Trident

The Trident, designed by Mike Kubin and released by Stern Electronics in March 1979, is a solid-state pinball machine built around a myth-and-legend theme, running on the Stern M-100 MPU. With 3,757 confirmed units produced, it was a solid commercial title during Stern's solid-state years.

Gameplay on Trident is anchored by four slingshots, two pop bumpers, five stand-up targets, a 5-bank drop target, two spinning targets, a star rollover, and a mini-post screw between the flippers - marketed by Stern's flyer as its exclusive "PLAY-MORE" post, though Trident was actually the fourth Stern game to use the feature rather than the first. An open-elbow inlane allows the ball to pass between inlane and outlane and back again, and there is no left outlane at all, creating a distinctive risk/reward flow to the game.

The playfield and backglass art features a green humanoid figure and octopus-like tentacles, created by an artist whose surname, "McInerney," is worked into the design on the man's leg and in the seaweed on the backglass. Early production playfields show the figure in flesh-tan tones rather than the green seen in the manufacturer's flyer, a detail collectors use to distinguish early-run machines from later production. As one of Stern's late-1970s solid-state offerings, Trident is a notable piece of pinball history from the era.