# Stern Army, Stern’s campaign to promote pinball on location

**Source:** Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-03-17  
**Duration:** 50m 0s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3IW3msdm1c

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## Analysis

Michael Grant, Senior Manager of Global Location Entertainment for Stern Pinball, presents the Stern Army initiative—a global network of official brand ambassador tournament directors who organize IFPA-sanctioned pinball events at public locations to drive community growth, operator revenue, and player engagement. The presentation details membership requirements, tournament director responsibilities, benefits for locations/operators/players, and highlights successful regional programs including women's pinball events and charity fundraising initiatives.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern Army has 10,000+ members globally — _Michael Grant stated he emailed 'all um 10,000 plus Stern Army members' regarding the King Kong teaser_
- [HIGH] Stern Army currently supports more than 75 women's pinball clubs around the world — _Michael Grant: 'We're currently supporting more than 75 women's clubs around the world'_
- [HIGH] Stern Army locations receive priority shipment of newly released games before general availability — _Michael Grant stated this as an official benefit: 'So when we release a new title, we want people to play the game on location. So if you're a Stern Army location, you're getting your game first.'_
- [HIGH] Brooklyn Pin Pride tournaments have reached 56 players and raised over $24,000 for charity through 6 events — _Michael Grant: 'we were just able to go up to 56 players. Uh, in February for Valentine's Day, uh, we do a Trans Lights for Trans Rights uh, silent auction that raises money for the Transgender Law Center... We've had six of those events and, uh, we've raised more than $24,000.'_
- [HIGH] Michael Grant is based in Chicago and helps grow the pinball community there — _Michael Grant: 'I'm currently living in Chicago and helping grow the pinball community out there'_
- [HIGH] Stern Army appreciation parties have been hosted annually at Microphone Brewing in Elk Grove Village for three years — _Michael Grant: 'this coming uh year will be the third one I've hosted'_
- [HIGH] Stern Army membership requires locations to have at least one Stern machine and four or more working pinball machines total — _Michael Grant stated location requirements: 'must have four or more working pinball machines, including at least one Stern'_
- [HIGH] Cheryl, formerly an event runner at Microphone Brewing, is now an electrical engineer employee at Stern building prototypes — _Michael Grant: 'Cheryl has since actually become an employee of Stern's. She's an electrical engineer um and helps um helps build all the the prototypes and whatnot.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Pinball is for everyone and that's something I firmly believe in and is part of our mission."
> — **Michael Grant**, ~11:50
> _Statement of core Stern Army values regarding inclusivity and accessibility_

> "What we're doing really it's look I know we're here to talk about pinball but it's a lot more than that. And we're building a third space, a place for people to go to forget about work, to forget about the daily grind, the monotony, all the all the stresses in our lives."
> — **Michael Grant**, ~33:00
> _Philosophical articulation of Stern Army's broader social mission beyond pinball competition_

> "We're all all of us here are giving up a little bit of our sacrificing our little bit of our own enjoyment to make sure that others are benefiting from that."
> — **Michael Grant**, ~28:00
> _Recognition of volunteer commitment and sacrifice from Stern Army members_

> "I'm not going to micromanage your events. I'm not telling you to run additional events or change your events. Just have fun. That's all I'm asking."
> — **Michael Grant**, ~30:30
> _Statement of Stern Army's non-coercive approach to women's club requirements_

> "It's nice to be in in tiny little Rhode Island and also be contributing to that."
> — **Amber Lee**, ~29:00
> _Comments on regional women's pinball community support across New England_

> "I'm pretty good at organizing things and so I jumped in and started running ours. And now our open tournaments have gotten so large I no longer play in them as well because we have so many people."
> — **Amber Lee**, ~27:00
> _Describes how volunteer organizers scale their events and sacrifice personal playing time_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Michael Grant | person | Senior Manager of Global Location Entertainment for Stern Pinball; primary speaker presenting Stern Army initiative; based in Chicago, formerly from New England |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer and organizer of Stern Army program; provides resources, assets, prize support, and priority game shipments to Stern Army locations |
| Stern Army | organization | Global network of official Stern brand ambassador tournament directors (10,000+ members); coordinates IFPA-sanctioned monthly pinball events at partner locations; includes 75+ women's clubs |
| IFPA | organization | International Flipper Pinball Association; sanctions tournaments organized by Stern Army members; maintains tournament director accounts and calendar |
| Amber Lee | person | Stern Army member; runs open and women's tournaments monthly; organizes Bells and Chimes women's club events in Rhode Island; coordinates with local pizza place operator |
| Jess Warren | person | Stern Army member; runs Rob Wong Invitational event series in South Slope, Brooklyn; operates tournaments with themed events |
| Mike Focus | person | Stern Army member; runs Sunday and Saturday monthly tournaments at Round One location; created Long Island Pinball Society community group; describes unique obstacles at family entertainment center venue |
| Cheryl | person | Former Stern Army event runner at Microphone Brewing; now Stern Pinball employee as electrical engineer; builds game prototypes |
| Microphone Brewing | company | Partner location in Elk Grove Village, Illinois; hosts monthly Stern Army tournaments; hosts annual Stern Army appreciation party; created pinball-themed beer and merchandise |
| Two Brothers Brewing | company | Partner location in Chicago area; hosts Stern Army tournaments; created pinball-themed beer with custom branding |
| Erin Siden | person | Wife of Mark Siden; moved to Chicago to work in pinball industry; runs Stern Army events at Microphone Brewing and other locations |
| Round One | company | Family entertainment center chain with 12+ Stern machines at locations; Mike Focus coordinates tournaments there; Mike worked with general manager to establish Stern Army programming |
| The Sanctum | company | Partner location; hosts Jaws launch parties; uses event flyers signed by participants; owner Gary participated in launch parties |
| Ruo's | company | Partner location in South Slope, Brooklyn (across street from Buttermilk); hosts Rob Wong Invitational tournament series; owner Bart participated in themed events |
| King Kong Myth of Terror Island | game | Upcoming Stern Pinball title; teaser recently dropped; Stern Army members received early webinar access before general public announcement |
| Jaws | game | Stern Pinball machine used for launch parties; referenced as successful Stern Army event template with themed photos showing shark elements |
| Metallica | game | Stern Pinball title released during Pinball Expo week; featured in 2024 Stern Army Appreciation Party with custom event badge |
| Pinball Cup | event | Tournament event featuring side challenges and achievement tracking; players earned points through Insider Connected integration |
| Insider Connected | product | Stern Pinball platform for player engagement; includes quests and achievements; players earn badges by logging into featured games; separate discussion topic mentioned |
| Bells and Chimes | organization | Women's pinball club in New England area; Amber Lee is member/organizer; coordinated with other clubs in Connecticut and Massachusetts for joint events |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Stern Army Program Structure and Requirements, Location-based Tournament Organization, Community Growth and Player Engagement, Women's Pinball Events and Inclusivity, Operator and Location Benefits
- **Secondary:** Charity Fundraising Through Pinball, Tournament Formats and Best Practices, Digital Event Promotion and Marketing

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0)

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Stern Army program demonstrates substantial scale with 10,000+ members globally running monthly IFPA-sanctioned events. Multiple regional examples show successful community building with 18-56 player tournaments and 75+ women's clubs. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant stated 10,000+ members; regional tournament attendance reported as 18-56 players; 75+ women's clubs supported
- **[operational_signal]** Detailed operational framework documented for location partnerships including preventative maintenance coordination, recurring schedules on slower nights (Tues-Thurs), local business sponsorships, food/beverage specials, and strategic timing to drive incremental revenue. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant detailed requirements including location coordination, operator communication, preventative maintenance scheduling, beverage/food specials, merchandise partnerships
- **[product_strategy]** Stern Pinball implements priority shipment strategy for new title releases at Stern Army locations, positioning them as first-to-market venues to capture early player traffic spikes and operator revenue. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant: 'when we release a new title, we want people to play the game on location. So if you're a Stern Army location, you're getting your game first.'
- **[community_signal]** Stern Army locations successfully integrate charity fundraising into tournament infrastructure. Brooklyn Pin Pride/Valentine's Day events raised $24,000 across 6 events through silent auctions supporting LGBTQ+ organizations (Transgender Law Center, Alex Ferry Center for unhoused queer youth). (confidence: high) — Michael Grant reported 6 events raising $24,000 for charity through Trans Lights for Trans Rights silent auctions
- **[design_philosophy]** Stern Army prioritizes random prize giveaways over skill-based rewards to encourage new/casual player participation and reduce discouragement from top-player dominance. Leaders explicitly design events to be welcoming third spaces. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant: 'random giveaways means anyone can be a winner regardless of skill. It really helps encourage new players to return.'
- **[personnel_signal]** Cheryl transitioned from volunteer Stern Army event runner at Microphone Brewing to Stern Pinball electrical engineer building prototypes, indicating career pathway development within Stern ecosystem. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant: 'Cheryl has since actually become an employee of Stern's. She's an electrical engineer um and helps um helps build all the the prototypes'
- **[market_signal]** Partner locations leverage pinball and Stern Army branding for competitive differentiation—custom signage, themed beverages, merchandise, and social media content featuring machines. Microphone Brewing and Two Brothers created pinball-themed products. (confidence: high) — Presentation showed examples: Two Brothers pinball beer, Microphone themed t-shirt, marquee signage, Facebook event promotion with pinball aesthetics
- **[content_signal]** Stern Pinball provides Stern Army members exclusive early webinar access to new game announcements before general public (e.g., King Kong Myth of Terror Island). Non-recorded webinars create scarcity and member-only value. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant: 'as soon as the teaser dropped for King Kong Myth of Terror Island, I emailed everyone, all um 10,000 plus Stern Army members, the link to the webinar'
- **[venue_signal]** Mike Focus successfully operates Stern Army tournaments at Round One (family entertainment center chain with 12+ Stern machines per location), indicating underserved segment with 'unique share of obstacles' but growth potential. (confidence: high) — Mike Focus described working at Round One location, initially had no Stern Army designation, overcame barriers to establish programming; described learning from other regional formats
- **[operational_signal]** Successful tournament organizers iterate on formats monthly (group match play, target match play, Flip Frenzy-style) to familiarize local players with different tournament structures seen at regional/state events, reducing travel intimidation. (confidence: high) — Jess Warren: 'I try to do a different format um every month... to try to get my local people to try it out and then let them know that there's a tournament coming up elsewhere'
- **[business_signal]** Stern Army events positioned as direct revenue drivers for locations through increased foot traffic, expanded customer base, incremental food/beverage sales, and cash box earnings from tournament play. (confidence: high) — Michael Grant outlined benefits: 'increased activity around the games means more more earnings in the cash box. Um and then of course a personal opportunity as the operator to embrace uh join embrace and enhance your local pinball community'

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## Transcript

Our next topic is one that we've visited in stages over the years. Uh how Stern is reaching out to uh locations and operators and uh players. And in a minute, I'm going to set up the famous structure of the industry chart that we use every year, the venerable chart. Um, and you've heard him before, Michael Grant, who is now the senior manager of global location entertainment for Sturd Pinball. Thank you. Thank you all. Well, I'm extremely excited and honored and privileged to speak before y'all here who's in attendance, as well as everyone listening uh and watching on the video upload later after the fact. Uh, I'm extremely proud of the people sitting besides me, including all other Stern Army members. We have Jess Warren, Amber Lee, and Mike Focus. We're going to get into all the amazing work uh they are doing to help promote location pinball, support their local communities, support their favorite uh operators, and how we do it. So, extremely excited about this. Uh, so so let's get into it. First of all, who here is relatively familiar with Stern Army? Ra, show of hands. Most of you. Just about everybody. Great. Who's participated in a Stern Army tournament or event? Great. Of you people, how many have been to a Stern Army launch party? Just about all of you. Fantastic. Excellent. All right, let's get this started. Let's see. All right, so Stern Army, we're going to learn what is it? What's our goal? What are the benefits for the local pinball communities, pinball operators, pinball locations, and Stern Army members? So, what is Stern Army? You see some familiar faces here. Um, so we are um let's go back. Sorry. Here we are. Stern Army is the global network of official Stern brand ambassador tournament directors who make up Stern Army Stern Pinball Street Team. The Stern Army members coordinate with their dedicated public location and operator to plan, promote and execute Stern Army branded IFBA sanctioned pinball events at least monthly. So the Stern Army member jacket, what does this signify? It signifies prestigious membership of Stern Pinball's global street team, Stern Army. Uh, this person is likely a Stern Army tournament director who again plans, promotes, and executes Stern Army events at their designated location. Uh they are our stern pinball brand ambassador, a leader in their pinball community, and they're actively driving pinball growth to their favorite pinball locations while while supporting uh while growing and supporting their uh pinball operator and growing the community. So, here are some fun pictures of Amber's events. I love their D&D uh outfits for their launch party. Very cool. There'll be pictures mixed in between the slides. People like pictures. I went backwards. Let's try that again. All right. So, what's our goal? We're trying to grow pinball. Um, uh, by doing that, you know, we we solidify a relationship between the location, the player base, and stern pinball through hosting recurring events, uh, at their designated location. So, uh, we inspire and empower tournament directors to help develop and nurture their local pinball communities while providing support and resources to help accomplish this goal. Together, we're growing world uh, pinball worldwide at the local level. We're and uh, in doing such, we're creating more locations, more games, more players, and a stronger pinball community. All right. So, what are the requirements for a location to be a Stern Army location? So, it must be a public location. The Google Maps listing with clearly stated public business hours. Um, must have four or more working PIMO machines, including at least one Stern. More Sterns the better. Um, and you can use other brands tournament uh games in your tournaments. That's totally fine. Um, and ideally there would be a high score leaderboard, but it's certainly not required. It's just encouraging. So, here's some pictures of events that I um have run in um in the Chicagoland area. And for those who don't know, I'm actually from New Robert Englunds. This is my home show, my favorite show uh to see all my friends. Um and uh but I'm currently living in Chicago and helping grow the pinball community out there. So member responsibilities ultimately it's simple as committing to hosting running your events once a month. They have to be IFB sanctioned at your designated location. Um create an in uh create be sure to create an IFB tournament director account to schedule in your events and submit them to the calendar. So you want to coordinate with the location. Um, get to know the people who make the key decisions, whether it's the general manager, uh, the person who runs the marketing, the bartenders. Um, you and then you want to ideally uh determine a recurring schedule, whether it's the first Tuesday of the month, the third Wednesday, whatever it is, get into a routine to uh to help train uh people and familiarize them with when the tournaments are happening. Um, you can ask the location to donate prize support. I always recommend a gift card or merch from the location. Helps people coming back and support the location. Um, of course, consult your local liquor laws, but you can ask them about food and beverage specials, maybe some, you know, uh, halfp price apps, something like that. And of course, uh, coordinate marketing. Um, there's all sorts of things you can do. A lot of times a location will have an employee who runs their stern, uh, excuse me, their their social media. Um, so you'd want to convin uh you'd want to create a digital event flyer. Uh, create a Facebook event. Um, and these are things you have to do, but it certainly help bring visibility to your events. Um, you know, create a local digital community like uh we've got the Long Island Pinball Societ Society that Mike's created. Um, and other uh other groups.
Absolutely. Shout out. Uh, and we'll get into some of, you know, we'll we'll show examples of all the the great work these people are doing to promote their events. Um,
I I have flyers up there for my tournaments in Brooklyn.
Excellent. Um, physical flyers at the location, you know, bathroom posters, whatnot. Um, get your events uh listed in the location newsletter email. Uh, and of course, display the Stern Army banner uh at the location. Uh so additionally um a member should be coordinating with the the pinball operator. Um the pinball operator is a person who owns the equipment. Sometimes this is location itself. Sometimes it's a third party who what their job is. They they purchase uh pinball machines and other equipment like cranes or ATM machines, juke boxes or whatnot. And they operate that as their job. So they they maintain the games, they uh they purchase the games, they own the games, maybe they share some of the revenue with the location, and they also uh you know empty the cash box at the end of the week. Um so coordinate with them. Um maybe you can get uh access to the game keys if they're comfortable with that with that. Again, getting to know them helps build trust. Um so the get keys to make game adjustments or free stuck balls or whatnot. be sure to commu communicate any issues with the game uh the games to the operator. Hey, you know, we got a stuck switch on on this ramp or whatnot just to keep the games playing as best as possible. And then also be sure the operator knows this the the schedule of when you're running your events. Uh ideally, you can create a m a preventative maintenance schedule that's aligned with your event schedule. If you know you have a tournament the last weekend of the month, have the operator come in a week or two beforehand or maybe the week beforehand um to to uh clean the games and doing any preventative maintenance that uh might help communicate with the players. You want to provide a welcoming, safe environment for the players. Um pinball is for everyone and that's something I firmly believe in and is part of our mission. Um, you want to update, engage the players, use use social media, uh, again to to distribute maybe your own newsletter. Um, leverage Stern Army Insider connected marketing assets provided. So, we have a Dropbox folder with official assets that we create, uh, logos, um, the quests you might have heard about for Insider Connected. Um, these people have access to these assets and they can do what they want with them as far as using them to promote their events. Um, uh, we recommend using matchplay.com to, uh, to run your tournament, free software, and we, uh, also recommend using the website wheelofnames.com for random giveaways. It's, uh, a fun way to, uh, make sure, uh, prizes are given away at random. What random prizes are are great because anyone can be a winner. It it gets it can feel discouraging if the same handful of top players always win the prizes. So, um winners should receive something, of course, but I highly encourage really cool prizes at at random. It really helps um encourage new players to return. Um it's just good for the vibes overall. Here's some fun pictures of me with Stern Army members. Um, in the top left we've got Connie and Tom. They're actually from uh from uh from Illinois where I'm at, where I live. And we've got Steve Keeler who's in the audience here with Mike Dona, big mic representing Rock Fantasy. We got Zach from Funspot. He should be here. There he is. Uh, Amber, of course. And Mike. I don't have any pictures with Jess yet, but we'll get one today. All right, I went backwards again. Sorry, I guess. All right, pinball community benefits. So, how does this help a local pinball community? Well, ideally, we're getting more locations to choose from to play at. We have an enriched local pinball community. New people are joining, which is fun. We're connecting with like-minded people and making friends. I've made more friends through pinball than I ever have. Um, personal sense of belonging and fellowship. I think we can all agree that's why we're in this room. Prizes and giveaways from Stern Pinball. Again, I mentioned partner with the location, but also other sponsors. Maybe there's a bakery down the corner that wouldn't mind some extra publicity for their for their uh for their product. Um, so hit up local businesses. Uh, again, random giveaways means anyone can be a winner regardless of skill. Michael, also remember that the games get better maintained. That's a benefit, right?
Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Maintenance is is is a very good thing. Um and of course, uh with Stern Army launch uh Stern Army launch party experiences. Um you can see Amber really embraces the D&D theme. Um make it fun. Um and of course you get an insider connected launch party badge with a launch party. Um, so benefits to the operator. Um, priority shipment of newly released games. So when we release a new title, we want people to play the game on location. So if you're a Stone Army location, you're getting your game first. Um, you're seeing that initial spike in in in revenue when everyone wants to play a new game. So we want ideally that to be uh benefiting the operator. Uh, with Stern Army events, you're expanding the player base. Um, you're bolstering the player community. And of course increased activity around the games means more more earnings in the cash box. Um and then you of course a personal opportunity as the operator to embrace uh join embrace and enhance your local pinball community. Be part of it, make a difference. And again another note about random prize giveaways encourage encourage participation and attract new players and encourages them to return. So to host a launch party, you must be an active Stern Army location. It's an official celebration of a new cornerstone release that's going to live at the location. Um, this is an exclusive perk for Stern Army locations. It's more than a tour tournament. Um, encourage people to incorporate the theme into the party, make it fun. Again, you will earn players will earn a launch party uh insider connected badge when they log in on the on their featured game and play a complete game during the event. And we provide fun prizes and giveaways. Here's some photos from Jaws launch parties. Kind of cool. All right. Keep going backwards. Sorry, guys. Um, so here's um some photos from the Sanctum. On the left, you'll see, so I started sending these for each game. It's an event fly. The original idea was people would post their event. They would post it around their um their location and write in their event details. You know, come to the party, the launch party on this date. It'll be this type of tournament. But some locations like the Sanctum started having everyone that's participating in the tournament sign this, which I think is really cool.
That's great.
Yeah. And uh Gary was uh kind enough to join the party as well. So thanks Gary.
Yes. [laughter] Um so what's in it for me? The Stern Army member. Well, you're an official Stern Army brand ambassador and lead in your leader in your pinball community. I think it's pretty cool. You get to develop and nurture your local pinball community. You get free prize support for your events. um get this really cool jacket and access to special preview webinars for new Stern titles. Yesterday, as soon as the the teaser dropped for King Kong Myth of Terror Island, I emailed everyone, all um 10,000 plus Stern Army members, the link to the webinar, so they'll get uh special access to to learn about the game before the general public.
If you're not able to watch the webinar Tuesday night, are you able to see the webinar at It's you have to be in the webinar to see it unfortunately because we don't record it. So I highly encourage if you can't make it
uh
sorry. Um let's see. Oh also um additionally invitation to the the annual Stern Army appreciation party at Microphone Brewing in Elkrove Village. So this is something I'm really proud of. Um this coming uh year will be the third one I' I've hosted. Uh it's uh a special event to to recognize and show our appreciation for the great work Stern Army members are doing. Um we have a great time. Uh all the VIPs from Stern come. We have a party. We we drink a lot of uh alcoholic beverages. There's good music. It's a really great event and I encourage anyone in the Stern Army to attend. Uh, so here's a flyer uh for uh one of Jess's event series. Rob Wong Invitational. Come check out Ruos April 6th and May 4th. Some more photos from her events. Is that John Wick in person? That looks like John Wick. That's uh Bart, the owner of uh of Ruos, who did dress up for the occasion. [laughter]
Incredible.
Where is Ru?
Uh in South Slope, uh Brooklyn.
Uh across the street from Buttermilk. Uh so sometimes we do tournaments where we go back and forth.
Here are some more pictures of her events. You can see in the top left my Wolverine blades. She's dressed up as Wolverine. That's so cool. Again, embracing the theme if they're X-Men. And over on the right, you can see the grand champion plaque, some sales flyers, stickers, and we even include some some muscle cars for the John Wick launch party. Um here is some um here is Michael's Mike's uh Mike's banner on the left uh that he created himself using some of the assets we provided. You can see the Stern Army logo and the IFPA logo. But come come down and join the fun. Mike came out of nowhere. I'm really proud of Mike. I'm proud of all allstarami members. But he runs events at a location that has its unique share of of obstacles and he's done a fantastic job um overcoming them and creating a vibrant pinball community. It's really something special. [applause] before Mike came around.
Yeah, you I run I run them at um Round One location and I know they're not everywhere, but um similar to like a Dave and Busters, like a family entertainment center. Um, they do have, you know, I think a lineup of 12 Sterns and, um, I had gotten the idea too because they had a a Stern Army banner in the window and I reached out to Mike and Mike and I was like, you know, I see the banner. Is this a location? He said, no. And then I worked with the GM and him and, you know, got everything going. So,
I like how you show the translates on your flyer.
Yeah. If you can see on the on the right side of the screen, um he made this great flyer to promote the transl lights that will be given away at at his events.
Do some color coordination.
Yeah, it's great. Really great. If anyone needs a template, I'm sure Mike could share it.
It's uh postermywall.com. A good website. They have a lot of templates. Um this is that's where I got this one from. I mean, I obviously changed a lot of it, but
very nice. I have some photos from his events. It's great to see.
All right. And now,
absolutely. And here's a photo from um Stern the Stern Army Appreciation Party. Um that's why I said a few words during it. And then here's some more photos from it. You can see there are two insider connected badges. uh one was for the inaugural one in 2023 and last year we had just released Metallica during Pinball Expo week. So I uh created a sort of a Metallicaesque launch party uh excuse me event badge for that. You can see photos of of Gary, George, Seth, the whole gang. Um
yeah, Cheryl Cheryl um I used to run events at Microphone where this is where this party takes place. Um, I've since passed the torch to Cheryl and then Cheryl has since actually become an employee of Sterns. She's an electrical engineer um and helps um helps build all the the prototypes and whatnot. She's incredibly talented
3D Gary,
right? 3D [laughter] here. Here's um a screenshot of the This is an old screenshot. We have more members now, but uh of the Stern Army Facebook uh Facebook group that I've created, a private group for us to to to have discussion about Stern Army. Ask any questions about running events or whatnot. Just a forum for us. Here's um here's uh digital images of the event poster as well as um we we send physical uh Grand Chamber plaques. This is the image of the decal we use uh for launch parties. some more uh another fun photo of a Jaws launch party
complete with shark,
right? Um
every picture everybody at these tournaments is smiling.
That's true.
Picture everybody
and you know that's a great point, Dennis. Um what we're doing really it's look I know we're here to talk about pinball but it's a lot more than that. And we're building a third space, a place for people to go to forget about work, to forget about the daily grind, the monotony, all the all the stresses in our lives. When we're playing pinball, in that moment, we're with our friends. We're not worried about anything else. And I think that's really powerful and something we all need. Um, so I I just I can't stress how thankful I am for for these folks and everyone around the world who are running these events. This is something that's professionally and personally important to me and I'm honored and privileged to have this platform to execute this. I think we're doing great work and we're just getting started. So, jumped ahead quick. So, this is something that's also very important to me. Support of women's events. Um, yeah, very important. [applause] We're committed to supporting women's pinball events. We're currently supporting more than 75 women's clubs around the world. Um, the requirements are the same. Just run one Stern Army branded IFB sanctioned event at your location. I'm not going to micromanage your events. I'm not telling you to run additional events or change your events. Just have fun. That's all I'm asking. Um, we you don't have to be bells and chimes. It could be your own club. Independent. Pinball's for everyone. And um so Amber runs uh bells and chimes in her area and and Jess has experience doing so. Do you guys want to jump in and share any feedback?
Uh I was just going to say I don't know if that's on or not, but I'm loud anyway. So um I run two tournaments a month. I actually run an open tournament and I run a women's tournament monthly. Um, I work with a local pizza place and I actually operate as well as uh run tournaments. So, we have like a group of operators that works together to get games into our location. But, yeah, we try we try to do monthly. We're we're really lucky to have a lot of women's support in our area all the way up and through New Robert Englunds. You know, many of you probably already may have participated in the Bells and Chimes Connecticut and Massachusetts joint effort yesterday. There's a really good presence. So, it's nice to be in in tiny little Rhode Island and also be contributing to that.
And while I say, you know, run a monthly events, if you miss a month or so, it's okay. We're not going to punish you. We're not going to take you out of the club. Um, we all have lives, things happen, people get sick, whatever. Um,
I didn't do mine this month because I'm here. It would have been this weekend.
Abs. Absolutely.
I I have done this one.
I'm in a sevenweek stretch of uh running a tournament every weekend or traveling to one.
Wow. Incredible. And that's something that's something that I should touch on. It's like we're all all of us here are giving up a little bit of our sacrificing our little bit of our own enjoyment to make sure that others are benefiting from that. We we've all had our font. Amber, she's told me uh the story where, you know, there were tournaments being run and she said, "Well, I'll just run them."
Yeah, that's that's pretty much why I got into it. It's I'm pretty good at organizing things and so I jumped in and started running ours. And now our open tournaments have gotten so large I no longer play in them as well because we have so many people. Great problem to have. So, I've made sure that at least once a month I'm getting out to another location and getting to play an open tournament myself. So, you got to make those those exchanges in how you're doing things to make sure you're still getting out and having fun in a different way.
Excellent.
Yes, Dennis.
Oh, come over here, Mike. Dennis.
So, my question is, you guys run tournaments. Do you do a weekly or you do a monthly? And how many people between all three of you, how many people typically show up for one of your appointments?
Um, so I I run mine monthly. Uh, I would say that we get around 18 to 20, I think. Uh, I had 23 in January was the high.
That was your yearly your one year anniversary event, right?
Uh, yeah. A month before. Yeah, February, I think. So, February is the one year. In January, we had 23. Cool.
So, I run mine monthly, but I run two. So, I run um every second Sunday is our open, every second Tuesday is our women's. And for our open, I usually get somewhere between 24 to 32, and for our women's we usually get anywhere between 16 and 24. Uh so, I run a my stern army is a Sunday monthly, uh which is a match play. Uh, I also run a Saturday monthly strikes. Uh, and I usually get about 20 25 people for those. Um, and then also twice a year I co-run Valentine's Day and Brooklyn pin pride. Uh, we were just able to go up to 56 players. Uh, in February for Valentine's Gay, uh, we do a Trans Lights for Trans rights uh, silent auction that raises money for the Transgender Law Center. Uh, and we also raised money for the AliE Fory Center, uh, which provides services to unhoused queer youth in New York City. Uh, we've had six of those events and, uh, we've raised more than $24,000. [applause]
Thank you. I want to say thank you to all of you. And I know that when you guys run these events, these events are banquetss. People don't realize what you put into behind the scenes. There's a lot of preparation, but thank you. Thank you.
What are you feedback on that? You said what your format's at. What format do you
So I run a I run a group match play. Uh I do six rounds with top four go to finals and uh I would exp you know finals would expand depending on number of participants.
I actually switch it up. I try to do a different format um every month and that's partly because I'll look around and see what other larger tournaments are happening in other states and what their format is and try to get my local people to try it out and then let them know that there's a tournament coming up elsewhere so that they feel a little more secure in trying a new format or trying something else. So we'll do, you know, a target match play one month, we'll do a group another, we might do something flip frenzy-esque if something's coming up elsewhere. But um just to try to get them a lot of our players are new a lot so to try to get them comfortable with formats and feeling really empowered to go out and visit other locations, other states, other tournaments without feeling like they're they're jumping into something they've never tried. That's really cool. I've tried to experiment a little with the format for launch parties. Um but for my monthly, we have to finish uh by 9:30 for karaoke. So like we're we're time boxed there. So that's why we only do top four finals uh and whatnot. But it's great cuz you know the format's flexible and you can figure out what works for your location and your players.
I think you should just have your top four also pick their karaoke song and [laughter] have it be like competition.
They can they can sing while they play.
Yes.
Here are some photos from uh from some women's events. On the left, I believe it's a sanctum and on the right is again microphone brewing and you can see Erin Siden uh hosting uh an event there. Erin is uh has uh joined her husband Mark uh to move out to Chicago to work in pinball. Uh and and Erin does a great job running Stern Army events for us. Here's some more um some more photos of uh of women's events around around the country and world. Everybody again smiling. Have a great time. Some really funny reactions in these pictures. All right. So, location benefits. Uh, so Stern Army locations receive first priority shipment of the new games. Uh, we want players again to experience a new game at your location. Um, so we're driving traffic to your to your location through our Stern Army events as well as insider connected. this uh this would be a whole separate discussion about what we're doing with Insider Connected and quests and achievements. We're really trying to again drive players to locations um to to try uh and experience pinball. So I um actually during the pinball cup I had put up like a side challenge and used I think it was during the turkey trot um for the night of the tournament the top player I would uh got a shirt. So depending on the number of points they accumulated over the course of the night for the pinball cup you could look at it. like I used the location and essentially took a screenshot right as we started after to determine who won. So I tried to incorporate some of that just as like a side challenge. Again, players of all skill levels. And you know, um what's nice too is with that pinball cup, players were earning points. They didn't even realize it necessarily. Some players didn't even realize it. So it was like a nice little bonus. And with increased traffic at the location, uh the location should see uh you know increased incremental food and beverage sales. Um schedule the location should schedule turn so that tournament director should coordinate with the location to uh decide on a recurring schedule. Um schedule it strategically. think about maybe you want to schedule it on a slower night like Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are very popular to help bring people in into the into the premise. Um, so the location is broadening and expanding their customer base. We're elevating the entertainment experience at the location. It's way cooler with pinball. I think we all agree. I'd rather go to a place with pinball. I know when I'm driving or I'll check insider connected to see where is a or where's the nearest connected game that I can uh I'd rather eat at this place. They have they have IC. [laughter]
Um and then of course um they can leverage the games the pin art to uh on social media promoting their location. Sometimes um you'll see like you know a beer or a food plate and with all the pimo machines in the background. I just I love that. I love seeing that. So that's a way they can use uh leverage pinball to differentiate themselves from from other um businesses. Here are some here are some examples of some events uh I set up in the Chicago area. Two brothers Brewing and Microphone Brewing. Um and some of the some of the ways they're they're doing that. You can see in the top left their Two Brothers pinball themed beer with pinballs in the background. um their beverage uh their food offerings. In the top right, this is something cool. Uh at Microphone, they host we host tournaments the first Thursday of every month. This is a static uh framed picture that lives at the location. We're always going to be running tournaments. So, people see this poster like, "Oh, maybe one of these days I should stop by and see see what it's all about." And it works. The lower left, they have a really cool uh marquee sign where they uh I just absolutely love seeing Stern Army on that, man. It's cool. right behind the bar. Um, and then on the lower right, they made Microphone made a uh a pinball themed um t-shirt. Microphone is a really great um partner with Stern Pinball. We're uh very thankful for our relationship. Um just real quick, here's an example of a two brothers uh pinball ontap tournament uh on Facebook, a Facebook event just to show some of the ways uh these events are being promoted. Here's a Facebook event on the left for microphone. Um um Derek was running these events last year, but Cheryl is actually now running these events. Um I ran them before Derek. And you can see uh you can see Erin on the right there again that microphone. Here's that here's that um maybe you couldn't see this when I was talking about ear. Yeah, here's a here's a better picture of that sign. Um, here on the left is a post on social media. You can see their calendar, weekly calendar events, the Stern Pinball tournament. And on the right, they email it to their to their uh customer base. So, again, another way to bring bring new players um uh to the event or to make them aware of the event. Here's a shot of the uh of the events being in in my area on the IFBA tournament calendar. All right, let's talk about growth. So, uh, what we're seeing incredible growth, absolutely explosive demand, double digit year-over-year growth. Um, it's incredible. We've we we have more than 1,000 communive commu cumulative Stern Army members, which I'm absolutely blown away by. Um, in the past few years, uh, we're really seeing an uptick in in, uh, in participation of Stern Army. We have more than 825 unique Stern Army locations around the world in 22 countries um and counting. Um all in all, we've done more than 3600 individual launch parties since Guardians of the Galaxy. Uh and now uh we're international. I've uh we've hired hired Lorton Lloyd Dorton who dotted dotted line dotted line reports to me. Um he helps manage stern army in Europe as well as uh assisting um operators with their IC pro accounts and locations. Again, we are global active in 22 countries and counting. You can see the list of countries here and we have more in the works. And there was a reminder. Everyone should log in and play at the games and the automated uh booth to earn their uh event badge for Fantastic Pinball. We used the the fantastic 10th anniversary logo to create the the badge. I think it came out great.
I hope to get one after this.
Yeah, same.
This is great. We have we have uh we're just about at the end. Um I'd love to do some Q&A with the audience. Dave, you might have some questions.
I have a question. It's more like an observation. Um, even though it's called an army, seems like you're very non-combative. Like it's it's nothing that you said is one chapter of the army is trying to outdo another. Everything's cooperative, right?
Absolutely, 100%. Um, the the one might argue the choice of the name Stern Army at once upon a time was not the best name. I know it's not necessarily Yeah, we we p we we don't we I'll just say this, we don't we don't really lean into the military theme of it. It's all inclusive. You know, it's where no one's fighting. Uh the army is more of a theoretical representation of the the quantity of great volunteers that are doing amazing work around the world. Um
it's like the kiss army.
Kiss is a great example.
Kiss army.
It's a great parallel. Okay.
Uh other questions come on down here. I mean, I look at it more like a network, too, right? I mean, when I started these when I started running my tournaments and I put this like, you know, community group together. I really didn't know anybody. I uh there was a place that kind of had a tournament and then they stopped having tournaments and, you know, when I got into the hobby, I was watching tournament streams and everything and I I was like, you know, I want to do tournaments and uh that's when I also started to figure out how, right? Um, and then you know through that I've wanted to play in more. So I've gone into Brooklyn and I've met you know Jess and and the other directors who run tournaments down there and even there's a lot of non-star Stern Army events still IFPA but again it's just a huge network of people come up to Rock Fantasy and played a few times. Um so definitely very expansive.
Yes.
Um Vermont Vermont has a unique uh involvement state. It's not
let's check.
So Vermont has a unique land uh pinball landscape northern wise. the the locations Southern Wise, uh, Pastime Pinpaul in Manchester and Gravitate in Rutland are larger locations, very public locations.
Our biggest location in Burlington is the Pinball Co-op, 36 machines, but it's a private club.
Yes.
And kind it gets to the point where you don't want all that much more foot traffic. Um, the location pinball in central and northern Vermont is small. Uh, and so I'm wondering if the if most of the Stern Army locations are public public locations or are they more private club that feel like they have a cap?
I'm glad we I'm glad we're talking about this. Uh, so most locations are public businesses. However, we do have examples uh of private clubs that meet all the requirements such as the Sanctum, such as the Western Mass Pinball Club, the Southern New Hampshire Pinball Club. Um, the only thing we need to do is have uh Google, you know, public hours listed. Maybe it's once a month on a Saturday where you invite the public to come in and and check out the games or whatnot. Um it just it so ultimately we need folks the idea is we want folks to to be able to to find on Google a place to play pinball and if that's an nearest place um they can see okay they're open on these days at these hours um uh to to to check it out. Um but so I'm will again I'm willing to work with folks you know just reach out to me um stern army sternpinball.com and I can answer any questions. Hi. Uh, can you hear me through this, by the way?
Okay. Um, this ties in just with what you're saying. I'm curious if there's a way to have a stern event in a private home.
It's a It's a great question. That is something we're looking at. Um, it we're going to be doing a a test program uh in Europe uh for actually uh private clubs and potentially potentially residences that are hosting IFBA tournaments. It's something we're looking at. It's not something that's right around the corner, but we are absolutely aware. Um, more games, so more games do ship from Stern in our distributors to the home market, but more people are playing games on location than in than in their people's home. So, it's a balance. So, we want to support both events at home ultimately and events on location. Um, so it's a great question. I and it just would take to for us to do it right. uh we don't it would be it would require a lot of resources there would be huge demand I'm sure of it so we want to do it right when we roll it out we want to make sure we do it the right way but it's a great question and um just give us some time
okay thank you
you know even I even with the tournaments in clubs right I mean you could always cap it you can always put a cap like 24 36 players um like my idea would be to obviously if it's a closed membership club not open to the public. You could run maybe a monthly open event where the members pay to the pot fee. Public pays, you know, a cost plus pot fee.
Yeah. It's it's not that it is open to the public. It's just that it's the owner doesn't want So, he doesn't really want to drive more business.
Okay.
More business is not helping this club. Um it's good. We welcome it. You know, we want the you know, private parties, all the things. You always want more people, but it does the year that I promoted the state championships. If if we almost had to cap the number of people coming in nightly on the night out and that is what we don't want. Then the you know, it's a it's a delegate.
Um, so it's not I don't think he's interested in the Stern Army because he just doesn't want that kind. He doesn't he doesn't need it.
I understand.
It doesn't help his business. But there are They're smaller. It would
none of them have.
Well, send me an email. We can, you know.
Yeah. It sounds like we're working toward a solution here that maybe launch parties have a different qualification that the launch party has to be in a certain kind of place that is more public. And then the monthly tournament if you start looking at caps. And how about advanced registration? Do you do you have any guidelines about a tournament that you would register in advance and it's only 24 and it fills up in two seconds? And that's still
Yeah. If I I we try not to micromanage folks's tournaments. Uh if they if they want to set a cap with pre-registration, they're certainly welcome to. Um,
I think a lot of times it just depends on number of machines and space, you know, like I haven't had an issue. I mean, we have at mine is is 12 games, but 10 unique games. They do have two duplicates. So, I haven't run into an issue yet where, you know, I have I have too many people where they'd have to like sit and wait for games or I mean, one of the games is not function that well that I don't use at all. Um, so like one of the duplicates I don't use. So like it would limit, you know, I don't want people waiting around, you know, for a 30 minute round and then they get on the game and now everybody else has to wait because one group I mean I haven't run into that that issue.
Yeah, I look um I look at what we have for games on the floor and I do a multiplier of about four people just because if we're doing like group match play or what have you. So I just I do the math quick. I usually put it on the IFPA event. I don't do pre-rege. Um I've started doing some pre-reg on match play just to make life easier for people if they want to put themselves in, but I'm not um I haven't reached caps yet. If I do, great. That's awesome. I hope I reach a cap. That would be great. But um but as for now, I just kind of put a number up saying like each each game times about four people based on what format I'm running. And then
we usually don't hit it because we've got we've got like 10 12 machines. So, I'm not I'm not suffering for lack of games. Yeah. Or uh the Rob Wong Invitational is a has a hard 40 player cap because uh only taking four people to finals. So, you know, fitting in that taking between 10 and 50% of your field to finals. Um but we've never hit 40 yet. Um I don't do pre-registration for my monthly events. It's just uh show up. I do signups half an hour before the tournament starts. So, uh, you know, I just use like a a word, uh, signup sheet that I made and collect people's 10 bucks. And, uh, I do do pre-registration for the two larger, um, LGBTQIA plus fundraiser events, though.
I think you guys had like 80 people plus the well, whatever the cap was, plus there was like another 20 something.
We got 40 signups in a minute and uh, and hit our 56 player cap. Uh I think in 7 minutes this year
there was like a huge weight list there.
Totally. Yeah.
Y
Yeah. I just put all my people directly into match play when they come in because it now also has prize pool tracking so you can make it come up with your prize split outs for you. So you don't have to math even once.
It's great.
True. Yeah. Match play is always getting better. Andreas is amazing. [laughter]
I've got a question for Michael.
Hey Steve. Hey. Uh, so we're encouraged to log in for the launch parties. Yes.
And for tournaments on the Insider Connected, but I've been told that some of my players like last week where they were playing Dungeons and Dragons and they didn't want some of the players didn't want people logging in because there's an advantage with the with certain games. I believe the Venom and the Dungeons and Dragons carries on. So, how do you go get around that? I wanted to clear that up because
it's a great question. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So there is a solution. Uh so games like Teenage Mut Ninja Turtles, Venom, Dungeons and Dragons where there's uh you know gametoame experience points where a player can earn you know different things on their when they're logged in their game experience is different than someone who isn't. So the solution is uh you can put the game in competition mode. Uh whether you do or don't have keys. If you have keys, you can find the uh you can change the settings. Um or if you don't know how to change the settings, you can hold both flippers in until it'll say it'll pop up. Standard game mode, you can toggle, it'll start with standard. You can toggle over, find prolonged competition mode. What this means is it'll stay in competition mode until the game is turned off. And what competition mode does, it removes randomness. It may not remove extra balls. So, if you want to turn off extra balls, check that setting. Um, but it it it starts everyone from the beginning. Uh, so like you like maybe you'll level up on your first ball, second ball, or whatever, but everyone's starting at the same point. So, uh, that's what I would that's what I would recommend.
All right. Thank you.
Thanks, Steve.
There was an issue with that that you just fixed in the last update, correct? I I don't have firsthand knowledge on that, but I believe that is true. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean,
so operators, update your software,
make sure yes, please update your code. We're at 0.89 on D and D.
Um, any other questions?
Mom, I have a question.
Yes.
Do you have is there another Facebook group for like technical questions? Yeah.
Stern Facebook group for technical questions.
There is. Yeah. If you take Stern Pinball tech support, I think if
I'll try to find it.
Yeah.
Yeah. And if you can't find it, let me know. I can help you. Um, I'd also like to thank my mom for being here. Um,
she had she she's the person responsible for me for getting me into pinball. Uh so when we were on vacation, you know, uh in the Cape, there'd always be a pin or two in the in the motel and and she'd always gravitate towards it and and definitely got me into the silver ball. So I I'm infinitely grateful for that. So thanks, Mom. Love you. [applause]
And with that, unless there's any other questions, I just want to thank thank everyone for being here. Uh thank you for listening. And if you want to join Stern Army, you have questions, you uh you're interested, please email us at stern army sternpinball.com. Thank you. [applause] Thanks for coming to the seminar. Thanks to all the panelists. Next seminar will be at 12:30 where a name that was just name dropped here, Raymond Davidson.
Yes. Doing his first ever fireside chat. And we'll see what uh secrets we can squeeze out of him. [laughter]

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