# Extra... Extra...

**Source:** Pinball News Website  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2002-03-08  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballnews.com/news/newsletter2.html

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## Analysis

Stern Pinball's March 2002 newsletter announces the Playboy pinball machine designed by George Gomez, Dwight Sullivan, and Kevin O'Connor. The newsletter features an interview with Gomez discussing the game's design philosophy, interchangeable photo inserts, and his influences in pinball design. Additional content includes event announcements (Pinball at the Zoo, Pinburgh 2002) and operator tips for the Playboy machine.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Monopoly pinball reached the top spot on both RePlay and Play Meter Polls and is one of Stern's best selling games to date — _Official Stern Pinball newsletter statement dated March 8, 2002_
- [HIGH] Playboy game features interchangeable photo inserts in varying levels of revealing content (conservative, moderate, and nude sets) taken from actual Playboy photography — _George Gomez explanation in official interview about Playboy machine features_
- [HIGH] George Gomez originally conceived the Playboy concept while playing the original Bally Playboy game at a downtown bar — _Direct quote from George Gomez in newsletter interview_
- [HIGH] Dwight Sullivan wanted to create Playboy on the Pinball 2000 platform while at WMS but it was deemed too difficult at the time — _George Gomez statement in official interview_
- [HIGH] George Gomez credited with the idea for WMS Pinball 2000, motivated by the need to create compelling new entertainment as traditional pinball design space became exhausted — _Official Stern newsletter interview with Gomez_

### Notable Quotes

> "Playboy and pinball have always been a powerful combination and I think that this game is the most exciting version to date."
> — **George Gomez**, N/A
> _Designer's core pitch for the new Playboy game, emphasizing the synergy between the IP and pinball mechanics_

> "I love games that build in intensity and games that make me work at mastering them. I like smooth shooting, hook a lot of shots together and feel like a hero, take a breather & bring on the next thing, collect cool stuff kinds of games."
> — **George Gomez**, N/A
> _Reveals Gomez's core design philosophy and aesthetic preferences that inform his approach to pinball game design_

> "I also love it when a game theme is thoroughly executed. By that I mean that all of the elements: art, sounds, choreography, fiction, and play mechanic need to be consistent and well thought out."
> — **George Gomez**, N/A
> _Articulates Gomez's design principle of thematic cohesion across all game elements, contrasting with games where theme is an afterthought_

> "Desperation, in a word. If the player base had disappeared, it had to do with the fact that we were no longer entertaining them."
> — **George Gomez**, N/A
> _Gomez's candid explanation for why he pushed for the Pinball 2000 platform innovation, attributing its necessity to industry stagnation_

> "I think this is the ultimate application of the theme. The entire Playboy mystique revolves around these incredibly beautiful and interesting women. We have made this game consistent with that."
> — **George Gomez**, N/A
> _Gomez positions the 2002 Stern Playboy as superior to previous versions (Bally and Data East) through thematic focus_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| George Gomez | person | Legendary Stern Pinball designer, designer of Monster Bash and the 2002 Playboy machine; credited with conceiving Pinball 2000 platform |
| Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer producing the 2002 Playboy machine and Monopoly pinball; based in Melrose Park, Illinois with 40,000 sq. ft. factory |
| Dwight Sullivan | person | Stern Pinball employee and Playboy machine co-designer; formerly at WMS, designer of WhoDunnit |
| Kevin O'Connor | person | Artist on Playboy machine, previously worked on Star Wars Episode One and Playboy: 35th Anniversary |
| Playboy (2002 Stern) | game | New pinball machine from Stern designed by Gomez, Sullivan, and O'Connor; features interchangeable photo inserts and theme-focused design |
| Monopoly | game | Recent Stern pinball game that topped RePlay and Play Meter polls; one of Stern's best-selling games |
| Pat Lawlor | person | Legendary pinball designer; collaborated with Gary Stern on Monopoly; involved in Pat Lawlor Design merchandise venture |
| Gary Stern | person | President/leadership of Stern Pinball; praised success of Monopoly collaboration with Pat Lawlor |
| Monster Bash | game | Classic Williams/Bally game designed by George Gomez; cited as a major hit and example of thematic cohesion |
| Pinball 2000 | product | WMS platform innovation credited to George Gomez; first integrated digital elements into pinball; economically unfeasible to maintain alongside traditional line |
| Pinburgh 2002 | event | International pinball tournament held June 21-23 in Pittsburgh; organized by Steel City Pinball Association; features 40+ machines from private collection |
| Pinball at the Zoo | event | Third annual pinball event held April 20-21, 2002 in Kalamazoo, Michigan; features tournaments, auctions, and vendor booths |
| Williams Electronic Games / WMS | company | Former major pinball manufacturer; Gomez and Sullivan worked there; produced Pinball 2000 platform and classic games |
| Bally | company | Historical pinball manufacturer; produced original Playboy machine that inspired the 2002 Stern version |
| Data East | company | Pinball manufacturer; produced Playboy: 35th Anniversary, predecessor to the 2002 Stern Playboy |
| Mark Tremonti | person | Creed guitarist; wore Stern Pinball t-shirt on NBC's Jay Leno Show, boosting merchandise sales |
| Pinball News | organization | Independent pinball media outlet publishing this newsletter article dated March 8, 2002 |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Game design philosophy and thematic cohesion, Playboy pinball machine announcement and features, George Gomez interview and design influences
- **Secondary:** Pinball 2000 platform innovation and history, Stern Pinball's recent commercial success, Pinball tournament events and community
- **Mentioned:** Operator adjustments and machine maintenance

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Newsletter is promotional in nature, emphasizing Stern's success with Monopoly and positioning Playboy as the 'ultimate application' of its theme. Gomez speaks positively about game design and the creative process. No criticism or negative sentiment expressed. Tone is celebratory and forward-looking.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Monopoly pinball achieving top rankings on RePlay and Play Meter polls; positioned as one of Stern's best-selling games (confidence: high) — Official newsletter statement praising Monopoly's commercial performance and poll rankings
- **[business_signal]** Stern scaling back newsletter distribution from monthly to three per year to coincide with new game releases (confidence: high) — Direct statement: 'The original plan was to send out these newsletters once a month but those ambitions have been scaled back to just three newsletters a year to coincide with the production of each new game.'
- **[community_signal]** Stern Pinball donating backglasses and toys to Pinburgh 2002; industry figures (Lawlor, Stern) participating in charity events and factory tours (confidence: high) — eBay charity auction section and Pinburgh sponsorship demonstrating Stern's community engagement
- **[design_philosophy]** George Gomez articulates comprehensive design philosophy emphasizing thematic cohesion, mechanical innovation, smooth shooting, and intensity pacing (confidence: high) — Extended interview section where Gomez details favorite games, design principles, and his approach to game mechanics
- **[event_signal]** Pinburgh 2002 established as major international pinball tournament in Pittsburgh with 40+ machines; positioned as only national pinball tournament in United States (confidence: high) — Newsletter announcement details Pinburgh 2002 as three-day PAPA tournament, June 21-23 in Pittsburgh with significant sponsorship from Stern Pinball
- **[licensing_signal]** Playboy brand allows customizable content (conservative to nude photo inserts) enabling operators to adjust game appropriateness for different location demographics (confidence: high) — Gomez explains interchangeable photo inserts: 'This variety allows the operator to swap inserts in order to adjust the game to the location and the customer base.'
- **[announcement]** Official announcement of Stern Playboy pinball machine with full design details and designer interview (confidence: high) — Entire newsletter dedicated to Playboy announcement; featured interview with designer George Gomez; game details including interchangeable photo inserts
- **[technology_signal]** Pinball 2000 platform represented a significant innovation attempting to integrate digital elements into traditional pinball, motivated by market stagnation (confidence: high) — Gomez explains Pinball 2000 as response to design exhaustion: 'When you've designed a thousand ramps and created all manners of game rules, you have to do something new.'

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## Transcript

Story dated 8th March 2002.

Stern
Pinball Inc has produced its latest newsletter and predictably it
is mostly about their newest pinball game - Playboy.

The
original plan was to send out these newsletters once a month but those
ambitions have been scaled back to just three newsletters a year to
coincide with the production of each new game.

This
edition features a chat with Playboy designer George Gomez.

Hello again and welcome to The Second Stern Pinball
Newsletter

Everyone at Stern Pinball would like to thank
you for the amazing response to our last game, Monopoly™.
The Monopoly™ pinball machine not only reached the top
spot on both the RePlay and Play Meter Polls, it is now one
of Stern's best selling game to date! Thanks again and keep
flipping!

Further, Gary Stern was so excited with the success
of working with Pat Lawlor and his team on the Monopoly™
pinball machine that he invited some more former WMS superstars,
along with Stern's own incredible team of pinball designers,
to create Stern's newest game, Playboy. We hope that you welcome
these pinball greats back, and more so, we hope that you like
the Playboy pinball machine as much as we do.

Playboy

Designed by George Gomez (Monster Bash™), Stern employee
Dwight Sullivan (WhoDunnit™), and artist Kevin O'Connor
(Star Wars: Episode One®, Playboy: 35th Anniversary), the
Playboy pinball machine brings you the world's most beautiful
women in the lifestyle that can only be known as Playboy.

So recently, Stern News sat down with game designer George
Gomez and asked him a few questions about the Playboy pinball
machine, as well as a little of his own pinball history. Now
let's hear what's on George's mind these days.

Stern News: Welcome George, and thank you for taking the time
to talk to us. You just finished designing Stern Pinball's new
Playboy pinball machine. Could you tell us a little about it?

George Gomez: Playboy and pinball have always been a powerful
combination and I think that this game is the most exciting
version to date.

SN: Could you please explain in more detail the 'Interchangeable
Photo Inserts' that go on the playfield.

GG: Each target has the ability to reveal a beautiful girl.
The girls are represented in photo quality removable inserts
that are made from translite material and illuminated. The game
is shipped with several sets of photo inserts. The sets vary
in how much of the girls they reveal. In one set the photos
are very conservative and in the next the girls reveal a bit
more and of course there is a nude set. All of the inserts are
taken from actual Playboy photography so they are very high
quality and consistent with Playboy's high standards. This variety
allows the operator to swap inserts in order to adjust the game
to the location and the customer base.

(Editor's note: photo inserts for the playfield mechanisms
are interchangeable, allowing for appropriately rated images
to be applied to various environments.)

SN: How did you come up with the concept?

GG: I used to play the original Bally game years ago. There
was a bar downtown that had one and I remember thinking that
it would be fun to make the game as close to the actual magazine
as possible. When we were at WMS, my partner in this game, Dwight
Sullivan, wanted to do it on the Pinball 2000™ platform
but it was deemed too difficult at the time.

SN: Could you tell us the names of your favorite pinball machines
and what elements you like in them?

GG: In no particular order.Firepower 2™, Black Knight™,
Terminator 2®, Playboy, Medieval Madness™, Attack From
Mars™, Whirlwind™, Party Zone™, Monster Bash™,
RFM™, and Star Trek®. I love games that build in intensity
and games that make me work at mastering them. I like smooth
shooting, hook a lot of shots together and feel like a hero,
take a breather & bring on the next thing, collect cool
stuff kinds of games. I also love it when a game theme is thoroughly
executed. By that I mean that all of the elements: art, sounds,
choreography, fiction, and play mechanic need to be consistent
and well thought out. I never could get into those old games
where the art was applied as an after thought and the theme
may have been space but the play mechanic was a card game. I
didn't play pinball in that era and that's probably why. When
I was a kid I loved Marvel comics because the stories and the
art and the cover were all tied together, I despised D.C. comics
in the era when the stuff on the book cover had nothing to do
with the story inside.

SN: You're best known in the pinball community for designing
the Williams/Bally hit Monster Bash™. Tell us why you think
that pinball machine was such a monster hit?

GG: I think it represents what I described above. We made
the Monster toys compelling, the ball had fun kinetics in things
like bashing Frank and Drac, it had some smooth ramps like the
Bride ramp. The game had a lot of humor, which was a trademark
of the most successful games of that time. And of course the
pacing did what I referred to previously; it built the game
tension throughout the whole game. Every person on that team
stepped up and gave me their best stuff. It was a complete package.

SN: You are also generally credited with the idea for WMS'
Pinball 2000™. What led you to come up with that concept?

GG: Desperation, in a word. If the player base had disappeared,
it had to do with the fact that we were no longer entertaining
them. When you've designed a thousand ramps and created all
manners of game rules, you have to do something new. It was
simply an attempt to create a compelling new medium that would
include elements that were familiar and yet provide new ways
to play. By the way I always felt that we should retain both
the traditional and the 2000 lines of product. But that proved
economically unfeasible.

SN: Let's go back to the Playboy pinball machine. How would
you characterize this particular Playboy pinball machine with
the first two (Bally's Playboy; Data East's Playboy: 35th Anniversary)?
Is this a much more exciting game for the year 2002?

GG: I think this is the ultimate application of the theme.
The entire Playboy mystique revolves around these incredibly
beautiful and interesting women. We have made this game consistent
with that. We have for the first time focused on portraying
the very essence of Playboy. The previous games hinted at it
but stopped short of delivering on the promise. This game has
all of it.

SN: Last question. What was the first pinball machine you
ever played?

GG: I don't remember what it was called but it would have
been something from the sixties. I think it was a space theme,
and I think once I got beyond the concept that I had to keep
the ball in play, I focused on turning the lights on and trying
to get the ball to make its way everywhere on the playfield.
It was in a rec. room at an Air Force base somewhere out west.
I was on a cross-country trip with the Boy Scouts. I never imagined
then that this game would become such a significant part of
my life.

SN: Well thanks George for all of your insight. And we wish
you continued success, and much success with the new Playboy
pinball machine.

GG: Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to design this
game. It has been a privilege to work with all of the talent
in your company.

E-bay Charity Auction

Stern Pinball, Pat Lawlor Design, and Pinballsales.com would
like to thank Alexander and Lu Lu Woo for their wonderful bid
of $1825 on the November 20, 2001 auction to help all the brave
Americans in N.Y.C. through participating in eBay's Auction
for America. Alex and Lu Lu, and their friends (and runner-ups)
David and Mimi Cameron Silver, enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Capri
Restaurant in Melrose Park, Illinois with Gary Stern, Pat Lawlor,
Steve White (editor of RePlay magazine), and Stern employees
Jolly Backer and Marc Schoenberg. Gary

and Pat filled everyone's ears with stories of the pinball business
and pinball design, as well as taking them on a factory tour
of Stern Pinball's 40,000 sq. ft. factory in Melrose, Illinois.
And to make the experience all the more noteworthy, Alex and
Lu Lu flew in all the way from Hong Kong, while David and Mimi
came from Silver Spring, Maryland for the lunch. The afternoon
became complete when everyone adjourned to the Stern gameroom
for a few hours of playing Playboy and MonopolyT. Again, thank
you to our new friends for their generosity, and thanks to eBay
and Jack Guarnieri of Pinballsales.com for making this all happen.

Stern Paraphernalia

Ever since Creed guitarist Mark Mark Tremonti wore a Stern Pinball
T-shirt on NBC's Jay Leno Show, Pat Lawlor Design has been selling
the shirts like mad. Just go to www.patlawlordesign.com and
you too can have a 100% cotton Stern Pinball T-shirt from Pat's
secure website ($19.95 plus $4.95 shipping/handling). Also,
you will soon be able to purchase a Stern Pinball baseball cap
from the PLD website.

Get with it and get in Stern-style today!

Events

The Third Annual Pinball at the Zoo event will be held at
the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds located at 2900 Lake Street,
Kalamazoo, Mich. on April 20 and 21. It will feature a Coin-op
Auction, Multiple Pinball Tournaments, and Inside and Outside
Vending Booths with Parts and Machines for Sale. New this year,
outside vending Booths and all coin-op devices are welcome.
All games will be set on free play. Organizers are once again
offering free admission to anyone who brings a pinball machine
that can either be used in the tournament or left on free play.
For more details, contact show organizers at 616-628-4626; e-mail
Kevin@PinballattheZoo.com.

Pinball lives in the form of Pinburgh 2002, an international
tournament in the tradition of the Professional and Amateur
Pinball Association (PAPA). The three-day competitive event
will be held in Pittsburgh, Penn., June 21-23, at the Best Western
Parkway Center Inn. Each year the tournament grows bigger and
better. Players of all skill levels are welcome. Organizers
say this is the only national pinball tournament in the United
States. Most of the machines in the tournament have been selected
from the private collection of one of the event's sponsors.
At least 40 pinball machines will be used. Pinburgh 2002 is
organized and hosted by the Steel City Pinball Association.
Sponsors include Beehive Coffeehouse and pair Networks, Inc.
Stern Pinball will be donating backglasses and toys. For more
information, visit www.pinburgh2002.com.

Tips & Tricks #2

USING YOUR ADJUSTABLE OUTLANE POSTS

Playboy Pinball is equipped with Adjustable Outlane Posts to
help earnings by increasing or decreasing the Average Ball Time.
Periodically check Audit 3, Average Ball Time. Ideally, 50-55
Seconds is suggested for best earnings. Moving the Left &
Right Adjustable Outlane Posts and adding or removing the Rubber
Rings from either or both Outlane & Mini-Posts will affect
this time.

Three Steps to Increase the Average Ball Time:

1. Add a 3/16" I.D. Rubber Ring to both Outlane Posts.

2. Move the Post down one (1) Position, "closing"
up the Outlanes.

3. Add a 3/8" O.D. Rubber Ring to both Mini-Posts.

Three (3) Steps to DECREASE the

Average Ball Time:

1. Remove the 3/8" O.D. Rubber Ring from both Mini-Posts.

2. Move the Post to the Top Position, "opening"
up the Outlanes.

3. Remove the 3/16" I.D. Rubber Ring from both Outlane
Posts.

Monitor your Audits (especially Audit 3) closely. For your
particular location, you will soon be able to determine the
best way to have your Posts positioned and with or without Rubber
Rings on your game. As players become better, more adjustments
may be required.

©2002 Playboy. Playboy, RABBIT HEAD DESIGN,
PLAYMATE and CENTERFOLD are marks of Playboy and used with permission.
Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. Firepower 2, Black Knight,
Medieval Madness, Attack From Mars, Whirlwind, Party Zone, Monster
Bash, Return From Mars, Who Dunnit and Pinball 2000 are trademarks
of Williams Electronic Games, Inc. Star Trek: The Next Generation
is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures, Inc. Terminator
2 is a registered trademark of Artisan Productions, Inc.

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©
Pinball News 2002

_(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 70809a76-54d6-44b9-adc0-5b5087ffda68*