Silverball Chronicles (TPN) - Pinball – Details, episodes & analysis

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Episode Begins at 18:08

Episode Summary:

Have you ever heard the saying, “pinball is hard?” Well, the team at Barrels of Fun hasn’t, and they decided to smash on ahead and impress pretty much everyone. It’s been over 24 months since they launched their company and their first licensed game… and (as of this recording) they’ve manufactured all the games they said they would.

Join us as we chat about the loving relationship between two pinball fellas, building a new company from nothing, Transformers, art, ramps, picking the bones of Deeproot Pinball, and Dave’s unhealthy love for David Bowie in tight pants. 

Sources:

Pinball Profile Ep 378 - Labyrinth-pinball-from-Barrels-of-Fun

The Aussie Pinball Podcast Ep 18 -  David Van Es

Australian YouTube:

-         Sherbet, Howzat. Here

-         VB Victoria Bitter (Australian ad) 1988. Here

-         "C'mon Aussie C'mon" Aust. Cricket TV Ad Original 1979. Here

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Episode begins at 13:15 

Episode Summary: 

Do you find yourself craving? Do you ever hanker for a special little thing? Well, we have had multiple people email and inquire about Hankin, you might say they had a craving for another Australian-based episode. Let’s go down under again with Part 2: Hankerin’ for Hankin.   

Sources:

Hankin Game List. Here

The Aussie Pinball Podcast, Ep 5 – Wayne Gillard

The Rare Pinball Files: a Deep Dive on Hankin's Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Kineticist, 2023.  Here

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Topic starts at 9:10

Episode Summary:

Joe Balcer is a name that some people know and some people don’t. Joe spent his early beginnings at Sega Pinball, then Stern Pinball, and he basically helped start Jersey Jack Pinball. He then started up another company called American Pinball. Joe has been around; he’s worked for many bosses in many companies, and he’s made some memorable layouts. Joe’s not necessarily known as a ‘high flow, quick ball movement’ kind of guy. His designs tend to be more stop and go or, as some people like to call him, The King Of Clunk.

Source: 

Pinball Profile. Episode 163: Joe Balcer, a career retrospective. Podcast. Here.

Head 2 Head Pinball. Ep 48 – Josh Kulger from American Pinball.  

Super Awesome Pinball Show. Ep 8. Joe Balcer and Team.  

This Week in Pinball. The Desire to Create – Interview with Joe Balcer, Playfield

Designer for Houdini Pinball. Here.

Replay Magazine. Roll out the Barrel. Here.

Shalhoub, Michael. The Pinball Compendium.

Internet Pinball Database. IPDB.org  Joe Balcer Game List. Here.

Silverball Chronicles BONUS: Our Top Pins 

Join Ron and Dave in this Bonus Silverball Chronicles episode as they choose their favourite pinball machines made by featured pinball designers from previous episodes! 

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Episode Summary:

John Borg is known for his distinctive style and approach to designing pinball machines.  His design philosophy is as distinct as a fingerprint. ‘Borgie’ focuses on creating layouts that offer smooth flow and satisfying shots. He aims to design pinball machines that provide players with a sense of continuous motion and engaging gameplay. His layouts often feature well-integrated ramps, orbits, and habitrails that facilitate fast and exciting ball movement across the playfield. John also gets the coolest theme. 

This month Dave and Ron talk about how cool John Borg is and why Dave is not, what John did after he left Stern in 2000 and what he did when he got back, developing his style, reusing elements, orbit spinners (yeah!), John’s themes, and what makes Borgie’s second kick at a pinball career the path of a modern pinball legend. 

Sources: 

TopCast – Episode 27 – John Borg

Head 2 Head Pinball Podcast Ep 41 – Keith P. Johnson

Slam Tilt Podcast Ep. 100 Lyman Sheats Jr.

YouTube – IE Pinball – Big Buck Hunter Pro Wizard Mode Achieved. Here

YouTube – Stern Pinball: The Making of: Metallica, KISS, The Walking Dead, Areosmith, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rush.

Shalhoub, Michael. The Pinball Compendium.

Internet Pinball Database. IPDB.org  John Borg Game List. Here.

* This episode was created with the use of ChatGPT, which kinda sucks…

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Episode Summary: 

Gottlieb is viewed as the romantic electro-mechanical giant to many. The pinball machine atop the coin-op pedestal for all other manufacturers to reach for… but it was its god-tier status in the 1960s and early 1970s that would ultimately lead to its epic cratering in the 1980s. 

What led Gottlieb into the Mylstar Nosedive? Was it a lack of leadership? Corporate chaos? The recession of the early 1980s? Or was it a lack of creative freedom and adventure in the products? 

This month, Dave and Ron talk about the massive success of D. Gottlieb and Co., the ownership changes that hobbled the company, Ed Krynski’s biography, generational changes in Gottlieb, Ron not knowing Europe is a continent, and the games of Mylstar! What could go wrong?  

Sources:

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

YouTube Interviews from the Pacific Pinball Museum
– Here, Here, Here and Here

TopCast – Episode 30 – Wayne Neyens

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Topic Starts at 9:10

Episode Summary: 

A Centenarian is someone linked to longevity, someone who has seen it all come and go, then be reinvented again. Wayne Neyens is pinball’s Centenarian; he was there at the beginning, and he was there when it ended… a couple of times… and he witnessed the rebirth we now see today before his passing at age 104. He was the last of his pinball generation, the last of the woodrail masters and the man who gave his whole life to making people smile at the silverball. 

This month Dave and Ron discuss growing up in the Great Depression, 1930’s cubicles, Westerns, Jimmy Johnson, Harry Mabs, The Gottlieb – David Gottlieb, Wayne’s most popular games like Slick Chick and Kings and Queens, Add-A-Ball and Wedgeheads, the amazing artist Roy Parker AND we make fun 1940’s radio voices! 

Sources: 

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1930s to 1960s. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

YouTube Interviews from the Pacific Pinball Museum: Here, Here, Here and Here

TopCast: Episode 30 – Wayne Neyens

Pinball News:

   Pinball Magazine #5. Here

   Wayne’s 100th Birthday. Here

   Wayne Neyens Dies at Age 104. Here.

Want to Support the Show?

Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles 

Or pick up a tee shirt at https://tinyurl.com/kz5xt4hc

Topic starts at 10:50

Episode Summary:

What can you say about Keith P Johnson? He has 4 of the top pinball machines in the Pinball Awards’ Hall of Fame. He coded some of the most revered and most panned pinball codes in our hobby. In addition, Keith was one of the most important pieces in designing the Jersey Jack operating system and building their philosophy around pinball code.

Join us this month as we discuss how Keith got into the pinball industry, his transition into full-time rules designer, his Simpsons Pinball Party and Lord of the Rings masterpieces, leaving pinball only to be pulled back in, building the Jersey Jack operating system and JJPs philosophy on code… Everything is Lit this month!

Sources: 

IPDB Keith P Johnson Gamelist. Here.

WOZ Pinball Magazine. Here

Head 2 Head Pinball Podcast Ep 41

Pinball Profile Ep 266

TopCast Episode 63

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

Topic Starts at 11:11 

Episode Summary:

It’s time to revisit our ‘Pinball Is Dying’ series. This ongoing series is made to depress and to delight. What do we mean by that? Well, the pinball industry and the hobby around it has always been fragile. It has ups and downs which during its history has swung violently. Brilliant minds have come and gone. Many have been crushed by the emotional weight of competition and the stress of impending layoffs. 

Join us this month as we talk about the final Bally Manufacturing Corp games, really dumb corporate strategies, the art of an era, bodybuilding, terrible cabinet materials, a tangent for some reason about the MCU’s Iron Man, and the end of Bally-Midway. 

Sources:

IPDB Bally-Midway Game List. Here.

Stern’s Dark Planet – Here

TOPcast: 

    Ep. 56 – Ward Pemberton

    Ep. 46 – Margaret Hudson,

    Ep. 40 – George Gomez

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

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Visit our Patreon at www.patreon.com/silverballchronicles 

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Topic starts at 10:03

Episode Summary:

A Brief History of Pinball is a great place to begin! Let’s wind the clock back WAYYY back. We’re going to visit the beginning of many ‘games’ in the early days of fancy pants Europe, the importation of table games to America, New Jersey’s part in all this, Harry Williams, Wayne Neyens, and all those innovations that make pinball, pinball!

 
Games:

Baffle Ball, Ballyhoo, Contact, Skyscraper, World’s Series, Rockelite, Humpty Dumpty, Triple Action, Saratoga, Army Navy, SuperJumbo, Balls-a-Poppin’, Vegabond, Swing-Along, The Spirit of ’76, Flash, Gorgar, Checkpoint, Revenge from Mars, and Wizard of Oz.
 

Sources:

Bagatelle. Here

Pinball. Here

ThoughtCo. The History of Pinball. Here

Baldridge, Nick. This Week In Pinball. A Beginner’s Guide to Bingo Pinball. Here

Pinball News. Illuminating. Here

Remembering Harry Williams. Here

Shalhoub, Michael (2004). The Pinball compendium: 1982 to Present. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

Kocurek, Carly A. “Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video

Game Arcade.” Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015. 

Sharpe, Roger. “Pinball!” New York: E.P. Dutton, 1977. 

Sullivan, Barbara. “Ballyhoo Over Goldberg Hardly Whole Bally Saga.” Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1996. 

Sweeney, Melodie. “The bagatelle wizard instead of the pinball wizard.” National Museum of American History, October 31, 2012. 

Terry, Clifford. “How the Pinball Machine Got Those Flippers.” Chicago Tribune, August 8, 1993. 

Wolf, Mark J. P. “The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to Playstation and Beyond.” Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.