Another Awesome Innovation from Stern, the only maker of REAL pinball games on the planet!!*

* Depending, of course, on your definition of the words "only", "REAL", and "planet." For example, if you consider Chicago to be on a completely different planet from New Jersey and Spain, the above statement is true.

But let's dial down the snark to report on this awesome Transformers playfield shot that I saw on Pinball News this morning. The caption in the main article reads: "This appears to be a moving ramp which, when down, allows the ball between the model's legs, or deflects the ball upwards to strike Optimus Prime when raised." Look carefully at the angle and trajectory of this ramp, compared with this shot of the Megatron toy which shows the ramp down. I believe -- and this is purely conjecture -- that Stern may have created pinball's first nut shot.

This is big, pals 'n' gals. Really big. The only thing we can hope for is that the sound effect is a bell ringing followed by the Optimus Prime toy doubling over in pain.