The year 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, and to celebrate Stern Pinball have released a special 40th anniversary edition of their Elvira’s House of Horrors game.
It was back in 1981 that Cassandra Peterson’s Elvira persona came to life, when the struggling actress auditioned at local Los Angeles TV channel KHJ to present their late-night horror movies.
Over the following 40 years, her character has starred in three pinball machines – Elvira and the Party Monster, Scared Stiff and Elvira’s House of Horrors.
The most recent of these was from Stern Pinball in 2019 and it was available in three variants – Premium, Limited Edition and Signature. The latter of these was restricted to just 50 units and came with a signed trading card plus a swatch of material from Elvira’s sofa.
The new 40th Anniversary Edition is limited to 199 units and also comes with a signed trading card, but this model includes a special dagger shooter knob, ‘paranormal purple’ paintwork, a signed copy of Elvira’s memoirs and 40th anniversary branding on the backglass and cabinet artwork. In addition, like all new Stern releases, it will include the Insider Connected QR code reader in the bottom apron.
With just 199 units available, Stern will decide the allocation of machines to their distributors. No pricing information has been released either. The games will be built in December for delivery in time for Christmas and the holiday season.
Here’s how Gary Stern announced the new edition:
| Stern Pinball didn’t exist until 5 years after Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, started her 40 year career appearing on television and in movies. In those 40 years she became and remains a pop culture, hosting B horror movies on her syndicated television show. Having appeared in hundreds of films, television shows and live appearances, Elvira recently stared in Hulu’s Thirteen Nights of Elvira. She has licensed and sold thousands and thousands of products. Now she has published her best selling autobiography, Yours Cruelly, Elvira; Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark. To honor Elvira’s 40 years, Stern is offering a very limited 199 game special 40th Anniversary Edition Elvira House of Horrors pinball game. The collectability of these 199 games will be augmented with and exclusive Elvira autographed trading card mounted to the game. She will autograph a copy of her Yours Cruelly, Elvira; Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark to be included with each game. The game Certificate of Authenticity for this 40th Anniversary Edition game will be validated not only by a signature by me as Stern Chairman & CEO but also by Elvira herself signing. This Elvira 40th Anniversary game will be dressed with mirrored backglass containing Elvira’s 40th Anniversary logo. Its armor and legs are being manufactured in custom Paranormal Purple Sparkle powder coat. We will produce the 40th Anniversary cabinet artwork on a hyper-chrome embossed surface. Elvira has given us her dagger to mold a customer Elvira Dagger Shooter Knob. Of course this game will have our upgraded sound system, anti-reflection playfield glass, shaker motor, arted inside blades, and 1-199 Anniversary metal plaque. All Elvira 40th games will be equipped with our new Insider Connected We will show 40th Anniversary Edition Elvira House of Horrors for the first time at Pinball Expo in Chicago October 27-30. Production of this special and collectible 40th Anniversary Edition is scheduled for the Christmas holidays at the beginning of December. Because there will be so few, we will allocate these games. Your sales reps will contact you with pricing and allocations. Policies to specify a number will apply. Elvira has been great for the pinball industry in general and Stern in particular. We welcome this unique opportunity of her 40th Anniversary entertaining people to make this very collectible limited 199 edition game. This 40th Anniversary Edition Elvira House of Horrors game is the most collectible model we have made. |
system, including bottom arch mounted QR reader. Its worth repeating that Insider Connected allows players to interact with the game and this new network in many ways, providing new entertainment and engagement features. Operators will have many tools to increase location play and manage their games.
