Episode 23: My Cringe Gary Stern Moment, Your Voicemails, & 2025 Pinball Rumors!
In Episode 23 of The FlipSide Podcast, I share my hilariously cringe-worthy encounter with the one and only Gary Stern—yes, it’s as awkward as it sounds! Plus, I take your voicemails to spotlight...
Highlights
- Stern claims 85% market share for mechanical pinball games
- Stern released three cornerstone games per year as of 2019/2020, plus vault/studio games
- Stranger Things was Stern's first game with a projector system, projecting on ramps, drop targets, and screens
- Insider Connected may not have existed yet at Stranger Things launch
- Stern's presence at CES 2019/2020 was minimal: essentially one booth pole with games around it
- Stern's marketing footprint at trade shows has expanded significantly from 2019/2020 to present
- AC/DC Pro Vault Edition pricing was approximately $5,499 MSRP at time of interview
- There was minimal pinball media presence at CES 2019/2020
- Stern was planning to stream AC/DC Premium Edition from Chicago the following week
- Expected 2025 Stern lineup includes Dungeons & Dragons, King Kong (rumored), plus standard three-game format
Notable quotes
“It's a ball and bat game. You cannot...think of a video tennis game. It's not tennis. It's video tennis.”
“The ball is wild...George Gomez calls it the randomizer. And that's what it is.”
“We're a global lifestyle brand. And we're 85% of the market.”
“There's so many more things we can do. We've added...Stranger Things on the first time ever. We have a projector, and we're going to project...on the ramps...on the drop targets...”
“Is it Walmart that he sells this game through?”
“I can't believe they still make these.”
“Don't stream this. Don't stream this.”
“I truly had no clue that pinball was still a thing, which is crazy to me because I was so entrenched in the arcade hobby.”
Entities
- Farsight Studios· company
- Flip N Out Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- AC/DC· game
- Dungeons & Dragons· game
- James Cameron's Avatar· game
- Jaws· game
- John Wick· game
- King Kong· game
- Star Wars· game
- Stranger Things· game
- X-Men· game
- Fred Marco· person
- Gary Stern· person
- George Gomez· person
- Harry Williams· person
- Retro Ralph· person
- Theatre of Magic· person
- Wason· person
- Zach Sharpe· person
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