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Stern (game company)

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Stern
IndustryArcade games
Founded1977 (Stern Electronics), 1986 (Stern Pinball)
Headquarters
United States
Key people
Sam Stern
Gary Stern, Chairman
Seth Davis, CEO
ProductsArcade video games, pinball machines
OwnerGary Stern
Websitesternpinball.com

Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.

Stern Electronics, Inc.

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Stern Electronics was formed when the Stern family bought the financially troubled Chicago Coin in 1977. Chicago Coin's assets were purchased at bankruptcy sales forming the core inventory of Stern Electronics, Inc.; however, as a separate company, they did not assume any of the debt Chicago Coin had amassed.

The first two games made by Stern were Stampede and Rawhide, both originally made by Chicago Coin, which only had changes made to their branding and logos. After a weak start, Stern Electronics' sales started picking up by the end of 1977. By 1978, they had switched over to fully solid-state electronics for their games. In 1979, Stern acquired the jukebox production assets of the bankrupt Seeburg Corporation, and the company became known as Stern / Seeburg. Coincidentally, Seeburg also owned Williams in the 1960s, when Sam Stern was its president.

When arcade video games became popular in 1980, Stern Electronics produced Berzerk. In 1983, Stern became one of many victims of the amusement industry economic shakeout that occurred. In 1985, Stern Electronics left the amusement industry. Personnel from Stern Electronics formed a short-lived venture known as Pinstar, producing conversion kits for old Bally and Stern machines. Gary Stern was the president of Stern Electronics, Inc, Pinstar Inc, and Data East pinball.

On March 16, 2023, Atari announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to 12 Stern Electronics titles, including Berzerk and Frenzy.[1]

Stern Pinball, Inc.

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By 1999, the pinball industry was virtually dead and Sega left the pinball industry, and in October 1999 sold its pinball division, previously purchased from Data East in 1994,[2] to Gary Stern, the son of Sam Stern, who had been running Data East/Sega pinball since 1986, and Stern Pinball was born.[2][3][4] Stern Pinball, Inc. is based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

As of 2023, longtime designers Brian Eddy, John Borg, and George Gomez are designing pinball games at Stern Pinball, alongside top-ranking competitive player Keith Elwin and popular pinball streamer Jack Danger.[5]

Some Stern pinball tables were also digitally released through The Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade.

Pinball machines

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Stern Electronics

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  • Stampede (1977)
  • Rawhide (1977)
  • Disco (1977)
  • Pinball (1977)
  • Stingray (1977)
  • Stars (1978)
  • Memory Lane (1978)
  • Lectronamo (1978)
  • Wild Fyre (1978)
  • Nugent (1978)
  • Dracula (1979)
  • Trident (1979)
  • Hot Hand (1979)
  • Magic (1979)
  • Cosmic Princess (1979) (Produced in Australia by Leisure and Allied Industries under license from Stern Electronics Inc)[6][7]
  • Meteor (1979) (Highest production of all Stern Electronics' Pinballs)[7]
  • Galaxy (1980)
  • Ali (1980)
  • Big Game (1980) (First game to incorporate seven-digit scoring in the digital era)[8]
  • Seawitch (1980)
  • Cheetah (1980)
  • Quicksilver (1980)
  • Star Gazer (1980)
  • Flight 2000 (1980) (Stern's first game with multi-ball and speech)
  • Nine Ball (1980)
  • Freefall (1981)
  • Lightning (1981)
  • Split Second (1981)
  • Catacomb (1981)
  • Viper (1981)
  • Dragonfist (1982)
  • Iron Maiden (1982) (Unrelated to the British heavy metal band)
  • Orbitor 1 (1982) (Featured a 3d-vacuum formed playfield with spinning rubber bumpers causing frenetic ball action; it was the company's last released game)[7]
  • Cue (1982) (Six machines built)
  • Lazer Lord (1984) (One prototype built)

Stern Pinball

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Machine Name Year Lead Designer License Source
Harley Davidson 1999 John Borg & Lonnie D. Ropp Harley-Davidson
Striker Xtreme 2000 Joe Balcer Original Theme
Sharkey's Shootout 2000 John Borg Original Theme
High Roller Casino 2001 Jon Norris Original Theme
Austin Powers 2001 John Borg & Lonnie D. Ropp Austin Powers
Monopoly 2001 Pat Lawlor Monopoly (game)
NFL 2001 Joe Balcer National Football League
Playboy 2002 George Gomez & Dwight Sullivan Playboy
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2002 Pat Lawlor RollerCoaster Tycoon
The Simpsons Pinball Party 2003 Joe Balcer & Keith P. Johnson The Simpsons
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003 Steve Ritchie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The Lord of the Rings 2003 George Gomez The Lord of the Rings (film series)
Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2004 Pat Lawlor Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Elvis 2004 Steve Ritchie Elvis Presley
The Sopranos 2005 George Gomez The Sopranos
Grand Prix 2005 Pat Lawlor Original
NASCAR 2005 Pat Lawlor NASCAR
World Poker Tour 2006 Steve Ritchie World Poker Tour
Pirates of the Caribbean 2006 Dennis Nordman Pirates of the Caribbean
Dale Jr. 2007 Pat Lawlor Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Family Guy 2007 Pat Lawlor Family Guy
Spider-Man 2007 Stevie Ritchie Spider-Man (Sam Raimi's film trilogy)
Wheel of Fortune 2007 Dennis Nordman Wheel of Fortune (American game show)
Indiana Jones 2008 John Borg First four Indiana Jones films
Batman (The Dark Knight) 2008 George Gomez First two films in The Dark Knight Trilogy
Shrek 2008 Pat Lawlor First 3 Shrek films
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 2008 Pat Lawlor CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
24 2008 Steve Ritchie 24 (TV series)
NBA 2008 John Borg & Ray Tanzer National Basketball Association
Big Buck Hunter Pro 2009 John Borg Big Buck Hunter
Iron Man 2010 John Borg First two Iron Man films
Avatar 2010 John Borg Avatar (2009 film)
The Rolling Stones 2011 Tom Kopera The Rolling Stones
TRON: Legacy 2011 John Borg TRON: Legacy
Transformers 2011 George Gomez Transformers (film series)
AC/DC 2012 Steve Ritchie AC/DC
X-Men 2012 John Borg X-Men
The Avengers 2012 George Gomez The Avengers (2012 film)
Metallica 2013 John Borg Metallica
Star Trek 2013 Steve Ritchie J.J. Abrams Star Trek films
Mustang 2014 John Trudeau Ford Mustang
The Walking Dead 2014 John Borg The Walking Dead (TV series)
WWE: Wrestlemania 2015 John Trudeau WWE
Whoa Nellie: Big Juicy Melons 2015 Dennis Nordman Original Theme
KISS 2015 John Borg Kiss (band)
Game of Thrones 2015 Steve Ritchie Game of Thrones
Ghostbusters 2016 John Trudeau First two Ghostbusters films
Batman 66 2016 George Gomez Batman (TV series)
Aerosmith 2017 John Borg Aerosmith
Star Wars 2017 Steve Ritchie Star Wars original trilogy
Guardians of the Galaxy 2017 John Borg Guardians of the Galaxy (film)
Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast 2018 Keith Elwin Iron Maiden
Supreme 2018 George Gomez Supreme (brand)
Deadpool 2018 George Gomez Deadpool
The Beatles 2018 Joe Kaminkow The Beatles
Primus 2018 Dennis Nordman Original Theme
Munsters 2019 John Borg The Munsters
Black Knight: Sword of Rage 2019 Steve Ritchie Sequel to Black Knight (pinball) and Black Knight 2000
Jurassic Park 2019 Keith Elwin Jurassic Park (film)
Elvira's House of Horrors' 2019 Dennis Nordman Elvira's Movie Macabre and a sequel to Elvira and the Party Monsters and Scared Stiff (pinball)
Stranger Things 2019 Brian Eddy Stranger Things
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2020 John Borg Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Heavy Metal 2020 George Gomez Heavy Metal
Avengers: Infinity Quest 2020 Keith Elwin Avengers (comics)
Led Zeppelin 2020 Steve Ritchie Led Zeppelin
The Mandalorian 2021 Brian Eddy The Mandalorian
Godzilla 2021 Keith Elwin Godzilla
Rush 2022 John Borg Rush (band)
James Bond 007 2022 George Gomez Sean Connery James Bond films
James Bond 007 60th Anniversary 2022 Keith Elwin All James Bond Films
Foo Fighters 2023 Jack Danger Foo Fighters
Venom 2023 Brian Eddy Venom (character)
Jaws 2024 Keith Elwin Jaws (franchise)
John Wick 2024 Elliot Eismin John Wick

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Arcade games manufactured by Stern

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  • Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)[10]
  • Berzerk (1980)[10]
  • The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
  • Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Moon War (1981)
  • Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)[10]
  • Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Armored Car (1981)
  • Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
  • Frenzy (1982)[10]
  • Tazz-Mania (1982)
  • Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
  • Pooyan (1982)[10] (programmed by Konami)
  • Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
  • Rescue (1982)[10][11]
  • Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
  • Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
  • Mazer Blazer (1982)
  • Lost Tomb (1982)
  • Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
  • Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
  • Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
  • Minefield (1983)[10]
  • Cliff Hanger (1983)[10] (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
  • Great Guns (1984)
  • Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
  • Super Bagman (1984)[10] (programmed by Valadon Automation)

References

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  1. ^ "ATARI ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF BERZERK AND FRENZY IP". Atari. 16 March 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Pinball Runs Out of Wizardry". Chicago Tribune.
  3. ^ Davey, Monica (25 April 2008). "For a Pinball Survivor, the Game Isn't Over". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  4. ^ Pinball, Stern (6 August 2018). "About". Stern Pinball.
  5. ^ Pinball, Stern (20 December 2021). "Stern Pinball Enhances Game Design Studio". Stern Pinball.
  6. ^ "Cosmic Princess". Pinpedia.
  7. ^ a b c "The Internet Pinball Machine Database". www.ipdb.org.
  8. ^ "Internet Pinball Machine Database: Stern 'Big Game' Images". www.ipdb.org.
  9. ^ "Pinside Game Archive >> Stern (Manufacturer)". Pinside.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Stern Electronics – coin-operated machines". www.arcade-museum.com.
  11. ^ Sharpe, Roger C. (June 1983). "Insert Coin Here". Electronic Games. p. 92. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
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