# Episode 53 - Pinball Metamorphosis: The System 11 Era Pt.1

**Source:** Wedgehead Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-10-21  
**Duration:** 46m 12s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-15857151

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## Analysis

Wedgehead Pinball Podcast's deep-dive episode on the Williams System 11 era (1986-1991), hosted by Alan with co-host Alex and guest Ty Palmer. The hosts discuss the first 11-12 System 11 games chronologically, covering design innovations, mechanical features, sales figures, and cultural impact. Key themes include Larry DeMar's architectural genius, Python Anghelo's distinctive art style, emerging designer Pat Lawlor, and the era-defining features like alphanumeric displays, progressive jackpots, and synthesized sound.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] System 11 was designed and developed by Larry DeMar, arguably the single most valuable employee at Williams during this era. — _Alan explicitly credits Larry DeMar as 'pinball super genius' and 'the architect that built in and ensured William's dominance during this era.'_
- [HIGH] High Speed sold 17,000 units and was the first System 11 game released in January 1986. — _Alan states: 'The first game of the System 11 era, released January of 1986, High Speed, Steve Ritchie designed, Larry DeMar on software... it sold 17,000 units.'_
- [HIGH] High Speed was nicknamed 'High Cost' by many at Williams due to increased build materials. — _Alan: 'It was nicknamed High Cost by many at Williams for the increased build of materials on this game.'_
- [HIGH] Steve Ritchie's High Speed backglass art was based on a true story of him driving his 1979 Porsche 928 at 149 mph through a cop speed trap. — _Alex confirms: 'it was famously based, so the back glass... Based on a story that is apparently true, per Steve Ritchie, of him driving his 1979 Porsche 928 at 149 miles an hour going through a cop speed trap.'_
- [HIGH] Grand Lizard was originally developed as a System 9 game, then pushed back and reconfigured as a System 11 game, causing a disjointed art package. — _Alan: 'this game was in development and it was set to be a System 9 game, which is the system previous to this, they skipped System 10. What? It got pushed back and then reconfigured to become this System 11 game, and because of that with alphanumeric displays that they introduced, they had to move the display windows down.'_
- [HIGH] Pat Lawlor built Banzai Run (originally titled Wrecking Ball) in his garage to earn a job at Williams. — _Alan: 'Pat Lawlor went and built in his garage to kinda earn his spot as on the design team at Williams... Larry encouraged Pat to actually build one and Larry helped him with the programming. They then pitched it to Williams with the original theme wrecking ball and the effort got him a job at Williams.'_
- [HIGH] Banzai Run sold only 1,750 units, which is surprisingly low for a game that pioneered Pat Lawlor's career. — _Alan: 'It sold poorly. It only sold 1750 units, which is surprising because...'_
- [HIGH] PinBot sold 12,000 units and is considered one of the great pinball machines of the System 11 generation. — _Ty: 'it was a big seller did 12,000 units. It's considered like one of the great pinball machines, one of the best of this generation'_
- [HIGH] Partyzone sold 9,400 units and was the fourth best-selling game of the System 11 era. — _Alex: 'It's got a low pin side ranking, but it sold almost 10,000 units, sold 9,400 units. It's the fourth best selling game from this era and was kind of a staple.'_
- [HIGH] Chris Granner composed the sound package for Grand Lizard, marking his first game work in the industry. — _Alan: 'It's the first game that Chris Granner did the sound package on, and the sound and music on it are fantastic for the era. And for Chris's first game...'_

### Notable Quotes

> "System 11 is the last arcade pinball machines ever made in real time. Everything past this is kind of like a video game."
> — **Ty Palmer**, early in episode
> _Ty establishes his personal philosophy that System 11 represents the boundary between analog/mechanical pinball and digitized gameplay, a viewpoint that frames the episode's perspective._

> "Larry DeMar... arguably did more to advance the game of pinball than anyone else."
> — **Alan**, introduction segment
> _Alan establishes Larry DeMar as the central figure of the System 11 era and credits him with fundamental architectural contributions._

> "It's the cult of the new, man. It's just like any game this old even making the top 100 is unbelievable."
> — **Alex (about High Speed's Pinside ranking)**, High Speed discussion
> _Reflects on community tendency to favor newer games over classics, acknowledged as a known bias in the Pinside voting system._

> "Road Kings should be [lowest rated]. Yeah, true."
> — **Ty Palmer (responding to Alan's criticism)**, Road Kings discussion
> _Ty agrees with Alan's harsh assessment of Road Kings despite loving Mark Ritchie's work elsewhere, showing nuance in critical evaluation._

> "PinBot... these are still fairly cheap games. I think they're fucking awesome."
> — **Ty Palmer**, PinBot discussion
> _Recommends PinBot as an accessible entry point to classic System 11 collecting, with market intelligence about secondary market pricing._

> "I was the only one in the art room at the time and I had the TV on [when Challenger exploded]. It was terrible and ironic at the same time. I was actually painting the small space shuttle on the right of the back glass when it happened."
> — **Tim Elliot (quoted by Alex)**, Space Station discussion
> _Poignant historical detail connecting Space Station's artwork to the 1986 Challenger disaster, illustrating the human element in game design._

> "An amusement park under glass. That's how he described pinball to people he worked with when he was lucid."
> — **Alex (describing Python Anghelo's design philosophy)**, Partyzone discussion
> _Encapsulates Python Anghelo's visual and thematic philosophy as the era's most distinctive artist._

> "No game had a hold on me in my childhood like Banzai Run... as a child it was just, it felt impossible."
> — **Alex**, Banzai Run discussion
> _Personal testimony to Banzai Run's cultural impact despite poor sales, emphasizing emotional connection over commercial success._

> "This game sucks, okay? Like, I hate this game. I don't... I'm not going to belabor it, but like, I dislike this game and I love Mark Ritchie."
> — **Alex (about Road Kings)**, Road Kings discussion
> _Candid critical assessment; Alex explicitly states Road Kings is the only Mark Ritchie game he dislikes._

> "It's like the giving tree. The blueprint... everybody's taken from poor road kings."
> — **Alex**, Road Kings discussion
> _Despite hating Road Kings, Alex acknowledges it became a prototype for future designers like Pat Lawlor to build upon and improve._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Larry DeMar | person | Legendary pinball software architect who designed the System 11 operating system and is credited by the hosts as instrumental in Williams' dominance during this era. |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer who designed High Speed and F-14 Tomcat during the System 11 era; hosts reference him as 'Steven Spielberg of Pinball.' |
| Python Anghelo | person | Distinctive artist known for psychedelic, detailed backglass art throughout the System 11 era; hosts extensively discuss his visual style and drug-influenced artistic phases. |
| Barry Ousler | person | System 11 game designer credited with multiple titles including Grand Lizard, Pinbot, Fire, Partyzone, and Space Station; described as dominating the era alongside Python Anghelo. |
| Pat Lawlor | person | Emerging designer who built Banzai Run in his garage to earn a job at Williams; would become one of the most iconic pinball designers of all time. |
| Chris Granner | person | Sound composer who debuted on Grand Lizard and became a prolific sound/music designer during System 11 era; hosts call him 'the fucking GOAT.' |
| Tim Elliot | person | Artist who painted Space Station backglass artwork and was present during the 1986 Challenger disaster; later worked on Road Kings art. |
| Mark Ritchie | person | System 11 designer credited with Road Kings, Big Guns, and other titles; hosts express admiration for his work despite critical assessment of Road Kings. |
| John Krutsch | person | Mechanical engineer who collaborated with Pat Lawlor on Banzai Run and subsequently on most of Lawlor's machines; hosts credit him as essential to Lawlor's mechanical innovations. |
| Bill Futsenbuehrer | person | Software programmer on multiple System 11 games including Fire, Big Guns, and Partyzone; hosts refer to him as 'Futs' due to difficulty pronouncing his name. |
| Ed Boon | person | Programmer best known as creator of Mortal Kombat video game series; also did pinball programming work on Space Station and Banzai Run during System 11 era. |
| Jerry Armstrong | person | Playfield designer who created layout for Evel Knievel; had limited pinball career with only two traditional solid-state playfield designs. |
| Steve Kirk | person | Pinball designer of Swords of Fury (System 11); previously designed Stars, Meteor, and Nineball; noted as talented but difficult to work with. |
| Eugene Jarvis | person | Video game designer better known for arcade game work; programmed software for F-14 Tomcat during System 11 era. |
| Alan | person | Co-host and owner of Wedgehead American Pinball bar in Portland, Oregon; enthusiastic about certain games like Grand Lizard and critical of others like Road Kings. |
| Alex | person | Co-host based in 'The Basement studio'; presents nuanced takes on System 11 games with particular appreciation for games like Swords of Fury and Banzai Run. |
| Ty Palmer | person | Guest returning to podcast; establishes System 11 as the last true arcade pinball era before video game-like gameplay; provides perspective on design and gameplay quality. |
| Williams | company | Major pinball manufacturer that developed and released System 11 arcade machines from 1986-1991; merged with Bally and dominated the arcade market during this era. |
| Bally | company | Pinball manufacturer merged with Williams; some System 11 games released under the Bally nameplate alongside Williams branding. |
| Pinside | organization | Community-driven ranking website where pinball machines are voted on and ranked in the Top 100 list; hosts discuss Pinside's bias toward newer games. |
| High Speed | game | First System 11 game released January 1986; designed by Steve Ritchie with Larry DeMar on software; sold 17,000 units; pioneered multiple System 11 features. |
| Grand Lizard | game | April 1986 System 11 game by Barry Ousler and Python Anghelo; first to showcase Python's color capabilities; notable for disjointed art package due to mid-development conversion from System 9. |
| PinBot | game | October 1986 System 11 game by Barry Ousler and Python Anghelo; sold 12,000 units; features robotic interactive mech and is considered one of the era's iconic games. |
| Banzai Run | game | May 1988 System 11 game (originally titled Wrecking Ball); Pat Lawlor's prototype built in garage that earned him a job at Williams; sold only 1,750 units despite historic significance. |
| Wedgehead | organization | American Pinball bar in Portland, Oregon; owned by Alan; hosts the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast where this episode was recorded. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** System 11 hardware and software architecture, Larry DeMar's design contributions, Python Anghelo's artistic evolution and style, Game-by-game chronological analysis of System 11 releases
- **Secondary:** Pat Lawlor's emergence as a designer, Sales figures and commercial performance, Mechanical innovations (center ramps, visor locks, cannon mechs), Chris Granner's sound design debut

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Hosts express enthusiasm and reverence for the System 11 era as a transformative period in pinball design. While they offer critical assessments of specific games (Road Kings, Evel Knievel, Fire), their overall tone is celebratory of the era's innovations and the designers' achievements. Some games receive more harsh criticism, but this is balanced by deep appreciation for the era's historical significance.

### Signals

- **[design_innovation]** System 11 era pioneered multiple mechanical innovations including alphanumeric displays, progressive jackpots, multiball exclusive jackpots, high-speed kickback features, ball safe features, synthesized sounds, flip-up playfields, and interactive mechs (PinBot's visor, Big Guns' cannons). (confidence: high) — Alan and hosts detail numerous 'firsts' throughout the episode: 'first progressive jackpot,' 'first game to play a complete song,' 'first multiball exclusive jackpot,' 'first kind of center pop-up ramp,' 'first major interactive mech in pinball.'
- **[historical_signal]** System 11 (1986-1991) defined the boundary between analog/mechanical pinball and modern digitized gameplay; Ty Palmer explicitly states this is the 'last arcade pinball machines ever made in real time.' (confidence: high) — Ty: 'System 11 is the last arcade pinball machines ever made in real time. Everything past this is kind of like a video game.' Alex agrees with framing of System 11 as 'gateway to modern pinball.'
- **[design_innovation]** Python Anghelo's artistic style evolved throughout the era, progressing from cyberpunk/psychedelic phases to themed amusement park concepts; hosts track his drug use patterns through visual analysis of his art packages. (confidence: medium) — Alex on PinBot: 'like a Python mushroom era design. You can kind of track... you're like, I know what drugs you're on.' Later on Partyzone: hosts discuss Python's 'drug era is changing' and his vision of creating 'an amusement park under glass.'
- **[personnel_signal]** Pat Lawlor emerged as a major designer through his garage-built Banzai Run prototype, which earned him employment at Williams and established his partnership with mechanical engineer John Krutsch. (confidence: high) — Alan: 'Pat Lawlor went and built in his garage to kinda earn his spot... Larry encouraged Pat to actually build one... They then pitched it to Williams... and the effort got him a job at Williams.'
- **[product_concern]** Banzai Run, despite historic significance and innovation, sold only 1,750 units, suggesting possible pricing issues or market positioning problems for vertical playfield design. (confidence: high) — Alan: 'It sold poorly. It only sold 1750 units, which is surprising...' The poor sales stand in stark contrast to its design importance and cultural impact.
- **[gameplay_signal]** Progressive jackpot mechanics in System 11 era created both player engagement and frustration; they reset to base values after collection, creating dynamic gameplay but also discouragement when others collect before you play. (confidence: high) — Hosts discuss progressive jackpots extensively: Alex notes 'if somebody collects a huge one in front of you... it's just so disheartening when that thing resets and you're like, what's the fucking point?'
- **[community_signal]** Pinside's Top 100 ranking system shows clear bias toward newer games, with classic System 11 games (even highly regarded ones like High Speed) underrated due to 'cult of the new' voting pattern. (confidence: high) — Alex: 'It's the cult of the new, man. It's just like any game this old even making the top 100 is unbelievable.' Hosts note that High Speed and other classics underperform in rankings relative to their historical importance.
- **[product_strategy]** High Speed was nicknamed 'High Cost' by Williams manufacturing staff, suggesting premium build materials may have impacted production or pricing strategy compared to other System 11 titles. (confidence: medium) — Alan: 'It was nicknamed High Cost by many at Williams for the increased build of materials on this game.' No explicit link to sales impact stated, but the nickname suggests manufacturing concern.
- **[design_philosophy]** Hosts note that System 11 era was dominated by center ramp designs ('Lots of center ramps, inexplicably'), suggesting both design preference and technical capability advances that enabled new playfield layouts. (confidence: medium) — Alan in intro: 'It was sort of an era dominated by Barry Ousler and Python Anghelo creations. Lots of center ramps, inexplicably, defined by leaps in technology...'
- **[restoration_signal]** High Speed introduced flip-up playfield design that became standard for operators, improving maintenance accessibility compared to earlier pinball machines. (confidence: high) — Alan: 'It featured auto-percentaging... It had the first kind of flip up playfield. So as an operator, I could like pull the glass off and like flip the playfield up all the way... That's extremely helpful.'
- **[gameplay_signal]** System 11 games introduced increasingly complex rulesets and objectives, establishing modern pinball's emphasis on strategic shot sequences and multiball exclusive targets. (confidence: high) — Alan: 'multiball exclusive jackpot... this is the first game where there's like a clear goal when you're in multiball. It's not just like, hey, stuff's worth more... You have jackpots to shoot, and that's Larry DeMar's influence.'

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## Transcript

 We have ignition. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast. I'm your host of this podcast, Alan, one of the owners of Wedgehead, a pinball bar in Portland, Oregon. Joined by my normal co-host today, Alex, the water boy in his basement studio. How you doing? I'm doing pretty good, Alan. Yeah, we also have a special guest rejoining us today. It's Mr. Ty Palmer. Hey, what's up guys? Good to be back. Today's episode is a pretty ambitious one, so let's see how it kind of goes. We're talking about the System 11 era of Williams Pinball, which started in January of 1986 and lasts for The game is available for five years until January of 1991. It encompasses thirty machines released under both the Williams andBally nameplates. System11 is the name thatWilliams gave to their operating system that referred to both the hardware, like the physical electronic boards, and the underlying software framework that controlled everything. So we're talking modern pinball, right? This is like the gateway to modern pinball. No, no, this is the last pinball machines ever made in real time. Yeah, to Ty's personal taste, these are the last games that he will play. This is the last time there was a real pinball. Everything past this is kind of like a video game. The System 11 was designed to develop by pinball super genius Larry DeMar. He was probably the single most valuable employee that Williams had during this era. Just saying a lot because they were stacked with unbelievable talent in every position. But he arguably did more to advance the game of pinball than anyone else. Obviously that's somewhat debatable, but his immense contributions to the advancement of pinball should never be understated nor underestimated. I wanted to make sure that he got his shine at the beginning of this episode. Because he's sort of the architect that built in and ensured William's dominance during this era. And this system was his baby. It's our topic today. It allowed so many rapid fire advancements in the game. They are hard to even cover them all, but we're damn sure gonna try in this episode. It was sort of an era dominated by Barry Ousler and Python Anghelo creations. Lots of center ramps, inexplicably, defined by leaps in technology that allowed for greater speech, music and light shows, Programmers like Larry redefined what a pinball machine's ruleset could become. Us as operators, we got essential new diagnostic audits and testing features as well as auto-percentaging which is that- Very important auto-percentaging. You need it in modern pinball. We're gonna see like as we go through this list there's so many firsts in this generation of games and so many things that just kind of like we said define modern pinball. Yeah. It's kind of nuts how fast they rolled all this stuff out. And auto-percentaging for the layperson is just when you get a replay score Reporter Karl Derina,eches bills, you need dest ش Explorerطputer in your Ty, welcome back to the show. You ready to talk some System 11 Pinball? Oh yeah, let's go. It's gonna be good. More solid stage, just a little bit newer. This first list, we're gonna start this off with a banger. The first game of the System 11 era, released January of 1986, high speed, Steve Ritchie designed Larry DeMar on software, Part by Mark Sprenger and PythonAngelo did the famous zombie backglass and it sold 17,000 units. Damn. Also was my first pinball machine I owned. Damn. I remember Waterboy, we were sitting in X level and they have high speed right next to Getaway and we had like an adult moment where you're like, I like, I'm going to say this out loud, I like high speed more than like Getaway. You're like, I do too, no way. And bonding, which was cool. But also a really hot take because Getaway's sick. Really fun. But this is like an old man opinion too. You're like, oh, yeah, no more of that beer. I like want some fine red wine. And that's what this is. It doesn't have like a lot of the fancy features that Getaway has. It's pretty minimalistic when you look at the two, but has the essential goodness. Right. There's something so addicting about it. It really it's like Getaway is pretty simplistic rules too as far as DMD game goes. Sure. Papadiuk embargo Edition trên mail PUBG nedlilye 남희 CountableBG9-1 Gefantam8 нос JONAH ErloS on Twitter And you know what else after this one is going on and we have one more過 of J Trusting, talking about Top 100 Pinball Podcast and what they got there from us. Kyle, Gabriel, painful radio waves being put on the weekend you answered the Glasses Gameful Fingerstick, fireboAct.com to Huh, here we are with our new Pinsyde, premise Mельon tonight, the Pinsyde Bat Game should keep the top of theorarist in the game, handsome Bull على Someone out of Us is my buddy John Parphet's so well I'm from thenut job is he speaking here and globalist range 있다 hyper gross and he kinda hurt me heart and not matter how we followed this time at least in the top hundred чем tapiya seriously creating normaleis can afford you $100 your class of features ran thevikar be afraid of andיטare Microsoft and download a bullet señ article Pinball is more than this. It's more than number 88. It deserves to be higher. But this is the pin side list, dude. I know, I know. It's just going to drive me nuts looking at these numbers. It's the cult of the new, man. It's just like any game this old even making the top 100 is unbelievable. But it featured auto-percentaging like we said for the first time. It had the first kind of flip up playfield. So as an operator, I could like pull the glass off and like flip the playfield up all the way. Yeah, they don't just prop open like a hood. Yes. That's extremely helpful. It's the first Williams with the alphanumeric display, which they start to use to great effect during this era. All the System 11 games have the animated alphanumeric displays. We get the first progressive jackpot. We get the first game to play a complete song. We get the first multiball exclusive jackpot. Like, multiball happened before, but this is the first game where, like, there's, like, a clear goal when you're in multiball. It's not just like, hey, stuff's worth more, or you have more balls in the playfield. Like, you have, like, jackpots to shoot, and that's Larry DeMar's influence. And percentage jackpot too, like that thing once you collect it it resets back to its stock level. Yep, and that's something we see a lot in this era, that's something that's also criticized a lot of this era. Those progressive jackpots are, you know, like they can get... They do kinda suck. They kinda suck. Oh god, you go to a place that has just a ringer lurking about, that jackpot's always gonna be like 100k. Well it's even worse when somebody collects a huge one in front of you and then you can't get that. That's the problem. That's the point. After nailing that shot time and time again, you're like, okay, cool. I got this. So you done Jimmy? It is funny though, because there's another game in here that we'll get to eventually that I was just playing obsessively once because the progressive jackpot was huge enough that I was like if I get that I'll get the GC almost and so I just kept going for it So it did its job, right? Like it kept luring me in because you're like, oh I can get it and then I think I qualified it but didn't collect it So like went away something I can't remember how it or maybe somebody else got it when I stepped away from the game, but it's just so disheartening when that thing resets and you're like, what's the fucking point? Like, I don't even want to play the game. You need a bunch of rubes to like run it back up before you give it a shot again. Yeah, it's pretty funny. Some more fun facts. It was nicknamed High Cost by many at Williams for the increased build of materials on this game. Oh, so a lot of people asked Steve and Larry were developing this game. I guess we're talking a little shit behind the scenes. It turns out to be a smash hit, obviously. And it's also, you want to tell the famous story of this game, Alex? Yeah, it was famously based, so the back glass, it features the two, you know, like zombie looking cops chasing a guy in kind of a license-free Lamborghini. But it's based on a story that is apparently true, per Steve Ritchie, of him driving his 1979 Porsche 928 at 149 miles an hour going through a cop speed trap. So they clocked him at 149. That's why it has that specific number on the dash of the cop car in the back glass. You know, good Steve Ritchie story. I feel like every game from him, especially this era, has some kind of story wedged into it. That guy lives on the edge. Yeah. Like when we get into No Fear, you know, it comes full circle. It's just very much his vibe. On to the next. On to the next. All right. Grand Lizard, April 1986. Designed by Barry Ousler and Python Anghelo. Nanek, again, next up today on Spotbook, we have a good frontstop! This month our somber down with discussion Some things you should honestly buy at Sstro Cup andume fried w mainstream��? So today I'm able to share some information. First then I'll be Oh, my God. It's getting to the point where I feel like I'm going to have to go back to talking about the fact that we've been talking about the fact that there was a lot of stuff that was not around and that it was out of the box. So I'm like that. It really, like, scratches some like low budget itch, which is not Python's normal. Most of Python's stuff is so overcooked and he puts so much time and detail into it. And this one's not like that. There's all that gray mass at the bottom. They just didn't render out any of the bricks. And we did that a lot. There's a lot of like white space in his art packages and a lot of like. This one's one I don't like. I like some and I don't like others. The original Paul Faris. So Paul Faris did the, he originally did all the plastics, he did the full art package, he did the playfield, the plastics, he did the backglass, and for some reason, and I reached out to Greg, I texted Greg Freres, but this happens, this game was in development and it was set to be a System 9 game, which is the system previous to this, they skipped System 10. What? It got pushed back and then reconfigured to become this System 11 game, and because of that with alphanumeric displays that they introduced, they had to move the display windows down Anyway, wasted causes Musik & of Mar학 in Alva Reupunanya coronavirus LovenLink Cause of cotoon simpleton This art is still on the playfield that why this game is kinda famous for having like a disjointed art package but the original one looks like an old like fantasy or dime store like illustrated sci or fantasy not like It's got a cool buff dude punching a monkey. It's fucking cool dude, he's fighting a bunch of baboons like... The overlord, the large grand lizard just watching over the battle scene, it's fucking killer. The typeface is way better. So much better, yeah. It's just like stenciled sans, it's really hard to identify, I wonder if Roger Sharp put his foot down and was like no violence against my monkey friends. Don't touch my mandrels. Telling you. Oh, and it was also the first game to use synthesized sounds. We're in the future now. Yeah, this is the future, baby. Very distinct sound package on this thing. You know, we give a little playing tips sometimes with these games and I think more so than like trying to show you or tell you like what shots or what or, you know, get you going. You need to bond with this machine. You need to form a physical bond. You want to get together some household items living around the house and you like get some old weed from your dad like named after a location and color like Panama Red or Acapulco Gold. You're going to roll a joint and then save a nug off to the side. I'll tell you why you save that one off to the side later. But you're going to grab your headphones, go roll a loose dirty doobie and then get going on this bad boy. Put on your headphones, listen to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I, Alan posted the other day with this and it's a perfect song. Yeah, listen to Gila Monster. betuel Pro forumsauceZaposian, Quem Blanket Pione видео review from the WPPR SANDON facts article by Hilary Mark Ritchie, and he's here putting the first ramps that feed back to inlanes in a game, you know, a misstep per Ty Palmer. But Alan, why do you love this game so much? He loves it so much. I can't stop talking about it. I'll start with the good. It's the first game that Chris Granner did the sound package on, and the sound and music on it are fantastic for the era. And for Chris's first game, we're going to talk about him a lot because this is when he becomes into the industry. Chris Granner is the fucking goat. That's the good. Oh, it's also designed by Mark Ritchie. I love Mark Ritchie. Art by Tim Elliot. It's got a sick motorcycle chariot kind of like in the new- Yeah, it's got some Mad Max vibes. Yeah, they have the motorcycle chariot in the new Mad Max, the Furiosa. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. I take umbrage with the back of the flyer of this where it says, we don't make an exceptional number of pinballs, we just make a number of exceptional ones. Now, Road Kings. What? And that's where that shit became not true. Subtitles by the Amara.org community This game sucks, okay? Like, I hate this game. I don't, like, we don't normally dump on games and I'm not going to belabor it, but like, I dislike this game and I love Mark Ritchie. I think this is the only game he's ever made that I do not like. And really, I think the most interesting things that came out of this game are that it was used by two different people to make their own prototypes. So it was famously used by young wannabe pinball designer Pat Lawler, who we'll hear about soon, to create and build his first Intro rainfall trailer 1 Sign-off 06.3 A game that kept on giving. A game that people were ready to be like, let's tear this thing apart and make something good. It's like the giving tree. The blueprint. And like everybody's taken from poor road kings. Alan has the fucking ax out ready to chop the poor giving tree down. Let the road kings live. Next from there, we're back onto something that I think we can all agree is a pretty good game. It's 1986, it's October, and Barry Owsler, Python Anghelo, they're back together to make Pinbot. One of Python's best art packages, I think. It's fucking cool. Yeah, this seems like a Python mushroom era design. You can kind of track, you can look at all his art and you're like, I know what drugs you're on. And all the vibrant colors, all the, like the whole rainbow's out there and he's so stoked on the universe and mushrooms and camping and going outside. That was his jam. And somehow robots worked on the equation. Because it's pinball, it's the future, so we got pinball playing robots. They're out there. I think Alex is underselling this game a little bit. He's like, it's pretty good. I think this is like one of the bangers of this era. This is one of the iconic games. It's always hard for me. So for those that are unaware, they used this, it was a big seller did 12,000 units. It's considered like one of the great pinball machines, one of the best of this generation, but they reused more or less the exact same playfield design for jackpot, a sequel DMD game that came out in the mid 90s. Yep. And it's hard for me to go back to PinBot, just because JackBot plays better. I just like it better. I have a clearer idea of the objectives. Fair, yeah. So that's the hard part. But that being said, PinBot, these are still fairly cheap games. I think they're fucking awesome. It's a super fun game. It's got a great raising center bank and a visor that opens up and you lock balls in there physical locks. It's probably the first major interactive mech in pinball. So it's super notable for that. Joe JuiceJr, the former designer at Stern Electronics that we talked about in our Stern episode, makes his first game at Williams as a mechanical engineer. Yeah, Joey with the juice, he's back. Joey with the juice is back, baby. J-Cubes, y'all. You went out on the high note that was Orbiter 1 and yet you returned for an actual high note with PinBot. Excellent. So, you know, good character arc. Oh yeah, and we get software by Bill Futsenbuehrer. I think this is his first. Oh. One of his early games at least. I love it when people get a nickname just because we can't pronounce their actual name. Yeah, everyone's like, that's Futs dude. Tillman . Andrew домов ,- grandparents bekiber, Do Doncой Su poopo´TV, the Highway G todo u这 LGBT prepayme, the Jet flyin', limousine ridin', wheelin', dealin', kiss stealin', son of a gun. And he's having a hard time keeping those alligators down. Woo! Thank you. It's, this is, is this the lowest rated? No, it's not the lowest. It's unranked currently because it doesn't have enough ratings. But if it did, it'd be two spots below Orbita 1 and one spot above Stern's Rolling Stones. So it's number 293 out of 299 if it were rated. So it is very low and it's I think the second lowest rated if it were. It was the first playfield designed by Jerry Armstrong. He only ever got to make one other traditional pinball playfield design which was Al's Garageband goes on a world tour for, you know, Alvin G and Company which was short-lived. Alvin Gottlieb tried to get back into the pinball business in the 90s. It didn't work out. So I guess this guy Jerry jumped ship. He designed a couple of their head-to-head pinball tables for that same Alvin G and Company And he also designed the prototype King Kong machine in 1990. That game looks cool. That game looks very cool. Data East chose for some reason to never release it. They only made like 10 prototypes of it. But you can see it on IPDB. I'll list it in the show notes. If you or someone you know has a King Kong that they want to sell me, I really need one to complete the eventual full Kaiju collection. So let us know and, you know, I'll take out another mortgage. Well, what do you guys think? We got to play this again recently. I think it's got a very interesting playfield layout. It's got a cool roulette wheel that they used to use on EM machines under the playfield. It's got a very cool cammed wheel that adjusts a ball guide coming out of the ball launch to like The skill shot. The skill shot. It's really sick and I'm really surprised I've not seen that on other machines. After seeing how well it works here, it's just fun. It's a fun way to- The inline drops and they got some like physical, cool physical ball locks. Dude, the inline drops that you can only hit from the upper flipper is sick. It's a good, it's a, I really like how the layout shot, honestly. Underrated. It's not number 293. What is? Roadkings should be. Yeah, true. Up next, we're in March 1987 and Steve Ritchie is back following up the massive success of High Speed with another banger, it's F-14 Tomcat. Software by Eugene Jarvis, who's more famous for his video game work, but he also Five and a Half Thous Verizon Units, the King, Steve Ritchie, it's not rated as highly. It's only in the mid is 164, but it's the first game with a true ball safe feature. It only activates on the third ball, though, like you don't get one every ball like we It's really fun to see all these pieces coming together to play a map, and one of them is the old game that we do nowadays, and it's the first game that has sort of a high-speed kickback feature where a game will kick the ball back at you. Yeah, something you see Steve repeat even in modern designs a lot and John Borg has kind of like taken from him as well to great effect. I love those things. They're very fun. Out Pan will expect-and Accompaniment Bill Perod, and Chris Grainter, try to put this together. This little… Sgateel n T Voice, remain Velodrome end He told the proces that it a game A game you can get for a good deal and you should Yes This is fun Yeah this is a bye right We trying to move these units Yeah. We want to get that up to 14.6k by the end of this episode. Next up, Fire, August 1987. It's Barry Owsler and I thought Python was involved with this, but maybe not. No, this isn't. None of Python's grubby little fingerprints all over it. Sam. For a change. I do not have particularly fond feelings towards this game. What about you guys? I have fun shooting around on it, but I don't go out of my way to play it. It's currently ranked 220 out of 299. They sold 7,700 units, so it was definitely a hit. It got the first kind of center pop-up ramp in pinball, where there's like a ladder on a, you know, like, illustrated onto a ramp that goes up into the central building. There's two other ramps that lift www.ucharPinballNews.com stan RMakter, Deomatic halidekunder, neil, Oh no. She's not good at drawing. Let's just throw her under the bus. It's kinda cool, you know, from a playfield. The playfield, like the filigree toward the bottom of the playfield is nice. The typography is nice. At first, when I first saw it, I thought it was a bally because I thought the type was like really well done and some things were incorporated pretty nicely. It's a good co- But it's just a back glass I'm not vibing with. Mark Sprenger is the artist and he's done better packages, but this is, I don't think it's bad. I think it's- I think it's a good cohesive package. Yeah. It's a great idea for a game. Yeah. It's like vaudeville fire in Chicago. You guys really ran out of ideas. You're like, remember the Chicago fire? We should do a little piece on that. That sounds great. That'll really get the kids in 1987 to buy some pinball, throw some quarters in the machine. No. Bad and dumb. Why? Somehow they sell three times as many as Grant. Yeah. They sold, yeah, 7,700 of these fucking things. So back to back like I was just saying we're getting another completely symmetrical playfield released in October of 1987. This is Big Guns designed by Mark Ritchie and Python Anghelo. Software by Foots again, art by Python, sound by Chris Granner and Brian Schmidt, sold 5500 units. This game is fucking wild. I mean it's ranked 228 out of 299. The backbox is extra tall. Pinball I mean, it's called big guns, right? And it's got cannons on the playfield that do shoot the ball into a wire form like receiving ramp on the backside and they function and it's pretty underwhelming when you see it in real life. I would say it's a cool thing. It's a thing that got me really hyped the first time I saw it. And then it went and it kind of happened so fast that you don't really even I feel like it wasn't worth the squeeze considering that's kind of the whole gimmick to the game. But I do think it is a pretty fun game. It should be, in my opinion, a little bit harder to do. Yeah. And then it'd be really cool. But it is cool. It's a fun game. I think the art package is pretty fun too. It's psycho shit. It's definitely psychedelic Python stuff. With a dash of cocaine. I think his, like, his drug era is changing a little bit because you just talk about what we're looking at. We got space, guns, castles, and they're ready to nuke this castle with a big old, like, mouth on it. Even him explaining to the higher-ups being like, no, we must make the backbox little bit taller, four inches taller, not be much more. He's from Transylvania, bear with me, we're doing a little voice thing. You know, we'll make it a little bit bigger and then I read the, you know, Where's Waldo? And we put all the people on the field, on the playfield and it looks like you're looking at Where's Waldo books. We're gonna get to... It has his Python like overhead view, like he messes with perspective so much on his art. Yeah, and we're gonna see this a lot is just like him placing little people all over the playfields. We'll mention that coming up. It's also got the pop-up center save feature in between your trains. I think it was done on some EMS Yeah, it was done on a lot of Williams EMS. I don't know if it was ever used in the solid states I think this is the first time it's kind of brought back. It's interesting. It's kind of a lame gimmick I don't like those I had one on a cabaret EMI owned and I did not care for it I don't I don't like it either feels weird. It feels weird. It feels weird Okay, we'll move on from there into something that is you know, this is like like that was a little kind of likeaniypu . 00.19.23ania6l If it's light here tarde kansanyline I think this is the last game and that has like a standard Italian bottom until Wheel of Fortune and then we went many years until the newest game announced by Stern being Jack Danger's Uncanny X-Men. This game does not have inlanes. No, I just meant art package, theme-wise. Oh, gotcha. Yeah, it's really sick though that this thing does not have inlanes. Space Station rips. It's a great game. Yeah, it's a sequel to Barry's first game, Space Shuttle. It does have a pretty decent rating at 148. Sold 3,800 units, so mild success. Software's by Ed Boon. Ed Boon's first pinball programming work. People might know him better as the creating the Mortal Kombat video game series. But this is the only System 11 game, like I said, to feature non-standard non-Italian bottom with no inlanes. And it was probably the last major production game for many years. Tim Elliot had told a weird story where he was... The real space shuttle Challenger blew up right in front of him. January 1986 when he was illustrating the shuttle for this game. He was like, I was the only one in the art room at the time and I had the TV on. It was terrible and ironic at the same time. I was actually painting the small space shuttle on the right of the back glass when it happened. That's crazy. Crazy. So if you're ever playing this game, you can look at the little space shuttle on the right side of the back glass and go, he was painting that when the Challenger exploded. That is kinda nuts. It is nuts. But the game's super fun. Game's super fun. So there's that. Partner4, It's Barry Owsler and definitely Python Anghelo on this one. All of them. Well, Python Anghelo on R. He doesn't get, for some reason, he doesn't get a design code credit on this. Software Bill Futsenruder, JJJ back on mechanics again. It's got a pretty low pin side ranking, but it sold almost 10,000 units, sold 9,400 units. It's the fourth best selling game from this era and was kind of a staple. Like, people bring this game up as games that they remember. I have a lot of old timers that they like remember this game. It's famous for the Ferris wheel mech and it's got the Reagans on the back glass sitting in the coaster. It's the sequel to Comet from 85 with the same design group. It's notable because it's the first game with a subway and apparently just earned buckets and buckets and buckets of money. I've heard so many stories of this game just earning crazy money on occasion back in the day. Makes sense when you like hear it like because with how nostalgic everyone is for it. The It's one of those games though that like, it's like the, it doesn't do it for me at all. Like I don't, I don't know. It's like I had a really good time. This is the one that I was saying. I was going after the incrementing jackpot and I was having a really good time doing it and just like trying to repeat the center loop. You can keep repeating that center ramp shot. It's fun. It was better than I ever thought it was when I actually spent time on it. You know, it also has a little Canadian flag on a stick. So They pulled it off a French dip. Uh, It's on a toothpick. Funny clown at the drain. Subtitles provided by the Amara.org community It's a beloved game. It's not my favorite. I think Python got his wish on this one too because he always wanted to make an amusement park under glass. That's how he described pinball to people he worked with when he was lucid and he's like, okay cool, you know, let's make this little theme park with all these people and then just flexed out some more Where's Waldo art. Yeah, 100%. There's just so much of it. Imagine there's probably some little naked figure in the back and he's like, that is me. So I'm gonna be looking for that because I know he'd do wacky shit like that. He does love his little Easter eggs and stuff. He does. Next one, it's a game that you already mentioned on this episode, Alan. It's Banzai Run. It came out May 1988. We mentioned it by its original name, which was Wrecking Ball. It was the game that Pat Waller went and built in his garage to kinda earn his spot as on the design team at Williams, right? Yeah, he had met and approached Larry DeMar with an idea for the pinball machine. His idea was like, I wanna do a vertical playfield. Larry encouraged Pat to actually build one and Larry helped him with the programming. They then pitched it to Williams with the original theme wrecking ball and the effort got him a job at Williams and he became, you know, one of the most iconic pinball designers of all time. It sold pretty badly. It only sold 1750 units, which is surprising because it's surprising to me. It's very surprising to me. I wonder if it cost much more. Yeah, I wonder if it was much more expensive. We do get the first kind of pairing of John Krutsch, his mechanical engineer who worked with Pat on almost all of his games. And since Pat's well known for his mechanical I feel like it needs to be said that John Krutsch was the guy that made all those wizardy things happen and you got software by Larry DeMar and Ed Boon. No game had a hold on me in my childhood like Banzai Run. It was like a mythical thing that I had seen just a handful of times when I was young and it's just like the peak of like I want to see the game do the thing. You can just walk up immediately and you're like oh my god the ball can go up there and as a child it was just, it felt impossible. C inspired by Craybit bank sports optical ngGame and sequins Science The Noise Don't forget to click the Like button on this video, subscribe to the channel and to set the notification Bell I'll see you on Pengual. This is June 1988, we got Swords of Fury designed by Steve Kirk and Tony Kraemer, art and concept by Doug Watson, software Dan Lee, sound Brian Schmidt, sold 2700 units. So another low run, but this is also ranked in the top 100. This is actually 95. So this is very highly ranked. It's famously one of pinball designer Scott Danesi's favorite game, the guy that designed TNA and Rick and Morty and uh, what's the last one? Final Resistance. Yeah. Mark the very short-lived return of enigmatic pinball designer Steve Kirk, guy that did Stars and Meteor and Nineball. But he was famously hard to work with, I guess, but very talented. And this layout is bananas, famous for the Lion Man callouts that you hear all the time. But we've got to talk about how Waterboy and Ty think it's massively overrated and they don't like it. So explain yourselves. I think it's fine. It's just it's a really this is probably the most hyped System 11 that I've seen online and it is it just looks so cool in photos because it looks like a very modern playfield with like all the different variety of shots the upper playfield with those drops that you hit behind it's got so much going on and every time I play it it doesn't just blow my mind like I guess I was kind of like promised it would I don't know what I'm expecting it just kind of is always like okay yeah it's pretty fun but like it's no grand lizard. It was overhyped to me. Yeah. Or I even played it and they're like, oh my God, you gotta play this game and we're gonna go play it and he's like, oh, they got a new machine. It's right in your wheelhouse. It's old solid state. You love it. You'll love it. You love it. And I fricking ripped the cover off of it first game. You had a score on it. I'm like, it's not that big of a deal. I had fun, I guess, but I just don't come back to it. Yeah. It's one of those ones that if I spend more time on it, if one had like a dialed setup, how I like, maybe it would really win me over, but I'm still waiting to be won over by it. Yeah. It's like Pop-Tarts. Tip for interviewees It's clever and it's fun and the sound design is pretty famous for a reason. The sound design is really good. The theme is cool. I do like a lot of it on paper and that's I think why I had such high hopes for it. But yeah, I think it'll win me over. They're not going anywhere. It'll win me over one day. Okay, next up, we're back to a good game because it's Mark Ritchie and it doesn't have a center ramp. It's Taxi, August 1988. Mark's working with Python Anghelo on the art at least. I thought he was kind of involved with playfield design but maybe not. I think it's art and concept is what Python's listed as. Mechanics by Tony Kraemer who, you know, was, got a co-design credit on Swords of Fury. Sound by Chris Granner, sold 7,300 units. Software, once again, Ed Boon, pin side rank number 97. Dude, this game's, I love Taxi. I do too. Yeah, iconic game. Absolutely iconic game. One, it's just a lot of yellow, which is rare in pinball in general. S控 Lightning, Bluvai Juan, And then it combines it all kind of plays well with his like classic top down perspective like the Where's Waldo kind of thing. It's not as jam-packed with people. It's just taxis and cars and stuff on this one. It's got Mark's kind of what becomes his signature like crisscross ramps, which Mark does on a lot of games. Again, it tells a good story, good sound. You're trying to pick up all the different characters as Dracula, Santa Claus, Pinball makes an appearance. Gorbachev. Out 56 happens in New Jersey at 11 p.m. COMMORам IH K 65 nhssiп Dante cić45 4 developers Out66 Out67 Out Flea Out8 I heard things like Python has like putting in little things that are political, you know, with Gorbachev and then the Reagan's on. Yeah. So he's very patriotic to America, which is endearing and being born in Romania. So, yeah, it's interesting. Another fun thing I mentioned the taxi light on top of the cabinet. It's also got like the taxi, like the bell, I guess that you would hear at the dispatch center, right? That's what that bell would be from. And it's fucking loud. And when you hit jackpots or if you're ripping ramps and multiball, it goes off a lot and it's great. It's something that Mark Ritchie kinda does that again on Fishtails as the fish finder knocking. And when you're blowing up the game everyone in the place will be like what is going on over there? Because taxi will be losing its mind with that ringer. Oh it's so loud. It's fun though. I really like it, it's just one of those ones that I'm like, it kind of like nails everything for me. It nails everything, the only thing I would change is progressive jackpot needs to go. You could change that in the settings. You should. Yes. We're back onto another game that Alan loves. It's Jokers. Alright, so this is another Barry Ousler and Python Angela. Like I said, this is like, Barry and Python had a stranglehold on this era. For better and for worse, I love and respect both of them, but this is not my favorite of theirs. It sold pretty well. 5400 units, but it's ranked number 230 out of 299. It features a double your score gimmick on your last ball which always I think sucks just from the ruleset. The layout's got a big center lifting mech. Center ramp. Center ramp again and lifts up again. Don't love center ramps. I think to echo Alex's point that he made to me years ago and how it sucks with me. Center ramp's always a mistake. That's why you don't see him at pinball toooften anymore. But they were all over this era as they were figuring out. It is notable for having John Yauci's first pinball art package. Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball Pinball This is very System 11. I think this is the less interesting System 11 game. Yeah, I can't really disagree with that. I don't have, I don't really care for this one. Ranked 230 out of 299. It's crazy how many games we've seen ranked higher than that already, like worse than that. Yeah. Like, man, I don't know about that. But, so Jokers must have some fans. Okay, from there we go to one that's ranked a bit higher. It's another from Pat Lawler. It's his first that he didn't design in his garage. It's Earthshaker from February of 1989. Tim Elliot, Art, Sound, and John Hay, sold 5,300 units, ranked number 118, so ranked pretty high. It's the first Pat Lawler game that really feels like a Pat Lawler game. It's sick. Like Banzai Run feels sort of like if you squint and you sort of like you know you're like okay this is Pat Lawler. Kinda. This is the game that's like has a subway shot. It has the upper flipper shot. It has the double in lane on one side. It has mechanical toys and change stage gimmicks and stuff like that. And it's notable for being the first game with a shaker motor. About 200 of the early games were made with a sinking building, but they removed it to cut costs. Overall, very fun game sort of is like hats coming out party, I think. Yep, 100%. And it's a really, it is just a fun game loaded with kind of like unique little shots. There's just a lot going on with this thing. He hidesaspinner in the pop bumper nest, which is super weird. I love that. So Pat Lawler really likes putting shots through pop bumpers. And this one has a shot through the pops, but it's not like a mean like you, it's a friendlier feed because it's an orbit that just kind of feeds. It's like an orbit past the upper flipper through pops that goes in hits a spinner. This penetrate has no pacingrosties, hava theьet into the multiball, then that's the jackpot Shot. So it kind of becomes a one-shot game. And that's insulted Pre-Page Critics Report that even though theonact увеличial So it kind of becomes a one-shot game. And that's specialty downside, if they, kind of tweak some of the rules on this. The layout's a banger. Layout's a banger. Yeah, it's a fun one. So yeah, this'll end then episode part 1 of the system 11 series that we're doin' We're going to split this into two parts, since we got a lot of games, we need to talk about want to keep teasing a reasonable runtime. Yeah, maybe we'll iaven dip into System 12. Next week. But if you listen to this and you listen to any of the games we just listed or any All of these games in greater depth. Until next time, good luck. Don't suck. destической rise

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