Stern Pro vs Premium Pinball: Which Should You Buy?
If you have priced a new Stern pinball machine lately, you already know the moment that stops you. The Pro sits at $6,999. The Premium of the same title sits $2,500 or $2,700 higher. Same theme, same artwork, same music, and a price gap that would buy you a second machine in most other categories.
So what does that money actually buy? Not more of the same. On almost every title it buys motion: toys that move instead of sitting still, ramps that divert, magnets that grab, and mechanisms that physically change what the ball does. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on the title and on who is going to play the machine.
This guide breaks it down honestly. Every title we stock gets its own side by side comparison, so you can see exactly what the extra money buys on the machine you actually want.
In a hurry? Skip to the TLDR for the whole range on one screen.
1. The price gap, and what it actually buys
Stern builds most titles in three editions: Pro, Premium and Limited Edition. The Pro is the full game. It has the complete rule set, the same code, the same display, the same music and speech, and it plays the same modes. Nobody is selling you a cut-down experience at the entry point.
What the Premium adds is almost always physical. A figure that moves under motor control rather than standing still. A ramp that diverts the ball somewhere new. A magnet that catches and throws. An upper playfield with its own flippers. These are mechanisms, and mechanisms cost money to design, build and service.
Across the Stern machines we currently stock, the pricing is remarkably uniform. Every Pro is $6,999. Most Premiums are $9,499, and five sit at $9,699. That puts the step up at $2,500 on the majority of titles and $2,700 on Dungeons & Dragons, King Kong, Metallica Remastered, Pokémon and Transformers.
What the Premium does not add is worth saying plainly. It does not add rules, modes or code. It does not make the game deeper on the software side. If your interest is the rule set, the Pro gives you all of it.
2. Every title, Pro against Premium
This is the part worth bookmarking. Every Stern title we stock appears below with its own comparison, so you can jump straight to the game you want from the contents above and ignore the rest.
Every feature listed comes from that title's own Stern feature matrix. Shared features are left out, because on every machine the shared part is the large majority of the game.
2.1 Avengers Infinity Quest
Both editions put Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet on the playfield. The difference is what happens when the ball reaches Dr. Strange.
On the Avengers Infinity Quest Pro, the Dr. Strange sling ring is a kinetic spinning disc. It moves, and it redirects the ball, but it stays on the surface of the playfield.
The Avengers Infinity Quest Premium turns that disc into a motorised pop-up scoop that lifts and carries pinballs down into an underground portal. Underneath sits a visible subway with custom playfield windows and RGB lighting, capable of holding and staging up to three balls before it spits them back out.
That is the whole case for this one. If watching balls stack up behind a window before a multiball appeals to you, the Premium earns it. If not, the Pro plays the same rule set.
2.2 Deadpool
Deadpool is one of the widest gaps in the range, and most of it is extra hardware bolted to the playfield.
The Deadpool Pro spells D-E-A-D-P-O-O-L with stand-up targets. The Deadpool Premium replaces them with two four-bank drop targets, which is eight additional drop targets and a genuinely different shot.
The Premium also adds a motorised disco ball with its own illumination effect, custom moulded Wolverine and Dazzler action figures each with a spotlight, and a Chimichanga Truck Time Machine. A left orbit shot feeds the right flipper through an actuated up and down ramp that the Pro does not have.
For a machine whose appeal is comic book spectacle, the Premium leans hard into it.
2.3 Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye
Both editions give you Rath the Relentless, the custom sculpted red dragon that shoots pinballs back at you.
On the Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye Pro, Rath has vertical movement, detects hits and has illuminated eyes. He is a real mechanism, not a static prop.
The Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eye Premium upgrades him to full animatronic with multi-axis motion and omnidirectional impact sensing, so he registers hits from any direction and moves accordingly.
Three further mechanisms appear only on the Premium, and they work together rather than separately. A dragon diverter feeds the ball toward Rath. The Rising Dungeon captures the ball and takes it down into the depths for Dungeon Crawl mode. The Dragon's Lair is a custom backlit cave sculpture that turns the upper playfield into an actual lair.
2.4 Foo Fighters
The Foo Fighters Premium adds a second storey, which is the single biggest structural change available anywhere in the range.
The Foo Fighters Premium carries an Area 51 upper playfield built around a custom vac-form building, with two loops, a spinning target, three stand-up targets and its own diverter. The Foo Fighters Pro plays entirely on the main playfield.
The Premium also adds an alien abduction feature with an electro-magnet hidden beneath the Overlord Arena, and a Deadpost outlane ball save that lets you rescue a ball that would otherwise drain.
An outlane save is worth more than it sounds. On a machine this fast, it changes how long an average game lasts.
2.5 Godzilla
Godzilla is widely held to be one of the best modern pinball machines ever built, and the Premium is where its centrepiece comes alive.
The Godzilla Premium has a motorised skyscraper that collapses, diverting pinballs through five storeys and locking three balls on its roof. The Godzilla Pro has the building, but it does not come apart.
The Premium adds an animated breakaway bridge ramp that can divert balls back to the flipper or straight onto the playfield during Bridge Attack multiball. Mechagodzilla gains a motorised three-bank target set that rotates to reveal a spinner and a jump ramp.
All models share the Magna Grab magnetic newton ball, the six main multiballs and the Blue Oyster Cult title track, so the Pro is far from a lesser game.
2.6 Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast
This is one of the narrowest gaps in the range, and worth knowing before you spend.
The Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast Premium adds a laser-cut stainless steel centre Jump ramp that opens up to reveal the Underworld scoop beneath it. The Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast Pro does not have that reveal.
Beyond that the two are closely matched. Both carry the four flippers, the three-bank Trooper drop targets and the twelve selectable Iron Maiden tracks. If you want this title, the Pro is the value buy.
2.7 James Bond 007
The difference here is one toy, but it is the toy the whole machine is built around.
On the James Bond 007 Pro, Bond's jetpack is an illustrated plastic. On the James Bond 007 Premium it is a custom sculpted, fully decorated James Bond figure with a working jetpack that magnetically grabs pinballs and transports them across the playfield.
Both editions share the Aston Martin DB5 with its ball-ejecting seat, the Osato Chemicals drop targets and the Bird One volcano multiball. The Premium simply gives Bond himself something to do.
2.8 JAWS
JAWS is another Keith Elwin design, and the Premium follows the same pattern as his other games: an upper playfield and a motorised centrepiece.
The JAWS Premium adds a motorised Shark Fin target and an Orca upper playfield complete with a Lookout Tower ramp, a horizontal ship's wheel spinner and a Radio stand-up target. The JAWS Pro has none of that second level.
Both editions carry the film footage from all four movies, Richard Dreyfuss's custom speech and the John Williams theme, so the atmosphere is identical. What you are buying is the extra deck.
2.9 John Wick
John Wick splits cleanly, and unusually the Pro keeps a feature of its own.
The John Wick Premium adds a motorised Blood Oath Marker with an illuminated reveal, a physical Deconsecrated ball lock fed by a centre ramp diverter, and a sculpted Weapons Crate target that opens for weapons retrieval.
The John Wick Pro accesses the Red Circle Club through a drop target entrance and carries an optical spinning muscle car target. Those are Pro features, not omissions.
Both run Stern's dynamic AI game mode system, the four films of footage and Ian McShane's custom dialogue.
2.10 Jurassic Park
The T. rex is the reason to look at the Premium here, and it is not a subtle difference.
On the Jurassic Park Premium the T. rex is animatronic. It eats the ball and throws it. On the Jurassic Park Pro it is a sculpted figure that does not.
The Premium also adds a motorised gate and ball lock in the Raptor Pen, mosquito-in-amber pop bumper caps, and a metal horizontal helicopter spinner.
Both editions share the spinning kinetic Jungle Explorer vehicle, the three flippers and the four ramps, which is a lot of machine before you add anything.
2.11 King Kong: Myth of Terror Island
This is the widest gap of any title we stock, and the easiest to see standing at the machine.
On the King Kong: Myth of Terror Island Pro, Kong is a custom sculpted static figure. He looks the part and he does not move. On the King Kong: Myth of Terror Island Premium, Kong reacts to player action through animatronic animation software, swinging his arms and torso during play.
The Gong differs too. The Pro has an entrance housed in decorated plastic leading into Kong's up kicker. The Premium gives you a kinetic Gong bash toy inside a sculpted temple. The Premium then adds an elevated New York City train car ball lock, fed by a middle ramp diverter, which Kong physically destroys and flips over to start King Kong Multiball.
Its biplane is a sculpted toy where the Pro uses multilayered decorated plastic, and the plastic bottom arch becomes powder-coated steel.
2.12 Pokémon
Pokémon has the tidiest difference of any title here, and it comes down to two toys.
On the Pokémon Pro, Pikachu is a static toy with custom recorded speech, and the Poké Ball is an RGB illuminated static piece with a ball stop post on the left ramp.
On the Pokémon Premium, Pikachu becomes animatronic and reacts to playfield action with movement as well as speech, and the Poké Ball becomes an animatronic ball lock with RGB illumination.
For a family game room where a reacting Pikachu is the whole appeal, that may be the easiest yes on this page. For a player focused on shots and scoring, the Pro gives you the same arena magnet and the same rules.
2.13 Rush
Rush hides its Premium upgrade inside the drop targets, which makes it easy to overlook.
The Rush Premium adds a motorised ramp with custom lighting effects, and a custom sculpted Clockwork Angels clock that illuminates and strikes midnight to trigger its mode.
It also adds a subway for locking pinballs, and the three-bank musical drop targets conceal a secret ball lock that starts Freewill Multiball. None of that exists on the Rush Pro.
Both editions carry the same sixteen Rush tracks, which for most buyers of this title is the main event.
2.14 Star Wars
The 2017 Star Wars splits on its two most famous props.
The Star Wars Premium carries sculpted, LED-lit Millennium Falcon and TIE Fighter models, an interactive moulded Exploding Death Star with a nine LED Super Laser Array and internal illumination, and a Hyperdrive Accelerator.
The Star Wars Pro has a moulded static Death Star toy that lights up for the explosion simulation with nine green Super Laser LEDs, but it does not open up, and the Falcon and TIE Fighter sculpts are absent.
Both share the original John Williams music, the 400 HD video scenes and the centre-mounted playfield display.
2.15 Stranger Things
Stranger Things has the most unusual Premium feature in the whole Stern range.
The Stranger Things Premium carries a video projector, a first in pinball, that throws images and animations directly onto the playfield, the ramps and the targets. The Stranger Things Pro has no projector at all.
The Premium also adds the Eleven Telekinesis magnetic ball lock, which holds balls in mid-air against gravity before releasing them into multiball.
Of every title on this page, this is the one where a photograph does the Premium the least justice.
2.16 The Mandalorian
Both editions have an Encounter mini playfield. Only one of them moves.
The The Mandalorian Pro has a static Encounter mini playfield with one flipper and six stand-up targets. The The Mandalorian Premium makes that mini playfield rotate under motor control and gives it two full-size flippers.
The Premium also adds a diverter on the left ramp that transports the ball up to the mini playfield, so it is fed deliberately rather than reached by chance.
Grogu's Force magnet, which catches and throws the ball down the C-H-I-L-D lanes, is on both.
2.17 The Uncanny X-Men
Alongside King Kong and Godzilla, this is the other end of the scale. The gap is small.
The The Uncanny X-Men Premium adds a Beast Lab elevated captive ball vari-target, which introduces a skill-based shot the The Uncanny X-Men Pro does not have.
Everything else is shared, including the motorised destructible Sentinel head bash toy, Magneto's Magnet, the Cerebro ball lock and the Highway ramp diverter. On this title the Pro is a great deal.
2.18 Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye
Megatron is the dividing line on Transformers.
The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Pro has a static Megatron robot toy that starts missions with custom recorded speech by Frank Welker. The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Premium makes that Megatron animatronic, with a fusion cannon that rotates and fires pinballs back at you.
Soundwave gains a working cassette deck that physically locks balls and ejects them. Grimlock, who is artwork on the Pro, becomes a custom sculpted Dinobot toy with targets that start Dinobot side missions. A right ramp diverter loads the fusion cannon.
Both editions share Optimus Prime as a sculpted bash toy with Peter Cullen's voice, the Energon optical spinner and the Bumblebee captive ball.
2.19 Venom
Venom's Premium changes the shape of the playfield itself, which is rare.
The Venom Premium adds left and right vertical symbiote containment vessels, each stacking up to three balls and returning them fast from many different shots. The Venom Pro has neither.
The Premium's Agro Lab shot mechanically changes between four different pathways, so the same shot does different things at different times. It also adds a custom sculpted Carnage captive ball you bash back into the Ravencroft Institute.
Both editions let you choose your host, which changes the physical layout of play, and both carry the twenty-plus characters from the Venom corner of the Marvel universe.
2.20 Elvira's House of Horrors
There is no Pro to compare here. We stock Elvira's House of Horrors as a Premium only, so the decision is simply whether you want the machine.
The Elvira's House of Horrors Premium is the edition to look at, and there is no upgrade decision to make. It carries the interactive haunted mansion with its motorised spinning attic turret, the Junk in the Trunk ball lock, four kinetic Jumpin' Gar-Goil targets and exclusive filmed video of Cassandra Peterson as Elvira, which was a pinball first.
2.21 Metallica Remastered
Metallica Remastered is also Premium only in our range, so there is no Pro against which to weigh it.
The Metallica Remastered Premium is the edition to look at, and there is no upgrade decision to make. The remaster adds two new game modes, Hardwired and 72 Seasons, and a Blackened wizard mode multiball on top of the original game. Sparky's electric chair remains the centrepiece, alongside the coffin ball lock, the grave marker and over twenty selectable tracks.
3. TLDR: every Premium upgrade at a glance
If you skipped ahead, here is the whole range on one screen. Each row lists only what that title's Premium adds over its Pro. Tap any title to go straight to that Premium.
| Title | Premium exclusive additions |
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Avengers Infinity Quest ProVS Premium
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Deadpool ProVS Premium
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Dungeons & Dragons ProVS Premium
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Foo Fighters ProVS Premium
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Godzilla ProVS Premium
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Iron Maiden ProVS Premium
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James Bond 007 ProVS Premium
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JAWS ProVS Premium
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John Wick ProVS Premium
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Jurassic Park ProVS Premium
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King Kong ProVS Premium
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Pokémon ProVS Premium
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Rush ProVS Premium
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Star Wars ProVS Premium
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Stranger Things ProVS Premium
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The Mandalorian ProVS Premium
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The Uncanny X-Men ProVS Premium
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Transformers ProVS Premium
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Venom ProVS Premium
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Read down the list and a pattern appears. The strongest cases are the titles where the Premium changes where the ball goes: King Kong, Godzilla, Jurassic Park, The Mandalorian, Stranger Things and Star Wars all gain a mechanism that opens up shots the Pro does not have. The lighter cases, such as Iron Maiden and The Uncanny X-Men, add a single feature for the same money.
Two titles are missing from that table on purpose. We stock Elvira's House of Horrors and Metallica Remastered as Premiums only, so there is no Pro alongside them to compare against.
Prices quoted here are correct as of 1 September 2026 and are subject to change. Every current Pro is $6,999. Premiums are $9,499 except Dungeons & Dragons, King Kong, Metallica Remastered, Pokémon and Transformers at $9,699.
4. Which tier should you buy?
Strip away the theme and the answer usually comes down to two questions: who is standing at the machine, and how long it needs to stay interesting.
Buy the Premium
Guests must be retained and impressed, spectacle matters, and the specific title gains a mechanism that changes where the ball goes.
Buy the Pro
You are chasing the rule set, you want the theme in the room, or the $2,500 is better spent on a second product.
One argument deserves retiring. The idea that the Premium is automatically the safer purchase because it holds value better gets repeated constantly, usually without a source. We are not going to put a number on resale here, because we do not have data we trust enough to publish. Buy the machine you want to play.
Does the Pro have fewer game modes than the Premium?›
No. Both editions run the same code and the same rule set, so the modes, scoring and wizard modes are identical. The differences are physical features on the playfield and cabinet.
Is the Premium harder to maintain?›
It has more moving parts, so there is simply more that can eventually need attention. Stern supplies a full service and operation manual with every machine, and both editions run the same electronics platform.
Can I add Premium features to a Pro later?›
Not the mechanisms. Motorised toys, diverters and ball locks are built into the playfield during manufacture. Some lighting and speaker upgrades are sold as accessory kits that fit either edition.
Do Pro and Premium take up the same space?›
Yes. Every current Stern measures 78 inches high with the leg levelers extended, 27.75 inches wide and 57 inches deep, and Stern asks for 80 by 36 by 84 inches of room clearance.
Why are five Premiums $9,699 instead of $9,499?›
Those are the newest titles in the range: Dungeons & Dragons, King Kong, Metallica Remastered, Pokémon and Transformers. Pricing for a title is set at launch and older titles have not been repriced.
5. Conclusion
The gap between a Stern Pro and a Premium is $2,500 on most titles and $2,700 on the five newest, and what it buys is motion. Animatronic figures, diverters, magnets, ball locks and upper playfields. It does not buy extra rules, because the code is the same on both.
That makes this a title-by-title decision rather than a blanket one. On King Kong, Godzilla, Jurassic Park and The Mandalorian the Premium genuinely changes how the ball moves. On lighter titles the upgrade is a single feature, and the Pro is the better value. The Limited Edition sits above both, but with capped runs and heavy allocation, the Premium is the highest tier most buyers can actually count on.
If you are still deciding, browse the full range of pinball machines and compare the two editions of the title you want side by side. The feature matrix for every Stern game is linked on its product page, straight from the manufacturer.
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