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Steve Ritchie, King of Flow, visits the Dutch Pinball Museum

Dutch Pinball Museum·video·23m 13s·analyzed·Nov 21, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Steve Ritchie tours Dutch Pinball Museum, shares design stories and pinball history.

Summary

Steve Ritchie, legendary pinball designer, visits the Dutch Pinball Museum for a tour before attending the Dutch Pinball Open. The video documents his walkthrough of the museum's ten themed rooms, featuring discussions about classic pinball machines, design decisions, and personal anecdotes from his career at Williams and beyond. Ritchie praises the museum's storytelling approach and shares stories about game development, licensing conflicts, and notable industry moments.

Key Claims

  • The Dutch Pinball Museum is 'the best pinball museum I've ever seen in my life.'

    high confidence · Steve Ritchie, direct quote early in video

  • Steve Ritchie initially planned to name a game 'Banzai Run' but Larry DeMar told him 'We're stealing your name' when Williams released a game with that title.

    high confidence · Steve Ritchie, describing a conflict over game naming at Williams

  • The original Rudy head from Fun House was inspired by rides at Riverside Amusement Park adjacent to Williams' Chicago facility.

    high confidence · Museum curator and Steve Ritchie discussing Fun House history

  • Steve Ritchie left Williams in 1997 and worked briefly at Atari after the company was acquired by Williams.

    high confidence · Steve Ritchie discussing his career departure and Atari employment

  • Ritchie designed the font used on Rapid Fire glass artwork himself, later using it on King Video Design business cards.

    high confidence · Steve Ritchie discussing the Rapid Fire glass and font design

  • Steve Ritchie was the first person to play Pac-Man in North America at Bill Herman's test location.

    medium confidence · Steve Ritchie claiming this distinction and describing the experience at a test arcade location

  • The museum has eight test cases of a new project (Star Wars room mentioned).

    medium confidence · Museum curator statement about bringing test cases to Dutch Pinball Open

  • Gary Stern asked Ritchie if 'the Dutch can be number two in pinball,' to which Ritchie replied 'yes, definitely.'

    medium confidence · Steve Ritchie recounting a conversation with Gary Stern

Notable Quotes

  • “This is the best pinball museum I've ever seen in my life. It's magnificent.”

    Steve Ritchie@ 0:20 — High praise for the Dutch Pinball Museum's curation and presentation

  • “I came in one day and Larry DeMar said, 'We're stealing your name.' Why? Because that was it.”

    Steve Ritchie@ 3:54 — Reveals historical conflict over Banzai Run naming at Williams

  • “People think the Steve Richie game is just a Steve Richie game. It's not. There's a lot of people always involved. Always.”

    Steve Ritchie@ 11:57 — Emphasizes collaborative nature of pinball game design

  • “This is what a museum should do. Telling stories.”

    Steve Ritchie@ 5:48 — Validates the museum's curatorial philosophy of narrative-driven exhibits

  • “I watched it at least 10 times in a row. I mean it was just great. It was magnificent.”

    Steve Ritchie@ 15:42 — Expresses enthusiasm for museum's video production quality

  • “He peed a stream a diameter of a garden hose and it was splashing all over the place... It was so embarrassing.”

    Steve Ritchie@ 19:20 — Memorable anecdote about a promotional event mishap at a Paris venue

  • “Once Gar said to me, I know America's number one, but can the Dutch be number two in pinball? And I said, yes, definitely.”

Entities

Steve RitchiepersonDutch Pinball MuseumorganizationDutch Pinball OpeneventLarry DeMarpersonPat LawlorpersonWilliamscompanyAtaricompany

Signals

  • ?

    historical_signal: Steve Ritchie discusses design decisions and creative process for multiple classic games including High Speed, Black Knight 2000, and Rapid Fire, providing insight into collaborative design methodology at Williams

    high · Ritchie's detailed recounting of how High Speed design evolved, the traffic light feature contribution, font design for Rapid Fire, and emphasis that pinball games are collaborative efforts

  • ?

    community_signal: Dutch Pinball Museum employs narrative-driven, thematic room organization with 10 themed areas (dinosaur room, music room, disco floor, science fiction, etc.) rather than linear chronological display

    high · Museum curator describes rooms organized by theme and story rather than production density; Ritchie validates this approach as 'what a museum should do'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Dutch Pinball Museum preserves original manufacturing artifacts including original Rudy head molds and original amusement park ride components from Fun House era

    high · Museum curator states: 'we also have all the original molds to make the Rudy head' and 'all the original stumps' from Riverside Amusement Park rides

  • ?

    industry_signal: Historical conflict at Williams where Larry DeMar appropriated 'Banzai Run' as game name that Steve Ritchie had planned to use; Ritchie characterizes this as name theft

    high · Ritchie's direct account: 'I came in one day and Larry DeMar said, We're stealing your name. Why? Because that was it.'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Steve Ritchie left Williams in 1997 due to belief that 'the writing was on the wall,' pursued work at Atari which was subsequently acquired by Williams, creating unusual contractual situation

Topics

Pinball Museum Curation & StorytellingprimarySteve Ritchie's Design Career & LegacyprimaryWilliams Pinball Game Development HistoryprimaryPinball-to-Arcade Cultural ConnectionssecondaryClassic Pinball Game Design (Black Knight 2000, High Speed, Fun House)secondaryRiverside Amusement Park & Fun House OriginssecondaryDutch Pinball Industry Statusmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Steve Ritchie is enthusiastic and appreciative throughout the museum tour. He praises the museum's curation and storytelling approach repeatedly. The tone is warm and nostalgic when discussing his design career, though some anecdotes (like the Banzai Run naming conflict and the Black Knight horse incident) contain elements of personal frustration that are recounted with humor. No significant negative sentiment directed at the museum or host.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

So, Steve Ritchie in the house. How's that? You can imagine how that is for us. And I'm very happy to be here. This is the best pinball museum I've ever seen in my life. It's magnificent. Thanks for that. So, you arrived today and you're going to the Dutch Pinball Open tomorrow. It's also a very nice show and I look forward to it. I don't know the place though, but people have said it's very nice. And it's a game with a spring, an ancestor to pinball. Like for instance, pinball is like grandfather. This is grandmother. [laughter] Look at it. Don't. Yeah. Are you ready? Yeah. [snorts] That's what Ivory. Ivory. Oh, in the table. Yeah. Okay. Downward. Yeah. The ends twice. Yeah. Again. Put your finger here. Finger. The bottom's in the hole. Keep it tight. Yeah. I will do that. Stop that, Steve. This is the This is important one. This is the the Kill Shimmer company. It's a lock cabin. It's the first pinball machine with a coin mechanism. The first 19001. Awesome. Very nice. The first one with a coin. You signed this one 11 years ago. [laughter] This is also uh uh signed by you. Yes, it's neat stuff. Neat stuff. So, this is something that I'm very proud of. This is the prewar wall. It's all pre-war games and we did a lot of uh explanation uh telling stories. So, uh it's in Dutch because we are the Dutch pin bomb, but you can translate it easily now these days. But it's uh if it's we we're telling here is it the game or is it gambling? This is the complete lyrics of the pinball widget. the lyrics. So this is uh the first room. We got 10 rooms like this. Wow. 10 rooms. Um yeah, the feeling is high too. Yes. Incredible. And um we are telling stories. We are doing themes. Um, so I can easily put seven machines in that row, but I don't want that because I want to tell stories. You have an Alice in Wonderland? Yes. Number two. Number one isn't even built yet. Awesome. I've only played it once. Oh, you can you can play. I don't think I ever got the ball up there. Yeah, like Twilight Zone. But it's a it's a we can play later, but we first Wow. I like the side armor lit up. That's incredible. Yeah, I did that first. [laughter] These guys stole this name from me. Yeah. Banzai Run. Banzai Run. I was going to name a game that. Oh. And I came in one day and Larry Demar said, "We're stealing your name." Oh, why? Because that was it. Yeah. No Recklin bowl. I let it go. Brandon Banzai Run. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was a fun game. It was just really expensive for the time. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah. But look also at uh the stairs, ceilings, [snorts] everywhere there's something with details. It's awesome. This is awesome, too. My god. I love the Guardians of Galaxy. I watched two movies on the way here. I've seen them many times and I own them in 4K. This is beautiful. This is incredible. Yeah. So, this is the fun house story. People think this is the OG, the original, but this is the OG. Yeah. And actually, I never knew about this. No. So, the F house. So, what happened? So, in in correct me if I'm wrong, but Williams was at the Riverside and at the other side was the amusement park. Riverside amusement park, right? And most of the rides were turned into pinball machines, right? They were fireball or Edin's castle was Yeah. Barry Oler was like I never got to see it. It was all gone when I got there in 1978 or 77. It was all gone. What's so weird is like in California nobody would ever build an amusement park with a big school right across the street. Yeah. They wouldn't let that happen. I thought it was interesting. Yeah. So, we are now telling the fun house story, but I also have all the original molds to make the Rudy head. Awesome. But we also have all the original stumps. Not for with all the rides, the original ones. Yeah. So, Fireball or the Comet or Aladdin's Castle Bobs. So, this is this is what museum museum should do. Telling stories. I think it's cool. Do you know this game? I do. I know that game. Yeah. So Miguel, we put a Terminator next to it. Awesome. And we are telling stories. So this is science fiction. This game influenced me into making multiball. There was no memory or anything, but it was just fun to have more than one ball on the playfield. Yeah, it is. Hey, [laughter] who's that? The pony. the pony small small. Yeah. Still regret in those days that when this came out I didn't have the money to buy a premium so I bought a pro but I still want uh an upgrade but we will get there but telling stories. So this is um special room for the big Labowski with our uh [snorts] really brings the room together. [laughter] Really brings lots of room together. That's it. So this is uh of course pet Laura the game. Uh the Twilight Zone always in my head was if I ever going to start a museum the shop that you see the curios I'm going to build it in real life. Cool. But the light is not turned on yet. So now you got a gumball machine. You've got everything. Everything. So if you really put it in in in perspective and you will stand there, you have Yeah. It's cool. It's a great idea. Yeah. Akadaka. That's what they call it in Australia. Akadaka. The band is called Akadaka. That's what they say. So we're now going into the dinosaur room. So we put in all the dinosaurs and we thought of our own awesome tilttosaurus. [laughter] That's cool. Beautiful. So, murals. Yeah. Very nice. You got a Middle Earth. Yes. It's broken now, but it's H. So, this is the the music room. This is all uh music related. The lightning is is not there as as we are open, but it's I have one of these in my basement right now. Wow. It's in very nice condition. I love that game. I hate it. Yeah, it's it's like the the big gap. They should do that again. That doesn't bother me anymore. I don't do that move. I don't just don't do it. But getting up to the top is not easy. No. But and it's it it it's like the devil, you know, down here. Yeah, it just is. So, this is our uh new project. This was a black wall, but I put it into a disco floor because uh it's a it's colorful, but a lot of visitors today. But if you want, so far, this is the best pinball museum I've ever seen in my life. Yes. Must be the Star Wars room. Yes. [laughter] Correct. Wow. Some more test cases. I'm going to bring this to the Dutch pinball open. We got now eight of these test cases. Cool. You have to wait a second otherwise kids will let bump. [music] Very nice. It's kind of a drag. And I left in in 97 because the writing was on the wall for me. So I went to look in California just to go back to California and work at Atari. That's where I really wanted to work if I went back. And um I went back and also they forgot about my contract. Yeah. I had a non-compete. It was one year and they just let the year go by. Nobody paid attention. So I just went out to Atari for a week and uh I came back and the president then Ken Fedzna, he goes, "Okay, so I know you were at Atari." I go, "Yeah, I was. I mean, because you know it's not happening here for me." And uh he said, "Well, we bought them yesterday, a Friday, he bought Atari." So uh and I said, "Well, can I go back out there?" And he goes, "Sure." So I made a couple of video games there. It was fun to produce video games. Yeah. Okay. Wow. So something that is like was it I seen it once on a picture? Is I think it's yours. It's a concept game with an an eight wrote. Is this something that Well, uh, originally that that was on high speed. Okay. But we took it off. Um, you know, we got into the game for three months and tried to figure out what to do with rules and everything else on high speed, Larry Dear and I. And, uh, he contributed a lot to the game, too. Um, but we ended up redoing everything. I turned it into a tachometer and, uh, it was much better, actually. And then a guy in uh a guy in uh like the electronic I shouldn't say that chip design, you know, tiny stuff that worked at Williams. Uh and he said, "You got to have a traffic light." I go, "That's a good idea, Butch." Yeah. I'm going to put that in the game if it's okay with you. And he goes, "That's fine." And uh that's how that got there. I always give people credit where it's due. I always do because you have to. People think the Steve Ritchie game is just a Steve Ritchie game. It's not. There's a lot of people always involved. Always. So, this is a story we are telling. I have to take a picture of this for sure. Oh, I will put it on for your brother. [laughter] My brother has never been here, has he? No. No. No. He's more than welcome. Yeah. This is better. Definitely better. You will see that beautiful hyper ball. [laughter] Got hyper ball. That's funny. The noisiest game in the world. There it is. It really is. I will I will put it on. I will put it on for picture. So, this is the room we are. We're now working on this room. It's um we are telling the story that pinball and video gaming is so combined. You know what that is? No. That's a frustrated guy working on pinball when pinball would not sell. Yeah. And I wanted to make a video game so I made this. Yeah, that is what it is. It's basically Space Invaders. Yeah, it is. Yeah. You have a different glass. That's correct. There's one that Sheamus Mclofflin made. Yeah. And it's got penises and vaginas, all kinds of stuff in there. And nobody noticed. Not even me. I didn't notice. Then one day I was looking and I go, "What? What are you doing?" And a lot of them got out. Yeah. And then they made this glass. Oh, wow. I designed this font. Yeah. Nice. All the letters of the alphabet. Never used it again. Yeah. I used it on business card for King Video Design. That's it. So, uh, but did they stole the rapid fire? Did they stole the ID from you? They tried to. Yeah. In fact, the name of the game at Bali, Jim Patl told me later. He goes, "It was called Project Xerox." The copy machine copy machine. Yeah, [laughter] that's what they called it. I spoke to Ken Fedesta and um I wanted to make sure that I'm telling stories and they have to be correct. Yeah. So for me important is Pac-Man, the Pac-Man story by Midway Bali. Yeah. So, I always thought I always was telling stories to people that um three balls in pinball was going into three lives in Pac-Man. Extra life in Pac-Man is a extra ball. And the first game where you can put in your initials for the high score was pinball and they copy it. Yeah. And Ken said, "Yeah, you have the correct story." And now we are telling the story. So, there's going to be a sign over there that we are telling the story that pinball and and and arcades are so much more related than people will understand. I was the first person to play Pac-Man in North America. Yeah. Yeah. This guy, Bill Herman, it was a test location. He was a great guy. And uh I used to bring my games to him in my van and set them up, you know, in his location. And everybody was, you know, everybody's game was in there. and he had red quarters for all the people that worked at Bali or Gotle or Stern or Williams and you played it, but it was like the test location. Well, he unpacked this and he goes, "This is the brand new game. Nobody else has played it. See what you think." And I I gripped the stick so hard, you know, it was a You could tell it was a good fun game. Yeah, it really was. Really was. Uh this video was made in our uh other location and it's about the Black Knight 2000 theme song and we uh we had a lot of fun making the video and Yi was in charge. Yordi and Steve was seeing the videos and he told me the next thing. What did he say about the video? I watched it at least 10 times in a row. I mean it was just great. It was magnificent. It's one of the best videos ever made. Yes. going to show you. I am the black [music] So, you arrived today and you're going to the Dutch PML Open tomorrow. It's also a very nice show and I look forward to it. I don't know the place though, but people have said it's very nice. Yeah, we have actually have carpet on the floors. Cool. [laughter] that that not like pinball expo. Walk on cement all day. Cement all day. Yeah. So, um so we have a lot of information already and you seen the museum and I'm very proud that you're here. Um one thing and if you don't want to go that that way it's easy but uh in my head um pinball is out there and a lot of people stories are told but is there an untold story you want to tell us? Is that don't has to be secret. done as something an untold story. I think I've told them all but a lot of people don't know them probably. What What is your best untold story then? Untold? [laughter] I don't have any untold stories. I tell them the one that you that is the most impressive but you told the least. Okay. Um we showed Black Knight 2000 in France in a a big huge cafe. I wouldn't call it a cafe. I would call it a theater on the Shamz. And uh it was a big production. They the uh the man who owned the uh PSD I think it was called uh DDA Salmon uh you know sponsored the whole thing and it was like he just went all out in in uh in terms of details and everything else. And uh we had like three uh like kiosks of games in the main room and there were lots of people dressed very nice and he had champagne for everybody in the beginning and orves and um after about a half an hour he went to the stage and he said I would like to introduce Black Knight 2000 Shavalier Noah. Okay. [laughter] And uh and the curtain opens up and there is a knight sitting on a giant waror black just a huge horse. He comes walking out. The guy makes him rear up and the horse saw all the people and he let go of everything. [laughter] He peed a stream a diameter of a garden hose and it was splashing all over the place and people were freaking out and a giant pile with steam coming off it. Stunk up the whole place and it was like it was so embarrassing. Like I was kind of heartbroken but um yeah DDA was definitely upset. He cried and um he was you know these guys came out in white lab coats with shovel and broom and and cleaning stuff you know and a septic and uh they cleaned it all up and at first people were going, "Oh, this is so disgusting." And they ran outside. They all were outside. When it smelled better though, they came in. And they opened the doors in the front and the back and the wind blew through and they all came back in and then they started laughing [laughter] because it was pretty horrible thing. I mean, you know, it was kind of shocking for us, too. And uh anyway, it worked out all right in the end. In the in the end, it was, you know, you know, it it got repaired sort of and and people did play the game and they loved it. Wow. That's a nice That's a nice story. Yeah. Thanks, man. So, we uh going to grab some lunch or something and whatever. We're going to enjoy the out of the day. And uh thanks for watching and uh yeah, look out for this guy on the Dutch Pimble Open Expo if you see him. It's great to be here. Once Gar said to me, I know America's number one, but can can the Dutch be number two in pinball? And I said, yes, definitely. Yeah. Nice. Thanks, man. I don't I don't take any chances. [laughter] Hello, canon. missed. Nice accidental. We'll take it. How many players? Everybody's own game. I don't mind going to first, but I don't have to. No, you might. Oh, that was so dumb. It's got a hair trigger. What is your shoot the ball? We better pay attention. I will give my life to justice murder.

Steve Ritchie@ 21:01 — References Gary Stern's assessment of Dutch pinball industry status

Black Knight 2000game
High Speedgame
Fun Housegame
Rapid Firegame
Banzai Rungame
Gary Sternperson
Guardians of the Galaxygame
Twilight Zonegame
Bill Hermanperson
Pac-Mangame
Midwaycompany
Gottliebcompany
Stern Pinballcompany
Alice's Adventures in Wonderlandgame
The Big Lebowskigame
Ken Fedzynnaperson
King Video Designorganization

high · Ritchie's account of non-compete clause expiration, visiting Atari, and Ken Fedzynna's revelation that Williams had just acquired Atari

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Steve Ritchie emphasizes that credited designer games are collaborative efforts involving multiple contributors, and he makes effort to give proper credit to all involved parties

    high · Quote: 'People think the Steve Richie game is just a Steve Richie game. It's not. There's a lot of people always involved. Always.' and examples like crediting Butch for traffic light idea on High Speed

  • ?

    event_signal: Black Knight 2000 was promoted at a major Paris venue with elaborate production (champagne, hors d'oeuvres, live horse) that ended with the horse defecating prominently, causing temporary chaos but ultimately successful promotion

    high · Ritchie's detailed anecdote about the DDA-sponsored event on Champs-Élysées with live horse that 'peed a stream a diameter of a garden hose'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Ritchie documents connections between pinball mechanics and arcade games: three balls in pinball = three lives in Pac-Man; high score initials in pinball copied by Pac-Man

    high · Ritchie and museum curator discussion confirming Ken Fedzynna verified these story connections and museum plans to display explanatory signage

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Museum curator mentions bringing eight test cases of a new project (Star Wars room) to Dutch Pinball Open, suggesting unreleased or newly completed exhibit content

    medium · Curator statement: 'Some more test cases. I'm going to bring this to the Dutch Pinball Open. We got now eight of these test cases.'

  • $

    market_signal: Gary Stern asked Steve Ritchie whether the Dutch could be 'number two' in pinball manufacturing, suggesting competitive positioning discussion between Stern Pinball and Dutch manufacturers

    medium · Ritchie's account: 'Once Gar said to me, I know America's number one, but can the Dutch be number two in pinball? And I said, yes, definitely.'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Steve Ritchie credits a 1980s-era pinball game (unspecified in video) with influencing him to create multiball mechanics, which he notes had no memory system but added fun factor of multiple balls in play

    medium · Ritchie discussing science fiction game: 'This game influenced me into making multiball. There was no memory or anything, but it was just fun to have more than one ball on the playfield.'