Top 5 Greatest Pinball Machines From Stern Pinball (SDTM, 2025)
Top 5 Greatest Pinball Machines From Stern Pinball (SDTM, 2025)
THE TOP 5 GREATEST PINBALL MACHINES FROM STERN PINBALL SDTM lists the best of the best from Stern. COMMENT on your favorite pinball game from Stern Pinball. Do you agree with the SDTM Top 5?...
Highlights
- Jaws is still at code 0.98 and already performing at the top tier of Stern games, with premium edition being particularly strong
- Ghostbusters and The Walking Dead were the two games that taught the hosts how to play pinball through their demanding gameplay requirements
- The Walking Dead features one of the best wizard modes ('Horde') that is one of the furthest away wizard modes to achieve
- The Lord of the Rings would likely rank #1 if it were remastered on a modern system rather than White Star
- Keith Johnson's rule set for The Lord of the Rings is 'Keith Johnson's greatest rule set ever done' with optimal multiball balance
- Godzilla is considered by some to be not only the best Stern game but the best pinball machine of all time
- Keith Elwin fundamentally changed what people think about pinball layouts, moving beyond simple fan layouts to comprehensive design innovation
- Godzilla surprised the community as a strong game despite initial low expectations for the theme
Notable quotes
“Walking Dead and Ghostbusters were the two games that I truly learned to play on because if you're not nudging and you're not you're not manipulating that game you're not playing pinball”
“Ghostbusters that little right ramp people hate that I love it y I love that it's a freaking fantastic game”
“The Walking Dead... it's ugly to me... but there's just something about it”
“it would probably been number one if it just wasn't such a long journey”
“Keith Elwin came into this industry and changed what people think about layouts like they're not just fan layouts anymore they're not just rule sets with mods it's like he knows how to do so much of everything in each little category”
“it's got that depth for that that that very good player but it's also so approachable for anyone else it's very easy to understand what you need to do”
“no one was really thinking about Godzilla like H okay Godzilla who cares you know it's cool but whatever it's fine but then when it came out it was such a good game”
Entities
- Stern Pinball· company
- Ghostbusters· game
- Godzilla· game
- Jaws· game
- The Lord of the Rings· game
- The Walking Dead· game
- Straight Down the Middle· organization
- Bowen Kerins· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Keith Johnson· person
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