Stern is going to be FURIOUS with this reveal. Now Spooky will outbid them for the Beatles licence

So why did Stern / The Beatles merchandising team choose 1964 as the theme year?

Obviously, this was the year the band broke in the USA and around the rest of the world, after they first hit the UK charts in late 1962. If you look at the Ed Sullivan footage, you see a bright, energetic foursome singing nice harmonies against some fairly simple melodies. I'm not criticising that era in any way, I love the band.

This machine, such as it is, reflects that moment in time. I honestly don't mind the art, although I do think it would have looked considerably better with a palette based on black and white. Maybe that's been reserved for The Munsters ...

So why not a Beatles '65 pinball next? That year McCartney wrote "Yesterday", which is a massive step forward. Clothing and styling had begun to change. Beatles '66? You have the Revolver album and that astonishing final track "Tomorrow Never Knows". And so on until 1969/70.

Arguably Stern could release five or six more Beatles-themed machines before the band ran its course, each time advancing technology and the overall design of the machine. There'd have to be someone out there who'd want them all, right?

Or am I just a cockeyed optimist, thinking Stern has a clear strategy behind this?

Well thanks very much mate, given the way you've placed your arrows you are immediately shopping me in anyone else's eyes as the "dopy" one, as I made the comments immediately preceding yours.

And given you probably can't see into the future, directing arrows down towards so-far non-existent comments doesn't help your case either. Run pinside your way, but my very friendly suggestion is to say what you think is dopey rather than leaving the rest of us puzzled