General

Dude that's amazing, good for you!

What does having a credited release get you? Are there royalties involved?

I do get paid a bonus on games sold, but it's more that my name is actually on the machines. It's dumb, but I do like the idea that my name is going to be on these games long after I'm gone. I actually just snuck my daughter's names into the mystery awards for Scooby-Doo. The game will quickly flash up, "Hello Bella" and "Hello Rihanna" while it's scrolling through all the different awards that could be given. Not really snuck...I told everyone I was doing it, but still. I'm actually going to probably give myself a flipper code in my uncredited games, so when I enter my initials for getting a high score and do the flipper code it will play a special callout.

Very cool. Congratulations.

If I ever get a chance to play one of these, I'll watch for the Easter Eggs.

Such a cool story - I've been lucky enough to meet a bunch of people deep into pinball in the Chicago suburbs and I love how it's getting a resurgence at bars and the home community. I'd love to get something for home (ideally Street Fighter II), but virtual will have to do for now.

Yeah, Chicago is pretty much the Mecca for pinball. Besides us, all the major pinball companies are located there.

lpeters82 wrote:

I've told the full story on this site a few times, but when I was much younger I came in second in a regional pinball tournament held by Aladdin's Castle. I barely missed out on a trip to Chicago to play in the national tournament.

I used to own a Gottlieb's Kings and Queens (as played by Elton John in the movie Tommy), a Lost World, and a Star Trek: (The Motion Picture).

I don't enjoy tournament play all that much. Some of the really competitive guys just take all of the fun out of playing. I did just get to play with the Women's World Champion yesterday. She's from New Zealand is is sponsored by our company.

lpeters82 wrote:

We didn't play head-to-head and there was no trash talk allowed, so it couldn't get too competitive. There were 5 weeks where the person with the highest score on a designated machine at the end of the week qualified for the playoff. I qualified in the second week. The 5 of us had a three round playoff in the middle of the mall on the same machine. I didn't really like the machine they chose because the left flipper didn't have a chute to trap the ball. Also, I didn't find out until part way through my first game that the Extra Ball function had been disabled. Instead of playing for higher scoring, I had been aiming for the Extra Ball targets. One guy was way ahead at the end of the second round, but lost all three balls quickly in his third game. I was next to last in the third round and knew what I needed to get into first place. I got it with just a little to spare. The final guy beat my total by about 20,000 points out of three game totals around 600,000.

@lpeters82

Those machines look great. You're involved in design too?

Great to hear from you. It's inspiring that you quit your job to pursue what you enjoy.

I was involved in the design of Looney Tunes. Scooby-Doo was pretty much done when I was hired, so I did rules, script, lighting, etc.

Damn, I'd go for that Looney Toons machine for sure, but no space or the money for it... at least at this time.

My dad was huge with pinball machines when I was a kid. I didn't really get them vs video games, but I've played a few now and then just for the nostalgia.