History

Note: This page is a work in progress. Please help get it to a completed state by adding any useful information to it.

I am very, very slowly working on adding info here, but anyone who wants to add more info, feel free.

7 Pinball 2000

In 1998, Williams Electronic Games was dealing with a pinball division that hadn't offered a profit for several years. To try and turn this around CEO Neil Nicastro, of Williams Electronic Games gathered the seven design teams together and gave them the Pinball 2000 initiative. This was a project to come up with a new style machine that people would buy and play, otherwise Williams Electronic Games would be shutting down its pinball division down.

8 The Last Manufacturer

Stern Pinball was formed in 1999 when Gary Stern bought Sega Pinball. This was not the first time that someone from the Stern family owned a pinball company, as Sam Stern owned Stern Electronics as well as being a part of Williams. Stern Pinball is currently the only company manufacturing pinball machines, holding that title from 1999-present. They have managed to survive on a low-production business model, with games costing ~$4600 for the standard price.

9 2011: The Renaissance Of Pinball

This Section is not considered completely accurate yet as 2011 is still in progress and much can still happen, along with other information still needing to be added

2011 has been dubbed "The Renaissance Of Pinball" for many reasons, including the formation of new pinball manufacturers along with several groundbreaking projects.

Stern Pinball has announced a 50% increase in profits, while also hiring several highly famed people in the industry including George Gomez, Steve Ritchie, and Lyman Sheets.

Jack Guarnieri of Pinball Sales Inc. announced in 2011, that he will begin manufacturing pinball machines under the name Jersey Jack Pinball, with his first title being Wizard Of Oz, with a promise that his second game will be an unlicensed title, a highly demanded concept from collectors. Jersey Jack Pinball has also hired on famed people from the pinball industry, including Joe Balcer, Jerry VanderStelt, Dennis Nordman, Greg Freres, Jim Thornton, Keith Johnson, Chris Granner, and Matt Riesterer to form his first design team.

Retro Pinball, a company aimed at remaking classic EM pinball machines with SS innards, a project started in March 2007, has finally begun shipping its first remade game, King Of Diamonds. They promise that once their first game is completely out of the door that they will move on to continue reproducing other classic games in a similar fashion.

John Popadiuk recently updated his website to announce a new pinball machine he is going to build and sell called Magic Girl. It will be a 13 game run, with the price starting at $15,995 for pre-order before October 31, 2011, with the final cost going to be $17,995. Not much other information is available as of this writing (7/23/11).