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All-Access Tour of the Stern Pinball Factory April 2025 (Featuring King Kong)

Wild Dog Arcade·video·33m 17s·analyzed·May 4, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Stern Pinball factory tour reveals manufacturing process, domestic sourcing, and QA procedures.

Summary

Wild Dog Arcade provides an extensive behind-the-scenes tour of the Stern Pinball factory in April 2025, documenting the complete manufacturing process from wiring and parts inspection through playfield production, sub-assembly, final assembly, and quality testing. The tour highlights Stern's vertically integrated manufacturing approach, domestic sourcing from Illinois/Wisconsin, specialized equipment like the historic Gottlieb-era dimpling press, production line organization, and quality control procedures including game designer sign-off on Limited Edition machines.

Key Claims

  • Most Stern Pinball parts are sourced within Illinois and Wisconsin; nearly all components are manufactured in the U.S., with raw materials potentially sourced elsewhere but formed and built in Chicago.

    high confidence · Factory tour guide explaining sourcing strategy and manufacturing pride

  • The dimpling press used in playfield production was originally purchased from Gottlieb's closed plant in 1985 by Gary Stern and has processed every Data East, Sega, and Stern pinball game ever made.

    high confidence · Tour guide explaining the four-post hydraulic press history and significance

  • Game designers sign off on every single Limited Edition machine during production to ensure quality consistency and to receive issue reports for the production team.

    high confidence · Tour guide discussing Limited Edition production procedures and designer involvement

  • Stern currently operates with one active production line; a second production line exists but is idle due to slower Limited Edition production volumes requiring individual designer sign-off.

    high confidence · Guide explaining concurrent production line capability and current operational status

  • Stern Pinball is a private company and cannot disclose specific production numbers or volumes.

    high confidence · Guide declining to share production quantity information

Notable Quotes

  • “Most of our parts, like for our Games, almost all of them are sourced there the U.S. Most of them are sourced within Illinois and Wisconsin...I'm really proud of because they're made here. Almost everything there the game is made here.”

    Factory tour guide@ 7:36 — Emphasizes Stern's commitment to domestic manufacturing and supply chain localization, a key differentiator in the industry.

  • “This press has pressed every single Data East, Sega, and Sam Stern pinball game that's ever been made. Any Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Laser War, South Park has gone through this machine to be dimpled.”

    Factory tour guide@ 20:45 — Highlights the historical continuity and significance of Stern's manufacturing infrastructure, connecting to the company's heritage.

  • “The game designer signs off on every single Limited Edition that's put there. So the game, they spent a lot of time focusing, making sure that those were corrected up to snuff.”

    Factory tour guide@ 12:41 — Confirms individual designer QA involvement in Limited Edition production, indicating quality control emphasis on premium tier products.

  • “Sub-assembly used to be way on one side of the factory, and then the production line started, like, way on another side, so there was a lot of movement. Now, again, things are handed off to the playfield line that's right on the other side of these workbenches.”

    Factory tour guide@ 17:19 — Demonstrates operational efficiency improvements through factory layout optimization and lean manufacturing principles.

  • “We make as many as we can...Private company. Right, so we'll see, right?”

    Factory tour guide@ 9:39 — Acknowledges production constraints while maintaining confidentiality about volumes, consistent with private company policy.

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyGary SternpersonWild Dog ArcadeorganizationGottliebcompanyNick CanopapersonKeith ElwinpersonMarco SpecialtiescompanyData Eastcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Single active production line with idle backup capacity due to Limited Edition production requiring individual designer inspection, indicating production volume constraints and market demand fluctuation.

    high · Tour guide stating second production line is unused because Limited Edition volume is slower and requires sign-off

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball conducting factory tours for content creators and community members, demonstrating transparency and engagement with enthusiasts.

    high · Wild Dog Arcade conducting comprehensive multi-hour factory tour with full access to production areas

  • ?

    community_signal: Tour participants and content creators actively engaging with factory operations, suggesting strong community interest in manufacturing transparency and education.

    medium · Enthusiastic participation, detailed questions, and positive reception throughout multi-hour tour

  • ?

    community_signal: Stern Pinball providing educational factory tours and manufacturing transparency, demonstrating commitment to community engagement and industry education.

    high · Comprehensive factory tour with detailed explanation of processes, equipment history, and production procedures

  • $

    market_signal: Stern's emphasis on domestic manufacturing and supply chain localization within Illinois/Wisconsin region, a strategic differentiator in market positioning.

    high · Multiple mentions of U.S./Midwest sourcing with pride and emphasis on local supplier relationships

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.100

0:00
Do you want the nickel tour or do you want the full tour? Decide now at the Wild Dog Arcade. Let's go!
1:30
So we just walked past was the office, right? So back over in the corner, we have like sales. There's, you know, procurement, some production office people, tech support, Gary's office right down there. Back here behind this area is product development. So that's where the artists, the engineers, the game designers and all of that stuff lives. Upstairs, we've got like executives, accountants and stuff like that. But we're going to pass the coolest thing on the tour right now, the hot dog machine. And this is where we have our hot dog parties, which happen very frequently. Big into the hot dog culture here in Sturton-Dimble. But that's a joke. The actual thing is that maybe we'll pull it up a little bit later. You guys are sticking around. We've got a lot of Vienna sausages. That's where things are, make sure that things are makeable on the fly. There's a whole other group of engineers, production engineers, that figure out what is the order they're put together in and how do we make it repeatable. Remember, it's like we make games, but Snurfton Ball is a manufacturing company. We have to make things, and that's what's important for the job, right? Make things repeatable and consistent. What's that stuff missing from the production? So that's kind of like the overview of the balance of Snurfton Ball. So let's start, we're going to start on the way down here. So what we walked into here is the Seattle Production Line, the start. Yeah, I'm excited to see it.
3:10
And please ask any questions. Interrupt me. Talk over me to ask questions. So we'll start down here.
Sega
company
King Konggame
James Cameron's Avatar Limited Editiongame
X-Mengame
Godzillagame
Star Warsgame
Jurassic Parkgame
South Parkgame
Dungeons & Dragonsgame
  • ?

    product_concern: Game designer sign-off requirement on every Limited Edition unit indicates quality control emphasis, potentially reflecting past issues with consistency on premium tier products.

    medium · Design-level QA sign-off procedure described as new/current practice for Limited Editions, suggesting response to quality concerns

  • ?

    technology_signal: Factory layout and workflow optimization to improve efficiency by consolidating sub-assembly and production line proximity, reducing movement and handoff time.

    high · Tour guide explaining how sub-assembly was previously far from production line, now consolidated for better workflow

    • 3:29
    This is the wiring area, right? So we try to, like, efficient production is making things and then sending it down in a way that works, right? In an order that, you know, the game gets collectively more put together. So when we start over there, it's a bare piece of wood. They're being inspected and polished, then they get punched, and then they go down the line. The wiring, right, that's really the heart of the game. So we have a couple of wiring things.
    3:55
    What we're looking at here is like finishing of harnesses, right? So there's multiple harnesses in a pinball game, but when they come out of the initial wiring, they're just wires. In this area, they finish them by putting the solder on. Everyone, come on down. You can keep coming closer. We'll spend more time over here, so you'll get better footage. You get connectors put on and stuff like this. So this is where the harnesses are finished. You've got all these stamping machines back here that put on all the connectors. And the wiring harnesses are set up. So that's what these are for. These are waiting for production. These people are working on things like days before the actual games go into line.
    4:44
    Over here, these people are on first break now. But this is the wiring area. So this is where we take our pegboards. Since no one's working, we should get a little bit closer. If you want to gather in this area, you can see these are... We've got pegboards for every single game we still haven't produced it. These are the maps on how to lay the wires. So they'll start with a piece of wire, and then wrap them and terminate them where they need to go. This is Treehouse Pro. This is X-Men Pro. This is the LED board harness. So this is probably for, you know, one half of, like the bottom half or the top half for all the LED boards. And these are the maps. This is kind of what those boards look like when they are working through the wiring harness.
    5:36
    Once they're finished, there's a bunch of test rigs here behind you. All of these things are test rigs for all sorts of different harnesses in these shelving units here. And this is the kind of stuff that I find really fascinating, because this is stuff you can't just go to the pinball wiring harness test store and buy something. All this stuff needs to be made. So again, it's part of the production engineering of being a manufacturing company. The harnesses are plugged into these units, and it's like a go-no-go. Does orange-white go to orange-white? Yes. Okay, that's good. It's good. So that's a way to make sure your wiring artist is correct. So there's a bunch of them, but come on down.
    6:18
    Most of them are referred to by their code names. It's funny when they're not. Why is Black Knight not the code name? But whatever.
    6:29
    All wiring stuff. Again, table things. Behind that hood down there, that big metal hood, It's a hume extractor, because that's where the solder pots are. Instead of actually getting a soldering iron and tuning each wire, they dip it into a giant pot of liquid solder.
    6:47
    But then, yeah, you've got your Molex clipping keys. Automatic wire strippers, automatic wire cutters. They can program them to cut an 8-inch piece of wire and strip it on both ends or just one end. It's pretty neat.
    7:06
    down this way, because this part's kind of, I'm not super excited, but this is our parts incoming. So this is where the incoming parts will come. They get sorted, and then there is our inspection area, so we'll spot check parts to make sure that they match the print or the quality is up to standard. Past that, then they will go into the main parts warehouse. Let's head down towards that area. One amazing thing, and this is actually an important point, So go ahead and keep on walking down. But most of our parts, like for our games, almost all of them are sourced in the U.S. Most of them are sourced within Illinois and Wisconsin. Most of our stuff does come from manufacturing here in Illinois and the Midwest.
    7:49
    Not a lot of people think about it, but like back in the day, traditionally, we talked about manufacturing. It still is. There's a lot of manufacturing and forming done here, and we rely on this little sticker that says Made in the U.S. I'm really proud of because they're made here. Almost everything in the game is made here. The raw materials might come from somewhere else, but everything is formed and built in Chicago This is the main parts warehouse We not going to go back there just in case it busy but that is where all of the manufacturing parts go So there are tons of wire forms and ball guides and switches and all sorts of crap to be cooled out to get ready to start production. It's kind of like a treasure trove. There's a lot of old stuff in there sometimes that's funny to see.
    8:39
    These are drill plates. These are kind of neat. This is how they start finishing the play field, but these will be more important when we get down there. Let's start by kind of going down. We'll go down the cabinet line first.
    8:57
    We get our cabinets in, the cabinets are inspected, make sure everything's good, and then the decal application process starts. So we start with a built cabinet and then it gets progressively more complete as it goes down. Yeah, it's all wet process. And as it gets to the end of this line, it's complete. It has a head, it has a computer, it has wiring part of it, it's ready for a plate wheel. And we'll see that as we walk down.
    9:35
    I can't tell you that. We make a lot of games a day. We make as many as we can. Private company. Right, so we'll see, right?
    9:53
    Leg bolts, speakers, everyone loves this part. Yeah, we'll wait for them. Any other questions? What's up? They're enamored by it. I know, it's hella fun. When you have the right tools, it's not, but if you're doing it on your game at home, it sucks. But here, when it's like the cabinets on its side, you've got the wet spray, and you don't have any brackets in the way, it's a breeze. you know?
    10:24
    I hate seeing that. I hate, I hate that. I'm just glad I'm not worrying about the bubble. Oh, I didn't do this right. I don't have to do it to know this, but, you know, we don't keep a stock. We do have a stock. Like, we have an upside place where we store games. Like, in interim, before they go to distributors. But, like, we have, you know, people bought, these are all bought. Yeah, they're all pre-sold dealers except their allocations and we send the games off. Why don't they do it next month? Yeah, people aren't going to buy them. So again, we'll see things like different parts of the cabinet, the leg bolts, speakers, the action button harness, right? All of these things are going to be added to these cabinets as we go down. I don't want to get in their way, so that's why we're not really going into the workspace.
    11:21
    If you want to get a little bit close, we can sneak in right here. I guess these are probably cabinets that are slated to be LE, so they've got the art blades installed and stuff like that. And then you've got head production and stuff here. All right.
    12:12
    Your options, you said? Just walk by. The area is our second production line. We can have production lines running concurrently. Right now, it's not used because the volume of doing the LEs is a little bit slower. We're having to check and sign off on these LEs. So the second production line is here. The primary production line is the one that's currently working. . Oh, no, no, no. . The game designer signs off on every single LE that's put in. So the game, they spent a lot of time focusing, making sure that those were corrected up to snuff. And it's also good for the issues to be reported back to the production team, so we can make sure that everything is consistent and manageable. We'll do a quick skip over of this. I want you to kind of come down here, show the actual production line, then we'll explain. This is final packing though. This is where they put the games into boxes, stamp them, put all the foam in, stuff like that. We'll talk about this in a little bit more detail, but this is final inspection. Once we get down here, we let's head around.
    14:10
    So at this point, the games are fully built. Then they go on to the final bit of assembly, where they go on to the rotisseries. And that's when the main community's radio centers are installed.
    14:33
    The choreography of the premium is amazing. It makes sense. Let's keep moving on. We're going to be back down here in just a second. All right, sorry. No, it's all good.
    14:46
    Blame my man. You guys don't have to. It's still amazing to me every time. This area is what we call sub-assembly, right? So you've got a production line over there, and you've got a non-working production line right now, But sub-assembly is where things are taken from pieces, put together, and then handed off, right? So this is a sub-assembly, a backhand, right? You take the routed wood, you take the harness, the light sockets, the diverter, you put it together because now this is one piece that can be installed on the game. So everything that you can think of as assembly is built here. flippers, hot lumbars, slingshot assemblies, everything that can be grouped into one piece and put into a game. So we can see, we've got plastic patches, right? All this stuff is put together and painted off to the production line, which is all on the playfield. It's like the stuff we build is really granular, right? Like we don't buy flipper pieces put together. We buy all of those pieces that they put together on like these armor presses You see all over the place. Looks like some butcher and links are being used all day. This is where the plastic has been broken off on their big sheet and put into packages that are through one gate. There's a plastic sheet for X-Men. They're printed in a laser cut.
    16:28
    Thank you Timbalman on every boat He taught me everything I worked at the Pacific Timbal Museum I worked at Marcos Pesachis for a little while So again, more sub-assemblies, right? Something a little more interesting to the back panel, but, you know, the entire, like, gong assembly. Things are put together so then they can be installed on the playfield. And it increases... The nice thing about a big factory like this or being able to re-navigate the way the factory works is, like, sub-assembly used to be way on one side of the factory, and then the production line started, like, way on another side, so there was a lot of movement. Now, again, things are handed off to the playfield line that's right on the other side of these workbenches.
    17:32
    Get in there. Stay. Okay. There's a trigonometric machine for putting together target switches. Okay, so the bracket, that's how Granny works, right? There's a different vendor for all of these pieces. There's so many things to bring together to make one pinball game.
    18:03
    Internalizing that quality aspect. Hi, Jim. Good morning. So this is a, we've got two specialized sub-assembly areas. So this is where a lot of, like, toppers and large sub-assemblies will be put together.
    18:24
    And this is another specialized sub-assembly area where other big complicated assemblies like the mechatronic Godzilla, the pro-Godzilla, I'm sorry, the mechatronic Sentinel. So you've got other dedicated areas to build more complex sub-assemblies that are not just, Yeah, flipper lines. There's a button. A lot of these coppers and more complicated assemblies are generally kept here as samples. Daddy's shooting stuff. Deception. This is where it gets really exciting. I like this part of the tour the most. Everyone is very happy to see all the assemblies. It's fun.
    19:22
    So here is where the actual really cool stuff starts. So we get playfields from our facility that does playfields, which is just a couple blocks away. And you guys do all your own printing and everything, right?
    19:38
    I can't disclose that, but we do make and route our own playfields. We have a wood shop. We do have a... So what they'll do though is they'll show up in a fashion like what what what can a CNC router do? They can do relatively large holes, but this is like what they'll show up like, right?
    20:03
    Buffing out using like some novus to buff out like any imperfections to make sure everything is really good before they go into the press. So this is the famous canopin press Clayfield Press, or in industrial terms, it's a four-post press. This press is really special. Gary Stern bought it in 1985 from an industrial supply company. This came from one of the Gottlieb plants that closed when they transitioned to their last facility on Lake Street. But this was used in Gottlieb. This is from like the 50s. The special thing about it, it actually has a Gottlieb equipment tag there too. The really special thing about this though is it has pressed every single Data East, Sega, and Stern pinball game that's ever been made. Any Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Laser War, South Park has gone through this machine to be dimpled. What is a dimple?
    21:03
    If you look at this machine, it lays on a bed of nails. And what this does is it's going to create small indentations for where things need to be drilled and put together on the assembly line. So it's going to spot little areas that, again, the CNC router couldn't do. So the point's to start hardware, right? So where does this screw go? So on both sides of this bed, you've got these nails, right, on both sides. The play field is laid down on top, and it's indexed on this machine. and then it squeezes it and it presses little holes into the play field. And that is where the people on the assembly line can use as reference marks to start holes. It's a really, really simple machine to do something pretty complex, but it's just special because, again, it's done every single game from this company's lineage, and that's pretty special.
    21:55
    But it is very old. And you may have noticed there's another one over there that we're working on getting as a backup, just in case the old Hannifin press.
    22:03
    What is it called? The Hannifin? Yeah. In industrial terms, it's like a four-post press, a hydraulic four-post press. What's your name?
    22:15
    You have to ask Gary. Maybe Gary has a name. Or maybe ask Nick or someone who has to maintain it because maybe they have a good pet name for it.
    22:24
    Now we have the playfield production start. So you've got a plate field that's dimpled and dimmited, and now you get the drill plate. I mentioned those from before. So this guy here, he takes the drill plate out and drills and starts pilot holes for things that a CNC router couldn't do, like two-millimeter drill holes, things that are very fine.
    22:46
    And that's where they're started here. So the drill plate is very precise, and that allows us to put those final holes in to get ready for production. And as we continue moving down, the playfields turn from a bare piece of wood very quickly into a pinball game.
    23:05
    Peanuts and fin-shaped screws. Side rails start getting installed. Posts and ball guides start getting installed.
    23:24
    Once you get the basic sheet metal form pieces, then some more complicated or pinball-like things start going on, like ball guides and plastics and steps are in these bags down here. Small flasher boards, screws, more flasher boards, washers, hot lumber rings, playfield pivots. But right as you watch the playfields as they go down, they just become more and more full, more and more complete.
    24:05
    How many games do you play? I can't tell you. A lot. Enough? Enough. Once we get down here, they get onto their cars. They go into the car.
    24:32
    That's important to have the right car, right? In pinball world, it's just kind of... Sure. Yeah, sure. That's Nick Canopa. He's one of our production engineers. He is one of the guys that figures out the order. He makes the tools. He makes everything needed to actually put the games together. Okay.
    24:50
    So yeah once the wiring harnesses and stuff are installed now we getting bigger assembly Wire ramps These are always fun. He's got manufacturing. I'm sorry? He's got manufacturing. Yeah, they get manufacturing. They have a manufacturing.
    25:16
    Yep. Very elegant. a pinball game that's almost ready to drop into your cabinet. So at this point, the games are fully built. Then they go on to the final bit of assembly, where they go on to the rotisseries. And that's when the back panels and other major assemblies are installed.
    25:42
    So these are all LEs, most likely. I mean, because that's why we've got this back up here, because Keith isn't signing off on them currently.
    25:52
    Games never have the right aprons when we do production validations and testing. You grab whatever it is that's around. You know, our D&D has a Foo Fighters apron, I think, and my office is like, yeah, yeah, whatever. We test it here, switch its coils, lay them, make sure they're invested correctly before we make it mated to a plate, a cabinet, and put it into a box.
    26:35
    Then you have your, well, then you've got, you know, your cabinet mating inspection, which is why that part's dead, but we're waiting for teeth. But these guys then, you know, the top of the top, like the people who are intended to know everything about how to put a pinball game together, those are the people that work here testing and making sure everything's good. And they're done. They get made into a cabinet right over here. Once they're off of this, these rotisseries are thrown in a box and shipped off to the new company.
    27:02
    Yeah, it's just a joystick. So if you're looking at it and you want to go up, you push up. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of figured that out earlier on accident. I don't know. It's like one of those 17 things.
    27:41
    But yeah, here you can see their nice wall of playfields lit up in the background. I want that in my office. Right? Yeah.
    27:54
    Games, games everywhere. I guess what they do on their breaks is they play pinball. But yeah, check out all the artwork they've got up on the walls.
    28:06
    Yeah, on the sides where the ball ceiling is at. Yeah, it's a woolly street fan. But yeah, it's pretty cool.
    28:25
    But yeah, it's really kind of kick-ass. Thank you. I love how there's like a living room in here.
    32:58
    And then over here. you