Getting the job

Wow, what an experience this was. You see, getting the job at Williams was a major achievement to me in the first place. I had been bouncing emails with Larry DeMar over usenet for a long time, and with his influence I got the internship. That was one of those 'Ode to Joy' moments.

I wasn't brought on as Pinball designer, of course, though that was my goal. No, since I was a mechanical engineer, I was doing, well, mechanical engineering. I was a closet computer guy, and quite honestly, had much more talent in software than mechanics, but I still hadn't made the leap I would make 6 years later. (funny, when I jumped into software I worried about maintaining my ME skills as if I'd need to go back! Too late now!) Anyway, a fellow named Jim Glass was my mentor, and he had me go through the Williams parts catalog to see if any of them could be manufactured in better ways...maybe using the latest powdered metal casting method, for example. This was kind of busywork, but Jim was very patient and I learned a thing of two.

Then, using my trusty AutoCad 2D skills, Jim had me do some sheet metal design. I redesigned the trough assembly to use fewer parts. Jim taught me a ton about doing mechanical drawings and sheet metal design that gained the respect of my machinists for years afterward. But I regret that I wasn't kinder to Jim, really. I was just so singularly focused on being a game designer that everything else was in the way. For example, one time, Jim had developed a new light bulb part which vibrated its way into the socket (vs. the old 'solder and staple' design). He got it implemented in the lightbox, but confidentially told me he was shooting to have it on the playfield next. Well, in a bid to win the respect of the game designers, I naturally told Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawlor, who, being purists like me, hated the idea as it would slightly restrict their real estate. Oops! Well at 20 years old you don't know what you don't know.

Doing the Design

Anyway, as my work for Jim started to drop off I resolved myself to design a game, figuring if I did a great design I could become a designer. So, I started working on it in my spare time, and even come in on weekends. This job was so fun (and, Pinball Overload hadn't set in yet) that working on the weekend was a pleasure. Every so often Steve Ritchie or Pat Lawlor or one of the other guys would drop a pearl of wisdom.

Now you have to understand the point in history when this game was designed. Williams had finished making Radical and Diner, neither of which were huge hits. The big noise was that 'Silver Slugger', designed by John Trudeau at Premier (aka Gottlieb/Mylstar) was out earning Diner and cost much less. They were so impressed by this, that they hired Trudeau immediately. And, the message seemed clear: we want inexpensive games. This was also the genesis of 'Harley Davidson' - a very austere game if you look at it. Harley Davidson, incidentally, was originally 'Poker Night'. Anyway, even though Pat Lawlor was just down the hall making Rudy and 'the clock' (which ended up on Twilight Zone, of course) come alive, and even though Dan Langlois' 'The Brain' (which would become Gilligan's Island) was sitting in the build up room, I thought it was smart to play it safe and come up with something inexpensive to manufacture. Hence, my game no expensive mechanisms. It had what I believed were the smoothest, most fun shots ever, would have great rules, and hopefully even art from Paul Faris (who as a huge fan I had gotten to know and had talked to about being the artist - though honestly I kind of doubt it would have happened as Williams paid a cadre of in-house guys). I mean, heck, with my dedication to pinball and the right instincts, how could you go wrong?

So, day after day I plugged away. Steve Ritchie had finished 'High Speed 2', but put it on hold to crank out 'Terminator 2' when the license suddenly came in. He did so at home, so he let me use his office (I had a noisy cube; he had a huge room with a door where I'd sit a bother him to no end). At one point I think I lost his favorite mechanical pencil, which while a plastic kind couldn't be found anymore. I don't think he ever forgave me. Anyway, I was having a great time.

Presenting it to the big wigs

At some point it was time to get decision makers involved. So, I presented it to VP Ken Fedesna, Wally Smaloucha (sp?) with Larry DeMar there for support. Wally clearly wanted to can it; he spouted off the costs. But I sold Ken on the idea, and he said I could go ahead with it. The idea was I'd finish it at college (unpaid), bring it back, and they'd build it.

And that's what I did...I brought back my print sometime in late fall, and by Christmastime Butch Ortega had scanned it in, and there was a whitewood (just the board) ready for me. But when I picked it up, Wally once again reared his angry head. First off, the board hadn't been sanded, so all the light inserts stuck out. Secondly, Wally, finding me in the factory picking up the board around Christmas, said he needed to get my ID card back and that this was the end.

Again, I appealed to Ken, who was once again was my champion. He came down and told Wally that I would retain my ID, that the board would get sanded, the shop would make my ramps, and assemble the game for me with the rest of the parts. Phew.

Tweaking

All this happened, and after New Year's 1991 I brought back to my apartment in Urbana my prototype. I had a Black Knight 2000 that Williams had sold to me for $200, part of their appreciation for the game design, I suppose. Anyway, I took out the BK2K, dropped in the prototype, wired up the flippers, and had at it. I blew a few transistors and got some board repair practice. It was fun to try the shots and gratifying to see that some worked. But it's not nearly as fun as playing a game, even a game in test mode, because none of the kickers work. I think I had planned to wire up the switches and coils so that the BK2K software would make it sort of playable, but I never got around to it.

Career?

Well, so graduation is coming in a few months, and it's time to decide where I'm going to work. Of course, all I wanted to do was to be a pinball designer. I mean, heck, you can go up to people in an arcade and point to your name on the playfield! Maybe even show them your driver's license! Seems kind of silly now, but of course the other half of it was I truly did love pinball. So, I hauled my somewhat tweaked game back up to Chicago, and prepared to get the verdict.

TILT!

When I got there, I came up with the getaway car mechanism (read below) on the spot either because someone said there was too much empty space, or because I (too late) realized one of the 2 things that contributed to the failure of my project. You see, while yes corporate was very excited about inexpensive games, a no-nonsense (albeit very fun) game is no way to get yourself hired as a pinball designer. To get you over the hump, you have to show them something which they don't want anyone else to have. Pat Lawlor did it with Bonsai Run, which must have cost Williams a ton of money with all its custom tooling and low production run. Still, it served its purpose.

But now, I can see clearly what happened. Here's management, looking at my game. There's no rotating brain. No talking head. Heck, we could whip this up ourselves any time. "Oh yes, these must be really very well laid out shots" they must have said to me. "But we have too many designers already, the industry is tight, etc.". Again, I learned a huge lesson. You must have some kind of paranoia-generating aspect to your value proposition. If you want to get acquired (which in effect was my goal), make sure you have some patents that a company wouldn't want to be locked out of by their competitor.

Well, that day was tough. I can't even really remember how the rejection was phrased. Steve and Pat were very understanding and pointed out the worst sides of their jobs to make me feel better. And indeed, this was before 'the last hoorah' when the pinball industry recovered and boomed. As a consolation, they said I could still apply to be a mechanical engineer. Then, later, I could work my way up as many had done. Well, I pursued this to some degree with the late, great head engineer Joe Joos, but the thrill just wasn't there to be an ME.

Going to the Dark Side

At this point, after shunning Data East Pinball (which became Sega) as any loyal Williams guy would do, I turned to the dark side and got in touch with Joe Kaminkow. Joe is really an amazing guy who had been 'the enemy' for so long that I regretted not having gotten to know him sooner. Anyway, Joe was happy to chat with me. "Desert Storm" had wreaked havoc with the economy, and I graduated with no job - at least for a couple months. In the meantime, Joe had me look at their blueprints, and see if I could drum up some kind of design for an Industrial Light and Magic game. It would combine the special effects and concepts from Willow, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I knew from my Williams tenure that Williams had an Indina Jones license option that had sat around. But it was fun to imagine perhaps a huge pinball rolling down a ramp. One suggestion that might have stuck: I said to Joe "Well, everyone like Rudy on Funhouse, why not do an R2D2 in the same fashion?". I never found out if 'R2' on the Star Wars game came from that inspiration or not.

Anyway, though for some reason I really wasn't in a panic to find a job, I started having thoughts beyond pinball as a career for the first time, and I ended up getting at a research company called Battelle. With "Desert Storm" I was lucky to get the job. But, the economy hit Battelle hard too, and it was slow there the first year or so. In frustration, and with Pinball still in my blood, and I kept in contact with Joe. There was even on Pinball Expo where I attended as a "Data East" exhibitor. Anyway, at some point, it came to a head, and I went up to Data East's factory for an interview. Joe picked me up in his Porsche 911. I remember that they had completed Jurassic Park and just hired Lyman Sheets.

Game Over

Back home, I was abuzz with thoughts and a brand new Atari Lynx I had decided I would buy after the interview. But when faced with taking the Data East job or sticking with Battelle, I took the latter. I distinctly recall one evening after work, standing in my kitchen talking with Joe with him wanting to get down to brass tacks about salary, when I could start, etc. But I found myself realizing that this just wasn't the right thing for me. And I was right, because Battelle was hugely edifying and exposed me to many more technologies and situations than Pinball ever would have!

And I didn't depart from pinball - I went on to buy, restore and sell over 100 of them, and in the process meet my closest friend, who introduced me to BSF International Bible Study, at which I met my wife!

Design features and notes about the prototype:

• This game was designed during the summer of 1990, and was built around Christmastime.

• I really tried to keep the playfield open. This, naturally, pushes everything to the top. But I had become convinced that a nice, open playfield made a great game. For example, while Indiana Jones is a great game, it puts most of the action below where you're constantly dealing with shots being deflected back at you. When you do get to the top, the ball takes forever to get back. Pat Lawlor was the wizard at striking a balance here.

• Anyway, one consequence of this is that I tossed out the bumpers. That was a bold move, and one that the other designers were skeptical about. The magic number of bumpers was 3, in their mind. 4 kind of works, like in Firepower, but really you want 3. Pat Lawlor loved bumpers, with 6 on Whirlwind and 5 on Addam's Family, but I never really saw the point of them.

• The theme of the game was a bank robbery. I struggled with the theme for a long time. At one time it was going to be some kind of subway game (tubes = ramps, right?) and I hit on the name 'Rapid Transit'. But somehow I convinced myself that it needed more escapism - a way to do something you'd always wanted to but never could. I never had a good title; "Sudden Withdrawl" had some weird connotations. Looking back, I kind of wonder why I would enjoy robbing a bank, and now can see how the years have shown that I was a bit overconfident in this idea. Then again, Pat Lawlor did his 'Safe Cracker' game. Then again, that game didn't do so well...

• Incidentally, another game idea I wanted to do was called 'Pinball Factory'. The centerpiece of the game would be a 'clone chamber' (yeah, they beat me to it in Space Invaders). Using mechanics, it'd look like one ball went into the chamber, then some magic factory stuff happened, then two balls came out. The climax of the game would be when the 'chamber' goes haywire, and a whole pile of balls would come out. This was before they changed the ball trough mechanism to handle > 3 balls (circa Indiana Jones). Judging by Apollo 13, maybe this wouldn't have been that much fun.

• Your goal, of course, was to open the safe and get away. I wanted to have the plunger resemble a detonator handle. You'd pull back and let go to blow the safe.

• The 'freeway' shot (the around the back loop, immortalized on High Speed) has a slight curve to it along the back. This is how Pat Lawlor did his ball guide on Whirlwind, and it works better than the 'straight across the back' thing on High Speed

• Also on the freeway shot, note I have a pair of opposed arrows on each side. The idea was, when you were supposed to shoot the right lane the right side up arrow and left side down arrows would light to emphasize the loop shot.

• The upper right flipper was eventually removed. Designing it on paper is one thing. But when the ramps have to stack in 3D, that's another. I don't know how the other ramp would have ever fit. Anyway, at the last moment as I was scrambling to make the game more complicated (when I learned too late that practical, cheap and fun was no way to get in the business) I replaced it with a drop down getaway car mechanism. Idea was, once you got the loot, you would need to make this (fairly easy) shot. It was more or less a box with one-way gates on either side. When you got ball(s) inside, it would raise up and dump them to the right somewhere (maybe the ramp next to it)

• The center ramp was inspired by the 'miles' center ramp on Earthshaker. It has a diverter (shown by masking tape). The idea is that sometimes you'd shoot the center shot, the diverter would activate, and the ball would plop right in front of the upper left flipper setting you up for the ramp.

• The upper left flipper shot was designed to be easy. I felt that the upper flipper ramp shots in Earthshaker/Black Knight 2000/High Speed/etc. were too hard, and yet lots of fun. So this was to allow a novice player to hit that shot often.

• Funhouse had been designed around the same time, and I really liked the shot that feeds the upper flipper. Or, along the same lines, the kickout hole in 'High Speed'. As you can see, I did the same thing. But what you can't see is that in that hidden area under the ramps (underneath the 'freeway' lane) was a ballguide that rolled the ball into one of the 2 kickout holes. The idea was, if you didn't make the 'freeway', the ball would roll into a kickout hole and set you up for the ramp shot. This to me was much better than wasting time in the bumpers. In fact, if I had my way, there really wasn't much you could do to not be set up for making a loop/ramp shot.

• There are a pair of drop down targets - one each near each flipper. I don't think I ever got the mechanisms to install them. The Williams drop targets were never very reliable, of course, and placing them there was part of a strategy designers would use: when management told you your game was too expensive, you (with reluctance) removed a drop target.

• The lower half of the game is more or less High Speed - the standard issue Steve Ritchie in-lanes, kickers and kickback. I liked on HS where you can hit the 6 standup targets to re-light kickback. You can only barely tell, but the arch is from Elvira.

• The 3 columns of white light inserts on the lower half were supposed to be a stack of dollars. The bottom 5 were a full dollar, then there were 4 rows showing the tops of 4 more bills, then one more full bill at the top. The center light insert of said top bill is one size too small.

• The arc of 5 circles was to represent the different banks you'd have to rob. Probably Fort Knox would be the big, final one. I always liked the 'planets' thing on Pinbot (or islands on TradeWindsPinball ), and this was the same idea.

Still alive?

This bizarre thread appeared on Usenet! Could this game make it into production after all?

    
azarcadega...@cox.net      May 4, 10:34 am     show options
Subject: With Waynes permission here is the pic

http://members.aol.com/azarcadegames/icantmakedecalsanymore.jpg

---

Brian      May 4, 10:42 am     show options
Pic of what, may I ask?

---    

Tom Stevens      May 4, 10:44 am     show options
Interesting, but it looks like its in a Black Knight 2000 cabinet.
Might be an old Wms/Bally whitewood for a game that didn't make it to
production?  

Wayne would probably drop a whitewood in a new cabinet.

---
   
Chris Lyon      May 4, 10:46 am     show options
Can't quite figure out what's going on with that T-junction ramp, but
overall, I like it.  It's nice to see something new.

---    
   
Chris Lyon      May 4, 10:48 am     show options
Yeah, I'm inclined
thats the case as well.  He had mentioned at one
point a ton of neat stuff that the old Bally/Williams guys had been
working on.  I'll bet this is from years ago

---

BWAGNER5150      May 4, 10:48 am     show options
Not bad!  Reminds me of a mid-late 80's WMS game layout (Cyclone,
Pinbot).  Looks like pre-merger Bally flipper bats.  Hope it goes
though to production.

---    
   
The Prowler      May 4, 10:53 am     show options
Looks old to me check out the flippers they look like the flippers from
EATPM.

---    

BWAGNER5150      May 4, 10:57 am     show options
They're Bally flipper bats.

---    
   
heckheck      May 4, 10:57 am     show options
Darin,  Was the name of the jpg file in the URL sending a message :-/
I hope that is not the final word.

---
   
Harry Williamson      May 4, 10:59 am     show options
Ahhhh.  The 7 lane fan.  Didn't this design go over well
recently?

---    

CraigC -Chicago-      May 4, 11:01 am     show options
looks like a lot of revisions were done...if you look at the inserts
under ramps, and how clunky the orbits look.

Has the steve richie kickback, and 2 sets of lower 3 bank targets.

Looks like it would be an interesting game if the right upper flipper
has something to shoot at. and maybe the ramp with the tape flap is the
ball lock?

interesting.

---    
   
azpinlawyer      May 4, 11:03 am     show options
All evidence points AGAINST the whitewood being Wayne's doing:
pre-merger flipper bats, a BK2000 speaker panel and a cabinet which
most certainly is NOT MPBA's new style(like in the croc pics).  The pic
may well be Wayne's property as a representation of a copyrighted but
unproduced Bally design, but it is beyond left field to think that MPBA
has generated a second whitewood before its first game is even ready
for production.  FWIW, though, the game looks really interesting.  No
ramp entry to be shot by the upper right flipper, though.  A missed
opportunity, I think.  Has anyone heard of a game with 2 Lawlor-style
loop-to-upper-flipper-to-ramp shots, one on each side?

---
   
JWC      May 4, 11:09 am     show options
Someone is messing with Gary probably, that's why they sent it to him...

-- 

gpct...@yahoo.com      May 4, 11:08 am     show options
Evidence of what?

There is not evidence that it is

and there is no evidence that it isn't

Those Croc pics were all mock up fakes

as far as the second game, Wayne has already said that he had moved on
past the first game

at this point, no one knows

gary

---    

gpct...@yahoo.com      May 4, 11:20 am     show options
The guy who sent them to me is not messing with me

He is a good guy from overseas that we are going to protect

It's interesting how when you can't explain something, you try and
blame it on me, or on someone tricking me or something like that

Didn't Kirb and company say a long time ago that no one ever emailed me
anything

ya right

come check out my yahoo pinball mail folder

yikessss

gary

---    

azpinlawyer      May 4, 11:19 am     show options
Perhaps my having credited PL with this design element was poorly
thought out--might SR be the proper recipient of such credit?  Hmm....

---    

gpct...@yahoo.com      May 4, 11:25 am     show options
Steve Ritchie wouldn't design that dog

---    
   
azpinlawyer      May 4, 11:29 am     show options
You missed my point--I make no guess as to who designed that "dog," as
you refer to it--I'm simply considering who first penned the design
element I referred to in my post.

---    

gpct...@yahoo.com      May 4, 11:31 am     show options
the designs sucks

the problem is the two upper playfield flippers

that would kill flow

you could hit the ball back and forth

in multi-ball, shots would be smashing into each other (more than
usual)

it just sucks as a design

---    

Chris Redinger      May 4, 11:37 am     show options

azarcadega...@cox.net wrote:
> http://members.aol.com/azarcadegames/icantmakedecalsanymore.jpg

Here is my take.

If you look at the bottom of the pic by the flippers  there is a
scratch.
Which looks like an old picture that was scratched and then scanned  to
create the JPG. And that is just one of the things that points out that
this is a small pic that was put in a scanner.

If this machine was currently being worked on, my guess is the person
taking the picture would have used a digital camera.

Maybe Wayne is going to resurrect this old design and make this game.
All evidence points to this being an old pic though.

---    

Kevin L'Heureux      May 4, 11:41 am     show options

On 2005-05-04 07:28:51 -0700, azarcadega...@cox.net said:

> http://members.aol.com/azarcadegames/icantmakedecalsanymore.jpg

Guys, this whitewood is well over a decade old!!! This game was a
project that a young game designer (can't remember who off hand) built
in his own spare time to pitch to williams back in the day. This game
was to be called Ramp Warriors and is not what Wayne is working on. I'm
pretty sure that this eventually turned into Truck Stop.

---
   
pinballjim      May 4, 11:47 am     show options
azarcadega...@cox.net wrote:
> http://members.aol.com/azarcadegames/icantmakedecalsanymore.jpg

You mean this guy is capable of more than sanding a Judge Dredd
playfield and painting it white?  Not sure if I believe it.

Reply

---    
   
gpct...@yahoo.com      May 4, 11:49 am     show options

Truck Stop is possible

I had that game a long time ago and I hated it

at least no one will accuse me of faking up photos

---
    
Ray Johnson - Action Pinball      May 4, 12:35 pm     show options
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 10:35:25 -0600

<gpct...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> the designs sucks
> the problem is the two upper playfield flippers
> that would kill flow
> you could hit the ball back and forth
> in multi-ball, shots would be smashing into each other (more than
> usual)
> it just sucks as a design

> Gary

Like F-14 Tomcat?

It does have Steve Ritchie characteristics- left kickback lane, two 3-banks
flanking lower left sides (High Speed), SR has been known to have two upper
opposing flippers.  Two orbit shots.  Ramps to inlanes similar to T2.  Two
sets of "bonus" style inserts (F-14, T2).  No Fear style upper center
playfield.

Personally I don't find it appealing- maybe obvious if/why it didn't make it
to production.

The mystery continues!

Ray J.

---

arcaderevi...@gmail.com       May 4, 1:01 pm     show options
Date: 4 May 2005 10:01:51 -0700

for a minute there i thought maybe some Nigerian guys were going to
build a pin and were asking Gary for help.
dave

- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Mattu wrote:
> Wait a minute.  Isn't this a pic of what's going to happen when
there's
> no more decals?

---    
   
gpct...@yahoo.com      May 4, 1:04 pm     show options
Date: 4 May 2005 10:04:21 -0700

Kevin Strasser, David S and Darin Jacobs all saw the name of the person
that sent it to me

so Donnie you are wrong once again

---
   
Kevin L'Heureux      May 4, 1:39 pm     show options
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 17:39:22 GMT

On 2005-05-04 09:21:33 -0700, "John Wart, jr" <johnwar...@johnwartjr.com> said:

> You're referring to Matt Walsh

> Here's a link to his site, even including this pic:

> http://www.mattwalsh.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MyPinballPrototype

YEP, that's the guy.

---    
   
Kevin L'Heureux      May 4, 1:43 pm     show options
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 17:43:26 GMT

On 2005-05-04 08:49:00 -0700, gpct...@yahoo.com said:

> Truck Stop is possible

> I had that game a long time ago and I hated it

> at least no one will accuse me of faking up photos

> gary

No, we can only accuse you of falling for someones very funny joke and
making you look like a moron once again! Go ahead and continue to
blabber about shit you have no clue about even though you pretend that
you do.

Nice inside source. You are so gullable. 

---

Barry - NY (Backglass@gmail.com)       May 4, 2:10 pm     show options
Date: 4 May 2005 11:10:29 -0700

You can even see where the emulsion has scraped off the original photo
paper.  Old pic.  Who uses film & scanners anymore for quick & dirty
pics anyway!

Barry - NY

---    
   
wals...@gmail.com      May 4, 2:22 pm     show options
Date: 4 May 2005 11:22:38 -0700

Um, ok guys...I can solve the puzzle.

But I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your detective work...even if I had
to endure my precious game being called a 'dog'!

I designed that game while I was an intern.

Kevin L'Herueux is ALMOST right...I was a young designer and I did it
in my spare time, but it was long after Ramp Warrior / Truck Stop.  I
believe RW was a Steve Kirk design.

A lot of it was actually drawn in Steve Ritchie's office with (GASP)
his pencils  (one of which I lost, for which he never forgave me as
they stopped making them and it was his favorite) as he was at home
working on Terminator 2.  Can't remember why...maybe it was for
secrecy.  He actually finished 'Getaway' first but it was put on hold
when they got T2 rights.

Anyway that picture is identical to the one I scanned of it on my home
page, scratch and all.
http://mattwalsh.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/MyPinballPrototype

The real story is there for you to read.  I worked at Williams during
the summer of 1989 and developed this prototype.  It never saw the life
of day.  Well, one of the upper flipper ramps is extra wide which is a
feature that Dr. Who also had probably by coincidence.

A lot happened to the design after this photo was taken in my apartment
down in Champaign IL.  Yes, the dual upper flippers did not work out as
I had planned.  There was not enough vertical space to add another
ramp.  It looked good on 2D paper, however.  I eventually removed it
and replaced it with a 'getaway car'.  It was a little cage of sorts
that would normally be above the 'freeway' wraparound shot and drop
down, capture a ball, and then put it in the lock mechanism (also added
later).

The center shot was to be like the 'miles' ramp in Earthshaker, except
that it could also divert the ball to the left upper flipper.  You can
see this where the masking tape is in the photo.  As shown, the ball
will always roll over to the left flipper, setting you up for the left
upper flipper ramp shot.

You can't really see them well, but there are 2 kickout holes on top,
one to set up each upper flipper.  I liked how Funhouse and High Speed
each had this sort of 'feeder' shot and wanted the same thing.

Around the back is a 'freeway' (named after its introduction in High
Speed) shot.  Note there are up and down arrows on the left and right
entrances.  That was so that, say the left freeway shot was lit I could
have the up arrow going on the left and the down arrow going on the
right to give you a more obvious visual clue.  Like Pat Lawlor, I had a
slight bow in the back of the ball guide (look at a whirlwind sometime)
that gave it a bit more smoothness.  You can't see it, but under the
tangle of ramps is a ball guide that would feed balls that didn't quite
make it around the 'freeway' to the outholes that would set you up for
a upper flipper ramp shot.

You see, the idea was to allow ALL players to hit lots of ramp shots.
I always thought that Earthshaker and High Speed were great but their
upper flipper ramp shots were too hard for all but the wizards.

Note I have no bumpers either.  This was a major taboo.  Designers
almost superstitiously believed you MUST have 3.  Lawlor's 6 and then 5
on WW and TAF was almost a purely irreverant move.  I also deleted the
traditional rollover lanes.  To me, while every game had them I thought
it was a silly waste of space.  I wanted the game to flow - to be a
pure shot game, but be accessible to beginners.

Yes, it is in a BK2000 cabinet.  It was a prototype BK2000 that I
bought for $200 as part of a deal to do this game.  If you ever played
BK2000 in the Williams cafeteria it was this exact unit.  My friend
John Yates (vectorman on ebay) still has it.  I had to hack the boards
a bit to make it work because I dropped in a new BK2K playfield in
place of the worn prototype one which had funky custom stuff.  That was
stupid in retrospect; I'd rather have a worn prototype than a nice
ordinary PF.

Yes, those are Bally bats.  The game hardware was installed by the
Willams techs for me and that's what they had laying around.  It's also
an Elvira arch.

Oh, and the theme was a bank robbery.  Maybe the 'getaway car' makes
more sense now.  The clear lamp inserts on the bottom are to show a
stack of money...kind of hard to describe...the bottom 5 compose the
first full bill, then the ones above it are increasingly valuable bills
- but just the tops.  It was my 'bonus'. thing.  The 5 larger circles
above them were to represent different banks of the world you'd
conquer, similar to the planets in Pinbot or I guess the cities in
Invasion from Mars.  I was going to have a plunger in the shape of a
detonator handle as you at some point had to blow the safe.  Mind you
this was way before SafeCracker though I doubt there was any influence.

I dunno, Williams DID still have the game after my sad departure, and
maybe someone who bought out their IP got it and wants to resurrect it.
 Really a stretch, however, and I'd figure he'd take his own picture of
it anyway, not just stick mine up there.

--matt walsh 

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Big Al       May 4, 5:51 pm     show options
Matt,

Thanks for the 'real' story. Very interesting for people like me that
are new to the hobby.

Al

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John Schlarb      May 4, 7:11 pm     show options

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Mr Pinball Australia      May 4, 9:04 pm     show options

I would like to thankyou for a great laugh...

Wayne Gillard
Mr Pinball Australia
www.mrpinball.com.au

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muttonboy@gmail.com      May 4, 9:36 pm     show options

Big Al wrote:
> Matt,

> Thanks for the 'real' story. Very interesting for people like me that
> are new to the hobby.

> Al

ditto

you are my hero

,scott 

-- MattWalsh - 21 Jul 2004