That what Gary Stern, owner of Stern, Inc., told a reporter from the Chicago Tribune back in December of 1999, the year pinball almost died.
I remember that time period clearly. My buddy was starting to get back into pinball. He picked up a Getaway from someone and then I bought a Gottlieb WipeOut for a weekend ski house we bought up in North Conway, NH. Then I helped him pick up a Williams Addams Family pinball from a local used pinball shop in Waltham, MA. and he went back a few weeks later and picked up a Twilight Zone.
At this point in time pinball manufactures had been leaving the industry as operators and arcade orders slowed. As a result, there were a lot of used machines to sell off to the public as arcades went out of business.
The Stern name was never a big player in the world of pinball. Gottlieb ruled the EM era of the 60s and 70s. The 80s and 90s were dominated by names like Williams and Bally as well as Data East, Sega, Gottlieb/Premier.
But when Williams, once king of pinball with record titles such as Addams Family and Twilight Zone just a few years earlier decided to exit the pinball market, Stern was left with 100% of the market.
Today in 2020, Stern controls about 85% of the market but it’s an expanded market place compared to 1999 and Stern says the market is grown about 25% each year. Today’s Stern Pinball calls themselves a lifestyle company and organizes tournaments as well as manufacture three or four new games each year for a market increasingly dominated by home collectors and tournament players.
“As recently as 1975, there were four Chicago-based pinball manufacturers supplying an eager world market with up to 500 units units a day. “
Pinball games took a big hit from the PacMan and Astoroid arcade games in the 1980s and then all arcades took a big hit from the home video game consoles in the early 90s.
Pinball had a resurgence in the mid-90s when a string of games took pinball into a new experience with advanced sounds, lightshows and amazing mechanics. Games like Funhouse, Addams Family, Medevil Madness and the Twilight Zone broke record sales.
But publicly traded “amusement companies” manufacturing a variety of equipment such as slot machines, face pressure from investors to divest in less profitable areas.
Before calling it quiets “WMS, or Williams as it has been known for decades, was the largest maker of the games at the time of the announcement, with approximately a 70 percent share of the market. The last unit, called “Star Wars: The Final Episode,” rolled off the assembly line of its Waukegan plant in mid-November 1999.
It was Williams’s attempt at competing with arcade games but like most hybrid products, such a Frankenstein product typically fails to please either the pinball or the arcade game fan.
They gambled on a new technology the operators simply didn’t want to buy so Williams ditched pinball and concentrated on their casino equipment products.
So only Stern Pinball remained in the market, a new company but not a new name as Gary Stern’s father, Sam Stern, once was president of Williams before moving to Bally and, after that, purchasing the assets of Chicago Coin.
Later they were absorbed into Data East Pinball in 1986, which itself became Sega Pinball part of the Japanese-owned conglomerate, in 1994.
Sega only stayed in pinball before selling off the pinball division October, 1990 to non-other than Gary Stern and thus the name Stern Pinball return to the market. A few months later Stern found itself as number one and the only one in the business.
Back in 1990 Gary laid out his strategy going forward and it seems to have been consistent:
- Keep designers and programmers busy with “three or four” new models each year.
- Licensing will continue to play a large role, as the company will lean heavily on popular icons as game themes.
Stern Pinball Games since 1999
- Harley Davidson (1999; 2nd revision 2002; 3rd edition 2004 slightly updated of the Sega game)
- Striker Xtreme (2000)
- Sharkey’s Shootout (2000)
- High Roller Casino (2001)
- Austin Powers (pinball) (2001, designed by John Borg and based on the Austin Powers film series)
- Monopoly (2001) produced by Pat Lawlor Design (PLD), based on the game Monopoly and rumoured[citation needed] to originally be planned for the Pinball 2000 platform)
- NFL (2001) (basically a modification of Striker Xtreme)
- Playboy (2002, originally planned for the Pinball 2000 platform,[citation needed] prototype exists)
- RollerCoaster Tycoon (2002) produced by PLD)
- The Simpsons Pinball Party (2003)
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (pinball) (2003) produced by Steve Ritchie Productions [SRP])
- The Lord of the Rings (2003)
- Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (2004, produced by PLD, based on the series Ripley’s Believe It or Not!)
- Elvis (2004) produced by Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP), also 500 Gold/LE models exist
- The Sopranos (2005, based on the series The Sopranos)
- NASCAR (Grand Prix in Europe) (2005; produced by PLD)
- World Poker Tour (2006) produced by SRP
- Pirates of the Caribbean (2006) (based on the movie Pirates of the Caribbean)
- Dale Jr (600-unit limited edition,[citation needed] based on the NASCAR game with new Dale Earnhardt, Jr, #8 art package)
- Family Guy (pinball) (2007; produced by PLD)
- Spider-Man (2007; produced by SRP, based on the Spider-Man films)
- Black Suited Spider-Man (Limited edition version of Spider-Man game with new art package, mirrored backglass, webbed chrome side armor and shaker motor)
- Wheel of Fortune (2007) (based on the TV show Wheel of Fortune)
- Shrek (2008) (based on all three movies; produced by PLD; modified version of Family Guy)[citation needed]
- Indiana Jones (2008) (based on all four movies)
- Batman (2008) (based on the films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight)[7]
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008; produced by PLD, based on the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)[8]
- 24 (2009; produced by SRP, based on the TV show 24)[9]
- NBA (2009) Lonnie Ropp, Gary Stern (designers) Based on the older Sega pinball Space Jam
- The Lord of the Rings Limited Edition (Dec. 2009) gold mirrored backglass, shaker motor, gold package.
- Big Buck Hunter (2010) John Borg (designer)
- Iron Man (pinball) (2010) John Borg (designer) Based on the film Iron Man[10]
- Iron Man Classic (2010) (home edition)
- AVATAR (2010) John Borg (designer), Based on James Cameron’s AVATAR [11]
- AVATAR Limited Edition (250 units) James Cameron’s (2010) shaker motor, Chrome trim, white powerball, additional code, moving AMP suit feet, motorized transporter pod lid, and additional figures added.[12]
- Rolling Stones (2011) Rolling Stones theme[13]
- Rolling Stones Limited Edition (350 units) Includes a real screened backglass, white powerball, shaker motor, 2 under playfield magnets, up-post and 2 outer post ball savers activated by 2 additional flipper buttons.
- TRON (2011) John Borg (designer), Based on Tron: Legacy [14]
- TRON Limited Edition (400 units) Chrome trim, Color changing fiber optic light tubes that run on both ramps, additional code, moving recognizer toy, and 4-bank drop targets instead of stand ups.[15]
- Transformers 2011 George Gomez (designer)[16][17]
- Transformers Limited Edition (500 units combo edition) Includes a shaker motor and additional features, added Megatron drop target and firing cannon, upper Ironhide mini playfield, moving Starscream moving platform as well as powder coated crimson and violet trim and legs.
- Transformers Limited Edition (125 units Decepticon version) All the same features as the combo except an exclusive art translite and all violet trim.
- Transformers Limited Edition (125 units Autobots version) All the same features as the combo except an exclusive art translite and all crimson trim.
- AC/DC (2012) Steve Ritchie (designer)[18]
- AC/DC Premium A full featured design geared toward the enthusiast with all the features that the designer intended[18]
- AC/DC Limited Edition Back In Black (300 units) Same features as the Premium but with added shaker motor, a larger 12″ subwoofer, as well as a distinctive cabinet art package with black/chrome trim and legs, and exclusive real screened backglass.
- AC/DC Limited Edition Let There Be Rock (200 units) Same features as the premium but with added shaker motor, an exclusive real screened backglass art, a larger 12″ subwoofer and red/yellow trim and legs.
- X-Men (2012) John Borg (designer)[19]
- X-Men Limited Edition Wolverine (300 units) Same features as the Pro with these additional features, real screened dedicated backglass, 2 added pop up targets, moving iceman ramp, added spinning disc/magnet. Blue powdercoated trim.
- X-Men Limited Edition Magneto (250 units) Same features as the Pro with these additional features, real screened dedicated backglass, 2 added pop up targets, moving iceman ramp, added spinning disc/magnet. Red powdercoated trim.
- Avengers (2012) (designed by George Gomez)
- Avengers Blue LE (250 units)
- Avengers Green Hulk LE (250 units)
- Transformers The Pin (2012) (intended for home use)
- Avengers The Pin (2013) (intended for home use)
- Metallica (2013) (designed by John Borg, art by Dirty Donny)
- Metallica Premium Hammer smash toy with disappearing ball to under playfield coffin lock, Moving grave marker cross, inline 3-bank drop targets, Ball-eating snake mouth animated, “Sparky” figurine animated on an electric chair.
- Metallica Master of Puppets LE (500 units) Platinum trim, screened backglass, John Borg’s signature under hard coat.[20]
- Star Trek (2013) Steve Ritchie (designer) First Pro debut with all LED lighting as standard.
- Star Trek Premium
- Star Trek LE (799 units) [21]
- Mustang (2014) John Trudeau (designer)
- Mustang Premium
- Mustang LE
- The Walking Dead (2014) (designed by John Borg)
- The Walking Dead LE (600 units)
- The Walking Dead Premium
- Wrestlemania (2015)
- Wrestlemania LE
- Kiss (2015)
- Game of Thrones (2015)
- Whoa Nellie! (2015)
- Spider-Man Home Edition (2016)
- Spider-Man Vault Edition (2016) (redesign of the existing Spider-Man with new playfield- and DMD-graphics, and new music and sound effects)
- Ghostbusters (2016) (based on the first two films)[22]
- The Pabst Can Crusher (2016) (retheme of Whoa Nellie!)
- Batman ’66 (2016) (based on the Batman television series from 1966[23])
- Aerosmith (2017)
- Star Wars (2017)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2017)
- Iron Maiden (2018) (first design of Keith Elwin)
- Supreme (2018) (retheme of Spider-Man Home Edition)
- Deadpool (2018) (based on the comics)
- The Beatles (2018) (Ka-Pow Pinball collaboration, with only 1,964 machines produced)
- Primus (2018) (retheme of Whoa Nellie!)
- The Munsters (2019) (based on 1960s TV series The Munsters)
- Black Knight: Sword of Rage (2019) (designed by Steve Ritchie as a sequel to Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, which he designed for Williams in the 1980s.[24])
- Star Wars Pin (2019) (intended for home use)
- Jurassic Park (2019)
- Elvira’s House of Horrors (2019)
- Star Wars Comic Art (2019) (redesign of the existing Star Wars)
- Stranger Things (2019)
Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies.
Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977-1985, and was known for 1980s Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1999, is a creator of pinball machines in North America