Skip to content
Headshot of Barry Oursler

Barry Oursler

Design · Callouts · Concept

American Pinball, Pinball Brothers, Williams, Bally · 1978–2024 · Retired

36
Games
1978
First game

Barry Oursler (1952–2022) was one of the most prolific and influential pinball game designers in history, creating or contributing to more than 40 titles over the course of his four-decade career. Starting as a protégé of legendary…

Read the full bio

Games

About

Barry Oursler (1952–2022) was one of the most prolific and influential pinball game designers in history, creating or contributing to more than 40 titles over the course of his four-decade career. Starting as a protégé of legendary designer Steve Kordek at Williams Electronics in the late 1970s, Oursler quickly made a name for himself with early machines such as Phoenix and the groundbreaking Gorgar, the first talking pinball. His design style—which balanced innovative playfield “toys” with accessible yet challenging gameplay—reached new heights in the mid-1980s with Space Shuttle, often credited with reviving the industry at a time when pinball faced steep competition from video games.

Worked with

Kineticist Articles

Around pinball

Mentioned in

Page updated April 2026 · Suggest a correction