What determines production numbers..?

[Pop Bumper Pete]

For those who are wondering what I am on about with playfield numbers
On your Stern machine, underneath the playfield, near the left flipper, there is a sticker with the name of the game and a number on it
I do not know if they are added by Stern, or the company who makes the playfields for them

[Pop Bumper Pete]

If you want some more about production numbers, this site tried to find the highest production number for a range of Stern machines
http://www.pinbald.com/51601.html

You also have the pinball serial number database
http://www.ipsnd.net/

[Retropin]

For those who are wondering what I am on about with playfield numbers
On your Stern machine, underneath the playfield, near the left flipper, there is a sticker with the name of the game and a number on it
I do not know if they are added by Stern, or the company who makes the playfields for them

Ok... but whos to say that they install the playfields in numerical order? Could well have 6000 playfields made.. they certainly wouldnt order more PF's once the last lot ran out... they would have an overlap of orders. Your PF may well have been on the 2nd last run, but the PF may have been from the run before that etc.
Pinball numbers have always been shrouded in smoke and mirrors... pretty sure thats why on IPDB when stating production run they put "Confirmed" next to it IF it has been confirmed

[Pop Bumper Pete]

For those who are wondering what I am on about with playfield numbers
On your Stern machine, underneath the playfield, near the left flipper, there is a sticker with the name of the game and a number on it
I do not know if they are added by Stern, or the company who makes the playfields for them

Ok... but whos to say that they install the playfields in numerical order? Could well have 6000 playfields made.. they certainly wouldnt order more PF's once the last lot ran out... they would have an overlap of orders. Your PF may well have been on the 2nd last run, but the PF may have been from the run before that etc.
Pinball numbers have always been shrouded in smoke and mirrors... pretty sure thats why on IPDB when stating production run they put "Confirmed" next to it IF it has been confirmed

Respectfully, I doubt it

I have noticed that Stern does ‘Runs’ of games
How many times did they re-run Simpsons, Batman, Spiderman?

I doubt they would order 2000 playfields, and have that money sitting in a warehouse
They would order 500 of one type, and 500 of an earlier title that is being re-run

[swinks]

My Iron man pf is 372

[Cow Corner]

Mine is 502
According to this sitekimballspinballs.com there were 1,150 made( unconfirmed), I thought there would have been more made than this but I would be very happy if the figure is true.
There are some very nice mods for Ironman, Tron and TZ there as well.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

CC, you have to remember the rest of the world is in a resesion
NIB pinball machinez are a luxury

[Cow Corner]

CC, you have to remember the rest of the world is in a resesion
NIB pinball machinez are a luxury

Fair call, it's a luxury for me too...I trimmed down from 4 pins to one and thought pretty hard about what that one would be. I would not have bought it if the price wasn't so good because of my limited knowlege and playtime with this machine but I took a punt...... and I am sure glad I did.

[Caveoftreasures]

I am going to plan a trip to the STERN factory later this year and maybe go with another few AP members who have also expressed interest.

I am going to politely ask Gary Stern for a ballpark number of machines made etc for a few different titles. All he can do is tell me to jump or he may just politely give me a ballpark idea. I was also going to ask some other common questions about the production line and some general interesting info about cabinets/re-runs and LE model numbers n pinball title planning etc.