Stern’s Spider-Man Vault Edition, released in 2016, is a re-release of Steve Ritchie’s beloved 2007 design — one of the most adored and best-selling machines of the modern era, brought back into production for a new generation. The Master of Flow’s original is a fast, friendly, endlessly re-playable superhero brawl, and the Vault Edition delivers it intact, pitting you against four classic villains, each with its own mechanical hook.
Those villains define the playfield: Doc Ock’s magnet that snares the ball in a “fusion malfunction,” the Green Goblin hovering on his glider above the Pumpkin Bomb targets, Venom’s ramp that whips the ball back to the left flipper, and Sandman’s motorized whirlwind of targets. The ruleset is a clinic in approachable depth — completing the white spiders and shooting an outer loop starts a villain mode, and clearing a mode triples your next major shot for the rest of the ball. Doc Ock Multiball is the moment to risk the dangerous “Light Lock” target to set up Black Suit multiball, and stacking the white-spider doubler onto multiball sends jackpots soaring.
The long game is a heroic ladder: defeat all four villains once to light an extra ball, twice for the Battle Royale multiball, and three times as a prerequisite for the Super Hero wizard mode. Smooth as silk and tuned to perfection, the Spider-Man Vault Edition hooks newcomers instantly while giving tournament players combos and multipliers to chase for years. For anyone who missed the original, it’s a second chance to own a modern classic — your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, back in action.