Pinball Heroes: Steve Kordek

The Pinball Blog·article·analyzed·May 2, 2009

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Steve Kordek, 98-year-old pinball legend, recounts 50+ year career shaping modern game design.

Summary

Steve Kordek, a legendary pinball designer with 50+ years in the industry and over 100 machines designed, is featured in a career retrospective interview. The article covers his entry into pinball (accidentally walking into the Genco factory during a rainstorm in 1936-1937), his pioneering work on foundational mechanics like the two-flipper bottom layout and drop targets, his influential partnership with Norm Clark at Williams where they controlled 70% of world pinball production, and his philosophy of mentoring and crediting his team. Now 98 years old, Kordek reflects on his legacy and gratitude for the people he worked with throughout his career.

Key Claims

Steve Kordek designed over 100 pinball machines during his 50+ year career
high confidence · The Pinball Blog introduction and interview setup
Kordek accidentally entered the pinball industry by walking into the Genco factory during a rainstorm in Chicago in 1936-1937 while unemployed
high confidence · Kordek's direct account of how he found himself in Chicago and the pinball business
Kordek designed Triple Action in 1948 with only 2 flippers at the bottom while Harvey Heiss was hospitalized, establishing a design standard that persists to this day
high confidence · Kordek's account of building Triple Action while covering for Heiss; referenced as innovation that 'topped the show'
At Williams, Kordek and Norm Clark controlled over 70% of world pinball production and produced games averaging 7,000-8,000 units, with some reaching 12,000-15,000 units
high confidence · Kordek's description of the Williams era: 'at one time Williams controlled over 70% of the production of pin games in the world'
Kordek and Norm Clark alternated making games for Williams for 15 years, with each reviewing the other's work
high confidence · Kordek describing partnership: 'He and I, for 15 years, alternated making games for Williams'
Vagabond was the first pinball machine to use a drop target, designed by Kordek
high confidence · Kordek's direct answer to question about Vagabond and drop target inspiration
Norm Clark's first game (King Pin) remains highly sought-after despite Clark only building one game in 1962 and not another until 1964
medium confidence · Kordek's observation: 'Everybody wants his first game, King Pin. There's just something about it'
Kordek started the Century Club to bring pinball people together to discuss industry problems and social aspects, and served as its president until passing it to Steve Epstein
high confidence · Kordek's direct account of founding and leading the Century Club

Notable Quotes

“I had walked into the Genco factory, I was 26 years old.”
Steve Kordek @ Early career origin story — Describes the serendipitous moment that launched his legendary career—literally walking into a factory to escape rain
“at one time Williams controlled over 70% of the production of pin games in the world and we produced some of the greatest games ever.”
Steve Kordek @ Williams era discussion — Documents the dominance and production scale of Williams during the Kordek-Clark partnership period
“I built Triple Action with only 2 flippers at the bottom of the game and it's been that way ever since and I made myself quite a reputation.”
Steve Kordek @ Triple Action design discussion — Explains the origin of the foundational two-flipper design standard that defines modern pinball
“For 15 years we built games alternately... I had one hell of a time working with a guy who was really really great and he deserves all the credit he could get.”
Steve Kordek @ Norm Clark partnership discussion — Highlights the mutual respect and deep collaboration between two legendary designers
“I had an idea that if I could hit a target and it disappeared that it would be exciting to know that you might have accomplished something unusual.”
Steve Kordek @ Drop target innovation discussion — Articulates the creative thinking behind inventing the drop target mechanic
“I had the greatest association with the finest people in the world... I'm 98 on 26th December this year and I have a lot to be thankful for, to God first of all.”
Steve Kordek @ Final reflection — Kordek's summative statement on his career emphasizing human connections and gratitude despite recent health challenges

Entities

Steve Kordekperson Norm Clarkperson Harvey Heissperson Steve EpsteinpersonJim SchelbergpersonGencocompanyBallycompany

Signals

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community_signal: Kordek founded the Century Club as a formal mechanism for industry professionals to discuss problems and build community, demonstrating early awareness of the need for peer networks and professional development in pinball
high · Kordek: 'I started the Century Club because I wanted to get some pinball people together to discuss the problems that they had, the fun they had and everything else'
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design_innovation: The drop target mechanism, credited as Kordek's invention in Vagabond, was intentionally designed to create psychological impact (visual disappearance of target) and has become a foundational game design element that competitors rapidly adopted and expanded
high · Kordek: 'I had an idea that if I could hit a target and it disappeared that it would be exciting to know that you might have accomplished something unusual' and 'Gottlieb then came up with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 drop targets'
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design_philosophy: Kordek's foundational design philosophy emphasized simplicity and innovation born from constraint; the two-flipper bottom layout emerged from budget limitations but became the universal standard, suggesting that constraints can drive better design
high · Kordek: 'I was taught by Harvey Heiss to be conservative... I went ahead and put 2 only at bottom and made the game which topped the show'
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personnel_signal: Kordek's leadership style involved identifying and developing talent from production roles into elite designers, attributing much of his success to team mentoring and credit-sharing rather than solo design achievement
high · Kordek: 'I pulled people off the production line who were inspectors, brought them into engineering, taught them how to design games and they turned out to be the best designers in the world'

Topics

Pinball history and design innovationprimaryCareer retrospective of legendary designerprimaryTwo-flipper bottom layout as foundational design standardprimaryDrop target mechanism inventionprimaryWilliams manufacturing dominance (1960s-1970s)primaryMentor-mentee relationships in pinball designsecondaryNorm Clark partnership and legacysecondaryHarvey Heiss influence and mentorshipsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.87)— The interview presents Kordek in highly reverent, celebratory terms. He speaks with gratitude and affection for colleagues, pride in accomplishments, and philosophical contentment about his legacy despite recent health challenges. The framing by The Pinball Blog positions him as 'the most influential' figure in pinball history. Tone is warm, nostalgic, and appreciative throughout.

Transcript

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With 50+ years in the industry and more than 100 pinball machines under his belt, it's no surprise that many of our Pinball Heroes named one man the most influential to their careers. Of course we wanted to interview the great man himself, but being opposite sides of the Atlantic and only one of us owning a computer (and the other breaking them regularly) this might be a bit of a challenge! Jim Schelberg from the PinGame Journal kindly offered to conduct and record the interview by telephone and I've just finished typing it up. It gives me enormous pleasure to announce the latest in our series of Pinball Heroes. Steve Kordek. The Pinball Blog: Let's start at the beginning, you've told this story many times but for people who may not have heard it, can you tell us how you found yourself in Chicago and in the pinball business? Steve Kordek: I had at the time, left the Forest Service in Idaho where I had worked in the Rangers Station. They wanted me to come back after I'd gone home for the winter and they had a contract they wanted me to sign by May. They would take me back, put me into university in Montana to study forestry and I would stay there. I had no desire to stay in Idaho when I had a home of 8 brothers and sisters and my father and mother in Chicago. I went to church everyday hoping that I could get a job, it was very difficult to get a job during that period (1936-1937). What happened is I was walking one day in Chicago and it started raining. I had no umbrella, so I opened up the door to a factory just to get out of the rain and a woman asked me if I was looking for a job. I said YES! I'd walked into the Genco factory, I was 26 years old. TPB: Sadly Norm Clark recently passed away and it was you that gave him his first break in pinball. What was it like working with Norm and what are your memories of the man and his legacy? SK: For 20-something years I worked very closely with Norm Clark and I have personal experiences that I'd like to keep private for now. I will speak about them at Pinball Expo for the Norm Clark memorial. Some of them are very exciting and interesting and many people won't know about them. When I started for Williams in 1962 I had an opportunity to really start making games and I was making as many as 7 or 8 a year with no trouble at all. I was given the opportunity to get some assistance and I took Norm Clark who I'd worked with from engineering. He and I, for 15 years, alternated making games for Williams. We had such a great run of games that at one time Williams controlled over 70% of the production of pin games in the world and we produced some of the greatest games ever. Normally a game would have 3000 made to pay for itself, we were averaging anywhere from 7-8,000 and some games as many as 12-15,000. My associating with Norm during that period was very, very, very good. We enjoyed working together, we had several experiences together that were very exciting..... we almost lived together! In 1975 he had personal problems that affected him and he left Williams. Whenever we were building games we would have the bosses at Williams look at our games. We also looked at each other's games. I built every game as he built every game. If we had a feature each of us wanted to use we alternated and we never had a problem. Norm Clark had some of the greatest soccer games and the funny part about it was when he was learning he only built one game in 1962 and then not another until 1964. Everybody wants his first game, King Pin. There's just something about it, something about playing it that makes it exciting. As he was learning his trade I was in the next room and I did everything I could to get him to understand what was right, what was wrong, what was good, what was bad and that's how we finally got together and starting building games. For 15 years we built games alternately. I had one hell of a time working with a guy who was really really great and he deserves all the credit he could get. TPB: How did Harvey Heiss end up with a pair of shoes nailed to the ceiling? SK: Harvey Heiss was involved at Genco because he was the main designer at the time when I joined. It was there that I learned from Harvey Heiss how to design games. He would teach me and tell me what was good for making games. It worked out very very good because there was a time in 1948 when he was hospitalised and I had to build a game all by myself. I built Triple Action with only 2 flippers at the bottom of the game and it's been that way ever since and I made myself quite a reputation. Harvey Heiss always had a pair of shoes that he changed into when he came to work and there was a way of getting his shoes nailed to the ceiling and that's where he found them. He had a sail-boat on lake Michigan. The mast was about 50 feet long and he used to put it in on top of his convertible and bring it in to the factory at about 3am so he could work on it over the winter! TPB: There are stories that some of the industry shows of the past were raunchy affairs with, shall we say, a lively social aspect! Any that you can tell us about? SK: All the time! Not too much I can tell you, but many of the games were dice games and they used to gamble like all hell. Women? Not in my case but maybe there were ladies involved! TPB: Can you tell us more about The Century Club and your role in it? SK: I started the Century Club because I wanted to get some pinball people together to discuss the problems that they had, the fun they had and everything else. I designed a game and called it Century Club because at that time there was a celebration of the century of music deals. I was the president of the Century Club for many years until I couldn't do it anymore. Steve Epstein was a good man for the job and I asked him to take over. TPB: Budget restrictions led to just two flippers at the bottom of the playfield on Triple Action, a concept that then became common throughout the industry. If the budget had been available do you think pinball even today would be very different? SK: I was taught by Harvey Heiss to be conservative. They were building Humpty Dumpty with 6 flippers and when the show came in January 1948 there were about 8 other companies building games and every one of them copied Humpty Dumpty. Either 2 flippers on a side, 4 flippers on side or 6 flippers on side. I went ahead and put 2 only at bottom and made the game which topped the show and at the same time made a reputation for me. TPB: So many of our Pinball Heroes have said you are the man who has been the most influential in their careers, but who played the most significant roles in your own time in pinball? SK: I don't want to name names but I want to tell you that I pulled people off the production line who were inspectors, brought them into engineering, taught them how to design games and they turned out to be the best designers in the world. I spent a lot of time with the designers and I gave them all the credit whenever the bosses came around and would compliment something on a game, even if I'd had an influence in the design. I always gave credit to the people that were working for me. Most of them made unbelievable, unbelievable money! Harvey Heiss influenced my own games after that I would say people who were in the business who would in someway or other would tell me what was right and was wrong and what was good and what was bad. TPB: Vagabond was the first pinball machine to use a drop target. Where did you get the inspiration for that idea? SK: I had an idea that if I could hit a target and it disappeared that it would be exciting to know that you might have accomplished something unusual. If the target would come up and for whatever reason, some kind of scoring and when you hit it it went down. I decided it was a good way to do it with a single target. Gottlieb then came up with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 drop targets and they did a terrific job with that feature. Sometimes you come up with an idea that you put in a game and you don't change it but you may work on parts of the machine around the new idea but you don't change the idea if you have a good one as we had to patent some of it. TPB: What were your roles at Williams after you moved on from designing pinball machines? SK: I was an adviser to the designers. I also had an accumulation of about 10,000 brochures which I used to take care of requests from the field and getting feedback from the field, helping people research the machines for many years. I walked around and enjoyed watching the production efforts of the other designers who put their best into what they had. Every designer was a little bit different, every designer had a different idea on how to make a game right. TPB: Finally I always ask our Pinball Heroes to sum up their involvement in pinball with one word or sentence, but seeing as your career is probably the longest of anybody we've spoken to, we'll allow you as many sentences as you like. SK: I would like to say, first of all in the position that I had, I had the greatest association with the finest people in the world. People who did very well and people who did very well by themselves, people for whom I trusted very well and people who I loved to work with and people who really did what I thought they should do and had some unbelievable experiences with some of the best people and engineers in the world. I'm 98 on 26th December this year and I have a lot to be thankful for, to God first of all, because the good Lord has been very good to me. Secondly I had a great wife who was with me for 62 years, I have brothers and sisters, I had 4 brothers 5 sisters and I still have 1 sister and 2 brothers alive with me and all I want to say is i thank God for every day that I'm alive and able to walk and take care of myself and hope that I can get out of some of the problems I have now. I had quite an operation recently and they tell me that at my age you don't heal as quick as you think you'd like to. I have done the best I could. Everything that I have done I've done for the good of the people that I worked for. I did the best I could for the individuals who were working with me and company itself to make money - and they made money! Steve Kordek with (left to right) Chris Hibler, TheKorn, Phoebe Smith More pictures on this link. - - - - Please note: Mr Kordek asked that information within this interview should not be used elsewhere without permission. Likewise images here are used with permission and please check with the image owners that they are happy for them to be re-used. Many thanks to Jim Schelberg, Gary Flower & Duncan Brown for helping beyond the call of duty with this interview and of course HUGE thanks to Steve Kordek for taking the time to be featured as one of our Pinball Heroes. Also many thanks to all the great people who provided photographs for this interview. More Pinball Heroes coming soon! Cheers Nick The Pinball Blog Pictures and photos thanks to... Duncan Brown Jim Schelberg / PinGame Journal James Hamilton - From the book Pinball! By Roger Sharpe Gary Flower Internet Pinball Database Chris Hibler (Photo By Phoebe Smith) Pinball Expo PinAffliction TheKorn Terry Cumming