Photos from a Stern Tour Part 1

Hey Guys, Man alive, I KNOW that Alec has been a straight up champ taking over the brunt of the posting, but don't think that there hasn't been any pinball in old Jon Chad's life!  Things got a little out-of-control busy this summer, so now I'm going to drip drip drip some of the pinball goodness that has been happening with me!  First, I've got some photos from the Stern factory tour that I was given over the summer.  This was, single-handedly, the most exciting thing that had happened to me involving pinball.  Not only did I get to see the inner workings of how these blessed machines are made, but I got to talk to my favorite designers, George Gomez and Steve Richie, and I got to talk to the head honcho himself, Gary Stern!  I got an amazing interview that I'll be using in an issue of Drop Target TWO issues from now!  I KNOW I KNOW!  Don't worry though, it's WORTH it!

Oh lordy!  THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!!!

Jody from Stern was nice enough to show us around!

A map of their service stations (is that even the right term?)

The station where they check the incoming parts against the bluprints to make sure they're up to snuff.

A collection of some of the various toys that Stern has made for their games.  Some of them they sculpt in house and get molded in another facility, sometimes they use preexisting figures, like the family guy or Batman figures.  Sometimes, like with the Shrek game, they found that the toys made by McDonalds would suffice for the pin.  All they did was call up McDonalds and say, "could you give us...I don't know FOUR THOUSAND of your Shrek toys?"  " Pull around to the second window." the voice on the other end said weakly.  That's how it went down, right?

Chart of rubber rings, inserts, flashbulb covers etc.

And this is only the beginning!  Wires and parts next time!