Crank it to eleven — Stern Electronics’ 1978 Nugent puts rock’s wildest showman, Ted Nugent, on the backglass in one of the earliest celebrity-licensed pinball machines. Designed by Mike Kubin, this confirmed run of 2,437 is a lean, fast early-solid-state four-player with three flippers, three pops, a pair of three-bank drops, a spinner, and a clever free-ball return lane behind the upper flipper that can keep your turn alive when fortune smiles.
For a game of this vintage, the strategy boils down to a satisfying choice between two paths. You can play the patient game — build up your bonus and bonus multiplier off the upper drop targets, then cash it all in at the saucer for a tidy haul. Or you can chase the spinner game: push your bonus to ten thousand, which lights the spinner for a thousand points per spin, then ride that spinner for all it’s worth. Both lines are valid, and the better players read the machine in front of them to decide which to favor — that little strategic fork is exactly the kind of decision-making that makes even simple early games rewarding to master.
Nugent is a snapshot of pinball’s late-’70s flirtation with rock-star branding, the era when slapping a famous face on the glass was a sure draw on the arcade floor. It’s not a deep machine, but it’s a clean, quick, honest one, and that free-ball return lane gives it a little extra personality. For the collector who loves the dawn of solid-state and a good rock-and-roll story, it’s a fun, scarce footnote worth a few credits. Build the bonus, light the spinner, and let it wail.