Elvira’s House of Horrors, a 2019 Stern table from designer Dennis Nordman, completes a beloved trilogy of pinball collaborations with the Mistress of the Dark — following the Williams classics Elvira and the Party Monsters and Scared Stiff. Once again the Queen of Halloween presides over a playfield stuffed with B-movie monsters and double entendres, this time framed around her trying to unload a haunted house full of unwanted creatures. It’s solid-state Stern with the works: a motorized elevating ramp, multiple up-kickers, a spinning target, and Elvira’s trademark wink-wink humor pouring out of the speakers.
The structure revolves around Haunts — 45-second movie modes started at the house entrance, each one playable on a self-resetting timer so you can milk them for escalating value before moving on. The real depth comes from stacking: Haunts layer onto the game’s many multiballs, and clearing your third Haunt qualifies House Party Multiball, where every shot is lit and the super jackpot waits at the house. Locking balls in the Garage feeds Wild Women, Add-A-Zombie, and Attic Attack multiballs, while the cheekily labeled “36-24-36” standups light the Trunk for Junk in the Trunk.
For the player chasing the deep end, the Wheel of Fate grants multiball extensions that breathe life back into a fading multiball, and the Gappa Angry wizard mode rewards the persistent with rounds of lock-and-launch mayhem. Loaded with toys, gags, and genuine strategic layering, House of Horrors is a fitting third act for one of pinball’s most enduring comic partnerships — equal parts haunted-house fun and serious point-stacking puzzle.