UK Machine Record
Stern · 2019 · at 14 UK venues.
Stranger Things is Brian Eddy's return to pinball design after the Williams classics Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness, which makes the machine interesting before you even put a ball into it.
The game turns Hawkins and the Upside Down into a collection of physical and visual threats. Eleven's telekinetic magnet is the headline feature, while the projector, ramps and Demogorgon-related shots make the playfield feel unusually cinematic.
It is also a good example of a machine that can punish players who simply follow the flashing lights. There is a lot of value in setting up your objectives before committing to the dangerous shots. The Upside Down looks impressive; your first job is still to keep the ball alive.
Written by Silverball
Silverball guide · Stranger Things
Stranger Things pays you for finishing a chapter and pays you considerably more for finishing it under the specific condition it never quite tells you about. Those drawings decide what the three wizard modes are worth before you ever reach one.
Played Stranger Things enough to have an opinion? Write it up.
The open face at the top of the playfield, petals spread, above the centre lane.
Joyce letters and Christmas lights painted down the left-hand side, exactly as they are in the show.
The bottom half is a field of named modes on inserts, Monster Surprise, Bullies!, Get Me Out!, Operation Mirkwood, Its A Trap!, with Final Showdown in the middle of them.
Written by Silverball
Strategy tips written by players on PinTips , not by Silverball. Best-voted first.
Hit any main shot (left orbit, left ramp, right ramp, right orbit) three times to start a mode. Inserts show your progress on each.
Launch into left scoop for Super skill shot scoring
There are two standups on either side of the left ramp. Hit them to light locks on the left ramp. Collect three locks to start multiball.
Try to use the center of the flipper when hitting the demigorden to get ball in mouth.
Quality 2x scoring by hitting the left inner loop 10 times. Start 2x scoring at the scoop on the left of the playfield.
At certain intervals, the Burn It Back lane to the right of the center drops awards left outlane saves, extra balls and lights 2X scoring.
When no mode or MB is running, "The Upside Down" may randomly start (non-random in tournament mode). Drop targets score big points.
The action button can be used 1x per game to destroy the Demagorgon. Must be used before ball registers as “drained”. Strategically deployed can be worth a ton of points.
Hitting each of the four main shots three times qualifies the Total Isolation mini-wizard mode. Major shots are JPs. SJP at the center.
Tips belong to the players who wrote them. Read them all, vote, or add your own on PinTips, a Match Play project.
Close-ups of the Stranger Things playfield, with our note on what each one is showing you.
The lit panel standing at the back of the playfield.
The Demogorgon's open face, beside the steel ramp.
Clear ramps crossing over the lightning artwork.
The arrow inserts and the BURN IT BACK! lamp.
Photographs via the Internet Pinball Database. The captions are ours.
How Stranger Things was sold to operators — Stern, 2019. The back is the feature list the manufacturer led with, which is a fair record of what the machine was meant to be famous for.
Flyer scan via the Internet Pinball Database. The artwork is Stern’s.
Nobody we follow has reviewed this one
Same short list of channels as the tutorials. A machine with no review here has not been passed over — it simply hasn’t been covered by anyone we list.
Where a machine sits is Pinball Map’s work, not ours, find Stranger Things near you on their map. Ratings, tips and tournament results here are ours.
