# Stern (game company)

Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.

## Stern Electronics, Inc.

Stern Electronics was formed when Sam and Gary Stern bought the financially troubled Chicago Coin in 1977. Sam had previously owned the amusements manufacturer Williams, purchasing half of the company in 1947 and selling it to the Seeburg Corporation in 1964. Gary had trained under his father at Williams, and from 1973-1977 the two ran the company. Stern Electronics, Inc. acquired their core inventory by purchasing Chicago Coin's assets at bankruptcy sales; as a separate company, they did not assume any of the debt Chicago Coin had amassed.
The first two games made by Stern were Stampede and Rawhide, both originally made by Chicago Coin, which only had changes made to their branding and logos. After a weak start, Stern Electronics' sales started picking up by the end of 1977. They produced the first solid-state pinball machine, called Pinball that year. By 1978, they had switched over to fully solid-state electronics for their games. In 1979, Stern acquired the jukebox production assets of the bankrupt Seeburg Corporation, and the company became known as Stern / Seeburg.
When arcade video games became popular in 1980, Stern Electronics produced Berzerk. They largely stopped producing pinball machines. In 1983, Stern became one of many victims of the amusement industry economic shakeout that occurred. In 1984, Sam Stern died and Stern Electronics closed in 1985. From 1985 to 1986, personnel from Stern Electronics formed a venture known as Pinstar that produced conversion kits for old Bally and Stern machines, with Gary Stern continuing to function as president. He then went on to help found Data East's pinball division and continued to lead there when the it was acquired by Sega in 1994. While DataEast did operate out of the old Stern Electronics property, sources differ on whether they acquired the company or just the facilities.
On March 16, 2023, Atari announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to 12 Stern Electronics titles, including Berzerk and Frenzy.

## Stern Pinball, Inc.

By 1999, the pinball industry was virtually dead. Sega left the pinball industry by spinning off their pinball division and selling it to Gary Stern, and Stern Pinball was born. Stern Pinball became the only commercial pinball manufacturer left, but continued to struggle in the 2000s, producing just 10,000 machines per year and selling the majority of them overseas.
As of 2023, longtime designers Brian Eddy, John Borg, and George Gomez are designing pinball games at Stern Pinball, alongside top-ranking competitive player Keith Elwin and popular pinball streamer Jack Danger. Stern Pinball, Inc. is based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
Some Stern pinball tables were also digitally released through The Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade.

## Pinball machines
### Stern Electronics

* Stampede (1977)
* Rawhide (1977)
* Disco (1977)
* Pinball (1977)
* Stingray (1977)
* Stars (1978)
* Memory Lane (1978)
* Lectronamo (1978)
* Wild Fyre (1978)
* Nugent (1978)
* Dracula (1979)
* Trident (1979)
* Hot Hand (1979)
* Magic (1979)
* Cosmic Princess (1979) (Produced in Australia by Leisure and Allied Industries under license from Stern Electronics Inc)
* Meteor (1979) (Highest production of all Stern Electronics' Pinballs)
* Galaxy (1980)
* Ali (1980)
* Big Game (1980) (First game to incorporate seven-digit scoring in the digital era)
* Seawitch (1980)
* Cheetah (1980)
* Quicksilver (1980)
* Star Gazer (1980)
* Flight 2000 (1980) (Stern's first game with multi-ball and speech)
* Nine Ball (1980)
* Freefall (1981)
* Lightning (1981)
* Split Second (1981)
* Catacomb (1981)
* Viper (1981)
* Dragonfist (1982)
* Iron Maiden (1982) (Unrelated to the British heavy metal band)
* Orbitor 1 (1982) (Featured a 3d-vacuum formed playfield with spinning rubber bumpers causing frenetic ball action; it was the company's last released game)
* Cue (1982) (Six machines built)
* Lazer Lord (1984) (One prototype built)

### Stern Pinball

| Machine Name | Year | Lead Designer | License Source |
| Harley Davidson | 1999 | John Borg & Lonnie D. Ropp | Harley-Davidson |
| Striker Xtreme | 2000 | Joe Balcer | Original Theme |
| Sharkey's Shootout | 2000 | John Borg | Original Theme |
| High Roller Casino | 2001 | Jon Norris | Original Theme |
| Austin Powers | 2001 | John Borg & Lonnie D. Ropp | Austin Powers |
| Monopoly | 2001 | Pat Lawlor | Monopoly (game) |
| NFL | 2001 | Joe Balcer | National Football League |
| Playboy | 2002 | George Gomez & Dwight Sullivan | Playboy |
| RollerCoaster Tycoon | 2002 | Pat Lawlor | RollerCoaster Tycoon |
| The Simpsons Pinball Party | 2003 | Joe Balcer & Keith P. Johnson | The Simpsons |
| Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | 2003 | Steve Ritchie | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines |
| The Lord of the Rings | 2003 | George Gomez | The Lord of the Rings (film series) |
| Ripley's Believe It or Not! | 2004 | Pat Lawlor | Ripley's Believe It or Not! |
| Elvis | 2004 | Steve Ritchie | Elvis Presley |
| The Sopranos | 2005 | George Gomez | The Sopranos |
| Grand Prix | 2005 | Pat Lawlor | Original Theme |
| NASCAR | 2005 | Pat Lawlor | NASCAR |
| World Poker Tour | 2006 | Steve Ritchie | World Poker Tour |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | 2006 | Dennis Nordman | Pirates of the Caribbean |
| Dale Jr. | 2007 | Pat Lawlor | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| Family Guy | 2007 | Pat Lawlor | Family Guy |
| Spider-Man | 2007 | Stevie Ritchie | Spider-Man (Sam Raimi's film trilogy) |
| Wheel of Fortune | 2007 | Dennis Nordman | Wheel of Fortune (American game show) |
| Indiana Jones | 2008 | John Borg | First four Indiana Jones films |
| Batman (The Dark Knight) | 2008 | George Gomez | First two films in The Dark Knight Trilogy |
| Shrek | 2008 | Pat Lawlor | First 3 Shrek films |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | 2008 | Pat Lawlor | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation |
| 24 | 2008 | Steve Ritchie | 24 (TV series) |
| NBA | 2008 | John Borg & Ray Tanzer | National Basketball Association |
| Big Buck Hunter Pro | 2009 | John Borg | Big Buck Hunter |
| Iron Man | 2010 | John Borg | First two Iron Man films |
| Avatar | 2010 | John Borg | Avatar (2009 film) |
| The Rolling Stones | 2011 | Tom Kopera | The Rolling Stones |
| TRON: Legacy | 2011 | John Borg | TRON: Legacy |
| Transformers | 2011 | George Gomez | Transformers (film series) |
| AC/DC | 2012 | Steve Ritchie | AC/DC |
| X-Men | 2012 | John Borg | X-Men |
| The Avengers | 2012 | George Gomez | The Avengers (2012 film) |
| Metallica | 2013 | John Borg | Metallica |
| Star Trek | 2013 | Steve Ritchie | J.J. Abrams Star Trek films |
| Mustang | 2014 | John Trudeau | Ford Mustang |
| The Walking Dead | 2014 | John Borg | The Walking Dead (TV series) |
| WWE: Wrestlemania | 2015 | John Trudeau | WWE |
| Whoa Nellie: Big Juicy Melons | 2015 | Dennis Nordman | Original Theme |
| KISS | 2015 | John Borg | Kiss (band) |
| Game of Thrones | 2015 | Steve Ritchie | Game of Thrones |
| Ghostbusters | 2016 | John Trudeau | First two Ghostbusters films |
| Batman 66 | 2016 | George Gomez | Batman (TV series) |
| Aerosmith | 2017 | John Borg | Aerosmith |
| Star Wars | 2017 | Steve Ritchie | Star Wars original trilogy |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 2017 | John Borg | Guardians of the Galaxy (film) |
| Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast | 2018 | Keith Elwin | Iron Maiden |
| Supreme | 2018 | George Gomez | Supreme (brand) |
| Deadpool | 2018 | George Gomez | Deadpool |
| The Beatles | 2018 | Joe Kaminkow | The Beatles |
| Primus | 2018 | Dennis Nordman | Primus (band) |
| Munsters | 2019 | John Borg | The Munsters |
| Black Knight: Sword of Rage | 2019 | Steve Ritchie | Sequel to Black Knight (pinball) and Black Knight 2000 |
| Jurassic Park | 2019 | Keith Elwin | Jurassic Park (film) |
| Elvira's House of Horrors | 2019 | Dennis Nordman | Elvira's Movie Macabre and a sequel to Elvira and the Party Monsters and Scared Stiff (pinball) |
| Stranger Things | 2019 | Brian Eddy | Stranger Things |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 2020 | John Borg | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
| Heavy Metal | 2020 | George Gomez | Heavy Metal |
| Avengers: Infinity Quest | 2020 | Keith Elwin | Avengers (comics) |
| Led Zeppelin | 2020 | Steve Ritchie | Led Zeppelin |
| The Mandalorian | 2021 | Brian Eddy | The Mandalorian |
| Godzilla | 2021 | Keith Elwin | Godzilla |
| Rush | 2022 | John Borg | Rush (band) |
| James Bond 007 | 2022 | George Gomez | Sean Connery James Bond films |
| James Bond 007 60th Anniversary | 2022 | Keith Elwin | All James Bond Films |
| Foo Fighters | 2023 | Jack Danger | Foo Fighters |
| Venom | 2023 | Brian Eddy | Venom (character) |
| Jaws | 2024 | Keith Elwin | Jaws (franchise) |
| John Wick | 2024 | Elliot Eismin | John Wick |
| The Uncanny X-Men | 2024 | Jack Danger | X-Men Days of Future Past |
| Metallica Remastered | 2024 | John Borg | Metallica |
| Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye | 2025 | Brian Eddy | Dungeons & Dragons |

## Arcade games manufactured by Stern

* Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)
* Berzerk (1980)
* The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
* Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
* Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
* Moon War (1981)
* Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)
* Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
* Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
* Armored Car (1981)
* Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
* Frenzy (1982)
* Tazz-Mania (1982)
* Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
* Pooyan (1982) (programmed by Konami)
* Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
* Rescue (1982)
* Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
* Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
* Mazer Blazer (1982)
* Lost Tomb (1982)
* Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
* Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
* Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
* Minefield (1983)
* Cliff Hanger (1983) (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
* Great Guns (1984)
* Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
* Super Bagman (1984) (programmed by Valadon Automation)