James Bond 007 Pinball Machine’s Best Features, Toys, and Gadgets

Опубликовано 9 мая 2023, 19:00

Classic Bond gadgets, sounds, and footage meet modern pinball: We unboxed the James Bond 007 Premium pinball machine from Stern Pinball. Here's a tour of what's inside!

The first thing people notice when looking at the James Bond 007 playfield is the Bird 1 Rocket, nestled in a loop behind some drop targets. Hit the targets down and you can lock balls in the center shot. The balls in this premium edition get shot up the launch pad structure to be released down cool spiral wireform for Bird 1 multiball. This is an easy multiball to just walk up to the machine and play, should you stumble across a Bond at the arcade.

What you may not notice right away is a few tiny Bonds lurking around the playfield, including one, looking rather submerged below the playfield in this launcher area on the left. It’s just peeking though kinda like the Creature in Monster Bash. And the Bond in a jetpack in the upper right of the playfield.

These areas are related to Jetpack multiball, which you trigger by hitting the ball in scoop by the underwater Bond, then shooting the left ramp. The ball actually gets picked transported by the jetpacking Bond over the Dragon Tank. Scoring is based on the ability not only to hit shots in this multiball, but set up a jetpack release over the Tank itself. It takes some pretty fun timing.

Another notable toy is the Aston Martin DB5 on the lower right. This is basically just a fancy vertical upkicker, but it’s a clever play on the classic eject seat. This area allows you to start gadget modes for a few multiballls.

Note that all of the ramps in Bond are nice metal ramps, which make for smooth shots and easy maintenance, it feels really good when you dial them in, although the small fan of ramps in the middle right playfield has some pretty tight shots that take some warming up. Luckily the center shot and rocket area can tee-up the upper left flip quite reliably.

Note that Bond is slathered in art, and this particular version has movie posters all over the side art and a You Only Live Twice color scheme, while other versions feature Dr. No and Thunderball on the backglass.

All versions use tons of movie footage on the backbox screen, callouts from the movies and licensed music. It’s the full, often campy package of 60s goodness, similar to Batman 66.

This machine shipped with Stern’s QR reader to connect it to the Insider Connected app for achievements and other leaderboard features.