The Premium edition of Stern’s Stranger Things showcases the full ambition of Brian Eddy’s 2019 design — his first for Stern, from the legendary creator of Attack From Mars and Medieval Madness. Its headline feature is genuinely novel: a projector mounted beneath the lower apron casts images and animations onto the playfield’s ramps and targets, which sit white and blank when the machine is off, plus a magnetic ball lock that suspends balls eerily above the playfield surface. It’s a haunting effect perfectly suited to the supernatural world of Hawkins.
Beneath the spectacle is the same sharp ruleset. Striking each major shot three times over starts a mode, and qualifying all four trios unlocks the Total Isolation mini-wizard mode, while standups by the left ramp light locks for multiball and the lurking “Upside Down” turns the drop targets into a points bonanza. Building 2X scoring by looping the left inner loop ten times, then banking it at the scoop, is the route to a big game.
The signature wrinkle remains that one-per-game action button, which destroys the Demogorgon — but only if deployed before the ball counts as drained, making a well-timed save on a dying ball hugely valuable. Atmospheric, inventive, and beautifully eerie, the Stranger Things Premium turns a great Eddy design into a genuine visual showpiece.