For decades, pinball and video games have existed side-by-side in arcades, both enormously entertaining for their own reasons. Over the years though, we've seen pinball adopt many elements from video games, including the introduction of modes/missions, battling enemies with health bars, and most recently, platform-wide achievements and saved progress. Dungeons & Dragons (Stern, 2025) is the next step in this steady evolution, which modifies existing mechanics and ideas to create a decently immersive role-playing adventure. It also fixes a prevalent issue in pinball, making it more approachable than past efforts for casual players, thanks to saved progress. Even if it doesn't end up being my favorite pinball machine of the year, Dungeons & Dragons is admirable in its design philosophy, pushing the industry forward in a way that I can't help but celebrate.
A Pinball Adventure for Everyone
Obviously, Dungeons & Dragons was a pinball machine designed with fans of the franchise in mind, but it also doubles as an easy onboarding point for casual players who have never played an RPG. Everyone knows what D&D is, or at the very least, understands that it's a fantasy adventure full of monsters and action. In fact, many of the gameplay mechanics of Stern's latest pin feel tailor-made with the casual player in mind, the most notable being saved progress.
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Like inVenom (Stern, 2023), if you log in with your Stern Insider Connected account, D&D allows you to save your character and progress and continue the adventure over multiple games. Where Venom felt more like a “checkpoint” system, keeping track of your experience level and defeated bosses, D&D takes it a step further, marking mode progress and exploration. Similar to Jurassic Park (Stern, 2019), there's a map with multiple cities to explore, each with various missions to complete, and your decisions in said missions lead to multiple endings. While some might view this as a shortcut for lesser-skilled players, I think this function has been sorely missing in the modern era of pinball, especially given the complexity of existing rules.
From my experience, many beginner players don't know that you can “beat” a modern pinball machine, and those who do see it as an impossible task. Far too often, the sentiment I hear is, “Why bother thinking about wizard modes when I'll never see them?”. Without the expectation or ability to reach mid or endgame content, most players disregard it entirely. Pinball is great for mindless fun, but if you want non-competitive players to keep coming back for more, the best way is to make sure they can access the entire game over time. D&D ensures this, within reason, so as long as you can keep the ball alive and beat at least one mode per game, you'll eventually reach the wizard mode in due time.
Of course, saved progress is just one evolved gameplay mechanic that D&D brings to the table. Character selection returns, granting you various pre-made heroes to play as, with varying stats and passive abilities. Bonus characters can also be unlocked by completing parts of the game, adding incentive for another playthrough. Loot can be earned as you complete modes, improving your strength, while additional perks can be purchased from the in-game shop using the gold you accumulate. These are all refined versions of concepts that have been included in recent pins, many of which were designed by Brian Eddy, but D&D fleshes them out and puts them at the forefront of the experience.
Plenty of Room to Improve
With that said, these mechanics could definitely benefit from further refinement, especially if they're going to become widespread in the future. For example, saved progress is a great idea, but if the game's code is incomplete or lacking, this only shines a brighter light on it. Currently, D&D promises lots of content, but there's a bunch that's missing or restricted. The story, though designed to have multiple endings, is notably linear outside of the order of towns you complete. Once you finish the campaign, you can unlock one of the three new characters, but there's no way to unlock the other two. In comparison to some other recent pins from Stern, D&D has quite a bit of content, but these omissions and constant patches make me more inclined to wait before diving in further.
Another issue, or rather a missed opportunity, comes with character choice. It's cool to have different characters to choose from, but in D&D, they don't feel very distinct. Unlike in Star Wars (Stern, 2017), every character takes the same path through the story, and the stat differences are negligible beyond combat. Making each character feel unique, whether through narrative progression or meaningful gameplay changes (different shots, weapon changes), would go a long way in spicing up each playthrough. Exploring the map is also pretty rudimentary, where you simply travel from town to town to pick up missions, rather than exploring magical forests, poison swamps, haunted graveyards, or other evocative locations.
In short, Dungeons & Dragons showcases some great, if not essential ideas for the evolution of pinball, but there's still a way to go toward perfection. We've seen several iterations of this design philosophy, involving multiple playable characters, leveling up, and narrative progression, and D&D feels like the most focused of the bunch. However, there are still some frustrations to be found, several of which echo larger industry problems, such as unfinished code at release and a hesitancy to commit to new ideas. That said, I greatly appreciate the direction that Stern is moving in with these releases, especially as they bolster Stern Insider Connected. D&D is an intriguing game that I've enjoyed playing outside of a competition setting, and I hope that Stern irons out these growing pains of implementation, especially if the long-rumored Pokemon pinball machine ever sees the light of day.
Matt Owen is a lifelong gamer and overall media fiend. He can often be found playing endless hours of games or watching an absurd amount of movies and television: action, horror, mystery, and sci-fi in particular. When he's not bingeing entertainment media, Matt enjoys reading and writing fiction, playing pinball, broadcasting, and attempting to cook.
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