100%

Yeah, good point, no one mentioned that yet.

WHy?

If they made a "bitcoin" themed pinball machines, hard to believe any crypto bros would buy one if it didn't include some bitcoin.

From your distro, or... ?

I don't know. FOTE has such an awful art package and clunky layout. It doesn't hold a candle to the 2017 SW. I think if the game wasn't so bad and ugly it would've been a smash hit not because of the oversaturation of the theme.

If you don't know why, I can't help you.

Agree!!!!

While I agree that Stern LEs right now are probably the worst value proposition in pinball, try telling them that when they might have sold out before the machine was even revealed and if not will likely sell out shortly after.

See you posting across threads just to say the same thing. Taking the LE is already sold out argument, would love to know why this is the case because everything I’ve heard otherwise makes it follow the same Stern LE pattern.

Just what I heard, wanted the people to know. Not everyone looks at every thread

This theme is not for me, but anyone who underestimated the demand is just not paying attention to the worldwide demand for Pokemon products. People pay outrageous prices for cards that are not even that rare, it's wild. And all the talk about pinball scalpers, you should look into the Pokemon scalper's world.

Heard a rumor that this will have the Pinsave feature? Kind of makes sense if you want to 'catch em all', but anyone else heard that?

Keyboard warriors... They ask for autographs at shows, but forget to criticize Stern to there faces. If a new game is not for you, feel free to go experience the previous 90 years of pinball. There's a pin for every buyer.

I would assume they use the level up (XP) set up Brian did in Venom and D&D on this. Its simple to implement and makes a lot of sense on this title.

Yes after seeing what they did with badges and IC with D&D, they should be able to do this in a cool way. With badges, achievements, in game items, it could turn into quite a collect-athon like Rare used to do.

Stern’s Metallica Remastered LE seems to be going for higher than the MSRP according to the numbers reported on this site.

I cannot imagine what the Pokemon LEs will be going for when flippers start flipping. There were always a few distros in Florida putting ads up for the latest LEs. Not this time. The one time demand will be such that a 1000 would be a good number, Stern decides it's a good time to reduce the number.

Despite everyones hate for video modes, throwing the poke ball with a video mode makes all the sense here.

Since this is a "hype" thread, here goes...

This is the first game EVER in which multiple of my non-pinball friends (even those that have never played a pinball machine) have picked my brain for details and asked how they go about getting one.

I was also in a pinball showroom for a company that I manage the website for, and they got a call from a customer looking to pre-order Pokemon - this happened over a month ago back when it was still just a barely confirmed rumor!

I flew down from Tokyo to Nagasaki and then we had to catch a bus (on a very winding road) to Sasebo for a business meeting with a developer. I was also wondering what I was doing on that bus ride, and the return. There wasn't even a bus station in Sasebo, just a pole for the bus stop sign and you waited by the side of the road.

Yes! I have non-pinball friends that somehow stumbled across the Pokemon teaser trailer last week and reached out to me to learn more! One of them even asked me about how to buy a pinball machine for their home because this would be their first one!

This title will absolutely sell well, and for some it will be the launching point for their entry into the hobby! It doesn’t get more HYPE than this!

if only Stern didn't have to make money to survive.

Tell that to the Scooby LE owners.

“Brick house” feels appropriate given the theme but I’m not sure it’s fair to blame the layout for a few bricked shots.
Sometimes it’s not the machine… it’s the operator standing in front of it.

I’ve seen plenty of players dial it in after a few games including myself. Once you get the feeds and understand the intended shot paths, it opens up a lot more than it first appears. Not every game needs to be a wide-open flow monster some reward precision over spray-and-pray.

Neil.

man step away from the keyboard. A bloodbath?

You mean like cabinet gate? Man I'm still hosing the blood off me form that - NOT. LOL

Number of cabinets failed since cabinet gate: 0

Neil.

every Stern LE I've bought has brought me more value than its monetary cost.

exactly

after having over 20+ machines, my sweet spot is 4 on location, 3 at home, 1 being restored
the location I have has the same coin drop month after month regardless of 4 machines or 12 machines

if it don't make dollars
it dont make sense

don't expect anything other than stock Pokémon art. This is an IP protected like no other.

And what happened when you told them the cost associated with buying one?

I don't always agree with your takes, but I'm fully with you here. Money isn't everything.

so I hope this title sells well. The theme is not for me so I've not got one on order - if at INDISC/TPF the game is a banger I might get one but this is a Rush/Munsters/GOTG for me. I find it amusing that people are expecting Stern to ships a load of these. Yes the LE should easily sell out in the US if they haven't done so already. But the notion that there are thousands of BIG TIME Pokemon collectors out there that are going to buy this game big seems super far fetched to me. the number of Pokemon cards that have sold for $7000 or is likely less than 2000 tops. Lets say 25% of that buy the game that would be an amazing outcome and maybe a couple of thousand goto play it at their nearest location, I know Stern have been making them for ages and they should be in locations quickly.

But as for moving the dial on pinball, nope. No single game is ever going to do that. The stark reality is Stern, and any other pinball manufacturer, don't have a route to market for these types of themes. I sold 4 James Bond 60th's for way more than the retail price to Bond collectors because I know a few of them. Stern with the right channel could easily have sold the lot for more than retail.

Waiting for the "waddabout" Harry Potter - yep - the manufacturing velocity shot that before it was even a twinkle in JJP's eyes!

You'd think that Stern would at least include their generic "Stern Pinball" topper to try to sweeten the deal. I thought that was the point of them.... to have something to add value to LEs, but also have a cheap universal option available to buy separately.

I'm surprised LEs even come with shaker motors at this point.

Only been 76 days. Give it time.

Same here. They are in it for the card collecting mostly. They don't love Pokemon, they dont play the game. There are probably a few hard core Pokemon culture collectors out there that will buy a machine, but the card collector people in general won't. These games will do great on location, but they wont sell thousands to the Pokemon collector.

At least that resulted in the Pros getting the 3D sculpts, too, instead of flat plastics.

Who's that Pokemon!?

I'm pretty sure it's... Vaporeon!

Are you all in on this one?

Oh I saw you said you would pass…Interesting. Right now I’m all in on an LE.

Did somebody say Farfetch'd?!

Far (resized).png

Why would I tell Scooby owners that Stern is going to keep making LEs at their current margins as long as people keep buying them?

What percentage of Code will this pin have? So many other sterns are still incomplete. I am getting a pro for location and I hope it has a decent amount to do out of the box.

Well my friend who expressed interest in buying Pokemon as his first machine is an eye surgeon, so he didn’t balk at the price tag. In fact, he wanted to know where he might find an LE.

Neil's here hell ya! Queue up everyone! Light a torch. Put a shrimp on the barbie! Err wrong continent

You're missing out on Munsters, but so are many others.

Thanks Cary Hardy. Sounds pretty cool to me.

"DISCOVER, CATCH, TRAIN, and BATTLE in this Pokémon world under glass
Travel around the playfield world as a Pokémon Trainer and DISCOVER Pokémon in their different habitats
Shoot the Poke Ball lock to CATCH Pokémon
Pokémon themed playfield including the Bulbasaur outer loop, the Squirtle ramp with whirlpool action, the Pikachu ramp with ball lock and animatronic Pikachu that reacts to playfield events and the Charmander outer loop with fire energy spinner.
Become a Pokémon master by competing with RIVAL Trainers and battling Team Rocket
TRAIN Pokémon to get them ready for RIVAL battles
Win your RIVAL battles to compete at the Pokemon arena
Battle the ball interactive Meowth Balloon bash toy to protect your Pokémon when it descends to the playfield arena."

lol sounds about right depending on where in Sasebo you went. It’s a lovely town, but most certain a small rural area. I wouldn’t mind going back to Japan if the Navy said we needed to.

The Pokemon Company probably pushed for something that is fairly complete. They don’t mess around with their releases.

That whole area was beautiful, and the weird out-of-the-blue Dutch Theme Park with a giant hotel in the middle of nowhere that was one of the bus stops was an "only in Japan" surprise.

I do find it funny that this is even a question within pinball. We've gotten so conditioned to Stern releasing games and selling them for $10,000+ with incomplete code that we have to question what percentage of code will be finished at release for these games. All of these games should have code that is 95% completed straight out of the box.

I wanted to post this after watching Serge and The Bat Cast Vlog. They couldn't figure out the Eevee->Flareon on the playfield and why there wasn't a vaporeon / Jolteon on the playfield. It's because (I believe) this will be based on the animated series for each pokemon. e.g. Squirtle episode is the squirtle squad, Bulbasuar is in the woods and Ash builds a relationship, Charmander is saved by ash from its abusive trainer.

Eevee is an episode where a little brother cant figure out what stone he should pick to evolve Eevee to. He has three older brothers that try to influence him but ultimately goes with Flareon.

I am pretty sure that is why the right orbit shot has a Flareon on it.

Rather this model than the boutiques who take a year or two to get you your game