STERN Production to date - 1999 to 2012

[Caveoftreasures]

For general interest, STERN'S modern pinball machines, manufactured between 1999 and 2013 have produced a total of apx 55 game variations.

If you didnt know your Stern machines back to front, here is a list I have compiled for interest. Hopefully I havent missed any.

I have listed the title and year. Its good to see how STERN has evolved over the modern DMD years with many different and varied titles.
If I was to guess, STERN have probably produced a few thousand machines per title, and in some cases alot more. Perhaps they have made as many as 100,000 machines over the last 13 years, perhaps even alot more, given they export to around 30 countries.

Here is the list for 1999 to 2012 inclusive.

1999 Harley-Davidson®

2000-01 Striker Xtreme  
2000-09 Sharkey's Shootout

2001-01 High Roller Casino  
2001-06 Austin Powers™
2001-09 Monopoly™
2001-11 NFL

2002-01 Playboy® Stern
2002-08 RollerCoaster Tycoon    
2002-11 Harley-Davidson® (2nd Edition)

2003-02 The Simpsons Pinball Party  
2003-06 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
2003-12 The Lord of the Rings Stern

2004-08 Elvis®
2004 Harley-Davidson® (3rd Edition)  
2004-03 Ripley's Believe It or Not!®

2005-01 Grand Prix
2005-02 The Sopranos®
2005-08 NASCAR®
 
2006-02 World Poker Tour™
2006-07 Pirates of the Caribbean

2007-06 Spider-Man  
2007- Black Spider-Man™
2007 Dale Jr.  
2007 Family Guy  
2007-10 Wheel Of Fortune
 
2008-07 Batman The Dark Knight
2008-11 CSI  
2008-04 Indiana Jones  
2008 Shrek™ Stern

2009 NBA
2009 -02 - TV Series 24
2009-10 Lord of the Rings    
2009-12 The Lord of the Rings (Limited Edition)
 
2010 Batman (Standard Model) Batman The Dark Knight
2010-01 Big Buck Hunter Pro  
2010 Iron Man  
2010 Iron Man Classic Non-Commercial  
2010-08 Avatar  
2010-12 Avatar Limited Edition
  
2011 The Rolling Stones  
2011 The Rolling Stones (Limited Edition)  
2011 Transformers™ (Pro)  
2011 Transformers™ Autobot Crimson Limited Edition  
2011 Transformers™ Decepticon Violet Limited Edition  
2011 Transformers™ Limited Edition ("Combo")
2011 TRON: Legacy  
2011 TRON: Legacy (Limited Edition)
  
2012 AC/DC (Pro)  
2012-03 AC/DC (Premium)
2012-03 AC/DC Back In Black Limited Edition  
2012-03 AC/DC Let There Be Rock Limited Edition
2012-08 X-Men Pro Stern  
2012-06 X-Men Magneto LE    
2012-06 X-Men Wolverine LE  

Looking forward to the next 13 years of STERN production.

Whats your favourite few STERN machines ?  

[pinsanity]

I think you are being a bit generous on the production numbers, "a few thousand of each title".

If we classify that list into A list, B list and so on, most of the B list titles and below would have a total production run of about 1200 units at most (produced once and then shelved forever).

As an extreme example, CSI and 24 both around 500 units each and 99.9% likelihood will never be run again.

I'll go further and say there is not one title on there that has cracked the 10,000 mark.

[Caveoftreasures]

Correct. I averaged it out at a few thousand per title cause some titles like Simpsons were close to 5,000 I am told, and others like LOTR, Pirates Carrabean etc also had very decent runs. Its hard to say really, but a few thousand averaged out is still probably close when you take the good with the bad. I am assuming it would be around the 100,000 mark , give or take 10 or 20 percent ?? (Only Gary Stern really knows the real numbers, and ofcourse no one has ever seen the real numbers printed for public consumption unfortunately).

But Stern Pinball have survived, made some great machines, which is the most important thing ofcourse.

Also, for interest, STERN export to the following Countries as at 2012.

Austria
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Chile
China
Czech republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Honk Kong
Hungary
Italy
Lithuania
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Republic Kazakhstan
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sweeden
Switzerland
Taiwan
The Netherlands
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom

Quite a good list of countries. Pinball reaches far and wide which is great.
I am told some of these countries are dealers for other countries located in their part of the world.

[PinballMagazine]

Family Guy only saw 700 units produced. Shrek 500. I think LOTR was the first Stern game to top 4,000 units. So I would go easy on the assumed production numbers. If you look at how many Tommy games came out of the same factory, you realize they aren't doing that well at all. Basically they manage to stay in business, but there is a price being paid...

[swinks]

Thanks for putting the list together, always interesting to know what they have been doing.

I have heard that the Iron Man Was around 1150, but not official - wish they would share there numbers. The only numbers we know are the LE's which are commonly around the 200-300

[delarge]

I think it's sad that they don't do re-runs of games that had a short production run like Family Guy and Shrek. Do you think people would rush to buy these titles if they did a limited run like they are now doing with Tron? Maybe make variants to get people interested. With Tron, it would have been nice to know what you were getting before you ordered other than a few sketchy details and a picture of a translite.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Retropin]

They ran out of left over McDonalds toys for Shrek.. so no more to be made

[Olivia_jason]

They ran out of left over McDonalds toys for Shrek.. so no more to be made

out of all the pinball company's to have survived Why did it have to be Stern? toys toys and more toys.
the least inventive pinball company, they are no bally williams as far as inventiveness of titles goes. how they survived is beyond me.
24? or CSI? come on, there is only 5 titles in that entire list that makes sense making, and yes acdc is one of them that makes sense.

i know allot of pressure rides on sterns shoulders as far as keeping pinball alive, but does it look to you that they arent even trying to be inventive???

I will say to cavey, it is great loyalty you hold towards Stern, and i can fully understand why you like them, and its for all the right reasons you support them as you understand, its the last real operational pinball company making pinballs. so i know my comments about stern seem a little personal. i dont mean them to be. my beef is purely with strens lack of innovation, i am glad that a company still operates but the more i look at sterns pinballs, or to be fair late stern pinballs, you can see how lazy they are. with out any real competing company against stern they seem to have no invovation to feed off.

what stern needs to do is look at what the best and over all most popular pinballs that have ever been made, sit down and study them, play them and figure out what it is people like about those machines, once they understand that, maybe they can start building not just good pinballs but awesome pinballs.

[Freiherr]

out of all the pinball company's to have survived Why did it have to be Stern? toys toys and more toys. 

It is easier and more profitable to make poker machines. The one-armed now no-armed bandits are raking in billions each year without a single toy in sight.

[Caveoftreasures]

To my mind, there are alot of excellent games in that production list that are far better players than alot of the over-rated later models of B/W.
But everyone will have a different opinion. I just try to look at the positive things Stern have done, because no pinball company is perfect ofcourse.
Stern have done something no other pinball company could do, that is STAY OPEN and producing. A monumental effort.

Recent offerings like AC/DC and X Men are excellent. Many in the earlier years are great games as well. There are many great players in that list.
Inventive is a hard one to talk about, because inventive means moving parts, and moving parts/toys/features need servicing and cost more to maintain. These days, inventive usually covers better dot matrix annimations and better audio with better gameplay n code. A game doesnt have to have a million bells n whistles to be a great player. The PRO machines are great value for money and are usually bullet proof.

I am glad STERN has done what no other company could do. Produce 3 or so titles on average per year for 13 years running. There is something in that list for everyone to enjoy.

[Caveoftreasures]

I think it's sad that they don't do re-runs of games that had a short production run like Family Guy and Shrek. Do you think people would rush to buy these titles if they did a limited run like they are now doing with Tron? Maybe make variants to get people interested. With Tron, it would have been nice to know what you were getting before you ordered other than a few sketchy details and a picture of a translite.

Cheers!
Adam.

TRON re-run is identical except the different translite. AMD did confirm that.
Maybe there were licencing maximums with Family Guy and Shrek. Both are excellent machines to my mind. Would love one of each when I win lotto.

[Olivia_jason]

To my mind, there are alot of excellent games in that production list that are far better players than alot of the over-rated later models of B/W.
But everyone will have a different opinion. I just try to look at the positive things Stern have done, because no pinball company is perfect ofcourse.
Stern have done something no other pinball company could do, that is STAY OPEN and producing. A monumental effort.

Recent offerings like AC/DC and X Men are excellent. Many in the earlier years are great games as well. There are many great players in that list.
Inventive is a hard one to talk about, because inventive means moving parts, and moving parts/toys/features need servicing and cost more to maintain. These days, inventive usually covers better dot matrix annimations and better audio with better gameplay n code. A game doesnt have to have a million bells n whistles to be a great player. The PRO machines are great value for money and are usually bullet proof.

I am glad STERN has done what no other company could do. Produce 3 or so titles on average per year for 13 years running. There is something in that list for everyone to enjoy.

honestly they need to go back 20+ years to study a pinball machines innovation of the era, the machines that led to that boom in pinball of that era, they had less high tech equipment compared to today, but they were inventive enough to create fantastic games and designs for pinball. being inventive doesnt mean a few moving toys or big LED screens and all that, being inventive can be as simple as theme's and Layouts, doing tricky things with the ball that make you go WOW "how does that work". having the playfields more 3d with out the use of just plastic ramps and toys, bring back the marvel and wonder of Pinball in their design.
maybe technology has blinded Stern or even JJP, about needing things like toys and Lcd, Fancy DMD or really complex rules?. I dont know

[Caveoftreasures]

STERNs have been like a Toyota Camry, sturdy n reliable with modest features. It probably got them thru the difficult financial times with the GFC.

I think you will see alot more imagination with the ongoing releases. X Men Pro is that good. The boom design times are back for sure.

Stern have a great batch of very talented people. It has to equate to bigger n better times ahead.  Alot of us are looking forward to each n every release. I certainly am.

[Olivia_jason]

i really hope they do mate.
I hope they listen to what people are saying about interesting non movie or even licenced themes, and can create a legendary machine rather than a run of the mill machine that can gaurentee a few steady sales. safe is always boring.
the fact licensed themes also take money away from the budget and gets in the way of being tricky and cool.
instead of paying a company money for rights they can instead reward the buyers with A-grade machines. that would be my thinking anyways.
instead of a camery i want a dirty powerful v8 that gives you thills.
IT cant be that hard for them can it???

[Freiherr]

The following article sums up where Stern is at.
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/09/stern-pinball/
As a company, I admire them for their persistence and belief.
Who is to question a companies ability to survive a difficult industry?