# ELVIRA PICTURES LEAK

**Source:** Pinball News Website  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2019-09-15  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2019/09/15/elvira-pictures-leak

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## Analysis

Stern Pinball's pre-release images of Elvira's House of Horrors leaked online before the official announcement, marking the second consecutive leak following Jurassic Park. Stern acted quickly to request removal, but images spread widely across forums and social media. Pinball News discusses the ethical dilemma of publishing leaked content and notes Stern's inconsistent enforcement across different leaks.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Pre-announcement pictures of Stern Pinball's Elvira's House of Horrors leaked onto the internet before official launch — _Direct statement from Pinball News article dated September 15, 2019_
- [HIGH] This is the second consecutive Stern game to leak before official announcement, following Jurassic Park — _Article explicitly states 'For the second game in a row, pre-announcement pictures of Stern Pinball's latest release have leaked onto the internet'_
- [HIGH] Leaked images were taken from an unpublished product page on Stern Pinball's website — _Article states: 'The pictures were taken without permission, apparently from an unpublished product page on the Stern Pinball website'_
- [HIGH] Stern acted quickly to contact site owners requesting picture removal, but only limited compliance occurred — _Article: 'Stern acted quickly, contacting site owners to request the pictures be removed, but only a limited number have complied'_
- [MEDIUM] Stern took a more lenient attitude to Jurassic Park pre-release pictures which were distributor-only material — _Article states: 'Stern Pinball took a far more laissez-faire attitude to publication of the pre-release Jurassic Park pictures'_

### Notable Quotes

> "The taunting is over! The haunting begins! #WelcomeBack"
> — **Stern Pinball (Facebook post)**, September 13, 2019
> _Official teaser from Stern approximately 2 days before leak; shows planned announcement timeline_

> "The pictures were taken without permission, apparently from an unpublished product page on the Stern Pinball website. This effectively makes them stolen property, published without the copyright holder's permission before they were ready to be released."
> — **Pinball News**, September 15, 2019
> _Clarifies the source and legal status of leaked images; frames editorial ethics_

> "Of course, it puts responsible websites such as Pinball News in a quandary."
> — **Pinball News**, September 15, 2019
> _Addresses tension between widespread availability and copyright respect_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; subject of leak incident; attempting to control pre-release information flow |
| Pinball News | media | Independent pinball news outlet; author of article; discussing editorial policy on leaked content |
| Elvira's House of Horrors | game | Stern Pinball game scheduled for official announcement; pre-release images leaked; third in Elvira series |
| Jurassic Park | game | Stern Pinball game; first consecutive leak before official announcement; images originally distributor-only |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pre-release leaks and information control, Editorial ethics and copyright compliance
- **Secondary:** Stern Pinball marketing strategy inconsistency, Community speculation and hype generation

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0) — Article maintains journalistic neutrality while discussing the leak phenomenon; acknowledges both Stern's perspective and the practical reality of information spread; ends with open question to readers about editorial standards

### Signals

- **[leak_detection]** Pre-release images of Elvira's House of Horrors surfaced from unpublished Stern website product page; marks second consecutive leak for Stern in 2019 (confidence: high) — Images appeared in forums, fan sites, Facebook groups, and YouTube before official announcement; sourced from unpublished product page on Stern's website
- **[market_signal]** Stern's inconsistent approach to leak enforcement suggests either deliberate leaking strategy or reactive damage control; stronger enforcement on Elvira vs. more lenient Jurassic Park approach (confidence: medium) — Article notes Stern 'took a far more laissez-faire attitude to publication of the pre-release Jurassic Park pictures' but strongly enforces removal on Elvira; speculation about deliberate leaking mentioned
- **[announcement]** Official announcement of Elvira's House of Horrors with features, specifications, pricing, and availability expected later in the same week (confidence: high) — Article states: 'The official announcement from Stern Pinball revealing all the details of the Elvira's House of Horrors models including feature sets, prices and availability is expected later this week'

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## Transcript

**Date:**
15th September, 2019

For the second game in a row, pre-announcement pictures of Stern Pinball’s latest release have leaked onto the internet before the company can officially launch their new title.

*Jurassic Park* was the [first game to be shown](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2019/07/23/jurassic-park/) in low-resolution images before Stern Pinball made [their official announcement](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2019/07/27/jurassic-park-2/) several days later. This time, it’s images of the third Elvira game in the series, *Elvira’s House of Horrors* which have been posted in forums, fan sites and Facebook groups all over the world.

Stern had already begun promoting the game through a teaser video posted on their [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/).

> The taunting is over! The haunting begins! #WelcomeBack
>
> Posted by [Stern Pinball](https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/) on Friday, September 13, 2019

Stern Pinball’s Elvira*‘s* House of Horrors tease video

Almost concurrently though, pictures of the cabinets of the Limited Edition and Premium models started appearing on pinball sites, YouTube and discussion groups. These were then followed by a playfield picture from the Limited Edition showing the game’s features, shots and playfield artwork.

Stern acted quickly, contacting site owners to request the pictures be removed, but only a limited number have complied making it quite simple even now for curious pinball fans to find the pictures and post their opinions of the game based purely on those pictures and their speculation about how it will operate.

Of course, it puts responsible websites such as Pinball News in a quandary. The pictures were taken without permission, apparently from an unpublished product page on the Stern Pinball website. This effectively makes them stolen property, published without the copyright holder’s permission before they were ready to be released. Stern have made it clear they do not wish them to be available yet.

On the other hand, the pictures are now so widespread that the genie is well-and-truly out of the bottle. Not everyone all around the world is going to comply with Stern’s wishes, even if they are made aware of them.

Also, Stern Pinball took a far more laissez-faire attitude to publication of the pre-release *Jurassic Park* pictures which *were* released but were intended for distributors only, so they have shown some acceptance of leaks as being part of the rough-and-tumble of pinball marketing. That’s without considering the conspiracy theory that Stern deliberately leak pictures to help build excitement and interest in the title ahead of the official announcement – a ploy which, if true, would only have a very limited life-span before everyone got wise to it.

But, it seems Stern have high hopes for *Elvira’s* *House of Horrors* as a premium title and are going to great lengths to try to control how and when information is released.

So, if you’re wondering why we don’t have these pictures on the site, it’s because Pinball News has a Ryan Policky of not publishing pictures against the known wishes of the copyright holder. (Stern Pinball have not, at the time of publishing, been in contact with us to request we don’t publish them.) Similarly, it would be thoroughly disingenuous for us to publish links to other sites where they *are* hosted if we don’t think we should be publishing them ourselves.

What do you think? Should we have published them? Have your say below.

The official announcement from Stern Pinball revealing all the details of the *Elvira’s* *House of Horrors* models including feature sets, prices and availability is expected later this week, and you’ll be able to read all about it here.

_(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 1ba89d31-0ceb-4f8b-a619-211867b1c61f*