Stern Pinball, Inc.
By 1999, the pinball industry was virtually dead and Williams, once the dominant leader in a healthy industry, stopped manufacturing pinball tables and focused on gambling devices as WMS Gaming. During the same year, Sega left the pinball industry and sold its pinball division, previously purchased from Data East in 1994, to Gary Stern, the son of Sam Stern. Gary Stern, who had been running Data East/Sega pinball since 1986, founded Stern Pinball, Inc. that same year and since then, the company has been the only manufacturer of original pinball tables in the world. Stern Pinball, Inc. is based in Melrose Park, Illinois.
Several Williams alumni, like pinball designers Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawlor, as well as George Gomez (who also works at Midway Games) and more recently, Dennis Nordman, are currently designing games for Stern Pinball. As of 2009, John Borg is head of the design department. He is known for designing Apollo 13, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and many others.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)