Stars

'Stars' is one of two 4-player games made by Stern Electronics that has a switch setting to convert the game to 2-player operation. This is accomplished by setting CPU Switch 25 to its OFF position. Designer Mike Kubin tells us that there were certain markets that wanted only 2-player games, although he could not recall which countries they were. Because the 3rd and 4th player score displays would be disabled for this, and likely were not even installed, Stern made a special 2-player backglass for these games. We do not know how many games were shipped with the 2-player backglass. Stern discontinued the 2-player CPU option in subsequent games. The game that preceded this one in production, Stingray, is the other game that had this option, and a 2-player backglass can be seen in that listing. Interestingly, Service Bulletin #8 states that Switch 27 should be set to ON because when set to OFF it will only put one player up, suggesting trouble-free single-player operation. The game manual lists Switch 27 as Not Used. We don�t know the effect this Switch 27, when set to OFF, has on Switch 25 or on any other game operation. Stern programmer Alan McNeil told us that the mini-post screw between the flippers was known as a Kirk Post (for designer Steve Kirk). The Early Production game shown here has a yellow cabinet and uses three bolts, not four, to mount the backbox to the lower cabinet. Duncan Brown told us that Steve Kirk explained to him that he placed his personal design number on the backglass of every one of his games (in the order in which they were designed). Here are the ones we know: Stars has SK-1 on the jet wing. Nine Ball has SK-3 on the wizard�s cap. Meteor has SK-5 on one of the rockets. Pinstar's Gamatron has SK-9 on a launching rocket. The prototype game, Ramp Warrior, has SK-13 on the truck's license plate while the production game, Truck Stop, shows this license plate laying crumpled in the street. We don't know what games belonged to SK-2, -4, -6, -7, -8, -10, -11, and SK-12. Manufacturer data for Stars: Production Start Date: 3/17/78 Production End Date: 6/27/78 Quantity produced: 5127