# Tanio Klyce Joins Stern Pinball **Source:** Pinball News Website **Type:** article **Published:** 2013-04-11 **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.pinballnews.com/news/tanio.html --- ## Analysis Tanio Klyce, a veteran software engineer with 15 years in amusement/gaming and prior experience at Valve, has joined Stern Pinball as Senior Software Engineer to help manage the expanded development workload created by multiple product tiers (Pro, Premium, Limited Edition, The Pin range). Stern leadership cited programming resource constraints as the driver for this hire. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Stern Pinball is producing four or more versions of each game, creating significant strain on the development team, particularly programmers. — _Gary Stern quoted by Pinball News regarding expansion strategy and resource constraints_ - [HIGH] Tanio Klyce was previously working on Linux game development at Valve in Bellevue, Washington. — _Direct statement in article about his recent employment_ - [HIGH] Tanio Klyce has 15 years of experience in the amusement business starting as a video game programmer. — _Article states 'started in the amusement business fifteen years ago'_ - [HIGH] Tanio Klyce was not involved in developing Stern's Metallica Pinball despite the timing coincidence. — _Direct quote from Klyce: 'I have not been involved in the making of Stern's Metallica Pinball'_ ### Notable Quotes > "I have not been involved in the making of Stern's Metallica Pinball, ... but I plan on buying one because it is freakin' awesome." > — **Tanio Klyce**, Date of article: 11 April 2013 > _Clarifies that hire timing is coincidental to Metallica announcement; establishes his enthusiasm for Stern's product direction_ > "With Stern's own Metallica pinball just announced, the timing could not be better, but Tanio insists it is purely coincidental." > — **Pinball News (article text)**, 11 April 2013 > _Notes the suspicious timing of hire relative to Metallica's announcement and Klyce's direct denial of involvement_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Tanio Klyce | person | Senior Software Engineer joining Stern Pinball; veteran amusement/game programmer with Valve experience; creator of Metallica and Beatniks Koolsville pinball games | | Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer hiring Klyce to manage development workload across multiple product tiers | | Gary Stern | person | Leadership at Stern Pinball; cited regarding development team resource constraints | | Valve | company | Video game company in Bellevue, Washington where Klyce recently worked on Linux game development; also collaborated with Jeri Ellsworth on pinball control system prototype | | Wade Krause | person | Artist who collaborated with Tanio Klyce on pinball game creation (Metallica, Beatniks Koolsville) | | Dirty Donny | person | Artist who collaborated with Tanio Klyce on pinball game creation (Metallica, Beatniks Koolsville) | | Jeri Ellsworth | person | Collaborated with Tanio Klyce at Valve and on private joint project to prototype new pinball control system | | Metallica | game | Pinball game created by Tanio Klyce with Wade Krause and Dirty Donny; Stern Pinball recently announced their own Metallica pinball coinciding with Klyce's hire | | Pacific Pinball Exposition | event | Event where Tanio Klyce has spoken in seminars; location where he was reintroduced to pinball through Lucky Ju Ju | | Lucky Ju Ju | game | Forerunner to Pacific Pinball Museum; where Tanio Klyce was reintroduced to pinball | | Black Knight | game | Machine that arrived at Klyce's local movie theatre in New Orleans; first pinball exposure | ### Topics - **Primary:** Stern Pinball product expansion and multi-tier strategy, Software engineering talent acquisition and resource constraints, Tanio Klyce's background in amusement/video game development - **Secondary:** Metallica pinball game announcement and development, Pinball industry expertise and talent migration from adjacent sectors ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Article frames the hire as a positive development addressing real business challenges; Klyce expresses enthusiasm for Stern's products; no negative commentary present ### Signals - **[business_signal]** Stern's multi-tier product strategy (Pro, Premium, Limited Edition, The Pin range) is creating development bottlenecks, particularly in programming, necessitating senior talent acquisition (confidence: high) — Article states: 'While making four (or more) versions of each game provides plenty of choice for the buyer, it puts a big strain on the development team and in particular the programmers.' Gary Stern cited as source. - **[personnel_signal]** Tanio Klyce, experienced software engineer and amusement game developer, joins Stern Pinball as Senior Software Engineer, transitioning from Valve in Seattle to Chicago (confidence: high) — Direct announcement: 'Tanio Klyce has joined Stern Pinball as Senior Software Engineer' with start date of 1 May 2013 - **[announcement]** Stern Metallica Pinball recently announced, timing coinciding with Klyce hire though Klyce denies involvement in its development (confidence: high) — Article references 'Stern's own Metallica pinball just announced' and Klyce's statement: 'I have not been involved in the making of Stern's Metallica Pinball' --- ## Transcript Date: 11 April, 2013 Stern Pinball has an expanding range of products; from their regular Pro models, through the enhanced Premiums to the top-of-the-range Limited Editions, and - more recently - the introduction of their The Pin range which extends the number of models further. While making four (or more) versions of each game provides plenty of choice for the buyer, it puts a big strain on the development team and in particular the programmers. Gary Stern told Pinball News recently how the company would be getting some help in that area soon, and we can now reveal that Tanio Klyce has joined Stern Pinball as Senior Software Engineer. Tanio Klyce Tanio started in the amusement business fifteen years ago as a video game programmer, and had recently been working on Linux game development at Valve in Bellevue near Seattle in Washington. He first got into pinball when a Black Knight machine arrived at his local movie theatre in New Orleans, and was later reintroduced through the Lucky Ju Ju (the forerunner to the Pacific Pinball Museum) and the Pacific Pinball Expositions where he has spoken in several of their seminars. He used his software, electronics and audio skills to team up with artists Wade Krause and Donny Gillies (Dirty Donny) to create games such as Metallica and Beatniks Koolsville, and worked with Jeri Ellsworth both at Valve and on their private joint project to prototype a new pinball control system. Now Tanio is moving from Bellevue to take up his new position with Stern Pinball in Melrose Park, Chicago. He hopes to start working there from 1st May. With Stern's own Metallica pinball just announced, the timing could not be better, but Tanio insists it is purely coincidental. He told Pinball News, "I have not been involved in the making of Stern's Metallica Pinball, ... but I plan on buying one because it is freakin' awesome." Back to the News page Like this page? Share it with your Facebook friends: Back to the front page _(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: dacbc334-122c-4912-a52f-8d4eb6aaf128*