danger helping competitors is Stern's ultimate power flex

"I mean, the number one pinball company in the world has shown everybody how to do it, how to be successful at manufacturing pinball. It's right there"

Stern Pinball does marketing and manufacturing correctly

"I predict Stern LEs are gonna be $15,000 within two years, absolutely, probably a year from now"

Stern LEs will be $15,000 within two years

"The pro will always have the best gameplay because it won't have upper playfields to slow down the gameplay. It won't have mechanisms to slow down the gameplay."

Stern Pro machines have the best gameplay because they lack mechanisms that slow things down

"Stern Pinball could vault one of 10 different themes and make so much money in a single move and nobody else in the Pinball world could do this, right? Could spooky Pinball vault something out? Probably just Rick and Morty... Could Jersey Jack vault something that people really want? Probably just Pirates of the Caribbean"

Only Stern can successfully vault games, other manufacturers lack desirable titles

"when they move into their larger factory and Stern is able to make 1,000 games a week, I mean just think about it. They could sell a thousand brand new LE's at 13k and you'll be happy because you'll have the game within like a month or two of ordering the machine"

Stern's manufacturing speed advantage will dominate when they move to larger factory

"It's ultimately why when all the dust settles, stern pinball clobbers everybody because they're the only company that keeps the line going constantly."

Stern Pinball dominates because they keep production lines moving constantly

"The only company that can get it wrong is Stern Pinball because then they'll have a new game in three months or they could just vault an old game and they'll be absolutely fine"

Stern Pinball is the only company that can afford to get it wrong

"Shame on you, Stern Pinball, for not wanting to bring a pinball machine to a show for people to play."

Criticizes Stern for stopping distributors from bringing James Bond 60th to shows