It does seem likely to me that they picked Seawitch specifically for its four flippers and large number of drop targets, to give more of a sense that collectors will get something for their money beyond the license. Can't see them doing much to tweak or update the layout, since it's like Alien with the number of intersecting cross-playfield angles it has. Definitely doesn't look like a ramp-friendly layout, you'd have to redo much of it from scratch which would scupper the point of the exercise.

Let's see what they're prepared to do with rules and code, though I wouldn't be surprised if they kept that retro and simple in a 60s way.

But this exercise doesn't meet his criteria of 'special'. He wants something for that price and exclusivity with the maximum amount of effort put into it, which he'll almost certainly never get because no designer not creating for themselves is going to want to devote a year or more of their life into satisfying a mere handful of customers, unless they also have the kind of ego that makes them think they're creating the Mona Lisa. And we've seen on multiple occasions what the result of *that* generally is.

1964 relates to their Ed Sullivan Show appearance.

Wasn't that an early Tom Baker story? :p

That's what I was expecting.

Lordy, am I disappointed. Not in the Stern machine, but in how it demonstrates beyond any doubt that the 'dream' Yellow Submarine machine of the modern sort that I'd like to make would be utterly unviable in today's market. Doesn't matter what you stick in it, the license cost to do it justice would still be extortionate enough that the target market would be limited to millionaire collectors, none of whom would really care about it as a game, assuming they would even turn it on rather than keep it mint. I'd want to put my heart and soul into having the biggest number of people have fun with the game, and that would simply not be an option here. Around 200 Aliens produced before the shutdown still stings.

"Go to bed without Specials."