In a Comic-Con lounge that featured a life-sized and eerily lifelike replica of Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws, Stern Pinball demonstrated their two newest machines. One’s a revamp; the other a debut from a property as known for quick reflexes and skill as pinball itself.
The High Tables
The Godzilla 70th anniversary machine is basically a black-and-white skin of Stern’s previous Godzilla machine, with a full-on collapsing building effect, and original screen animations — combined with film footage — that look so like the original man-in-suit movies that they apparently fooled some Toho folks. What’s new to this game is an ability to skip straight to the final all-out multi-ball brawl — it helps to have an Insider Connected app account via the codes on every Stern machine. Quarters still work, for the Luddites.
The John Wick game features an original score by Anthrax’s Charlie Benante, and includes effects like a car that spins out sideways, and a weapons cache that opens, along with a miniature Continental in the thick of things. As if to prove it takes hitman-like reflexes, Keanu Reeves himself gave it a go at the show:
Clearly he is not yet the Baba Yaga of pinball wizardry.
The game itself isn’t as cluttered as the Godzilla game, which can make for smoother play, but those of us who like to look at more things may enjoy the crowded kaiju field a bit more. It killed off this writer slightly slower, at least.
Expect to shortly see these machines wherever pinball machines are seen, from the coolest bars to private collections. The John Wick game will run you a cool $7K for the basic version, $10K for premium, and $13K for limited-edition.
Here are a few in-person images of both games:
