I'm self employed and I would not buy this expensive toy for any reason, and I pity anyone that ventures into the hobby and stumbles across this contraception and then buys it. Most people are intelligent enough to do "some" level of research with an expensive toy like this. I'm sure they would find that they get better value for money if they bought a second hand game, or spent an extra $2000 ish on a real new Stern. I've never heard of anyone who has bought a $3000 - $4000 toy. Usually rich kids want the best - they would be the minority that Stern have marketed for.
In my view, Stern need to drop this embarrassment of a product. Focus their R&D on the POSITIVE market of producing real pinballs.
They have the momentum after the massive success of AC/DC. They now have a competitor with what appears to be a far superior product with teething problems. Strike while the Iron's hot - but they failed and produced a toy. That is so frustrating. Thankfully, the only people that know about "Pin" are collectors, and there is no response as far as they are concerned. There is no collector I know who will buy one.
I'd love 5 minutes with Gary Stern. There's a lot he SHOULD be doing to promote pinball and Stern were in a good place before this junk. I'm aware I'm bashing Stern on this thread, but they deserve it in my view (only for this product).
First thing he needs to do is make the real pinballs affordable for the home market. Just look at the last 2 years. In all my years, I've NEVER seen so many NIB games going to collector's homes. Drop the price, and drop rehashing what's already been done. There's the opportunity.
