STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – MAY 2021
Back to All News
05/04/21

STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – MAY 2021

The Stern of the Union Address will be presented on the first Tuesday of every month (holiday and vacation excepted).  Without further ado my fellow pinheads:

May the 4th Be With You:

IGN Unboxing – Avengers: Infinity Quest Pinball:

IGN unboxes an Avengers: Infinity Quest Pinball Premium machine, highlighting all of the gravity-defying features of this innovative game!  Check out this exclusive IGN pinball unboxing video here.

NECA TMNT Walmart Exclusive:

Cowabunga, dudes!  Stern Pinball teamed up directly with NECA to serve up a heaping helping of total awesomeness in honor of the TMNT pinball game.  Exclusivley sold through select Walmart stores, this loot crate box includes pizza magnets, a Rocksteady and Bebop keychain, a Krang beanie, custom t-shirt, and an exclusive Shredder action figure…a definite collector’s item if you were lucky to get one!

Stranger Things in American Airlines Magazine:

We’ve seen stranger things on a crossworld puzzle…

PlayStrongTM:

Do you have a PlayStrongTM pinball story to share with the world?  Send your inspirational message and pictures to Insider@sternpinball.com for a chance to be featured across Stern’s social media channels in addition to winning exclusive Stern swag and merchandise!

Check out these incredible #PlayStrong stories!  Live from New York, it’s Ghostbusters pinball on Saturday Night Live!  Check out the latest Barenaked Ladies’ new music video Flip with a special visual treat!  Here’s a throwback of actor Karl Urban becoming one with the force at a previous Comic Con.  And no better way for Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan to promote a new Las Vegas resort experience than through the power of pinball!

International Pinball Press:

Check out an incredible pinball feature in this latest Austrian newspaper feature, Der Standard.

Gameroom of the Month:

Congrats to Chris and Cheryl Grace for winning Gameroom of the Month!  Do you have a special home gameroom you want to share with the world?  Leave a photo comment on this Facebook post and you may be our next winner!  Not on social media?  Not a problem!  You can submit your incredible gameroom directly to Insider@sternpinball.com for your chance to win an exclusive Stern Swag Pack!

Casting Call:

Think you have what it takes?  Stern Pinball is calling all pinheads, flippers, and pinball enthusiasts!  We are looking for the best and brightest to come and compete in future Stern Heads-Up Pinball Invitationals.  Check out all details here and apply today!

Pinball Rental Program:

Stay entertained by staying inside with the latest Stern Pinball machines!  Even if your local bar or arcade is temporarily unavailable, there are plenty of opportunities to play the newest Stern games.  Contact your local authorized Stern dealer for more information on renting your very own Stern pinball machine where available!  https://sternpinball.com/find-a-dealer/


Stern Army Updates:

The Stern Army continues to grow with members spreading the gospel of pinball across the globe.  Here are our newest members and the pinball locations they support:

  • Private Fred Richardson of South Carolina (Bang Back Pinball Lounge)

Congratulations to the following Stern Army members on their promotion from Specialist to Corporal:

  • Corporal Nathan Eppley of Pennsylvania (Champions Sports Bar)
  • Corporal Joe Albertson of North Carolina (Palmer St. Game Bar and The Basement Arcade Bar)

Congratulations to the following Stern Army members on their promotion from Private First Class to Specialist:

  • Specialist Kurt van Zyl of Florida (The Pinball Lounge)
  • Specialist Allison Amirault of Canada (Chocolate Lake Arcade)
  • Specialist Scott Kirvan of Washington (Slaughter County Brewery)
  • Specialist Justin Withnell of Australia (Tattersalls Hotel)
  • Specialist Ray Leitzke of Illinois (Gameworks)

For more information and to join the Stern Army, please reach out to SternArmy@sternpinball.com

Stern Insider All-Access:

Congrats to Bob from Wisconsin, April’s Stern Insider All-Access winner!  Bob received an Avengers: Infinity Quest autographed playfield!  Do you have All-Access?  Register and become a Stern Insider today! https://sternpinball.com/stern-insider/

Gary Stern AMA All-Access Exclusive:

Available only for All-Access members, last chance to ask Gary anything for his upcoming AMA!  Only registered All-Access members will have their questions considered.  Don’t have All-Access?  Register and become an All-Access member today!

Status of Code:

We are continuously working to update and improve software for our machines.  There are always code updates and bug fixes in various stages of development; we will release them upon update completion.  Here are some of the latest updates and the status of things in the works.  If you would like to join our mailing list for code updates, please send an e-mail to Code.Updates@sternpinball.com.  If you do encounter any bugs please feel free to provide information to bug.report@sternpinball.com

  • Led Zeppelin – For all Led Zeppelin owners, please make sure you are up to date with the most current code version (v1.02.0) released last month. This code contains numerous game enhancements including the new Band Boost feature (activated by the action button), Diamond Record feature (achieved by reaching the ? Wizard Mode), and new Keyed Sound Effects for enhanced choreography and gameplay experience! This code update also includes additional polish, adjustments and bug fixes.
  • Avengers: Infinity Quest – For all Avengers owners, please make sure you are up to date with the most current code version (v1.01.0) released last month.

Dead Flip Pinball Streaming:

Make sure you are subscribed to Jack Danger’s Dead Flip channel to watch some special streams including last month’s highlights of “How to Remove a SPIKE2 Playfield” and “Installing Expression Light System Accessory on Led Zeppelin Pro”!


Accessories:

Check out our Stern Shop for all accessories, collectibles, clothing and more including this month’s featured items, the Stern Bistro Mug and Stern Retro Pint Glass!  Free domestic shipping on orders of $50 or more on all Stern merchandise.

Stern Pinball accessories are also available to purchase from your local authorized dealer – https://sternpinball.com/find-a-dealer/

Stern Spotlight – Rick Naegele:

My journey to pinball was not as direct as most people. When I was in high school in the early 90’s there were two games in the arcades that seemed to capture my attention like no other. The first being Mortal Kombat II by Midway and the second being Terminator 2 by Williams. I mostly gravitated toward these because if you got good at them then your money could last a lot longer. I would play T2 when you needed to stretch out your pocket change out for an hour or so while waiting for hockey practice to start up after school. The T2 at my local ice rink was always good for a replay or two.

After high school I enrolled at Northern Illinois University. Video game programming was not a major back in those days and many of my programming courses in the late 90’s were geared towards business applications. I had my own PC at the time and taught myself some graphics concepts using DirectX with the hope of learning more about video game programming.

After graduating from NIU with a BS in Computer Science, I was able to land my first job in the game industry making basketball video games for Electronic Arts at NuFX in Hoffman Estates, IL. After a few years I accepted a position at Midway Games on George Gomez’s team in 2003 when he was working on XBOX and Playstation games. At Midway, I worked on NBA Ballers and also helped out on Mortal Kombat: Deception in 2004. I met many people at my time at Midway that were former Williams employees that had lived through the closing of the pinball division. I never thought pinball would be an option for me to work on because it was such a small market at the time.

I bounced around to a few more video game jobs in the late 2000’s. Then in 2010 I took a job at WMS making slot machine software. I made a bunch of slots for WMS including Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Beetlejuice, and Space Invaders. This is where I met and worked with Dwight Sullivan on a few games in 2013 and 2014 before he came back to work at Stern in late 2014.

In early 2017, I was still working at WMS and sitting in a cubicle in 3401 N. California Ave. when George Gomez messaged me and asked me if I would be interested in making pinball games at Stern. I said, “Sure!” and silently thought that my skill set didn’t really match up since I was a video game guy. I didn’t know this at the time but I didn’t really need to have a pinball skill set because I was going to be tasked with implementing software rulesets for Keith Elwin. I had no idea that he was a top competitive player. I hadn’t played much pinball since the days of T2 at the ice rink in the 90’s. I started on a few month long crash course on what happened in the last 25 years in pinball and picked it up as a hobby again by playing a bunch of Stern’s latest releases. After getting my bearings at Stern I managed to lead the software development of Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast and implemented Keith’s ruleset for his first Stern pinball machine. Keith and I have now also worked together on both Jurassic Park and Avengers: Infinity Quest.

This summer will now mark my 4th year at Stern Pinball. There are so many creative and talented people that work behind the scenes to make sure the experience of playing a Stern game is the best it can be. It’s been a fun ride at Stern so far and I hope there will be more great games to come!

Related Posts
03/04/25

STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – MARCH…

Read More
02/20/25

Lionsgate and Stern Pinball Launch Full Line…

Read More
02/04/25

STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – FEBRUARY…

Read More

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)

STERN PINBALL

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

This limited software license Agreement (“Agreement”) applies to your use of Stern Pinball Software pre-installed on a Stern Pinball Machine and any Authorized Updates made available to you. BY USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, do not use your Stern Pinball Machine or any Authorized Updates. Please read this entire Agreement, which governs your use of the Stern Pinball Machine, Stern Pinball Software and all Authorized Updates. ADULT CONSENT TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST BE AN ADULT OF THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY IN YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE. YOU ARE LEGALLY AND FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ACTIONS USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE AND SOFTWARE AND ACCESSING OR USING ANY ONLINE GAMING PLATFORM, INCLUDING THE ACTIONS OF ANYONE YOU ALLOW TO USE AND ACCESS TO YOUR MACHINE AND ANY ASSOCIATED ACCOUNT. YOU AFFIRM THAT YOU HAVE REACHED THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, YOUR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN MUST CONSENT TO THIS AGREEMENT. DEFINITIONS.
  1. “Stern Pinball Machine” means a Stern Pinball arcade game machine.
  2. “Stern Pinball Software” means software (including but not limited to firmware) pre-installed in the Stern Pinball Machine, including all Authorized Content and any Authorized Updates that Stern Pinball may make available to You from time to time.
  3. “Authorized Content” means all Stern Pinball and third-party owned software and content incorporated into or used with the Stern Pinball Software or otherwise embedded in or utilized by a Stern Pinball Machine, including but not limited to graphics, images, music, vocals and voices.
  4. “Authorized Update” means an update to the Stern Pinball Software distributed by Stern Pinball or otherwise made available by Stern Pinball, including for download on its web site.
  5. “Unauthorized Content” means all content, including but not limited to limited to graphics, images, music, vocals and voices, that does not comprise Authorized Content or an Authorized Update.
  6. “Unauthorized Software” means any software (including but not limited to firmware) not pre-installed by Stern Pinball on a Stern Pinball Machine or that does not comprise Authorized Content or Authorized Update.
  7. “You” means the purchaser or current owner of a Stern Pinball Machine.
LICENSE. Stern Pinball hereby grants You a nonexclusive, non-transferable, limited, and revocable right and license to use one copy of the Stern Pinball Software and Authorized Content and any Authorized Update solely for your personal use, or that of your patrons and customers if you are a commercial entity, for playing a single Stern Pinball Machine. The Stern Pinball Software, Authorized Content and Authorized Updates are licensed, not sold, to You, and no ownership rights are transferred by this Agreement. The Stern Pinball Software Authorized Content and Authorized Updates are protected by U.S. and international copyright. All rights not explicitly granted to you in this Agreement are reserved by Stern Pinball.
  1. As a condition to this Stern Pinball Software license, You agree that:
    1. You will not copy, reproduce, alter, replace, distribute, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, display, perform, create derivative works based on, or otherwise modify the Stern Pinball hardware or Stern Pinball Software or any Authorized Update, in whole or in part; and will not commercially exploit any of the foregoing.
    2. You will not use or install any Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software. Use of Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software may result in your Stern Pinball Machine ceasing to work permanently and/or losing access to Stern Pinball’s online game network, either immediately or after a later installed Authorized Update.
    3. You will not create, develop, distribute or assist anyone else in creating, developing or distributing any Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software intended for use with a Stern Pinball Machine, whether to add to or modify the gameplay, any audio content (whether music, sound or voice), or any video content of any Stern Pinball Machine, or to gain advantage in any online or other game modes, or otherwise.
    4. You will not share any Stern Pinball Software, Authorized Content or Authorized Update with any other person or company and will not permit anyone else to access or copy any Stern Pinball Software or Authorized Content or Authorized Update installed on your Machine for any purpose.
    5. In view of the rights held by third-party owners of Authorized Content (e.g., music and video clips), Stern does not have the legal authority to give permission to stream the gameplay of Stern Pinball Machines.
    6. You will not attempt to defeat or circumvent any anti-piracy, security, and/or technical measures to control access to the Stern Pinball Software, features, functions or content, prevent unauthorized use, or otherwise prevent anyone from exceeding the limited license rights granted under this Agreement, “Security Measures”. Attempting to defeat or circumvent any Security Measure may result in your Stern Pinball Machine ceasing to work permanently either immediately or after a later installed Authorized Update.
    7. Stern Pinball may update the Stern Pinball Software from time to time without further notice to You, for example, to update any anti-piracy, security, and technical measure.
PRIVACY POLICY Your use of the Stern Pinball Machine, Stern Pinball Software and any Authorized Updates are subject to Stern Pinball’s Privacy Policy which can be found at https://sternpinball.com/privacy-policy/   WARRANTY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED HEREIN, THE STERN PINBALL SOFTWARE, AUTHORIZED CONTENT AND AUTHORIZED UPDATES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW, STERN PINBALL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, STERN PINBALL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT OPERATION OF THE STERN PINBALL MACHINE OR ANY ONLINE OR CONNECTED GAME NETWORK WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES STERN PINBALL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES; ANY LOSS OF DATA, PRIVACY, CONFIDENTIALITY, OR PROFITS; OR ANY INABILITY TO USE THE STERN PINBALL MACHINE, STERN PINBALL SOFTWARE OR ANY AUTHORIZED UPDATE. THESE EXCLUSIONS APPLY EVEN IF STERN PINBALL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. Some countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so this limitation or exclusion may not apply to You. These terms apply to the maximum extent permitted by law and unless prohibited by law. These terms do not change your rights under the laws of your country if those laws do not permit that change. TERRITORY AND CHOICE OF LAW This License is valid only in the country in which you purchased your Stern Pinball Machine. This License will be subject to and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, U.S.A., regardless of conflict of laws principles. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Cook County, Illinois, U.S.A. for the resolution of any dispute regarding this Agreement or the subject matter of this Agreement and to waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. This Agreement may be updated by Stern Pinball from time to time with the current version posted at www.sternpinball.com/EULA. Your continued use of the Stern Pinball Software an Authorized Update after an updated Agreement has been posted constitutes your acceptance of all of its terms.
DOWNLOAD EULA (.PDF)
DOWNLOAD GAME CODE