Striker Xtreme

Striker Xtreme, designed by Joe Balcer, was the first pinball machine designed entirely in-house by the newly formed Stern Pinball, Incorporated, released in January 2000. Built around a soccer theme (its pre-production working title was reportedly "Soccer Explosion 2000"), the game runs on the Sega/Stern Whitestar platform.

The centerpiece of the playfield is a toy rotating goalie that can "catch" the ball, adding a themed skill element to the soccer-based gameplay. The cabinet was advertised at 54 inches long, 28 inches wide, and 78 inches high, weighing around 250 pounds. Notably, the Union Flag depicted on the playfield -- often assumed to represent England alone -- is actually the flag of the United Kingdom as a whole.

Striker Xtreme did not have a long production run, and Stern later reused much of its underlying design for a football-themed machine, NFL, released in 2001. For collectors, Striker Xtreme stands out as an example of a soccer-themed pinball machine and as a piece of Stern Pinball's earliest history as a standalone manufacturer.