Episode 260: Raymond Davidson, Day One at Stern

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·25m 27s·held·May 19, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

World #1 pinball player Raymond Davidson hired by Stern Pinball as Software Support Engineer.

Summary

Raymond Davidson, the world's #1 IFPA-ranked pinball player, has been hired as a Software Support Engineer at Stern Pinball, effective May 18, 2020. After Tim Sexton approached him years earlier and persistent recruitment, Davidson relocated from Everett, Washington to Chicago during the COVID-19 pandemic. He will work on code, light shows, and features under lead designers like Sexton, and discussed his design philosophy favoring layered, accessible rule depth inspired by games like Simpsons Pinball Party and Jurassic Park.

Key Claims

Raymond Davidson is the number one player in the world (IFPA ranking)
high confidence · Jeff Teal opening: 'The number one player in the world is now an employee of Stern Pinball'
Tim Sexton approached Raymond Davidson about joining Stern after releasing Black Knight, roughly 2 years before this episode (March 2020 interview date)
high confidence · Raymond: 'Tim Sexton, you know, after he had released his Black Knight, or maybe it was right as it was starting up, I'm not sure, but it was a couple years ago, he was like, hey, we're hiring right now.'
Raymond Davidson moved to Chicago on May 18, 2020 (his first day at Stern), after a job offer in early March was delayed by COVID-19
high confidence · Raymond: 'now I'm here on my first day, May 18th' and earlier 'This was back in early March... But then the covid happened. And so we kept pushing back the start date.'
Keith Elwin, Zach Sharpe, Lyman F. Sheats Jr., and Tim Sexton are all current or former #1 players now employed at Stern Pinball
high confidence · Jeff: 'This is yet another current or former number one player now at Stern Pinball. You think of Keith Elwin. You think of Zach Sharpe. Lyman F. Sheats Jr. as well. Boy, you talked about Tim Sexton.'
Raymond Davidson has won four pinball machines in competitions: Aerosmith (Heads Up Championship Vegas), Guardians of the Galaxy (nationals), WWE LE/Iron Maiden (IFPA World Championship), and Ghostbusters (IFPA World Championship, later sold to fund Jurassic Park purchase)
high confidence · Raymond detailed: 'Aerosmith I won at the Heads Up Championship in Vegas... Guardians of the Galaxy for winning nationals... two IFPA World Championships for the other two games'
Raymond Davidson previous work experience was in mobile development (Android, iPhone) and server-side programming (Ruby on Rails), but will now code exclusively in one pinball-specific language at Stern
high confidence · Raymond: 'In my past jobs, I was working on mobile, like Android, iPhone, and lots of server-side things, Ruby on Rails... But here, it's pretty much all that's going to be code for the pinball machine, which is in the one language, and that's it.'

Notable Quotes

“The number one player in the world is now an employee of Stern Pinball, and he joins us right now.”
[name withheld pending review] @ ~0:30 — Sets up the major news hook of the episode — world's top competitive player joining a major manufacturer
“Tim Sexton, you know, after he had released his Black Knight, or maybe it was right as it was starting up, I'm not sure, but it was a couple years ago, he was like, hey, we're hiring right now.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~3:00 — Explains how the recruitment started; confirms Tim Sexton initiated contact; provides timeline context
“next thing I know, I was talking to George and talking to some of the other Stern guys. And then all of a sudden they were like, oh, so we got you booked on a flight out here to Chicago in two weeks to come meet the team.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~4:30 — Details acceleration of hiring process; mentions George Gomez involvement
“I had to do actually a coding interview on the whiteboard when I first got there, which I was not really expecting.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~5:45 — Reveals technical vetting process Stern uses for engineering hires
“I've always been a fan of the layered approach. Games like Simpsons Pinball Party or Lord of the Rings where everything's opened up at the beginning... But then once you peel back that layer, there's another layer lying.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~15:30 — Core design philosophy statement; signals what design approach he'll likely bring to future Stern titles
“I think additive is really the approach you want to go for when making a game.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~16:00 — Distills his design ethos; hints at future rule design direction
“So I think as long as you stick to that general rule, I think it's a good intuitive way to approach it. So longer ball time should give you more bonus.”
Raymond Davidson @ ~25:00 — Articulates a core scoring heuristic he'll likely apply to future game design

Entities

Raymond Davidsonperson[name withheld pending review]personTim Sextonperson George Gomezperson Keith Elwinperson Zach Sharpeperson

Signals

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personnel_signal: Stern Pinball hired world's #1 IFPA-ranked player Raymond Davidson as Software Support Engineer, joining existing elite player roster (Keith Elwin, Zach Sharp, Lyman Sheets, Tim Sexton). Represents consolidation of top competitive talent under one manufacturer.
high · Raymond Davidson confirmed hired May 18, 2020. Jeff Teal: 'You think of Keith Elwin. You think of Zach Sharp. Lyman Sheets as well. Boy, you talked about Tim Sexton. When he's now fifth on the depth chart for best players at Stern...'
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design_philosophy: Raymond Davidson advocates for 'layered approach' to rule design where casual players access core fun (e.g., shooting TV in Simpsons) while competitive players unlock deeper sequences and wizard modes. Suggests Stern's future titles will balance accessibility with competitive depth.
high · Raymond: 'I've always been a fan of the layered approach... additive is really the approach you want to go for when making a game.' Cites Simpsons Pinball Party and Lord of the Rings as exemplars.
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product_strategy: Stern's recruitment of top competitive players suggests strategy to improve game design quality by hiring designers with expert-level play skills and intuition. Davidson's hiring specifically targets code/rules expertise.
medium · Raymond hired as 'Software Support Engineer' working on 'features, light shows' with potential advancement to lead designer role. Tim Sexton proactively recruited him based on coding ability and pinball passion.
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competitive_signal: Stern's hiring of elite IFPA-ranked players (Davidson, Elwin, Sharp, Sheets, Sexton) creates potential conflict of interest and competitive advantage in tournament play, while also centralizing design expertise.
high · Jeff notes: 'great, now Illinois Championships is going to be impossible. Even more impossible, you know.' Raymond competing while employed by Stern and designing future games.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.076

0:00

it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teal so you can find everything on pinballprofile.com your new rss feed all past programs too are going to be on there very very soon don't forget to check us out on instagram and twitter at pinball profile you can email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. Big news in pinball. This is actually big anytime. Forget COVID-19. The number one player in the world is now an employee of Stern Pinball, and he joins us right now. Raymond Davidson. Hello, Raymond. How are you? Hey, Jeff. Doing good. Congratulations. That is very, very exciting. And you know, last week when I had George Gomez on, he may have dropped a hint that he did some new hires when you hear this clip. As a matter of fact, I've just hired a couple of guys. During the pandemic, I've hired a couple of guys. stuff. What'd you think when you heard Gomez say that? Did you kind of laugh a little bit? Yeah, I was listening to that in the car on the drive over here. And I heard that and I chuckled a little bit because I was like, I know what he's talking about.

1:08

Yeah, I didn't really want to pry because it's none of my business. But boy, that was exciting news to wake up Monday morning and see that you'd been hired too. So we've got a lot of questions to ask. First of all, how did this all start? Who approached who? Well, Tim Sexton, you know, after he had released his Black Knight, or maybe it was right as it was starting up, I'm not sure, but it was a couple years ago, he was like, hey, we're hiring right now. It would be a great time for you to join if you have any interest at all. I know you do computers and you love pinball, so you should definitely come work with Stern. You know, this opportunity doesn't happen all the time, but right now we're looking to expand, so you should get in. And at the time, I had just bought my house in Everett, Washington, and I was like, there's just no way. I just got this house. I'm just getting everything settled here. I'm not going to just move and leave to Chicago. So I said, ask back in about a year. And sure enough, a year later on the dot, he's like, hey, so any more thinking about coming to Stern? And I was like, well, all right. I'll see where this goes. You know, I'll see. I'll see where this leads. And next thing I know, I was talking to George and talking to some of the other Stern guys. And then all of a sudden they were like, oh, so we got you booked on a flight out here to Chicago in two weeks to come meet the team. And I was like, whoa, OK, well, I'm not going to say no to that. So I got an all expenses trip paid to Chicago and they put me up in a nice hotel downtown. It was great. And yeah, everyone liked me. And it was a little nervous. I had to do actually a coding interview on the whiteboard when I first got there, which I was not really expecting. But I guess I should have. But I was able to fight my way through that. And, yeah, I got to meet everybody and and hang out with everyone and see what it's all about. And then after that, I got offered the job and I accepted. This was back in early March. And so I was all planned to move here beginning of April. But then the covid happened. And so we kept pushing back the start date. And then finally, I was like, all right, screw it. I'm just driving across the country. We're going. And now I'm here on my first day, May 18th. Isn't that funny? Wow, that's unreal. And I was telling you this before we started talking here on the show, that I had just completed editing your first ever appearance on Pinball Profile, which was episode 60 now on pinballprofile.com. And I was thinking, I've got to give Raymond a call and just catch up with him about being the indefinite number one in IFPA. Just talk general pinball. But wow, I used to have the pinball profile karma. I guess this is pinball profile intuition maybe, perhaps. Yeah. So you had to do some testing there on the whiteboard you'd mentioned with coding. How similar is what you're going to be doing with Stern to what you have done in the past? And you've been a software development engineer at your previous jobs. I mean, it's all just going to be programming. In my past jobs, I hadn't done much of the exact language that I'm going to be coding in in Stern, but a lot of the knowledge is transferable between programming languages. But it will definitely be a lot different. My other job, I was working on mobile, like Android, iPhone, and lots of server-side things, Ruby on Rails, if you know what that is. But here, it's pretty much all that's going to be code for the pinball machine, which is in the one language, and that's it. So it'll be a lot more focused, and I'll be able to get really good at my craft, and I'm looking forward to it. Before we get deep into what your job's going to be about, you said you had to drive cross-country, and you just bought a house, too. So, okay, what's going on with the house? What's going on with your pins? So many questions, Jeff, yes. Yeah, we basically, all my pins are now being rented out to various people around the Seattle area. Apparently, when people can't go to arcades, they really want games in their house. So that was kind of a win-win. My pins are now being put to good use, and my house has a couple of roommates that were living with me before I moved, so they're going to still be there. So I'll have to fly back every once in a while, check on things, make sure everything's going okay. But, yeah, it should just hopefully run itself over there smoothly. I don't know what I'm going to do with the pins in the long term, kind of kicking that can down the road, but we'll see. I'll have plenty of pinball here in Chicago. That's for sure. That is the good news, bad news thing. You didn't bring your pins with you to Chicago, but you kind of have a factory there at your disposal. Yeah. What I find interesting about you being at Stern is this is yet another current or former number one player now at Stern Pinball. You think of Keith Elwin. You think of Zach Sharp. Lyman Sheets as well. Boy, you talked about Tim Sexton. When he's now fifth on the depth chart for best players at Stern, that's a pretty stacked lineup there. yeah it's a lot of a lot of pinball talent here that's for sure josh sharp joked about how uh the stern rewards ultimate reward is if you finish the year at number one you get a job but what did your other fellow pinball competitors now at stern say when when you got there i was like uh this just got a lot tougher at the lunchroom or what Yeah I mean it going to be fun doing battles with Keith and Zach And some of the Chicago people are probably like, great, now Illinois Championships is going to be impossible. Even more impossible, you know, that sort of thing. But I think everyone's excited. I'm excited. Boy, you already came from a tough state. I mean, Washington's no slouch. Yeah. It was the biggest cash prize for the state finals. I mean, it was already tough. Jermaine was number one, chickened out, went up to Alberta. Sorry, Jermaine, I have to bring that up again.

Raymond Davidson had to pass a whiteboard coding interview during his on-site visit to Stern in early March

high confidence · Raymond: 'I had to do actually a coding interview on the whiteboard when I first got there, which I was not really expecting.'

Raymond Davidson pinball machines in Washington are now being rented out to local collectors during COVID-19 arcade closures

high confidence · Raymond: 'all my pins are now being rented out to various people around the Seattle area. Apparently, when people can't go to arcades, they really want games in their house.'

Raymond Davidson favors a 'layered approach' to rule design, citing Simpsons Pinball Party and Lord of the Rings as examples where accessibility for casual players coexists with deep competitive features

high confidence · Raymond: 'I've always been a fan of the layered approach... additive is really the approach you want to go for when making a game.'

Raymond Davidson will continue hosting the Do or Die podcast and streaming on Pinball Network once tournaments resume and he acquires a pinball machine for his Chicago apartment

high confidence · Raymond: 'I definitely expect I'm still doing those once tournaments return' and 'I definitely want to keep streaming. I'm not going to really be able to stream live pinball until I have a pinball machine.'

“I definitely want to keep streaming. I'm not going to really be able to stream live pinball until I have a pinball machine. But I made sure my apartment has enough room for one or two.”

Raymond Davidson @ ~33:00 — Plans to continue media presence; signals intent to stay active in streaming/community despite new job

“I believe there are four [machines won]. I don't know how that would prevent me from winning more. If anything, I'll get better and win even more. So I think that would backfire.”

Raymond Davidson @ ~37:00 — Competitive confidence; playful response about Stern possibly hiring to reduce free machine giveaways

“So there was the Aerosmith I won at the Heads Up Championship in Vegas... The inaugural Heads Up!!, yep.”

Raymond Davidson @ ~38:30 — Documents competitive achievements and specific prize machines won

Stern Pinballcompany

Do or Dieorganization

Heads Up Championshipevent

operational_signal: COVID-19 pandemic delayed Raymond Davidson's start date from early April 2020 to May 18, 2020. Demonstrates how pandemic disrupted even high-priority hiring timelines at Stern.

high · Raymond: 'This was back in early March... But then the covid happened. And so we kept pushing back the start date. And then finally, I was like, all right, screw it. I'm just driving across the country.'

content_signal: Raymond Davidson plans to continue hosting Do or Die podcast and streaming on Pinball Network despite full-time Stern employment. Indicates Stern supports/allows community media involvement.

high · Raymond: 'I definitely expect I'm still doing those once tournaments return' and 'I definitely want to keep streaming... I made sure my apartment has enough room for one or two.'

gameplay_signal: Raymond Davidson favors action button usage when additive and optional (not mandatory), citing Jurassic Park and The Walking Dead as positive examples. Suggests future Stern games may follow this conservative approach to action button implementation.

high · Raymond: 'I think it's cool when it's additive... Jurassic Park, I think, does a great job of using it where you can use it to select your smart missile award. But other than that you don't have to press it.'

gameplay_signal: Raymond Davidson supports Easter eggs and hidden rules discovery, but opposes game-breaking hidden mechanics. Believes minor combos should remain undocumented, but major rules should be in README. Suggests future Stern titles will balance discovery with transparency.

high · Raymond: 'I think those are great... as long as they're not too obscure or game-breaking... the six-way combos on Jurassic Park... those were in the readme, I believe, and I think they should be.'

design_innovation: Raymond Davidson articulates core bonus design principle: 'longer ball time should give you more bonus.' Uses logarithmic or switch-based accumulation. Suggests future Stern designs will follow this intuitive scaling pattern.

high · Raymond: 'If you play a long ball you have the same or like a logarithmic more amount of bonus... So I think that's a nice rule of thumb.'

competitive_signal: Raymond Davidson learns rules slowly through discovery and questioning rather than README study, yet remains world #1 player. Suggests his competitive edge derives from adaptive play skill rather than rules memorization, which may influence design philosophy (favor intuitive rules).

medium · Jeff: 'It takes you longer to learn rules on games... relying on your skills, which obviously has paid off.' Raymond: 'I really learn best when I'm sort of discovering them on my own.'

community_signal: Raymond Davidson rented out his Seattle pinball collection to local enthusiasts during COVID-19 arcade closures, demonstrating collector-community support and adapting to pandemic constraints on venue access.

high · Raymond: 'all my pins are now being rented out to various people around the Seattle area. Apparently, when people can't go to arcades, they really want games in their house.'

industry_signal: Multiple world-class players (#1, former #1s, #5 ranked) now all employed at single manufacturer (Stern) raises questions about competitive integrity, talent concentration, and rival manufacturers' ability to compete for design talent.

high · Jeff: 'Keith Elwin... Zach Sharp... Lyman Sheets... Tim Sexton... When he's now fifth on the depth chart for best players at Stern, that's a pretty stacked lineup.' Josh Sharpe joked: 'stern rewards ultimate reward is if you finish the year at number one you get a job.'