You can get one of 800 Star Trek machines from pinball wizard Gary Stern

LAS VEGAS — The future of tech often highlights the International CES. But among all the latest tech toys is a revival of a pastime from the days before video games. And that’s a good thing for Gary Stern, an old-school pinball gamer who has been making pinball machines for 66 years.

Above: Limited edition Star Trek pinball machine from Stern Pinball

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

His Stern Pinball, born in 1986, is still making pinball machines, including a new limited edition Star Trek version (reboot universe, not old-school, William Shatner Trek). The top 800 machines in the limited edition are available for $8,500.

And these machines aren’t just an old-fashioned piece of kitsch. There’s a retro interest in owning pinball machines in the living room. They bring back a style and physical feeling that you can’t get with a game console.

“Modern pinball machines are retro,” Stern said.

In the machine, you battle enemies Nero and Khan from the recent Star Trek reboot films. It has six missions and 18 mini-missions.

Stern’s father owned the pinball game company Williams, and that was where he got his start. Stern sold his firm to Sega in 1994 and then he bought it back in 1999. Here’s our interview with Stern at the 2014 International CES.