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Pinball Industry News: June 2020 Re-cap

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 43 min listenBy Martin Ayub, Jonathan Joosten
From the creator

Martin Ayub (Pinball News) and Jonathan Joosten (Pinball Magazine discuss the pinball industry news of June 2020, including Gary Stern's 75th birthday, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Heavy Metal, Hot...

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Highlights

  • Heavy Metal pinball is a re-theme of Star Wars (which itself was a re-theme of Supreme and Spider-Man Home Edition) with custom artwork and original recordings from Sebastian Bach and Brendan Small
  • Heavy Metal pinball priced at $7,999 with white glove delivery service; limited production run through holiday season
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reached 1.04 code version during COVID lockdown with extensive development time, featuring cooperative gameplay modes with team options (2v2, 1v3, 1v2, all four together)
  • TMNT 500 limited edition units completely sold out to distributors, though individual units may still be available through dealer channels
  • Jersey Jack Pinball shipped first games from new Illinois factory (near Stern's location) in June 2020, including Willy Wonka titles picked up by Hemispheres Amusements
  • Stern launched social media 'Stern Showdown' tournament pitting classic Stern games against each other with public voting; Metallica vs. Jurassic Park vote allegedly swung 70-30 in Metallica's favor after fan group post
  • Gary Stern's exclusive 75th birthday interview was unscripted, conducted over extended afternoon session at Stern factory, and was the only podcast interview Gary granted that month
  • Stern introduced branded face masks ($9.99 reusable) and $600 Jurassic Park LED topper that unlocks special game mode when installed

Notable quotes

“It was really good of Gary to stay behind. We started it in the afternoon and carried it on, and by the end of it, I think he was the only one left.”
Martin Eyre
“There's some interesting bits there I've never heard mentioned before.”
Martin Eyre
“It's priced at $8,000 because that's the pitching level that they think collectors will pay for it... Presumably not dedicated pinball people.”
Martin Eyre
“Well, yeah, $6,000 I can get a Turtles... But Turtles isn't a heavy metal magazine game, and if that's what you've got to have, that's the price.”
Jonathan Eustice
“If you buy a Stranger Pro things, you might as well end up with a bonus game like a Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit or one of the other gadgets that they included.”
Jonathan Eustice
“I suppose it's another marketing angle to remind people that Stranger Things Pro is out there and available if people want to buy it.”
Martin Eyre
“Well, that's basically buy a topper, reverse engineer it, and there you go.”
Martin Eyre
“If you want innovation, you haven't seen anything yet.”
Jonathan Eustice (quoting JJP teaser)

Entities

  • Hemispheres Amusements· company
  • Jersey Jack Pinball· company
  • Stern Pinball· company
  • Stern Showdown· event
  • Elvira's House of Horrors Pinball· game
  • Heavy Metal Pinball· game
  • Spider-Man Home Edition Pinball· game
  • Stranger Things Pinball· game
  • Supreme Pinball· game
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) Pinball· game
  • Heavy Metal Magazine· organization
  • Brett Abbas· person
  • Gary Stern· person
  • Jonathan Eustice· person
  • Ken Cromwell· person
  • Leonard F.S. Abbas· person
  • Martin Eyre· person
  • Jurassic Park Topper· product

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