# Stern Pinball @ San Diego Comic Con 2018 Recap Video! **Source:** Stern Pinball **Type:** video **Published:** 2018-09-04 **Duration:** 2m 9s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzzaPGUhkYo --- ## Analysis Stern Pinball showcased their games at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, featuring a dedicated pinball lounge with 17 machines in the Marriott Marquis hotel and presence at the Nuclear Blast and Star Wars booths. The lounge included newly released Iron Maiden alongside Batman 66, Guardians of the Galaxy, and AC/DC, with nightly tournaments on Iron Maiden. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Nuclear Blast and Stern have been working together for over a decade at San Diego Comic-Con — _Stern representative speaking at Comic-Con 2018 event_ - [HIGH] Stern set up a pinball lounge with 17 machines in the Marriott Marquis hotel during Comic-Con 2018 — _Direct observation and statement at the event_ - [HIGH] Iron Maiden was the newly released game at the time of Comic-Con 2018 — _Speaker refers to it as 'hot new game that we just came out with'_ - [HIGH] Disney encouraged Stern to bring pinball machines to the Star Wars booth at Comic-Con 2018 — _Direct statement from event: 'Disney said come bring your pinball machines over here'_ ### Notable Quotes > "Nuclear Blast and Stern have been working together for over a decade here at San Diego Comic-Con to bring you guys a bunch of hot pinball action" > — **Stern representative**, 0:00-0:20 > _Establishes long-standing partnership between Stern and Nuclear Blast at Comic-Con_ > "this year we wanted to do something a little bigger a little better bring something back to the community of San Diego Comic-Con and we've just decked it out with all the new titles that we have here from Stern Pinball" > — **Stern representative**, 2:45-3:05 > _Indicates strategy to expand Stern's presence and community engagement at Comic-Con_ > "we have an entire pinball lounge in the Marriott Marquis and we have 17 pinball machines in there" > — **Stern representative**, 0:35-0:50 > _Key details about the scale and location of Stern's Comic-Con activation_ > "it's 7 o'clock every single night we have a main tournament you get one shot on Iron Maiden to put up a high score" > — **Stern representative**, 3:10-3:25 > _Details nightly tournament format as engagement mechanism at the lounge_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Stern Pinball | company | Pinball machine manufacturer and event organizer at Comic-Con 2018 | | Nuclear Blast | company | Partner company working with Stern for over a decade at San Diego Comic-Con | | San Diego Comic-Con 2018 | event | Major convention where Stern showcased pinball games | | Disney | company | IP owner that encouraged Stern to bring pinball to Star Wars booth | | Marriott Marquis | venue | Hotel hosting Stern's dedicated pinball lounge with 17 machines | | Iron Maiden | game | Newly released Stern Pinball game featured prominently at Comic-Con 2018 lounge and nightly tournaments | | Batman 66 | game | Stern Pinball game on display at Comic-Con 2018 lounge | | Guardians of the Galaxy | game | Stern Pinball game on display at Comic-Con 2018 lounge | | AC/DC | game | Stern Pinball game on display at Comic-Con 2018 lounge | | Star Wars | game | Stern Pinball game displayed at dedicated Star Wars booth with high foot traffic | ### Topics - **Primary:** Event marketing and experiential activation, Pinball machine showcase and public engagement, Licensed IP partnerships (Star Wars, Nuclear Blast) - **Secondary:** Tournament format and community events, Stern Pinball product lineup ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Enthusiastic tone throughout; speaker expresses excitement about the expansion of Comic-Con presence, describes the lounge as 'awesome,' and emphasizes both the scale and quality of the activation. No critical notes or concerns expressed. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Stern implemented nightly Iron Maiden tournaments as engagement mechanism to drive repeat visits and high-score competitions (confidence: high) — Nightly 7 PM tournament format with single shot on Iron Maiden described explicitly - **[event_signal]** Stern Pinball activated at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 with 17-machine lounge and presence at Star Wars and Nuclear Blast booths (confidence: high) — Direct documentation of event with multiple game titles, venue details, and tournament structure - **[licensing_signal]** Disney Star Wars partnership enabled Stern to showcase pinball games in dedicated booth with high foot traffic (confidence: high) — Speaker states 'Disney said come bring your pinball machines over here' and describes significant visitor interest - **[announcement]** Iron Maiden positioned as hot new release at Comic-Con 2018 with prominent placement in lounge and tournament format (confidence: high) — Described as 'the hot new game that we just came out with' and featured in nightly tournament --- ## Transcript hey everyone we're at the San Diego comic-Conquer (as in Conquer Multiball) 2018 We Are Pinball in the nuclear blast booth nuclear blast and Stern have been working together for over a decade here at San Diego comic-Conquer (as in Conquer Multiball) to bring you guys a bunch of hot pinball action and on top of the the regular games we do put here on the floor with nuclear blast this year we have an entire The Pinball Lounge in the Marriott Marquis and we have 17 pinball machines in there we brought a Batman 66 guardians of the galaxy ac/dc obviously We Are Pinball swimming in iron Mane's right now the hot new game that we just came out with alright folks so here's what we're gonna do we're gonna go look around this awesome awesome convention and see what we can see and we've got More Brewing Company games to check out over at the star wars booth We Are Pinball at the star wars booth and this year star wars went all out with a giant area that they occupied with many different vendors of the Disney Star Wars branded licensing and Disney said come bring your pinball machines over here let everyone experience them and there's been lines just wrapped around this The Place for people to play this fun we could stand here literally all day but we're gonna go check out some More Brewing Company stuff here at Comic Conquer (as in Conquer Multiball) because there's so much to see let's go this is our second year of bringing pinball to the Marriott at the San Diego Comic Conquer (as in Conquer Multiball) and last year we had a big lineup of Star Wars machines and it was awesome but this year we wanted to do something a little bigger a little Bob Betor bring something Back to the Arcade community of we've just decked it out with all the new titles that we have here from stern pinball and it's 7 o'clock every single night we have a main tournament you get one shot on maiden to put up a High Score Arcade and I will just I it's like Christmas I just dump everything on you and you take all the stuff home I think we've stood out here enough I think it's time to go in here and actually start playing some pinball so let's go _(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 617b9e8a-c188-4c76-916e-61813fdca03f*