Travel
I decided I didn’t want to do four hours of driving in one
day, so I drove down to Elk Grove Village (the suburb just outside of O’Hare
where Stern is located) and checked into a hotel for the night. I ate dinner at
a restaurant in Des Plaines called “Chicago Sushi”, which despite its generic
name actually had the best Japanese food I’ve tasted since my 2023 trip to
Japan.
Arriving at the Event
The following morning, I picked up a small breakfast and
headed over to Stern’s headquarters and factory. I was curious to find out how
much of the audience came from the pinball media and how much came from a
Pokémon perspective. It seems like I might have been the only Pokémon-focused
outlet, though some of the others had a fair degree of knowledge of the
franchise.
First, a Presentation
We (there were a few dozen attendees at the event) were
brought into the “Cheetah” meeting room to watch a presentation (no recording
allowed) that explained the company, a bit about the Pokémon property (a number
of folks were genuinely surprised it had more revenue than the next four
highest-grossing properties combined), and showed some video footage of the
table.
Touring the Factory
A portion of us (likely ones that hadn’t been to the factory
before), including myself, opted to go on a tour of Stern’s machine factory. No
recording/photography was allowed here either, but we did get to see all the
parts that go into physically building a machine, visible and hidden. The guide
also made a point to mention where some of the parts come from, including those
from Wisconsin and other nearby states.
The “Pinball Alley” Room
After the tour, we were led into a room that had all three
versions (Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition) of the Pokémon table (as well as a
few other recent Stern releases). After a round or two, some of the folks who
worked on the table (including co-designers Jack Danger and George Gomez) gave
a talk/Q&A about the table and some of its features. You can see a brief
excerpt here:
That Afternoon
Following lunch, we were each given some time to play the
Premium version of the table to get footage of it. It was a bit odd since the
sound (except for the replay sound effect) were turned off, but I used it to
gather some b-roll footage of the table that you should see in some upcoming
videos. Afterwards, I conducted an audio interview with some of the team
members, played a bit more, and then ate dinner and went home.
What About the Table Itself?
I figured you might be looking for that. I’ll preface my comments by stating that while I have a fair amount of experience with both virtual and real-world pinball, I do not consider myself an expert in either field. That being said, I very much enjoyed the atmosphere and mechanics of the table. The combination of anime footage, art, and voiceovers gives the table a natural feel and identity, distinct from other pinball machines. The mechanics, while standard things seen in other tables, felt very natural and were enjoyable to activate. I really did enjoy playing it a lot, though I will need to play it again once the Insider Connect collection feature goes live to make a full evaluation.
Other Notes About the Table:
-There appear to be 182 Pokémon in the game at launch, including most (if not all) of generation one, with a few from later generations (Lucario has a light on the board, and Hopip came up in the grassy area several times).
-Voice acting is provided by Ted Lewis (Giovanni and the battle announcer), Ikue Ootani (Pikachu), James Carter Cathcart (Meowth-audio was sourced from his work on the anime, presumably in part due to his passing last year), and Roger Parsons (the announcer). There also seems to be a Pokédex voice, which I am unable to identify.
-The table will not be localized for other languages, so the graphics, text, and voices will be in English in other territories.
-The table was primarily handled by the Pokémon Company (Japan and International), with little to no involvement from Game Freak or Nintendo. This may explain why it (apparently) didn’t show up in the data extracted from Game Freak in 2024.
-The GBC and GBA games didn’t seem like a major point of inspiration for those on the Stern side, however it’s clear from some of the product features (catching, traveling between areas, etc.) that they were steered in that direction, or that those aspects came up organically.
Overall
I really enjoyed my time at this event, and look forward to
playing the table again in the wild. It was also fun to bounce questions off
the employees and other attendees. The employees indicated that The Pokémon
Company had extended plans for the table, which I hope come to fruition.
Want to Play the Table Yourself?
The table will be shown at the upcoming Texas Pinball Festival in March, and will
likely be at the Midwest Gaming
Classic in April. The Stern employees I talked to also seemed to be
interested in bringing the table to major Pokémon events later this year.
Locally, keep an eye on Pinball Map, as
tables should start going to retail locations in the next few weeks.
Press access was provided for this event.
