
We Played King Kong at the Stern Factory!!
We were invited to check out King Kong: Myth of Terror Island, Stern Pinball’s newest release and Keith Elwin’s latest design! This is the first of a two parter… in the first episode we talk about...
Highlights
- King Kong is based on the 1933 public domain film, not the Legendary Pictures Monsterverse Kong
- The Pro version lacks the gong mech but is otherwise nearly identical to Premium/LE in gameplay
- King Kong features a train multiball lock system where Kong physically knocks over the train with his fist
- The gong shot is a full mechanical kickback, not a spinner or gate
- Stern staff at factory tour were approachable and enthusiastic, including George Gomez and Dwight Sullivan
- Kong does not eat the ball, unlike the expectation of some players
- King Kong's upper left area functions like a mini-playfield with its own flipper, drop targets, and ramp
Notable quotes
“The movie fully based on that movie. Indirectly. Basically yeah. The movie still has a copyright on it. However, in 1932, actually the year before the movie came out, there was a novelization based on the movie and there's no copyright for it. They never renewed it.”
“He could have jaws for lunch fish fillet jaws would be like a snack fish fillet”
“It's like a gong like a gong um which was really really cool man because it is rejecty you know what i mean like it literally will reject the ball”
“I was just so focused on hitting that gong for a while did you remember that yeah yeah you're like man you love hitting that gong i don't know why i just like and that's how i learned that's how you start the modes”
“These guys just love pinball, and that's why they're there. And it seems like Stern hires people who love pinball. They're doing it right.”
“There's no villains at Stern. There is no villain, dude.”
“The video does not capture the feel of that shot. I know. When I saw the video, I was just like, okay, yeah, it's kind of whatever. It's a spinner.”
“I think you just had a better game on the Pro, so you liked it better. I mean, but you know, after I warmed up and stuff and I came back and forth, I saw myself playing both games for different reasons. Like at my house, sure, I'll take the one with the bells and whistles. At the arcade, I'll take the Pro.”
“I cannot imagine how much it would cost from what we saw to build a game. The level of detail, the staff. There's an enormous cost going into these things. They're doing it the right way.”
“So they got to have free reign. What does Keith Owen want to do? What does Jeremy Packer want to do? What do the other artists want to do? They can do it.”
Entities
- Stern Pinball· company
- Attack from Mars· game
- Avengers· game
- Dungeons & Dragons· game
- Godzilla· game
- Jaws· game
- King Kong· game
- Swords of Fury· game
- The Big Lebowski· game
- X-Men· game
- Bash Pinball Podcast· organization
- Don· person
- Dwight Sullivan· person
- Gary Stern· person
- George Gomez· person
- Jeremy Packer· person
- Jody Dankberg· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Rick Nagel· person
- Seth Davis· person
- King Kong (1933 film)· product
- Legendary Pictures Monsterverse Kong· product
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