Episode 434: Raymond Davidson remastered

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·12m 20s·analyzed·Feb 9, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

Raymond Davidson discusses Stern code design, tournament play, and upcoming game releases.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Raymond Davidson, lead code designer at Stern Pinball, about his recent Stern Pro Circuit tournament win and his work on high-profile game remasters (Metallica, The Walking Dead) and new releases (Star Wars: Fall of the Empire). Davidson discusses the design philosophy behind making complex modern games accessible to casual players while maintaining depth for competitive players, and hints at future Stern releases without confirming specifics.

Key Claims

IFPA membership has grown to six-digit numbers (150,000+), indicating massive growth in the pinball player base over the past decade
high confidence · Jeff Teolis states that he started as a four-digit IFPA member and now they're at six digits, approximately 150,000
Raymond Davidson won his eighth or ninth Stern Pro Circuit event at Starfighters Arcade in Arizona
high confidence · Jeff asks 'What is it, your eighth, ninth Stern Pro Circuit win?' and Raymond responds affirmatively
Metallica remaster added two new wizard modes and concert footage/expression lights as primary enhancements
high confidence · Raymond states 'I came up with an idea of kind of a mega, basically two more wizard modes' and mentions 'expression lights and the concert footage'
The original Walking Dead code was lacking and was significantly improved through subsequent updates
high confidence · Jeff: 'code wasn't there' and Raymond: 'yeah that was a barren wasteland of code' with major improvements through mode additions
Star Wars: Fall of the Empire is Raymond Davidson's first lead game design role (Metallica was a remaster/follow-up project)
high confidence · Raymond states 'Star Wars game uh super fun first um cornerstone lead game for me you know i was lead on metallica wasn't it was a remaster'
George Gomez indicated the next Stern game would be either Pokémon or Transformers
medium confidence · Jeff references 'George Gomez kind of threw up the towel and said, yeah the next game is either going to be pokemon or transformers' and Raymond cautiously validates this without confirming
Raymond Davidson has been at Stern for approximately six years, starting in May 2020 during COVID
high confidence · Raymond states 'I started right at COVID, so 2020. So actually, it'll be six years in May'
The home pinball market is now more significant than the arcade location market, representing a shift from 30 years ago

Notable Quotes

“before when it was dot matrix and and all that kind of stuff and mono mono sound uh for for a band too but uh again you talked about the wizard modes you know when you used to play the old Metallica was like, get to crank it up, get to crank it up. It's funny watching the pro players now bypass crank it up.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~24:00 — Illustrates how code updates and new technology have changed optimal strategy on remasters, with pro players now avoiding certain modes due to new strategic options
“I wanted to make sure there was a multiball that was obvious and it looked like it worked. If you were able to figure out how to start it on your first game ever. That is the bar right there.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~35:00 — Reveals the design philosophy for Star Wars: making games accessible to new players while maintaining depth for experienced players
“It's the same pinball game but it's night and day different than pinball not that there's anything yeah i mean even those first couple updates of walking dead you know when they added modes it just totally changed the game”
Raymond Davidson @ ~17:00 — Demonstrates the transformative power of code updates on game quality and player experience
“There's so many new people into pinball than there was 10 years ago. I mean, just looking at the tournament scene, you can look at the new IFP. They're up to six-digit IFPA numbers now, right?”
Raymond Davidson @ ~30:00 — Market growth indicator; contextualizes why remasters of 'perfect' games make commercial sense to reach new audience
“working on the star wars game uh super fun first um cornerstone lead game for me you know i was lead on metallica wasn't it was a remaster but the star wars first lead”
Raymond Davidson @ ~40:00 — Career milestone: confirms Star Wars is his first primary lead design role after years at Stern
“the great thing about modern games today is how deep they are. You know, you don't want to just, I love classics because the rules are simple. It's about, you know, shot efficiency. But when you own and you invest this much money in a modern pinball machine, and maybe you're on location or you've got it in tournaments, you want them to be deeper.”

Entities

Raymond Davidsonperson Jeff TeolispersonStern PinballcompanyMetallica (remaster)gameThe Walking Dead (remaster)gameStar Wars: Fall of the EmpiregameLyman SheetspersonAndrew Wilkeningperson

Signals

?
business_signal: Stern producing remasters of classic games (Metallica, Walking Dead) alongside new releases to serve growing new player base while maintaining existing collector interest
high · Davidson: 'There's so many new people into pinball than there was 10 years ago' and 'since that game hasn't been available for so many years, people want the newest toys'
?
community_signal: Stern engaging with competitive community through Stern Pro Circuit tournament series with professional-grade competition and prize elements
high · Davidson has won 8-9 Stern Pro Circuit events; competitive players adopt new strategies based on updated code
?
design_philosophy: Modern Stern games designed with dual accessibility: obvious multiball/modes for casual first-time players, plus hidden depth for advanced/competitive players
high · Davidson: 'I wanted to make sure there was a multiball that was obvious' and 'balancing act you do when you make these cool, complex games is make things obvious and approachable but have all those little hidden nuggets'
$
market_signal: IFPA membership growth to six-digit numbers (150,000+) indicates substantial expansion of competitive and casual player base; home market now dominates over location arcades
high · Teolis confirms four-digit to six-digit membership growth; Davidson states 'it's really the home market now' vs arcade focus 30 years ago
?
personnel_signal: Raymond Davidson serves as lead designer on Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, marking his first primary lead role after previous remaster work on Metallica

Topics

Code design and remasters of classic gamesprimaryStar Wars: Fall of the Empire new release and design philosophyprimaryCompetitive tournament play and Stern Pro CircuitsecondaryPinball market growth and IFPA membership expansionsecondaryGame accessibility vs. competitive depth design tensionsecondaryFuture Stern releases (Pokémon/Transformers speculation)secondaryHome market dominance over location-based arcade marketmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Teolis and Davidson maintain friendly, enthusiastic tone throughout. Positive reception of Davidson's work and accomplishments. Light banter about sports teams. No criticism or negativity in the discussion.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.037

it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teoles you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on instagram twitter x at pinball profile you can join our facebook group as well if you'd like to email us it's pinballprofile at gmail.com and you can show your support on Patreon. Don't worry, the show will always be free, but we certainly thank those at patreon.com slash pinball profile. Great people like Lua W, Ken G, Jake C, Tony V, John L, Stefan R, and more. It had been a hot minute since I caught up with a friend. Had to go to Arizona to do it. Always fun. My conversation with Stern Pinball's Raymond Davidson. Okay, you've got a couple of guys here that are, one from the Midwest, even from the Northwest before that, and a Canadian here coming to Arizona to get some sunshine. We can't wear shorts here. It's freezing. Ray Day, what's going on? Hey, Jeff. Yeah, I came from Chicago expecting, you know, not having to be cold or wear any sweaters or jackets. Day one, I was in three layers. It was like 59 degrees outside. It was cold. It was cold. But you know what was hot was your playing. You won the Starfighters Arcade, the first Stern Pro Circuit event of the year, which is, what is it, your eighth, ninth Stern Pro Circuit? win yeah i got a little little shelf of the coins uh collecting them i have to sign them and sell them i mean what do you do or make some kind of make some kind of display for it but that's a congratulation on your excellent play and as we're recording this right now you're waiting for the semi-finals and the classics so who knows you could double up and do that but ray why i wanted to talk to you is one good friend and i'm always interested in what you're doing and love watching you play but and by the way i'm still doing this even after you picked ghostbusters yeah i'm sorry there was some casualties um but you got to choose for yourself he's playing oh bull he's playing me he picks oh where's ghost there it is i'm playing teals hello anyway but all kidding aside things at the mothership things that stern pinball right now you've been doing some excellent things and to really revamp remaster if you will a couple of iconic games with metallica and the walking dead before the remastering, I would say, and I have said this on podcasts, Metallica to me is the greatest game ever made. And to make it even that much better, I mean, you didn't have a lot to work with because Lyman did such a great job. There really wasn't much left to improve. You know, I came up with an idea of kind of a mega, basically two more wizard modes, you know, that was kind of all that game needed. It was great to work on. I loved being able to and just kind of build on top of the great work that was already there. And it's awesome too now with the expression lights and the concert footage. Yeah, that was a really fun project to work on. I assume the band was all in and just like what do you need Here a bunch of concert assets the the voicing and everything yeah yeah they were really great to work with uh you know they they wanted a pinball machine and it like well you already have one we do well wait wait we want another a better one what you know let's go it's amazing what a few years of technology does right because you know before when it was dot matrix and and all that kind of stuff and mono mono sound uh for for a band too but uh again you talked about the wizard modes you know when you used to play the old Metallica was like, get to crank it up, get to crank it up. It's funny watching the pro players now bypass crank it up. Yeah, there are some times now in the new Metallica where you actually, it's too scary to play crank it up because then you're kind of locked into that where maybe you have three more hits on the coffin to start coffin multiball. And once you get coffin, then you get blackened. So they kind of weigh their options. They're like, well, I could go for crank it up or I could go for the home run. and so then they'll sometimes pass on Crank It Up or you can do both. You can go for the Crank It Up and then go for Blacken. 72 seasons, the ball save, all kind of things. You've really done a great job and I know Stern doesn't release their numbers but I know a lot of people that have purchased that Metallic Games. I saw a lot of Metallic Games, the old ones, go up for sale because they wanted to get the new one too and both owners of the old one and the new one are certainly going to be happy. So that was fun. The Walking Dead. Now, you and I remember when that first came out and code wasn't there oh yeah that was a barren wasteland of code yeah it's amazing what code can do for a game you know look at a classic game like jackpot it's the same pinball game but it's night and day different than pinball not that there's anything yeah i mean even those first couple updates of walking dead you know when they added modes it just totally changed the game right before it was just prison and well walker then they started adding those modes and then started adding the multi kills and everything and all of a sudden it's like the best coded game since Metallica, you know, it's like crazy. Now that's interesting. I mentioned this on Final Round, and by the way, when Raymond saw me earlier this week, he sang to me, where's the third flipper? You have to listen to Final Round to get that joke. But I had mentioned on Final Round, I'm like, it's interesting, and I see it, and I understand it, and maybe I don't understand it, that to me, these perfect games are being remastered. And I'm thinking, well, why would you make them better? And you have. But I guess it's because they haven't been for sale for such a long time that there are people that, oh, I'd like to get a new one and all the upgrades. Well, there's so many new people into pinball than there was 10 years ago. I mean, just looking at the tournament scene, you can look at the new IFP. They're up to six-digit IFPA numbers now, right? So, you know, I started, I was a four-digit. Now they're up to six digits. 150,000. And tournament players are like 1% of actual players. So extrapolate that out to the general pinball buying public and you got a totally different audience now than there was 10 years ago, for sure. Plus, there are so many homeowners now, too. I mean, 30 years ago, we're talking about arcades being the be-all and end-all, but it's really the home market now. And since that game hasn't been available for so many years, people want the newest toys and like you say mono to stereo These are all big factors so I not surprised But I just look at what you had to do i like how do you make something so perfect better and you done it oh thank you jeff i appreciate it so talk about star wars fall of the empire i got to play it for the first time here i should say i did play it once at todd mcculloch's place in your home uh stomping ground of washington state uh lovely lovely game uh give me a little it was the first time i played it in competition ever and uh and you did all right right well i did all right i was just like okay i see that luke there i'm gonna backhand that uh vuck and uh start multiple and maybe good things happened and yeah but it's fun with the jedi and the force talk about that yeah working on the star wars game uh super fun first um cornerstone lead game for me you know i was lead on metallica wasn't it was a remaster but the star wars first lead um but i also had a lot of help from andrew Andrew Wilkening he He was my partner in crime. He was the wingman on that project. So he kicked a bunch of butt getting that thing ready and provided a lot of input. And then I kind of directed the ship as well. And we got the code in there, and there's so many modes already in the game. And I'm excited to add even more wizard modes and things. And yeah, we just wanted to make it intuitive where people want to play Star Wars to see Star Wars, so you need to make Star Wars happen right in the first few flips. I wanted to make sure there was a multiball that was obvious and it looked like it worked. If you were able to figure out how to start it on your first game ever. That is the bar right there. If Fjolls can figure it out. And now, did you figure out the add-a-ball? They figured out the add-a-ball. I will admit, it's a little hidden, but once you know it, you hit the Sarlacc pit, you get 10 spins, and then it lights the button. Oh, no, no. I would never have figured that out. But it's the same in all the multiballs, so once you learn it, you got it. Hey, that's fine. I mean, listen, the great thing about modern games today is how deep they are. You know, you don't want to just, I love classics because the rules are simple. It's about, you know, shot efficiency. But when you own and you invest this much money in a modern pinball machine, and maybe you're on location or you've got it in tournaments, you want them to be deeper. So there's different strategies. And like you say, finding the add-a-ball and stuff, you might not know it right off the bat, but you soon figure it out. And I got to use, you know, the clips tell you, like, add-a-ball's ready, hit the button, you know, try to make it really obvious. It's kind of like on Rush. You know, the button on Rush is super confusing. You've got to tie the albums to the things. And I love all that stuff for the advanced players. But I also wanted to make sure when you do have the button ready, it tells you. You know, weapon ready, hit button, it flashes. And that's kind of the balancing act you do when you make these cool, complex games is make things obvious and approachable but have all those little hidden nuggets if you want to go digging. Admit it. The hardest challenge for you, including Star Wars, was that it was your first non-music pin. yeah yeah right I'm like so we're collecting albums right did you try to put the cantina band in there just because I need some more music in there I need something well you know we did that on the Data East one but I don think there a cantina in there what about Snice Noogles wasn that the one from Return of the Jedi in Jabba Palace I can remember her name I don't know. There's a Jabba's Palace mode. Yeah. And you can see some of the goofy characters dancing in there. So talk about, again, the mothership, the good things at Stern. I have to admit, and I'm not saying anything out of school here or whatever. It's been said on other podcasts. George Gomez kind of threw up the towel and said, yeah the next game is either going to be pokemon or transformers yeah like he said it that was kind of funny yeah it's like uh now am i allowed to confirm that is true or not i don't know i mean i i'll continue to be like i don't know it's just safe right absolutely but but again i know good things uh to come from stern too the vaults and again these remasters and stuff there's just so many people coming into pinball so i assume you know we've seen this over the last few years where wherever the machine may be. I like that they're able to mix it. It keeps the line moving. It gets new people interested. It's got to be a tough decision for Seth and Gary and everyone at CERN to, okay, what's going to go on the line? Yeah, I mean, luckily we have so many great games that people love. So, you know, Walking Dead, that was a great game. The Metallica that you mentioned. You know, there's all those Elwynn games people love. Or are they good? I haven't heard. Yeah, so, you know, just make what people want. And we just fulfill what people are asking for. How long have you been at Stern now? Five years, or maybe six. I started right at COVID, so 2020. So actually, it'll be six years in May. Well, you know, on a personal level, I love Chicago. Absolutely. I said if I ever lived there, I'd be 5,000 pounds. And you're looking great, right? Thank you, sir. You're looking good. You went the other way, and it's tough to do in Chicago in the Midwest. Yeah. It's so damn good. Yeah, the Midwestern portions. And lots of treats, you know. They have really good treats. Definitely got to restrain yourself. Well, I'm sorry about your Seattle Mariners last year. I know I didn't make it. Wearing that Blue Jay hat right now. We'll have to get a picture. And you know what's even worse? Seahawks are playing the Rams next week. Yeah, but Rams. Anyway. Whatever. Ray, all the best. I know you've got to get back to it, but it's good to talk to you. All right, good to talk to you, Jeff. This has been your Pinball Profile. you can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter, X, Instagram, at pinballprofile. You can join our Facebook group as well. Email pinballprofile at gmail.com. And if you'd like to show your support, don't worry, the show will always be free, but it certainly helps out. That's patreon.com slash pinballprofile. Thanks so much to Francis W., GME Law, Jerry S., Bart V., Fox Cities Pinball, Colin M., and more. Go play some Ray Day Coded Games. You'll be glad you did. I'm Geoff Teels. . . . .