Flipping Through the Wasteland: Hands-on with Stern Pinball’s ‘Fallout’

This week, The Pop Insider traveled through Chicagoland to visit Stern Pinball in Elk Grove Village, Illinois for a hands-on look at the company’s most ambitious pinball machine to date prior to its first public outing at PAX West this weekend: Fallout.

Created in collaboration with teams at Kilter Films and Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout is the latest “cornerstone” title from Stern, lovingly crafted with the detail and care of a studio video game using more than 200,000 franchise-spanning assets from the game series and its live-action adaptation on Amazon Prime Video.

The game, developed by the team behind Stern’s JAWS, King Kong, Godzilla, and Jurassic Park titles, throws players into the franchise’s post-apocalyptic wasteland following “The Great War” of 2077. Players can choose to play as Lucy MacLean, The Ghoul, or Maximus, each with their own stories and side quests. As players fight their way through the game, they’re tasked to level up with S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck) abilities. By reaching level 10 across each SPECIAL ability, players unlock new modes for each character.

According to Stern’s George Gomez, the chains were off, and the team was given a lot of room to swing for the fences on this release, but, as with all licensed titles, the IP owners had 100% approval on each detail. 

One key detail is the die-cast Pip-Boy 3000 Mark V sitting atop the left side of the playfield. Created by The Wand Co., renowned for its Pokémon Poké Ball, Star Trek, and Doctor Who prop replicas, the Pip-Boy has a functional screen that displays game modes and other information.

Like most Stern releases, Fallout comes in three, commercial-quality editions: Pro (MSRP: $7,299), Premium ($10,699), and Limited Edition (LE) ($13,999). The Pop Insider played all three, spending a considerable amount of time in 4-player mode with the Pro and Premium before 20 minutes of solo play on the LE, of which just 770 machines are available, with “77” a nod to The Great War.

The level of detail in Fallout is impressive, with the legacy of Vault-Tec’s work (or the horrors of it) echoing through every flipper, ramp, and gallery. While the Pro edition boasts a feature-packed single level of play, the Premium and LE editions have play across three levels, including a Vault lower playfield (with “Magna-Flip” tech) and an upper playfield target gallery. Players can use the Fat Man multi-axis pinball launcher with its Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S) to fire balls at the targets on the upper playfield or to launch them onto the main playfield. 

A Deathclaw bash toy kicks back against balls, and a spinning Nuka-Cola bottle cap moves up and down. One of the coolest features is a  “mutated” inverted flipper on the left side of the label, a feature that the Stern team notes has not appeared in a pinball game in 75 years.

There’s a lot to unpack while playing the game, which seamlessly blends physical and digital play, including licensed music and footage from the first two seasons of the TV series with video game assets. Actor Johnny Pemberton (Superstore, Ant-Man), who plays Thaddeus, provides original callouts for the game. According to the Stern team, Pemberton grew up with a pinball machine at home and viewed the opportunity to contribute as something special.

To create a functional Vault Blast Door, the Stern team looked at the practical door prop created for the series and downsized the concept to fit its machines. While I successfully opened the Vault on the Premium and LE machines (the door on the Pro can be activated as a target, but it doesn’t physically open), I didn’t have enough skill to make the shot into the vault (at least not yet).

One other feature I enjoyed was the video game-style “shopping” mode, where players can purchase or steal supplies. In the wasteland, you do what you have to do, and when you don’t have many bottle caps to barter with (gotta hit that spinner!) … as they say, “drastic times,” but theft will cost you in reputation points.

The LE, which features an exclusive design meant to invoke an “in-world” look, includes Vault-Tec and Vault Boy graphics, a custom shooter knob, the updated Cabinet Expression Lighting System and Speaker Expression Lighting System, mirrored backglass, custom side armor, upgraded audio, a sequentially numbered plaque, a signed Certificate of Authenticity, and a Digital Insider Connected LE owner’s badge on registration.  

Stern Pinball’s Fallout is available to preorder through authorized dealers as of today, with the LE available to All-Access Members.  Custom Fallout accessories are in development and will be revealed soon.