Manufacturer · Melrose Park, IL
Stern
The last factory standing. The modern era's defining voice.
Editorial Overview
Stern Pinball has occupied a singular position in the hobby for decades — the last major manufacturer standing from the industry's collapse of the 1990s, and the engine behind nearly every major licensed title of the modern era. Under Gary Stern's leadership, the company weathered the near-death of the medium and emerged to build machines like Iron Maiden, Godzilla, and Rush — machines that now anchor the most serious collections. Their Pro / Premium / Limited Edition tiering model reshaped how collectors buy and how the market values machines.
Trajectory
Stern by the Numbers
A year-by-year view of Stern's output, the average quality of those releases, and total production volume. Data combines OPDB catalog records with IPDB community ratings and production counts.
Trajectory
Machines Released per Year
Every Stern machine in our catalog, grouped by its release year.
Quality
Average Community Rating by Year
Average IPDB community fun rating of machines released each year. Years without rated machines are not shown.
Volume
Production Units per Year
Total machines manufactured per year, summed from documented production counts. Many machines have no production data; years shown reflect what we know.
