We’re back in London’s Docklands to check out the annual Entertainment, Attractions & Gaming (EAG) International Expo coin-op trade show.
The walkway to the ExCel London exhibition complex
The venue hasn’t changed for many years, although the exact halls within the ExCeL London exhibition complex where the show is held has varied a little. For 2020 we are in halls N1-N6.
ExCeL London
In all honesty, 2020 was rather light for pinball at EAG with only Stern Pinball exhibiting, courtesy of their UK distributor Electrocoin. Previous years had seen Pinball Heaven with a stand featuring machines from Jersey Jack Pinball, American Pinball and Chicago Gaming, but they were absent this year.
Stern had five pinballs on the Electrocoin stand – Black Knight Pro, The Beatles Premium, Iron Maiden Pro, Jurassic Park Pro and Stranger Things Pro.
The Stern pinballs on the Electrocoin stand
The five Stern Pinball titles
Stern did in fact have another machine with them, but it was located in one of the upstairs conference rooms and only shown to certain guests at pre-arranged times.
This was a Stranger Things Premium model with the projector feature, and it was clear Stern Pinball’s team wanted the game exhibited in favourable lighting rather than down on the show floor.
The Premium model of Stranger Things being shown in a conference room
You can see that the Premium and Limited Edition models would certainly benefit from being placed in a darker environment – that’s the nature and the limitation of the projector mounted under the playfield – but it’s an innovative idea filled with possibilities, and certainly not something to be overly sensitive about. Even with the normal conference room lights on, the projected image was perfectly acceptable.
Stern will be releasing video of the Premium model in action shortly, but here’s a quick glimpse at the playfield with the projector on the screen, spinner, left ramp, drop targets and standups.
Stranger Things Premium
The team from Stern at the show consisted of John Buscaglia, Gary Stern, George Gomez and Doug Skor.
John Buscaglia, Doug Skor, George Gomez and Gary Stern
We’re live at the EAG International Expo right now and having made this update we are
