Stern Pinball Opens The Vault With Fallout [Special Hands-On Preview]

Stern Pinball has officially unveiled their latest and grandest design yet, taking Bethesda’s popular Fallout series and putting it under the pinball world of glass. I was fortunate enough to go to Chicago for the reveal time to check it out in-person, which will give you a much more detailed look at a new pinball game than is usually provided. Major thanks to PrimeTime Amusements for sponsoring my trip so that I could do this.

Fallout – The Franchise

Fallout is a series that started off as a PC game back in 1997 as a post-apocalyptic RPG set in an alternate reality of a world that never left the 1950’s culturally, but continued the Cold War until the nukes finally obliterated much of the planet in 2077. Bethesda have been the stewards of the series in modern times, turning it into a first-person shooter with RPG elements with Fallout 3, and following up on that with a few other home gaming titles. It was turned into a TV series for Amazon Prime, where they are currently developing season 3.

One question that’s been on everyone’s mind is “which version of Fallout?” would this game be based upon. “All of them” is the answer, although if there are any specific elements from the first two games, I didn’t see them (although I haven’t played them, so maybe there is and I missed it). Stern received over 200,000 game assets from Bethesda to work with though, which means that there was more for them to use then they could reasonably put into the game.

From what observed though, it relies heavily on the TV show, while throwing in game elements where it makes sense, such as when you use the Fat Boy and buy items in the shop.

Fallout – The Pinball Game

As you can see from the video above, there is a lot to live up to here. George Gomez, Stern’s Chief Creative Officer, said that this is their most ambitious and mechanically articulated game ever, which combined with the rest of the design, looks to achieve that.

Led by Keith Elwin, the entire team are fans of the original games, and it shows. They haven’t done anything to reinterpret what they think Fallout should be, instead crafting a game that captures the unique world in a way that fans can appreciate. Keep in mind that licensors get all the final say in what direction games should go (hence no guns in John Wick), so if it’s missing something you think is crucial, then you can direct your ire towards Bethesda, but the love for Fallout really comes through in what the team has achieved here.

Before you ask, George, who had met Todd Howard at an Xbox event a couple of years ago, which is where this all got started, was not aware until recently that Fallout celebrates it’s 30th anniversary next year. He said that there aren’t any discussions on them doing an anniversary edition of the game, although I do imagine that if this performs exceptionally well on the market, then that will change. The LE is limited to 770 units, and that really does fit the bill of an anniversary edition though.

When you start, regardless the model, you get to choose one of three characters: Lucy, Maximus, or The Ghoul. Each comes with their own unique stats that affect gameplay (Lucy: Familiar with vaults so they are easier, +1 perception, +1 luck; Maximus: +2 seconds per fusion core level, +1 strength, +1 Agility; The Ghoul: Killing radroaches builds hp, +1 endurance, +1 charisma). The ball then launches up a ramp, where the skill shot is based on whether or not the right-side Nuka Cola target is lit when the ball hits it. This means you have to time the plunge, which as I observed, is when the left NC target is lit.

From there, your task is to explore vaults, collect junk, battle enemies, complete missions, and get the best score that you can. Per the website: “Experience the show’s story from the perspective of Lucy MacLean, The Ghoul, or Maximus. Enter the Vault to discover the horrors of Vault-Tec’s past, present, and future. Find Wilzig’s head to discover the secrets of Cold Fusion held within“.

This is an intermediate level game, so if you’re a fan of Fallout but not familiar with pinball, then you’ll need to give it some time and play to get the best feel for it. At least for myself, who is nowhere near pinball wizard status, some of the shots take practice to nail consistently. I did watch several wizards at play on it though and they were able to keep a ball in play for a good 10-15 minutes much of the time (one guy managed to get around 623 million points on his first ball. It wasn’t his first play, but he sure knows “mean pinball”).

Fallout Pinball Features

The PIP Boy is the star of the toy show here, having been designed by The Wand Company; they are the creators of those real PIP Boys that you can wear on your left wrist if you so desire. Unlike most toys found in pinball machines, these are made out of die-cast aluminum and have real working dials, which Keith said you can adjust if you remove the glass. This also has a high contrast, high rez green display that shows pertinent info during play.

The Pro has a similar layout, but lacks the two additional playfields that the Premium has (yes, that has three total). Both games have the same PIP Boy sculpt, as well as a spinner+drop target with a Nuka-Cola bottle cap, a Deathclaw sculpt, and a third inverted flipper (up near the PIP Boy). The Premium adds a kickback function to the Deathclaw, a Vault door mechanism that is literally a miniaturized version of the one on the TV show, and a cool Fat Boy ball launcher that can hit targets on both horizontal and vertical points (it can miss too).

As mentioned with the Premium having three playfields, the two additional platforms are one that occupies the upper right side of the game, then a mini-playfield under the main one. The upper field has targets that can be shot with the Fat Boy (which can work in conjunction with the VATS targeting system if you’ve got that activated – if you don’t, then you have to manually aim, and that’s where you can miss).

Accessing the lower playfield is done by opening the vault then getting a ball inside. This then activates a pretty cool play mode where you are inside of a vault and you control a self-contained ball there-in by using the flipper buttons. Instead of physical flippers though, this is entirely controlled via magnet, i.e., it’s all magna-flip. As a side note, there are six vaults(I may be misremembering that number as I think there are more – or there will be more) to explore in the game, where you can also collect junk (certain items that give you stat boosts or bonuses). You can also buy or steal items in the store – stealing activates a hurry-up, but from what I saw, no one managed the shot in time.

Unfortunately, my lack of skill meant that I didn’t get to experience these specific Premium additions, although I did get the vault open once and did a couple of multiballs. There are a few of the latter in the game, and they are fun, I think getting up to six balls at once. The code seemed quite mature, something that others mentioned; Joe at Indie Arcade Wave said it felt like code 1.0 instead of a 0.88 that Stern had done in the past. I have been critical of that myself in the past, so seeing both this and Transformers launch with more robust code is quite nice. First impressions are everything, right?

That said, there did appear to be a few things missing: Insider Connected wasn’t operating for it yet, where you’ll be able to collect things and build characters much like you do in Dungeons & Dragons. While they are on the playfield right above the flippers, neither I nor anyone I observed unlocked one, so it seems that’s still to come; it also felt like the kickback feature for the Deathclaw bash toy wasn’t working on the Premium yet. Keith also mentioned jokes a few times, but I didn’t catch many either in my own play or watching someone else (although the volume wasn’t super high – I couldn’t understand what was said in some scenes that played on the screen). These aren’t major though, so I think they’ll probably have them all ready, either by the time the first units hit the street, or soon afterwards.

I mentioned that there is an LE; they had one on-site, but moved it to another room and were giving special 20 minute screenings. I think my name was on the list to get that, but it’s possible they called me when I wasn’t in the room or after I had to leave to catch my flight. It looks fantastic, and Bethesda will have one, if it hasn’t arrived at their offices already.

Because Stern went to town on the mechanics and design, plus the pressures of inflation that haven’t turned into deflation, this is coming in at a higher price than other machines in Stern’s arsenal. Pro’s will go for around $7,299; Premium’s are around $10,699; LE’s at $13,999 (that’s MSRP – some distros might have other prices). Accessories are not ready yet, but will be soon.

Final Thoughts

I am grateful to Stern Pinball for inviting me, for taking the time to show all of us there the ins-and-outs of the game, and for PrimeTime Amusements for helping me make it there. I was also able to take a factory tour led by Stern employee Kyle, which was a fascinating look into how these games are made. I’ll have a video on that some time, if I can post it, or at least more thoughts on what they do. They also should be commended for running a super clean building operation – if you’ve ever worked in any factory setting, those are usually a bit messy, but the floors and space at Stern are impressive by how clean and organized everything is.

Even though I wasn’t great at the game here (my highest score was around 92 million), I did enjoy it and will certainly give it a try any time I come across one. Will it be the next Godzilla or Pokémon? Who knows, but any game has a chance at doing so, it’s Fallout. Getting one for my location isn’t on the table though, as I’m fighting to keeping the doors open, then moving if I can get the capital for doing so. If the stars align just right and I do get the capital to move and expand my product selection, then I’d put it on the list for sure (and also hope that with a new location that my pinball will perform better outside of tournaments). Otherwise, in talking with a few different people at the event who operate routes or sell machines, orders are already there, so I don’t think it will be too big a challenge to find one.

Overall, Fallout is a deep pinball game that honors and celebrates the IP it’s based upon, and you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy it. It has more mechanical wonder in the Premium than any of their other games, and has a great flow. This is sure to be a fan favorite down the road; I enjoyed it more than Godzilla (which I already do like a lot). Would you like to see it at an arcade near you?

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