Pinball sits at an unusual crossroads. The machines remain powerful collector pieces and increasingly sophisticated home entertainment, yet the economics of placing them in arcades, family entertainment centres and other commercial venues are far less certain than they were during the game’s historic peak.
Kevin Williams, an immersive location-based entertainment specialist, consultant, podcaster and publisher, examines that divide in this guest analysis. His work is associated with The Stinger Report and the LBX Collective.
The issue is not simply changing technology. Consumer behaviour has shifted as well. Collectors and home players may accept premium pricing, while operators must recover the cost of a machine through repeated plays, reliable maintenance and sustained venue traffic. That difference is reshaping the pinball business.
Two markets, one pinball industry
Pinball is one of the amusement trade’s oldest categories, but it now serves two markedly different markets. Manufacturers still need commercial operators, distributors and location-based venues, while much of the healthier demand appears to come from collectors, prosumers and home gamers.
Recent conversations with distributors and operators suggest that STERN Pinball is directing more sales and marketing attention towards consumers, prosumers and related events. Commercial amusement remains part of the company’s message, but difficult margins, distributor concerns and the cost of supporting locations have made that side of the business increasingly challenging.
One distributor that works only with STERN described commercial pinball sales as increasingly impractical. The source also indicated that it does not represent other manufacturers because sales expectations based on consumer buying patterns are difficult to reconcile with the realities of arcade operation.
How STERN reached the present day
STERN is the last veteran pinball manufacturer, with roots reaching back to Williams in the 1960s, when Sam Stern served as that company’s president. After Chicago Coin collapsed in the 1970s, Sam and his son Gary acquired the ChiCoin organisation, one of pinball’s “Big Four”, and established the first version of STERN Pinball.
The timing benefited from the removal of pinball bans across parts of the United States and Canada. The game was entering its Golden Age, and Bally and Williams were enjoying strong demand from locations.
In 1980, STERN Electronics attempted to benefit from the public’s enthusiasm for video games. That strategy faded after the 1983 market crash, followed by financial trouble after an expensive and unsuccessful move into LaserDisc games.
Gary Stern returned to pinball in 1986 with Data East Pinball, the foundation of the 40th-anniversary celebrations taking place this year. Data East helped make film licensing a central part of the company’s strategy. The pinball division was later sold to SEGA, which operated it under its own name until the market declined.
Gary Stern subsequently bought SEGA Pinball’s assets in 1999. That transaction formed the modern STERN Pinball, which spent years keeping the category alive while it was the only company manufacturing and selling this class of game. In 2009, the company secured private-equity investment from Hagerty Peterson & Co. Major leadership changes followed in 2022, including the appointment of a new chief executive while the founder remained on the board.
In 2026, STERN appeared at London’s Electrocoin Open Day for its 40th anniversary, with Pokémon as a major focus. A new Transformers table followed, attracting attention at San Diego Comic-Con.
Licensing, events and the consumer shift
STERN has increasingly appeared at consumer-focused events, including CES 2026, San Diego Comic-Con and Pinball Expo. It continues to attend commercial gatherings such as Amusement Expo and IAAPA, although the contrast in presentation is noticeable: consumer shows receive elaborate, imaginative booths, while commercial exhibitions may receive a simpler row of games.
The Transformers launch also illustrates the value of coordinating a table with a wider licensing moment. Its release coincided with Hasbro and Fathom Entertainment’s announcement of a nationwide theatrical return for a remastered 4K version of Transformers: The Movie for its 40th anniversary.
STERN sells collector and commercial versions across its Pro, Premium and Limited Edition ranges. Its licensed portfolio spans film, music and popular culture, with Pokémon becoming a particularly visible social-media success. The wider business question is whether future profit will come less from out-of-home venues and more from branded home machines.
New manufacturers follow the collector money
STERN’s long survival helped create room for other retro, collectible and amusement-focused manufacturers. Jersey Jack Pinball challenged STERN’s dominance in 2012 with The Wizard of Oz, which featured a full-colour screen and RGB lighting—features that have since become common across modern tables.
Jersey Jack initially pursued operators, but venues were cautious about the additional investment. Collectors proved more willing to spend, encouraging the company to emphasise the prosumer market through licensed releases including Sonic, Harry Potter, Avatar and Elton John.
In 2024, Jersey Jack worked with Diverted River and Creative Works on Pinball XP, an ambitious amusement platform combining five Jersey Jack machines with digital ticket redemption and streaming features, supported by 65-inch displays. The concept offered a premium pinball destination for social entertainment venues, but its target price was difficult to justify in a sector competing with many other revenue-generating attractions.
STERN has also explored connected play through its Insider Connected scoring and achievement application, along with a table-finder feature designed to help players locate participating machines.
Boutique tables and modular systems
Smaller manufacturers have found opportunities in highly specific collector communities. Dutch Pinball has developed The Big Lebowski, Barrels of Fun has released DUNE, and Spooky Pinball has attracted acclaim for Beetlejuice. These boutique companies can pursue film licences that larger manufacturers may leave untouched.
American Pinball experienced difficulties before being acquired by a private investment firm, which is now working to “reimagine” classic tables such as Cirqus Voltaire.
Multimorphic has taken a different route. Founded as PinballControllers in 2009, the company first built a following through components for hobbyists before entering the complete-machine market with the modular P3 system. Owners can change the game by replacing the artwork and playfield, creating a conversion approach not otherwise available in the pinball market.
The P3 platform supports licensed and original themes, including the announced Dungeon Crawler Carl and Ender’s Game designs, both based on popular novel series. Earlier Multimorphic releases include The Princess Bride and Portal, the latter adapted from Valve’s video game.
For readers comparing home formats, virtual pinball machines offer a different path into table-based gaming, while virtual pinball software and drives focus on the games and operating hardware behind those systems.
Why pinball still works in social venues
Traditional amusement operators may be reluctant to make a large pinball investment, but the machines remain well suited to competitive socialising and retro arcade bars. Venues in this category often devote more time and money to maintaining classic and modern tables than mainstream amusement operations do.
Barcade locations, for example, have been reported to house an average of 10 pinball machines alongside classic video games. Customers at social entertainment venues may also be better positioned to pay for the games and support the nostalgic experience.
That success is not universal. An arcade bar with pinball is not automatically profitable, and strong performance in selected venues does not translate into equal demand across the market. Pinball machines have become uncommon on traditional routes, where cranes, boxers, Skeeball and bulk-vending equipment often provide a more predictable return.
For a budget-conscious operator, those alternatives may repay their cost within months. A pinball machine can take years to deliver a satisfactory return, particularly when maintenance is neglected. Potential players may also have access to a table at home or through friends, reducing the urgency to pay for the same experience elsewhere.
Anyone planning a home or venue setup should consider space, maintenance and the type of audience involved. RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide provides a useful starting point, while arcade parts for repairs and upgrades highlight the ongoing hardware needs of location-based games.
The commercial question
The uneven returns help explain why some traditional amusement distributors do not list contemporary pinball machines. If an operator wants a table, the purchase may be made directly from the manufacturer or through a specialist pinball distribution network instead.
Specialist sellers can offer machines, parts and modifications with different pricing, selection and purchasing speeds from the established amusement channel. That parallel market is better aligned with collectors, but it also highlights how difficult it can be to serve operators who need dependable returns and straightforward support.
Pinball’s future therefore depends on more than new themes or brighter displays. Manufacturers must decide how much resource to devote to commercial locations, while operators need evidence that a machine can earn back its investment. The industry has already survived bans, market crashes and long periods of decline. The unresolved issue is who will make pinball economically sustainable for the amusement trade’s next chapter.
Leave a Reply