By Todd Russell
One of my most want to play more, underplayed Stern Spike 2 pins to date, Keith Elwin designed Stern pins is Avengers: Infinity Quest. From my limited personal gameplay, watching gameplay and reading comments from others that have played it much more, it offers a pretty deep ruleset.
Seems like I’ve played more than what IC is telling me, in fact the number showing at the bottom of this post is more than the number showing in the current IC. What’s up with that, anyway? It’s only 3 plays different, but it harkens me back to Stern Horribly Upgrades Insider Connected – please revert!
This game came out before IC was a thing, right after TMNT in 2020. Elwin has remarked he feels this is his best design, which seems far-fetched when compared to such gems as Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Jaws and Iron Maiden.
Avengers IC the premium as of this publishing is selling for $7,000 median price on Pinside (https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/avengers-infinity-quest-premium), a fair drop from current new in box prices. This next to Bond 60th are games I’ll likely never buy, but never say never if the price drops low enough and come across one. Again, I would like to play it a lot more. Probably at some place with an all-you-can play for one price plan vs. coin in for each play.
Recently, a place up north in Des Moines, WA, Waterland Arcade (https://www.waterlandarcade.com/), converted to free play with a single admission price ($15 per person. $40 for 4 people).
I belong to several pinball-related Facebook/Meta groups and recently came across this interesting post from Daniel Brennon (link):
As far as Marvel pins go, the newest Marvel game from Jack Danger (see: The Uncanny X-Men (Stern 2024) Premium Detailed Thoughts after Flipping On Location) seems to be getting the most buzz at the moment. People are upset, par for the course, about the code. Pinfolk naturally swarm to the newest game. Being even newer, Metallica: Remastered and D&D have overshadowed that somewhat. The almost relentless release schedule of new Stern pins means whatever is new, won’t be new long.
And, presumably, there will be another new cornerstone from Stern being announced in Q2 2025? Perhaps shortly after TPF (We will be at Texas Pinball Festival on Saturday March 22, 2025, Are you Attending?). Most of the rumor mill seems to point to another Elwin monster pin: King Kong. Will that happen? Something tells me it’s time for another George Gomez game, as it’s been awhile since something has come out new from him (Bond was his last release). Maybe we’ll get whatever that is as the first Spike 3.
But back to Avengers: IC. Is this game underappreciated? Is it better than public perception? Even I have ranked this game toward the bottom of Elwin’s pins to date, but that might be unfair (Still #11 of 26 in 2024 Ranking All 26 Spike 2 Stern Pinball Machines and #5 in 2023 PGM rankings). I don’t think Avengers: IC is better than Godzilla and Iron Maiden. I’m willing to explore it more through repeated play to see how it stacks against Jurassic Park and Jaws. I’m not much of a Bond 60th fan and think that’s easily Elwin’s worst designed pin, so Avengers: IC will likely always rank above that, unless that game somehow catches me.
Here are the stats from a couple months ago, different slightly in play count from what’s showing in IC as of publishing.
What do you think of Avengers: IC? Let us know in the comments. What do you like and dislike about the game? Have you not played it enough, like me? Any other tips you might offer to newbs and novice players to the game?