Stern Pinball Heads Into The Wasteland With New Fallout Pinball Machine

Stern Pinball is heading into the wasteland, and this time the bottle caps are worth more than your high score. The company has officially unveiled Fallout by Stern Pinball, a new machine inspired by both the iconic Fallout video game franchise and its hit television adaptation. As expected from Stern’s modern lineup, Fallout will be available in Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition configurations, giving collectors and arcade fans three increasingly elaborate ways to bring the post-apocalypse home. The machines are currently listed at $7,299 for Pro, $10,699 for Premium, and $13,999 for Limited Edition.

The machine drops players into the chaotic world of the wasteland through the perspectives of three familiar characters from the television series: Lucy MacLean, The Ghoul, and Maximus. Players will venture into the Vault, uncover the darker history of Vault-Tec, and hunt for Wilzig’s head while attempting to uncover the secrets surrounding Cold Fusion.

Stern has also found some appropriately Fallout-themed ways to turn the playfield into a battlefield. One of the headline features is a fully interactive PIP-BOY playfield LCD, created in collaboration with The Wand Company. The display provides real-time gameplay information and instructions, giving players their own miniature version of Fallout’s iconic wrist-mounted computer.

Then there is the Fat Man Launcher, which gives players the opportunity to take aim at a shooting gallery featuring Radscorpions, Ghouls, and Raiders. Stern is using a combination of an optical spinning target, flyaway target, and flip-flop target to represent the various enemies.

Naturally, no Fallout machine would be complete without bottle caps. Stern has incorporated an Up/Down Vertical Spinning Target designed to look like a Nuka-Cola bottle cap. Players can collect these caps throughout the game, turning the wasteland’s favorite currency into another part of the pinball experience.

The Fallout machine also joins Stern’s growing lineup of licensed games that blend traditional physical pinball with modern digital systems. Stern’s Insider Connected platform allows players to track scores, earn achievements, and extend their experience beyond an individual machine, giving the games something of a persistent community layer.

And while the prices may require the sort of bottle-cap hoard that would make even a Fallout merchant nervous, the new machine should be an especially interesting one for fans of the franchise. Fallout has always been about exploring strange environments, collecting whatever useful junk you can find, and surviving increasingly ridiculous encounters.

That sounds suspiciously like the perfect premise for pinball. The Fallout Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition machines are now available to purchase through Stern Pinball, with pricing starting at $7,299. The Limited Edition is currently being offered in limited quantities only to Stern All-Access members.

Tags: arcade machines, fallout pinball, retro gaming, stern Written byMitchell Gassner Old enough to have played retro games when they were still cutting edge, Mitch has been a gamer since the 70s. As his game-fu fades (did he ever really have any?), it is replaced with ever-stronger, and stranger, opinions. If that isn't the perfect recipe for a game reviewer, what is?