Star Wars Fall Of The Empire - Impressions of a New Generation of Pinball

Dirtypool Pinball·video·11m 49s·analyzed·Sep 12, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.024

TL;DR

Star Wars FOTE is accessible arcade-focused game with strong art, iterative Spike 3 improvements, Pro QC concerns.

Summary

Jeff from Dirty Pool Pinball provides hands-on impressions of Star Wars: Fall of the Empire after visiting Stern's factory. He characterizes the game as accessible and arcade-friendly with strong art direction, improved audio via Spike 3, but traditional playfield design that may not satisfy hardcore players. Key differentiator is the Force magnetic save exclusive to Premium/LE models, and manufacturing quality issues noted on Pro units.

Key Claims

Star Wars Fall of the Empire is substantially better than the 2017 Steve Ritchie Star Wars game, particularly in being less punishing with a fan layout
high confidence · Speaker directly compared both games after playing FOTE at Stern
The Force magnetic save mechanic is exclusive to Premium and LE versions; it does not come on Pro models
high confidence · Jeff explicitly states this is a mechanical difference between tiers, not cosmetic
Pro units experienced straight-down-the-middle drains due to angle or metal guide setup issues, while Premium and LE did not
high confidence · Observed on location during factory visit; noted as a QC/manufacturing variance
Spike 3 represents iterative improvements over Spike 2 rather than a quantum leap in pinball technology
high confidence · Speaker emphasized this directly, citing screen size, HDMI output for streamers as practical upgrades
Premium version should probably have been the LE backglass artwork; LE has a Hoth-like snowy theme, Pro is Endor-focused
medium confidence · Speaker's subjective opinion on artwork hierarchy across tiers
Premium and LE get a special high-frequency tweeter; Pro/Premium share mid-range tweeter and woofer but Pro has a spacer filler instead of tweeter
high confidence · George Gomez confirmed audio system tier differences
Premium and LE shipping end of September/early October; Pro production starts in October
high confidence · Stern provided official schedule during factory visit
Jeff had approximately one hour total hands-on time with the game (15-20 minute private session plus shooting footage)
high confidence · Speaker explicitly disclosed limited play time upfront

Notable Quotes

“The term that I would give this game is it is an accessible game. And I think that's going to turn off a lot of hardcore players.”
Jeff (Dirty Pool Pinball) @ ~2:30 — Core positioning of game's design philosophy and target audience conflict
“The Force, which is a magnetic ball save...it's really cool. It's also insanely hard. And I don't know if this is something that is going to be like OP because it becomes too easy once you know how to do it.”
Jeff @ ~8:20 — Key mechanical feature and uncertainty about balance/skill curve
“The playfield artwork looks a little too similar to the 2017 version and is a little uninspiring for my taste personally.”
Jeff @ ~4:50 — Criticism of playfield design distinctiveness vs. artwork quality of backbox
“If you are expecting a quantum leap in kind of pinball technology for Spike 3, it's not there. This is an iterative thing.”
Jeff @ ~15:00 — Managing expectations for Spike 3 platform evolution
“I'm not going to buy one personally, but I do think it's going to be a good game, and I do think it's going to help get more people into pinball.”
Jeff @ ~12:15 — Personal positioning: not targeting enthusiast collectors but acknowledging market/growth potential
“Stern knows that Star Wars is a huge opportunity to get more people into pinball because people that don't care about pinball but do care about Star Wars are probably going to buy a pinball machine.”
Jeff @ ~14:00 — Strategic IP licensing importance to Stern's growth narrative

Entities

JeffpersonGeorge Gomezperson Kyleperson Jack Dangerperson John Borgperson Steve Ritchieperson Colinperson

Signals

?
business_signal: Stern citing Star Wars franchise valuation at $54 billion and pushing retail partnerships (Costco) with lower-priced home games to expand market beyond traditional pinball enthusiasts.
high · Stern made specific announcement during presentation about franchise worth; Jeff reports active Costco promotion strategy
?
community_signal: Stern hosted influencer factory event with multiple content creators (Don't Panic Flip, Kineticist, Dirty Pool Pinball, others) under NDA embargo, coordinating media coverage rollout.
high · Jeff attended event with other pinfluencers; mentions NDA and embargo list until tomorrow; planned simultaneous video release with official trailer
?
competitive_signal: Stern positioning Star Wars FOTE as successor to 2017 Steve Ritchie version with improvements in player friendliness (less punishing) while maintaining fast flow suitable for location play.
high · Jeff states FOTE 'better than 2017 Star Wars' in being 'less punishing' with fan layout; notes speed and flow
?
design_philosophy: Star Wars FOTE deliberately designed as accessible, arcade-friendly game with traditional fan layout to appeal to new players and Star Wars franchise fans rather than hardcore pinball veterans.
high · Jeff characterizes game as 'accessible,' notes traditional layout without risk-taking, positions as 'immediately accessible' for arcades
$
market_signal: Shipping schedule shows Premium/LE arriving end of September/early October 2025; Pro production beginning in October, indicating staggered rollout strategy.

Topics

Star Wars: Fall of the Empire game design and mechanicsprimarySpike 3 hardware platform capabilities and improvementsprimaryPro/Premium/LE tier differentiation (pricing and features)primaryManufacturing quality and QC issues (Pro drain problems)primaryGame accessibility vs. hardcore player appealsecondaryStern factory tour and manufacturing capabilitiessecondaryStar Wars IP licensing and market strategysecondaryInfluencer/content creator community engagementmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.72)— Jeff is enthusiastic about the game as a market/arcade product and praises manufacturing scale and art direction, but tempers expectations for hardcore players and doesn't intend to purchase. Factory experience described as 'awesome' and 'wholesome.' Constructive criticism on playfield artwork and Pro QC issues presented matter-of-factly rather than negatively.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

Hey everybody, it's Jeff from Dirty Pool Pinball. I just got back from Stern to check out their next Cornerstone game. I got to hang out with a bunch of amazing influencers and I got a big tour of the factory. But Jeff, you say fine. So, let's talk about the game. First and foremost, I like Star Wars, but I'm not like a massive Star Wars fan. So, take that with a grain of salt. Also, when we're playing the game there, it's like half talking to people and half playing the game. So, the amount of time I've actually had on hands with Star Wars is maybe an hour. We get about a 15 or 20 minute session to play it uh privately in a room uh and then we have time to play it just while we're shooting the with everybody. So, just keep that in mind. The term that I would give this game is it is an accessible game. And I think that's going to turn off a lot of hardcore players. And I think it's also aligning with Stern's interest of trying to get more people into pinball. I think this game is better than the 2017 Star Wars Steve Ritchie one. Um, it's less punishing in that it is a fan layout with most of the shots far back. Um, but it's also insanely fast as you would expect from a board game and it flows really quick. So, it's fun and I think that's really important. But you should be aware getting into it as you find it on location or find footage of it online that the game is a very traditional fan layout. It's not taking a lot of risks. Um, some of the other really interesting stuff on it, we're on Spike 3 now and the Spike 3 system has a lot of stuff. I talked to George Gomez specifically about all the audio improvements. Here's some interesting info on that. There's a completely new amplifier and audio system that goes into the game. The Pro and the premium version of the game have a mid-range tweeter and a the woofer tweeter as the base combo set for it. The LE version gets a special highfrequency tweeter that goes into it. That space exists on the Pro and Premium models, but it's a spacer filler. It's not an actual tweeter there. Um, George mentioned that I forget if he had mentioned it was in the future or currently that they're going to be sealed back boxes around the speakers as well because the power module has been moved to the center of the backbox. So, just in general, the audio in the game is substantially better. And Stern made a bunch of claims that it's like it's more wattage and this and that and those are awesome numbers on paper, but the reality is, you know, a 5,000 watt sound system that's barely turned on, it's kind of irrelevant. It doesn't distort at loud volume, but the reality is you're probably not going to be running at an extremely loud volume. Other perks, the screen is great. It's a huge screen on there. I don't think it's quite as large as a Jersey Jack screen, but it's substantially larger. And that is a good segue into the art package. The art on the game is amazing with one caveat. The Playfield artwork looks a little too similar to the 2017 version and is a little uninspiring for my taste personally. The cabinet artwork, the backbox artwork for all different versions is incredible. It's really amazing and I I swear you got to see it in person. Every single version has its own character to it. One of them is more Endor. I believe that's the Pro. The premium has I would many of us agree that the premium artwork should probably be the LE back glass, but I think a lot of people are going to have their own opinion on that whether they like one or the other. Uh the Ellie model has the Hoth like vibe. It's very like snowy for lack of a better word. Uh and then the premium, like I said, is is more of the traditional kind of like movie poster vibe which has all the characters on it. The likeness is really great. Just in general, the art package is absolutely exceptional. It really is fun. So, let's talk about the playfield layout, right? So, this game has essentially four slingshots. Jeff, you say, "No, I'm not gonna do that gag again." It essentially has four slingshots. It's got two floating pop bumpers that are symmetrically on the left and right side, and then below that is the regular slingshots. So, in essence, there's four randomization kind of like transients on the playfield. The left and right slingshots are full orbits. It's kind of like Pulp Fiction without the stop so that it drops it down the middle. So, if you hit a spinner on one side or the other, it comes screaming back at you. And one issue that we did notice on on location was the Pro, the way it was either angled or the way that the metal guides on that were set up is that that did cause a lot of straight down the middle drains. But the Premium and the ALE didn't have any of those issues. So, also, this is something that's going to probably be diversive on what's included with the Pro versus the Premium models. The Pro is almost identical functionally except for cosmetic components on it. And I'm talking about there's a job of the hut sitting over the Sarlac pit. I'm sure someone's going to correct me on that. Remember, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I'm just like a fan. Uh all cosmetic stuff with the exception of one. This is a mechanic that I wish has been in pinball for quite a while. I thought about it that it would be cool in a game. Stern actually put it in. It is the force which is a magnetic ball save. Essentially it's a slingshot a magna sling from Ghostbusters or I don't Grand Lizard uh that exists directly underneath the flippers and it will capture the ball when you hit the center button and throw it back up into the playfield if you've qualified it to be at a a super level. And then if you drain out the outlanes, you can hit it to have a short pulse which will send it into the shooter lane. It's really cool. It's also insanely hard. And I don't know if this is something that is going to be like OP because it becomes too easy once you know how to do it on your particular game or if it's just something that really is going to be skill-based over time and that it's just an excellent mechanic. Again, we haven't played it for hours and hours on end like in a home setup. So, your mileage may vary. Uh so, yeah, I think people are either going to be kind of happy that the game has got all the components except for the the force or not. and that could drive a lot of the purchasing power in terms of whether you want one or not. I think this game is going to do very well in arcades. It is immediately accessible. It is fast. It's just very friendly for new players. The concern I have is for people that are more veteran players and are looking for a very more complicated, long playing game, what that's going to look like. I'm not going to comment on the modes, wizard modes, things like that. I talked to Borg. He said that there was like a mini wizard mode and something else that needed to go in. In terms of what's in the game, it seems pretty feature complete, but we weren't focusing, or at least I was not focusing on deep rule set, deep mode starting. Sorry. You're going to have to find someone else's video on that, and I'm sure Stern will get into that more as they start getting more and more footage out. So, yeah. How do I feel about this game? I'm not going to buy one personally, but I do think it's going to be a good game, and I do think it's going to help get more people into pinball. You can see cost you Costco. You can see that Stern is pushing to get a lot more people into pinball. And in their presentation to us, they made specific announcements that the franchise is worth like $54 billion or something like that. And that it was one of the biggest franchises that they've worked with and that they're pushing Costco to get their home game out there to have more people be able to play that at a lower price point. Stern knows that Star Wars is a huge opportunity to get more people into pinball because people that don't care about pinball but do care about Star Wars are probably going to buy a pinball machine if it has a lot of hype behind it or if it hits a price point. And they've got games that are now cheap in Costco for people that don't have a lot of money to blow on a expensive pinball machine. And then they have this game which is the new landmark for whatever their Spike 3 system is. Let's touch base on Spike 3 real quick. If you are expecting a quantum leap in kind of pinball technology for Spike 3, it's not there. This is an iterative thing. It is absolutely better than Spike 2. The screen size is better. There is an HDMI output with audio on it for streamers. Hallelujah. Uh it's just the whole package in itself is better, but it's not going to stop you and make you go, "Oh my god." It's just a little better. and that's okay. Those are my thoughts on Star Wars. I highly recommend you go find one and check it out. Uh I think it'll be a really exciting league game. I I do think that it has the potential of being fairly long playing as with many of the newer Sterns. Um but there's an airplane, so I have to stop talking now. Uh so yeah, other than Star Wars, it was a real blast. We got a tour of the facility. Uh Stern's massive. There's just no other way to to say it. the facility and the size of manufacturing potential that exists at Stern is is amazing. Uh they were very open. Kyle gave us a huge tour of the floor. Jack Danger joined and just kind of like goofed off and showed us around and and explained all the different parts. Kyle talked about his the press. Man, he loves talking about that press. So, we got the big tour and they talked us through all the different stages from uh building coupling and wires all the way down to kind of first stage QC passes to final. and we got to see a game being born as it was uh entered into the box before shipping off to I don't know maybe one of you. So, the experience was really great. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the other pinfluencers or whatever the term is. Uh, everybody was amazing. It was great to put faces in person to people that I've been talking to and and chatting online with and I don't know it what an awesome friendly wholesome experience. Specifically, I want to give a shout out to George from Don't Panic Flip and also Colin from Kineticist. Uh they helped for a few handful of filming moments where it's just I don't have I'm not Goro, you know, I don't have a hands or bishnu. I don't know. Pick whatever creature that has enough hands to film as your preferred joke. Uh but yeah, they were incredibly helpful and yeah, the slow-mo footage that I have is is in thanks to Colin helping out with his dad. I appreciate that. Thank you. Go check out Kineticist. Certainly go check out Don't Panaflip. And uh yeah, that's it. That's all I got. I got to go do a lot of editing in order to get this out because Stern has put us on an NDA and the embargo list tomorrow and I want to get that out to you guys. So, you can check out all the footage that I took along with the new trailer and everything that's going to drop for it. Uh, so yeah, thank you again to Stern for having me out. It's my first experience. Honestly, it just couldn't be more enjoyable. I really had a blast and uh yeah, I hope to be able to give coverage on future games for you guys and uh give you my honest insight. Anyways, uh if you see a Star Wars Oh, right. Shipping. Let's talk about that. Duh. So, uh, according to their schedule, which they gave us, the premiums and the alleys are going to be shipping at the end of this month at September. And also at the beginning of October, the production of the pros is going to start. So, if you are jumping on the bandwagon now, sometime the end of September, early October, you should be receiving your game if your distributor is high on the list and however that magic works. Um, so yeah, I don't know. If you're into Star Wars, I think you're going to like this game better than 2017 one. But as usual, find a game and play it before you buy it. Make your own assessment. Check out all the footage online and find people that you trust their opinion. If it's not me, find someone else. And uh yeah, other than that, have a great day. All praise the Great Pyramid. I'm going to go edit all this now. Bye. I love Dn D. DN D is my favorite game. Help me.