Wired hat Stern Pinball besucht. Die letzte Firma auf diesem Planeten, die ihre Flippermaschinen noch selber entwirft und dann herstellt. Und das Team kommt genau so rüber, wie ich es erwarten würde.
Only one company in the world, Illinois’ Stern Pinball, still designs and produces these electro-mechanical marvels, the lone holdout since industry behemoth Williams Electronics shuttered its pinball division in 1999. It may be a dying art, but the creative minds at Stern are nonetheless continuously creating new machines that can keep their industry moving forward and give them one more replay.
The backbone of their game design process for the past few decades has been licensing; Guns and Roses machines rocked the ’80s, The Simpsons mocked low scores in the ’90s, and the Transformers reflect the high-tech machines of today. Each new pinball machine starts with a bit of creative brainstorming, where the designers translate the theme of a movie, band, or other pop-culture property into a game.
In meiner Stammkneipe steht auch schon seit über zwei Jahren kein Flipper mehr – schon schade das diese Geräte so langsam aussterben.