Avenger's LE Pinball with George Gomez of Stern Pinball

Stern Pinball·video·3m 36s·analyzed·Dec 16, 2012

Analysis

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TL;DR

George Gomez walkthrough of Avengers LE gameplay, modes, and design features.

Summary

George Gomez, designer at Stern Pinball, provides a detailed walkthrough of the Avengers LE pinball machine, explaining core gameplay mechanics including skill shots, the right ramp's dual functionality, Loki Multiball, the Avengers assembly system, Hulk mode with six-ball multiball, the Tesseract mode, and Shield Agents awards. The game features custom speech from Marvel-approved actors and character-specific music.

Key Claims

The Avengers game features assembling all six Avengers, with each character requiring four shots or four drop targets to be advanced before starting their mode.
high confidence · George Gomez directly explains the core assembly mechanic during the walkthrough
Loki Multiball is triggered by lighting the outlanes and inlanes at the bottom of the game, then locking three balls on the right ramp.
high confidence · George Gomez describes the specific steps to qualify and start Loki Multiball
Hulk mode features a six-ball multiball after the player knocks down four drop targets and reaches the Hulk eject.
high confidence · George Gomez explains the Hulk mode sequence and describes it as 'absolutely action-packed'
The right ramp has two levels: the Hawkeye level and a level that feeds toward the three-ball lock for Loki Multiball.
high confidence · George Gomez describes the right ramp's dual functionality in detail
All character speech in Avengers was performed by Marvel-approved actors.
high confidence · George Gomez states: 'All of the speech was performed by Marvel approved actors'

Notable Quotes

“The game is about assembling the Avengers. Consistent with Avengers fiction, the Avengers don't necessarily get along.”
George Gomez@ 1:28 — Establishes the core design philosophy that the game's rule set reflects Marvel lore about team conflict
“Hulk starts getting mad, throws the bridge, and then you're in a six ball multiball, which is absolutely action-packed.”
George Gomez@ 2:27 — Describes the Hulk mode climax with visual/mechanical storytelling and emphasizes the intensity of the multiball
“Every Avenger has four lights associated with them... In the case of Hulk, it's the four drop targets. In the case of Thor, it's the four drop targets.”
George Gomez@ 1:37 — Clarifies that different Avengers use different playfield elements (lights vs. drop targets) to represent their progression
“The right ramp on this game does so many different things. It has two levels.”
George Gomez@ 0:50 — Highlights the complexity and multifunctionality of the right ramp as a key playfield element
“Every time you spin it, you build up a score. And once you spell out cosmic, you're in the tesseract mode and you collect the score that you built up.”
George Gomez@ 2:43 — Explains the Tesseract/Cosmic Cube mode mechanic as a progressive scoring element

Entities

George GomezpersonStern PinballcompanyAvengers (game)gameMarvelorganization Hulkproduct Thorproduct Hawkeyeproduct Captain Americaproduct

Signals

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gameplay_signal: Multiple skill shot options at plunge: hard plunge to top lanes (with multiplier build via flipper-controlled light elimination), short plunge back to right flipper, or immediate feature start.
high · George Gomez describes the variety of plunge strategies and their different outcomes
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gameplay_signal: Game features at least two multiball modes: Loki Multiball (three-ball lock on right ramp) and Hulk Multiball (six-ball, the largest identified multiball).
high · George Gomez details both multiball sequences with specific lock and trigger mechanisms
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gameplay_signal: Each of six Avengers requires four qualifying shots (either individual lights or drop targets) before their mode can be started; completing a mode collects that Avenger and illuminates their icon.
high · George Gomez explains the consistent four-shot/four-target pattern for all Avengers
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design_innovation: Right ramp features two functional levels (Hawkeye level and Loki lock level) allowing different shot outcomes and feeding different play paths.
high · George Gomez describes the right ramp having 'two levels' with distinct functions and ball paths
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design_philosophy: Game design reflects Marvel Avengers fiction philosophy that team members 'don't necessarily get along,' manifested in separate character modes and progression systems.
high · George Gomez explicitly states: 'The game is about assembling the Avengers. Consistent with Avengers fiction, the Avengers don't necessarily get along.'

Transcript

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0:03

Hi everybody. My name is George Gomez and I'm going to take you through the Avengers

0:21

Ali begin the game. You've got the ball in the shooter groove. You've got a couple of different things you can do. There's a variety of skill shots. The most obvious one, the top lanes. Plunging hard will get you to the top of the top lanes. You can move the lights around with the flippers, eliminating all of the top lanes is essentially your multiplier. You can also short plunge, in which case the ball will come back to the right flipper. And there's a variety of things you can do. You can start one of the features right away, or you can go for a skill

0:50

shot. The right ramp on this game does so many different things. It has two levels. It has the Hawkeye level which allows the ball to cross over on the Hawkeye ramp. When it's working towards Loki Multiball, you'll see the ball drop down along the back of the game and come back around to the lock. The three ball lock is right on the ramp. You'll see all three balls up there for Loki Multiball. Loki Multiball is essentially lighting the outlanes and the in lanes at the bottom of the game. And that qualifies you to put balls on a ramp and lock them. Once you get all three of them up there, you'll start Loki Multiball.

1:25

[Music] The game is about assembling the Avengers. Consistent with Avengers fiction, the Avengers don't necessarily get along. Every Avenger has four lights associated with them. Captain America has four lights. Hawkeye has four. In the case of Hulk, it's the four drop targets. In the case of Thor, it's the four drop targets. As you make those shots, you advance towards starting that Avengers mode. Making those four shots collects the Avenger. Making any one of the Avenger shots starts an Avengers mode. Once you finish that mode, you've collected the Avenger that will illuminate the six Avenger icons at the bottom of the game. Hulk is started by knocking down the four drop targets and then putting the ball Hulk eject. The Hulk eject can be accessed a variety of different ways. You can actually shoot into it off the playfield, fall into it off the playfield. The for sure way to get into the Hulk eject is when the green arrows are flashing, make the widow ramp and the widow ramps diverter will drop you right into the top of the Hulk eject. We stage the ball there and then we do the big show. Hulk starts getting mad, throws the bridge, and then you're in a six ball multiball, which is absolutely