{"id":71224,"date":"2014-02-05T09:31:47","date_gmt":"2014-02-05T14:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=71224"},"modified":"2014-02-05T09:31:47","modified_gmt":"2014-02-05T14:31:47","slug":"mustang-celebrates-turning-50-with-new-pinball-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2014\/02\/mustang-celebrates-turning-50-with-new-pinball-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Mustang Celebrates Turning 50 with New Pinball Games"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The 2015 Ford Mustang launch will be paired with the debut of three Mustang-themed pinball machines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Visitors to this month\u2019s Chicago Auto Show will get a chance to test out the new 2015 Ford Mustang \u2013 at least the pinball version of the all-new pony car.<\/p>\n

Ford has teamed up with Chicago-based Stern Pinball, one of the few surviving manufacturers of pinball machines, which has used the Mustang as the theme for three new games it is launching this year.<\/p>\n

The games will celebrate not just the new Mustang but classic machine like the Boss 302, Boss 351 and Boss 429.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
No Games!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“For five decades, Mustang has represented some of the best of American culture, inspiring a feeling of freedom and independence for people around the world,” says Steve Ling, Ford car marketing manager, in a statement. “We’re excited to have Stern Pinball join us here in its hometown of Chicago with its brand-new games featuring Mustang.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Table art for the new Mustang games was designed by former Ford stylist Camilo Pardo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ford\u2019s Ling isn\u2019t the only one excited about the project. It turns out that George Gomez, Stern\u2019s executive vice president of game design, has been a lifelong fan of the pony car. In fact, his first set of wheels was a 1970 Mustang with a 302, and he reveals he is currently restoring a 1969 Mach 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn designing these new games, we wanted to celebrate the freedom and fun of driving Mustang,\u201d says Gomez.<\/p>\n

The art for the new games, incidentally, was provided by Camilo Pardo, a former Ford automotive designer whose works include the Ford GT.<\/p>\n

The choice of unveiling the trio of Mustang pinball games in Chicago was logical considering the Windy City\u2019s long association with the machines.\u00a0 Not only Stern but manufacturers Chicago Coin, Bally and Williams also hailed from the Midwest city.<\/p>\n

In recent years, pinball has become something of a dinosaur as more young gamers turn to video alternatives \u2013 but there\u2019s still a solid group of loyalists that has helped a few game makers survive. However, the machines are quite different today, blending both traditional mechanical functions with faster-paced video elements.<\/p>\n

(Automakers see January sales go into deep freeze. For more, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mustang games let players \u201cgo racing,\u201d and build up a collection of their own Mustangs. Score the right combination and you can work your way up or down the gears \u2013 accompanied by the classic sounds of revving Boss V-8s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of pinball is that there is no set outcome, and it can\u2019t be programmed like a video game,\u201d says Gary Stern, founder of Stern Pinball. \u201cThat makes pinball a perfect match for Mustang, taking drivers anywhere they want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to see how Ford plans to prove aluminum is Built Ford Tough.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually not the first time Mustang has \u201cstarred\u201d in a pinball game. Chicago Coin introduced the first back in 1964, following the launch of the original coupe at the NY World\u2019s Fair. Gottlieb put out another two-player game in 1977. Those game makers, Bally and Williams have all vanished, however, leaving Stern the only American producer of pinball today.<\/p>\n

(To see how Super Bowl auto ads sent buyers online, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Journalists who attend this year\u2019s Chicago Auto Show will get a demonstration of how to play the new games, incidentally, during a Friday competition at the McCormick convention center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone visiting this month’s Chicago Auto Show may have a chance to test the new 2015 Ford Mustang…well, at least the pinball machine version of the iconic pony car. Ford teamed with Chicago-based Stern Pinball to produce three new games this year. For all the details, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71224"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=71224"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=71224"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=71224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}