Episode 116 - Pokémon

Pokémon praised as breakthrough hit balancing new-player appeal with skilled-player depth and operator economics.

Synopsis

Alan and Alex from Wedgehead A A Pinball Podcast discuss the newly released Stern Pokémon pinball machine, praising its design, accessibility, and commercial viability. They contrast it favorably with other recent releases, highlighting its fast gameplay, appropriate ball times, new-player-friendly layout, successful Pokemon collection mechanic, and ability to sustain high play volumes at their Portland location. The hosts credit the co-design collaboration between Jack Danger and George Gomez as key to the game's success.

Highlights

• Pokémon is generating 1,000 plays per week at Wedgehead (roughly 53 minutes of play per hour)
• Pokémon plays in under three minutes on average based on their audits
• Pokemon licensing integration for collecting Pokemon is not yet in the Insider Connected app but is baked into the game mechanics
• This is the first true co-design credit at Stern (unlike Bond and Deadpool which were restarts after designer departures)
• Pokémon's two-flipper layout and friendly design was a deliberate choice to appeal to first-time players and new demographics
• The game is currently at code version .81 (or similar early version) with significant room for updates
• Pokémon is likely to become Stern's biggest-selling game, potentially surpassing Godzilla if licensing allows
• Early online criticism predicted Pokémon would be a commercial failure, which proved unfounded

Entities

• Pinside· community
• Stern Pinball· company
• Attack from Mars· game
• Bond· game
• Deadpool· game
• Dungeons & Dragons· game
• Foo Fighters· game
• Godzilla· game
• Harry Potter· game
• Jaws· game
• Pokémon· game
• The Addams Family· game
• Alan· person
• Alex the Waterboy· person
• Brian Eddy· person
• George Gomez· person
• Jack Danger· person
• Ritchie· person
• Trudeau· person
• Insider Connected· product
• Spike 3· technology
• Electric Bat· venue
• Wedgehead· venue