Stern (game company)

Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Stern" game company – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Stern Electronics was formed when the Stern family bought the financially troubled Chicago Coin in 1977. Chicago Coin's assets were purchased at bankruptcy sales forming the core inventory of Stern Electronics, Inc.; however, as a separate company, they did not assume any of the debt Chicago Coin had amassed.

The first two games made by Stern were Stampede and Rawhide, both originally made by Chicago Coin, which only had changes made to their branding and logos. After a weak start, Stern Electronics' sales started picking up by the end of 1977. By 1978, they had switched over to fully solid-state electronics for their games. In 1979, Stern acquired the jukebox production assets of the bankrupt Seeburg Corporation, and the company became known as Stern / Seeburg. Seeburg also owned Williams in the 1960s, when Sam Stern was its president.

When arcade video games became popular in 1980, Stern Electronics produced Berzerk. In 1983, Stern became one of many victims of the amusement industry economic shakeout that occurred. In 1985, Stern Electronics left the amusement industry. Personnel from Stern Electronics formed a short-lived venture known as Pinstar, producing conversion kits for old Bally and Stern machines. Gary Stern was the president of Stern Electronics, Inc, Pinstar Inc, and Data East pinball.

On March 16, 2023, Atari announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to 12 Stern Electronics titles, including Berzerk and Frenzy.^[1]

By 1999, the pinball industry was virtually dead and Sega left the pinball industry, and in October 1999 sold its pinball division, previously purchased from Data East in 1994,^[2] to Gary Stern, the son of Sam Stern, who had been running Data East/Sega pinball since 1986, and Stern Pinball was born.^[2][3][4] Stern Pinball, Inc. is based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

As of 2023, longtime designers Brian Eddy, John Borg, and George Gomez are designing pinball games at Stern Pinball, alongside top-ranking competitive player Keith Elwin and popular pinball streamer Jack Danger.^[5]

Some Stern pinball tables were also digitally released through The Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade.

• Astro Invader (1980) (programmed by Konami)^[10]
• Berzerk (1980)^[10]
• The End (1980) (programmed by Konami)
• Scramble (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Super Cobra (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Moon War (1981)
• Turtles (1981) (programmed by Konami)^[10]
• Strategy X (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Jungler (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Armored Car (1981)
• Amidar (1981) (programmed by Konami)
• Frenzy (1982)^[10]
• Tazz-Mania (1982)
• Tutankham (1982) (programmed by Konami)
• Pooyan (1982)^[10] (programmed by Konami)
• Dark Planet (1982) (designed by Erick Erickson and Dan Langlois)
• Rescue (1982)^[10][11]
• Calipso (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
• Anteater (1982) (developed by Stern, released by Tago Electronics)
• Mazer Blazer (1982)
• Lost Tomb (1982)
• Bagman (Le Bagnard) (1982) (programmed by Valadon Automation)
• Pop Flamer (1982) (programmed by Jaleco)
• Star Jacker (1983) (programmed by Sega)
• Minefield (1983)^[10]
• Cliff Hanger (1983)^[10] (laserdisc game using video footage from TMS)
• Great Guns (1984)
• Goal to Go (1984) (laserdisc game)
• Super Bagman (1984)^[10] (programmed by Valadon Automation)

• Stern Pinball, Inc. official website
• List of Stern Pinball Machines at Kineticist