Pat Lawlor
Encyclopedia
Patrick M. Lawlor is a video game and pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

 machine designer.

Lawlor's pinball career began as an engineer for Williams
Williams (gaming company)
WMS Industries, Inc. is an American electronic gaming and amusement company based in Waukegan, Illinois. The company's main operating subsidiaries are WMS Gaming and Orion Gaming. WMS traces its roots as far back as 1943, the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded by Harry E. Williams...

 in 1987, when he co-designed a dual-playfield machine called Banzai Run
Banzai Run
Banzai Run is a pinball machine produced by Williams. It was the first machine designed by Pat Lawlor, and is known for its multi-playfield design, in which the player can play a game on the machine's backglass as well as on the main playfield....

with Larry DeMar. Pat Lawlor had previously been a video game designer and had entered the coin-operated game design world in 1980, working for Dave Nutting Assoc. In 1988, he was given the reins of his first individual design project, a machine entitled Earthshaker, which was released in January 1989.

Early games


Lawlor's first solo project, Earthshaker!, was noteworthy for its integration of a relatively obscure theme (earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

s). The follow-up to Earthshaker! tackled a different form of natural disaster: tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

s. The new game, Whirlwind
Whirlwind (pinball)
Whirlwind is a pinball machine produced by Williams. It is distinguished by its pair of playfield rotating discs, and backglass fan that simulates the feeling of wind on the player at certain times in the game.-External links:* * * *...

, was released in early 1990 to similar praise. Both games demonstrated components of Lawlor's design methodology.

Foremost, Lawlor exhibited his instinct for introducing elements that were thematically appropriate and altered gameplay. For instance, upon progressing toward the multiball mode in Earthshaker!, the playfield would begin to shake rapidly to simulate the effect of an earthquake. In a similar mode in Whirlwind, rubberized disks set flush in the playfield would spin rapidly back and forth to throw the ball off-course as it passed over them, while an electric fan mounted on top of the backbox would blow wind in the player's face.

Secondly, Lawlor established his general design style and signature playfield patterns in these first two games. Both games were noted for their crowded playfields, especially when compared to the more fast, flow-oriented tables that were most popular at the time. Lawlor also introduced his signature "bumper shot", in which players needed to shoot the ball on the level playfield between pop bumpers, which is a tricky shot that requires great precision. Also, many of the shots in Earthshaker! and Whirlwind were obstructed when attempted from the lower flippers, and Lawlor's affinity for "horizontal play" was accordingly displayed. Critical shots in both games were only likely to be hit from a third flipper, located near the middle of the playfield on one side, requiring that players develop acuity at sending the ball across the playfield rather than simply up the playfield. Thus, his style of gameplay has often been described by players as "stop and go".
Whirlwind was among the first pinball machines to feature what became known as a "wizard mode," a final special mode accessed by particularly skilled players for completing numerous difficult tasks on the table, a reward that would be imitated in many future designs. "Wizard modes" were important in giving pinball games a sense of progression that pinball had lacked in its earlier years.

Lawlor followed up Earthshaker! and Whirlwind with a new game called FunHouse
FunHouse
FunHouse is a pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor. It was released in 1990 by Williams Electronics. As its title suggests, the game is themed after the concept of a funhouse, a walk-through amusement park featuring many attractions....

, released in November 1990. Funhouse was a carnival-oriented game which bore the trademark playfield elements established in Earthshaker and Whirlwind, plus a unique talking head named "Rudy" (voiced by Ed Boon
Ed Boon
Edward J. Boon is an American video game programmer who had been employed for over 15 years at Midway. He now works for Warner Bros...

), and over 10,000 machines were produced.

The Addams Family

Lawlor's next design went on to become the best-selling pinball of all time. The Addams Family
The Addams Family (pinball)
The Addams Family is the best selling pinball machine since the 1930's, having sold 20,270 units. Manufactured by Midway , it is a solid state electronic game...

(TAF) was released in April 1992 by Midway
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...

 (under the Bally label) and ultimately sold 20,270 units. The Addams Family was the first time Lawlor developed a game around a licensed theme rather than an original concept.

Addams Family included several new features. For example, Lawlor added a computer-controller mini-flipper that could "learn" how to hit a particularly difficult shot after numerous attempts: If the player activated the "Thing" flipper, the game automatically attempted the shot with no user control. Lawlor also used magnets on the playfield that were activated during multiball and other modes, adding tension and randomness to the gameplay. In 1994 a limited-edition Gold version was produced to commemorate the record-breaking sales of the original. The Addams Family Gold featured minor rule modifications, as well as cosmetic enhancements such as a gold lockbar and gold-trimmed rails.
Addams Family Wiki
The Addams Family (TV series)
The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966...


Twilight Zone

His next design (over which he was given complete creative control) was another licensed theme based on a popular television show: The Twilight Zone (TZ). While Twilight Zone never sold as many units as The Addams Family (yet still sold over 15,000 units,) it is one of the more popular tables amongst pinball enthusiasts, due in part to its complicated ruleset.

This complexity, however, was a mixed blessing, and highlighted many of the unfortunate pitfalls of the coin-operated game industry in general and pinball in particular. The more elaborate the game, the more likely it would be well-received by the die-hards but conversely seem overwhelming to the average player, which in turn would hurt sales. Twilight Zone was a tremendously expensive machine to reproduce, particularly in the massive quantities that were expected following the astronomical record sales of The Addams Family. Lawlor was well aware of the difficulties the project posed, as he told an audience at a trade show in 2003. "We had a nickname for Twilight Zone," he said, "and it was 'In Excess Pinball'...we had just gotten done setting the record with Addams Family, and [Williams executives] were willing to let us do anything, and we did, which was a big mistake." While he conceded that "extreme pinball players" would find the game to be great, he would add that "from a commercial standpoint, we were out of control...nobody would be allowed to do something that complicated again; nor should they be."

Among its toys were a magnetic flipperless mini-playfield in which the player used magnets that can shoot the ball up toward a hole to complete a mode. It had a gumball machine that could be loaded by the player, shooting balls into a lane, where the ball would be transported under the playfield and be loaded into a gumball machine. The gumball machine was also related to another new feature, in which a white ceramic "Powerball"—which was lighter and had a different dynamic—would be released in a certain multiball mode.

Road Show

After the release of Steve Ritchie
Steve Ritchie
Steven Scott Ritchie is an acclaimed pinball and video game designer. He has been called "The Master of Flow" by pinball aficionados due to the emphasis in his designs on ball speed, loops, and the like....

's Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation (pinball)
Star Trek: The Next Generation is a widebody pinball game, designed by Steve Ritchie and released in November 1993 by Williams Electronics. It was part of WMS' SuperPin series , and was based on the TV series. It is the only pinball machine that features three separate highscore-lists...

machine in late 1993, the fortunes of the pinball industry began to decline as the coin-operated arcade industry faltered in the face of increasingly advanced home video game systems. 1994 saw the release of Red & Ted's Road Show
Red & Ted's Road Show
Red & Ted's Road Show is a 1994 widebody pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor and released by Williams. It is part of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games....

, a game that paid homage in many respects to The Addams Family and Twilight Zone while reverting to the more generic theme-oriented play of his earlier games like Earthshaker!, Whirlwind, and FunHouse. Instead of another natural disaster theme, Lawlor decided to make a game based on an even more obscure, but naturally occurring theme involving construction work and cross-country travel. It is said that he arrived at the concept for Road Show while sitting stuck in rush-hour traffic outside of Chicago due to road construction. The game naturally became very popular at truck stops.

While the theme of Road Show paid homage to Earthshaker and Whirlwind, the game's most prominent feature was a duplication of one of Lawlor's toys, the talking "Rudy" head in FunHouse. Road Show included two talking head characters: a male bulldozer driver named Ted and his female boss named Red (voiced by country singer Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter is an American country singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter and her first husband, Carl Smith....

; she also performs her song, "Every Little Thing
Every Little Thing (Carlene Carter song)
"Every Little Thing" is a single by American country music artist Carlene Carter. Released in May 1993, it was the first single from her 1993 album Little Love Letters. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in August 1993.-Chart performance:...

" in the multi-ball and jackpot modes). The game's design, however, bore most resemblance to The Addams Family and Twilight Zone, in that a sinkhole started modes, the progression of which could be followed by a prominent display in the bottom center of the playfield. It had an interesting dual plunger design reminiscent of a similar setup in FunHouse.

Decline of pinball

1995 marked the first year since 1991 that a new Pat Lawlor-designed pinball machine did not appear. The decline of the pinball industry had intensified by this point, and even though several well-received pinball machines came out during this period, including Steve Ritchie's No Fear: Dangerous Sports
No Fear: Dangerous Sports
No Fear: Dangerous Sports is a 1995 pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams. It is based on the clothing line. This game has an extreme sports theme.-Launch options:...

, John Popadiuk's Theatre of Magic
Theatre of Magic
Theatre of Magic is a pinball machine produced by Midway .-Gameplay:Main mission is to get to the "Grand Finale" by finishing:...

, and Brian Eddy's Attack from Mars
Attack From Mars
Attack from Mars is a 1995 pinball game designed by Brian Eddy, and released by Midway .In this game, Martians began to invade the Earth, and it's up to the player to destroy the Martian fleet, save all the major cities, and then head off to Mars to destroy the Martian empire and conquer Mars.Among...

, the commercial success of pinball machines was diminishing by each fiscal quarter.

In 1996, Lawlor designed a new take on pinball, an innovative game called Safecracker
Safecracker (pinball)
Safecracker is a pinball machine with a safecracking theme, designed by Pat Lawlor, and distributed by Midway . It was created in 1996. About 1148 were manufactured. Safecracker differs from a standard pinball game in that the player is playing against the clock as opposed to having a certain...

, which featured a much smaller playfield than standard pinball machines of the time, operated on a timer rather than a 3-ball structure, and featured a backglass-based "board game" as a major gameplay feature. Safecracker was unique in that players could earn collectible tokens by achieving certain goals. It is widely believed that Safecracker was actually originally intended to be a game based on the Monopoly board game, a contention supported by the prominence of the generic board game ultimately included in the final product, but Williams was unable to negotiate a favorable deal for the license. True or not, Lawlor would get another crack at Monopoly in 2001. Safecracker, however, met with uneven critical response and was not a particularly successful commercial product: only 1,148 units of Safecracker left the Williams factory (compared to the over 20,000 units of The Addams Family only four years earlier.)

Lawlor returned to his more conventional style in 1997 with No Good Gofers
No Good Gofers
No Good Gofers is a Williams pinball machine released in December 1997.-External links:**...

, an amusing golf-themed machine that returned to his standard signature design elements as well as featuring the return of the spinning disc from Whirlwind. The game included a retractable ramp that would launch a ball onto a transparent upper playfield with a hole at the top to simulate a golf shot for a "hole-in-one". No Good Gofers was a limited commercial success with only 2,711 units made.

1998, however, would mark the beginning of the end for the Williams pinball franchise, as its final three games, Champion Pub, Monster Bash
Monster Bash (pinball)
Monster Bash is a pinball machine produced by Williams. The game include The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolfman, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. The goal of Monster Bash is to collect the instruments of the monsters and present the world this scary...

, and Cactus Canyon
Cactus Canyon
Cactus Canyon is a pinball machine produced by Midway . It is the WPC machine with the shortest production run , thus making it a rare machine amongst collectors and the most expensive one of the whole WPC generation Cactus Canyon is a pinball machine produced by Midway (under the Bally brand...

were released. The production run of Cactus Canyon was cut short as Williams made a drastic alteration in their hardware philosophy, attempting to revitalize the pinball industry by integrating video screens with standard pinball playfields with Midway's Revenge from Mars
Revenge From Mars
Revenge from Mars is a 2000 pinball machine manufactured by Midway . It is the sequel to Attack from Mars, that also has the same theme....

(the sequel to 1995's Attack From Mars, and designed by longtime Midway employee George Gomez
George Gomez
George Gomez is an industrial designer, video game designer, and pinball designer who has worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball, among other companies. He worked on the team that created the Tron video game, and headed the team that created Spy Hunter. In 1984 after the 1983 video game...

) in 1999. This experiment, called Pinball 2000
Pinball 2000
Pinball 2000 is the last pinball hardware and software platform developed by major pinball manufacturer Williams, and was used in the machines Revenge From Mars and Star Wars Episode I before Williams exited the pinball business on October 25, 1999...

, ended ignominiously after heavy initial losses, and Williams ceased pinball operations in late 1999, leaving Pat Lawlor's only planned game for the Pinball 2000 platform, Wizard Blocks, on the cutting room floor.

Stern era

At this time, Lawlor founded Pat Lawlor Design (PLD) with partners John Krutsch (mechanical designer for all of Lawlor's games) and Louis Koziarz (software programmer), and agreed to terms with Stern Pinball to distribute pinball machines, beginning with a September 2001 release of a traditional pinball machine based on the world's most popular board game, Monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

. Monopoly
Monopoly (pinball)
Monopoly is a Stern pinball machine released in September 2001. It is based on the board game of the same name.-External links:**...

was well received by the pinball community and the signature elements of Lawlor design were prominently included.

Lawlor has since designed RollerCoaster Tycoon
RollerCoaster Tycoon (pinball)
RollerCoaster Tycoon is a Stern pinball machine released in August 2002. It is based on the video game series of the same name.-External links:**...

, Ripley's Believe it or Not!, NASCAR (also known as Grand Prix in Europe), Family Guy, and CSI pinball machines for Stern. NASCAR, released in 2005, was a bit of a departure from Lawlor's normal design philosophy, as it more "flow-oriented" gameplay, due to the more speed oriented theme. Family Guy, released in 2007, was notable for a unique design element, the "Stewie Pinball", a mini playfield within a playfield. Unlike other mini playfields which simply reduced the distance between pinball elements, "Stewie Pinball" actually engineered all the pinball elements to be completely reduced in scale, a first in mini playfield design.

Prediction of pinball's demise

At the 2007 Pinball Expo in Chicago, Illinois, Pat Lawlor predicted the complete demise of pinball manufacturing within 5 years. However, he failed to comment on whether or not the relatively small sales of STERN titles (compared with the heyday of Williams) contributed to his industry analysis.

Williams

  • Banzai Run
    Banzai Run
    Banzai Run is a pinball machine produced by Williams. It was the first machine designed by Pat Lawlor, and is known for its multi-playfield design, in which the player can play a game on the machine's backglass as well as on the main playfield....

     (1988)
  • Earthshaker (1989)
  • Whirlwind
    Whirlwind (pinball)
    Whirlwind is a pinball machine produced by Williams. It is distinguished by its pair of playfield rotating discs, and backglass fan that simulates the feeling of wind on the player at certain times in the game.-External links:* * * *...

     (1990)
  • FunHouse
    FunHouse
    FunHouse is a pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor. It was released in 1990 by Williams Electronics. As its title suggests, the game is themed after the concept of a funhouse, a walk-through amusement park featuring many attractions....

     (1990)
  • Red & Ted's Road Show
    Red & Ted's Road Show
    Red & Ted's Road Show is a 1994 widebody pinball game designed by Pat Lawlor and released by Williams. It is part of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games....

     (1994; part of WMS' SuperPin
    SuperPin
    SuperPin is the name given to any of the widebody pinball games released by Williams and Midway between 1993 and late-1994....

    series)
  • No Good Gofers
    No Good Gofers
    No Good Gofers is a Williams pinball machine released in December 1997.-External links:**...

     (1997)
  • Wizard Blocks (1999; prototype running on Pinball 2000
    Pinball 2000
    Pinball 2000 is the last pinball hardware and software platform developed by major pinball manufacturer Williams, and was used in the machines Revenge From Mars and Star Wars Episode I before Williams exited the pinball business on October 25, 1999...

    )

Midway (Bally)

  • The Addams Family
    The Addams Family (pinball)
    The Addams Family is the best selling pinball machine since the 1930's, having sold 20,270 units. Manufactured by Midway , it is a solid state electronic game...

     (1992)
  • The Twilight Zone (1993; part of WMS' SuperPin series)
  • Safecracker
    Safecracker (pinball)
    Safecracker is a pinball machine with a safecracking theme, designed by Pat Lawlor, and distributed by Midway . It was created in 1996. About 1148 were manufactured. Safecracker differs from a standard pinball game in that the player is playing against the clock as opposed to having a certain...

     (1996)

Stern / Pat Lawlor Design

  • Monopoly
    Monopoly (pinball)
    Monopoly is a Stern pinball machine released in September 2001. It is based on the board game of the same name.-External links:**...

     (2001)
  • RollerCoaster Tycoon
    RollerCoaster Tycoon (pinball)
    RollerCoaster Tycoon is a Stern pinball machine released in August 2002. It is based on the video game series of the same name.-External links:**...

     (2002)
  • Ripley's Believe it or Not! (2004)
  • NASCAR (known as Grand Prix in Europe) (2005)
  • Family Guy
    Family Guy (pinball)
    Family Guy is a Stern pinball machine released in 2007. It is based on the animated series of the same name. Some of the table's main features include a "TV Challenge" drop hole, a beer can giant target, an Evil Monkey's Lair ramp, and Stewie's Mini Pinball.- Gameplay :TV modes: TV modes start by...

     (2007)
  • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008)
  • Shrek (2008)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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