Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Pinball was suffering in the late 1990s. Home gaming consoles dominated households. In the decades that preceded the 90s, people ate at home and went out for entertainment; society was changing. As a result, arcades suffered. Pinball needed something to jump-start sales. They needed to draw in a new video game that would engage youth. Pinball...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 16
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Barry Oursler is a William institution. As a designer he kept the line going at Williams during the massive decline that the coin op industry experienced in the early 1980s. He designed 35 games including Space Shuttle, which ‘saved pinball.’ During the decade after Space Shuttle, Barry continued to design and collectively sold over 135,000 p...
Jun 19, 2021•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 15
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: George Gomez has created some of the most well-received pinball machines our hobby has ever seen. He got his big break with Williams Pinball, but the current Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of Stern Pinball had a big career before the silverball. His mixture of experience prior to pinball built his unique style of pinball ...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 14
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Pat Lawlor has a demeanor that has rubbed some the wrong way over the years. Let’s face it: as a designer, you need to get strong personalities in line, meet corporate deadlines, push your creative vision to the edge, and have confidence in yourself that your product design will sell. Maybe part of that reputation was created in his early car...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 13
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Summary Episode: By the early 1980s, Pinball was dying. Sales in Pinball fell from peaks of 9-10,000 units to 900 units in 2 years. Video was on an upward trend, and that is where the coin op industry began to focus. Only 1 full-time designer remained at Williams by 1982, Barry Oursler. To help fill in the production line, some of the designers from the late ...
Mar 14, 2021•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 12
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Dwight is one of pinball programming’s most important figures. Throughout the 1990s, Dwight worked on some of the best-selling games of all time, added a level of polish not seen before, and brought a new level of fun and uniqueness that continues to influence programmers today. Have fun this month, where we chat about ‘Dwight Speak’, Riverbo...
Jan 30, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 11
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Pat Lawlor is a pinball statesman. He has a long, lumbering, and detailed way of explaining himself. This deep and controlled thought process is why Pat’s pinball designs and mechanical toys are so detailed and dedicated to being exciting. Some would call Pat a pinball academic, others say he’s a prickly fella. Join us this month where we tal...
Dec 26, 2020•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 10
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: John Borg, affectionately known as ‘Borgie’, entered the industry as a mechanical engineer building ramps and ended up being a designer on some of the fondest remembered nostalgia pins of the 1990s. Join Ron and Dave as they chat about Borgie got to hang out with movie stars, review some cool mechs, discuss Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman, desig...
Nov 18, 2020•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 9
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: David and Ron are going to finish what they started last month. As mentioned in the previous podcast, from 1975 to 1980, Bally was breaking sales records. It seemed that Paul Faris’s art team could do no wrong, but by 1981, the gaming industry’s footing was feeling shaky. In an effort to hold ground and boost sales, Bally pushed out some of t...
Oct 16, 2020•2 hr 21 min•Ep. 8
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: David and Ron are here again this month to use an audio medium to talk about visual art… will it work? Art sells Pinball machines. There was no better team ever in pinball than the Art Team at Bally. From 1975 until Bally was sold to Midway in 1983, an eclectic, creative, and dedicated team of artists made some of the best art pinball had eve...
Sep 04, 2020•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 7
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Join David and Ron this week as they ride on a dirt bike made of quarters and fueled with pinball players’ tears with Steve Ritchie. Through this awesome time in pinball, the bestselling designer ever, continued to build his legacy and, as you’ll see in this episode, redefined pinball as the industry struggled to survive. Come listen to Steve...
Jul 31, 2020•2 hr 10 min•Ep. 6
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Gottlieb was a giant in the pinball industry. Some would say that they created more fun in the Electro-Mechanical era than all the other manufacturers combined. When the sea change of the Solid-State Era appeared on the horizon, Gottlieb, the industry giant, began stepping on rakes and never fully recovered. Come hang out with a slightly bitt...
Jun 26, 2020•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 5
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Python Anghelo was an eccentric, passionate, charming, classically educated, combative, spiteful, and caring individual. He gave his all for pinball. Python is a guy who added social commentary to his back-glass art, added Easter eggs to his work, drank a lot, fought with leadership over creating unique worlds under glass. Python burned bridg...
Jun 26, 2020•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 4
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: e all been from the early solid-state era. The late 70s and early 80s was when the industry went through some of its largest shifts, we call that ‘disruption’ nowadays. The exit of electro-mechanical pinball and the entrance of solid-state was a watershed moment in the hobby. Some companies excelled in the new market, and some fell almost imm...
Jun 26, 2020•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 3
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary Before Stern Pinball Inc., which dominates the pinball landscape today, there was Stern Electronics, our second episode’s topic. We cover where Stern Electronics came from, Sam and Gary Stern’s early years, Dave mispronouncing names, the change from electro-mechanical pinball to solid state, the sketchiness around that transition, legendary de...
Jun 26, 2020•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 2
Want to Support the Show? Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc Episode Summary: Our topic this week, he's nicknamed the King of Flow, the bestselling pinball designer of all time, my favorite designer, and the reason why you know or will know what Meniere’s Disease is: Steve Ritchie. This episode reviews the early life of Steve Ritchie until his first break from pinball in 1982 which includes his early life, how he becam...
Jun 26, 2020•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 1
