Who is your all time favourite pinball designer ?

[oldskool1969]

Pat Lawlor designs are so creative that if I had to pick one, he would be it. Although he isn't an outright winner for me, he really does some amazing things in a limited amount of space.
RBION is an absolute ball tearer of a game that I just love to bits.
I also think Steve Ritchie designs are waaaaaay over rated and does not deserve the accolades he gets.
All the forefather designers deserve a big round of applause too as I loooove simple, easy to understand, geometry designed games from the electromechanical era.

[Caveoftreasures]

Sad to hear about Ward Pemberton.
Gilligans is a great straight forward really fun game so Ward definately had talent & it shows in this game.
That's the great thing about pinball. The machines almost last forever.
I know most of the designers thought that their pinball designs would be a hit on route for a year or three when the games were first released till the next big popular game came out but these pinball machines still live on some 10, 20 and up to 50 plus years later in people's homes still giving people a lot of enjoyment which I am sure a lot of these designers are totally surprised about.

[Strangeways]

Ward Pemberton died of complications attributed to AIDS. This is undocumented and I enquiried about him to a family connection in my research. He made some innovative and quirky designs - Dungeons and Dragons, Mousin Around and Gilligans was unique - Goldeneye, his last was very well incorporated with the movie.

Ward also designed Fathom. Although the art package of Fathom is arguably the best artwork on any pinball (from any period), the game itself is brilliant. He also designed Hardbody (the worst artwork on any pinball) and the exact same layout - BMX - which is a very rare and desirable game. As mentioned - Dungeons and Dragons. Even if the designer comes up with a great layout, the artists are the dudes responsible for presenting the artwork that goes on top of the layout. Many games are judged on artwork alone. Hardbody VS BMX is a great example

[Pop Bumper Pete]

From my collection;
4 for Ed Krynski
4 for Pat Lawlor
4 for Steve Ritchie

[4_amusement_only]

Ward also designed Fathom. Although the art package of Fathom is arguably the best artwork on any pinball (from any period), the game itself is brilliant. He also designed Hardbody (the worst artwork on any pinball) and the exact same layout - BMX - which is a very rare and desirable game. As mentioned - Dungeons and Dragons. Even if the designer comes up with a great layout, the artists are the dudes responsible for presenting the artwork that goes on top of the layout. Many games are judged on artwork alone. Hardbody VS BMX is a great example
[/quote]

It seems he liked to carry over playfield design elements from game to game such as his inline drops. Who can forget about the 'flex save' in Hardbody, brilliant thinking. The innovative selection process on Riverboat. Reusing the old fashioned saucer at the top of gilligan's. He seemed to really think outside the box, particularly on mechanical features. Looking over the dates of all his designs, there isn't much flow to the notion of him being a full time designer. Health issues in 91' didn't help with the Gilligan's design but would be interesting to find out the reasons for inconsistencies of his time in the industry and the swaps between companies.

[4_amusement_only]

.

[4_amusement_only]

Sorry I got mixed up, Ward is alive and well - last checked he was now a fire fighter in Chicago.
Dan Langlois was the one who passed. Ward took over the Gilligan's design during his illness. Dan had some crazy fun designs working for Bally from the mid 80's - Escape From Lost World, Radical, Strange Science. All these games had good innovations also. Really liked how they screened the underside of the playfield glass in Escape. Real neon for the topper in Strange. Utilising the space to fill it with ramps in Radical.

Whilst heading for the acquisition by Williams in 88', Bally did have some interesting concepts during this time - just a shame about the 6803 sound board quality.  

[Caveoftreasures]

Gilligans is simple & fun and a great example as to how sometimes straight forward & simple can work so well.

The talking Kona Lava Volcano is a classic. Can't beat the Gilligans music either.

Ward did a great job here.

I wonder how many great designers left pinball & never wanted to ever go back to it.

One person who interests me in this regard is Pat Lawlor.
He did a interview & he basically said he was so glad Williams came to an end cause he was sick to death of designing pinball. He is now working on that next "lightning in a bottle" for JJP.

Let's see if Pat Lawlor has got some of that old enthusiasm back.
I have a feeling that if the JJP 3rd title isn't a commercial success, he might pack it in forever ?

What happened to the young guy who designed Medievil Madness ?
Where is he these days ?

[4_amusement_only]

In the slot machine biz like most of the other top ex pinball designers from Williams. Crossing over into the WMS gaming division, eventually branching off into their own companies. Brian owns a large stake in Spooky Cool Labs who along with Joe Kaminkow designs and produces real money gambling interfaces. Seems to be where the money is these days. Larry DeMar is another who comes to mind who has done very well post pinball. So they all should, they are talented at what they do.

Yep, can't wait to see what Pat pulls out. Shame we have to wait so long to see it though. Pinball and waiting seem to go hand in hand.

[Caveoftreasures]

It's a big risk doing a non licenced theme cause people always say non licenced games don't sell as well ?

I wish someone did a new Twilight Zone or Addams Family remake.

It seems no one has any clue what Pat Lawlor is up to subject wise on his JJP game ?

[Top Card]

Ed Krynski. So much variety over so many tables with so few available features to choose from

[onetaste]

Lyman Sheets. His rulesets are the best games of the modern era.