Stern Pinball Officially Reveals Keith Elwin-Designed James Bond 60th Anniversary Limited Edition

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Jan 3, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Stern reveals $19,999 Keith Elwin James Bond 60th Anniversary LE; 500 units sold out directly.

Summary

Stern Pinball officially unveiled the Keith Elwin-designed James Bond 60th Anniversary Limited Edition at CES, priced at $19,999 for 500 units sold directly to Insider Connected members. The game features a single-level playfield with mechanical score reels (using modern stepper motors), 10 drop targets, 4 optical spinners (a record), and a smaller in-playfield screen for movie content. Early direct sales sold out quickly, with remaining units distributed through dealers.

Key Claims

James Bond 60th Anniversary Limited Edition priced at $19,999
high confidence · Official Stern announcement; article states 'Stern is selling a limited number of games directly to All-Access Insider Connected customers through its website at a price of $19,999.'
Limited to 500 units
high confidence · Official announcement; 'Limited to 500 units, the single-level game will feature scenes from every single James Bond movie ever produced.'
4 optical spinners is the most spinners ever included in a pinball machine
medium confidence · Article states: 'Prominent features of the game include Oddjob's kinetic spinning disc hat, 10 drop targets and 4 optical spinners (which incidentally is the most spinners ever included in a pin).'
Score reels use modern stepper motors rather than mechanical reels
high confidence · Stern podcast quote in article: 'We went back and forth with what motor controller will give us the most accurate, the strongest pulse with the reels.'
Mark Penacho is a programmer known for Williams' Fish Tales and Roller Games
high confidence · Article: 'Mark is known for his programming work on games like Williams' Fish Tales and Roller Games and has been working on Stern's Insider Connected service.'
Initial direct sales of Bond 60th through Insider Connected website sold out quickly
high confidence · Article: 'The initial allotment of direct sale Bond 60ths quickly sold out.'
Game features scenes from every single James Bond movie ever produced
high confidence · Official announcement in article: 'the single-level game will feature scenes from every single James Bond movie ever produced.'
Score reels were not in initial leaked Stern mockups
medium confidence · Article author observation: 'They weren't in the initial leaked Stern mockups of the game.'

Notable Quotes

“These aren't like the score reels we used in the past. These are much more powerful and faster. Mark's done some pretty good emulating, making them look like actual score reels.”
Stern Podcast (attributed to designer/engineer) — Explains technical approach to score reels—modern stepper motors designed to mimic vintage mechanical reels while being more reliable and serviceable.
“We went back and forth with what motor controller will give us the most accurate, the strongest pulse with the reels. And how quickly can we move them? How quickly can we stop them? What is as close as we can get to the old mechanism, but still using modern parts that people can service and take care of and will work accurately.”
Stern Podcast (attributed to designer/engineer) — Details the design philosophy balancing nostalgic appearance with modern reliability and serviceability.
“We've got the reels on test. I think I was there yesterday and I'm at 4 million steps on the score reels going on test and still going strong. It is very much going to not break like an old game. It'll be a good solid modern game from the underside.”
Stern Podcast (attributed to designer/engineer) — Indicates extensive durability testing of modern stepper motor implementation with 4 million test cycles completed.
“Stern is selling a limited number of games directly to All-Access Insider Connected customers through its website at a price of $19,999.”
Knapp Arcade (article author) — Confirms official pricing and direct-to-consumer sales channel through Insider Connected membership.
“Frustratingly, it appears as though flippers are already trying to make a quick five grand by gobbling up spots to auction off to others on Pinside”
Knapp Arcade (article author) — Community observation of secondary market scalping activity immediately after official release, indicating high demand and scarcity premium.

Entities

Keith ElwinpersonStern PinballcompanyJames Bond 60th Anniversary Limited EditiongameMark Penachoperson Nate ShiverspersonConsumer Electronics Show (CES)eventInsider Connectedproduct

Signals

~
sentiment_shift: Immediate community frustration with secondary market scalping; author expresses clear negative sentiment toward flippers profiting from scarcity.
high · Article closes with: 'Frustratingly, it appears as though flippers are already trying to make a quick five grand by gobbling up spots to auction off to others on Pinside.'
?
licensing_signal: Game features scenes from all James Bond movies; initial video release shows no movie footage on in-playfield screen, suggesting either early code stage or pending licensor approval for movie clip display.
medium · Article: 'the initial video that Stern released of the game shows no movie scenes at all on the in-playfield mini screen. This probably means that programming for the game is in the very early stages or Stern has not received licensor-approval to show the video clips yet, or both.'
$
market_signal: Immediate secondary market scalping activity observed; buyers acquiring direct allocations to resell for $5,000+ premiums, indicating extreme demand/scarcity premium perception.
high · Article author notes: 'it appears as though flippers are already trying to make a quick five grand by gobbling up spots to auction off to others on Pinside'; links to active Pinside classified ads.
?
personnel_signal: Mark Penacho (programmer with Williams heritage: Fish Tales, Roller Games) now at Stern working on Insider Connected platform and James Bond 60th Anniversary.
high · Article identifies Penacho as 'a relatively new programmer to Stern' with Williams background and current involvement in both IC service development and Bond 60th coding.
$

Topics

Pricing and Market PositioningprimaryTechnical Innovation (Score Reels)primaryLimited Edition Production and ScarcityprimaryPlayfield Mechanics and DesignprimarySecondary Market ScalpingsecondaryLicensing and Movie Content IntegrationsecondaryCode Development StatussecondaryDirect-to-Consumer Sales Channelsecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Article is largely neutral/informative about the announcement, with enthusiasm for technical innovations (score reels, spinner count record) but frustration expressed about secondary market scalping. The $19,999 price point is presented factually without editorial judgment, though the rapid sellout and secondary market activity suggest controversial pricing within the community.

Transcript

raw_text · $0.000

After weeks of anticipation, this morning Stern Pinball officially unveiled its new Keith Elwin-designed James Bond 60th Anniversary Limited Edition pinball machine at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Limited to 500 units, the single-level game will feature scenes from every single James Bond movie ever produced. First and foremost, we have the answer to the question that everyone has been asking...how much will the game cost? Stern is selling a limited number of games directly to All-Access Insider Connected customers through its website at a price of $19,999. The initial allotment of direct sale Bond 60ths quickly sold out. The remaining machines will be sold through Stern Pinball distributors. Prominent features of the game include Oddjob’s kinetic spinning disc hat, 10 drop targets and 4 optical spinners (which incidentally is the most spinners ever included in a pin). Rather than a large LCD screen and the backbox includes score reels. I've been going back and forth about whether these are actual mechanical reels or not. They weren't in the initial leaked Stern mockups of the game. I think that they are in the production version, but not in the traditional sense. According the Stern podcast that I reference below: "These aren't like the score reels we used in the past. These are much more powerful and faster. Mark's done some pretty good emulating, making them look like actual score reels. Then we do stuff like the slot machine effect with them, which is really cool too for the match. I think he's been having a lot of fun with those... No, we went back and forth with the score reels, even though they look like old school, they're modern stepper motors. We went back and forth a lot with what motor controller will give us the most accurate, the strongest pulse with the reels. And how quickly can we move them? How quickly can we stop them? What is as close as we can get to the old mechanism, but still using modern parts that people can service and take care of and will work accurately. We've got the reels on test. I think I was there yesterday and I'm at 4 million steps on the score reels going on test and still going strong. It is very much going to not break like an old game. It'll be a good solid modern game from the underside. It'll just look a little old school here and there." Information and scenes from the movies will be displayed on a smaller screen on the playfield. Interestingly though, the initial video that Stern released of the game shows no movie scenes at all on the in-playfield mini screen. This probably means that programming for the game is in the very early stages or Stern has not received licensor-approval to show the video clips yet, or both. Immediately after the game went on sale, Stern Pinball's Insiders Podcast host Nate Shivers released a brand new podcast about the machine, featuring designer Keith Elwin and a relatively new programmer to Stern, Mark Penacho. Mark is known for his programming work on games like Williams' Fish Tales and Roller Games and has been working on Stern's Insider Connected service. Below is a link to the transcript for the podcast, a link to the company's official press release and videos and pictures of the new game. https://insider.sternpinball.com/documents/27/SIPP_Bond_60th_final_transcript.pdf https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230103005199/en/Stern-Pinball-Celebrates-Sixty-Years-of-James-Bond Frustratingly, it appears as though flippers are already trying to make a quick five grand by gobbling up spots to auction off to others on Pinside: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/148968?fbclid=IwAR2OenRB1zSP3MDn7bi6-FZfZkjsOJDUFtAs1xXoMyi-JcLElw6Yt2tiVrU