# Inside Stern Pinball: The John Wick Experience

**Source:** Erika's Pinball Journey  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2024-07-30  
**Duration:** 8m 38s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDQql9r_zVQ

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## Analysis

Erika visited the Stern Pinball factory in Chicago after receiving an invitation from Stern's team. She toured manufacturing facilities including wiring, cabinet decaling, press operations, and assembly lines, while meeting Dwight Sullivan (coder/programmer) and observing the production of John Wick pinball machines. The video emphasizes the handmade nature of pinball production and encourages viewers to attend Stern's factory tours at Pinball Expo in October.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Stern manufactures games including Deadpool, Mandalorian, Godzilla, and John Wick — _Erika lists current Stern titles at the beginning of her factory description_
- [HIGH] Stern ships pinball machines to 44 countries — _Erika states this after visiting the shipping dock_
- [HIGH] All Stern cabinets are the same size to keep production smooth and easy — _Direct quote from Dwight Sullivan during cabinet section of tour_
- [HIGH] John Wick pinball is available in Premium and Limited Edition versions with different artwork — _Erika describes seeing Premium and LE cabinets being decaled during the tour_
- [HIGH] Stern makes foam molds for packaging in-house — _Erika explicitly states Stern makes packaging in-house during shipping dock section_
- [HIGH] Playfields undergo drilling and hand-finishing before assembly line installation — _Erika describes hand-drilling smaller holes after press operation_
- [HIGH] Stern offers factory tours at Pinball Expo in Chicago in October — _Erika recommends the tour experience and confirms availability at Expo_

### Notable Quotes

> "And this is also part of like, so a hundred years ago when I started making pinball machines, they used to all go in bowling alleys and restaurants and whatnot, and they were a high-process. They weren't decals."
> — **Dwight Sullivan**, Cabinet decaling section
> _Provides historical context on pinball manufacturing evolution from bowling alleys to art furniture_

> "All the cabinets are the same size. This is to keep production smooth and easy."
> — **Dwight Sullivan**, Cabinet section
> _Reveals manufacturing standardization strategy for efficiency_

> "It's a press, right? It has a bed of nails on the bottom and there's a bed of nails on the top, and this rubber here to protect my hand from getting pressed, but what happens is it dresses the playfield."
> — **Dwight Sullivan**, Press machine section
> _Technical explanation of playfield pressing technology_

> "Past playfield test, they come and get married to a cabinet for the first time, and then everything is retested again because you never know what the cabinet is getting tested for the first time, and then the marriage might have, you know, who knows what happened?"
> — **Dwight Sullivan**, Testing section
> _Describes rigorous quality control and double-testing after assembly_

> "These are handmade. It takes so much time and effort, and it's a huge team of people that make it happen."
> — **Erika**, Tour conclusion
> _Emphasizes the labor-intensive, artisanal nature of pinball manufacturing_

> "I would highly recommend it. It really helps put the appreciation of how much work goes into making these games."
> — **Erika**, Tour recommendation
> _Personal endorsement of Stern factory tour educational value_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Stern Pinball | company | World's largest pinball manufacturer; hosts factory tours; produces John Wick, Deadpool, Mandalorian, Godzilla machines |
| Erika | person | Content creator; invited to Stern factory; hosts 'Erika's Pinball Journey' video series |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Coder and programmer at Stern Pinball; conducted factory tour; explained manufacturing processes |
| Randy Martinez | person | Artist at Stern Pinball; designed cabinet artwork for John Wick game |
| Jack Danger | person | Content creator; attended factory tour; mentioned appreciating metal parts section |
| John Wick | game | Newest Stern Pinball title; themed after John Wick movie series; available in Premium and Limited Edition with different artwork |
| Deadpool | game | Stern Pinball title; example of current game portfolio |
| Mandalorian | game | Stern Pinball title; example of current game portfolio |
| Godzilla | game | Stern Pinball title; example of current game portfolio |
| Pinball Expo | event | Annual event held in Chicago in October; Stern offers factory tours to attendees |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Stern Pinball manufacturing process, John Wick pinball game, Factory tour experience
- **Secondary:** Quality control and testing procedures, Pinball machine design and artwork, Pinball manufacturing history
- **Mentioned:** Pinball Expo event

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.92) — Erika is enthusiastic throughout, praising Stern's work, the manufacturing quality, the team effort, and recommending the factory tour experience. She expresses genuine excitement about the invitation, the machines, and the process.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Stern Pinball invites content creators to factory for behind-the-scenes access and educational tour experience (confidence: high) — Erika received email invitation from Stern to visit factory; tour conducted with multiple content creators; Stern offers public tours at Pinball Expo
- **[community_signal]** Stern Pinball demonstrates commitment to operator and owner education through accessible factory tours (confidence: high) — Public factory tours available at Pinball Expo; educational focus on manufacturing processes and quality control; team explains technical details to visitors
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Stern demonstrates vertically integrated production including in-house packaging and foam mold creation (confidence: high) — Stern makes foam molds for packaging in-house; maintains dedicated shipping dock; manufactures to 44 countries
- **[announcement]** John Wick pinball game officially in production at Stern with Premium and Limited Edition variants available (confidence: high) — Multiple production stages observed; different cabinet artwork for Premium and LE versions; Randy Martinez confirmed as artist; machines ready for shipping
- **[product_concern]** Stern implements rigorous double-testing protocol: playfield tested before cabinet assembly, then entire machine tested after cabinet marriage (confidence: high) — Dwight Sullivan explicitly describes retesting procedures to catch potential issues from assembly process

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## Transcript

what's up everybody in this episode I'm going to take you on my biggest pinball journey yet now Stern, the world's largest pinball manufacturer, flew me out to Chicago to play their newest game, John Wick.

Now I know you're probably wondering, how did you get invited to the Stern factory? Well, picture this: I'm at home minding my own business when I hear the doorbell ring and I receive a mysterious package. No return address, just a simple box with my name. Intrigued, I open it up to find a shiny golden token inside. The token had a cryptic engraving on it, and I knew that this was something special. So naturally I did what any curious person would do: I followed the clues. I ended up finding the kind of place that doesn't even need a sign because everyone who's anyone knows where it is. I walked up to an imposing man guarding the entrance, handed him my golden token, and waited. He inspected... no, actually, the story begins with me getting an email from Stern.

Now I have never been in contact with their team before, so this was an incredibly exciting opportunity. To this day I'm still like, what? The story kind of takes place in a few different parts. The first part is going to be about the tour. The next part is a little bit about licensing. And the third part, I'm kind of just jumbling a bunch of things together, but I'm just going to call it the party because it felt like it went on all night long and that was pretty awesome.

I'm going to go ahead and share with you guys the tour.

You could imagine my excitement when the company that makes games like Deadpool, Mandalorian, the games behind me, Godzilla, and their newest game, John Wick—one of my absolute favorite movie series. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to expect. They're like, "We're going to do a tour, you're going to meet the people," and I'm like, "Okay, cool." There was no like schedule or anything that was sent to us. We're just like, 1 o'clock, show up. And so I did that, and um, I think I did that very well. Showed up on time.

When I arrived in Chicago, I and several other pinball content creators were greeted by Stern's team. We were introduced to Dwight Sullivan, a coder and programmer that works at Stern. He showed us the process on how they build their pinball machines. If you want to learn more about Dwight Sullivan, you can check him out on the Stern website.

As we started this tour, we were handed a pair of handy-dandy safety glasses because we're going into a factory, people. There are things moving, parts are flying, happening all right. But yeah, first thing we went in, we saw wires. And do I have B-roll of that? No. Why do I not have B-roll of that? Um, because we were not allowed to record there. But that's okay because I actually have wires I can show you with my machine. Wiring is incredibly important to a pinball machine. It's basically like the nervous system. So without this, the machine will not work.

So Stern's team tests these pieces left and right to make sure that they're ready for their next step. After we were done with wiring, they took us to the cabinets where they showed us where they decal the new John Wick game. Now I have some never-before-seen footage of the wonderful Dwight Sullivan talking about these cabinets. I'm going to run the clip right here.

"And this is also part of like, so a hundred years ago when I started making pinball machines, they used to all go in bowling alleys and restaurants and whatnot, and they were a high-process. They weren't decals. Um, but along the way, games started moving into basements and we started making furniture and pieces of art, and we started doing things that I will tell you about today, one of which starts right here. These have to be pretty because that's what people see. Fun fact: all the cabinets are the same size. This is to keep production smooth and easy."

Here they were putting on the design for the premium, which looks super cool. I actually really love this design, along with the limited edition, which if I could afford it I would buy it, because holy moly guys, this looks beautiful. The artist Randy Martinez, who I have here behind me, he did an amazing job. Congratulations, Randy. I love all the designs you've made.

Up next was the press machine. There's this thing I think it's called a Hannifin press. I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to how they pronounce it. But Dwight Sullivan walked us through this, and I have a special little clip where he's going to talk to you guys about it too.

"It's a press, right? It has a bed of nails on the bottom and there's a bed of nails on the top, and this rubber here to protect my hand from getting pressed, but what happens is it dresses the playfield."

After the press, the playfields get taken to another section where someone drills even smaller holes by hand. Once that's done, the playfield goes down the assembly line where it gets all the bits and bobs and nuts and bolts and all the fancy things that make it a pinball machine. Once all the pieces are put onto the playfield, it gets married to a wiring harness. After that, the machine is ready for testing. And for this next part, I'm going to go ahead and let Dwight explain it.

"Past playfield test, they come and get married to a cabinet for the first time, and then everything is retested again because you never know what the cabinet is getting tested for the first time, and then the marriage might have, you know, who knows what happened? A ground strap might have broke or something. You got to test everything again before it goes into boxes."

After these tests, the game is ready to be shipped. And let me tell you, watching this process was awesome. The Limited Editions of John Wick look absolutely gorgeous, and I could not get enough of them. Then they showed us the foam molds that they use in their packaging. They make this in-house, can you believe that? He then led us to the shipping dock where they showed us where they ship all their games to, like, 44 countries. Freaking wild.

So I'm hoping that these new games go to some nice pinball homes and get played, because freaking John Wick, am I right? And there were a few other places I wasn't allowed to film, but that's okay because I can describe them to you in full detail. No, actually, not really. One of the rooms was like some metal stuff and they like build parts in there, I guess. Jack Danger likes it a lot. And then there's this room called PAM. It's not really a room. It's like a big tall section. PAM is like parts, accessories, merchandise, I think. And yeah, that was about it.

You yourself can actually take this tour because they offer it at Pinball Expo, which happens in Chicago in October. I really think this experience is worth it in person. And if you can make it to Pinball Expo and do the Stern tour, I would highly recommend it. It really helps put the appreciation of how much work goes into making these games. These are handmade. It takes so much time and effort, and it's a huge team of people that make it happen. And I feel super lucky that we have a company like Stern doing this for us.

Basically, this machine is like probably older than my dad, and they've had it for a long time, punching holes since thousands of pinball machines for years. So I was handed a pair of handy-dandy safety glasses to protect my eyeballs, and I'm going to just do a dolphin noise. Okay, okay.

I absolutely love this. If you're still here watching the bloopers, go ahead and hash #pinball journey in the comments below. The first person to do so, I will gift you free swag if you want it, I guess. You don't have to. If you saw it first but you didn't want to let people know, then I get it.

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: da0eab12-a8a1-4622-a069-e4b112821603*