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The Last Pinball Machine Factory

Posted by Soulskill on from the producing-at-full-tilt dept.

The New York Times is running a story about Stern Pinball Inc., which they say is the last pinball factory left worldwide. The story describes working there as a "game geek's fantasy job." The company president, Gary Stern, acknowledges the lack of demand, but he plans on sticking around. He also expects the industry to rebound within the next 10 years. We've previously discussed a slightly smaller version of pinball. "Corner shops, pubs, arcades and bowling alleys stopped stocking pinball machines. A younger audience turned to video games. Men of a certain age, said [Pinball Hall of Fame operator Tim Arnold], who is 52, became the reliable audience. ("Chicks," he announced, "don't get it.") And so for Mr. Stern, the pinball buyer is shifting. In the United States, Mr. Stern said, half of his new machines, which cost about $5,000 and are bought through distributors, now go directly into people's homes and not a corner arcade."

11 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. shifting... by gihan_ripper · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...the pinball buyer is shifting...
    or is he tilting?
    --
    Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
  2. Pinball is too expensive... by Manip · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the reason Pinball is dying out is purely the cost of playing it.

    I mean you pay 50p for three balls. Or 20p for three lives in most other arcade games.

    So you're paying a 150% markup for seeing balls bounce around which is cute but it also seems to last a lot less time than normal video games too.

    So higher cost, plus shorter games just means that people won't use the pinball tables anymore.

    They'll either spend less for cheap video games or spend a little more for a much more interactive game like table football, dancing, or shooting.

    Pinball killed its self... They set the price too high and over-valued their product.

    1. Re:Pinball is too expensive... by justthinkit · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think the reason Pinball is dying out is purely the cost of fixing them.

      A mechanical game breaks all too often. Video games don't, and even damaged CDs are dealt with by downloading a cracked download. It's a shame -- hardly any pins anywhere any more.

      Machine cost means only the richer types could afford _one_, or they were in a public place but set very difficult so the owner & renter could recoup their investments.

      The Future Of Pinball just came out on DVD but I've yet to see it. Looking forward to it when I can. Pinball was the solitaire of physical sports. I miss it.

      --
      I come here for the love
    2. Re:Pinball is too expensive... by zeromemory · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think the reason Pinball is dying out is purely the cost of playing it.

      I mean you pay 50p for three balls. Or 20p for three lives in most other arcade games. You don't spend much time around gamers, do you? I don't know of any gamers who spend the time thinking about how much a 'life' costs them. For gamers, it's about fun, convenience, and hanging out with friends.

      Pinball fails on the last two qualities. A pinball machine is outside the budget of casual gamers, so most people have to go to an arcade to play pinball. On the other hand, a gaming console sits conveniently next to their TV at home, allowing them to game whenever they have time.

      Pinball has no cooperative component; it's a "single-player" game. Looking at the popularity of multiplayer and online games, I'd say gamers these days value an experience in which their friends can participate. They don't get that with pinball.

      I personally love pinball, but it doesn't provide what contemporary gamers want.
      --
      I'm Trappped at Berkeley.
    3. Re:Pinball is too expensive... by electrosoccertux · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think we're missing the point of pinball.

      Arcades made zero sense to me until I had pretty much played every genre of video game. Now that I don't own a console...

      You start doing other things besides playing video games all the time, like socializing and hanging out. You start thinking, hm, what could be a fun, cheap, casual date destination? And suddenly the arcade makes all the sense in the world. Think about it-- after class Friday, you walk to the local college arcade with your S.O. and play some pinball, 2-player Tekken, Galaga, whatever. Cheap, easy fun that gives you the option to make small talk about whatever, but also the option to stop and have a decent conversation when you find a common interest. BUT there are none (or very few) of the tense, silent moments where you're both just looking around trying to come up with something to talk about (like during a conventional date when you go get something to eat and sit down at Applebee's for 45m) and where your apparent lack of ability at making conversation rears its ugliest. Then, after, you can drop by the Graeters/Baskin-Robins 31 for some ice cream before you head back to your dorms.

      I think us gamers were so far gone from the normal world that the obvious social genius behind the arcade was lost like the forest in the trees.

  3. Re:pinball is the video game for old people by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    "Even when choices were limited between the likes of Pac Man and Pinball, I could never really see what was so exciting about Pinball. "

    Oh, I love it. It is a game that combines skill with the flippers, and some luck. To me,that's what keeps it interesting. While I love the old sounds of the real bells and gears on an old EM machine, the newer digital ones have so many challenges. This is a bit old of an example, but, the old Funhouse machine is a blast...you have to hit certain things to 'move the clock' to midnight, which puts the talking head, Rudy, to sleep...while he snores, you have to try to get a shot to land in his mouth...doing this, which isn't easy, a number of times...opens up bonus points, specials...etc. Some of the machines are actually a little too complex for my liking....the Star Trek Next Gen machine is one example. You have to do so much...it takes away a bit of the wild fast play....

    But, recent machines, the Simpsons...is a blast. Just the right mix of fast play...with hitting special things in succession...multi-ball play...etc.

    I loved the old arcade games...I still think Robotron is one of the best games every devised, but, pinball holds a special spot in my heart. Heck, in the old days....if you only had one quarter left..you could still play with a friend...each of you takes a flipper....

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  4. Re:pinball is the video game for old people by Ihmhi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pinballs are a video game that is manifested in physical, moving parts. How is that NOT cool?

    --
    Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
  5. Where have they all gone? by buss_error · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My first "real" job was as a tech for a game/vending company. I was always struck that Stern was a solid money maker. Never first, never more reliable, almost never more innovative than Bally, Williams, Gottieb, Atari (when video got popular) or Capcom, but a solid money maker.

    As with any first job, there Was a Mistake Made. Mine was to trouble shoot a Williams shoot 'em up game that used a rifle and a sensor board to detect where the rifle was pointed. Several wires had been cold soldered and were just hanging around without being attached. Since I don't come equipped with a third hand, I put the solder coil in my mouth so I could use my left hand to guide the wire to it's proper place, my right hand weilding the soldering iron, and by moving my head around and using my lips, guide the solder to the pad to secure wire to circuit board. (Let's leave aside for the moment the wisdom of putting 60% lead wire in one's mouth. Explains quite a bit about my later life though....)

    The only problem was that I had not powered down the game to make my repairs. If you think a fresh 9 volt battery makes an impression when you lick the terminals, let me assure you that 24 volts AC leaves an even more lasting impression.

    For the NEXT loose wire, I used a alagator clip. It took longer to get everything situated, but was much less painful.

    A week after that, Atari came out with "Asteriods", and we put it in the current "hot spot" for pinball games. Two days later, the business where it was set called to say it was on the fritz. I went out, and found that due to the construction of the game, and the amount of quarters pumped into it, the coins had over flowed into the power supply and shorted it out.

    If I remember correctly, the bucket to hold quarters was far larger and deeper than any other game to date. I don't know how much money was in the game (the techs were not permitted to empty money or to count it from the games, that was the work of the owner of the game company), but I suspect it was more than the rest of the games combined. After that, we visited the place of business daily for the next six months to empty the game.

    Reliving this brings many more memories to mind, but none involve Stern games other than to note that while they were not the most trouble prone (CapCom earns that easily), nor the most money (Bally and later Atari had that tied up), Nor the most reliable (Williams had that tied up), they were like the plodders in the world. Never the best, never the worst.

    One thing I remember from that time was cleaning the games. The owner of the game company was always saying "Make it shine like a diamond in a goat's a$$!". We used a glass cleaner called "Glass Wax", which went on as a pink liquid and was removed with vigerious use of a rough rag and newspaper. I can't find it now, even using Google, but it was the BEST product I ever used to clean glass and make it shine.

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
  6. Re:stern pinball sucks by banzairun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Stern sucked up until recently.. thankfully, they've finally gotten their act together and I'm starting to really enjoy their games. I would rather play some late 80's to mid 90's Williams machines, but game operators have no idea how to service them anyway. If you run across a Medieval Madness on location there is a next to 0% chance that it will actually work perfectly.

    We all love to play the 'top rated games'.. but there are still a grip of great pinball machines out there. Dismissing Stern is just voiding yourself of pinball, you are not going to find anything else. Play some Spiderman, Family Guy, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, even T3.. good games. I just wish they'd make original themed machines instead of licensing everything.

    >at least vpinmame will save pinball.
    good lord that is a scary thought.. talk about missing the point.

  7. Shove the machine by Weaselmancer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Give the machine a decent nudge to the left or the right. The ball will continue to follow a path with its original inertia. You just move the playing field so that the ball isn't dead center.

    Pinball is physical. Playing it like a video game is a sure way to lose.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  8. Re:pinball is the video game for old people by Majik+Sheff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only people who don't love TNG pinball are the poor saps who have to keep the bastard running. I praised the pinball gods when we sold our last one to a home.

    The combination of horrendous under-playfield ball storage, shearing joints with wires passed through them, buggy software, and a single fragile drop target that crippled the machine when broken made for a maintenance nightmare. Don't get me started on the ball trough opto channel that would warp its own PCB from overheated resistors, or the power supply that was so underpowered that you had to configure the transformer for 100 volt operation to get enough juice to keep the thing from rebooting in multiball.

    Don't get me wrong, when the game is running it's one of the more entertaining games from the golden era of Williams pinballs. Unfortunately, it was far too much innovation shoehorned onto a platform that just wasn't up to the task.

    You want to see perfection? Go play a Medieval Madness or a Twilight Zone.

    I'll save my thoughts on the Stern family for another rant.

    --
    Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.