We love asking the tough questions here at ausretrogamer. Today we ask, is it time for a pinball manufacturer to capitalise on the Formula 1 (F1) popularity by creating a modern themed pinball machine based on this pinnacle of Motorsport racing? F1 cars and pinball share a lot in common, both are highly engineered and precision made machines, with thousands of parts making them tick to perfection, and let’s not forget, they require skills to get the best out of them.
Thanks to the Netflix produced Drive To Survive docuseries (season 5 now streaming on Netflix!), F1 has experienced a renaissance, seeing its popularity break records by garnering new interest from all walks of life, including interest from teenagers, women and young kids, which previously were underrepresented. With pinball also enjoying a golden era, the fusion of this racing theme into a pinball machine would definitely not hurt in expanding the popularity of the silverball game – it’s a match made in heaven!
Stern’s ‘Stern Of The Union’ Newsletter for November 2022 contained this pic with Max Verstappen that we hope is a hint!
image source: Stern Pinball
Of course the licensing side would impact what can and cannot be included in such a theme, however, there are many different ways to infuse the F1 theme into a pinball machine, either based on a manufacturer/team, a popular driver, famous track or the F1 as a collective.
Now imagine a F1 pinball machine featuring exotic materials like carbon fibre rails, a rear wing topper and an integrated F1-style steering wheel on the lockdown bar for certain modes. As for the playfield and rules, well, we can only dream big; from incorporating qualifying laps to get to pole position, pitstops when your car needs to be fixed or requires a fresh set of tyres, to hitting a gear shifter to change gears and possibly hit DRS to kick off DRS multiball and ultimately get to the Chequered Flag wizard mode to be crowned F1 champion – the list of what to include in the design and play of such a pinball machine is (almost) limitless.
We love Stern’s Mustang, but we really want a F1 themed pinball machine!
The EM Grand Prix was cool back in the day
We are aware that there are a few car/racing themed pinball machines, from Stern’s Mustang and Grand Prix, Bally’s Corvette, Williams’ The Getaway to Sega’s Viper Night Driving and Data East’s Checkpoint (to name just a few), but we are still missing a F1 specific pinball machine, so please please let’s have one!
Imagine if you will a Stern Pinball F1 machine……
