New Game Alert: Stern Fallout Pinball Premium Edition
When Stern announced that Fallout pinball was coming, I probably should have watched the teaser videos first.
I didn’t.
I knew I wanted one… but which one?
The Pro model was the least expensive at “only” $7,300, but Stern’s Pro machines usually leave out some of the toys and features found on the higher-end versions. And once the following thought entered my head, it was pretty much over: What if Life Bar Arcade had the only Fallout Premium machine on free play in the Chicagoland area?
That thought cost me another $3,300.
For a little while, I went back and forth on the Limited Edition. Those disappeared quickly, though, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that a Premium was probably the right machine for Life Bar anyway. I didn’t want something that felt like it belonged behind velvet ropes in a museum. I wanted something people could play. So on September 3rd, I placed the order for a Fallout Premium Edition. And then I waited.
And waited.
And became, quite possibly, the most annoying pinball customer in Illinois.
THE LONGEST SIDE QUEST
Originally, I was told the machine might arrive within a couple of weeks. That sounded great, so we started planning a Fallout pinball tournament for October 25th. Then came the embargo notice. No Fallout events could take place before October 30th. Okay. New plan.
We quickly swapped Fallout out for a Godzilla tournament and carried on, while I continued checking in on the machine like someone repeatedly refreshing a tracking page even though they know perfectly well nothing has changed. Every week, I reached out to Stern and our distributor. Every week, the answer was basically the same. Stern was producing the Pro and Limited Edition machines first. The Premium? TBD.
There are plenty of stressful things involved in running an arcade, but there was something uniquely maddening about knowing a brand-new Fallout pinball machine technically belonged to us while having absolutely no idea when I would actually get to touch it. Part of that was practical. We wanted to plan a launch party. We wanted to schedule tournaments. But mostly I wanted to play the thing!
BAD NEWS: YOU’RE STILL WAITING
Almost two months after placing the order, the message finally came: I could pick it up on October 22nd.
Stern is practically in our backyard, just one town over, but warehouse pickups are no longer an option. So instead of dramatically storming the Stern loading dock like a wasteland scavenger reclaiming precious technology, I picked the machine up from a local distribution hub and brought it home to Life Bar Arcade. Then came the fun part.
We got the machine set up and immediately ran into a couple of issues. The online connection wasn’t cooperating, and — appropriately enough for Fallout — the vault door wouldn’t close. Two phone calls to Stern later, we had both problems figured out. The machine came online. The vault shut.
And finally, after weeks of emails, waiting, planning, re-planning, and probably making a few people regret giving me their phone numbers, Fallout was alive at Life Bar Arcade.
Naturally, we had to test it… Thoroughly. For quality-control purposes of course! 😉
ENTER THE WASTELAND
Fallout is exactly the kind of pinball machine that makes you want to keep hitting Start. It’s big, busy, colorful, packed with things happening across the playfield, and loaded with the sort of Fallout details that keep revealing themselves as you play. The Premium Edition was the machine I kept talking myself into during those weeks of waiting, and once it was finally standing in front of me, I knew we had made the right call.
There was, however, one more upgrade to make. Neil spoiled us when he gifted Life Bar Arcade a shaker motor for our Godzilla machine. Once you get used to a pinball machine physically rumbling along with the action, apparently there is no going back. So the day after Fallout arrived, I ordered one for it too.
Worth it.
Every explosion, impact, and big moment now has an extra physical punch behind it. The machine already felt alive. The shaker makes it feel like something underneath the playfield is trying to escape. Which, given Fallout, seems appropriate.
A NEW PERMANENT RESIDENT
One of my favorite things about bringing a new machine into Life Bar Arcade is knowing that eventually it stops being “the new game.” People develop favorite shots. Somebody figures out the strategy. Someone else chases a score for months. Regulars develop grudges against particular modes. Stories start accumulating around the machine. Eventually, it simply becomes part of the place.
Fallout is at the beginning of that process right now. It arrived without any history at Life Bar Arcade. No high-score rivalries yet. No legendary games. No ridiculous stories about someone needing one final shot and missing it by half an inch. Those are still coming.
For now, the vault is open, the wasteland is waiting, and our Fallout Premium Edition is ready for anyone brave enough to step up to the flippers.
Vault dwellers and surface dwellers are equally welcome.
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