The Energon Pub

[El Duque]

Stern Pinball Introduces the TRANSFORMERS™ Pin™ - Stylish, Affordable Pinball Entertainment for the Home

Innovative TRANSFORMERS™ Pin™ To Be Released under the
Stern Home Arcade™ Brand

MELROSE PARK, IL – October 1, 2012 – Today, Stern Pinball, Inc., the world’s only maker of real pinball games, introduced the TRANSFORMERS™ Pin™, a stylish, affordable and entertaining pinball game designed and engineered exclusively for the home. For customers new to pinball ownership, the TRANSFORMERS Pin offers fun and timeless family entertainment at an affordable price. The Pin™ also provides an entry into the rapidly growing community of pinball play and ownership driven by impassioned enthusiasts and collectors around the globe. The Pin is the latest model to be developed by Stern and joins the company’s existing line-up of Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition models.



The licensed TRANSFORMERS Pin features art, music, speech, and sound effects from the blockbuster TRANSFORMERS franchise. Since the birth of the franchise in 1984, the TRANSFORMERS brand has been celebrated with toys, comic books, animation, summer blockbuster movies and more. Under license from Hasbro, Stern is now proud to be adding an additional pinball game model to its lineup. Players can expect the classic battle between the heroic OPTIMUS PRIME and the villainous MEGATRON as well as other beloved AUTOBOT and DECEPTICON characters.



The easily assembled TRANSFORMERS Pin is built to last and engineered with genuine Stern commercial-quality parts including flippers, slingshots, pop bumpers, tempered playfield glass, and the traditional pinball plunger. The playfield is housed in a stylish cabinet with modern, high definition artwork. The all-LED playfield lighting provides optimal color and performance.



“The Pin is specifically designed to provide quality family entertainment and bring pinball to more homes everywhere. TRANSFORMERS is a great title for the entire family and we’re very pleased to add The Pin model to our TRANSFORMERS offering,” said Gary Stern, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Stern Pinball, Inc.



Through December 31, 2012, the TRANSFORMERS Pin will be available in the United States exclusively at Amazon.com. To order in the US, please visit: http://www.amazon.com



The TRANSFORMERS Pin will also be available in Canada exclusively through The Playdium Store and Cineplex Starburst, Inc. To order in Canada, please visit: either http://www.theplaydiumstore.com or http://www.starburstcoin.com.







About Stern Pinball, Inc.

Stern Pinball, Inc., located just outside Chicago, Illinois, designs and manufactures arcade-quality pinball games. Stern is the only maker of full-sized, arcade quality pinball games on the planet and has released many popular titles including X-Men, AC/DC, TRANSFORMERS, Avatar, The Rolling Stones, Iron Man, Tron and many more. Stern’s games continue to be enjoyed by both pinball enthusiasts and casual players around the globe. For more information, please visit http://www.sternpinball.com. © 2012 Stern Pinball, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



About Hasbro, Inc.

Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world-class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is http://www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. © 2012 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[Grimlock Shakur]

man... wish I could afford this, it looks very cool! but for 3K?! well... I'm sure some lucky fools will be buying it! when someone here does buy one, let me come over so I can play!

[Novaprimal93]

I am not sure what they consider "affordable" but this is way out of my price range. It is a really nice machine though.

[GuyIncognito]

I am not sure what they consider "affordable" but this is way out of my price range. It is a really nice machine though.

Apparantly they think $3000 is "affordable" for families. You could buy a PS3, a 360, an HDTV, and 10 or 20 games for the same price.

Or, you could buy an entire collection of Transformers.

But I guess it's all relative, since their other pinball machines are $5000-$7000.

The worst part is that for $3000 you're getting a relatively crappy pinball machine made with cheaper parts than the normal ones. You'd have to be pretty stupid to buy this.

[Megatron Wolf]

since when is 3 grand affordable? And if you had 3K why would you spend it on a pinball machine, unless your a die had pinball fanatic there are way better things to waste $3,000 on. For example a used car or motorcycle, gas for said vehicle for a month, a big ass TV, every video game console on the market plus games, a giant TF collection off ebay, you could give it to me, all of these are much better things to do with 3 thousand dollars than spend it on a pinball machine.

[Burn]

It's affordable compared to the high-end commercial version.

Lets face it, the high-end commercial version will be of higher quality as they'll have more use. A home version is liable to just be a dust collector.

[XDMan]

Why can't it be about G1?

[KNM2012]

Meh. I'll just buy my copy of Kerokero Ace and be happy with that. Especially since I have a trip I need to save up for, as well as some Transformers to submit to AFA.

Why can't it be about G1?

Good question! I guess the answer is because they go along with media hype, not what is good.

[gavinfuzzy]

I have seen the full sized one at my local arcades. Quality is spot on, it's just... these people obviously have 0 knowledge about transformers toys.

The center piece is FAB ROTF Megatron cable tied into tank mode, and the sculptures of Bumblebee and prime are pretty off, not any toy i can recognize, might be their own sculpt. The molding is pretty off, unlike the movie models... almost like they were looking at the FAB while making it. And then there's a FAB Ironhide... If only they improved the sculpt of the TFs inside, that would make it perfect. Not that I'm paying 7K for the arcade grade one, or even the home one.

Might get pics up the next time I visit the arcade.