Production run: 8362
Widely considered one of the original Stern company's best efforts, Meteor is a fast paced game that is much more complicated than it looks. Like other old Stern pinball games, there are a series of objectives mostly involving drop targets and getting light sequences in the right places at the right time. It takes more than one quarter to figure this one out. Line up all of the 1,2, and 3 lights to activate WOW and achieve a faster scoring game. This is not an easy thing to do. Of course increasing the bonus X counter by dropping METEOR helps as well. METEOR drop targets hold a memory from one ball to the next and are individually reset. This was commonly used by both Stern and Bally (essentially the same computer board sets) games of the late 70s through the mid 80s.
Like other Stern games of the time, this game relies heavily on drop targets. There are 15 in this game.
Above on the backglass: Those are US and Russian CCCP missles looking to destroy the meteor heading toward the earth. Arguably a better use for all the cold war arms.
The Stern timeline:
Chicago Coin - 1931 to 1977 - Specialized in electromechanical pinball, and arcade games. Notable pins - Gin, Bermuda, Beatniks, A number of pitch and bat baseball games.
Stern Electronics - 1977 to 1984 - Acquired Chicago Coin in 1977 and began making pinball and coin op video games. Pinball MPU was a copy of the Bally MPU used at the time. Notable games - Meteor, Big Game, Catacomb, Quicksilver)
Pinstar- 1985-1986 Founded by Gary Stern after the collapse of Stern Electronics. Produced only a few conversion kits
Data East - 1986 to 1994 - Mostly made pinball based on Licensed themes (Back to the future, Guns N' Roses, Phantom of the opera, Star Trek, TMNT, The Simpsons, etc)
Sega Pinball - 1994 to 1999 - Name changed from DE. Also mostly made games based on licensed themes. Notable games - South Park, Star Wars, Harley Davidson, Baywatch.
Stern Pinball, Inc - 1999 to present - Stern buys Sega pinball and now remains the only mass producer of coin op pinball. Has only produced one game not based on a licensed theme. Notable games - Lord of the rings, Pirates of the caribbean, Simpson's pinball party, Sopranos, Elvis, Monopoly.
