Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continue ... AY!

...perhaps a Knight Rider add on KIT?

Pinball owners getting screwed. Tron vault coming soon. Lol

??? Soon?…

Been coming soon for the last 7 years…

Sources are saying the next music pin is Gorillaz.

Gorillaz (resized).jpg

This would be a hard pass for me. Thank god it’s not really happening.

My next two games then, Tron VE and Stranger Things..!

Definitely need back a Stranger Things VE with improved mechs! I am in

Only makes sense if they turn it into Stranger Things 2.0 with the other 3 seasons in it.
Too expensive a license to just sell 500-1000 more units....... oh wait, this is Stern..... maybe 13K a premium will be the price by then.

Deadflip stream on Tuesday

https://twitter.com/sternpinball/status/1627424285760397312?t=funaqI8o4ZdbYZSCe-sraw&s=19

Stranger Things is the only vault that makes sense. I don't see how they are going to make more of a DMD game like Indy or Avatar (or less likely, Tron or Metallica) without completely redoing the software and electronics. I guess they save some effort by using the same artwork and playfield, but why not just make an entirely new game (especially considering the low ratings of both IJ4 and Avatar)?

Sounds like it'll be a Bond stream.

Yea they know the demand for these games and see what they resell for. If they do more vaults at this point, it's gonna have a "vault tax" slapped on

Definitely Bond 60th. Gomez - Bond, Elwin - Bond 60th design, Mark Penacho - Bond 60th code, and the Bond-style tux shirt on Jack.

Bond 60th stream.

Cary Hardy's honest trailer for it cracked me up, especially the spinner part.

How would Stranger things be a vault? It‘d be just a rerun.

Once a game is archived on Stern's site, it's in "the vault." So bringing it back out to make more is by definition vaulting it.

Stranger Things is in the archive on Stern's site.

Bringing back a pin no longer in production is a vault. Also often the vault editions have little tweaks or such that can set them apart

If they make more Stranger Things I'd be interested, especially if they improve the TK lock.

I think it will happen.. Makes a ton of sense and George has hinted at it in the last couple of months.

Me too. Not so much if it is a "Stranger Things Final Season SE" with a jacked price. Premiums are already $2000 more expensive than they were when Stranger Things first came out. Unfortunately people paying stupid money for Premiums and LEs on the secondary market probably have dollar signs floating in the eyes of Stern marketing/sales.

Pokemon is one of the most successful franchises of all time worldwide. Pinball is expanding and there are many more younger fans now. People in their 30's L O V E D Pokemon when they were kids, and those people have small kids now that their parents are exposing to pinball.
If done right, it could make for a great game.

I'd probably rather see other "Classic Video Game" themes come first. Mario and Sonic seem like low hanging fruit that would be easy to make a decent game. They pretty much write themselves. I'd welcome most any theme from the late 80's and early 90's, though. Power rangers would be sick as hell too. I have young children that would equally enjoy these pins so I'm speaking as a family man. TMNT is a great game but it's fatal flaw is that it's theme doesn't match how difficult it is. I still love that game and would love to own an LE someday. The art packages are so killer on those machines.

I'm getting off track. I'd be happy to give Pokemon a fair shake, the music was always good in the games and the show, "collecting 6 pokemon, evolving them and then battling the elite 4" seems like an awesome, deep pinball adventure. I frankly see Pokemon as a great way to attract a younger crowd to pinball and overall a great seller and easy move for Stern.

It's tough getting old when you aren't targeted by companies anymore, but it doesn't make things a "bad decision" when they choose to target a younger audience.

I remember reading on pinside that Gomez said that something different or unique is coming from a Steen release. Maybe they are timing Foo Fighters with their new release in March and it will contain music from the album. I don’t think either has been done before. It doesn’t seem groundbreaking but it is different.

The top 25 highest grossing media franchises of all time worldwide (by total revenue in U.S. dollars) are as follows:

Pokémon – $92.121 billion
Hello Kitty – $80.026 billion
Winnie the Pooh – $75.034 billion
Mickey Mouse & Friends – $70.587 billion
Star Wars – $65.631 billion Already done. A lot lol. Possibly more spinoffs etc.
Anpanman – $60.285 billion
Disney Princess – $45.187 billion
Mario – $36.143 billion . Done a while ago but could be refreshed and could be good.
Shōnen Jump / Jump Comics – $34.117 billion
Harry Potter – $30.871 billion
Marvel Cinematic Universe – $29.128 billion Done twice and done decently. Could do and see more in the future.
Spider-Man – $27.078 billion Done and a vault edition. Won't see another one for a long time.
Gundam – $26.457 billion
Batman – $26.448 billion Been done a few times, would love to see a Batman The Animated series someday.
Dragon Ball – $24.031 billion
Barbie – $24.003 billion
Fist of the North Star – $21.818 billion
Cars – $21.794 billion
Toy Story – $20.743 billion Recently done, unfortunately its "No Good Gophers 2.0"
One Piece – $20.515 billion
Lord of the Rings – $19.937 billion Done, a masterpiece, couldn't get much better unless they did a vault edition. Hobbit was good too.
James Bond – $19.900 billion Just done. Code will develop and most likely will be a great machine.
Yu-Gi-Oh! – $19.848 billion
Peanuts – $17.428 billion
Transformers – $17.220 billion Done and a solid machine, even if slightly forgotten about.

The list is thinning of widely applicable to pinball Top grossing themes. Pokemon and Harry Potter are the largest age spanning themes that the youth and younger adults would care about. Batman and Spiderman are always possible for more. One Piece, Gundam and Dragonball Z would be cool as hell too if they wanted to expand globally. I know Disney's Frozen would/could be a cool machine and that has to not be far behind on this list too! As neat and charming as a Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse machine would be, I doubt we'd see them.

Stern is moving into a larger factory despite the economic issues we are having. They are planning and preparing to pump out more games and people buying everything they can pump out. It will be interesting to see the themes they choose once their output is raised. Will we see more cornerstones per year?

I've been waiting for Stern to coordinate more with releases and bigger events to capitalize on excitement and hype. Awesome idea to include the artists new songs in the new pinball machine and release at the same time.

So FOO Fighters or Venom next? I think it will be a music pin because of the typical Stern formula-Comic, Movie/TV, Music-rinse-repeat. Now Indy IJ in middle of summer? Stern is not going to release a dog. Many thought IJ was a dog(I love it btw). My guess is Gomez or someone is redesigning IJ like he did for BM66. It will be a whole new IJ is my guess. I love the franchise so it is going to be like crack for me and I may need some intervention.

If it's a popularity contest, there are plenty of things super popular that would appeal to non pinheads. But that's not your core market. How many 45+ year olds would buy a Pokemon pin even if it was "done right"? I sure wouldn't.

Everyone says that until the game is released and then buy it with the usual lines of:

"It's only money"
"It's a good shooter"
"My grandkids will love it"
"If I don't like it, I can flip it."
"I hate the theme, but the game is great".

I very much agree with all of this. I’m 41 with kids that range from 6 to 12 and all of them have collected Pokémon cards…my oldest and I still actually play the card game (if you’re not aware that there’s a game associated with the cards… Think magic the gathering ‘lite’).

I’d buy Pokémon for sure…I’d prob even sell my minty TSPP for it if it was done well. I have zero interest in a Foo Fighters pin…and as someone who works in music (and has cut records for Dave’s *other* band) I think Stern has exhausted the band theme…I simply want to be entertained by something fun and whimsical, not terribly interested in my pin trying to convince me I’m at a rock show.

Obviously we all have different taste based on age and interests but Pokémon has more global appeal. If its not for you, thats cool but you can’t refute the cuteness of Pikachu over Dave Grohl’s grizzly mug.

Starting to think Jack Danger is doing a refresh Indy.

Gomez said he (Jack) is doing something they've never done before. They've never taken an old game and refreshed into a Spike 2

Jack's wife(?) was quoted as saying he's doing a game you wouldn't expect.

There have been rumors of a Sam game getting a Spike 2 refresh. Since Stern has scaled back releases, they could just be doing one new cornerstone (Eddy) and the "new" cornerstone Indy for this year.

Eh folks forget how old Pokemon is. Lot of folks in their 40's were playing Pokemon when it first came out, it wasn't uncommon to find teens playing Pokemon video games and card games. I'm in my 40's and knew lof of friends my age who were deep into the video games. Might not be totally the core age group, but lot of fans are in their 30s

Games with younger less popular IPs have gotten pins.

I mean, it wouldn't excite me. But neither does the idea of Back to the Future or Jaws, and look how people can't stop asking for those. Everyone has their own interests. And if the games are good? People will buy.

The only thing I don't believe in is that any theme, no matter how popular or magical, is going to suddenly attract tons of new people to pinball.

I would be very interested in " The last of us " pin. Based off the game not the show.

Gomez's Batman '66 was an iteration on his own mediocre Batman:TDK design. The one pin Lyman couldn't make awesome with software. So Batman'66 was George's chance to fix what went wrong with Batman:TDK and work with Lyman again to atone for his TDK table sin. Took forever, but turned out great (though I'm still not a fan of the lazy susan - too slow).

Stern Indy is a Borg design. George isn't redesigning or tweaking another designer's table unless they're gone. So, extremely unlikely.

No way fofo foo foo is next too close to Rush release and Black Sabbath deserves it more. Bring on Metallica revalued vault retooled as new Tales From The Crypt! Come on HBO and everyone else that’s screaming and screwed up this new TFTC remake from happening because of to many ahole parties involved in it.

Foo is next dude…

In mnpinball , I trust

Found this sticker on my Sth. Could one of the next pin be Goonies ?

A679F54C-5D54-4AE8-8873-62CF8988CC48 (resized).jpeg

That was the code name I believe .

I think so - it's Venom just based on this IMO.

Back to the Future pls. Enough music pins already.

I'm starting to think that Stern should just post a list of different potential themes and allow players and arcade owners to vote on what they want. Maybe giving people what they ask for and collecting free data on our theme preferences will turn out more beneficial than the surprise value of keeping it a secret. Maybe worth trying once and see how it goes?

Just what Spooky did at SFGE a couple years ago. They had big sheet of paper at their table and anyone could write a theme they wanted on the list or put a check next to one they liked on the list. I added Misfits and also put a check next to Futurama.

Leaked DeadFlip artwork for his next project. You saw it here first!

D5AAAC1F-78F0-45A5-8528-19AADF848FF4 (resized).jpeg

I've been saying for a long time Gorillaz would make a great pinball theme. The music is funky and the artwork is already all there and done, complete with animated videos. It's the kind of music you can say you don't like (like Maiden) but would make a great soundtrack to pinball anyway. It has both modern and Gen X appeal.

Agree. Funky grooves and cool video assets that would make for a very cool looking and sounding pin.