Inside Stern Pinball: The John Wick Experience

Erika's Pinball Journey·video·8m 38s·analyzed·Jul 30, 2024

Analysis

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TL;DR

Erika tours Stern Pinball factory, meets developers, and witnesses John Wick machine production.

Summary

Erika visited the Stern Pinball factory in Chicago after receiving an invitation from Stern's team. She toured manufacturing facilities including wiring, cabinet decaling, press operations, and assembly lines, while meeting Dwight Sullivan (coder/programmer) and observing the production of John Wick pinball machines. The video emphasizes the handmade nature of pinball production and encourages viewers to attend Stern's factory tours at Pinball Expo in October.

Key Claims

Stern manufactures games including Deadpool, Mandalorian, Godzilla, and John Wick
high confidence · Erika lists current Stern titles at the beginning of her factory description
Stern ships pinball machines to 44 countries
high confidence · Erika states this after visiting the shipping dock
All Stern cabinets are the same size to keep production smooth and easy
high confidence · Direct quote from Dwight Sullivan during cabinet section of tour
John Wick pinball is available in Premium and Limited Edition versions with different artwork
high confidence · Erika describes seeing Premium and LE cabinets being decaled during the tour
Stern makes foam molds for packaging in-house
high confidence · Erika explicitly states Stern makes packaging in-house during shipping dock section
Playfields undergo drilling and hand-finishing before assembly line installation
high confidence · Erika describes hand-drilling smaller holes after press operation
Stern offers factory tours at Pinball Expo in Chicago in October
high confidence · Erika recommends the tour experience and confirms availability at Expo

Notable Quotes

“And this is also part of like, so a hundred years ago when I started making pinball machines, they used to all go in bowling alleys and restaurants and whatnot, and they were a high-process. They weren't decals.”
Dwight Sullivan @ Cabinet decaling section — Provides historical context on pinball manufacturing evolution from bowling alleys to art furniture
“All the cabinets are the same size. This is to keep production smooth and easy.”
Dwight Sullivan @ Cabinet section — Reveals manufacturing standardization strategy for efficiency
“It's a press, right? It has a bed of nails on the bottom and there's a bed of nails on the top, and this rubber here to protect my hand from getting pressed, but what happens is it dresses the playfield.”
Dwight Sullivan @ Press machine section — Technical explanation of playfield pressing technology
“Past playfield test, they come and get married to a cabinet for the first time, and then everything is retested again because you never know what the cabinet is getting tested for the first time, and then the marriage might have, you know, who knows what happened?”
Dwight Sullivan @ Testing section — Describes rigorous quality control and double-testing after assembly
“These are handmade. It takes so much time and effort, and it's a huge team of people that make it happen.”
Erika @ Tour conclusion — Emphasizes the labor-intensive, artisanal nature of pinball manufacturing
“I would highly recommend it. It really helps put the appreciation of how much work goes into making these games.”
Erika @ Tour recommendation — Personal endorsement of Stern factory tour educational value

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyErikapersonDwight Sullivanperson Randy Martinezperson Jack Dangerperson John Wickgame Deadpoolgame Mandaloriangame

Signals

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community_signal: Stern Pinball invites content creators to factory for behind-the-scenes access and educational tour experience
high · Erika received email invitation from Stern to visit factory; tour conducted with multiple content creators; Stern offers public tours at Pinball Expo
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community_signal: Stern Pinball demonstrates commitment to operator and owner education through accessible factory tours
high · Public factory tours available at Pinball Expo; educational focus on manufacturing processes and quality control; team explains technical details to visitors
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manufacturing_signal: Stern demonstrates vertically integrated production including in-house packaging and foam mold creation
high · Stern makes foam molds for packaging in-house; maintains dedicated shipping dock; manufactures to 44 countries
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announcement: John Wick pinball game officially in production at Stern with Premium and Limited Edition variants available
high · Multiple production stages observed; different cabinet artwork for Premium and LE versions; Randy Martinez confirmed as artist; machines ready for shipping
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product_concern: Stern implements rigorous double-testing protocol: playfield tested before cabinet assembly, then entire machine tested after cabinet marriage
high · Dwight Sullivan explicitly describes retesting procedures to catch potential issues from assembly process

Transcript

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0:02

what's up everybody in this episode I'm going to take you on my biggest pinball Journey yet now Stern the world's largest pinball manufacturer flew me out to Chicago to play their newest game John [Music]

0:29

Wick now I know you're probably wondering ER how did you get invited to the stern Factory well picture this I'm at home minding my own business when I hear the doorbell ring and I receive a mysterious package no return address just a simple box with my name intrigued I open it up to find a shiny golden token inside the token had a cryptic engraving on it and I knew that this was something special so naturally I did what any curious person would do I followed the clues I ended up finding the kind of place that doesn't even need a sign because everyone who's anyone knows where it is I walked up to an imposing man guarding the entrance handed him my golden token and waited he inspected no actually The Story begins with me getting an email from Stern now I have never been in contact with their team before so this was an incredibly exciting opportunity to this day I'm still like what the story kind of takes place in a few different parts the first part is going to be about the tour the next part is a little bit about licensing and the third part I'm kind of just jumbling a bunch of things together but I'm just going to call it like the party because it felt like it went on all night long and that was pretty awesome I'm going to go ahead and share with you guys the tour let's

1:57

go you could imagine my excitement when the company that makes games like Deadpool Mandalorian the games behind me Godzilla and their newest game John Wick one of my absolute favorite movie series I wasn't quite sure what I was going to expect they're like we're going to do a tour you're going to meet the people and I'm like okay cool there was no like schedule or anything that was sent to us we're just like 1:00 show up and so I did that and um I think I did that very well showed up on time when I arrived in Chicago and went to the stern Factory myself and several other pinball content creators were greeted by Stern's team and we were introduced to Dwight Sullivan a coder and programmer that works at Stern he showed us the process on how they build their pinball machine if you want to learn more about Dwight Sullivan you can check him out on Conesus website so as we started this tour we were handed a pair of Handy Dandy safety glasses because we're going into a factory people there are things moving parts are flying happening all right but um yeah first thing we went in we saw wires and do I have b-roll of that no why do I not have b-roll of that um because we were not allowed to record there but that's okay because I actually have wires I can show you with my machine wiring is incredibly important to a pinball machine it's basically like the nervous system so without this the machine will not work so Stern's team tests these pieces left and right to make sure that they're ready for their next step so after we were done with wiring they took us to the cabinets where they showed us where they decal the new John Wick game now I have some never before seen footage of the wonderful Dwight Sullivan talking about these cabinets I'm going to run the clip it's right here and this is also part of like so 100 years ago when I started making pinball machines they used to all go in bowling alleys and tets and whatnot and they were they were PO process they weren't decals um but along the way games started moving into basement and we started making furniture and pieces of arw and we started doing things that I will tell you about today one of which starts right here that that that have to doity that people put fun fact all the cabinets are the same size this is to keep production smooth and easy here they were putting on the design for the premium which looks super cool I actually really love this design along with the limited edition which if I could afford it I would buy it because holy moly guys this looks beautiful the artist Randy Martinez who I have here behind meing Bing he did an amazing job congratulations Randy I love all the packages you've made up next was the press machine now there's this thing I think it's called like Hanahan I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to how they pronounce it yo small edit I got it right continue but Dwight Sullivan walked us through this and I have a special little clip where he's going to talk to you guys about it too it's it's a press right it has a b a b of nails on the bottom and there's a bed of nails on the top and this rubber here to protect my hand from getting but but what happens is

5:23

doeses after the press the playfields get taken to another section where someone drills even smaller holes by hand once that's done the Playfield goes down the assembly line where it gets all the bits and Bobs and nuts and bolts and all the fancy things that make it a pinball machine once all the pieces are put onto the Playfield it gets married to a wiring harness after that the machine is ready for testing and for this next part I'm going to go ahead and let Dwight explain it past Playfield test they come and get married to a cabinet for the first time and then everything is retested again because you never know what what the cabin is getting tested for the first time and then the marriage might have you know who knows what happened a ground strap might have broke or something you got to test everything again before it goes into boice after these tests the game is ready to be shipped and let me tell you watching this process was awesome the limited editions of John Wick look absolutely gorgeous and I could not get enough of them then showed us the foam molds that they use in their packaging they make this inhouse can you believe that he then led us to the shipping dock where they showed us where they ship all their games to like 44 countries freaking wild so I'm hoping that these new games go to some nice pinball or homes and get played because freaking John Wick am I right and there were a few other places I wasn't allowed to film but that's okay because I can describe them to you in full detail no actually not really uh one of the rooms was like some metal stuff and they like build Parts in there I guess Jack danger likes it a lot and then there's this room called Pam it's not really a room it's like a big tall section and Pam is like parts accessories merchandise I think and um yeah that was about it uh you yourself can actually take this tour because they offer it at pinball Expo which happens in Chicago in October I really think this experience is worth it in person and if you can make it to pinball Expo and do the stern tour I would highly recommend it it really helps put the appreciation of how much work goes into making these games these are handmade it takes so much time and effort and it's a huge team of people that make it happen and I feel super lucky that we have a company like Stern doing this for