World’s Leading Maker of Arcade Quality Pinball Announces Newest Addition to Rock and Roll Collection

MELROSE PARK, IL –April 11, 2013 – Stern Pinball, Inc., the world’s leading maker of real pinball games, proudly announced today the availability of the Metallica pinball game. The newest addition to the iconic Stern collection of rock and roll machines honors one of the world’s foremost rock bands. Metallica’s notoriously fast tempos and aggressive musicianship sets the tone for an exciting player experience.

Players will be able to bang their heads and their flippers to 12 classic Metallica hits including “Master of Puppets,” “One” and “Fade to Black.” Other action-packed game features include an electric chair, snake, grave marker and unparalleled magnetic action. 

“We are proud to release our newest music-themed game designed to capture the raw, rebellious nature of Metallica,” said Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball, Inc.” 

The Metallica game continues both the Stern Pinball and the Stern family tradition of producing quality pinball machines for young and old. The company traces its lineage to Philadelphia in the 1930s when Sam Stern entered the business of operating pinball games. Sam Stern subsequently became part owner and president of Williams Manufacturing, a pioneer in the pinball industry, and passed his lifelong enthusiasm for the game and the business of pinball to his son Gary Stern who founded Stern Pinball. Today pinball remains one of America’s favorite pastimes. 

Formed in 1981 by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, Metallica have become one of the most influential and commercially successful rock bands in history, having sold 110 million albums worldwide and playing to millions of fans the world over. They have scored several multi-platinum albums, including 1991’s Metallica (commonly referred to as “The Black Album”), which is the best selling album in history of Soundscan scanning 16 million albums in the United States alone.  Their latest album, Death Magnetic, was certified platinum just six weeks after it debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 Album chart in October 2008. Death Magnetic charted at #1 in 32 countries. Metallica have also garnered numerous awards and accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, and multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.  The band recently celebrated its 30th-Anniversary with a week’s worth of fan club concerts at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco, CA.   In 2012, they announced the launch of Orion Music + More, an annual two-day festival curated and headlined by the band.  This past summer, Metallica unveiled a brand new stage in Mexico City that featured iconic elements that spanned its 30-year career.  They played eight shows to nearly 180,000 fans at the Sports Arena in Mexico City.   Later that month the band performed four shows on the same stage in Canada, two in Edmonton and two in Vancouver, during which they shot their upcoming Nimród Antal directed 3D Feature Film, Through The Never, which will be released in 2013. 

Pricing and Availability:

The Metallica pinball machine is available through authorized Stern distributors and dealers.

Pro Version:  $4,995

Premium Version (road case): $6,995 

Limited Edition Version: (Master of Puppets) $7,595

To learn more about The Metallica pinball game and Stern Pinball, visit www.sternpinball.com. 

About Stern Pinball, Inc. 

Stern Pinball, Inc., headquartered just outside Chicago, Illinois, is the leading producer of pinball games in the world. Stern’s highly talented creative and technical teams design, engineer and manufacture popular arcade-quality pinball games.  Recent popular Stern titles include Avengers, X-Men, ACDC, Tron, Transformers, Avatar, Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman and many more. All of Stern’s pinball games are crafted by hand and assembled by Stern’s expert team. Both pinball enthusiasts and casual players around the globe enjoy Stern’s games. For more information visit www.sternpinball.com.

DROP TARGET #5 - The Community Issue
64 pages! - 5.5" x 8.5" - B&W printing
First Printing: 8.5" x 14" full-color centerfold, screenprinted cover

FEATURING:
- 6TH ANNUAL PACIFIC PINBALL EXPOSITION: A written account (with illustrations) of Alec's first trip to a pinball expo.
- PINHALLS: Reciprocal Skateboards - New York, NY
- OBSERVATIONS ON A COMPETITION: A comic about Jon's first trip to a pinball competition: Pinferno 2012!
- THE REPLAY REVIEW: Addams Family (Bally, 1992)
- VIDEO MODE: Pinball Archive Videos
- SPECIAL WHEN LITERATURE: Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami
- DREAM MACHINES: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Alec Longstreth, Groo the Wanderer by Ryan Claytor, Inspector Gadget by Jon Chad
- TILT TALK: Interview with PAPA director Mark Steinman
- MY DAY WITH THE CRAZY FLIPPER FINGERS: a comic by Alec Longstreth!
- BANG BACKS: www.pinballmap.com & App

There are a few opportunities to buy the zines from us in person in the coming weeks.  Those details plus more are available over on the Drop Target site.

This issue features a cover illustration of a pinbal component near and dear to our hearts!  I know I say this a lot on here, amigos, but we are incredibly pumped about this issue.  As I type this, all 400 copies of the first printing are sitting in my office collated and stapled.  All they need to be is folded, and we'll be off to the races!  Is you mouth watering?  Are you barely containing yourself knowing that a new DTZ is less than a week away?!  SO. ARE. WE.

At one point we had to drive up to Burlington, which is about an hour and a half from White River Junction.  We decided to put that time to use!  Jon grabbed his laptop and I actually wrote a few articles for the zine while zipping down the freeway at 70 MPH.

Jon told me that a few times in the past he had stapled his zines in a car, en route to a festival, but this was the first time he'd ever seen someone actually creating their zine in a moving car!

Sadly, my week in Vermont was not quite long enough to finish off the zine, but we did manage to nail down the final page count (64!!!) and Jon printed up the covers and the center spreads.  I worked on my remaining pages during the next leg of my trip, to Bahrain in the Middle East.

I was in Bahrain to teach a series of comics workshops with my boss, James Sturm.  During our long flight over, I mentioned to James that I really wanted to try and play some pinball while I was in Bahrain, if such a thing was possible.

Amazingly, a few days into our trip, without any prompting from me, our contact at the US Embassy mentioned that he had rescued a pinball machine that was going to be thrown out, from the US Navy base in Bahrain.  A dinner was arranged at his house, and BAM!  Just like that, I was playing pinball in the Middle East!  

I'm back in the US now, and wrapping up my last few pages of Drop Target.  We should have everything set and proofread by this weekend, so issue 5 will be going to press very soon!  We should have ordering information to share with everyone by the end of March.  Thanks for your patience while we get this issue together.

Avengers Premium Pinball Game Joins Stern’s Superhero Lineup

MELROSE PARK, IL – March 20, 2013 – Stern Pinball Inc., the world’s leading maker of real pinball games, announced today the release of The Avengers Premium pinball machine. Stern’s Avengers Premium model boasts the same exciting playfield features as the Limited Edition models and a unique Premium translite.

The newest member of the Stern collection memorializes The Avengers, a franchise that has remained a staple in pop culture since it first appeared as a comic book series in 1963. The Avengers will join Stern’s innovative line-up of comic-inspired machines including X-Men, Spiderman, Iron Man and Batman.

For almost 50 years The Avengers have delighted fans through comic books, television series and movies. Stern is thrilled to bring the franchise to pinball and provide fans with a new medium through which to enjoy The Avengers. The machine features a dynamic setting that incorporates six iconic Avenger heroes: Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Players help The Avengers assemble to defeat the notorious villain Loki. The Avengers pinball features an animated twisting and pounding custom molded HULK, drop targets and a spinning cube bonus, in addition to plenty of multiball action.

The Avengers game continues both the Stern Pinball and the Stern family tradition of producing quality pinball machines for young and old. The company traces its lineage to Philadelphia in the 1930s when Sam Stern entered the business of operating pinball games. Sam Stern subsequently became part owner and president of Williams Manufacturing, a pioneer in the pinball industry, and passed his lifelong enthusiasm for the game and the business of pinball to his son Gary Stern who founded Stern Pinball. Today pinball remains one of America’s favorite pastimes. 

To learn more about The Avengers pinball models and Stern Pinball, please visit www.sternpinball.com. 

About Stern Pinball 

Stern Pinball, Inc., located just outside Chicago, Illinois, designs and manufactures arcade-quality pinball games. Stern is the only maker of full-sized, arcade quality pinball games on the planet and has released many popular titles including X-Men, AC/DC, Transformers, Avatar, The Rolling Stones, Iron Man, Tron and many more. Stern’s games continue to be enjoyed by both pinball enthusiasts and casual players around the globe. For more information, please visit www.sternpinball.com.

Gary Stern Presents Trophies to Enada Show Pinball Tournament Players

Stern Pinball  Sponsors Tournament of World Class Players

MELROSE PARK, IL – March 15, 2013 – Stern Pinball, Inc., the world’s leading maker of real pinball games, announced that CEO Gary Stern presented trophies to the winners of the Enada Show Stern Pinball Tournament in Italy today. The event was sponsored by the IFPA, Technoplay, Gioco News, and Stern Pinball. The tournament included world class players competing on several Stern Pinball titles (AC/DC, Avatar, X- Men, Iron Man, and Avengers).

1st Place: Mario Anzini

2nd Place: Mauro Spiga

3rd Place: Nicola Pierobon

4th Place: Valentino

About Stern Pinball, Inc. 

Stern Pinball, Inc., headquartered just outside Chicago, Illinois, is the leading producer of pinball games in the world. Stern’s highly talented creative and technical teams design, engineer and manufacture popular, arcade-quality pinball games.  Recent popular Stern titles include Tron, Transformers, Avatar, Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman, Big Buck Hunter, AC/DC, Xmen, Avengers and many more. All of Stern’s pinball games are crafted by hand and assembled by Stern’s expert team. Both pinball enthusiasts and casual players around the globe enjoy Stern’s games. For more information visit www.sternpinball.com.

Stern Offers New Blue Display For Pinball Games

MELROSE PARK, IL – March 14, 2013– Stern Pinball, Inc., the world’s leading maker of real pinball games, today announced a special promotion on a new Blue Dot Matrix Display Kit. The blue display is the perfect addition to Avengers, Tron, X-Men, Avatar and many other great Stern games.

These kits will be available in mid-April from authorized Stern distributors and dealers as well as from Stern’s Parts Department. The Blue Dot Matrix Display Kit will include the display and a film, and is easy to install. 

Pricing and Availability

Blue Dot Matrix Display Kits are available from authorized Stern distributors and dealers, and from Stern at $399 plus freight and any applicable sales tax. Customers can order these kits by contacting their authorized Stern distributor or dealer or by contacting Dorothy Brown in Stern’s Parts Department at 708-786-7040 or dorothy.brown@sternpinball.com.  Stern accepts Visa, MasterCard and American Express.  The part number associated with the kit is: 502-6811-00 

Customers outside the US should contact their local authorized Stern distributor or dealer.

About Stern Pinball, Inc. 

Stern Pinball, Inc., located just outside Chicago, Illinois, designs and manufactures arcade-quality pinball games. Stern is the leading maker of full-sized, arcade quality pinball games on the planet and has released many popular games, including Xmen, Avengers, AC/DC, Transformers, Avatar, The Rolling Stones, Iron Man, Tron and many more. Stern’s games continue to be enjoyed by both pinball enthusiasts and casual players around the globe. For more information, please visit www.sternpinball.com. 

Brand new code update for Transformers Pro, Transformers LE, X-Men Pro, and X-Men LE are now available in the code library. 

The links for the new code are: 

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/XMEN_PRO_english.zip

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/XMEN_LE_english.zip

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/TFenglish.zip

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/TF_LE_english.zip

Thank you for all of your support,

The Stern Pinball Team

Alec has left the hallowed halls of DTZ HQ and is having an amazing time in Bahrain!  The next issue of DTZ is nearly complete, and it is going to be a DOOZY!  We'll keep you in the loop!