# Episode 113 - Best Game Ever: WHITEWATER

**Source:** Wedgehead Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-03-09  
**Duration:** 44m 27s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-18775729

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## Analysis

Alan and Alex the Waterboy of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast argue that Whitewater (Williams, 1993) is the greatest pinball game ever made. They systematically examine the game across multiple dimensions: original theme integration, world under glass design, sound design by Chris Granner, art by John Yowsey, rule set by Mike Boone, and playfield layout by Dennis Nordman. The hosts emphasize how Whitewater excels in scope, restraint, and execution compared to modern licensed games.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Whitewater sold 7,000 units, which is 10x more than the best-selling games many modern companies have made — _Alan states this as a factual sales figure during the episode_
- [MEDIUM] Whitewater has the single greatest 'world under glass' implementation of any pinball machine ever made — _Alan explicitly declares this as his opinion, repeated for emphasis_
- [MEDIUM] Chris Granner's sound design on Whitewater is his greatest masterpiece — _Alan states he told Chris this directly; this is Alan's subjective judgment_
- [MEDIUM] John Yowsey's art package on Whitewater is the best singular art package of the 1990s — _Alan makes this claim and 'is willing to fight anyone' who disagrees, indicating strong personal conviction_
- [MEDIUM] Modern pinball manufacturers have moved away from original themes in favor of licensed IP as a sales crutch — _Alan and Alex discuss how modern games rely on movie/franchise tie-ins rather than original concepts like Whitewater_
- [HIGH] Mike Boone, designer of Whitewater's software, also worked as lead programmer on Indy 500 and Scared Stiff — _Alan explicitly states Mike Boone was the lead programmer on these two other Williams 90s titles_
- [MEDIUM] Dennis Nordman is the single most overlooked and disrespected designer of the modern ramp/mode era — _Alan expresses this as his personal opinion about Nordman's legacy and treatment in the industry_
- [HIGH] Warren Davis, the voice of Wet Willie, also created Cubert — _Alan cites this as a trivia fact about the voice actor behind Whitewater's main character_

### Notable Quotes

> "I just look at Whitewater as the best in all categories. And so I want to go through these one by one."
> — **Alan**, early_episode
> _States the thesis of the entire episode: Whitewater wins across all design dimensions_

> "This game stands completely on its own... it doesn't rely on the crutch of some old-ass movie tie-in."
> — **Alan**, theme_section
> _Core argument for why original themes matter; contrasts Whitewater with modern licensed games_

> "It's like a world building experience... it's loaded with stuff... and it all works slick."
> — **Alex the Waterboy**, world_under_glass_section
> _Acknowledges the difficulty of achieving packed playfields that still play well, praising Whitewater's success_

> "Literally pinball sound does not get better than this it's just perfection dude."
> — **Alan**, sound_section
> _Superlative claim about the sound design as the absolute peak of pinball audio_

> "It reads from a distance and up close it's distinctive color palette and is stunning all around."
> — **Alan**, art_section
> _Praises the visual communication and artistic execution of Yowsey's backglass design_

> "It's an embarrassing when people replace it with knockoff art... it's confusing to me it's disturbing."
> — **Alan**, art_section
> _Strong criticism of custom artwork mods, framing original art as iconic and not to be replaced_

> "Everything feels like no this was a good thing to do... there's not a wrong way as long as you're making some progress."
> — **Alex the Waterboy**, ruleset_section
> _Describes the balanced design where multiple play paths feel valid and rewarding_

> "Zero notes Mike Boone fucking cooked on this bad boy perfection."
> — **Alan**, ruleset_section
> _Ultimate praise for the rule set design with no criticisms_

> "The guy understands flow better than Steve Ritchie, dude."
> — **Alan**, late_episode
> _Comparative claim about Dennis Nordman's design philosophy vs. an industry legend_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Alan | person | Co-host of Wedgehead Pinball Podcast, owner of Wedgehead pinball bar, passionate advocate for Whitewater as the greatest game |
| Alex the Waterboy | person | Co-host of Wedgehead Pinball Podcast, recently recovered from illness, provides supporting analysis on Whitewater's design |
| Dennis Nordman | person | Designer of Whitewater; Alan claims he's the most overlooked designer of the modern ramp/mode era; frequently hired and fired across his career |
| Mike Boone | person | Programmer of Whitewater's software; brother of Ed Boone (Mortal Kombat creator); also lead programmer on Indy 500 and Scared Stiff |
| John Yowsey | person | Artist of Whitewater; Alan declares his backglass art the best singular art package of the 1990s; community replaces his art with custom mods Alan finds distasteful |
| Chris Granner | person | Sound designer and composer for Whitewater; Alan calls him 'the GOAT' of pinball sound; episodes 96-97 of Wedgehead featured Granner as guest |
| Ed Boone | person | Creator of Mortal Kombat franchise; brother of Mike Boone; also voice of Rudy in Funhouse; worked at Bally Midway when Williams acquired it |
| Warren Davis | person | Voice actor for Wet Willie character in Whitewater; also created Cubert (video game) |
| Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer; Alan compares Dennis Nordman's flow understanding favorably to Ritchie's; Ritchie did Mortal Kombat fatality voiceovers |
| Whitewater | game | Williams pinball machine released January 1993; subject of entire episode; designed by Dennis Nordman; Alan's favorite game and declared greatest of all time |
| Williams | company | Manufacturer of Whitewater and other 1990s pinball machines; acquired Bally Midway |
| Wedgehead Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast hosted by Alan and Alex the Waterboy; recently passed 100 episodes; has Ko-fi fundraiser; hosts Discord community |
| Indy 500 | game | 1990s Williams pinball game; Mike Boone was lead programmer; Alan considers it a 'Nordman banger' |
| Scared Stiff | game | 1990s Williams pinball game; Mike Boone was lead programmer; Alex and Alan frequently reference it as example of game that creates good pressure moments |
| NASCAR | game | Pinball game previously declared 'best game ever' by Alex the Waterboy in earlier Wedgehead episode |
| Jaws | game | Pinball game previously claimed as 'best game ever' by a former Wedgehead guest; Alan dismisses this claim |
| Funhouse | game | Referenced for featuring Ed Boone as voice of Rudy; legendary 1990 Williams pinball game with elaborate theme |
| Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle | game | Recent pinball game with strong world under glass theme integration; Alan uses it as cautionary example of packed playfield that compromises gameplay |
| Bram Stoker's Dracula | game | Referenced for having packed set dressing with small houses; Alan contrasts its approach to Whitewater's focused narrative |
| Sega Godzilla | game | Referenced as example where limited licensing actually benefits game design; big single theme focus rather than cluttered multi-scene approach |
| The Hobbit | game | Referenced as example of licensed game trying to cover too much material from source IP; multiple scattered scenes dilute coherence |
| Python Angello | game | Referenced as earlier example of top-down perspective artwork style similar to Whitewater's backglass art approach |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Original vs. Licensed Themes, World Under Glass Design Philosophy, Sound Design and Audio Quality, Artwork and Backglass Design, Rule Set Design and Progression, Playfield Layout and Flow
- **Secondary:** Designer Legacy and Recognition, Risk-Reward Game Balance

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.95) — Alan and Alex are intensely passionate and celebratory about Whitewater across every dimension discussed. The only negative sentiment is directed at modern trends (licensed IP reliance) and custom artwork mods that replace original art. The hosts defend their positions strongly but with humor and enthusiasm rather than anger.

### Signals

- **[design_philosophy]** Strong argument that successful themed games benefit from narrowed scope (one river journey vs. entire movie) rather than attempting to cover entire IP franchises (confidence: high) — Alan explains how Whitewater's singular focus on one raft trip creates better theme integration than games trying to cover 9+ hours of film material
- **[design_innovation]** Whitewater positioned as the gold standard of world-under-glass implementation through aesthetic and functional integration of theme elements (confidence: high) — Alan describes molded plastic canyons, ramps mimicking water flow, Bigfoot diverter, and overall cohesion as unmatched; contrasts with Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle's compromises
- **[gameplay_signal]** Whitewater praised for achieving perfect risk-reward calibration across rule set, playfield multiplier design, and multi-ball mechanics (confidence: high) — Multiple examples: dangerous stand-up targets, hidden playfield multiplier requiring risky pop bumper shots, ability to farm whirlpool vs. advancing through harder modes
- **[historical_signal]** Dennis Nordman positioned as underappreciated and mistreated despite superior design understanding of flow; pattern of being hired and fired across career (confidence: medium) — Alan claims Nordman understands flow better than Steve Ritchie; notes Nordman gets 'hired then fired then let go'; plans dedicated episode on Nordman
- **[product_strategy]** Industry-wide shift toward licensed IP as safer commercial strategy; hosts argue this represents creative compromise and missed opportunity for original design (confidence: high) — Alan: 'now we don't get our own shit... it's a cop-out dude... it's built in sales'; contrasts Whitewater's original theme with modern reliance on franchises
- **[design_concern]** Community practice of replacing original John Yowsey backglass art with custom designs viewed negatively as disrespectful to iconic design (confidence: medium) — Alan finds it 'confusing,' 'disturbing,' and expresses incredulity that players would swap 'iconic pieces of functional art' for 'gas station t-shirt art'
- **[content_signal]** Wedgehead Podcast plans dedicated episode on Dennis Nordman as designer; previous episodes 96-97 featured Chris Granner on sound design (confidence: high) — Alan states 'We gotta do a Dennis app' and references existing episodes with Chris Granner
- **[market_signal]** Whitewater's 7,000-unit sales positioned as successful for 1993 but game feels rare/underappreciated; comparison metrics show modern game sales are much lower (confidence: medium) — Alan notes 7,000 units is '10 times more than the best-selling games many companies have made' today, yet Whitewater doesn't feel like a smash success
- **[community_signal]** Wedgehead Podcast has grown to 100+ episodes and attracted its first dedicated critic; hosts maintain Ko-fi fundraiser and Discord community (confidence: high) — Alan mentions reaching 100-episode milestone, notes existence of first 'official hater' on Reddit, references Ko-fi and Discord presence
- **[personnel_signal]** Evidence of talent overlap between pinball and broader entertainment: Ed Boone created Mortal Kombat while also voicing for Funhouse; Mike Boone worked on both (confidence: high) — Alan and Alex discover that Warren Davis voiced Wet Willie and created Cubert; Ed Boone connection to Mortal Kombat and Funhouse voice work

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## Transcript

 I'm not conceited, I'm just convinced. I'm the greatest of all time. You are arrogant, hot-tempered, entirely too bold. I like that. Greatest genius who ever lived. I'm the smartest businessman in the world. King Kong ain't got shit for me. sometimes my genius is it's almost frightening and that's the bottom line just don't hold that so i am the greatest one in the whole world well dick here's the deal i'm the best there is plain and simple i mean i wake up in the morning i piss excellence such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world I am the greatest intercontinental heavyweight champion that ever lived, and I am the greatest professional wrestler that ever lived. Perfection being measured by its own relentless logic. But I'll say one thing. I am, for one very, very good reason, the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. Howdy, partner! Welcome back to another episode of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast. I'm your host, Alan of Wedgehead, one of the owners of the pinball bar for which this podcast is named. But I'm in the basement studio of my co-host, Alex the Waterboy. He's back. I'm back. How are you doing? I'm doing great. You know, I was sick for like a fucking week, which is pretty miserable. But I'm not the most miserable person on the planet because, you know, after as we round about 100 episodes here, We passed a big milestone recently, and we got our first official hater of the podcast. That's right. A real, real bitter dude who clicks into every post that mentions us on Reddit and complains in the comments. But what seems to upset him the most is when I plug our coffee fundraiser. Despite us never paywalling any content, he's mad as hell we do this. So I want to stress that donating to the show is absolutely in no way required, but we do appreciate it. If you think we do a good job and want to throw us a few bucks, go to ko-fi.com slash Wedget Podcast. As a perk, you get an invite to our Discord where we're always talking about the latest rumors, giving off our opinions, just kind of fun little discussion about pinball. It's a good time. Good crowd in there. Well, we've been doing this show, as Waterboy had said, for a few years now. We talk a lot about a lot of different games, a lot of excellent games even. Recently, we've even done a couple of episodes with the express title of The Best Game Ever. Waterboy declared that NASCAR was in fact the best, and a former guest on the show created their very own episode where he erroneously claimed that it was actually Jaws. But this nonsense ends today. Today is the day that we discuss the actual best game ever. And that game, of course, is... Whitewater! Say your prayers! Is that a call-out in the game? I don't even remember that. That's why the line was here. I'm like, what is that? Yeah, well, I'm going to cut it into the episode. Good. And I, like, slice it in. Yeah, good. Smooth with that. Okay, some quick facts about Whitewater. For anyone listening unaware, this marvelous, marvelous game was released in January of 1993. That's six months before I was born. I was born in January of 87, so I was six years old when this. Wow, like six and say we're kind of straddling this thing. Different sixes, but, you know, that's pretty cool. are we there yet it's a cool game uh it was designed by dennis nordman who will get his own episode one of these days yeah we gotta do a dennis app but this game deserves his own episode first yes that's fair software is by Mike Boon the brother of ed boone the guy who created mortal combat it was the voice of rudy in funhouse yep that's the same guy that's crazy i knew that name from both like video game programming and as like i've heard people be like oh yeah that's ed boone yep and i don't think i ever put together that's the same guy that's the same guy who's the voice of rudy and created the mortal kombat franchise because this was all one company at the same time right bally midway had been bought by williams yep and they worked cross platforms you know obviously like Steve Ritchie did call outs in mortal kombat like the fatality call outs yeah The software on Whitewater was done by Mike Boon, who is kind of like Mark Ritchie, is best known as being the brother of Ed Boone. At my company, I'm the little brother. Yeah, exactly. I work with my brother. He gets to do all the good stuff, and I'm just kind of like, yeah, and me. He did a killer job on this game. Art by John Yowsey, another legendary pinball artist. Music and sound by Chris Granner, the GOAT. The champ, man. Which we had on the show before. If you haven't listened to those episodes, you need to go back. And the game also sold 7,000 units, which is a big seller. Yeah, that's pretty good. That's like 10 times more than the best-selling games that a lot of companies have ever made. I mean, you're looking at it in modern-day numbers, massive. It's kind of crazy. We always just bring this up all the time. But you're like, man, these little games. Because Whitewater feels like a relatively rare game. I don't think it was seen as like this smash commercial success for 93, 7,000 units. But you're like, dude, that's a lot of units. That's a lot of games. That is. Okay. So what's the case for this being the greatest of all time? Long time listeners have known this because I say it on the show all the time. And when I say it's my favorite game, I'm really saying I think this is the greatest game ever made. Yeah. Right. Because I think day to day, our favorites change and we, you know, you play a game a lot and then you go play something else or whatever. But like if I had to break down pinball into categories, which I have for this episode, and we'll talk about one by one. I just look at Whitewater as the best in all categories. And so I want to go through these one by one, but I want to start with the most obvious thing that's so different from today's pinball. And that's starting with the original theme. Which is, in this game, a suicidal and insane river guy. I'm wet winning! Leads a group of rafters deep down a desert canyon into increasing hazards including whirlpools. That's a whirlpool! Waterfalls, boulder gardens, and even Bigfoot's cave. Bigfoot bluffs! And along the way, your fellow rafters might even drown. not that it surprises your guide wet willie it never seems to phase him dang lost another one but i'm starting here because this game i believe like truly an actual work of creative genius from the core inception of it unlike other games like modern games whitewater's completely original unique pinball world it doesn't rely on the crutch of some old-ass movie tie-in it stands completely on its own yeah i think this is about as strong as an argument can get for how to do like the advantages of a uh of an original theme game because you're like this shit is insane and it's so good and you're like yeah it could be like some what's uh what's like a famous rafting movie i'm blanking on the one there's like deliverance or there's river wild with meryl streep yep river wild's the one i was thinking of it's like yes it could be like they could have made a river wild game it would not have the tone of this it wouldn't there wouldn't be like a big foot with his own little cave moving and shit yeah move the little diverter and the head spinning like all like the kind of like whimsy and everything that they added this game wouldn't have happened if it was licensed and this is the argument to me to make an original theme you're like it can be so much better than any kind of not like a fucking you know movie tie-in game something made to promote an existing me like media franchise yeah at the end of the day it's funny talking to other friends of mine who play magic the gathering and they're talking about how lately they're getting a lot of tie-in magic cards and they're all kind of like yeah now spider-man's on this magic pack or you know these are marvel characters you're like it kind of sucks and you're like we magic used to have its own thing yeah i'm just like that's what happens with pinball guys like now we don't get our own shit we don't get fun houses no more we don't get you know white waters or whirlwinds anymore it's a cop-out dude it's a way it's built in sales yeah and it's like i love a lot of licensed games i buy a lot of licensed games if you're gonna like modern games you have to yeah i mean you don't have a choice well you can buy an american can you are they like not for long yeah i mean are they around kinda you can get one used but yeah yeah this is something we don't pick up the phone for tech support and it's just like the sound of like whistling wind it's just like is anyone there this is what they tried to do with galactic tank force and they failed to hit the mark in my and most others opinions but yeah i think that's a it's it's a big piece of this a big piece of this magic we haven't talked about it i mean we did a whole episode on original themes we did a whole episode on licensing we did a whole episode on soft license man back when we were doing weekly podcast episodes we could do that kind of stuff yeah you remember that yeah now we just do like two hour long episodes instead but i think that a game should just like a video game franchise a game should get extra credit for doing an original theme versus a licensed theme well yeah well enough that people like it want to spend good money on it and whatever whitewater the original theme i think is the first thing we got to bring up and talk about yeah next thing i want to talk about which supports this which is the term that pinball players use the world under glass or theme integration how it implements the theme and again whitewater has to be the single greatest world under glass game ever made the molded plastic canyons the ramps that mimic raging water features like whirlpools and waterfalls the top-down perspective of the playfield art the bigfoot diverter as far as world under glass effect top tier you are the ball and you as the ball flow like water absolutely immersive and it looks like nothing else i know it looks unlike any other pinball machine it's not like difficult to play none of that gets in the way which is the biggest it's fucking crazy because it's loaded with shit in a way that many companies would love to load their games up like whitewater this is what they trying to emulate and they fail to make an actually fun game still in this one it loaded with stuff it looks packed it has a whole mountain in it with the waterfalls and the caves and all this diverters going on and it all works slick i guess that's kind of a separate thing but just the it's like a world building like experience here and it it's truly impressive the amount of like like the moldings look good they don't look like chintzy they've aged really well in my opinion well it's like if you look at a game like not to pick on this game but you look at a game like alice cooper nightmare castle really good world under glass theme integration the molded castle kind of molded actually looks really rad really good yeah the game isn't nearly the game that whitewater is the game suffers as a result like it has a really sick castle in it but it takes up half of the main play field and it hides a bunch of shots most of the complaints not not just us most of the complaints about that game are related to the compromises made to put that castle in there absolutely castle looks sick was it worth it not if the game's not that good white water mountain looks sick it the game all works it's like it's it's functional like the boulder garden feels thematic and appropriate and it puts the ball into danger it's you know it's like all of it really really really works remarkably well unbelievably well even when you're you're getting the whirlpool we're talking about toilet bowl shots making a comeback in modern pinball games but you're like here it's thematic it's the whirlpool i've never it's never bugged me in this one man yeah because you get to you know what you get to see the ball and then it drains and then disappears like you went to the bottom of the whirlpool yeah dude the waterfall ramp i mean we'll get to this but it's like it brings me to the point that i want to say is like i just think that that is the gold standard of world under glass there is no other game that surpasses world under glass combined with theme integration there are other packed games there are other beautiful games there are other games with you know the set dressing exactly there's other games like bram stoker's dracula with its little houses and everything but i think the thing when you do when you do a licensed theme you're trying to cover so much more material in whitewater is covering like one trip on a raft you know it's going down there like one river and it's like one little snippet of a story and if it was in a movie you know if this was the hobbit has uh the the movies have a painfully long river sequence and you could make a pinball machine just based off of that river sequence yes but when you're trying to cover nine hours of mediocre movies in a pinball machine you have to make compromises the whole thing it's like they like the hobbits like a really good visually done game it's got a lot of elements of the movies included in the game cool sculpts and stuff but it's like all scattered it's like little scenes here this corner of the playfields a scene this this corner scene in when you play white water the whole thing is one scene and to me i think that's a big piece of why it works so so well is it's like it it doesn't bite off more than it can chew it's just like it's just as one thing done well because can you imagine if they made like a lord of the rings game and they're like this isn't all of the movies this is literally just like the forest with ents you know what i mean it's like a fucking forest yeah that'd be sick narrated by treebeard or something you'd be like whoa it's just like murkwood you'd be like that's crazy that'd be cool as fuck something like that and you're like it's because when you the further back you zoom out the more you're trying to put in that game the less of a world it actually feels like yeah exactly it's just a strong area that's what godzilla includes in the Sega Godzilla, I'm looking at here. So we always bring up the game sitting in front of me. But like Sega Godzilla, it kind of has some of that because it doesn't include anything from the movie because they didn't get the rights to anything. So it just has a big Godzilla. And you're like, oh, that's cool. Yeah, he's like tearing through the play field. One thing. Yeah. So I think there's value in that. There's a lesson to be taken from that. It's like the idea that, you know, you go see like a local play or something and it's like there's the one stage. Yep. they might try to like drop a sheet down and change it from day to night or whatever. But it's like they're the limitations of the story that they're going to tell. Yeah. Is something that makes the story richer in a different way. Yeah. Versus like a Marvel movie where there's a green screen and unlimited options. And as a result, there's nothing of interest. I think Whitewater's just stands on its own in a class of its own here. The next thing we got to talk about is the sound package. so yeah we already did we kind of already talked about the sound passage quite a bit in a couple other episodes right with Chris Granner aka the goat of pinball sound composers those are episodes 96 to 97 in case you're a new listener and haven't listened to those yet uh we cover his career and we listen to music that he composed and he gives us thoughts and memories of my favorite episodes of the show are those two episodes and whitewater is and i told him this is his greatest masterpiece each raft all the way up to wet willies which is the wizard mode welcome to wet willies has its own little tune or variation on the main theme yep the voice calls uh and voice acting are superb wet willy is voiced by warren davis the guy that created cubert like there's all these like little easter eggs of shit that's hilarious i didn't know that either it's just insane and he is so good The main multiball start? Lit as fuck. Whitewater! The high score tune? Banger. literally pinball sound does not get better than this it's just perfection dude even past the the music and the call outs are always kind of the big things we talk about with audio but just the little sound effects in this are absolutely top notch how it's like you get the like the low sound when you're coming back out of the cave you're getting that eject how you get the little high pitch whistle when you're going up like the vuck to the top of the play field just fucking really some top notch sounds in this game yeah and just water effects and sounds effect i mean again chris is the master of manipulating the player through sound yeah this is the fucking the like there's the world under glass and then like the sound is bringing the world out of the glass like we said we've gone over this before so we don't need to belabor the point but if you haven't listened to white even if whatever you feel about the gameplay if anyone wants to look me dead in the fucking eyes and tell me that this isn't An epic sound package. I'm still waiting on that person that wants to say that. You know, you're wrong. It's a hard argument to make, you know, because it really is one of the best. The next piece is the art package. One of John Yousi's best art packages yet again. Whitewater came out in the beginning of 1993 and is perfectly evocative of early 90s pinball art. the cabinet with the name carved out of desert rocks it's got the top-down perspective of the river canyon on the playfield a la Python Anghelo type of thing i really like i mean i just really like top-down perspectives like that it's something we don't really see anyone even attempt to do just creates like a depth of field man it just makes it looks like you're like it makes the whole thing feel very like thematic and inclusive and like um cohesive the whole thing it really makes it feel like it's its own little like story there yes and it makes that one picture makes it feel grand and grandiose and like in this game it gives a lot of verticality right because there's an upper play field and there's like lots of like starting at the bottom and then going up top and then gravity bringing you back down and then you're looking down into the desert canyon and yaossi's art is just absolutely top-notch iconic it's fucking embarrassing when people replace it with uh knockoff art but that's that's what we gotta talk about because this is the absolute fucking perfection that is the translate that depicts a wild world of river raft and chaos this is the best singular art package of the 1990s and once again i am willing to fight anyone who wants to about it this game stands out in a lineup it reads from a distance and up close it's a distinctive color palette and is stunning all around it's campy and goofy fun for sure but it's still dynamic and exciting and that back glass is beautifully airbrushed in true 90s fashion when people replace this with a brian allen trash show it's disgusting it's confusing to me it's disturbing it's very very confusing to me when people are drawn to classic games These are iconic pieces of functional art, and then you swap them out with something like chintzy that looks like it just looked like the equivalent of a gas station t-shirt art. And it's just – I'm confused. I don't know why. I get it if it's something that kind of is arguably ugly, but has anyone ever – before knowing there was an alternative out there, did anyone ever go, man, Whitewater is a great game, but it looks like shit? shit no it was never looked down upon there's not an argument i don't get it people just do it because the option exists and pinball people like spending money on little things to differentiate feel like they're customizing their game taking kind of ownership of it this isn't the place for it don't do it i think it's weird too because it's like he's borrowing John Youssi's imagery he's borrowing other characters from williams games he's basically stealing the composition and the depth of focus, but it's just all worse in every way. Yeah, man. What I love about it, it's just like what we talked about with Sega Lost World, where it doesn't say the name on the back glass. Yeah. Whitewater also doesn't say its name because it's on the fucking cabinet, it's on the apron, and it's on the topper, which we haven't talked about. Yeah, we'll get to the topper. But when you look at Whitewater, is anyone fucking confused what game you're playing? Again, like, what's going on? Talking from a graphic design standpoint or from an artistic standpoint? I just look at that game and it's immediately a draw to the eye. It's immediately beautiful. It immediately stands out in a lineup, no matter what the lineup is the game stands out And it not like when you looking at i think it needs like heavy cartoon line art you know girls with just fucking balloon tits i mean i want to see guys with splintered fingernails and holes in their teeth angry eyes yeah easter eggs just all cool stuff we're going off here but it's just bugs both of us man this is one of my favorite games of all time i love this art package i hate walking up and seeing a whitewater with like the translate swapped out i was like that's john fucking yousey dude show some respect like to me it's again it's just you're allowed to do whatever you want to your game it's a reversible mod thank god but you're doing the game a disservice and i'm confused i'm just genuinely it comes from a place of confusion with me but i suppose that's all we need to say on it that's all we need to say okay moving on from the incredible art package the incredible sound design the incredible world on a glass and theme what's next the rule set okay so this is the one i want to talk about Mike Boon absolutely crushed this one he also worked as the lead programmer on indie 500 and scared stiff which are other 90s nordman bangers absolutely just incredible games both of those but you know i digress what is perfect about whitewater is that there is the perfect balance that the greatest 90s games had wherein the further you progress the higher the values are in this case multiball jackpot values are increased every time you clear another wrath level the multiball start itself is dope too because it puts a ton of pressure on you to make those first three stage ball shots because if you botch the first one you've pretty much cut your multiball value into 30 percent yeah because you're gonna fuck up you're gonna be in the way for two and three it's like yeah it does feel like nerve-wracking yes and it's awesome because the start is hype as fuck and then you immediately feel pressure because if you hit all three the rest of the multiball jackpots are all worth 3x the jackpots can be very lucrative but to avoid endlessly farming the main multiball each subsequent time you start the multiball it requires more shots to qualify the locks again and the targets themselves are fucking dangerous Yeah, they're like two very, very dangerous stand-up targets. You really want to hit them on accident? You want to glance off of them? Yeah, taking pot shots at them? Not recommended. Literally every bit of the game has value properly weighted to me. It has the risk-reward elements, yet it also will just reward you properly for climbing the ladder. Nothing feels out of whack. Even the playfield multiplier is so perfectly hidden. Five times the fun! and requires a ton of risk if you want to get it early and set up the quote-unquote perfect stack, which is hot foot, by the way, not the multiball, but... Again, you guys don't know ball. We can go deeper into that if you want to come into the Discord. I can explain all this to you. But if you want to roll the dice, you can throw it in the pop bumper or the boulder garden, but I wouldn't recommend it. Again, it's that perfect thing where it's like, all right well the first multiball is really easy to get but it starts the 5x multiplier really far away i can still go get it but the way i roll the dice i have to throw it into the pop numbers which is fucking dangerous exactly you're like you can shoot the orbit into the pops but like the pops are gonna kill you a lot of the time yeah and so it's like you could do that or you could wait for it later and there's just a lot of those moments and lots of decisions to make and even on modes like whirlpool which is the first uh whirlpool award which is a multiball you can choose whether or not to put yet you can get hundreds of millions by repeating the whirlpool shot over and over uh it comes out the buck on the side you control it you send it up the middle and then you hit the shot but it starts out worth almost nothing and then it keeps ramping up every time you hit it up to like 30 or something it goes back down and it goes back up and you can ride that roller coaster as long as you can hit that relatively easy shot over and over again or you can choose to just use the two ball multiball instead to advance your rafts and to shoot dangerous shots yeah with one of your other balls instead to try to move towards wet willy and both are viable that's what i like about it is it feels like there's not a wrong way as long as you're kind of like making some progress in the game you're not like oh this is like a waste of time everything feels like no this was a good thing to do yeah and it's well thought out i mean did i mention that uh there's no fucking ball saves i mentioned that yet no there's a i mean do you can you hit one switch you can you can full plunge as long as it doesn't hit like a sling or anything on the way out one switch so there's i mean it's kind of a ball save if you really if you really fuck up but other than that go listen to the episode on ball saves if you want to know wow how i feel about that but i think there's also brilliant uses of workarounds to advance the riskier hazards to advance your rafts but they all take more shots but they're safer they take more shots you know it's there's all that kind of shit is layered in this rule set the whole game is literally risk reward perfection it has a wizard mode and it has a special vacation jackpot award which is also just insane the first time you do it i won't say anymore you guys should try to figure out how to do vacation jackpot and then go try to do it on whitewater if you can watch a tutorial without seeing the show that it gives you when you do it that's even better because it's a great surprise the first time you do it yeah zero notes Mike Boon fucking cooked on this bad boy perfection when i when people are like what game like what do you like in a game you know like alan you only like frontier it's got to be just like light spinner rip spinner or hit drop i was like that's not it i can appreciate a game with multiple ladders and modes and wizard modes but it's got i got to feel like one i can do multiple things and score well two i want to feel like there's not one fucking thing to do yeah this game breaks a lot of the things that i don't like in other games one of them is play field multipliers not a big fan but this is the fucking way to do it this is a good one Because, again, if you get this one, not only does it last a very short amount of time, and nothing stops the timer. So if you get it ready and you have two balls locked, you're like, okay, I got to get the ball. My timer's already going. I got to hit that shot. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. I'm counting down. Like, nothing stops the clock. Then you got to start your multiball like most people try to do. Then you just hit three jackpots in a row. Like, yeah, that's under pressure until you fuck those up. Yeah. That's, I was going to say, I really like the play field multiplier in this because you can only collect it once, right? And then you have to go through all the other awards. You have to get all of your awards to collect to get it back around to get it again. So most of the time, the way I'm playing this game, I see it once in a game and it's usually, it's not the type of thing that I like go out of my way to try to set up. I just pay attention to what I have lit for an award. And then when I start it, I panic and I'm like, wow, do I get like, what's, what's, how do I get the most points? what's the best way to get points right now like i'll fuck the multiplier's coin and that leads to me like fumbling the ball a lot and i like that i like being challenged in pinball i like it when the game makes me freak out it's why i like scared stiff the wizard mode the first time you like so much fun so long for me to clear that wizard mode and you're like those aren't hard shots yes hit a ramp then hit the center crate then hit a ramp then hit the center crate it's just you're like when the pressure is on pinball it turns into a different game and i love that because it's just like you get a little you get a lot of those little like pressure moments in white water yeah it's perfection Mike Boon he nailed it hopefully one day i will get to meet you he's the big boon to us yeah big boon now the last thing we got to talk about which is the physical layout disaster drop dennis nordman i think we've said it on the show before this is my personal opinion got to be the single most overlooked and disrespected designer of the modern ramp slash mode era of pinball so the last 30-ish years or so the guy gets hired then fired then let go then you know like taken off of projects all this and really like when you play his fucking games the guy understands flow better than Steve Ritchie dude he makes fun functional layouts in a way that no one else like his games are all so fun to shoot and they all work really well they work it's crazy it's not like oh like that one almost that was close you know like that was a cool idea but like it doesn't really work that well in reality you're like no this shit all works and it's all cool and it's just he makes some remarkably fun games yeah i mean this layout in particular it's buttery and smooth and flowy it has shots close and far and he makes the mundane parts like stand-ups necessary and valuable the light locks the extra ball dude the extra ball advance hazard extra ball is basically just like collect and drain for me mostly like 50 of my 50 of my extra balls basically are coming back to me within like three seconds dude the extra ball stand-up placement is so damn perfect it's so good it brings a tear to my eye thinking about it extra ball this is what every actually like okay there's your extra ball there it is it's right there go get it and it's like the fucking it's like six inches away from a flipper oh dude so good it's so good that's like the most over i forgot about that i'm like that's the most overlooked thing you're like having an extra ball collect that's just fucking dangerous is genius it's perfect i love it absolutely perfect you know the waterfall ramp is the greatest ramp once again this is what i say this is like this is the greatest game of all time because the sum of all of his parts each individual part is excellence yeah that is rarely matched On its own. Yeah, each one of these, you're like, it is at least in the conversation. I don't think anyone could argue against any of these in any of these categories. You're like Best World Under Glass. You're like, you might have some other ones that you like, but Whitewater's absolutely in every conversation. Sound Package, absolutely up there. Art Package, absolutely up there. Rules, if you like the rules, that's maybe the most subjective one of these, which is funny. You'd think art would be more subjective, but I disagree. I think rule sets are their own art, and this is a beautiful execution of the rules I like to see. And you're like, in the layout, dude? The waterfall ramp on the left side is the best ramp in pinball And he lets you combo it from the left ramp at speed so it like the Steve Ritchie maneuver shit The spine killer But even fucking better. Yeah. The ball is flowing like water. It is fucking cool. You know Steve liked this shit, because he did his own kind of tweak version with no fear. Yeah. The elevated flipper where if you don't flip, it just returns like a normal ramp shot. And it's obviously it's got its own Steve flavor with the magnet accelerator and stuff. But it's like that's how you know if Steve's biting something from you, you know it was good. Yeah, you know that shit was cooking. Yeah. Yeah. It's that Emeril Lagasse, dude. Fucking bang. We cook on this show, dude. It's one of those things where like it's a dangerous game if you're flailing, but an absolute flow monster when you approach it with control and skill. And people are always saying that they want unique layouts. This is the perfect example of a game with a unique layout that feels like no other game ever. And yet it still remains buttery smooth. That's the that's the what I'm saying. It's like his games are fun and unique and there's not a catch. Yeah, because most of the time when a designer starts fucking with unique layouts, there's a catch. There's the catch is there's some element of jank or clunk that gets introduced. Yeah, there's usually a reason that no one else has done it exactly like this. That's not to say that those games might not still be fun. Yeah, absolutely. But it's rare that something can be so weird and off the wall and still feel so good like this. Yes. That's what makes this one special. The Spirit of the River! It's wholly original. The rule set matches Dennis' layout perfectly, elevates it even further. You gotta hit shots all over the playfield at some point, and everything has value at certain moments. like i said that extra ball stand-up fucking perfection dude it's so good it's just it's just funny because i hadn't thought about that until now and i'm like that's probably the best i'm like that's it if i was stealing one thing from this game for like my own game i'm making or something i'd be like extra ball i want to stand up exactly there in that angle that same william style stand up because i'm like that's such a good collect we got to talk about the big elephant in the room as well which is he made an upper play field that doesn't fucking suck do you know how insane that is it's still to this date the only great one ever made like it's the only i'm to the point is you know i love my like caveats and i'm like we've got to define the whitewater upper play field out of this it shouldn't be in the discussion with other upper playfields because it's good and as a rule upper playfields they're not good normally an upper play field slows the slows the game down it acts as safety and it's just kind of a place to park balls i mean it's just a safety net it's a safety net and it's not fun because like flapping out little stuff six inches away from the flippers usually not very fun i mean like that's the reason pinball is fucking four feet long you know it's it's like it wasn't fun when it was in cocktail form and it's like upper playfields are that times 100 you know compressed even more they're not cool somehow dennis made one the ball it isn't in danger because the ball doesn't fall off in danger it returns to an in lane it's i mean it's got multiple shots up there and it doesn't have any targets it's just the shots it's just the shots there's two shots and you either hit one of two or you drain one swing at it yes you get one flip at it that's it to me where it's like you you don't get stuck up there yeah that's what makes it good and i know there's other upper playfields that you don't get stuck up on and those ones are probably some of my favorites too but it's like it's so good this is like one of the few games that i'm like genuinely like the upper play field needs to be there yeah it's part of the game and it makes it so much better it's it's magical dude it's a magical magical game we gotta fucking put some respect on dennis's name like i said dude's a legend whitewater's his masterpiece i think it's fucking a stunning piece of just design and layout and engineering things all coming together to create this perfect fucking game at the perfect time at the perfect company with the perfect talent in every position like it's like there's every single person doing their part on a team project to the absolute highest level like as if they had something to prove in i don't know there's not any reasonable argument against this game to me unless you're like i don't like games with ramps you know what i mean like short of that unless you have some like real black and white reason to just be like no sorry i don't play dmd games hey you found the secret passage that'd be about the only thing i can accept but even then i'd be like are you sure you should play some white water because it's the one that would win anyone over it's just phenomenal the Dot animations are great, too. The one thing I will say, I don't know, did you have any bow to put on this? Can I fight back on one thing? Go for it. There's one critique I have, and that's the fucking plunge. Okay, I agree with this. Okay. And how you have the short plunge. Okay, before you even go off on this. I would prefer if it was just a dead end, and so you just launch the ball, and it just dead end always delivered to the upper flipper. because any competent player is going to short plunge the game until they deliver. It's a very safe short plunge, but to err on the safe side, most people take a few tries before they get over the crest of the plunge hill, and that's the downside. That's the one catch. I agree. It's the skill shot, although you can argue that if you took that away or if you put, say, a one-way gate or a dead end, then there is nothing to lose. The skill shot in this game isn't points. The skill shot in this game is safety. Well, the skill shot, see, I consider this a flipper skill shot, you know, where it's just your first shot is your skill shot in quotes, which isn't really like a plunge skill shot. But I agree with you that your skill shot is just delivering to the... Because there's no ball save on the lower play field. So it's like... If that's all I'm saying, if I was running this game, if I was a certain manufacturer that was remanufacturing reimagined versions of Bally Williams games, which is a bat shit crazy thing to do as we've kind of alluded to already but if i was reimagining this game i think i would reimagine it exactly how it is except for i would change that humped plunge to just be a dead end and just plunk right to the flipper and you'd be like there now you can put an auto plunge on it so you can put like whatever i guess i wouldn't want an auto plunge because that would just lead to problems that's the one thing i would tweak other than that it's like perfection yeah the plunge is you know what it should be here here's the here's how you make it even better you don't even do that you just fucking you make it the full plunge just as dangerous as it was before but you just add an auto plunger so that if it pops off and you and you half plunge it's just auto launching it at full speed see i like like you see what i'm saying yeah so yeah you can't like it like kind of how Keith Elwin takes away his skill shots after you saw exactly and you're like you didn't get the ball out of the launch lane not just play the fucking game now it would be hilarious if just some tweak there's got to be some little tweak like that so if you were if i was remanufacturing it that's about all i would do that'd be pretty funny actually so it's like you detect once it just shoots it out it comes right out like the fucking tip of the left flipper that is there there is like you could just soft plunge soft plunge soft fail soft fail soft fail soft fail soft yeah skilled player such as ourselves usually like maybe you fuck up once if it's the first time you've played that copy of white water you're filling out the spring but like you will have people especially in like tournaments where they really don't want to accidentally over plunge take like six tries yeah to plunge a ball into white water and that's when i'm like this is on the designer i definitely also what i do too is uh i change the shooter spring yeah and i make it weaker yep so that a full plunge barely goes over the hump yep so when somebody pulls it back all the way it's just gonna drop there and it's not gonna go all the way around so i do sort of modify it that way yeah so that's a pretty easy tweak to make the absolute most perfect game of all time 100 perfect yeah you know so when i did nascar that was a little facetious a little exaggerated calling it the greatest game of all time i it's hard to argue against whitewater i'll have to think of what i truly think is the greatest on all fronts and i'll have to do another greatest game of all time which is a funny i just want to put that out we'll have to do one more i got to do one more and then you're allowed one more time no this is it man i i don't know if i'll be able to think of anything because i'm like i this is a really hard one for me i have some in mind i don't want to spoil them in case i do one of them but i'm like i can't say it's better than this in all of these categories yeah this is excellence in all categories it's a perfect game it's a perfect piece it's a perfect example of the art form that is pinball, the kinetic satisfaction of the game, and the way it moves, and the mechs, and the magic of the game, and the theme, and the sound, and the art, and it all works together to create this special moment that playing a pinball machine is at its highest level. And that's why, to me, Whitewater, greatest game of all time. Yeah, well said. I think on that. Well, we want to thank everyone for listening to another episode of the Wedget Pinball Podcast. at the end of these episodes you know what we always do alex we always say use the pillow map go out and find a white water near you and go play it yes you are lucky if you have a white water you have access to you are a lucky person yes because they are also not fun to clean or maintain but actually 7 000 of them the serviceability of the game perfect that might be the one part i was like yeah we didn't tell you know we talked about that a lot at nascar NASCAR got dogged on for reliability but we're not talking about that we're talking about this just as a piece of art and this is perfect pinball art and go play it, by the time this episode comes out I'm going to force Rosie to bring our white water back onto the floor so you can come play a nice dialed one at Wedgehead after this episode airs but until next time everybody good luck, don't suck Thank you.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: f64da17f-c59e-4c83-b3ca-46bc276641e8*