Old Stern FTW

[Kolchak357]

Well, we'll get a taste of button mashing soon enough...Twilight Zone's "Lost in the Zone" is a timed 6-ball multiball (and one of those balls is the not-quite-normal Powerball).

I can't imagine how jittery the 6 ball multiball will be on my iPad 1. But I can't wait to find out.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

So, what's next for Stern, do you think? We're constantly hearing about Williams and Bally additions, and FS has pretty much confirmed Big Shot and Victory from Gottlieb. Stern just has Harley Davidson Third Edition, with a total lack of clarity on what tables will be viable for pick-up in the near future. SAM tables are almost certainly out, so that's World Poker Tour, Pirates of the Caribbean, and anything else after 2006. Lord of the Rings came out in 2003, but even if FS pursued the license, Stern probably would see it as a conflict of interest, since the 2009 edition runs SAM (I think).

That means the only viable post-2000 Stern tables would be Sharkey's Shootout, Monopoly, Playboy, The Simpsons Pinball Party, The Sopranos, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Austin Powers, High Roller Casino, Striker Xtreme, NFL Football, Terminator 3, Elvis, and NASCAR. A large majority of those include hefty licenses. Do you think any of these are worth pursuing, or is it time to default back to non-licensed classics that we've been discussing?

I wouldn't mind seeing Sharkey's, The Simpsons, High Roller, Elvis, or maybe NASCAR / Grand Prix, but I don't think the others are worth the effort. Then again, maybe those five are enough to keep the Stern trickle going for another year or so. Either way, the poll makes it look like everone would be happy to get Seawitch, Galaxy, and Catacomb.

As another point, maybe Data East and Sega tables will take the place of Stern drops in the next few months. We could always hope for Jurassic Park, Phantom of the Opera, Star Wars, Tales from the Crypt, Back to the Future, Tommy Pinball Wizard, Last Action Hero, Goldeneye, Starship Troopers, The X-Files, or Apollo 13. This is getting complicated, with way too much to choose from. I can see how the selection process can be difficult for FarSight, since they also need to determine which tables are available for purchase.

To stay on a balanced pace between all four manufacturers, we probably won't get more than six Stern, Data East, or Sega tables in a single year. The way I figure it, the ones I mentioned here would fill the Stern need for over three years, if we actually get updates for that long.

What to do? What to do!?

 

[Jim O'Brien]

Picked seawitch I've only ever played it on Visual Pinball, but man is it ever fast and fun. It's low scoring for the most part so it would be fun to see the leaderboards.

 

[Wizened]

Kicking because I still want Seawitch.

 

[Kolchak357]

My three votes went for Seawitch, Meteor, and Catacomb. I've only played the first two, but all three look very good to me.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

Played a few of these at PAPA. Catacomb is ok I guess, but not something I would play over and over. Orbitor is kind of weird because there are times when the ball actually loops below the flippers. It was interesting, but there wasn't a lot to do besides watch the ball and hit a couple of targets. Lightning and Quicksilver were both decent machines. One thing that I noticed was that older Sterns seem to have held up better physically than older Williams and Bally machines.

 

[Kolchak357]

Just felt a need to bring this thread back from the dead. We may be more likely to see more current Stern offerings like Monopoly or High Roller Casino, but the late 70's / early 80's were a fantastic time for Stern. I hope we see a good chunk of these pins.

Seawitch, Flight 2000, Meteor, Dracula, and Catacomb feel like musts to me.

 

[Hugh Jorgen]

Flight 2000 without a moment of hesitation.

 

[Heretic]

Only one ive played imthink is orbitor 1

I wamtmthat

 

[Timelord]

Flight 2000 is a nice table in all respects.

Timelord ...

 

[Clawhammer]

Oh man is this thread/poll long overdue. Love the early Sterns. Nine Ball, Seawitch, Quicksilver, and Catacomb would be my top 4 probably.

 

[karl]

Never played any of them in real life but judging from the Visual pinball recreations, there seems to be a lot of good ones. I'd really like to see some of them pop up in TPA. Stern was on a roll there for a couple of years

 

[night]

I voted for Orbitor 1, never played this table but I just love the vids on youtube, and no matter how wonky it might play, there is no other pin that is so unique in it's design than this. It deserves to be preserved in a digital form. You can keep all the Big Shot/Central Park/Genie stuff, give me that crazy table!

 

[atlantis1982]

I voted for Orbitor 1, never played this table but I just love the vids on youtube, and no matter how wonky it might play, there is no other pin that is so unique in it's design than this. It deserves to be preserved in a digital form.

Much I encourage uniqueness in pinball tables, but this one is just way too far out there its ridiculous. Not to mention there is not much to do besides getting the back targets, and I have tried the machine as well.

 

[night]

Much I encourage uniqueness in pinball tables, but this one is just way too far out there its ridiculous. Not to mention there is not much to do besides getting the back targets, and I have tried the machine as well.

Turn up the volume of Genie and tell me me about rediculousness.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Turn up the volume of Genie and tell me me about rediculousness.

The same could be said for PAC-Man, Dig Dug, Joust, etc. but they're still great games, and so is Genie.

 

[DarthVonDoom]

I could not agree more. Genie is my most played table since I bought it. 80s FTW.

 

[Baron Rubik]

The same could be said for PAC-Man, Dig Dug, Joust, etc. but they're still great games, and so is Genie.

Genie - Zzzzzzzzzzz
Central Park - is a random luck bagatelle for me.

Big Shot - Love it, and definitely in my top 3 TPA tables.

All personal preference I guess.

 

[dtown8532]

I actually enjoy Genie more on TPA than real life. I was playing a real one last night in great shape and it was quite slow.

I was also playing a nice Galaxy. Sweet sound. That constant hummmmmmmm beating into your brain.

 

[SilverBallFiend]

I vote for Hot Hand!