Stern Pinball Launches VENOM For Collectors & Arcades

Stern Pinball is doing a slow-cook rollout of info on their newest game VENOM, although today brings a bit more info to chew on, including a quick game trailer. Designed by Brian Eddy with Zombie Yeti producing the artwork, my general feeling from this trailer is that the game captures a great feel for the characters and gives us some interesting gameplay to top it off. This is not Stern’s first rodeo with Marvel nor Spider-Man but it is a unique design compared to those

As usual, there are 3 models – Pro, Premium & LE, with different times seeing production of each (it will take a few months for all models to fully roll out). Pros are listed at an MSRP of $6999 but don’t be surprised if you see them for sale at higher rates, depending upon the seller.

From the webpage detailing the game:

Stern’s Venom pinball games will immerse players into the mayhem of this antihero’s Marvel Universe, featuring more than 20 characters including: Eddie Brock, Flash Thompson, Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker, Black Suit Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Riot, Agony, Lasher, Phage, Doppelganger, Venomized Hulk, Venomized Wolverine and Venomized Captain America. Venom’s arch enemy Carnage is collecting Codices to awaken Knull, the God of the symbiotes. Venom must stop Carnage by battling through his army of symbiotes and the Infected to prevent him from taking over the world.

Playing as Venom, gamers will select a host to bond with at the start of each game, altering the entire gaming experience both physically and digitally. Vertical pinball lock symbiote containment vessels located on both sides of the playfield lock and quickly release balls for constant frenetic action as players explore shots through the mechanically changing Agro-Lab and Life Foundation pathways. Players will bash an interactive, custom sculpted Carnage captive ball back into Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane. Additionally, a surprise Doppelganger attack can swing into action at a moment’s notice, unveiling three uplift targets wreaking chaos.

Here’s a link to the Features Matrix if you care to browse – it’s always a little bit of a challenge to sort these things out beyond what quick moments in a trailer shows. One thing I caught is that the Premium/LE has 4 ramps instead of 2 on the Pro and they have that moving target as seen in the trailer (it’s been a very long time since I read a Spider-Man comic and I’ve never owned a Venom one as I recall, so I don’t know the names of each Venom variant).

For those pinball wizards who really like to get into the weeds, here’s a 31 page ruleset document. While there are photos on Stern’s website, most are close-ups and they block you from grabbing them in an easy way(apparently they’ll release photos on the 21st), but here’s what I managed to snag of the Pro playfield:

The game will be at the San Diego Comic Con, which starts this Thursday. Stern is also holding a half-hour online presentation for Insiders this afternoon – I’ll try and check it out if I get a chance.

What do you think about this game from the reveal? Interested in adding it to your collection or your game room floor?