Stern Pinball Unveils A Home Model For Star Wars

It’s no secret that a large portion of the buyers for pinball machines are home owners & collectors. I’ve heard different numbers thrown around as to what the percentage is, but I’m sure it varies from machine to machine. Anecdotally, most people I know that are really into pinball have a machine or two (or dozen) in their homes.

Stern has released some special home editions of particular games before, including Transformers, The Avengers and the Dark Knight. Now, Star Wars is joining the fray, with a special home edition announced at $4500. Here’s the quick trailer:

Compared to the other home editions, it does seem like this is giving you a little bit more for the money, as it does have two big toys that are found on commercial models and an LCD screen(albeit a small one). I’ve heard some complain about how much was spent on the likes of Transformers, when for an extra $1500 you could get the “real” thing with more to it. I still have to chuckle at the thought of $4500 being called “affordable,” but I suppose that is technically correct when you look at prices of Premium or LEs. But it’s still not a huge jump to spend a little more and buy a Pro Star Wars (which I’ve seen listed in the $5500-5700 area).

It’s hard to fully judge this game by 30 seconds of footage, but it appears that the way the table flows is a little better than the commercial models. One flaw about Star Wars’ design (I have a Premium model) is that the way that the ball flies out onto the playfield sometimes causes it to immediately drain down the left-hand outlane. Then the automatic ball save does the same thing! It doesn’t happen every time or in every game, but it is a frustrating flaw that this home model wouldn’t appear to have since those targets are no longer in that position.

I’m seeing a lot of mixed reactions about this online, in part because a lot of fans were getting jazzed up about a supposed reveal for a full-blown game – rumor had said Jurassic Park/World, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure or another Elvira design (consensus seems set on Elvira going to be revealed in October, which makes sense). Since this is another variation of a previously released theme, it’s understandable that some would be disappointed with it. What about you? Happy or disappointed?