Drinks with Jack: Part 3 w/ Pinball Game Designer Brian Eddy

Stern Pinball·video·8m 4s·analyzed·Dec 15, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Brian Eddy on D&D partnership, Dwight collaboration, and homebrew inspiration.

Summary

Brian Eddy, legendary Stern Pinball designer, discusses his career trajectory from software developer to pinball designer, his collaboration with programmer Dwight Sullivan on Dungeons & Dragons, and the influence of classic games like Whirlwind on his design philosophy. He reflects on the D&D partnership with Wizards of the Coast, the impressive dragon mechanism, and his respect for the homebrew pinball community.

Key Claims

Brian Eddy and Dwight Sullivan have worked together on three games total
high confidence · Brian states 'we've done what, three, four games or something together' and Dwight clarifies 'Three games.'
Jody was the key connection who secured the Dungeons & Dragons licensing deal with Wizards of the Coast
high confidence · Brian: 'Jody was the one who kind of made the connection with them' and 'he kind of pulled that together'
Wizards of the Coast was hands-off on D&D game design, primarily concerned with visual representation accuracy
high confidence · Brian: 'They pretty much wanted us to make a pinball version of D&D... they were pretty hands-off as far as what we wanted to do... they were more concerned about do the dragons look right and is this presenting us well'
The D&D dragon mechanism required significant effort from both mechanical and programming teams
high confidence · Brian: 'It took a lot of effort on both sides, mechanical and programming, to bring it alive'
Pool Sharks was Brian's first game where he did all the programming completely by himself
high confidence · Brian: 'I think the first game I did completely by myself was Pool Sharks'

Notable Quotes

“It's not Drinks with Jack, unless you're drinking.”
Jack Danger @ opening — Sets the format/tone of the show
“How's working with the best programmer in pinball going right now?”
Jack Danger @ mid-show — Establishes Dwight Sullivan's reputation as a top programmer in the industry
“They pretty much wanted us to make a pinball version of D&D... they were pretty hands-off as far as what we wanted to do”
Brian Eddy @ mid-show — Reveals licensing partner flexibility and trust in design vision
“I'm really impressed on all of the homebrew that came out. They're so passionate. It's just incredible to see all of their stuff”
Brian Eddy @ near end — Shows designer appreciation for homebrew community innovation and creativity
“Whirlwind was really the game that got me... Pat Lawlor's my hero... This is the most awesome flowing game I ever played.”
Brian Eddy @ near end — Reveals formative design influence and Pat Lawlor as early inspiration
“The whole homebrew thing is cool... It's very humbling.”
Brian Eddy @ near end — Reflects designer humility toward amateur innovation and passion

Entities

Brian Eddyperson Dwight Sullivanperson Jack Dangerperson Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant's Eyegame Pool Sharksgame Wizards of the Coastcompany

Signals

?
community_signal: Brian Eddy expresses genuine admiration for homebrew pinball designers and their innovation, describing their work as 'humbling' and highlighting their creative freedom from budget/manufacturability constraints
high · Brian: 'I'm really impressed on all of the homebrew that came out... they're so passionate... they can do a lot of stuff that we can't cuz they're free from budgets, manufacturability'
?
design_philosophy: Brian Eddy's design approach shaped by Pat Lawlor's work on Whirlwind; emphasis on 'flowing' gameplay and player experience resonated deeply and became foundational influence
high · Brian: 'Whirlwind was really the game that got me... This is the most awesome flowing game I ever played... that's what pinball's about'
?
licensing_signal: Wizards of the Coast took hands-off approach to D&D pinball design, trusting Stern's creative vision while maintaining final approval on dragon representation and overall brand presentation
high · Brian: 'They pretty much wanted us to make a pinball version of D&D... they were pretty hands-off... more concerned about do the dragons look right'
?
community_signal: Brian Eddy transitioned from video game software development (20-year career) to return to pinball design at Stern, bringing software expertise to pinball rule complexity
high · Brian discusses starting as programmer on games like Pool Sharks and Diner before transitioning to full game design
?
announcement: D&D dragon mechanism described as technically impressive and resource-intensive, requiring collaboration between mechanical engineering and programming teams

Topics

Brian Eddy's career trajectory and game design historyprimaryDungeons & Dragons pinball game design and licensing partnershipprimaryCollaboration between Brian Eddy and Dwight SullivanprimaryDesign philosophy and influences (Pat Lawlor, Whirlwind)primaryHomebrew pinball community innovation and passionsecondaryD&D dragon mechanism technical implementationsecondaryTransition from software development to pinball designsecondaryLicensing partner relationships and creative freedomsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Brian Eddy speaks fondly of his collaborations, the D&D partnership, and homebrew community. Warm, respectful tone throughout. Light humor with Dwight about working together multiple times ('Too many'). Expresses genuine humility and admiration for other designers and homebrew creators.

Transcript

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So, I want to talk to uh our latecomer here. So, Bri Brian was uh listening to Gary. Wait a minute. Where where's my drink, Jack? This is supposed to be Oh, this is my drink. That's your drink now. Hang on. It's not Drinks with Jack, unless Exactly. Unless you're drinking. Uh, so folks, if you don't know, this is Brian Eddy of uh Shadow Fame. Um, amongst other titles. Brian, how many games have you made so far, do you think? Uh, designwise, what is it like, but programming and other stuff? You did software. So that we were just talking about that like coming into uh pinball design as uh like having something else that you brought in with it like you were a software developer that became a designer. Um so what what games did you start off with as far as like programming is concerned? I think the first game I did completely by myself was Pool Sharks. Um but I had helped out on a few other games like Diner and I can't even remember a couple bad cats. I think I did like and stuff just to help out to kind of learn the ropes, but Sharks was the first one that I completely did. A buddy of mine, Gavin, uh, owned a pool sharks and he dropped it off at my studio once and he's like, he he dropped it off, set it up. He's like, "Cool, have fun streaming that. Um, let me know when you get the multiball and he bounced." And I spent an entire week trying to figure out how to get the multiball on this game. Lo and behold, it doesn't freaking exist. Um, it it was it was a great joke. Um, yeah, that that was an era where we were kind of in between. Some games had multiball and some didn't. And I wanted a multiball, but this was deemed a single ball game at the time. So, it was a cool theme, too. It's all these like sharks in like suits playing pool. It's a little bizarre. It's a little bizarre. I I miss the bizarre games, for sure. Yeah, it's it was that transition of that era, right, from just weird themes into more cohesive themes. So, your your more recent game, Dungeons and Dragons, um you worked with on Dwight. How's the working with Dwight situation been going? Like, uh you because this isn't your first game with him. No, absolutely not. And it's funny. Is he Is he here? Is he Is he looking Don't talk. He's right there. Okay. Crap. How's working with the best programmer in pinball going right now? That's better. It's funny because Dwight and I worked at Williams back in the 90s, right? But we never worked together on anything. So coming back to Stern, we ended up connecting together and we've done what, three, four games or something together. Yeah. Three games. Too many. Yeah. Too many. There's a little of that some days. Well, let's let's talk about Dungeons and Dragons real quick. So, um, like did did they come to us? Did you go to them? How did all that pan out? How was working on the game like uh conceptualizing it? Yeah, Jody was the one who kind of made the connection with them. Where's Joe? Jod's here, right? Jody. So, he kind of pulled that together and it was kind of brought up as, hey, you know, we could get Dungeons and Dragons. Would you guys be interested? And yeah, Dwight and I just jumped at it and Dwight, I think, jumped twice as high. So, I think um it was definitely a great theme for the both of us and knowing the history of of D&D and the background and I think it really tied into our strengths. And were they pretty cool to work with like as you were like conceptualizing like the ideas for the game, the mechs and stuff like that? How did that go? Yeah, they were they were amazing. They They pretty much wanted us to make a pinball version of D&D. So, they were pretty handsoff as far as what we wanted to do, how we wanted to represent Dn D in a pinball machine. Um, and they more concerned about, let's say, you know, do the dragons look right and is this presenting us well? Uh, so that that was really great. They were a great partner. I think they were probably one of our best partners. So, uh, your your history of games, your library of games, what would you say is your favorite mech or idea that you've put into a pinball machine thus far? Well, it's it's the next games match. Okay, Gary. Um, obviously the dragon on D and D, I think, was pretty impressive for a pinball machine. So, it's it's got to be up there in the ranks. So, yeah, it's it's very impressive how it can move around, you can make it talk, it can shoot the balls back out. Uh, and if you see that out of a game, it's it's a very impressive mechanism. And it took a lot of effort on both sides, mechanical and programming, to to bring it alive. And I think team did a great job. What I like about uh the team up between you and Dwight is Dwight has this very sort of uh like choose your character, level up your character sort of vibe going on. And I think it meshes really well with how you've been laying out your playfields and just it it just seems like a very good match between you guys. And uh I'm excited to see what the future holds. Yeah, I mean we work back and forth on everything to do with the game usually, right? I have input on the rules, he has input on the playfield at times, and we get in a lot of fighting matches between that, but you know, it makes the game better. So that's that's what counts. So as a designer, like what kind of involvement do you have as far as the rules are concerned? I think both of us kind of talk about the overall architecture of what the the rules are going to be in the game and then when it gets down to nitty-gritty weeds. I think Dwight does a lot of that with his team also. And we talk back and forth about how certain ru rules will work and stuff and kind of decide on them or sometimes have a question. I'm not so sure about this or that, right? And we'll talk through what would work better and sometimes we just try stuff and it works or it doesn't work, right? the game usually tells you, you know, is this fun or not. All right. Well, uh, let's let's wrap this up. What is a game that's out here that you think has inspired you in like how you design or just like has impressed you enough that like it it sort of had some uh in I don't know just what is inspiring you out here? Like what game specifically? It doesn't have to be a Stern, doesn't have to be the newest one. I wouldn't say it's your favorite, but it is really like sort of maybe changed how you think about design. Is there anything that stands out out there? That's a hard one to pick. There's so many good games out there. Um, this doesn't really inspire me to, well, actually inspires me to be a better designer. I'm really impressed on all of the homebrews that came out. Um, and they do such a good job. They're so passionate. It's just incredible to see all of their their stuff that they come up with and they they can do a lot of stuff that we can't cuz they're free from budgets, manufacturability. Yeah. manufacturability some. So, it's really cool to see what they come up with. Absolutely. Lucky I made Archer when I did cuz when I go to the home brew area and how much money and effort and time they spent with the art mechs and everything and it's very humbling. Mine is just like a rag tag, you know. Here's some tinfoil strips that I use for ball guides and you know, stuff like that. But Sharpie is art, right? Yeah. The whole Yeah. The whole homebrew thing is cool. Yeah. I've been playing pinball since I Frontier actually was like one of the first games that got me into it. Obviously, it's nothing impressive. I just thought it was cool. But, uh, I think Whirlwind was really the game that got me this like, wow, because I saw Pat Lawler's name on there. He's like, "This this guy's my hero." It was like, "This is the most awesome flowing game I ever played." And he's got this fan and it blows in your face. It's so cool. And I was just like, you know, that's what this is what pinball's about. It was just like and then I was addicted to that game for like over a year and I was uh I think I was a junior in high school. I just got a car. I just started driving and I was every day I'd go to the arcade, play whirlwind for hours and go home. Next day go to school, leave, go play whirlwind, go home. Eventually I ran out of money. They're made to take your money. Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me up here. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for watching. Thank you. We walk it all. We walk it all.