Happy Holidays friends! It’s snowing here in New Jersey at the moment and I have a lot of family stuff going on for the holidays, but I wanted to sneak in a quick news update for everyone because there’s just so much cool stuff to talk about.
Let’s kick things off with Stern Pinball. Yesterday afternoon, Stern revealed its new (sort of) topper for its JAWS 50th pinball machine. I love Stern’s JAWS. I kind of want to get the 50th Anniversary version of it for my home arcade. Having said that, the new 50th Anniversary topper for the game is nothing to write home about. It’s basically the topper for the first version of JAWS with red trim around the Billboard and a clear plastic sign that says “JAWS 50th Anniversary” slammed on the side. As far as I can tell, those are really the only differences.
The new 50th topper is available for pre-order now. Stern expects units from its “limited production run” will start shipping in March 2026. The new topper is priced at $1,099, a $100 increase over the price of the original JAWS topper.
While we are on the subject of Stern, it’s noteworthy that its 2017 Star Wars pinball machine, just received a new code update for the first time in a long time. The new code, Version 1.30 adds support for the new C3PO topper that Stern launched for its new Star Wars: Fall of the Empire pin. As I mentioned in my launch article for the topper the other day, it is compatible with the 2017 game as well.
Last up on Stern, there has been a bunch of chatter on-line and most recently on Don’s Pinball Podcast that Stern is considering producing a few of its most popular recent titles, such as Godzilla, on its new Spike 3 platform. This would give the game a larger LCD screen and enable Stern to offer things like external Expression Lighting for the games. Will this actually happen? Time will tell. It does make sense considering that Godzilla is Stern’s best selling game of all-time and it continues to produce it to this day.
Next up, we have a lot of new information about a potential new pinball manufacturer. I’m always a little reluctant to talk about new pinball companies in the early stages of their creation because so many of them have started and gone no where over the years.
This potential new manufacturer is called World Pinball. It definitely exists in some form. I’ve seen the registration files for it. How close they are to making a game is another question entirely. Supposedly World Pinball is working on creating a pinball machine based upon the popular Capcom video game series Resident Evil. There’s even a rudimentary website for the game out there: RE: Pinball.
First and foremost, let me begin by saying that I wish this company nothing but the best. I love seeing new pinball manufacturers making games. The more pinball, the merrier. I hope that they make many amazing games. Having said that, I am having a hard time understanding why a major company like Capcom would agree to let a brand new company with no experience making games create one based upon the valuable Resident Evil intellectual property as their first machine. Furthermore, the plan to manufacture only 300 of this game wouldn’t move the needle at all for a company like Capcom. Having said that, I hope that it does happen and I absolutely will be keeping an eye on things.
Here’s the latest information on the subject from the pinball social media personality Paris Pinball Addict:
So friends, for those who didn’t see the show last night, here’s some new exclusive info that I share with you regarding the Resident Evil pinball, which is becoming very concrete. The project is progressing well, and I was able to chat directly with its maker yesterday afternoon.
The pinball is therefore scheduled for March 2026, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the license. It will be produced by a Swiss company, WP – World Pinball, and it will be the first Swiss pinball in history.
Production will take place in France, Burgundy, but not at René Pierre’s or Pedretti’s (as we’ve heard recently). The team has set up a new plant, with their own machines. They have premises in Payerne in Switzerland and in Chalon-sur-Saône in France, and the final plant could be planted in Creusot, it’s under negotiations.
The wood comes from Switzerland, the production aims at high-end quality, with careful varnishing, thermolated body armor, and a real thought into industrial design. Nearly 95% of the parts are developed internally, except for the screen, speakers, amplifier or coils, which come from Europe (France, Switzerland, Germany).
Pinball won’t be on movies but on video games, and it will include 4 unprecedented innovations in the world of pinball.
We’re talking about a game with 4 drummers, 5 magnets and 4 metal ramps.
In terms of edition, there will be 300 copies for the 30th anniversary, and among them, 12 ultra-limited special editions, one for each member of the S.T.A.R.S team (Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, etc.) ).
Each machine will be numbered and bear the character’s name, with custom details, and a never-before-seen option in a pinball machine.
Finally, on the price side, we’ll be in the same range as Stern or Jersey Jack, and the reveal is expected after validation by Capcom, who follows all this closely.
Here at the moment, we are still waiting for the first official images, but this Resident Evil pinball looks ambitious, neat, and really a collector.
To be continued 🤗 have a good day everyone! 🙏🏻❤️
Since I just talked about a video game in Resident Evil, let’s hop over to another video game…this time an iconic arcade game franchise. Happy 30th Anniversary to Namco’s Time Crisis.
I recently came across a really neat article that commemorates the anniversary:
Time Crisis at 30: how peekaboo with guns put cabinet gaming back on target
