# Five Minutes to Tilt #4 – David Thiel on Sound Design & the Group That Shaped Pinball

**Source:** Dutch Pinball Museum  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-02-22  
**Duration:** 5m 14s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJam1mlvBx0

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## Analysis

David Thiel, a pinball audio artist with a 35+ year career spanning Data East, Gottlieb, and Stern, recounts how a small 12-person video game company (Action Graphics) in the 1980s brought together future pinball legends including Pat Lawlor, Lonnie Rap, and Richard Denton. After a 20-year hiatus, Thiel returned to pinball in 2006 through connections with Lonnie Rap and Pat Lawlor, beginning with Pirates of the Caribbean and continuing to present work including Pulp Fiction.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] David Thiel did audio work for Data East's first five pinball machines starting in 1987-1989, including Laser War, Time Machine, and Monday Night Football — _Direct first-person account from Thiel; specific game titles and dates provided_
- [HIGH] Action Graphics was a 12-person company where Pat Lawlor, Lonnie Rap, Richard Denton, and Elaine Denton all worked together on home video game conversions (C64, Atari, Kico Vision) before founding Incredible Technologies — _Direct recollection from Thiel; describes company structure and personnel; specific platforms mentioned_
- [MEDIUM] Richard Denton wrote the operating system for Data East games, with code potentially still present in current Stern games — _Thiel's speculation ('I would bet') about code legacy; not definitively verified_
- [HIGH] Thiel returned to pinball in 2006 after being retired from Microsoft, reconnecting through Lonnie Rap and Pat Lawlor — _Direct personal account; mentions specific trigger (Chris Graner's retirement)_
- [HIGH] Thiel's first pinball machine in 2006 was Pirates of the Caribbean for Dennis Nordman, not Family Guy (which Pat Lawlor was working on) — _Direct clarification from Thiel about project sequencing_
- [HIGH] Thiel is currently working on a pinball project with Mark Richie (who collaborated on Pulp Fiction) — _Direct statement; Thiel says 'I suppose I can say that'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I'm a pinball audio artist. What I call myself these days. I do the sound packages for pinball machines, which include music, but my primary focus is making the playfields come alive with sounds based on what you're doing."
> — **David Thiel**, ~0:20
> _Defines Thiel's core professional identity and approach to pinball audio work_

> "All these people who ended up having a big influence in pinball were at this little 12 person company doing C64 games. I think that's interesting."
> — **David Thiel**, ~3:40
> _Highlights how pinball industry talent converged in obscure video game company before widespread industry impact_

> "And it's who you know. So, I resumed my career in pinball in 2006 because I knew Lonnie Rob."
> — **David Thiel**, ~4:10
> _Emphasizes networking as critical to career re-entry; Lonnie Rap as key connector_

> "I started, but I couldn't do Pat's project because Pirates of the Caribbean for Dennis Norton had to get done first."
> — **David Thiel**, ~4:30
> _Clarifies project sequencing for Thiel's 2006 return; Pirates of the Caribbean was first, not Family Guy_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| David Thiel | person | Pinball audio artist with 35+ year career; worked on Data East titles (1987-89), Gottlieb, Stern; known for Pulp Fiction and Harry Potter sound design |
| Pat Lawlor | person | Legendary pinball designer; worked at Action Graphics in 1980s; later joined Stern/Dy for Family Guy project; connected Thiel back to industry in 2006 |
| Lonnie Rap | person | Video game/pinball industry figure; worked at Action Graphics in 1980s; described as having 'touched more pinball projects than any human being on the planet'; key reconnector for Thiel in 2006 |
| Richard Denton | person | Programmer/engineer at Action Graphics in 1980s; wrote operating system for Data East games; wife Elaine also worked at Action Graphics |
| Elaine Denton | person | Video game developer at Action Graphics in 1980s; wife of Richard Denton; worked on C64 and home platform conversions |
| Mark Richie | person | Collaborator with David Thiel; worked together on Pulp Fiction; currently working on unnamed new pinball project with Thiel |
| Dennis Nordman | person | Pinball designer; assigned Pirates of the Caribbean project that became Thiel's first machine in 2006 |
| Data East | company | Pinball manufacturer; Thiel did audio for first five machines (1987-89) including Laser War, Time Machine, Monday Night Football |
| Action Graphics | company | 12-person video game conversion company in 1980s where Lawlor, Lonnie Rap, Richard and Elaine Denton, and Thiel worked; went out of business owing 4 months salary |
| Incredible Technologies | company | Company founded by Thiel, Lonnie Rap, Richard Denton, Elaine Denton after Action Graphics closed; first major client was Gary Stern at Data East |
| Stern Pinball | company | Current primary employer for Thiel's pinball audio work; Thiel returned to pinball via Stern in 2006 |
| Gottlieb | company | Video game company where Thiel worked in video game division on titles like Cubert before transition to Action Graphics |
| Pirates of the Caribbean | game | First pinball machine Thiel worked on in 2006 after 20-year hiatus; designed by Dennis Nordman |
| Family Guy | game | Stern pinball project Pat Lawlor was assigned; Thiel could not work on it due to Pirates of the Caribbean priority |
| Pulp Fiction | game | Pinball machine Thiel did audio for; collaborated with Mark Richie; currently working on follow-up with same collaborator |
| Laser War | game | First Data East pinball machine Thiel did audio for (1987-89) |
| Time Machine | game | Data East pinball machine; one of Thiel's five early machines |
| Monday Night Football | game | Data East pinball machine; last of Thiel's five early machines (1987-89) |
| Gary Stern | person | Stern Pinball founder; first major client of Incredible Technologies through Data East connection |
| Chris Graner | person | Previous pinball audio artist at Stern; retirement in 2006 created opening for Thiel |
| Dutch Pinball Museum | organization | Host of this 'Five Minutes to Tilt' interview series; collecting pinball histories |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Pinball audio and sound design, Pinball industry history and origins, Career trajectories of pinball pioneers, 1980s video game to pinball industry pipeline
- **Secondary:** Data East pinball machines, Networking and industry connections, Stern Pinball projects and collaborations

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Thiel speaks warmly about collaborators and past work; nostalgic appreciation for industry history; energetic about current projects. Neutral/matter-of-fact when discussing company failure (Action Graphics) and career gaps, but overall tone is celebratory of pinball community and connections.

### Signals

- **[design_philosophy]** David Thiel's primary focus in audio work is making playfields come alive with contextual sounds based on player actions, emphasizing reactive audio design philosophy (confidence: high) — Thiel: 'my primary focus is making the playfields come alive with sounds based on what you're doing'
- **[market_signal]** Pinball industry talent concentration: key designers/engineers (Pat Lawlor, Lonnie Rap, Richard Denton) emerged from small 1980s video game company before widespread industry impact; emphasizes how industry leadership crystallized from tight-knit group (confidence: high) — Thiel: 'all these people who ended up having a big influence in pinball were at this little 12 person company doing C64 games'
- **[personnel_signal]** Chris Graner's retirement from Stern Pinball audio position in 2006 created opening filled by David Thiel; Thiel had been retired from Microsoft at the time (confidence: high) — Thiel: 'Chris Graner retired and they said, Well, who can we get? I was retired from Microsoft at that time'

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## Transcript

At the Dutch Pinball Museum, we collect stories before they are lost. Because pinball history doesn't live only in machines. It lives in people. In stories that are often told once and then disappear. 5 minutes, one act timer. When it rings, the story ends.
Hello.
It's running. We're going. It's running.
So, who am I? I'm David Thiel. I'm a pinball audio artist. What I call myself these days. I do the sound packages for pinball machines, which include music, but my primary focus is making the playfields come alive with sounds based on what you're doing.
That's what I do. I'm working on a project right now with one of my favorite collaborators. Uh, I suppose I can say that, Mark Ritchie.
Oh, yeah.
We did Pulp Fiction. So,
Wow.
We're doing another one.
Wow. Doing another one. So, how long is your career in in pinball?
Uh, well, the first time I worked uh we were the company that did the original stuff for Data East. So, 1987, 88, 89 for about two and a half years.
Uh, I did five machines. So, I did the very first one, Laser War.
Okay.
And then Time Machine and uh several others. The last one I did was Monday Night Football.
Okay. Did you ever work with our friend LJ Green? No,
no, no. She wasn't working for Daddy's East, but probably you didn't. Very lovely lady from the Netherlands. She lives in the Netherlands.
Ah, okay.
Okay. But tell me your untell story.
Okay. Well, the interesting story was I was working for Gotle in the video game division and I did Cubert and some other things, but the writing was on the wall. It was going away. So I joined another company called Action Graphics and we were converting and converting games on home platforms like the Atari 2600 and that kind of stuff. The interesting part of the story is the other people who were working at this company at the time. We were doing C64 and Atari and Kico Vision. And I was working with a guy named Richard Denton and his wife Elaine Denton and a guy named Lonnie Rob and another guy named Pat Lawler. Ah, and Pat was not there that long, but Richard and Elaine and I worked on a lot of projects and then that company went out of business uh owing us about four months worth of salary.
So, we started a new company that ended up being called Incredible. And one of our first big clients was Gary Stern for Data East. And so, that's where I did my first pinball. We ended up doing all the soft stuff for Data East. But the interesting part of that story are these people doing these home video game council stuff. Pat Lawler, Lonnie Rap, who's probably touched more pinball projects than any human being on the planet, and Richard Don, who wrote the uh operating system for all the Dies games, which I'm sure live into the Sega games. And there's probably still some of code, Richard's code alive in Stern games now. I would bet. Wow.
So, all these people who ended up having a big influence in pinball were at this little 12 person company doing uh C64 games. I think that's interesting. And then and then years later, it's who you know. So, I resumed my career uh in pinball in 2006 because I knew Lonnie Rob.
Yeah. And I knew Pat Waller and he was working for Dy or Stern Pinball at the time and he was going to do Family Guy.
Yeah.
And uh Chris Granner retired and they said, "Well, who can we get?"
Yeah.
And I was I was retired from Microsoft at that time and I was looking to get back into it. So 20 years ago to this month, wow,
I started, but I couldn't do Pat's project because Pirates of the Caribbean for Dennis Norton had to get done first.
Okay.
So I that was my first machine in 2006
and then there's been a few since then.
Yeah. And so uh family Oh, we're going to wrap it up
and we're done.
Well, David, thanks for your story, man.
Okay.
Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. 5 minutes is 5 minutes.
5 minutes is 5 minutes. It's Democratic

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e68ad9b4-1df5-48a8-a550-7239842a4a49*