Jaws captures the greatness of movie to pinball adaptations

Stern Pinball just launched a new pinball table based on Steven Spielberg ’s classic thriller Jaws . It’s the latest in a long line of licensed movie based games from Stern, which has released Jurassic Park, James Bond, Godzilla, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters inspired tables over the past decade. Jaws — purely based on photos of Stern’s new table; I haven’t played it yet — exemplifies what can be great about adapting properties for pinball.

The table, designed by Keith Elwin, incorporates themes like a surprise great white shark appearance, the tension of harpooning said shark, and using a chum bucket to get ol’ Jaws’ attention. Naturally, it has samples of John Williams’ memorable score, and Stern even got Richard Dreyfuss back to record some voice lines for Jaws (e.g., “Shoot again!”).

Here are some of the cooler things about Stern’s new pinball table. One of the unique sculpts for Jaws is a chum bucket attached to a Newton ball assembly that, when struck, shakes the bucket to “chum the waters.” Stern illustrates this chumming effect with red LED lights underneath the main playfield; they light up in a pattern that makes it look like blood is streaming through the water.

When the water is sufficiently chummed, the shark will make its presence known with a fin target that moves left to right, which players have to strike. That’s one thing I love about pinball: Everything is solved with the bash of a pinball. On the limited edition and premium versions of Jaws — but not on the “pro” entry level version — there’s a raised platform that’s supposed to represent the Orca, Quint’s fishing boat.

It has its own mini flipper and a steering wheel spinner. In a nice design touch, there’s also a big shark jaw shaped bite taken out of the boat’s rear signage. One way to launch your ball onto the Orca is this crashing wave shaped scoop ramp that zooms the ball onto the ship’s deck. (Also, please appreciate the fishing reel inspired horizontal spinner to the right of the boat.) There are a ton of other details, as highlighted by Stern’s George Gomez and Keith Elwin, in the video below.

Warning: It may inspire you to drop a few thousand dollars on a pinball table. The Jaws Pro Edition starts at $6,999, while the Premium Edition costs $9,699; the Limited Edition goes for a whopping $12,999..