# Stern Vault Program FAQ

**Source:** Stern Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-12-15  
**Duration:** 1m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU3012kxNdE

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## Analysis

Stern Pinball announces the Vault program, a formal framework for retiring games from production. Eight titles are currently in the Vault (Deadpool, Iron Maiden, Star Wars, Avengers Infinity Quest, Elvira's House of Horrors, Foo Fighters, Rush, The Mandalorian), with most completely sold out. Games remain in the Vault for a minimum of two years and require substantial community demand and licenser participation to return.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Eight Stern pinball games are currently in the Vault program — _Official Stern announcement lists: Deadpool, Iron Maiden, Star Wars (original and Comic editions), Avengers Infinity Quest, Elvira's House of Horrors, Foo Fighters, Rush, The Mandalorian_
- [HIGH] Games in the Vault stay there for a minimum of two years — _Direct statement: 'Titles in the vault will stay there for a minimum of two years, if not forever.'_
- [HIGH] Star Wars, Rush, The Mandalorian, Iron Maiden, Avengers, and Elvira's House of Horrors are completely sold out — _Official Stern inventory status announcement_
- [HIGH] Deadpool and Foo Fighters have sold out on Pro models but limited Premium inventory remains — _Official Stern inventory update: 'Deadpool and Foo Fighters are sold out on the Pro models, but we do have limited inventory of the Premium models.'_
- [HIGH] Reintroducing any vaulted title would require substantial community demand and renewed licenser participation — _Direct statement about return criteria_

### Notable Quotes

> "When a machine gets put into the Stern Vault, it acknowledges that machine is no longer being manufactured."
> — **Jack Danger (Stern Pinball)**, 0:00-1:00
> _Core definition of the Vault program_

> "Titles in the vault will stay there for a minimum of two years, if not forever."
> — **Jack Danger (Stern Pinball)**, 1:00-2:00
> _Establishes minimum commitment duration for vaulted games_

> "Star Wars, Rush, The Mandalorian, Iron Maiden, Avengers, and Elvira's House of Horrors are completely gone."
> — **Jack Danger (Stern Pinball)**, 3:00-4:00
> _Inventory status for six vaulted titles_

> "Once they're gone, there is no promise these titles are coming back."
> — **Jack Danger (Stern Pinball)**, 4:00-5:00
> _Establishes finality and scarcity messaging_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer announcing formal retirement program for games |
| Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball representative and content creator presenting Vault program details; provides contact email askjack@sternpinball.com for questions |
| Deadpool | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; Pro sold out, limited Premium inventory |
| Iron Maiden | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; completely sold out |
| Star Wars | game | Stern pinball game (original and Comic editions); vaulted; completely sold out |
| Avengers Infinity Quest | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; completely sold out |
| Elvira's House of Horrors | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; completely sold out |
| Foo Fighters | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; Pro sold out, limited Premium inventory |
| Rush | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; completely sold out |
| The Mandalorian | game | Stern pinball game; vaulted; completely sold out |
| Stern Vault | product | Formal program for retiring pinball games from production; minimum 2-year commitment |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Product lifecycle and retirement strategy, Inventory management and scarcity
- **Secondary:** Licensing constraints on game return, Community transparency and communication, Secondary market availability

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0.5) — Professional, informative tone with emphasis on transparency and community feedback. No emotional valence; presented as factual policy announcement.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Stern formalizes product retirement framework (Vault program) with minimum 2-year commitment period, signaling structured approach to managing game lifecycle and managing collector/operator expectations (confidence: high) — Official announcement of Vault program with specific rules and existing roster of eight titles
- **[community_signal]** Vault program developed explicitly based on community feedback per announcement; Stern positioning transparency as core value through official inventory updates and dealer connection service (confidence: high) — Direct statement: 'This concept was developed based off feedback from you, our passionate pinball community'
- **[licensing_signal]** Return of vaulted games explicitly contingent on licenser renewal; signals licensing agreements have defined term limits and renewal requirements that constrain Stern's ability to bring back titles (confidence: high) — Statement: 'Reintroducing any title in the future would require...renewed participation from the licenser'
- **[market_signal]** Six of eight vaulted games completely sold out (Star Wars, Rush, Mandalorian, Iron Maiden, Avengers, Elvira); only Deadpool and Foo Fighters have residual Premium inventory. Indicates strong demand and rapid sell-through on recent Stern releases (confidence: high) — Official inventory status announcement showing stock depletion across most recent titles
- **[business_signal]** Stern deliberately constraining availability and establishing scarcity narrative through Vault program; positioning vaulted games as permanent retirements to drive urgency and secondary market value (confidence: medium) — Emphasis on 'no promise these titles are coming back' and minimum 2-year vault period; structured messaging around finality

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## Transcript

Some of you may be wondering what exactly is the Stern Vault program. I'm here to tell you all about it. This concept was developed based off feedback from you, our passionate pinball community, to give you better insight and visibility to our product offerings and availability. When a machine gets put into the Stern Vault, it acknowledges that machine is no longer being manufactured. Titles in the vault will stay there for a minimum of two years, if not forever. Reintroducing any title in the future would require substantial community demand and renewed participation from the licenser. The current games in the Stern vault are Deadpool, Iron Maiden, the original Star Wars and comic editions, Avengers Infinity Quest, Elvar's House of Horrors, Foo Fighters, Rush, and The Mandalorian. For transparency, we wanted to give you an update on all of our titles in the vault since a lot of them are completely sold out. Star Wars, Rush, The Mandalorian, Iron Maiden, Avengers, and Alvivara are completely gone. Deadpool and Foo Fighters are sold out on the pro models, but we do have limited inventory of the premium models. Once they're gone, there is no promise these titles are coming back. If you're interested in trying to find any of these games in distribution, submit a contact for availability on the Stern website and we'll try to connect you with a dealer that has these final games in inventory. And with anything, if you have any questions at all about the vault program or really anything pinball, email me at askjack@sternpinball.com and I'll do my best to address whatever you send me.

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: bff810bf-2133-4bb6-b854-9b98a285725b*