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A Special Pinball Show Tribute To Wayne Neyens

The Pinball Show·podcast_episode·14m 8s·analyzed·Aug 2, 2022
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Pinball Show tributes Wayne Neyens, legendary Gottlieb designer who passed at 104.

Summary

The Pinball Show paid tribute to Wayne Neyens, a legendary Gottlieb pinball designer and engineer who passed away at age 104. Neyens designed over 180 pinball machines (159 produced) between 1949-1965, making him one of the most prolific designers in pinball history. The hosts discussed his engineering innovations, including patents for the pop bumper switch and two-player pinball machines, and highlighted his masterwork Queen of Hearts as an example of his electromechanical problem-solving genius.

Key Claims

  • Wayne Neyens designed 180 pinball machines for Gottlieb, with 159 actually produced

    high confidence · Hosts cite this as researched fact; one host notes this is one of the highest design volumes of any pinball era designer

  • Neyens patented the pop bumper spoon switch (electric switching device) and the two-player pinball machine (1972)

    high confidence · Hosts reference PinWiki as source for patent information

  • Queen of Hearts (December 1952) was Neyens' greatest engineering achievement, solving the problem of stacking switch closures without electronics

    high confidence · Host explains this was Neyens' own stated favorite and details the electromechanical challenge he solved

  • Neyens started in pinball in 1937 with Western company, joined Gottlieb in 1939, and remained there his entire career

    high confidence · Hosts provide detailed career timeline from research

  • Neyens served in World War II and returned to Gottlieb, where his first game design was in 1949

    high confidence · Career history discussed in detail by hosts

  • A pinball can only reliably close three sets of switches maximum due to its weight

    high confidence · Host explains the electromechanical physics constraint that Neyens had to work around

  • Neyens remained mentally sharp into his 100s and was frustrated that he could no longer mentally reconstruct the Queen of Hearts circuit from scratch

    high confidence · Host references interviews from Neyens' 100th birthday celebrating his sharp memory but noting this specific frustration

  • Ed Krinsky, Neyens' successor as lead designer at Gottlieb, viewed pinball design as 'just a job' rather than a passion

    medium confidence · Host makes this characterization based on general knowledge of Krinsky's approach versus Neyens' passion

Notable Quotes

  • “It would not have been unheard of for Wayne to do 10 games in a year. Different layout games.”

    Host (discussing EM era design volume) @ early — Illustrates how prolific Neyens was compared to modern designers

  • “Wayne really had a love for the game... he was so into pinball... still doing interviews about pinball and his love for the game.”

    Host (contrasting with Ed Krinsky's attitude) @ mid — Emphasizes Neyens' lifelong passion versus treating it as employment

  • “I remember my peak. And it's like I sit and I try and remember and come up with the circuit. And I just I can't. I know I did it. I don't remember how I did it anymore.”

    Wayne Neyens (quoted from interview) @ mid — Shows Neyens' humility and frustration at aging, despite remaining cognitively sharp

  • “His mind remained extremely sharp... he could recall all of this stuff.”

    Host @ mid — Notes Neyens' exceptional cognitive retention into his 100s

  • “He is extremely influential to many throughout this industry. Our industry would not be the same without his legacy.”

    Host @ closing — Summary statement of Neyens' industry impact

  • “At age 104, Dennis, that's one hell of a high score that I don't think anyone is going to be.”

    Host @ closing — Playful pinball reference to Neyens' longevity

  • “Unless these employees, these workers, these designers share their stories, we wouldn't have them. There's a lot we lost from the early days of pinball that didn't get shared.”

    Host @ closing — Emphasizes importance of oral history and Neyens' contribution to preserving early pinball knowledge

Entities

Wayne NeyenspersonGottliebcompanyEd KrinskypersonHarry MabbspersonQueen of HeartsgameContinental CafegameScoreboardgameSoccer/Super Soccergame

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: The Pinball Show dedicates full episode tribute to Wayne Neyens upon his passing at 104, emphasizing industry importance

    high · Episode structured as formal tribute with detailed career timeline and legacy discussion

  • ?

    community_signal: Neyens remained engaged and passionate about pinball into his 100s, conducting interviews and sharing knowledge with the community

    high · Multiple references to interviews from Neyens' 100th birthday celebrations and his willingness to discuss pinball throughout his life

  • ?

    design_innovation: Neyens pioneered the pop bumper spoon switch patent and innovative switch-stacking solutions that became foundational mechanics in pinball

    high · Patent references to electric switching device (pop bumper) and two-player machine patent from 1972

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Neyens approached design as a passion project with deep engineering problem-solving focus, contrasted with successor Ed Krinsky's transactional view of the work

    high · Host comparison: 'Wayne really had a love for the game' versus Krinsky 'viewed it as just a job'

  • ?

    industry_signal: Neyens is confirmed as final surviving wood-rail era designer from Gottlieb's foundational period; critical knowledge holder for early pinball history

    high · 'Wayne, to my knowledge, he was the last of the Woodroyal designers that was still with us' and emphasis on oral history importance

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.042

0:00
Pinball is full of friends. But unfortunately, we have to open with some sad news. Oh, man, yes, we do. We lost a pinball pioneer this last week. Wayne Nines passed away at the age of 104. Coincidentally enough, I think the day after his birthday? Yeah, I believe so. I believe it was the day after. 104. Wow. It designed over, I looked this up, and this can't be true. Designed over 175 pinball machines for Dee Gottlieb in the 50s and 60s? Well, you know, I don't know the full range of where you do the cutoff. My understanding, though, is yes, he did actually have 180 pinball designs. However, 159 only were produced.
1:10
Jeez. So he is one of, or if not the most prolific pinball designer of all time. I hedge on it because depending how you count, like, multiple player versions and such, it's sort of between him and Ed Krinsky. who was also of Gottlieb. But the volumes of both of them are, it's just not like, you know, we think today, pinball's different than how it was in the EM era. It would not have been unheard of for Wayne to do 10 games in a year.
1:42
Different. Different layout games. Yeah, and I heard you talking. Me talking Shrek family guy rethinks. No, I heard you speaking about the legacy of Mr. Nines. I forgot what it was on. I heard you talk about him not only being a designer, but really kind of a prolific engineer. Yes. And it might have been one of my interviews with either Ryan Clayton or Nick Baldridge when they had their Queen Op Carnival. The first volume of that is actually about Wayne Nyans. And I would say, at least, and everyone's going to have their own opinion on who are your favorite designers, who are your favorite designers of the EM era and all of that. To me, Wayne is actually better known for, at least for my part, his engineering prowess than the designs themselves. And I know you were doing some research this morning regarding some of the patents he holds. Yeah, I think this is via maybe PenWiki, but he said that he holds very important patents. For example, the electric switching device, which is what we know today kind of as the pop bumper spoon switch. And then also the two-player pinball machine, 1972. This was from his Challenger. Kind of an odd attempt at a two-player head-to-head pinball machine. I'll tell you one that was Wayne's favorite. It's not patent, but from an engineering standpoint. And it was his game Queen of Hearts, which I do not believe I've ever had the opportunity to play. I'm not familiar. Well, it's real old. It's from December 1952. Whoa. And so it's a card theme. And the gameplay is really popular. And I think the reason in part is because of what Wayne did with This was back when gobble holes were still a primary idea So for those not familiar a gobble hole is where the ball will fall into a hole and that takes the ball out of play you lost the ball at that point on queen of hearts there are five gobble holes which represent various playing cards okay and what wayne wanted to do with it is that you would get replays and i guess a certain number of replays for certain hand combinations that you would build with the gobble holes like if you shot a full house or a four of a kind, for example. Okay? Here's the thing. The problem is this is back before we have printed circuit boards and microchips able to keep track of stuff. So you've got to do this all with electromechanical equipment. And the problem that he ran into was a pinball,
Spirit of 76
game
Slick Chickgame
Womenellegame
The Pinball Showorganization
PinWikiorganization
Pinball Newsorganization
Westerncompany
Williamscompany
Steve Kordekperson
Barry Ourslerperson
Dennis Nordmanperson
Ryan Claytonperson
Kansas City Pinball Championshipevent
?

community_signal: Neyens maintained exceptional cognitive sharpness into 100s but experienced normal age-related memory loss; remained frustrated by inability to reconstruct Queen of Hearts circuit

high · Quote from interviews showing cognitive retention but specific frustration about not being able to mentally reconstruct his own design

  • ?

    technology_signal: Queen of Hearts exemplifies the creative constraints and engineering solutions required in pre-digital electromechanical era pinball design

    high · Detailed explanation of how Neyens solved the three-switch closure limitation without computers or microchips

    • 4:11
    and the pinballs were the same back then as they are now, they don't weigh enough to close a rollover that has a lot of switches stacked together. In fact, you can only reliably close three sets of switches maximum with a pinball. Oh, I never thought of that. Yeah. Well, because nowadays you wouldn't – we don't need it. We just – we'd have a micro switch or an opto or we'd do whatever. You're just thinking about the old EMs. We'd throw it in memory. Yeah. So – but he needed to have it stacked so that based off of what cards were where, you have to close certain switch combinations and all that. And Wayne sort of obsessed over this design, and he ended up being able to come up with no computers, a solution around the entire problem. He was able to implement his replay features, and it was ultimately, in his view, his greatest engineering masterpiece he ever achieved. I can see why. So it's just the way he worked around it and came up with a whole new circuit to do that. Not one patented, but ultimately made a very, very successful game for himself and for the company. Wow. And that legacy, that wasn't short-lived. It was throughout his whole lifespan that he was so into pinball. I remember him doing interviews, you know, up in the late 90s, early 100s, still doing interviews about pinball and his love for the game. That reminds me of Wayne's successor, Ed Krinsky, at Gottlieb. He was sort of – he wasn't passionate about pinball. A lot of people may not have known that, but he went in. He really viewed it as just a job, and he did it, and he kind of did that grind, whereas Wayne really had a love for the game. And just different perspectives. But to run over a little bit of the history on it, because obviously he – Wayne was in the hobby for so long, in the industry for so long. He started in pinball in 1937. Wow. Yeah, it was with a company no one really knows about anymore called Western. But in 1939, he joined Gottlieb, and that's where he spent his entire pinball career. Okay. He did have a break because, like many, he served in World War II. Wow. But he went back to the company after the war. And Gottlieb actually went into war production during the war. So they weren't making pinballs that entire time period. And when Wayne came back, he was – he did not start as a game designer. His first game was actually out in 1949. So a little bit after the inventor of the electromechanical flipper, Harry Mabbs had put out his flipper game Humpty Dumpty. Oh, yeah. And then Harry left Gottlieb. I don't know why. He went over to Williams. I know the suspicion is because of money. Like he expected to get significantly paid more with the – the flippers really changed the industry. But so he left And so in 51 Wayne became lead designer really only designer for most of that time period So so from 1951 through a point in 1965 he was an active game designer And then in 1965, he became chief engineer at Gottlieb. And Ed Krinsky came on board to be the new lead designer.
    7:16
    And then, yeah, so he was chief engineer. Then in 1971, Wayne became director of engineering and product development. And then eventually in the 70s, he transitioned again to his final position, which was vice president of engineering. So you see there was this huge emphasis in his career on the engineering side, even though he did spend many, many years as a designer. And so he did that all the way up until a point in 1980. And then he actually went through most of 1983 as a consultant to Gottlieb. And then he was like truly retired after that point. Well, yeah, I would hope so. But still passionate, willing to talk to people. One of the things I know, because I never interacted directly with Wayne, but one of the things I remember a lot of people always point out is, because there was a lot of stuff around his 100th birthday, a lot of interviews, a lot of discussions with him, and it was just that his mind remained extremely sharp. So he could recall all of this stuff. And I remember reading in one of the interviews, one of his biggest frustrations was that he no longer mentally could construct the Queen of Hearts circuit. Like he's like he it frustrated him to know that he didn't have it in him to develop it from scratch anymore. He would try to most humans couldn't do. But, you know, he's like, I remember my peak. And it's like he's like I said, I sit and I try and remember and come up with the circuit. And I just I can't. I know I did it. I don't remember how I did it anymore. It's just one of those. But he remembered so much of so many other things that he worked on throughout the process and throughout his career. And now I'm assuming because you've typically leaned more modern pinball. Sure. That you've never owned a Wayne game. You know, I'd have to go back and look. I would say that there's a good chance that at some point in time I have owned a Wayne game, but not knowing that I did. And very short lived. I've not kept any EMS. I've never owned even a wood rail, but not kept EMs for a long time. Some of the notable games, Dennis and listener from Wayne Nines, include Pioneer, 300, Soccer or Super Soccer, Spirit of 76, probably one of the most popular, Buckaroo, Happy Clown, Shipmates, World Fair, Slick Chick, Gaucho, and even more contemporary stuff that was remade, rethemed, skinned, Pabst, Can Crusher, and Womenele. Those two are – that's a little weird one because those are seen as – well, at least Wonelli is a Dennis Nordman design, and it is. The thing is that they're based off of a Wayne game from 1957 called Continental Cafe. And so they're sort of somewhat of a conversion. The rules and how they score are significantly different. Though, again, and people can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I read in one of the interviews with Wayne Hyans that that got brought up. like oh you know continental cafe was used as a sort of like this basis for wonely and and some of these other themes and i think if i remember right wayne goes prime really that wasn't one of my good games oh it reminded me of when barry osler told you that popeye's not a good game why do you like it really that's the one you want to talk about yeah yes so so yeah obviously really famous ones I say a lot of historic collectors wood rail type collectors love Slick Chick That always the one I hear about I do hear about that But the one I owned of his which wasn one of his notable ones and the oldest game I ever owned was 1956 Gottlieb scoreboard score hyphen board Never heard of it. Multiple scoreboards. Yeah. It was my first experience with what I call middle pop pinball, where there's a pop bumper. Spanish eyes is the most famous of these. that there's a pop bumper at or below your lowest set of flippers. Okay. Kind of in the middle of the game that allows the ball to go back up into play. That actually, just selfishly for my part, got me really curious about middle pop and all these different designers that worked on these really weird, obscure kind of layout games that used pop bumpers in a really creative manner. And ultimately, actually, I wrote a whole article about them back in 2018. It's over on Pinball News called, because I'm super creative, Middle Pop Pinball. Oh, Twippy Award finalist written article. My whole interest in that stemmed from owning a Wayne Nines game. Dennis, I don't know if I've owned a Nines game, but I can't say I still have a favorite. I've played, I haven't played close to how many he designed, but there's probably a handful I've played at shows or different buddies own. My favorite, it's actually soccer or super soccer. Okay. I really like that game. It's a lot of fun. My buddy had one. He had a really clean example of one. What I loved was that back box display. Oh, yeah. No, it's super cool. We had one of those at the Kansas City Pinball Championship in the free play area a few years ago. Yeah, and I love the concept of wasn't it the balls collected throughout the game roll into the bonus kind of thing? Yeah, I think that's how it worked. Man, I love that concept. That was really fun. And that was almost like, for me, it's like, okay, I can get behind one of these older games because it may be points, but it's still something kind of moment-wise, a task-wise. Yeah, you get that tangible ball that counts for a golden ticket or whatever. I really just love that. He is extremely influential to many throughout this industry. Our industry would not be the same without his legacy and all that he has brought. a lot of concepts in which he brought to this thing that we call the perfect game are things that are going to go on for decades. People are going to utilize his expertise and his knowledge, his genius. He will be missed. Our thoughts go out to his family, his friends, all affected by him and had the joy of meeting him. I will say this, at age 104, Dennis, that's one hell of a high score that I don't think anyone is going to be. Steve Kordek got close. He did. About 100, almost 101. And I think Wayne, to my knowledge, he was the last of the Woodroyal designers that was still with us. But thankfully, he shared so much of his knowledge of those days because a lot of this stuff isn't in written record. Unless these employees, these workers, these designers share their stories, we wouldn't have them. There's a lot we lost from the early days of pinball that didn't get shared, but Wayne gave us as much as he could so that we would actually have a good history of what went on at Gottlieb and in the industry as a whole during those decades of formative development. Well, thank you, Mr. Nines. He's given a lot to the hobby. It's sad to see him go, but his legacy will definitely live on, and he will be missed.