Stern Pinball, the world’s last factory producing commercially operated pinball games, was featured in today’s New York Times online, including a multi-media slide show presentation of the Melrose Park, IL, factory located just west of Chicago. The article examines the decline of commercial pinball, the subsequent rise of home sales and the universal appeal of what some see only as a retro novelty. Quoted alongside Stern factory president Gary Stern are pinball aficionados Tim Arnold of the Pinball Hall of Fame and Roger Sharpe, a former game designer and pinball historian. “Everybody thinks of it as retro, as nostalgia,” Sharpe told the Times. “But it’s not. These are sophisticated games. Pinball is timeless.”

To get the full story,  go to RePlay Magazine’s Instant RePlay website at RePlay Magazine.