Stern Pinball Announces 40th Anniversary Star Wars Pinball Table

It’s the year of the 40th anniversary of one of the best sci-fi movies of all time – the legendary Star Wars: A New Hope. So what better way to celebrate than with a good ol’ fashioned round of pinball?

Stern Pinball has announced that it is making a special 40th anniversary Star Wars pinball machine, based on the classic that started it all. That would make the latest pinball machine to be based on the franchise, following Data East’s 1992 Star Wars model; Sega’s 1997 revitalization of Star Wars with its own pinball table (based on the original trilogy); and the holographic take on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace by Williams.

The table was introduced earlier today on an episode of The Star Wars Show on Facebook, which you can see above. The table was introduced mid-segment, with a design put in place by classic pinball designer Steve Ritchie.

As with previous pinball machines offered by Stern, there will be various designs available, including a Pro, Premium and Limited Edition machine. All of them will showcase the same playfield, but will have completely different designs, as indicated in the gallery we’ve attached (with pics captured by Bleeding Cool). The table will focus on the original trilogy, though a lot of nods will obviously be given to A New Hope in itself.

The design definitely stems from the original trilogy, with side art and front glass resembling images from A New Hope, as well as The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each machine also has a video screen, so more than likely we’ll see clips from the films intertwined into the action, as we’ve previously seen with Stern Pinball‘s Batman ’66 table, which is currently making the rounds.

There are notable features pointed out with the machines, including plenty of cool art featuring familiar characters (like Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi – the old-school version), along with sculpted playfield toys (check out the Millennium Falcon!) and a hyperspace ramp, which, if you probably hit it, will initiate an actual hyperspace jump on the video screen as well – so, yeah, we can’t wait to try it!

A release date and price haven’t been given on the machine just yet, but it’s expected to release sometime later this year, around the $5999 range for the more limited tables. Once an official price point is revealed, we’ll let you know.

In the meantime, the Force is definitely strong with this pinball machine…