Coming Soon - The Munsters!
Back in May of 2018 I had an update post where I talked about adding one or two new games in 2019 to the Barncade. One for sure is going to be the new Elvira Stern is working on. At that time, Munsters was only a rumor, but I stated that if true, the game is an automatic add to the Barncade as Kelly is a HUGE Munsters fan, and it certainly fits with the monster themes we've been adding. We had obtained Creature from the Black Lagoon and Scared Stiff several years ago, but had recently added Dracula and Frankenstein. Our Hobbit is the Smaug Edition, and a dragon should qualify as a big monster, not to mention orcs, goblins, trolls and spiders. White Water is a rafting theme but has Bigfoot, and Ripley's Believe It or Not also has a small Bigfoot element along with a talking shrunken head and a magic idol. Even Fish Tales has a monster fish!
Okay, those last three are a stretch, but you get the idea...Munsters is a great fit for the game room. When I first learned of the release and the details behind the design team, I was pretty excited. John Borg is the designer. He has a prolific design history with over 27 games produced. Some of them are really enjoyable, like Tron, Jurassic Park, and Tales from the Crypt; others I'm not so fond of, like Austin Powers, Harley Davidson, and Avatar. I own one John Borg game, Frankenstein, and I really like it. The art on Munsters is done by Christopher Franchi. I was surprised to learn I already had seen Franchi's artwork prior to pinball, as Kelly had the Moebius models that Franchi had done the artwork for. He is also responsible for the beautiful art on Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman '66, and Beatles pinball machines. Finally, Dwight Sullivan is the programmer for Munsters. Sullivan is as prolific as Borg when it comes to machines worked on; he is responsible for some titles I really enjoy such as Stern Pirates of the Caribbean, Game of Thrones and Terminator 2, but also on some less than enjoyable titles such a Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball, Red and Ted's Roadshow, and Terminator 3.
But as excited as Kelly and I were, it turned out that there was a big problem. This would be my first "new in box" (NIB) purchasing experience, and the first time I'd be buying a modern Stern, which typically has three models to choose from: the Pro (the most inexpensive and the least features), Premium (more expensive with more features available), and the Limited Edition (LE, the most expensive with features for the collector and a limited number produced). So budget-wise, I was planning for a Premium model.
And then I found out the the Premium model was black and white.
I don't have anything against the black and white model, as it is pretty unique and a bold risk for Stern to put it on the Premium. But Kelly and I agreed we wanted color because we just have a preference for it, and the black and white model would look out of place in our game room. We could have bought the Pro edition and saved some money, but we both really wanted features of the lower playfield, and I thought the Pro was too dark in the area where the lower playfield would have been. I had expected the black and white to be the LE, but when it was confirmed that it was on the Premium, Kelly and I decided to get the LE in order to have the color model with the lower playfield.
I called my distributor immediately, but they had sold out of the LEs in minutes.
I checked with a few other places and it was the same story...sold out of LEs. After some discussion, Kelly and I reluctantly agreed that we had to have the lower playfield, so we would choose the Premium over the Pro. Still I hesitated to put my order in for the Premium. I decide to wait, especially since the Premiums aren't limited and are the last model produced.
It was then that my distributor called back and said he had gotten another LE! I put a deposit down right away, thankful that I had waited. A few days later, This Week In Pinball was confirming rumors that The Munsters LEs were being increased in number from 500 to 600. While this ticked off a few people on Pinside who felt that they were being robbed of the exclusivity of the LE and that Stern's word couldn't be trusted, others felt that Stern underestimated demand and the more chances that people got to own an LE, the better. I fall into the latter camp...I believe I got one of extra 100 models (I'll know for sure when I see the serial number), and I'm grateful to Stern for the decision to increase the number made or I probably wouldn't have gotten one. I had to spend more money than initially planned, but as I've said before, you only live once, so why not go for it and do what makes you happy!
Some people are complaining about the rules and the game being too easy. To those people I say good for you, you can brag that you're a good pinball player. I've posted the rule sheet below, taken from Stern's website, and it looks pretty good to me. Dwight Sullivan is a great rules designer - he saved the day on Stern's Star Trek - and I hope he gets a chance to add a few more things and silence the naysayers.
I don't know when the new machine will show up...if it's March, I'm okay with that because we are getting hit with snow storms for the next two weeks and I won't be able to pick it up anyway. So stay tuned for a Munsters update next month!
Okay, those last three are a stretch, but you get the idea...Munsters is a great fit for the game room. When I first learned of the release and the details behind the design team, I was pretty excited. John Borg is the designer. He has a prolific design history with over 27 games produced. Some of them are really enjoyable, like Tron, Jurassic Park, and Tales from the Crypt; others I'm not so fond of, like Austin Powers, Harley Davidson, and Avatar. I own one John Borg game, Frankenstein, and I really like it. The art on Munsters is done by Christopher Franchi. I was surprised to learn I already had seen Franchi's artwork prior to pinball, as Kelly had the Moebius models that Franchi had done the artwork for. He is also responsible for the beautiful art on Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman '66, and Beatles pinball machines. Finally, Dwight Sullivan is the programmer for Munsters. Sullivan is as prolific as Borg when it comes to machines worked on; he is responsible for some titles I really enjoy such as Stern Pirates of the Caribbean, Game of Thrones and Terminator 2, but also on some less than enjoyable titles such a Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball, Red and Ted's Roadshow, and Terminator 3.
But as excited as Kelly and I were, it turned out that there was a big problem. This would be my first "new in box" (NIB) purchasing experience, and the first time I'd be buying a modern Stern, which typically has three models to choose from: the Pro (the most inexpensive and the least features), Premium (more expensive with more features available), and the Limited Edition (LE, the most expensive with features for the collector and a limited number produced). So budget-wise, I was planning for a Premium model.And then I found out the the Premium model was black and white.
I don't have anything against the black and white model, as it is pretty unique and a bold risk for Stern to put it on the Premium. But Kelly and I agreed we wanted color because we just have a preference for it, and the black and white model would look out of place in our game room. We could have bought the Pro edition and saved some money, but we both really wanted features of the lower playfield, and I thought the Pro was too dark in the area where the lower playfield would have been. I had expected the black and white to be the LE, but when it was confirmed that it was on the Premium, Kelly and I decided to get the LE in order to have the color model with the lower playfield.I called my distributor immediately, but they had sold out of the LEs in minutes.
I checked with a few other places and it was the same story...sold out of LEs. After some discussion, Kelly and I reluctantly agreed that we had to have the lower playfield, so we would choose the Premium over the Pro. Still I hesitated to put my order in for the Premium. I decide to wait, especially since the Premiums aren't limited and are the last model produced.
It was then that my distributor called back and said he had gotten another LE! I put a deposit down right away, thankful that I had waited. A few days later, This Week In Pinball was confirming rumors that The Munsters LEs were being increased in number from 500 to 600. While this ticked off a few people on Pinside who felt that they were being robbed of the exclusivity of the LE and that Stern's word couldn't be trusted, others felt that Stern underestimated demand and the more chances that people got to own an LE, the better. I fall into the latter camp...I believe I got one of extra 100 models (I'll know for sure when I see the serial number), and I'm grateful to Stern for the decision to increase the number made or I probably wouldn't have gotten one. I had to spend more money than initially planned, but as I've said before, you only live once, so why not go for it and do what makes you happy!Some people are complaining about the rules and the game being too easy. To those people I say good for you, you can brag that you're a good pinball player. I've posted the rule sheet below, taken from Stern's website, and it looks pretty good to me. Dwight Sullivan is a great rules designer - he saved the day on Stern's Star Trek - and I hope he gets a chance to add a few more things and silence the naysayers.
I don't know when the new machine will show up...if it's March, I'm okay with that because we are getting hit with snow storms for the next two weeks and I won't be able to pick it up anyway. So stay tuned for a Munsters update next month!
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