Silverball Chronicles: A Pinball History Podcast

Silverball Chronicles BONUS: Our Top Pins

Join Ron and Dave in this Bonus Silverball Chronicles episode as they choose their favourite pinball machines made by featured pinball designers from previous episodes!

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Episode Summary:

John Borg is known for his distinctive style and approach to designing pinball machines. His design philosophy is as distinct as a fingerprint. 'Borgie' focuses on creating layouts that offer smooth flow and satisfying shots. He aims to design pinball machines that provide players with a sense of continuous motion and engaging gameplay. His layouts often feature well-integrated ramps, orbits, and habitrails that facilitate fast and exciting ball movement across the playfield. John also gets the coolest theme.

This month Dave and Ron talk about how cool John Borg is and why Dave is not, what John did after he left Stern in 2000 and what he did when he got back, developing his style, reusing elements, orbit spinners (yeah!), John's themes, and what makes Borgie's second kick at a pinball career the path of a modern pinball legend.

Sources:

TopCast – Episode 27 – John Borg

Head 2 Head Pinball Podcast Ep 41 – Keith P. Johnson

Slam Tilt Podcast Ep. 100 Lyman Sheats Jr.

YouTube – IE Pinball – Big Buck Hunter Pro Wizard Mode Achieved. Here

YouTube – Stern Pinball: The Making of: Metallica, KISS, The Walking Dead, Areosmith, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rush.

Shalhoub, Michael. The Pinball Compendium.

Internet Pinball Database. IPDB.org John Borg Game List. Here.

* This episode was created with the use of ChatGPT, which kinda sucks…

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Episode Summary:

Gottlieb is viewed as the romantic electro-mechanical giant to many. The pinball machine atop the coin-op pedestal for all other manufacturers to reach for… but it was its god-tier status in the 1960s and early 1970s that would ultimately lead to its epic cratering in the 1980s.

What led Gottlieb into the Mylstar Nosedive? Was it a lack of leadership? Corporate chaos? The recession of the early 1980s? Or was it a lack of creative freedom and adventure in the products?

This month, Dave and Ron talk about the massive success of D. Gottlieb and Co., the ownership changes that hobbled the company, Ed Krynski's biography, generational changes in Gottlieb, Ron not knowing Europe is a continent, and the games of Mylstar! What could go wrong?

Sources:

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

YouTube Interviews from the Pacific Pinball Museum – Here, Here, Here and Here

TopCast – Episode 30 – Wayne Neyens

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Topic Starts at 9:10

Episode Summary:

A Centenarian is someone linked to longevity, someone who has seen it all come and go, then be reinvented again. Wayne Neyens is pinball's Centenarian; he was there at the beginning, and he was there when it ended… a couple of times… and he witnessed the rebirth we now see today before his passing at age 104. He was the last of his pinball generation, the last of the woodrail masters and the man who gave his whole life to making people smile at the silverball.

This month Dave and Ron discuss growing up in the Great Depression, 1930's cubicles, Westerns, Jimmy Johnson, Harry Mabs, The Gottlieb – David Gottlieb, Wayne's most popular games like Slick Chick and Kings and Queens, Add-A-Ball and Wedgeheads, the amazing artist Roy Parker AND we make fun 1940's radio voices!

Sources:

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1930s to 1960s. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

YouTube Interviews from the Pacific Pinball Museum: Here, Here, Here and Here

TopCast: Episode 30 – Wayne Neyens

Pinball News:

Pinball Magazine #5. Here

Wayne's 100th Birthday. Here

Wayne Neyens Dies at Age 104. Here.

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Topic starts at 10:50

Episode Summary:

What can you say about Keith P Johnson? He has 4 of the top pinball machines in the Pinball Awards' Hall of Fame. He coded some of the most revered and most panned pinball codes in our hobby. In addition, Keith was one of the most important pieces in designing the Jersey Jack operating system and building their philosophy around pinball code.

Join us this month as we discuss how Keith got into the pinball industry, his transition into full-time rules designer, his Simpsons Pinball Party and Lord of the Rings masterpieces, leaving pinball only to be pulled back in, building the Jersey Jack operating system and JJPs philosophy on code… Everything is Lit this month!

Sources:

IPDB Keith P Johnson Gamelist. Here.

WOZ Pinball Magazine. Here

Head 2 Head Pinball Podcast Ep 41

Pinball Profile Ep 266

TopCast Episode 63

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

Topic Starts at 11:11

Episode Summary:

It's time to revisit our 'Pinball Is Dying' series. This ongoing series is made to depress and to delight. What do we mean by that? Well, the pinball industry and the hobby around it has always been fragile. It has ups and downs which during its history has swung violently. Brilliant minds have come and gone. Many have been crushed by the emotional weight of competition and the stress of impending layoffs.

Join us this month as we talk about the final Bally Manufacturing Corp games, really dumb corporate strategies, the art of an era, bodybuilding, terrible cabinet materials, a tangent for some reason about the MCU's Iron Man, and the end of Bally-Midway.

Sources:

IPDB Bally-Midway Game List. Here.

Stern's Dark Planet – Here

TOPcast:

Ep. 56 – Ward Pemberton

Ep. 46 – Margaret Hudson,

Ep. 40 – George Gomez

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

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Topic starts at 10:03

Episode Summary:

A Brief History of Pinball is a great place to begin! Let's wind the clock back WAYYY back. We're going to visit the beginning of many 'games' in the early days of fancy pants Europe, the importation of table games to America, New Jersey's part in all this, Harry Williams, Wayne Neyens, and all those innovations that make pinball, pinball!

Games:

Baffle Ball, Ballyhoo, Contact, Skyscraper, World's Series, Rockelite, Humpty Dumpty, Triple Action, Saratoga, Army Navy, SuperJumbo, Balls-a-Poppin', Vegabond, Swing-Along, The Spirit of '76, Flash, Gorgar, Checkpoint, Revenge from Mars, and Wizard of Oz.

Sources:

Bagatelle. Here

Pinball. Here

ThoughtCo. The History of Pinball. Here

Baldridge, Nick. This Week In Pinball. A Beginner's Guide to Bingo Pinball. Here

Pinball News. Illuminating. Here

Remembering Harry Williams. Here

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

Kocurek, Carly A. "Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video

Game Arcade." Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Sharpe, Roger. "Pinball!" New York: E.P. Dutton, 1977.

Sullivan, Barbara. "Ballyhoo Over Goldberg Hardly Whole Bally Saga." Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1996.

Sweeney, Melodie. "The bagatelle wizard instead of the pinball wizard." National Museum of American History, October 31, 2012.

Terry, Clifford. "How the Pinball Machine Got Those Flippers." Chicago Tribune, August 8, 1993.

Wolf, Mark J. P. "The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to Playstation and Beyond." Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

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Episode Summary:

George Gomez is the Creative Architect of pinball as we know it today. Without our Homie Gomie (trademark Zach Meny), Stern Pinball would not be the creative studio it is today. When Stern began to be rebuilt in the 2010s, it was the creative curiosity of George Gomez that enabled the company to build a modern pinball design studio and forever change the hobby.

Join Ron and Dave as they talk about what George did after the death of Williams, his masterpiece Lord Of The Rings, the Photoshop art era, the near death of Stern Pinball, the rebirth of Stern Pinball, ugly ramps, grindy code, Batman '66, the modern all time classic Deadpool and Stern's new 007 James Bond Dave squeals in excitement.

Sources:

Pinside at Pinside.com

Internet Pinball Database

Super Awesome Pinball Show – George Gomez – Ep 30, 32 and Fireside Chat 1

Head2Head Pinball Podcast Ep.69: Christopher Franchi on Beatles Pinball Art.

Head2Head Pinball Podcast Ep.96: Gary Stern

Pinball Chick Article. Here

John Trudeau Pleads Guilty. Pinball News. Here. Here.

DeadFlip Streaming. Lyman, Jack Danger and MKV Playing Batman 66. Here

Straight Down the Middle: A Pinball Show. Deadpool Pro Review. Here

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd

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Episode Summary:

The late '70s were a boom for pinball manufacturing. Bally and Williams had transitioned to Solid State early and evolved their platform, but Gottlieb struggled to keep up. However, by early 1980, Gottlieb knew they needed a new solution and were preparing their System 80 platform. System 80 was a big leap forward, and it was much more flexible and modular. Was Gottlieb back?!

Join us this month as we talk about one of their most requested topics, Spider-Man's art, early code issues, Dave makes a Rotor Target sound, Ed Krynski's designs, Flipper-Counting all episode long, Gordon Morrison's Art, Dave's love for all things James Bond (even bad pinball machines), Black Hole, amazing patents, Haunted House, System 80a, the spiral of the industry in 1983-84.

Sources:

Pinside at Pinside.com

Wikipedia. Gottlieb. Here

Kriesel, Dennis. This Week in Pinball. The Dawn of the Solid-State Era. Here

Kriesel, Dennis. This Week In Pinball. Mylstar Electronics: Gottlieb's Forgotten Year. Here

Gottlieb Developments. Here

IPDB: System 80 Pins. Here, System 80A Pins. Here

PinWiki – System 80 Repair Guide. Here

TOPCast: #10 John Trudeau., #34 John Osborne, #55 Jon Norris.

Gordon Morison. Here. Here.

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Episode Summary:

It is often through failure that we learn, and after the collapse of Stern Electronics, Gary Stern did not give up. He collected himself over a year and then would work with Joe Kaminkow and Shelley Sax on building Data East Pinball. Often the butt of jokes on quality, code depth, and artwork, Data East would become the only survivor of the 1990s pinball collapse and is now known as Stern Pinball Inc.

This month we take some time to look at early Data East Pinball where Dave and Ron dive into the collapse of Stern Electronics and who owns their Intellectual Property (IP), PinStar Inc., Joe Kaminkow becoming Dave's best friend, the unsung hero of Data East Pinball Ed Cebela, Navy-issued uniforms, Robocop's awesomeness, how time travel works, the rise of The Simpsons, and the legacy of Data East.

Big Thanks to Mike Winne for helping with this episode!

Sources:

Pinside at Pinside.com

Internet Pinball Database: PinStar Game List. Here, Data East Game List. Here, Ed

Cebula's Game List. Here

Wikipedia. Gottlieb. Here

RiYL Podcast Ep 161: Stern Pinball CEO Gary Stern.

Head 2 Head Pinball Podcast.

Gary Stern, Ep 96

Joe Kaminkow Ep 68 and EP 50

Super Awesome Pinball Show, S1-E4 – Joe Kaminkow

Loser Kid Pinball Podcast Ep 68

Pinball News-Pinball Magazine PinCAST, June 2020: Gary Stern 75th Birthday Interview Part 1

Total Recall Video. Here

TV Tropes. Joe Kaminkow Bio. Here

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Lt. Here