Stern game code names

General
1

UPDATED LIST 1/8/24 (added Jaws’ codename)

Game Codename Explanation/Notes
AC/DC Grinder The first game to have a codename.
Aerosmith Toys Refers to both "Toys in the Attic" (a famous album & song by the band) and the prominent toybox mechanism in the game itself. (Not to mention Jackie, a living jack-in-the-box.)
Avengers Peel Emma Peel is a character from The Avengers, a British TV show from the '60s that is unrelated to the movie this was based on outside of the name.
Avengers: Infinity Quest Watson This may be a roundabout reference to Doctor Strange's prominent role in the game. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he's played by Benedict Cumberpatch, who played the title character in the BBC series Sherlock.
Batman '66 Shark Most likely a reference to the infamous Bat-Shark Repellant scene from the 1966 Batman movie.
Beatles Purple Martin Quoting Wikipedia: "The purple martin [...] is the largest swallow in North America." Of course, in this context, it alludes to the band's producer, George Martin.
Black Knight: Sword of Rage Paris This may allude to Bennet du Paris (aka Exodus), a Marvel Comics character who was best friends with the Black Knight.
Deadpool Guy This may reference the movie Free Guy - while it came out in 2021, it was in production when the game released in 2018. Both that film and the Deadpool movies star Ryan Reynolds.
Elvira Curves If you know absolutely anything about Elvira, this should be pretty obvious.
Foo Fighters Falcon Likely a reference to the 1990 White Falcon, the guitar that frontman Dave Grohl used during the late '90s, including in the video for "Monkey Wrench." (It was put up for auction in 2022, a few months before the game was announced.)
Game of Thrones Politico Possibly a veiled reference to the complex political dynamics and turmoil between the kingdoms of Westeros in the source material.
Ghostbusters Harold A reference to the late Harold Ramis, who cowrote the first two films in addition to playing Egon.
Godzilla Spectre Spectres is the Blue Öyster Cult album that features the song "Godzilla" (which plays during various portions of the game).
Guardians of the Galaxy Furry Hats Presumably an allusion to Rocket Raccoon.
Iron Maiden Egypt A reference to the prominence of typical Egyptian imagery in the game's art and design (the sarcophagus lock, Mummy Multiball, and so on).
James Bond 007 Stick The verbs "bond" and "stick" have very similar meanings.
James Bond 007 60th Anniversary Twig Similar to "stick" (see above).
Jaws Hero
Jurassic Park Jaws Both are extremely popular movies directed by Steven Spielberg. It may more specifically reference the T. rex (either in general or the toy with a moving jaw).
Jurassic Park Home Minnow What a minnow is to a great white shark, this game is to Stern's original Jurassic Park.
KISS Star A reference to Paul Stanley, "the Starchild", whose facial makeup prominently featured a star.
Led Zeppelin Ranger
Mandalorian, The Jennie
Metallica James As in lead vocalist and founding member James Hetfield.
Munsters Grandpa As in Grandpa Munster.
Mustang Biscuit
Rush Finn Huckleberry Finn was introduced in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The codename references the famous Rush song "Tom Sawyer."
Star Trek Bill An allusion to William Shatner, who of course played the original Captain Kirk. (Not in the rebooted film series the game's based on, though.)
Star Wars Cinnabun, then Donut "Cinnabun" is presumably alluding to Leia's famous hairdo. "Donut" thematically fits with the previous codename, though its relevance to the theme is less clear.
Star Wars Home Munchkin Possibly refers to the machine's smaller size.
Stranger Things Goonies Both of these prominently feature adventurous children and are set in the 1980s (the latter by virtue of coming out then, obviously).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Jason Another indirect reference. Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th wears a hockey mask - much like Casey Jones, a side character from several different iterations of the TMNT.
Venom Chewie Possibly a reference to the prominent teeth on Venom (and other symbiote-bonded characters).
Walking Dead Dinner Time Zombies (or "walkers") eat people. Not much else to say there.
WWE Dudes This may be an extremely nondescript reference to the male wrestlers featured in the game.

UNKNOWN

  • Non-cornerstone games:
    • Heavy Metal
    • Pabst Can Crusher
    • Primus
    • Spider-Man Home
    • Supreme
    • Woah Nellie!
2 Likes
2

Goonies - Stranger Things

1 Like
3

now what was the other themes for some of them be for they changed them

4

found another…
Black Knight SOR - Paris

5

TMNT - Jason

2 Likes
6

Gomez just said avengers code name on Facebook so I assume it’s okay to say now - Watson

2 Likes
7

image

4 Likes
8

Oops

1 Like
9

haha now that’s a good one :wink:

10

Saw “Curves” behind Jack on the recent virtual tour when he’s standing in front of the playfields. Right next to Goonies.

11

I think that’s Elvira

12

curves is Elvira and goonies Stranger things.

13

I updated this list. Added a few, alphabetized them. And added a list of games with unknown code names.

1 Like
14

One more:

Guy - Deadpool

1 Like
15

I apologize in advance if this is redundant and/or extremely obvious, but I felt like compiling a list of connections between each game and their codename. Some of them escape me, but here’s all the ones I could identify (within reason):

Game Codename Explanation
Aerosmith Toys Refers to both "Toys in the Attic" (a famous album & song by the band) and the prominent toybox mechanism in the game itself. (Not to mention Jackie, a living jack-in-the-box.)
Avengers: Infinity Quest Watson I assume this is a roundabout reference to Doctor Strange's prominent role in the game. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he's played by Benedict Cumberpatch, who played the title character in the BBC series "Sherlock".
Batman '66 Shark Most likely a reference to the infamous Bat-Shark Repellant scene from the 1966 Batman movie.
Beatles Purple Martin Quoting Wikipedia: "The purple martin [...] is the largest swallow in North America." (I honestly didn't know this before I looked it up while typing this post.) Of course, in this context, it alludes to the band's producer, George Martin.
Elvira Curves I really don't think I need to explain this one.
Game of Thrones Politico I figure this is a veiled reference to the complex political dynamics and turmoil between the kingdoms of Westeros in the source material.
Ghostbusters Harold A reference to the late Harold Ramis, who cowrote the first two films and played Egon in them.
Guardians of the Galaxy Furry Hats Presumably alluding to Rocket Raccoon. (It's been a bit since I've seen the movie, so I don't know if there's a more specific reference being made here or if it's deliberately vague. The latter is more likely, since codenames obviously shouldn't give too much away.)
Iron Maiden Egypt A reference to the prominence of typical Egyptian imagery in the game's art and design (the sarcophagus lock, Mummy Multiball, and so on).
Jurassic Park Jaws Both are extremely popular movies directed by Steven Spielberg.
KISS Star A reference to Paul Stanley, "the Starchild", whose facial makeup prominently featured a star.
Metallica James As in lead vocalist and founding member James Hetfield.
Munsters Grandpa As in Grandpa Munster.
Star Trek Bill An allusion to William Shatner, who of course played the original Captain Kirk. (Not in the rebooted film series the game's based on, though.)
Star Wars Cinnabun, then Donut "Cinnabun" is presumably alluding to Leia's famous hairdo. I have no clue what "Donut" refers to, aside from thematically fitting the original codename.
Star Wars Home Munchkin I assume this refers to the machine's smaller size?
Stranger Things Goonies Both of these prominently feature adventurous children and are set in the 1980s (the latter by virtue of coming out then, obviously).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Jason Another indirect reference: Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th wears a hockey mask - much like Casey Jones, a side character from several different iterations of the TMNT.
Walking Dead Dinner Time Zombies (or "walkers") eat people. Not much else to say there.
WWE Dudes I assume this is an extremely nondescript reference to the male wrestlers featured in the game?
2 Likes
16

I always figured “Jaws” alluded to the Trex toy with a moving Jaw/the Trex in general.

17

Also, I feel like this post should really be the top post. But I guess this thread isn’t a wiki like the rulesheet pages, hey?

18

Just made the OP a wiki, should be able to mess around with formatting and add info to it now.

2 Likes
19

Thank you! I went ahead and copied a version of my table there (now featuring all the codenames that were there previously, as well as mentioning @Shaub’s suggestion about Jurassic Park).

20

According to this Pinside post, the recently-announced Pin version of Jurassic Park is codenamed “Minnow.” I updated the OP accordingly.

1 Like