UPDATE: Stern has officially released details on Jurassic Park pinball. See below for updates!
Rumors don’t seem to stay quiet for long in the pinball world, and the chatter has been heavily hinting at/implying that Stern’s next table would be Jurassic Park. Today, that is confirmed to be the case, thanks to a series of posts found over at the Pinside forums.
Jurassic Park is no stranger to arcades; Sega had two video titles with the name (based upon the 1993 & ’97 films) as well as a Lost World pin; Konami released Jurassic Park III back in 2001; Data East did Jurassic Park pinball back in ’93; and of course Raw Thrills is still making Jurassic Park Arcade, which was released back in 2015. For the later of this group, that is still my #1 or #2 earning game, week-in, week-out.
For the new table, it will be available in three flavors, the typical Pro, Premium and LE. This is a design by Keith Elwin, who has Iron Maiden under his belt. Let’s start with the Pro…these are not the best pics, but it’s what’s spreading all over social media like wildfire already. They also include various game details, but I will gladly update to high rez pics once the official reveal rolls out.
UPDATE: Here’s the reveal trailer. Best I can tell, the main/significant difference is the moving T-Rex head and the interactive raptor/wire fence target in the middle left. The helicopter spinner is metal in the Premium/LE, but that can probably be replaced with a mod. It also has 4 up-posts instead of 3.
You can also find the features matrix here as a PDF file.
Pro model
Next is the Premium and LE. The playfield does not look drastically different here, but it’s impossible to tell by these photos; I’m sure it has more than just different art and the T-Rex head sticking to the side (seems likely that it will move in these models). As outlined up higher, the general layout of the playfield is the same, they just changed some of the targets and features by enhancing them. LE also has the sideblade artwork.
Update: Limited Edition shot. Only 500 are being made:
And finally, the game rules card. The main goals are to rescue park staff as well as recapturing escaped dinosaurs; you also have a few multiball modes to enjoy.
From the comments online, some are perplexed by this not being based on the newer Jurassic World, a seqboot (sequel/reboot) of the ’93 film. By what I’ve seen, the general public really won’t care, as it’s close enough. Raw Thrills’ Jurassic Park did it’s own thing, not using any of the characters from either the films or the books, and while it came out around the time of the first Jurassic World, it’s earned just fine. I can see where collectors might be disappointed but let’s be honest – anyone that can afford a pinball machine for their home has a much stronger connection to the original films than they do to the modern sequels. Kids that might automatically identify with World can’t exactly afford such machines yet, and they’ll see JURASSIC and DINOSAURS!, which is all that matters to most of them.
One question up in the air is whether or not this will have any involvement from the original JP films actors like Sam Neill, Laura Dern or Jeff Goldblum. I think it would be remiss to not use any of them or clips from the films, but that’s one of those things we’ll have to wait to see on. It is a three flipper game; I like the idea of the perks and the Pro looks plenty detailed. That all said, I’ll wait to make a final judgment on the game. I like to wait to play it and not form the entire opinion based off of (low rez) photos.
Granted, for long time pinball players, they will inevitably compare this to the two existing JP pins from the 90’s. Unfortunately my exposure to those two games has been very limited (I played Lost World once, years ago).
What do you think of it so far?
