# Making of Avengers Pinball from Stern Pinball

**Source:** Stern Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2013-01-06  
**Duration:** 7m 49s  
**Beat:** Pinball

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

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## Analysis

Stern Pinball releases behind-the-scenes documentary on Avengers pinball development, featuring interviews with key team members including VP George Gomez (game designer), programmers Mike Kizad and Lani R, animator Mark Alves, and mechanical engineer discussing the Hulk feature. The game emphasizes character integration, interactive toys (particularly an animated motorized Hulk), and story-driven gameplay centered on the Tesseract artifact and battle against Loki, with two LE variants planned.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The Hulk is the most popular of all the Avengers and was an obvious choice for the LE model — _The speaker states the Hulk is 'the most popular of all the Avengers' and explains the character's popularity from TV shows to movies, making it ideal for LE differentiation_
- [HIGH] The Hulk feature uses a combination of solenoids and a DC motor-driven bridge mechanism — _Mechanical engineer explains: 'My project assignment was basically a combination of a mechanized Hulk using solenoids and a bridge which the Hulk lifts using a DC motor'_
- [HIGH] The Tesseract is a central gameplay element with spinner mechanics that spin in multiple directions — _Game designer states: 'It allows us to do some rules with spinners that spin in multiple directions at times. It's going to be associated to your foes, and at times it's going to be associated to you'_
- [HIGH] Every Avengers character has a dedicated playfield feature: Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Nick Fury — _Designer explains: 'Every character actually has a feature in the game: Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man' and describes specific features for each_
- [HIGH] Audience response to X-Men dot matrix work influenced the decision to expand animated dot work for Avengers — _Team member states: 'We've learned a lot from X-Men in terms of our audience loving the dot work on that, so we're going to try to take that up to the next level'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Avengers is a super team and it's a super project"
> — **George Gomez**, Early in video
> _Establishes the scale and importance of the Avengers project within Stern's portfolio_

> "Pinball is all about action and movement and kinetic energy. That's Hulk."
> — **Designer discussing Hulk feature**, Mid-video
> _Explains the core design philosophy for the LE's standout mechanical feature_

> "The biggest challenge is doing justice to each and every one of the Avengers"
> — **Team member (likely artist/designer)**, Mid-video
> _Highlights the complexity of multi-character IP integration and licensing constraints_

> "As soon as you hit the start button, you're engaged in this tense situation. We pull you in, and as you play the game more and more and then lose, you'll want to finish that story and see how it unfolds."
> — **Designer**, Late in video
> _Articulates the narrative-driven design philosophy intended to create player engagement_

> "George and Lonnie are like those relatives—those uncles that try to be cool, but they really aren't."
> — **Programmer**, Final section
> _Reveals team dynamics and informal relationship between George Gomez and lead designer Lonnie_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| George Gomez | person | Vice President of Game Development at Stern Pinball; game designer and rules architect for Avengers; described as central creative authority who involves team members in design process |
| Mark Alves | person | Dot matrix animator at Stern responsible for animated backglass and display work on Avengers |
| Mike Kizad | person | Programmer at Stern handling speech, narration, and story plot for Avengers |
| Lani R | person | Director of Software at Stern Pinball; oversees overall software architecture for Avengers |
| Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer producing Avengers pinball machine with multi-disciplinary development team |
| Avengers | game | Stern Pinball machine based on Marvel Avengers IP; features character-specific playfield sections, Hulk LE toy, Tesseract spinner mechanics, and story modes centered on Loki antagonist |
| X-Men | game | Stern Pinball predecessor game whose dot matrix audience reception influenced Avengers animation expansion |
| Hulk | product | Limited Edition variant of Avengers featuring green-themed cosmetics, motorized bridge mechanism with solenoid/DC motor, animated dancing feature, and green jade illumination |
| Transformers | game | Referenced as prior Stern Pinball title where George Gomez demonstrated collaborative design approach with team members |
| Marvel | organization | IP licensor of Avengers characters and franchise underlying the pinball machine theme |
| Lonnie | person | Lead on artwork direction for Avengers; referred to as uncle-like figure on team alongside George Gomez |
| Chang | person | Animator coming online to do dot matrix work for Avengers |
| Microblast | person | Described as huge Avengers fan who took lead on Hulk feature design |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Mechanical Design & Innovation, Character Integration & Theming, Dot Matrix Animation & Artwork, Game Rules & Tesseract Spinner Mechanics
- **Secondary:** Limited Edition Variants, Team Collaboration & Creative Process, Marvel IP Licensing, Story-Driven Gameplay Design

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Team expresses enthusiasm, pride, and confidence in the Avengers project. Language emphasizes innovation ('take that up to the next level'), admiration for IP ('dear to my heart'), and collectibility ('must-have collectible'). Mechanical complexity and challenge are framed as exciting rather than problematic. Only minor tension appears in colleague banter ('uncles that try to be cool but really aren't').

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Stern producing educational 'Making of' documentary content to build audience investment and explain design decision-making; suggests investment in community education alongside product launch (confidence: high) — Full behind-the-scenes production with multiple team members explaining their roles, design rationale, and creative process
- **[design_philosophy]** Team acknowledges challenge of doing justice to multiple Avengers characters and their likenesses; some characters easier to articulate mechanically than others (confidence: medium) — Designer states: 'The biggest challenge is doing justice to each and every one of the Avengers. Some of the characters on the game have mechanical devices on them, so that's much easier to articulate them'
- **[design_philosophy]** George Gomez establishes vision emphasizing character integration where every Avenger has dedicated playfield feature and mechanical interaction; emphasizes kinetic energy, interactive toys, and narrative engagement as core design pillars (confidence: high) — Gomez states: 'Pinball is all about action and movement and kinetic energy' and explains multi-character feature strategy with specific examples for each hero
- **[design_innovation]** Hulk feature uses dual-drive system (solenoids for pounding action + DC motor-driven bridge linkage) creating coordinated dance animation and dynamic playfield modification during play (confidence: high) — Mechanical engineer details: 'shaft within a shaft driven mechanism' with 'DC motor mounted on the frame with a linkage which drives the upper assembly of the bridge'
- **[community_signal]** George Gomez employs collaborative design approach, regularly showing work-in-progress to team members and soliciting feedback; creates psychologically safe environment for input (confidence: high) — 'He really involves us. Even while we were working on X-Men, he'd have little meetings. He'd show us what he's got so far and he'd say, "You know, what do you think of this?"'
- **[product_strategy]** Two LE variants announced: Hulk LE with green armor cosmetics and green jade illumination; Avengers LE with blue metallic trim. Both feature mirrored backglasses themed to their character/concept (confidence: high) — Designer explains: 'The Hulk LE will have the green armor Hulk setup with artwork. Green display... The Avengers LE uses this blue metallic trim—Avengers through and through.'
- **[technology_signal]** Stern expanding animated dot matrix work beyond X-Men success baseline, indicating commitment to hand-drawn animation and pixel density as competitive differentiator (confidence: high) — 'We've learned a lot from X-Men in terms of our audience loving the dot work on that, so we're going to try to take that up to the next level. A lot of dots, yep. Lot of pixels. We're going to do a lot of hand-drawn stuff.'

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## Transcript

my name is Mark alvz and I am a dot matrix animator my name is Mike kizad and I'm a programmer I'm one their programmers Lani R I'm the director of software my name is George Gomez and I'm vice president of game development here at Stern pinbo as vice president of game development all of the game development stuff uh is essentially my responsibility I tried to uh create a vision that everyone can follow in terms of what a Stern game is you know Avengers is it's a super team and it's a super project I've been working with George on rules and features Lonnie's taking the lead was and Chang will be coming online to do some of the do Matrix work Mike K ofad doing a lot of the speech and narration and story plot M gz of course we'll be doing dots we may have some more animators in this product we've learned a lot from XMen in terms of our audience loving the dot work on that so we're going to try to take that up to the next level a lot of dots yep lot of pixels we're going to do a lot of handdrawn stuff fans seem to like it there's also microbl micro doble is a huge Avengers fan so he took the lead on the Hulk I'm a mechanical engineer project engineer basically what I do is I create mechanisms with gears solenoids George Gomez was the one who designed the Playfield I'm sort of stepping out of my role as vice president game development and I'm the game designer I think what makes Avengers a good title for pinball is the emotions the elicits how they use their power together to stop evil The Avengers movie was a huge Blockbuster and it's a no-brainer and it is an exciting theme it would be stupid for not to not to make a game based on it I don't know what you cannot like about the Avengers I think I picked up my first copy of the Avengers in like 1965 when I was like 10 years old I know the Mythos of the Avengers pretty well it's a property that is dear to my heart so the Avengers was a pretty easy thing for me to uh fit into cuz we're all basically comic book fans George from the ' 60s I myself from the' 70s the idea of having this project you know hearken our childhood instincts most of the concentration will be on the Avengers themselves every character actually has a feature in the game Captain America Black Widow Hawkeye Hulk Iron Man I think we would have Nick Fury in there somewhere Nick Fury is narrating also doing H outs to help you play the game this particular Playfield has a different area Associated to every avenger Iron Man head the Hulk fist the black little thing and then some kind of arrow thing the four Thor hammers smoke Flame explode grapple and the hulks fell out Captain America Fury Coulson and Hill where's Black Widow Black Widow's here John Youssi the the hourglasses yeah yeah they'll geek out on this stuff right yeah the coolest Gadget is Hulk I was really enamored of the Hulk big Hulk the Hulk is definitely a big feature in the game he's animated he comes to life raise his arms up and down he fights he'll smash a bunch of stuff he starts throwing stuff around the entire game shakes he throws a around throw the bridge up this goes around here and there's a continuation of the ramp the this portion of the ramp stays fixed this goes up over his head and now you get to fight on my project assignment was basically combination of a mechanized Hulk using solenoids and a bridge which the Hulk lifts using a DC motor you know as you hit him with the ball he'll be pounding on the play field you know we'll be hitting a Shaker motor when he does it ah Hulk makes shot you know I don't know how many Motors and coils in it the struggle in The Avengers is to control the power of the Tess act 3D version of the cact or Cosmic Cube it is this incredible energy source everyone wants it for a different reason it allows us to do some rules with spinners that spin in multiple directions at times it's going to be Associated to your foes and at times it's going to be Associated to you just like in the film The Power of the Tessa affects both sides of the equation the bad guy is Loki Loki is Thor's brother he's the Norse god of Mischief banished from ascar adopted son that kind of turned bad he's a jerk because father favors Thor over Loki and he acts out it's a very classic comic book villain his goal in life is to rule the world and create havoc and eventually everything happens in New York where there's a big battle portal is open from outter space that's the final mode for our game most challenging task trying to get the likenesses as close as possible the biggest challenge is doing Justice to each and every one of the Avengers some of the characters on the game have mechanical devices on them so that's much easier to articulate them and do things I want three times more real estate I want you know 10 times more stuff the Hulk was an obvious choice for an LE model simply because the character is so cool and so well- loved he's the most popular of all the Avengers very imposing figure he's green he stands out well it makes Hulk stand out as me he's doesn't really care he's he's just going to tear through whatever you know Hulk has a very long history from the TV shows to their movies on top of that Hulk just made a very great toy able to move around in the Playfield change the play field around pinball is all about action and movement and kinetic energy that's Hulk it was an obvious choice my project assignment was basically combination of a mechanized Hulk using solenoids and a bridge which the Hulk lifts using a DC motor what it does in the game the bridge lifts and then the Hulk does a little dance this is the Hulk what you have here is a couple solenoids driving a pivot shaft this assembly would have been very very complicated if this design was done a certain way so what I did was I did a shaft within a shaft driven Mech do you have your sub assembly here which basically fits to the lower assembly which attaches to the lower Playfield I'll make it dance a little bit there you go so it just rotates a little bit the magic basically is underneath here what happens with the motor with the bridge it's basically a DC motor mounted on frame with a linkage which drives the upper assembly of the bridge if I rotate this like so it'll affect the bridge it goes up and down and the Hulk does his little dance the Hulk L will have the green armor Hulk setri artwork green display there's all kinds of green illumination everything will be in Hulk Jade giant green both Ellies have mirrored back glasses the Hulk back glass is very themed to haul The Avengers Ellie uses this blue metallic trim Avengers through and through the Ellie are chalk full of stop well if you're Avengers fan having any type of Avengers game is great to you especially one that will be true to the theme pinball people will like it because I think it's got some new stuff in it and some stuff that they haven't seen in a long time there's a lot to like in the game it's very attractive when you walk up to is just a gorgeous looking game as soon as you hit the start button you're engaged in this tense situation we pull you in and as you play the game more and more and then lose you'll want to finish that story and see how it unfolds the Playfield is fun in and of itself don't put any art on it don't turn on any features it's a fun machine to flip and then you add into that the interactive toys and all of the different stuff that's in it I think the Avengers is a must have collectible this one feels really special to me what's it like working with George he really involves us even while we were working on Xmen he'd have little meetings he'd show us what he's got so far and he'd say you know what do you think of this the physicality of the Playfield helps create the rules it's important to I think involve a programmer George and Lonnie is like those relatives those uncles that try to be cool but they really aren't I worked with George for a few years now he's very in tune with the design of the game well in Transformers uh George Gomez would say you know my my Cy what was it called he loves toys oh he would he George we used to call a cybertronian brothers so now I don't know what he'd be calling us

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: fee02b2c-d12b-4f89-a5b7-2b9319821312*