We here at www.pinballcountry.com Welcome Mr. Steve Ritchie, master Pinball designer for both Williams and Stern to an exclusive interview. Mr. Ritchie has designed both some of the best playing as well as best selling Pinball Machines in the history of the silver ball. Let's all take a break, and sit down and talk some history as well as what the future holds for Mr. Ritchie.

                      PLEASE DON'T CALL ME MR. RITCHIE!  I'M STEVE!!  THANKS!

Steve, thank you for taking the time to do this Interview for our readers here at: www.pinballcountry.com. We very much appreciate you sharing both your past in Pinball as well as to what the future may hold.

1   First of all, how did you get started in pinball and was it first at Williams?
I started designing pinball machines in 1975 at Atari in Los Gatos, CA.  My first game was Airborne Avenger followed by Superman.  I got an offer from Williams in Chicago and decided to relocate to where the real pinball manufacturers were.  It was an exciting time!

2. What kind of background did you have that got you in the door at first?
I was schooled as an electronics technician in the US Coast Guard and some additional education.  I worked at Atari first as a tech/engineer and built their universal test fixture and a huge burn-in oven system.  I think I was born to make games.  When I was 9 or 10 years old my teachers and classmates voted me most likely to become a mad scientist in a toy factory.  Creating electromechanical devices was my forte, and I also loved motorcycles and engines.  I was taking them apart and fixing them at an early age and learned mechanics and electronics as a matter of course.

3. Was Flash the first game that you designed and did you ever think it would see over 19k units?
Flash was not the first game I designed, but was a breakthrough game for me and Williams.  Flash was my third game, but the first pinball I designed for Williams.  I was inspired to make a big mark on the world of pinball.  When Flash was finished, we knew it would be a hit.  It was a big departure from all pinball machines at the time, and an exciting project to work on and develop at Williams.
4. How did you get the idea for the sound that kept on rising from low tones to higher?
I had a device called an Echoplex that I used as a musician and brought it to Atari one day when Eugene Jarvis and I were working on Superman.  With a certain setting, it produced continuous background sound and we discovered that it was pleasantly complimentary to playing a ball for a long time.  It added a kind of urgency to the play.  Management at Atari thought it was weird and didn't buy into our discovery.  I built it into Flash, and it was successfully attractive.  I also wanted bright lights that were called Flash Lamps, appropriately enough!

5. A year later, you would strike Gold with Black Knight, the first of four multi-level play pinball machines. What made you think of that concept, and did you think it would sell over 13k units, and still to this day, be so popular among pin enthusiasts?
There was talk among many designers of creating a multilevel game.  I think there were 4-5 guys thinking about the concept, but I was the guy who made it happen.  I expected BK to sell more than Flash, but due to industrial espionage, Flash Gordon (delivered by a defector from Williams who took what I had on my drawing with him to Bally) stole the other 7,000 machines we might have sold.  At the AMOA show in Chicago, the president of Williams was furious and wanted to beat up the thief on the spot.  So did I, but cooler heads prevailed.  Black Knight had a unique personality and was the first of my adversarial games.  BK taunted the players and laughed when they drained.  It was infuriatingly challenging, and BK made a coin box fortune for operators everywhere.

6. How did Barry Oursler get to design Jungle Lord, where you working on something else at the time like Pharaoh?
After Black Knight, Williams management decided that ALL games had to have 2 levels.  Company bosses often believe that a magic formula should be repeated, after all, if the first  two-level game was a hit, the next ten would be, too! :<))  Barry was told to make the next 2 level game.  Pharaoh was a Tony Kraemer game and I had nothing to do with it, but was mandated by management to be a 2 level game as well.
7. What were the differences in Black Knight Limited Edition vs. The standard game and was this, the first of many special edition pins to come?
I don't really remember all the differences other that the changes to the lower arch artwork.  I think it was to justify to the distributors that we weren't going to make the same game twice, which was a policy at the time, so it was like Black Knight revisited.  Stern re-runs games as a matter of course, and it is a smart idea that works well today.

8.  In 1986 I saw High Speed and by then you were known as a Designer that loves a fast playing game! This was a pin that I, myself, dumped many quarters into. There is a story about the artwork on the back glass featuring both yourself and a very pretty woman. Can you tell how it came to be on that pin?
High Speed came at a time when pinball was at a very low point.  Williams was building very few machines.  The factory was dark for many days during HS's development.  Speaking of dark, there were no windows in the factory area, and it was pitch black when the lights were out, even in the middle of the day.  Williams looked to Larry DeMar and I to make the game that would pull us out of the dead zone and High Speed did the trick.  We both considered how important it was to make a killer game to save the company and our own paychecks.  We took it seriously and began to innovate at an amazing rate, sometimes infuriating management.  But when the covers came off at the trade show, High Speed rocked the coin-op universe and we actually competed with video games in arcades around the world.  The woman in the back glass is a figment of artist Python Anghelo's imagination.

9. High Speed would sell over 17k units, then, a year later, F-14 Tomcat sold 14k. Were these the good days at Williams?
High Speed sold right at 18,500 units, and I don't know how the sales numbers got shrunk over time.  Williams did not release the quantities of our machines to the public, so I always wondered who decided to shrink them.  I can tell you that I received royalties for 18,500 machines.  Your F-14 estimate is a bit closer at 14,500 machines and if one rotating light on the top of the backbox, then 3 are better!!  Times were good at Williams for many years.  Williams was a company with the most talented crew of any pinball company ever.  We all felt that we had a duty to knock the socks off our competitors, and it was a good fun group of people working together and enjoying our incredible success.

10. How did you get into doing the speech in a lot of pins that you designed?
Since I was the designer of the games I made, who better would know how to incite competitiveness, stay in character, and combine the speech with sounds, action, lightshows, and other player communications and rewards?  I have been a guitar player in many bands, and I like being a showman as well as developing choreography.  It was something I had to do creatively to make sure that the game had a unified feel. 

11. A lot of folks don't know that your brother, Mark Ritchie, designed some games for Williams as well. Did he get his own start or did you help him out, and what are some of his work that you liked a lot?
Mark followed in my footsteps, but the games he made were his designs without any input from me.  He made some games with serious skill requirements.  His masterpiece is probably IJ.  The playfield design is excellent and the sounds, speech and music are like being in the movie.  I also love Fishtales, Sorcerer, and Taxi.

12. Barry Oursler seemed to come up thru the ranks so to speak, about the same time you did. Were you guys friends and did you or kick around ideas?
We were good friends, like most everyone at Williams.  We used to pull horrible pranks on each other, and Barry, Tony Kraemer and I were close in those days.  Many a time I have placed a lit bottle rocket under the doors of their offices.  Steve Kordek let us have fun, and was sometimes the brunt of our jokes.  We didn't kick around ideas much as a group.  There was an unwritten law that stated whoever came up with an idea or device got to use it first, but after that it was fair game for any designer at Williams to use the idea or device subsequently.  If one of us drew something, then we would talk about it, as it was documented and clear as to who the originator was.

13. Steve, what are some of your favorite designs over the years by yourself and are there any that didn't come out as nice as you would have wished? 
I really enjoyed playing many of the games we made.  Firepower was a rush for me for a long time.  I think a lot of people were addicted to that game.  It wasn't easy to get multiball, and the rewards were just cool.  I had a great time making Black Knight 2000, maybe the most musical pinball ever made.  The music gets me fired up and, as usual the Black Knight is a total enemy!!  I loved creating Star Trek: The Next Generation!  It was a great team, a great license, and the best work of many people.  It was thrilling to go to Paramount, go the sets, meet the creators, and dive into ST:TNG like an insider.  Terminator 2 was awesome fun to develop and I still like playing the game.  Stellar Wars was a bit of a disappointment, but it became the largest selling widebody (really wide, not STTNG wide) at Williams.  I enjoyed making and playing Rollergames, but when the show went off the air just before we sold the game it was a letdown for me and the team.  I love Spider-Man, and it was fun to work with Lyman Sheats, Kevin O Connor, and the rest of the guys on the team.
14. When did you begin to get a sense that things at Williams were going bad, and did you think that they would pull the plug on the pinball division so fast?
I didn't hang around to find out.  In 1996, the writing was on the wall that my best work wasn't enough to make the kind of money we needed to sustain a pinball crew as big as Williams. I tried to transfer to Midway and even the slot division, but I also wanted to return to my home state of California.  People make fun of CA, but it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.  I missed my family, the Sierras to ride my dirt bike in, the ocean, the desert, the forests, and San Francisco.  I never missed LA, though!!  I started looking for work at the game companies in the Bay Area, and ended up at Atari again, which Williams bought.  I produced 2 video games at Atari, and made myself far more valuable to Williams/Bally/Midway/Atari by producing financially successful games video games instead of pinball machines.  I produced two video cockpit drivers, California Speed and Mean Streak, which was never built because all coin op game development ceased at Williams/Bally/Midway/Atari in 2000.
15. Roller Games and No Fear would continue the speed and fast Themed pins. What is it about Motor Sports that interests you and what other hobby's have you had?
I am a speed demon, and can't help it.  My favorite sport is riding and racing my KTM dirtbike.  Riding in the dirt is total freedom from nearly all restrictions.  I can go as fast as I want to and I enjoy reacting to the next obstacle coming at me on the trail.  To do this at speed and using my body to work the bike is athletically satisfying to me.  It is great adventure, and at my age to get to the top of a tough hillclimb makes me feel like I rule the world!!  Racing is pure adrenalin, and it is very addictive.  Riding and racing a dirtbike is 10% machine/90% rider skill and conditioning.  It is a very personal athletic sport. 
I love fast cars and have had my share of Porsches and MB's.  Anybody can drive a car though; with the exception of F1, Rally and maybe off road athletic conditioning is not as critical.  I love driving a good car and scaring myself.  I hate to say it but I like scaring others too!!  I have taken Mark Penacho (programmer of Rollergames) and Chris Granner (music speech and sounds on F-14, T2, T3 and more) up to 165 mph on a back road near me.  I hate to say it, but I got another ticket last week on 101 87mph in a 65, but the cop knocked it down to 75.  I never drive fast in residential areas, and never wrecked any of my cars.  I try to be responsible about it.  I don't expect many people to understand any of this. 
16. What pin format or CPU have you most liked to work with?
I don't have a favorite system.  I tried to maximize the utilities of every system I have designed for, and often specified needs and capabilities of upcoming systems.  The systems evolved to deliver more entertainment with each generation.
17. Are there any other designers not mentioned here that you respect a lot?
You bet.  I am afraid that I will leave someone out, but here goes:
George Gomez is really a good designer and I like many of his games. LOTR is my favorite GG game.  Pat Lawlor has made some great games and I like Addam's Family and Fun House.  My brother Mark has made some great games as I mentioned above.  From Dennis Nordman I like Whitewater.  I like John Trudeau's Hollywood Heat and others. 
Even though Greg Freres isn't listed as a game designer he is a huge contributor to many designs, and I don't mean just the art.  I respect and admire Greg Kmiec for many of his games, but Capt. Fantastic was special for me.  Jim Patla made some great games, my favorite of his is Mata Hari and its killer art was done by Dave Christiansen, another respected pinball contributor.  I like Barry Oursler's work, especially Comet and Pinbot.  I liked Tony Kraemer's Pharaoh.  Joe Joos was the best mechanical engineer in all of pinball history, but he designed some good games too.  I like Joe's Lightning.  From Harry Williams, I like Flight 2000.  Steve Kordek's Space Mission was an early influence on me.  I loved Brian Eddy and Lyman Sheats Attack From Mars.  Ted Zale was a unique innovator, and I loved Fireball and other games he made.  From Ray Tanzer, I liked playing Street Fighter 2.  From Norm Clark, I liked Spanish Eyes.  I like a lot of games spanning from wood rails to the latest dmd games.  Pinball is my life.
18. After the demise of Williams, you went to work for Gary Stern. What were the differences between the two companies, whether it was culture, resources or freedom?
The design culture at Stern was/is streamlined and much leaner and meaner than Williams.  The differences are huge, but also not so different in many ways.  Seven years passed between my last Williams pin design (No Fear) and my first Stern (T3).  During that time, pinball had been receding and it was thought necessary to downsize to continue to exist.  It is harder to get a game out the door of Stern with fewer people, but pinball continues to exist and that is saying something in 2010.

19. You designed T-3 as a follow up to your prior T-2 pin, as well as Elvis while working at Stern. Were there any other notable pins you designed when working there, and how was it decided on what Theme or name of a game before going into production?
I created six pinball designs while working for Stern and they were T3, Elvis, World Poker Tour, Spider-Man, 24 and Avatar.  In the case of T3, Spider-Man, and Avatar I chose the licenses.  The others were not chosen by me and were mandated by management at Stern.
20. When looking back at the Williams days, did you feel that Stern had made vast improvements in the game of Pinball itself, or were they using a set formula begun by Williams?
Each company has made contributions to pinball.  Williams Pinball Division was a huge factory and many more innovations came from Williams than Stern.  Since many of the same designers that worked at Williams worked for Stern later, the evolution of pinball is probably moving along as it would have if Williams had no competitors.
 
22. What would you have done differently to pinball if you had complete control to keep it moving in a forward position?

I would be careful to choose only the best licenses.  I would make sure that code on games was finished before production.  I would make sure that every game that came out was as good as it could be and make improvements before production if they were not up to par, whether it was my design or not.  I would try some original themes, but on a limited basis.  Pinball needs licensing right now because the free advertising generated by licenses (like Spider-Man, which is a broad-based demographic that nearly everyone on earth knows about) means will sell more machines.  Selling more machines contributes to the health of pinball, and to some degree, helps insure its continued existence.  There are many more actions I would take, but they will remain unspoken for now.

23. After leaving Stern, have you talked to any of the guys you had worked with in the past?
Of course.  I have lots of friends at Stern, and speak to them fairly often.  I am still in touch with most of the guys formerly at Williams.  Many of us have friendships that have existed for more than 35 years.  It is a great group of folks, and we have fun when we get together.


24.  What is Steve Ritchie doing now and how can all his fans contact him, as I am sure the Army of Speed as it is sometimes called, would love to compliment your past works?
I am operating my website:
 steveritchiepinball.com
and designing add-ons for games that I made.  I have a lot of autographed OEM stuff from back in the day from all of my designs, and from many other designers.  I have some one of a kind things and pinball rarities as well as translites and flyers.  Anyone's comments are welcome there.  I often post on rgp, and serious questions are never left unanswered for long.  I try to be an ambassador for pinball. 
I am still tinkering with games and have a new playfield design started.  Not a day goes by that I do not think about pinball and other game ideas that I have.
 
25. And in closing, any final words for all the Steve Ritchie Fans out here at www.pinballcountry.com? 
I thank everyone for all their kind words over the years.  I always try my best to make games that thrill players and deliver fun and challenge game after game and play after play.  It is very rewarding to me to know that so many people really love my games, and that's a wonderful thing.  I keep the fans of pinball in the forefront of my mind while creating my games.  Thanks for interviewing me and Keep On Flippin!!



Thanks for your time Steve from everyone here at Pinballcountry.