Free Play Pinball Podcast Ep 13: Dissecting A Goat - Special Guest Keith Elwin

TL;DR

Keith Elwin on pinball legacy, Godzilla triumph, and five years designing for Stern.

Summary

Key Claims

• Keith Elwin has been the world's best/top-ranked pinball player more than once

  high confidence · Amanda states 'you have literally been the best in the world at pinball more than one' and Keith acknowledges 'yeah i guess i have'

• Godzilla pinball won Game of the Year (11 PIA crystals for Stern overall, multiple for Godzilla specifically)

  high confidence · Amanda: 'Stern cleaned house on the PIAs. They took home, I believe, 11 crystals, and quite a few of those are for this very, very unknown game called Godzilla'

• Keith Elwin has been working at Stern Pinball for approximately five years as of February 2022

  high confidence · Keith: 'uh two days ago was my five-year anniversary of being here' and Amanda confirms 'end of february 2017 stern says hey we know this kid'

• Keith has designed four commercial pinball games: Iron Maiden, Infinity Quest, Jurassic Park, and Godzilla

  high confidence · Amanda: 'you've done four games now that have made it out to the the masses um you have iron maiden your initial game... infinity quest in Jurassic park and then Godzilla'

• Godzilla design cycle took approximately 6-7 months before programmer Rick joined, with earlier months spent on playfield geometry and prototype testing

  high confidence · Keith: 'I was working on it for probably six or seven months before Rick jumped in on it' and describes testing geometry with 'generic pinball code' before rule programming began

• The Stern factory building was previously a watch factory

  medium confidence · Keith: 'I think it was a watch factory before we were there' in response to question about whether the factory is haunted

• Keith had his Archer homebrew pinball folded up in storage as of interview date

  high confidence · Keith: 'It is folded up in my condo... It worked last time I set it up two years ago, so hopefully it still does'

• George Gomez (at Stern) works 10 hours a day, six days a week

Notable Quotes

• “I just don't hand out participation trophies. So I got to I got to be the hard parent here and say, no, you got to earn this.”

  Keith Elwin @ ~37:00 — Keith's response to Olivia's complaint about not being able to put her initials in Godzilla on first play—reveals design philosophy on score entry defaults

• “It is not a deal because it was so close to where I grew up.”

  Keith Elwin @ ~22:00 — Keith on Disneyland proximity to California home, contextualizing relative value of achievements

• “So it's great that people like it. It makes finishing the rule set much more motivating, I guess, is the uh the response if i if the game i can't imagine my game's not everyone hates it then you got another six months of rules to write”

  Keith Elwin @ ~15:00 — Indicates Godzilla still under active code development with community feedback motivating continued work

• “My earliest memories were kind of the old Stern games. I remember we used to play at Galaxy and Big Game. And I remember when Space Invaders came out. So 1980 was like really when I was like really paying attention”

  Keith Elwin @ ~45:00 — Establishes Keith's foundational pinball exposure in early 1980s, key formative period

• “I think they make uh games i i've heard of them yeah yeah”

  Keith Elwin @ ~67:00 — Humorous understated response to how Stern recruited him to join as designer

• “It took uh took about nine months from when they initially contacted me until I actually started working.”

  Keith Elwin @ ~68:00 — Timeline for Stern's recruitment of Keith and his onboarding process

• “The whole reason I became an operator is because I don't really like sitting at a desk. So I started buying games, moving them around.”

  Keith Elwin @ ~87:00 — Explains career pivot from electronics/desk work to arcade operations, path that led to Stern

• “people in pinball don't retire some of them should but some of them i hope they never do”

Entities

Signals

• ?

  business_signal: Stern maintaining production whitewood machines for designer development and playtesting; Keith running internet-connected whitewood with automated code updates

  high · Keith: 'It's hooked up to the internet so anytime there's a code update it's a beta code update it gets automatically sent to it... then uh i play tested uh you know we make all the changes and tweaks'

• ?

  personnel_signal: Keith Elwin's recruitment to Stern took 9-month negotiation and relocation process; represented deliberate talent acquisition rather than opportunistic hire

  high · Keith: 'took about nine months from when they initially contacted me until I actually started working... took a while to negotiate... move out here'

• ~

  sentiment_shift: Strong positive reception to Godzilla from collectors and casual players; multiple ownership cases (Olivia's enthusiasm despite skill frustration, husband's year-long wait list commitment)

  high · Amanda discusses husband's commitment ('I want the LE I want everything that comes with it I don't care if it comes with a squeaky dog toy'); Olivia's engagement despite complaint

• ?

  competitive_signal: Keith Elwin's design work continues to influence competitive play; 'middle wire of death' credited to John Borg as signature competitive element

  medium · Discussion of Borg's design signature and how Keith references it; implies designer style impacts tournament strategy

• ?

  design_philosophy: Godzilla missing thematic deep cuts (Triceratops, Spinosaurus spinner, John Borg outlane reference); Amanda playfully criticizes design as 'missed opportunities'