# Stern Game of Thrones Pinball - Dead Flip Live w. Steve Ritchie

**Source:** Stern Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2015-09-29  
**Duration:** 3m 43s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTB1CbPYg-k

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## Analysis

Steve Ritchie demonstrates Game of Thrones pinball gameplay on Dead Flip Live, highlighting the game's RPG-inspired mechanics including house selection (Stark, Baratheon), gold economy, multiball modes, and optional video mode features. The game features branching choices where players can spend earned gold on upgrades or enter video modes, showcasing deep rule variety and player agency in progression.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Game of Thrones has RPG-style mechanics including gold collection, buying/selling items, collecting swords and houses — _Host describes gameplay: 'Gold—you buy things and sell things and collect swords and houses and try to make it to the Iron Throne'_
- [HIGH] House selection (Stark, Baratheon) is a core mechanic requiring battle sequences — _Host narrates: 'You're going to get initiated into the house. So you have to battle them' and demonstrates Stark house selection with ramp shots_
- [HIGH] Game includes multiball modes tied to house progression (Wall multiball mentioned) — _Host announces: 'Wall multiball' as reward for completing house progression_
- [HIGH] Video mode is optional and player can choose to skip it or play it — _Host states: 'The video mode is a choice the player can make. Oh. Decide not to play a video mode and play the whole game'_
- [HIGH] Gold economy allows player choice between keeping gold or purchasing upgrades (Wildfire or 2x video mode mentioned) — _Host narrates: 'Now you have a chance to spend your gold that you earned. Okay, so we can keep the gold by 10 Wildfire or get 2x video mode'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Rules are like, um, very different from other pinball machines. There's a lot of kind of role-playing game stuff here."
> — **Dead Flip Live host**, Early gameplay commentary
> _Host confirms Game of Thrones has distinctive RPG-influenced ruleset compared to typical pinball games_

> "Gold—you buy things and sell things and collect swords and houses and try to make it to the Iron Throne."
> — **Dead Flip Live host**, Rules explanation
> _Summarizes core economic and progression mechanics of the game_

> "The video mode is a choice the player can make... Decide not to play a video mode and play the whole game."
> — **Steve Ritchie (implied)**, Mid-gameplay
> _Confirms player agency in choosing whether to engage video mode content, indicating design flexibility_

> "You're going to get initiated into the house. So you have to battle them, right?"
> — **Dead Flip Live host**, House selection explanation
> _Clarifies that house selection triggers battle sequences as core gameplay loop_

> "Comboing them is good for you."
> — **Dead Flip Live host**, Ramp shot sequence
> _Highlights shot combo mechanics reward repeated ramp alternation during house battles_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Steve Ritchie | person | Game designer of Game of Thrones pinball; present during Dead Flip Live demonstration to explain gameplay |
| Dead Flip Live | organization | Pinball content/entertainment show hosting gameplay demonstrations with game designers |
| Game of Thrones | game | Stern Pinball machine with RPG mechanics, house selection, gold economy, multiball modes, and optional video mode features |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Game of Thrones pinball machine |
| Stark | game | Playable house/faction in Game of Thrones pinball requiring battle sequences and ramp shots |
| Baratheon | game | Playable house/faction in Game of Thrones pinball (mentioned in menu) |
| Wall multiball | game | Multiball mode in Game of Thrones pinball triggered as reward for house progression |
| Iron Throne | game | Ultimate progression goal in Game of Thrones pinball rules |

### Topics

- **Primary:** RPG-inspired ruleset and mechanics, House selection and faction mechanics, Gold economy and player choice, Multiball modes and progression
- **Secondary:** Optional video mode integration, Shot combo mechanics

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Host expresses enthusiasm throughout ('super hype', 'freaking remarkable', 'Heck yeah, I'll take it'), appreciates rule depth and player agency in design choices. Demonstrates engaging gameplay experience with no critical complaints during demonstration.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Stern conducting live gameplay demonstrations with game designer on Dead Flip Live platform, bringing designer/player/community interaction for new title reveal (confidence: high) — Steve Ritchie present during Dead Flip Live demonstration to explain Game of Thrones rules and gameplay in real-time
- **[design_philosophy]** Game of Thrones employs player agency and optional mechanics approach—players can choose to engage video modes or skip them, deciding between gold preservation and upgrade purchases (confidence: high) — Host narrates: 'The video mode is a choice the player can make... Decide not to play a video mode and play the whole game' and mentions gold spending decisions
- **[product_strategy]** Game of Thrones positioned with distinctive RPG mechanics (gold economy, house selection, faction battles) differentiating it from traditional pinball rulesets (confidence: high) — Host states: 'Rules are like, um, very different from other pinball machines. There's a lot of kind of role-playing game stuff here'

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## Transcript

good evening pin heads and welcome back to dead flip pinball today is Monday it's uh super hype Game of Thrones day Red Viper of D you don't get a name like that unless you're deadly right and you have not seen any gameplay on this game and uh I haven't played it much so we're going to discover this thing together it's going to be freaking remarkable I said freaking I love you guys let's just get the camera over by the way ladies and gentlemen you'll notice a gentleman skullking behind me that is the designer of the game Steve Ritchie he will be showing us how to play this game you nice rules the rules are like uh um very different from other pin Mall machines um there's a lot of uh kind of role playing game stuff here I like it gold you you buy things and sell things and uh collect swords and houses and try to make it to the iron drone I like it all right well let's get into this I think we're just going to start off with Zac Stark right out of the gate all right increase Winter's coming I'll just through the menu really quick so you can see what's going on guys choose that house with the action buttons yeah we got like a select button here on the play on the uh on the lock bar uh barathan Advance wall multiball collect more gold we'll just start with Zac Stark and go with that so we'll select it so what you want to do is shoot up the ramp right here that's lit and and get a lock but it's also well not a lock this time this time it's Choose You Know choose a battle all right cool and you have to choose stuff in other words you're going to get initiated into the house so you have to battle them right so we're going to choose Stu right now shoot the two ramp shots as many times as you can fantastic let's see if I can shoot him at all def oh we're not going to we're not going to tilt the game there's the uh the pop bumpers choosing the awards that you get yep so I'm collecting a lot of gold right now good BL change we got 3x bonus which is awesome you ah I got to find that on the Fly the battering ram oh come on baby late there it is there you go keep alternating them the more you do that and then oh so comboing them is good for you you've got like 16 seconds left so you can you can capture a few ramp shots and then pick them up by shooting an orbit there all right cool you just completed house start oh excellent so we have house STK done great job advance wall M heck yeah I'll take it and uh the mystery award um yeah go in there shoot in the dragon it's a Myster it's a mystery thanks jod with the real knowledge keeping it real keeping it real just shoot right now oh there you go all right so now you have a chance to spend your gold that you burn okay so we can keep the gold by 10 Wildfire or get 2x video mode yeah there a video mode and you can go directly into it from here uh yes please okay Advance your uh guy che check out what he does with the flipper buttons there you go Dodge Parry get him oh I'm getting chumped get him get get him eat my sword nerd no look guy his face look at that guy's face the video mode is a choice the player can make oh decide not to play a video mode and play the whole game oh that's great or you can play it or you can play it down to flip

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 1ae6f9d8-22fa-4fcd-ad00-9bf34105cc34*