The Last Pinball Manufacturer

In the past I’ve blogged about efforts to preserve vintage Soviet arcade games, and the continued manufacturing of the electric football game. Now Marti Attoun, contributing editor for American Profile, has written an interesting article about the world’s last manufacturer of pinball games.

Stern Pinball in Melrose Park, IL is the company. Owner Gary Stern’s father started the business in 1947.

From its beginning in the 1930s, pinball scored with Americans and kept manufacturers busy supplying games to arcades, bowling alleys and bars. Depending on a player’s skill, which came into play with the invention of the machine’s flipper in 1947, a nickel or dime could buy seconds or hours of entertainment.

 

Today, Stern manufactures thousands of pinball machines a year, producing three or four different models featuring TV or movie characters, such as The Simpsons, Spider-Man, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. The company spends up to a year and $1 million designing a game.

 

Pinball remains very much an RL, 3D venture, despite the addition of electronics and flashing lights. Machines can contain over 3500 parts and half a mile of wiring. Computer coding is involved, too; Attoun interviewed Lonnie Ropp, a programmer with Stern.

 

Vintage machines are in demand as well, as baby boomers scoop up remembrances of their youth. This has caused popular models to rise in value. A machine called Medieval Madness has doubled from its $4000 introductory price ten years ago.

 

The changes in culture and attitudes toward gaming continue to intrigue. Video gaming has all but killed the humble pinball machine, just as other digital gaming devices (slot machines and video poker, for instance) have overrun their mechanical grandparents.

 

Can pinball machines teach today’s youth anything? Eye-hand coordination comes to mind. Perhaps pinball is more intense, in some ways, with its flippers and physical presence, than a console’s joysticks. Also, a commenter on American Profile’s site notes that pinball taught them anger management through the “tilt” mechanism, where players automatically lose the game (and their money) if they’re too rough with the machine.

 

References:
Attoun, M. (2008, March 2). Preserving pinball. American Profile, pp. 12, 14. [Online]. Available: http://www.americanprofile.com/article/25738.html

Tags:

categories Gambling, Game Discussion, Vintage Games | John Rice | datetime March 5, 2008 5:48 am

No Comments

  • By Kacy, March 5, 2008 @ 12:30 pm

    If we lose the pinball machine then we lose a little bit of history that has become part of all us gamers life.

  • By John Patterson, May 6, 2008 @ 5:13 pm

    I have a 1978 or 79 Star treck pin ball machine. I would like to know if it’s possible to be fixed. It will turn on, but the game will not start. (The lights are on) but you cant play the game. The battery does seem corroded. Can you tell me if you sell parts? Please let me know. Thankyou.

  • By Tudor Electic Football, July 1, 2008 @ 8:23 am

    I have two old machines from the 80’s and I still much prefer it to the newer ones, although when I was a kid there were machines that gave out baseball cards those were awesome

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