The Battle Of The Pins: AVATAR Vs. The Uncanny X-MEN

I’m sure that the crossover from the headline of this post is one of those mash-ups you never thought would happen, but that is certainly coming into focus for both Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball as they are set to reveal brand new pinball machines this next week. Let’s see what is in store.

X-MEN & AVATAR Previews

First, in case you had not heard about these reveals, lets get you informed. First, let’s watch the teaser for The Uncanny X-MEN (Stern)

Now, for the AVATAR teases out of Jersey Jack Pinball. This was first sent to Knapp Arcade, who also has a different pic of the machine here. This obviously employs the use of UV lighting (something that Stern’s Stranger Things did, but as an upgrade kit), but who knows if that’s just for a specific mode or if it’s on all the time).

Then earlier today, JJP posted a blurry tease to their Facebook page.

It appears that both Stern and JJP will be unveiling full details on both games this coming week.

Thoughts

There are a couple of interesting elements unfolding here between the two companies. My first impression on X-Men though was “well, the rumors were totally wrong,” as I had heard from two separate confidential sources (before Knapp Arcade had mentioned anything) that it would be something else. That’s why I don’t like to post about rumors.

Stern had this shot in their original X-Men promo

My second thought was…”wait, again?” Stern had released X-MEN back in 2012, which included a Wolverine and Magneto LE editions. I would assume that this will have a different designer and artist though. Still, unless the original game was total trash, or it ended up becoming super rare, I’m not a big fan of these revisits (I’d take a TRON Vault Edition with SPIKE-2, but I can’t think of many others that really needs a reissue).

Note that in talking with a distributor, I was told that Stern will begin shipping out the Limited Editions first, then Pro/Premium later. It sounds like this is a new policy moving forward, perhaps due to the cost of the machines and some LE customers getting upset that they have to wait, despite paying more. They will also limit the LE at 811 units.

Now we get to AVATAR. Stern had done that license back in 2010. While the user ratings aren’t terrible for it, it was a fairly big dud sales-wise. That was a shock, given how well the movie had done, but at the time, Stern was alone in the market – they had zero competition, thus little incentive to innovate. AVATAR was the catalyst to change all that though, as it was that game that pushed Jack Guarneri to found Jersey Jack Pinball in the first place.

Now things have come full circle. Will JJP be able to pull off the game that should’ve been released back in 2010, or will they fall short? The teases look good so far, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Pinball Rant Space

Reading the tea leaves of the pinball community, reactions on both games are mixed so far, at least judging by the gut reactions to the themes that I’m seeing. It seems that everyone had other expectations for the next themes from each manufacturer (Harry Potter has continually been rumored to be in the works at JJP).

I don’t get very excited about themes myself as that isn’t always a guarantee that a game will earn – especially if a franchise ends up getting murdered by the IP holder (*coughStar Warscough*). I’ve also noticed that what themes work and which ones don’t is a crapshoot. For the entire 2024 year, The Addams Family has been my #1 earning pin at my location. A 30 year old game should not be consistently out earning newer games. Are people really that big of fans of the original TAF movie? Not by the box office numbers. But that shows how far good game design can get you. Even my Terminator 3 pin still does admirably, despite everyone intentionally forgetting about any movie made in that franchise after T2.

The real question I now ask when I see a new game is: what else does it bring to the table? What makes it worth the $8000-$12,000 that you’re asking for it? Can the game actually earn to make it worth that investment, or am I just supposed to hope it’ll hold its value so that I break even when I resell it a few years down the road?

Now I get it – something crazy like 75% of pinball sales go to home consumers at this point. Making that segment happy first makes plenty of business sense just due to demand. At the same time, has anyone in the pinball development space asked themselves why they lost so many operators and how they can get them back? As I’ve stated before, pinball is in such a place for me that it makes more sense to wait a year and see if any other ops are saying whether or not a game can earn, before I’d even consider investing into it. Sometimes, even if I hear that a particular game is doing well, I look at the numbers (price vs. earnings) and it still doesn’t make sense.

Along those lines, this brings up one of my “pinball pet peeves”. I’ve barely ever heard of location testing the games to find out how well they earn, even back when ops were the majority of buyers. That is partly due to tradition as to why this is the case; another part due to the license; a third down to the possibility of unveiling a new feature. I could argue why these are weak reasons to not be testing, but overall it shows little regard for buyers by avoiding it.

I would contend that if a game can earn really well in any situation, then it will be more desirable for all buyers. Does anyone seriously think that a game that’s earning well on location would somehow be persona non grata among collectors? That doesn’t make any sense. Yet, design is still focused backwards by my view – “just get a license that collectors will buy, then hope it sells” as opposed to “let’s make an awesome game that earns regardless the license and let that do the heavy lifting after the theme hooks them in”.

The other related thing that bothers me about pinball is that we instead get a several thousand dollar early access product that is never finished when it rolls off the assembly line (this is true of every major manufacturer). Testing after the fact eventually gets the software of some games up to snuff, but I would argue that a game that is vetted and crafted as a great product from the get-go will sell better than one where you figure it out as you go along. “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” as the saying goes and how many people didn’t come back to a game because it sucked on an earlier iteration of the code? I’ve done that. I’m sure many others have too.

This shouldn’t be the standard, but I suppose since it’s become “tradition,” its easier to keep doing it that way instead of finding a better way. That’s frustrating as it seems that culturally, pinball has never been as popular as it is now. Yet paradoxically, it is one of the worst earning pieces in most venues.

Of course, I might be blowing this all out of proportion as a problem. Sometimes, you can reel customers back in with a cool mode. Although that only works with the hardcore players. Casuals don’t have a clue that all this extra stuff is packed into the game and how to access it. But, enough hardcore players come back to it and they can make up the difference.

Anyways, enough ranting on that. What do you think of the upcoming X-Men and Avatar pinball releases?