The Premium edition of Stern’s Black Knight: Sword of Rage takes Steve Ritchie’s 2019 sequel and adds the premium toys to one of pinball’s most enduring grudge matches. Nearly forty years after Ritchie unleashed the original Black Knight in 1980, the self-taunting villain returned for this third chapter, and the Premium loads it with extra hardware — including a six-ball multiball and an upper-playfield “light lock” that can spot mode shots — over the Pro’s already-deep ruleset. The returning Magna-Save magnet can yank a doomed ball from the outlane or snatch a super jackpot right off the ramp wireform.
The theme is medieval menace turned up to eleven. The Black Knight jeers through a thrash-metal score co-written by Anthrax’s Scott Ian, while a motorized gate shaped like the Knight’s flail and another styled as his shield physically block and redirect your shots. On the Premium, all mode shots can be spotted via that upper-playfield light lock, and the upper loop increases mode value — so the savvy mantra is “left ramp all day.”
For the competitor, the joy is in the combos. Nearly every shot can be backhanded, opening up controlled, repeatable lock sequences, and the real points come from stacking the multiball on top of a started mode — best set up by powering up your modes with the drop targets before launching them, especially against the brutal Hydra. Loud, fast, and unapologetically old-school, the Black Knight: Sword of Rage Premium is a worthy heir to a legend, and proof the King of Flow still rules his castle. Fight the knight, claim the throne.