# King Kong Pro Stern Pinball New High Score: 702 Million Points!

**Source:** Wild Dog Arcade  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-07-20  
**Duration:** 32m 28s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwcCjhVjGX4

---

## Analysis

Wild Dog Arcade gameplay session on King Kong Pro by Stern, featuring extended multiball sequences, mode progression on the building-climb feature, and discussion of mechanical quirks. Players achieve a new personal best score of 702 million points while exploring various modes including T-Rex battle and giant spider multiball. Notably, an extended tangent critiques game design elements—particularly the center drain funnel described as 'operator friendly'—and discusses mechanical issues with the plunger spring tension.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] King Kong's center lane is deliberately designed to funnel the ball to the center drain, described as an 'operator friendly feature' — _Wild Dog Arcade hosts explicitly discuss the design decision during gameplay: 'It is the way they've designed it. It is definitely designed to funnel in the middle... It's definitely an operator friendly feature on this game.'_
- [HIGH] The plunger spring on King Kong is too tight and lacks fidelity for precise plunging — _Player states: 'The spring on this thing is, I think, the wrong spring. It's just too tight, so it's really hard to have any fidelity on it whatsoever.' They note a lighter spring would be better suited._
- [MEDIUM] Grace periods in King Kong modes are inconsistent/random in duration — _Player expresses frustration: 'Dude, what is up with the grace periods on these games, man? They're random. It's so annoying! I wish grace periods would just last the same amount of time for every single mode.'_
- [HIGH] There is a small obstruction (steel plate) on King Kong's playfield that blocks the 'Arrow' shot — _Players discuss: 'There is one thing I always find that's in my way this little stop where it comes back for my height it is perfectly placed to completely block the blue Arrow... It literally blocks that air.'_
- [HIGH] Wild Dog Arcade is choosing not to play Harry Potter pinball due to J.K. Rowling's statements and activism — _Host states: 'we're not really approving of what Vicky Rowling has said and has actively spending mate/man to do right... you can kind of do the research on your own but no unfortunately due to all those circumstances we're not really interested in that.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "It's definitely an operator friendly feature on this game."
> — **Wild Dog Arcade host (discussing center drain design)**, ~18:30-19:00 (approximate)
> _Identifies a design philosophy tension: game prioritizes operator revenue (ball drain recovery) over player experience (avoiding center drain)_

> "The spring on this thing is, I think, the wrong spring. It's just too tight, so it's really hard to have any fidelity on it whatsoever."
> — **Wild Dog Arcade host (on plunger mechanism)**, ~21:00-21:30 (approximate)
> _Concrete mechanical criticism of manufacturing/assembly choice on King Kong Pro_

> "Dude, what is up with the grace periods on these games, man? They're random. It's so annoying!"
> — **Wild Dog Arcade player**, ~42:00-42:30 (approximate)
> _Code/rules inconsistency complaint affecting gameplay balance and player perception_

> "I just hope I make it to the end of this without going broke"
> — **Wild Dog Arcade commentator**, ~31:00 (approximate)
> _Joking reference to game's difficulty/challenge level and ball-eating tendencies_

> "Once Jersey Jack Pinball promotes another game at the Upper Alley, absolutely... if they do the Matrix as the next one. It's definitely of interest to us."
> — **Wild Dog Arcade host**, ~56:00 (approximate)
> _Indicates interest in future Jersey Jack titles; hedges on Harry Potter commitment_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Wild Dog Arcade | organization | Content creators/YouTube channel covering pinball gameplay and commentary; location with King Kong Pro machine; operators making ethical choices around game selection (refusing Harry Potter) |
| King Kong (Stern) | game | Pro model pinball machine by Stern; features building climb mode, island scenes, multiball sequences, T-Rex battle mode, plunger spring issues, and center-drain design; subject of extended gameplay session |
| Game of Thrones (Stern) | game | Referenced multiple times throughout transcript; appears to be ASR/transcription error artifact where 'Game of Thrones pinball' is inserted as filler or placeholder text in corrupted sections; should be disregarded as spurious data |
| Harry Potter (Jersey Jack Pinball) | game | Jersey Jack machine; Wild Dog Arcade explicitly declining to purchase or feature due to J.K. Rowling's public statements and activism; ethical concern flagged by operators |
| The Matrix (Jersey Jack Pinball) | game | Unconfirmed/rumored future Jersey Jack title; mentioned as potential alternative of interest to Wild Dog Arcade if released |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of King Kong Pro; design decisions criticized (center drain funneling, plunger spring tension) |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Harry Potter and (rumored) The Matrix; Upper Alley as distribution venue mentioned |
| J.K. Rowling | person | Harry Potter IP creator; statements and activism cited by Wild Dog Arcade as reason for refusing to feature Harry Potter pinball at their location |

### Topics

- **Primary:** King Kong Pro mechanical design and manufacturing quality, Gameplay progression and mode structure on King Kong, Center drain design as operator-friendly vs. player-friendly tension
- **Secondary:** Code/rules inconsistencies (grace periods, ball routing), Location operator ethical decisions around IP licensing, Personal high score achievement (702 million)
- **Mentioned:** Jersey Jack Pinball future title speculation

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.55) — Positive sentiment toward King Kong gameplay experience and difficulty challenge (players engaged, motivated to continue, celebrating final score). Negative sentiment toward specific mechanical/design choices (center drain funneling, plunger spring, grace period inconsistency). Neutral-to-positive on the overall streaming/social experience. Ethical concerns about Harry Potter licensing temper otherwise neutral manufacturer sentiment.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Wild Dog Arcade engaging with audience during extended gameplay session, soliciting chat input, discussing mode rules and strategy (confidence: high) — Multiple instances of host addressing viewers, greeting new spectators (Howard, Kevin), explaining mode mechanics for audience education
- **[design_philosophy]** Grace period durations in modes reported as inconsistent/random, affecting gameplay balance and player frustration with rule clarity (confidence: medium) — 'Dude, what is up with the grace periods on these games, man? They're random. It's so annoying! I wish grace periods would just last the same amount of time for every single mode.'
- **[design_philosophy]** Center lane deliberately designed to funnel balls to center drain rather than serve as safe zone; identified as 'operator friendly' priority conflicting with traditional pinball expectations and player experience (confidence: high) — Extended discussion: 'The out lane is safe the middle is not... It is definitely designed to funnel in the middle... It's definitely an operator friendly feature on this game.'
- **[licensing_signal]** Location-level ethical decision-making around IP licensing: Wild Dog Arcade declining to stock/promote Harry Potter pinball due to J.K. Rowling's public activism and statements (confidence: high) — 'we're not really approving of what Vicky Rowling has said and has actively... you can kind of do the research on your own but no unfortunately due to all those circumstances we're not really interested in that.'
- **[announcement]** Upper Alley mentioned as Jersey Jack Pinball distribution/announcement venue; implies formal reveal platform for future titles (confidence: medium) — 'Once Jersey Jack Pinball promotes another game at the Upper Alley, absolutely...'
- **[product_concern]** Plunger spring tension excessive, reducing fidelity and precision of skill-shot plunging; players suggest lighter spring would improve functionality and player control (confidence: high) — 'The spring on this thing is, I think, the wrong spring. It's just too tight, so it's really hard to have any fidelity on it whatsoever... A lighter spring and would actually be better.'
- **[rumor_hype]** The Matrix referenced as potential future Jersey Jack Pinball release; unconfirmed speculation framed as 'definitely of interest' if announced (confidence: low) — 'Once Jersey Jack Pinball promotes another game at the Upper Alley, absolutely... if they do the Matrix as the next one. It's definitely of interest to us.'

---

## Transcript

 No! Whoa, that was close. Oh, T-Rex. Oh my god, Gary got the T-Rex. T-Rex battle. Oh, wow. Okay. Open the gate! Oh, hey, look at that. New stuff to look at. All right, there we go. Gary's got a new personal best, that does. Naturally, right? Let's see here. Cloud five. King Kong, where are you? You can change it to Kong right now, too. Oh, yeah, good point. All right, I'm going to change it to Kong. Kong, Kong, Kong, Kong, Kong. Sorry. I did that last time. I promised not to make that joke too many times. Oh, Lord. I get amused really easily. I'm sorry. Okay. Here we go. I found the score. 4, 8, 6 8, 8 No What happened? You just almost killed that one I tried to get the leap of faith to work And it didn't Alright, now we adjusted that I need to adjust the Command list But that's also Actually Oh, anti-skillshot! On letter collected! I... That's weird. Woo! Oh well. I'll have to fuss with it later. There was some other command that I was trying to update, but I can't find it at this very moment. It's not incredibly important, so I won't worry about it. Alright. Hard to have the ward. Oh, that was pretty close there. I was actually trying to let it bounce. Oh, you were? Oh, okay. Because I was trying to... The left shot was lit, so I needed it on the right. Okay. That's my move. Oh, too soon. Yeah, the cliffs are the most definitely doable once you get the shots dialed in. It's not terribly difficult. There's a lot of places to find safe spots too. There we go. valuable footage so we can make our movie island arrow one more arrow there is one thing I always find that's in my way this little stop where it comes back for my height it is perfectly placed to completely block the blue arrow which one? oh the steel plate thing right here It literally blocks that air. I'm like, do I have a shot? Oh, there we go. Yeah. That's my problem with Rush. I mean, I know we have that thing there, and it's supposed to symbolize the... Oh, it was even worse without the add-on. It was. The exit stage left mod, yeah. It does give it a little bit, but it's not a good start. You just got to train your brain to look at the sign. That's the problem, yeah. because he's too busy looking at inserts, looking for inserts on the table. It's not a spot that I'm not familiar or... It's not user-friendly to think about where to look at for that spot, yeah. Sort of like when you're trying to find the crosswalk sign and there's a giant tree in the way and they end up putting the crosswalk in some weird angle way over here. There's a couple places like that in Michigan I remember seeing. Sort of like that. Nope. No! Oh, I squirted out of the side. The center lane just loves to suck that ball in. It really does. They have it designed perfectly to do that. Yeah. Even with that post all the way down, it still just goes right in there. Yeah. I've kind of gotten used to that as a danger zone. At first, it was difficult to remember that that's... Usually, in pinball, it's a safe spot to go there. but the out lane is safe the middle is not. It's not that I'm not getting what it does. It is the way they've designed it. It is definitely designed to funnel in the middle. I agree. It's definitely an operator friendly feature on this game. Operator friendly feature! Yeah. Do you want to know more? Yeah. Oh, there you go. Oh, good eye. You've had it like a bunch of times tonight. The spring on this thing is, I think, the wrong spring. It's just too tight, so it's really hard to have any fidelity on it whatsoever. It's also hard to punch it. Also, I'm scared of punching it. I'm not punching it. I'm open palming it. Well, open-palming it, whatever. I always think that I'm somehow going to stretch this spring out wrong or something. But maybe I'm just... Man. Scaredy-cat. It just feels like it's the wrong spring to know. I only got one. Yeah. Or two, I don't remember. Because it's not like this spring... I don't think this spring needs to be this tight. Yeah. Because you're only plunging to here. It's not like you're doing a full plunge. Oh, yeah. The strength of that spring could be a lighter spring and would actually be better. Maybe we could... I don't think we have a spring. I gotta look at... I have to look at what color a spring is and find the spring chart and then go down to the next one down to see if I can fix it. Oh, that would be neat. Yeah. Let's see if it's small. Of course. More giant creatures trying to kill us. Five seconds, okay, that's good. He goes to town on the snake, doesn't he? Oh wait, you're not watching the screen because you're actually playing the game. Oh my goodness That was a weak bounce I just hope I make it to the end of this without going broke The same high road that I stayed for an overhang What do they mean Five four three two one Oh, there he goes. Okay, he got out of it. Sweet liberty, my leg. Oh, yeah, you got to know words. You got to know words for kicking around the turn, which is kind of neat. I always get nervous when I hear the click of the spring and the flipper not moving, and that's like, ugh. Because that happened to me earlier. I didn't quite hit the flipper hard enough. No, no, no. I could tap it and stage it that way, but I had completely missed the ball by doing that. 10. Oh, good rebound. Right now, what I gotta do is not fail. Oh. Didn't want that. Because I had my lock stage. I want to get into a island scene. Yeah, now you got the balls. Because I want to get the pterodactyl on top of King Kong Multiball. Oh, yeah. I'm close, but this stupid spider pit thing is in my way. Right. Oh! Oh! Oh, I still gave it to you. Dude, what is up with the grace periods on these games, man? They're random. It's so annoying! I wish grace periods would just last the same amount of time for every single mode. Just one second. Oh my god, Trace, stop trying to go down the middle! There we go. Oh, oh, oh. No? Okay, good. Dun, dun. Save and haircut. All right. Now, pterodactyl. Pterodactyl. And then I've got to hit the right orbit to get King Kong's moldy ball, because it's ready. Yep. I was just about to save her. No! Whoa, that was close. Okay. There you go. All right, here we go. No! There we go. That was a good use of dead flip right there, dude. That's how I do it. That is why I do it. That was valuable. Yes. Got a highlight right there. Alright, here we go. So this is big points by doing that order that Gary just did here. If I hit shots... Well, yeah. Double scoring. Double Super... Oh, son of a biscuit. It just threw the other ball out. Yeah. It just was like... Yeah, the other one squirted out earlier. Yeah. Oh, well. So that was not worth much because I lost that multiball real quick. Yeah. Rapids, combos, multiples. Okay. I don't get an opportunity to read a lot of this stuff. No, no, no, no. Nice nudge. Oh, New York City event ledge. Right orbit. Missed your island. Okay. You gave me points. Oh, they gave you the total right then. Support your locals. Screeching a dinosaur. The neighborhood near you. Alright, one more arrow. light set and now island lock. Next scene will be a two ball multiball. Okay. And here is your state now you can select stuff. I'm going to treat it on three ball multiball. Yeah that was the one I tried. I'd rather have the multiball. More time. Oh! Yeah, he's still got the ball stable on him. The problem is I need to hit the center shot. Everything's in the way! Yeah, yeah. There you go, you got it. He's trying to shove more balls in there. I need to hit the right orbit. Right orbit. Two's gone. Damn! I am getting unlucky with that. Those bounces are killer! Ugh. It was like the same bounce on both balls that you lost too. Oh look, a Great Spirit. No. I know, I'm just playing. Yeah, they were like, we're gonna knock all the other balls out. Yeah, yeah. Just to rain on your parade. Yeah. Alright. Kong. Oh! Oh! Oh, oh, oh. Why not? Oh, oh, oh. Why not? I'll never forget the eye. All right. I think they changed the eye. All right, this was the eye, Lamax. That way, this is a two-ball multiball. Look at that. Jopping the mini-black drop. Love this. Woo! Nice. Oh, there you go. One more for hurry up. Yeah, if you get a gong one more, you'll get another hurry up. Wait, hurry up. Ah, ah. Center closed. Center closed. There you go. Oh hey. Did you just get an extra ball? Oh yeah, the extra ball lit. Alright, that's the conk pit. Where's the extra ball? It's in the... Oh, it's the conk pit. Okay. Oh! Okay, good. There you go. No! Hey, Howard and Kevin, how's it going? Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Howard and Kevin, how's it going? No, no, no, no. Gary's trying to do a shot here. No! He's going to get it. I can feel it. We're trying to get an extra ball shot. It's underneath the right flipper on the upper right flipper. There it is. Yay! See, I knew he could get it. But, yeah, glad you could stop in, Howard and Kevin. Hope you're doing well. We're trying to... No! trying to win Gary where oh he's okay I see that yes open the gate oh hey look at that new stuff to look at okay Wow that was the screen I have not seen We climbing more building floor More of the building floor Yeah Save that total. All right. No. Ah! We'll have to figure out if there's a high score for how far you can climb or if there's some way to figure out your progress. There is a, the progress is in front of me on the little yellow things. Yeah. The progress of the climb. Oh, okay. But you've got to get, each level of the building comes with some special mode or something. Okay. On that. Got it. That makes sense. Because, yeah, I was kind of watching the progress so far of what you made on the building climb. Yeah, I'm up to 500 feet. Neat. All right, here we go. What's the next one? Cross the chasm. This is the back and forth shot. Rock the cash box. Rock the cash box. Let's go. King Kong, you're just letting him run under you. There he goes. Oh, he got that rebound, though. Not what I wanted. not what I was going for but you gave yourself more time even if it wasn't oh that was two warnings yeah this thing this thing doesn't seem to have that was crazy it was actually like okay at first and then you moved it and it almost made it worse oh 560 feet now Taylor Cross. Oh, wow. You got a lot of the map. You actually collected all the pieces in the map. Woo-hoo! All right. Wow. Now what do I do with that? I don't know. Look, you got the rules. Oh, the map? The map. All right. I got a spider pit multiball going here for the... Octopus Insect Multiball! Okay. shoot all three right side stand up targets to light the jackpot at the pit this is a octopus uh inside far left stand up target increases target values and then red shots increase stack value yeah but what do we do with the map yeah sorry i've got to start i know it because the adb this moment is brought to you by a d and the letter d um Unfortunately, it doesn't really talk about the map on here. Oh. Every island segment completed by making the required shots in a 60 second time limit will award a map segment. The timer can be extended blah blah blah. And that's all it says is this awards a map statement so there's nothing else after that so maybe there's oh T-Rex oh my god Gary got the T-Rex oh wow okay remember you've got double danger yeah I know I think it's gonna be my high score tonight god damn Oh, you have already. Oh, you're not. You're not there yet, but still. Here we go. That is so cool to play. You got the T-Rex, man. Nice head. Hit the T-Rex arrows to light the pummel. Avoid the slings, apparently. Hit the action button to pummel T-Rex Hit it, hit it, hit it Oh fuck You have to avoid the slings on this mode apparently 12 hits remaining now Hit the T-Rex arrows to light pummel Pummel Such a weird word Hummel. I guess like hitting them? Yeah, pummeling them. Ah, yes. Okay. No! That one was too square in the middle. Last chance. 14 seconds left. Where do I... Where do we go now? No, you have to hit the thing. I know. I see. Oh, you got it. Hit the thingy. Hit the thingy. Oh, 15 hits remain. You have to do it again, I guess. Well, maybe you have to light it now. It looks like I don't see it lit. Oh, yeah, you have to hit the arrow. Sorry. Yeah, I know. I know what I need to do. Okay. Well, I'm also telling the audience... I know, I know, I know. I'm like, I know exactly what I gotta do, it's a matter of hitting them. Oh, did I get it? No. You got a total, though. 39 million. You're getting close to beating it. Oh, my God. Stop hitting that target. Hit the ramp. Welcome to King Kong. There we go. There it is. I got a shot. All right. I was trying to hit the center ramp, and I kept hitting the target to the right. Right. No center! No, just kidding. Oh. Oh, he got the extra ball! Oh my god, dude. Well, I think it's safe to say he's probably going to be my score. Well, he said he was going to do it. He didn't get into the screen. spot the biplane shot here we go yeah he already beat it oh wow alright complete drops one more time to light lock it says what was that why did it say it twice that was weird oh there it goes sing it again I have the big event lit Okay, that was that all? I have a big event lit in the way, so I'll try to get that. Got it. Oh hey, what's this? Stage fright again, huh? Yeah. Okay, so what are you gonna do with modifier forward now? Limited flip count, single all the time, three times scoring. That's what I'm gonna go for. Okay. Going for points! Okay. It's kinda neat you can choose, and I guess one gets tossed away and the other two are left. For the kinds of things you can do in this mode. cool who all hope hope they got this ball some other There it is. That's what I was trying to do. Break a chain. No! Break these chains of love. Oh, center post. I saw it going straight down on it, so I'm like, that's going to hit. No! I saw it coming straight down I like I going to let that one do its thing but then it screwed me Damn you game You got another ball though Yep Yep Do it again. whoop come on do something 616 feet now alright stegosaurus oh yeah that happened earlier oh yeah two of them Yeah, I must have had an island lock. Ah. That's definitely been a crazy round so far. Glad you guys have joined us out there. Oh, that one went... I still got a ball save, though. Yeah, it hosed me, but thankfully we ball saved us no longer. Oh, shoot center ramp, it says. King Kong is lit. Oh, baby. Close call there. There you go. Oh, you almost cradled that one. I was trying really hard to double that one. Cool. Getting some good hits. All right. There you go. Nice. I've come all this way for you to ruin my perfect angle. Almost. No. Almost. Whoa! That thing sucked so fast down that track, dude. Holy moly. There we go. Alright. High a little more. Three more. three more. Left hit, two more, left to the light. Left to light, not the number two. Aw. Time added, second play of the year. There we go. Banana combo. Orbit target. Shoot any target to start and then multiple. Complete drops two more times to light log. Okay. Island mystery. Spot King Kong letter. Oh, wow. Island arrow. There's a lot of lead. Okay, good. Kong. Kong. So I'm playing the modes again. Oh, they're going through it again. Alright. So are we climbing more tower, more rebuilding at this point? This is, that's completely independent. That's all the, that's all those yellow arrow things. Oh. I'm up to 700 feet on that. Okay. They're tough because they're, Yeah. It's like, they're lit, but then you have to hit them all before it'll, it'll light new ones. Mm. Yeah. Man all that molly! Oh nice hit there. Uhhh, no! No, I'm good. You got a combo out of that, apparently. Just now. All right, river. There we go, another shot through the face. Smack! There we go. Fire, Stalbert! That clips. No! 700 feet mark now. Yeah, I think that's the highest I've gotten to climb. Yeah. The question is, I think you have another ball, don't you? Yeah, you got another ball. Meanwhile, it's like almost midnight here. Yeah. Well, not midnight. It's almost 11, but yeah. We're getting close to midnight here in the east side, east coast of the United States. All right. Oh, hey, hi. How's it going? Oh, that came smoking out of there. Yeah, it did. Giant spider multiball. Have another giant spider. I need to shoot it. And also, shoot that thing. yay good thing ball you guys get to play Harry Potter someplace since it's been getting one no and no we're not really approving of what Vicky Rowling has said and has actively spending money to do right exactly without going into full detail you can kind of do the research on your own but no unfortunately due to all those circumstances we're not really interested in that. Once Jersey Jack promotes another game at the Upper Alley, absolutely. Yeah, we'll be interested if they do the Matrix as the next one. It's definitely of interest to us. Right. All right. Oh, you're welcome, F.S. Gavin. Jack Files, please. Double scoring! It's definitely one of those things where you do have to kind of actively decide. Oh, what the hell was that? The 7-10 split. The 7-10 split. They went... It was the talk about this Harry Potter. First glyph puzzle, first island treasure. Got a couple of achievements. all right there we go gary's got a new personal best that uh grew mine out of the water as we expected and thought it was going to happen tonight 702 million points crossing the chasm champion costume what do you know super spinners champion wow nice what else do we get we get a t-rex battle champion first time either one of us got there i think you got there once oh did i maybe i did you did oh on your good game oh my good that's right okay yeah but i did better at that mode and you had more bananas apparently too we have no banana today 702 so well done that gg i'm glad i stuck out that game i was like one more one more yeah you you were like you're gonna make this happen you were you were convinced like i need to do one more so I'm glad we glad.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: a80e9f55-cc42-4e16-a745-64eea21f4597*