Additional Details on Stern Pinball's Upcoming Game King Kong Myth of Terror Island
- Jason
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 47 minutes ago
Good morning everyone. Whew, I'm still recovering from an epic Pintastic New England pinball convention. If you don't have any plans today, the event is still going on today in Marlborough, Massachusetts so get on over there. It was a blast (https://pintasticnewengland.com/).
I wrote my last article about Stern Pinball's next cornerstone pinball machine on my phone while standing in the middle of the main gaming hall at Pintastic lol, so it was a little light on details - but I have been hearing things about the game over the past several weeks.
Here's what I personally know. The game's design team is as follows:
Designer - Keith Elwin
Code - Rick Naegele
Mechanical Engineer: Harrison Drake
Sound: Jerry Thompson
Art: Zombie Yeti
While I have no way of 100% confirming this, despite rumors to the contrary lately I still strongly believe that King Kong will be the first Stern Pinball game released with the brand new SPIKE 3 system. Not only that, but I believe that the machine will have a slightly larger LCD video screen than previous releases. Again, I won’t know if this is true for sure until we see the game on Tuesday but I currently believe that it is.
Pricing for King Kong will remain the same as it has been for Stern's games for the past two plus years. Specifically, the MSRPs for the game are $6,999 for the Pro, $9,699 for the Premium and $12,999 for the Limited Edition.
As an aside, I know that a lot of people complain about pinball pricing, and believe me I get it, but to me for Stern to not increase prices on a Keith Elwin game that may have the all-new Spike 3 system AND a bigger LCD screen shows that they are listening to hobbyists. What other item have you bought over the past several years that hasn't seen a price increase? Everything has gotten more expensive. Now you can call me a shill for this observation, but if I'm a shill I'm pretty terrible at it because I get no money from any pinball distributor or manufacturer. Like I said, believe me, I get it. Pinball is crazy expensive but we are in the fortunate position where there's more games available to play on location today than there's been in years. I play pinball at breweries, arcades and shows all the time.
So when will we get to see Stern King Kong? Stern is scheduled to reveal the game on Tuesday, April 15th at Noon Eastern.
Stern is going to have a limited number of Limited Edition machines available for sale directly to Stern Insider All-Access Subscribers. Stern is producing a total of 932 Kong LEs - a tip of the hat to the original King Kong novel which was written in 1932.
The first public appearance of King Kong will be at the Pinball at the Zoo show, which takes place on April 17th in Kalamazoo, Michigan
I’ve been told that the game will be at the Golden State Pinball Festival as well, which takes place in Lodi, California from May 16th through the 18th.
A third major appearance for the game after that will likely be the awesome Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show, which takes place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center in Tacoma, Washington from June 6th through the 8th. The show will have a whopping 20 King Kongs set to free play for the public to check out. Not only that, but the game's design team will be there to give a seminar on the development of the game on June 7th from 3:30 - 4:30pm.
We'll have to wait and see how Stern is implementing the King Kong theme, but word on the street is that the game will have a 1970s vibe. A modernized remake of the original 1933 King Kong film was released in 1976. I've heard that Kong will be summoned to fight various monsters on Terror Island by the gong mech that we got a peek at in Friday's teaser trailer. Those of you who are worried that the game will be missing the Kong climbs the Empire State Building vibe, probably shouldn't. I've heard that he does climb a building of some sort in the code.
Below is a link to Stern's placeholder page for King Kong Myth of Terror Island:
Based on the initials above the gong I don't think the artist is going to be zombie yeti. I noticed the initials and retro Ralph has been id'ing who everyone else might be and the playfield artist is doesn't look to be yeti.
Second big show Kong will be at will be Golden State Pinball Festival.
It was great bumping into you at Pintastic and playing a few games together.
My money is on Spike 2 but would love to see three with a larger display. If you're right, I'll buy you a Coke next time we cross paths.
While 932 doesn't feel very limited, I'm in for the LE.
Thank you for the update.
LOL... 1932 = 932 LE's. If this is true then Stern has found a stupid way to increase the LE's yet again. Also, it makes no sense since the movie was released in 1933. There was no King Kong novel. Anybody can write a 'novelization' of a movie.
What this 'does' do is allow Stern to make a 100 year Anniversary edition a year earlier.
Sorry for the skepticism but Stern has more than earned this with their past.
Good write up and info on the new King Kong game. As we all know Elwin makes well designed games. I've enjoyed them all!. Some better than others. GZ Bering hands down the best. It had everything you want in a pinball game. It was my last NIB purchase. Pricing is simply to high. Resale on old games has plummeted. Not sure why NIB pricing is so high. If you can wait on KK you would save thousands of dollars picking it up used. Hoping the game is amazing! Look forward to playing in the next few weeks.
As always, thanks for fueling my excitement for this new game. I know the game is going to shoot great and I'd be thrilled if you are right about King Kong debuting Spike 3, as I think you are the only person that has said this.