Few machines crank the volume like Stern’s AC/DC, Steve Ritchie’s thunderous tribute to the rock titans — and this LUCI Vault Edition is a 2018 re-release of the game that marked Ritchie’s celebrated return to Stern in 2012. The Master of Flow built a stage worthy of the band, anchored by a swinging bell with a pinball mounted on it, a TNT detonator with a moving handle, a rotating ball cannon, and a lower mini-playfield, all backed by a setlist of AC/DC’s biggest anthems.
The scoring is a jukebox of strategy. Every multiball — Tour, Jam, and Album — is launched off the right ramp, while the cannon lets you aim at the bell or the AC/DC targets. Veterans treat the bell as a points engine, shooting it to ignite stacked 2X and 3X scoring windows, and lean on song selection: pick “Hells Bells” and alternate the bell with everything else for a reliable big game. The “Hell”-titled songs even drop the ball down to the mini-playfield on the Premium and LE versions.
There’s depth everywhere, from the Devil’s Horns shot sequence to combo-counting that lights extra balls, to inlane and outlane multipliers that double your shots and end-of-ball bonus. A super skill shot — plunging and holding the right flipper to swing the ball around to any of the five major shots — sets the tone for a player in control. Loud, deep, and gloriously brash, the AC/DC LUCI Vault Edition is Ritchie and rock and roll in perfect, ear-splitting harmony.