Stern's 'Elvira House of Horrors' Gameplay Discussion

Cary Hardy·video·23m 38s·analyzed·Sep 18, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Stern Elvira praised for design but criticized for steep pricing and unresolved playfield defects.

Summary

Cary Hardy provides detailed technical analysis of newly released Stern Elvira's House of Horrors gameplay footage, discussing mechanical features like the trunk/buck, house rotor, pop bumpers, and ramp routing. While praising the game's design and entertainment value, Hardy expresses strong concern about pricing ($8,000 Pro/$9,600 LE/$15,000 SLE) and reliability issues with recent Stern playfield clear-coating defects, questioning whether buyers should commit given unresolved quality concerns.

Key Claims

Elvira's House of Horrors has no Pro model, only Premium and Limited Edition tiers
high confidence · Hardy confirms 'no lower pro there's no pro model' and cites what 'everyone's been stating' about it not being one of Stern's cornerstones
Premium model MSRP is $8,000, Limited Edition $9,600, and Signature Limited Edition $15,000
high confidence · Hardy reports prices from IGN exclusive coverage, explicitly states '$8,000... $9,600... $15,000' for each tier
The trunk/buck launches balls directly rather than locking multiple balls for multiball
high confidence · Hardy observes 'it goes up catches the ball and immediately launches it back out' from video analysis
Recent Stern Jurassic Park machines have clear-coating/playfield defect issues
high confidence · Hardy states 'given all the issues that have recently come up with their play fields and their clear coding issues' and specifically asks if buyers can 'drop that minimum eight thousand dollar price tag for a game that's probably going to have the same issues as that we're already seeing on jurassic parks'
The crypt drop target feeds the left orbit via a diverter beneath the house
high confidence · Hardy analyzes second Stern video, concluding 'the diverter underneath the house looks like it has the option to either eject the ball out to you or feed the left orbit'
Trunk ball trajectory launches into pop bumpers positioned behind the right ramp
medium confidence · Hardy speculates 'by trajectory is correct and i'm thinking it launches into the pops which are behind the right ramp' and later confirms this with second video analysis
Cassandra Peterson provides only minimal voice work in the game
high confidence · Hardy notes 'that is the only time we hear Cassandra's voice throughout this video of the game' referring to a single callout, then states 'we have to get a bunch of voice call outs for this game'
Plastic ramps are used instead of wire forms on this game

Notable Quotes

“The only thing that I don't care about this machine is that they went with plastic ramps instead of wire forms. That's all I've got right now.”
Cary Hardy@ 7:47 — Primary mechanical criticism of game design choice
“That's got instant classic written all over it.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:03 — Hardy's overall positive assessment of game presentation and design
“my pretty much only issue with this game is the pricing... do I feel that just I say just but getting the premium base model for this title is worth the $8,000 price tag hell no”
Cary Hardy@ 19:27 — Core criticism: value proposition of premium tier pricing
“If we keep buying, then they're going to keep selling like that. We are giving them no incentive to change their pricing on this.”
Cary Hardy@ 20:06 — Commentary on consumer behavior and market incentives affecting manufacturer pricing strategy
“can you tell me that you don't think that these play fields have already been clear-coded around the same time as jurassic park and that we're no longer going to have that issue”
Cary Hardy@ 21:07 — Expresses skepticism about whether recent production fixes manufacturing defects
“I have backed away and they're not purchasing until they know for sure that the play field issues with clear coating has been resolved”
Cary Hardy@ 21:34 — Hardy and known community members are withholding pre-orders due to quality concerns

Entities

Cary HardypersonStern PinballcompanyCassandra Petersonperson Elvira's House of Horrorsgame IGNcompany Jurassic Parkgame Attack from Marsgame

Signals

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sentiment_shift: Known pre-order holders and community members (identified as Hardy's associates) are withdrawing purchases pending resolution of Stern playfield clear-coating defects, indicating loss of customer confidence despite game design quality
high · Hardy states: 'as well as those of us out here that i also know even had pre-orders for this game have backed away and they're not purchasing until they know for sure that the play field issues with clear coating has been resolved'
?
design_philosophy: Hardy identifies gargoyle wing positioning issue: ramp elevation causes gargoyle to remain visually static during target hits, eliminating animation satisfaction; suggests wing repositioning or ramp alteration could improve aesthetics
medium · Hardy analyzes: 'due to the fact that you have the gargoyle's wing sticking out like that, that means that the gargoyle's wing goes up... whenever you hit that particular target you're not going to get the visual of the gargoyle going up... part of me feels like maybe they should have like moved that over a little bit more or done some alterations to the wing'
?
design_philosophy: Elvira's House of Horrors features mechanical design optimization: crypt drop target feeds left orbit via basement diverter, trunk immediately launches rather than multi-locking, pop bumpers feed from house back rather than requiring complex playfield routing
high · Hardy analyzes and confirms: 'mechanically physically and financially makes more sense to put the subway right here because it would be just it's a lot simpler than happen to weave a subway underneath a good portion of the play field'
?
manufacturing_signal: Hardy speculates that Elvira playfields may have been clear-coded concurrently with Jurassic Park during period of documented defects, questioning whether production fixes are confirmed

Topics

Pricing and value propositionprimaryManufacturing quality and playfield defectsprimaryGame mechanical design and featuresprimaryMarket trends and consumer behaviorsecondaryVoice acting and character representationsecondaryRamp design and materials (plastic vs wire)secondaryCommunity speculation and rumor debunkingmentioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.35)— Hardy praises game design, theme execution, and entertainment value highly ('instant classic'), but expresses significant frustration with pricing strategy, lack of Pro model, and unresolved manufacturing defects. Sentiment is positive on design/execution but negative on market positioning and quality assurance. The tension between enjoying the game conceptually and refusing to support it financially (withholding pre-order) creates mixed sentiment.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.071

oh i was honestly about to walk out of the door to go get some stuff done today and lo and behold that's when stern drops this now as per usual um ign has got the exclusive on this so if you want to go to their website and watch it via their website then you're going to be bombarded with advertisements It is just ridiculous. So I'm glad that Stern at least puts this stuff up on YouTube as well, because IGN is a cesspool for advertisements. I'm sorry, but I'm just not a big fan of ads. That's why I pay for YouTube Premium. That's why I pay for all the different things. Whatever gets rid of advertising, that's what I go for. That's just me, but anyways, let's get into this. So in case you have not already seen this video, I will, of course, as usual on this channel, I will play the video in its entirety, and then we can go through it segment by segment to try to dissect what we see. Let's go. That's got instant classic written all over it. so far it's got a nice you know good halloween theme elvira tone to it it's got a good beat so uh that's got my that's got my attention so far my next note is i wonder if anybody else notices the call-out voice right there that is very and it may be the same voice actor but whenever i hear that it sounds really reminiscent to what you hear on like Attack from Mars and a number of other games that particular individual I don't know when I heard that I thought of Attack from Mars and stuff like that or Revenge from Mars and that's immediately what struck me so I'm kind of hoping that we get some more of his voice throughout the game so when it comes to the Translight and the LCD we don't get much on the LCD on this video at least so it looks like he's playing the premium version when it comes to the artwork there's been all kinds of speculation and people have been putting stuff on pin side and I'm telling you guys a lot of that stuff is just complete utter hearsay and not true there was one individual that posted a slew of things and even one of that was confirming my original theory that there's a possibility of the Vuck launching into the trunk and trust me I didn't want to think it was going to be possible but it was going to be a cool thing to see if it was true but once that was in the dialogue of what was going to be on the game that's when I immediately called BS I was like I I don't think this is true, any of this stuff. So when it comes to what we see on the back glass, it looks like it's just an image. I don't see any type of rotating hand, which has been some assumptions. But this is the premium model, so maybe the upper tiers have something. I don't know. It looks like we've just got a still image of Elvira on the back glass or the LCD. so my my thought also and what a lot of other people have noticed also this is how the trunk is going to open up it's not going to be a ball lock it looks like to where it would hold multiple balls to launch out or anything like that it looks like that it goes up catches the ball and immediately launches it back out now i can't recall if they show where it pops out too though so it launches out where i thought it did right underneath the but it doesn't show us where to it launches to into my guess and by trajectory is correct and i'm thinking it launches into the pops which are behind the right ramp now i can't recall they also show off the pop numbers or not in this video i've already forgotten so i noticing the light show on the house is pretty cool the way they got the light set up and how it going to be real flashy right there to draw your attention to the house so that seems pretty cool so this is pretty cool also i like this it's very simple and mechanical just you hit it launches the gargoyles up uh i thought that was pretty cool i like that so this deadhead family crypt turns out to be where the subway is going to be located that feeds the vuck my original assumption was that it was going to be fed from the basement underneath the house this one obviously mechanically physically and financially makes more sense to put the subway right here because it would be just it's a lot simpler than happen to weave a subway underneath a good portion of the play field to get to that buck so um this rolodex what looks like to me because i'm thinking i'm seeing multiple different things that can roll up and reveal and give you different abilities so that kind of reminds me of a party monsters the first game so so yeah it does feed the buck let me go back there for a second you can see that when it fires that vuck it shakes that plastic piece on there it's got some yeah you can see that ramp moving too so take note of that guys um so that one actually says the crypt kicker okay yeah so i'm not being picky here guys i'm trying not to be i'm not saying oh look at the ramp moves or whatever, but chances are if they would have gone with some wire forms, then I don't know. That's, that's so far what I can see right now. The only thing that I don't care about this machine is that they went with plastic ramps instead of wire forms. That's all I've got right now. So yes, the coffin, the coffin targets do get hit from the buck, which has been a lot of speculatory and we'll see where that ball hits let me go back does it hit on the playfield first does it even show okay it looks like it hits right there dead center of the playfield so that's where we're gonna see indentions and stuff like that dimpling and hopefully not cracking or anything and it hits the targets so you can see that this rolodex goes to different things they got a current bash toy right there so the drop target goes down goes underneath into the basement kind of curious to see what kind of art is behind that drop target that looks interesting i mean there's i guarantee you that's got to be an easter egg i don't know what it is ul vibrofans probably immediately know where that's from, whether it be one of the old movies or something. But you got an Easter egg more than likely right there. So underneath the house and then it feeds out to the left orbit. Rotating top of the house. This was something that was mentioned on Pinside that actually is true. This rotates around and it's going to be probably a mode based turning around thing. We've got an eyeball, a bug, a bat, and Elvira. And so here's something I'm curious about. If this is the way it's supposed to be. I'm curious. I don't know. I don't know if I like that. I like the fact that the ramp does go up. But due to the fact that you have the gargoyle's wing sticking out like that, that means that the gargoyle's wing goes up, or the gargoyle himself goes up. So whenever you hit the... so you can see right now the gargoyle is already up due to the fact that the ramp is up just on the right side too i guess the it's angled enough to where it doesn't affect the gargoyle on the left so basically that means that whenever you know the gargoyle is up because of the ramp whenever you hit that particular target you're not going to get the visual of the gargoyle going up so i don't know part of me feels like maybe they should have like moved that over a little bit more or done some alterations to the wing right there so that doesn't happen but it's it's whatever all right let's move it on That's got instant classic written all over it. And that is the only time we hear Cassandra's voice throughout this video of the game. And that's something that we, you know, we have to get a bunch of voice call outs for this game. All right. So once again, Stern, you get your thumbs up from me. Currently, the video only has like 100 and some odd views with one thumbs down. So that means right now it's got a 10 to 1 ratio of likes to not likes. All right. So lo and behold we actually got another video released by Stern essentially at the same time showing off all the features as well as the video that we just saw So I have not seen this yet so let watch it together for the first time Here we go all right so i not i mean i gonna stop this guys i here and there to catch things already so let's back up if we can right here real quick because i noticed something because we still have not seen the pop bumpers guys we have not seen that and if you look up here you can see the action that there's got to be pop-upers behind this right ramp because you can see stuff bouncing around including where the gargoyle bounces up so that's got to be where the pop-up is already even though we have not actually seen them yet There they are. Oh, yeah, so it does feed out the back of the house into the bumpers like I assumed it would. Another thing that someone posted was that the house feeds the ramps, and I'm like, how is that possible? So, no, it comes out the back of the house and feeds into the pop bumpers like I assumed it would. Oh. So it looks like if you launch into the cell or underneath the stairs that it ejects it back out to you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so I'm glad they showed off more features. And once again, it's just the premium. And it answers a little bit more questions and a little bit less for discussion, so I like that as well. And so the diverter underneath the house looks like it has the option to either eject the ball out to you or feed the left orbit. But at first I thought it was feeding that left ramp, and I was like, how? Where? I don't recall seeing where the hell that was at. Anyways, so let's start off by speculating on price. All right, so I'm on the Cesspool IGN website right now, and my ad blocker is going frigging crazy right now. So it looks like that a lot of the features that are going to be in this game. and the basically the scared stiff style crate that opens up to divert balls into a multiball lock so chances are that that crate will not immediately shoot out the ball whenever it gets it it could hold it there for a multiball yep no lower pro there's no pro model i can like basically everyone's been stating it's not one of stern's cornerstones that's what we've heard too The LEs and the Signature Editions feature a mirrored back glass, shaker motor, art blades that spruce up the sides of the inner cabinet, and anti-reflection glass. The Signature Edition adds special hyper-chrome embossed cabinet decals, an Elvira signed card, a signed certificate that includes a swatch of fabric from Elvira's iconic red velvet sofa. There are 400 LEs and only 50 Signature Editions. so then it lists off the large amount of films that uh elvira had on her show or whatever but it's all on there here we go premium elvira house of horrors is an msrp of eight thousand dollars limited edition at $9,600. There is no price listed for the SLE Just an intimidating call for price Oh, but I'll tell you right now, it's $15,000. So there you go. That's your prices on that. $8,000, which is more than you'll spend for a current Cornerstone Stern Premium. and the limited edition for $9,600. Oh, man. So, here's the thing, guys, is that I'm not an Elvira fan. Not that I don't enjoy playing her games, but I'm not a fan to which I'm going to strive to add this game to my collection. Elvira's cleavage was probably close to my first love as a child growing up, It was one of those where I could not help, even though I didn't really know what I was really looking at. All I know is that I could not help but stare at her area that everyone seems to stare at. But aside from it being Cassandra and Elvira, this is going to be a game that I believe it's going to sell. And I think primarily the reason why it's going to sell is due to the theme. and that's disappointing because of the price that they're wanting to charge for this game yes this game has got a good amount of things to it that are going to be entertaining and people are going to enjoy do I feel that just I say just but getting the premium base model for this title is worth the $8,000 price tag hell no nor do i believe it's worth ninety six hundred dollars let alone a fifteen thousand dollar price tag for a signature limited edition and that's what's upsetting guys is that even though stern has set these price points they're probably going to sell and that's upsetting because if they keep selling at this price then they will continue to sell and start their games at this price. If we keep buying, then they're going to keep selling like that. We are giving them no incentive to change their pricing on this. If you keep buying at these bloated pricings, then they're going to just keep going. But it's Elvira. It's going to sell. It's going to sell. And it is what it is. But that's pretty much my only complaint on the game. I don't have a problem with the look. I don't have a problem with the music. The game looks like it would be pretty damn fun to play. I just don't agree with what they're wanting to charge for it. What's curious to me is that given all the issues that have recently come up with their playfields and their clear coding issues, are those of you out there still willing to drop that minimum eight thousand dollar price tag for a game that's probably going to have the same issues as that we're already seeing on jurassic parks can you tell me that you don't think that these playfields have already been clear-coded around the same time as jurassic park and that we're no longer going to have that issue if you've got the 15k to drop on an sle bravo applaud to you and if you want to go right ahead it's your money i don't care me personally as well as those of us out here that i also know even had pre-orders for this game have backed away and they're not purchasing until they know for sure that the play field issues with clear coating has been resolved and i hope they have i mean i want nothing but the best from these pinball manufacturers. I don't want any of them to have any kind of marker on their records for defects that deal with a matter like this. But like I stated earlier, my pretty much only issue with this game is the pricing. And if I really want to be nitpicky, the plastic's above the outlanes, and that depends on if I'm able to see the ball when it's basically going between the outlanes. I don't like not being able to see my outlane so that way I know which direction I need to nudge. And if you obscure my visual of the outlanes, then that's going to hinder my ability to play this game better. So I'm going to wrap this video up. Chances are by the end of today, I will be putting out another video with further information. The details are bound to be coming my way, guys. But seriously, this is within the hour of Stern posting this online for all of us to view. So this is just my first opinions, speculations, as well as facts that have been given to us for your viewing pleasure. So what are you thinking about Elvira's House of Horrors so far? Any downsides, good sides, upsides, or whatever? Let me know down below what you think. If you haven't already, be sure to hit that subscribe button down below. That way you can be notified of whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. Until next time, guys. Peace out.