Stern Unleashes The Munsters!
Pin Maker Taps Beloved Sixties Comedy for New Game
Stern is throwing it back for its first new pin of 2019, reviving the hit American sitcom, The Munsters, as the license of its upcoming pin. The game transports players to 1313 Mockingbird Lane to join the entire Munster family for a haunting pinball adventure and as per Stern’s style, the game will come in three tiers: Pro, Premium and Limited Edition.
“The Munsters are iconic and timeless, and it was time to create a pinball experience around this freaky-fun family. With beautiful artwork inspired by the supernatural family, this theme is perfect for a pinball machine,” said Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern.
On top of being a classic license, the benign monsters are due for their own reboot, coming from NBC and headed by late-night comedian Seth Meyers. The release date is yet to be announced, but Stern Director of Marketing Zach Sharpe said that pin fans can look no further than the highest selling pin of all time, The Addams Family, for a good companion to the piece.
“It’s truly a perfect couple,” Sharpe said. “[The Munsters] was in fact more popular than the similarly macabre themed The Addams Family. It’s truly a global phenomenon with a vast variety of licensed merchandise.”
Each version features a wide cast of characters from the TV show, as well as some truly unique art and playfield design. The Premium and LE versions deepen the challenge though, with a lower playfield introduced that features two mini flippers, two ramps, a bash target and its own multiball feature. The LE, which will ship only 500 units globally, includes additional features such as a mirrored backglass, anti-reflection glass, shaker motor, custom art and more. The LE comes in at $8,999, the Premium at $7,599 and the Pro at $5,999.
The game contains plenty of video scenes from the original series associated with different game modes, as well as original voicework by Michael Airington, who takes the late Fred Gwynne’s role.
As for the idea of incorporating the unique lower-level playfield into the Premium and LE version of the game, Sharpe said: “The game’s designer, John Borg, has been wanting to make a Munsters pinball machine for decades. He’s never short of creative ideas, but one that really resonated with him that we wanted to capture was the idea and implementation of Grandpa’s laboratory. What better way of accomplishing that than to have a miniature pinball machine inside of a pinball machine! It’s incredible the amount of stuff he was able to jam into Grandpa’s laboratory with two flippers, a ramp, two outer orbit shots, a mini vuk (vertical up-kicker) that feeds a wire form ramp return, a bash target, a digital display counter and two mini pinballs.”
For more information, visit the factory online at www.sternpinball.com.