Stern is bringing its Fallout pinball machine to PAX West this weekend
The post-apocalyptic wasteland is getting a physical pinball adaptation, and attendees at PAX West will be the first to play it.
Stern Pinball has released the first teaser trailers for its upcoming physical Fallout pinball machine, confirming a playable debut at PAX West this weekend. As we previously reported, the post-apocalyptic franchise is getting an official table. The company dropped a short video on YouTube to announce the project, followed by a second teaser trailer instructing Vault residents to check out the game on the show floor in Seattle.
The brief clips show classic Vault Boy animations and a CRT monitor aesthetic, but the legal text at the bottom of the teaser page reveals more about the actual content. The copyright credits list both ZeniMax and Amazon Content Services LLC.
Both the games and the show
That Amazon credit means the table will pull material from the recent live-action television adaptation alongside the Bethesda video games. The Prime Video series drove a massive spike in player engagement across the entire catalog earlier this year. It makes sense that Stern would want to integrate the live-action cast and aesthetic into the cabinet artwork and LCD backbox displays.
Fallout has a long history dating back to 1997 under Interplay Productions, but the modern atompunk style most people recognize solidified when Bethesda took over for Fallout 3 in 2008. The franchise is built around dark satirical humor, 1950s retro-futurism, and the ubiquitous Pip-Boy wrist computer. I am curious how Stern plans to translate the VATS targeting system into physical pinball mechanics. A slow-motion mode or a specific physical lock mechanism seems like an obvious fit.
Stern Pinball is currently the largest manufacturer of commercial arcade pinball machines. The company has spent the last decade securing massive pop culture licenses, turning properties like Godzilla, Jurassic Park, and Iron Maiden into complex mechanical playfields. Their recent tables have leaned heavily into custom physical toys on the playfield, like the collapsing building in Godzilla or the moving T-Rex in Jurassic Park. A Fallout table has plenty of source material to draw from for these physical mechanisms. A pop-up Deathclaw or a functional vault door would fit perfectly into the standard Stern design language.
Online leaderboards in the wasteland
Like all modern Stern tables, this release ties directly into Insider Connected. The digital ecosystem lets players scan a QR code on the machine to track their scores, earn specific achievements, and locate other connected cabinets on a global map. The system turns a solitary arcade session into a persistent profile with quests and badges.
PAX West runs from September 4 to September 7 at the Seattle Convention Center. Attendees will get the first hands-on time with the cabinet. Stern typically reveals the full playfield layout, the cabinet artwork, and the feature differences between the Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition models right around the time of these public debuts. We should see exactly what the ramps and toys look like very soon.
The timing of the PAX West reveal aligns with the traditional fall release schedule for major arcade hardware. Pinball machines are large, expensive pieces of commercial equipment, and operators usually look to stock new games ahead of the winter months.
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