The next game from Stern Pinball Inc. will be JAWS, a machine based on the 1975 Steven Spielberg film and featuring many sights and sounds from the horror flick. JAWS pinball also features the original John Williams score, new callouts from original JAWS star Richard Dreyfuss, and seemingly lots of movie footage incorporated into its HD screen. Shockingly, aside from a goofy '70s knockoff machine and Zen Pinball’s virtual JAWS games, there’s never been an official JAWS pinball machine.
JAWS is designed by Keith Elwin, who was also behind the well-received Stern games, Godzilla and Iron Maiden. Its main features on the playfield include a chum bucket you can bash to “release blood” onto the playfield, represented by LED lights, which then raises a moving shark fin target to shoot. The fancier Premium and Limited Edition versions of JAWS feature a great white toy that pops out of the playfield from beneath a tiny boat that you can target, and a small replica of the Orca boat as a single-flipper mini playfield in the upper left.
There are three versions of JAWS, like many recent Stern releases, the Limited Edition and Premium Edition share similar playfield features and toys, but the Limited Edition has unique art and side armor. The Pro version has simpler playfield – it’s missing the upper Orca boat playfield and replaces the transforming shark bash toy with a simpler shark mechanism with a captive ball.
Stern has also teased a mode where you can play as the Great White, and a 3D video mode to discover.
Stern games now feature a QR reader and are connected to the Stern Insider Connected system via your phone to register high scores, tackle achievements, and, for JAWS, there are some unique features like “Shark Teeth” to collect for unlockables, and a “Career System” that allows for some sort of progression system via the Insider Connected setup.
JAWS is available now with the Pro Edition MSRP set at $6,999, Premium Edition set at $9,699 and Limited Edition set at $12,999. We hope to playtest it soon at our local pinball joint!
Samuel Claiborn is IGN's managing editor and a fixes/breaks ancient arcade and pinball machines in his garage. TCELES B HSUP to follow him @Samuel_IGN on Twitter.
