Date: 28th February, 2023 Stern Pinball have today formally announced their new Foo Fighters cornerstone release. Designed by Jack Danger with art by Jeremy Packer (a.k.a. Zombie Yeti), there are the familiar Pro, Premium and Limited Edition versions available. The Pro model was previewed in an e-mail sent out by the band earlier today in which they gave details of their upcoming tour dates. The left side of the Pro model The front of the Pro model The right of the Pro model The playfield from the Pro model The Pro playfield includes three flippers, with the third being on the upper right to shoot ramps, loops and the drop targets. The playfield from the Pro model The bottom of the playfield includes some unusual design features. The flipper area on the Pro model The lower left of the Pro’s playfield with an inlane standup target The lower right of the Pro’s playfield with another standup target in the inlane The Foobot progress inserts The central Overlord feature The ball lock under the Overlord A three-bank of drop targets with a single standup target behind The captive ball area The left wireform travels behind a back panel Area 51 plastic The top of the right ramp The right ramp entrance The top of the range with all the bells and whistles is the Limited Edition which is restricted to a maximum of 1,000 units. The left of the Limited Edition model The front of the Limited Edition The right of the Limited Edition The Limited Edition adds a fourth flipper – a mini one on the upper mini-playfield in the top left. The Limited Edition’s playfield The Limited Edition also adds inner cabinet artwork, ‘Overlord Green’ metalwork and foil cabinet art. The Limited Edition numbered plaque The instructions on the bottom apron and decal signed by Jack Danger The right side of the bottom apron The flipper area on the LE The bottom left of the playfield with a standup target in the inlane for those ‘Shatzing’ the game Another standup in the right inlane Above the right slingshot are two standup targets mounted at 90-degrees. However, the upper one is actually a kicker target, as seen in many Gottlieb/Premier electronic games. The ‘Ka-Foom’ kicker target There are some obvious extras on the playfield for the Limited Edition and the Premium (which shares the same playfield as the LE). There is an upper mini-playfield with its own flipper and Area 51 building. The upper playfield The upper playfield The Area 51 building The Overlord toy is much enhanced on the Limited Edition It is a moulded toy rather than flat plastics, had a disruptor magnet beneath and shakes when hit The Foo Fighters’ van is also a moulded toy in the LE and Premium games. It incorporates an up-post to lock the ball under the vehicle. The van lock The ball is released There is also a unique ‘death save’ post in the left outlane on the Premium and LE models. The ‘Deadpost’ is player-operated and can bounce a fast draining ball back onto the right flipper. The Deadpost at the bottom of the left outlane just before the drain The Limited Edition has the special green metalwork and the Expression Lighting system built into the inner cabinet sides. This lighting system may become available for the Premium as a paid upgrade, although these lights have been on back order for the Rush game for quite some time. The Expression Lighting feature in the Limited Edition Playfield detail on the Limited Edition The Radio targets The left ramp area Finally, we come to the intermediate Premium model which includes all the playfield features of the Limited Edition but lacks some of the extras such as the Expression Lighting system, the shaker motor, the anti-reflective playfield glass and the enhanced laser-cut metalwork. The left of the Premium model The front of the Premium model The right of the Premium model The design of the backbox front artwork is the same as the Limited Edition, but the Limited Edition has a mirrored backglass whereas the Premium is a translite. Cabinet art detail Cabinet art detail The premium model’s plaque on the speaker panel The Premium edition’s playfield The left of the Premium’s bottom apron The centre of the bottom apron with the death save ball kicker on the playfield The shooter lane, bottom-right side of the playfield The Overlord toy The diverter on the upper playfield The Premium playfield After three days of teasing with videos and a playlist of music tracks, the full reveal began today, with a small number of Limited Edition models going on sale at 11am Central Time through the company’s web shop for paying All-Access members of their Insider Connected programme. Predictably, they all sold out very quickly at the asking price of $12,999. Stern had already release the list of fifteen tracks included in the game. They are: Everlong Times Like These Breakout Learn To Fly I’ll Stick Around This Is A Call Walk Holding Poison All My Life The Pretender Something From Nothing Monkey Wrench Run My Hero Best Of You The prices of the three models have been announced as: Pro $6,999 Prem $9,699 LE $12,999 Here is the feature matrix showing which features are available across the three models: The feature matrix for Foo Fighters Stern have added some promotional videos for their new title. Here’s how Stern Pinball announced their Foo Fighters game: Stern Pinball, Inc. unleashes a new line of pinball machines celebrating and created in cooperation with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2021 inductees Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters pinball machines are available in Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition (LE) models.Foo Fighters first stepped onto the world stage in 1995 with their classic self-titled debut album. Over the course of their career, the band has released 10 studio albums, amassed over 32 million records sold worldwide, won 15 Grammy Awards, were recipients of the first-ever MTV “Global Icon” award, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. One of the biggest headliners on the global stadium, arena and festival circuits, their music will soon begin filling gamerooms and entertainment locations in pinball form.Stern’s Foo Fighters machines bring the Foo Fighters concert experience home as players are immersed in an epic pinball adventure featuring 15 iconic songs spanning the band’s expansive catalog, including All My Life, Best of You, Breakout, Everlong, Holding Poison, I’ll Stick Around, Learn to Fly, Monkey Wrench, My Hero, Run, Something from Nothing, The Pretender, This is a Call, Times Like These, and Walk.More than two years in the making and with creative input from the band’s own Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee, and the late, great Taylor Hawkins, Stern’s Foo Fighters is a top-shelf pinball machine—and so much more. An entire new universe has been developed with jaw-dropping hand-drawn artwork and custom animations including “Foo Fighters Saturday Morning Action Time!”—a fictional TV series chronicling the band’s quest to save rock and roll… AND THE WORLD! Join Foo Fighters on this rescue mission to thwart the evil, mysterious alien Overlord and his army of bots. Search the Area 51 upper playfield to break into and unleash pinball chaos. Jump in the van for a righteous tour of duty to save humanity from extinction and let rock rule!Foo Fighters pinball machines include Stern’s award-winning Insider Connected™ system, which enables players to interact with the game and a global network of players in a variety of ways. Through Insider Connected, players can track progress, earn new game-specific achievements, engage with the player community, and participate in promotions and Challenge Quests. Insider Connected also provides an operator-focused toolset to drive location play through Location Leaderboards, build player loyalty, analyze performance, make adjustments remotely, and maintain the machines. Registration for Insider Connected is available at insider.sternpinball.com/.Limited to 1,000 machines globally, the highly collectible Limited Edition includes the Expression Lighting System™. With 96 intelligent RGB LEDs, the Expression Lighting System enables full color spectrum control. Positioned in pockets cut into the cabinet sides to provide color themed full playfield illumination, this integrated playfield lighting system is synchronized to custom light shows specifically designed for every song and dynamically responsive to game events. The LE version also includes an exclusive Rock-Battle inspired full-color mirrored backglass, exclusive full color high definition reflective foil decal cabinet artwork, custom high gloss Overlord green powder-coated pinball armor, a custom designer-autographed bottom arch, exclusive inside art blades, upgraded audio system, anti-reflection pinball playfield glass, shaker motor, a sequentially numbered plaque, and a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Stern Chairman Gary Stern and President & CEO Seth Davis.“Partnering with Foo Fighters, we created an entirely new pinball universe under the backdrop of incredible music. The energy from this unique, fast and flowing game design, choreographed with spectacular lightshows and stunning hand-drawn artwork has created the ultimate gaming experience,” said Seth Davis, President & CEO. “Get connected today and become a hero.” We hope you enjoyed this first detailed look at Stern Pinball’s new Foo Fighters game. There will be even more information about the different models announced over the next couple of days along with live streams of gameplay, so keep checking back here at Pinball News for all the latest updated Foo Fighters information.
