Sega Pinball Inc. (US)

Sega Pinball Inc. formed in 1994 when Sega bought Data East's struggling US pinball division and took over its factory in Melrose Park, Illinois. Gary Stern, who had helped run the division since its Data East days, stayed on as president, with Joe Kaminkow leading game design.

Over the next five years the company built its lineup around movie and TV licenses. Apollo 13, released in 1995 and designed by Kaminkow and Joe Balcer, is still known for a 13-ball multiball, the most of any pinball machine. Sega Pinball followed with titles including Batman Forever, Baywatch, GoldenEye, Star Wars Trilogy, Starship Troopers, and South Park, one of its last releases in 1999.

Sega left the pinball business in 1999, selling the division to Gary Stern, and the same Melrose Park factory operated as Stern Pinball until Stern moved to Elk Grove Village in 2015.