Five Minutes to Tilt #7 – John Borg on Leaving a Safe Job to Design Star Wars Pinball
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Five Minutes to Tilt #7 – John Borg on Leaving a Safe Job to Design Star Wars Pinball
Untold Pinball Stories – Episode: John Borg At the Dutch Pinball Museum, we believe pinball is more than machines. It’s about people. Stories. Legacy. In this episode of Five Minutes to Tilt, we sit down with John Borg from @sternpinballinc designer of iconic machines including Star Wars, for a fast, honest, five-minute story. Timed with a real kitchen timer. No script. No second takes. Just one story. John shares how he once made a decision that didn’t make sense on paper… Taking a job that paid less, but promised something more important. He talks about choosing creativity over certainty. And how that decision led him from simply loving games… to designing Star Wars pinball machines himself. From playing the worlds he admired… To helping create them. A story about risk. About passion. And about trusting the path that feels right. This series is our way of preserving the voices behind the silverball. Because pinball history doesn’t only live in backglasses and playfields. It lives in people. Enjoy the story. Recorded by the Dutch Pinball Museum, Rotterdam Five minutes. One untold story. Untold Pinball Stories – Aflevering: John Borg Bij het Dutch Pinball Museum geloven we dat pinball meer is dan machines. Het gaat om mensen. Verhalen. Erfgoed. In deze aflevering van Five Minutes to Tilt gaan we in gesprek met John Borg van @sternpinballinc ontwerper van iconische flipperkasten waaronder Star Wars, voor een eerlijk verhaal van vijf minuten. Getimed met een echte kookwekker. Geen script. Geen herkansingen. Gewoon één verhaal. John vertelt hoe hij ooit een keuze maakte die op papier niet logisch leek… Hij nam een baan die minder betaalde, maar iets belangrijkers beloofde. Hij vertelt over het kiezen voor creativiteit in plaats van zekerheid. En hoe die beslissing hem bracht van het spelen van games… naar het ontwerpen van Star Wars flipperkasten zelf. Van het bewonderen van die werelden… Tot het helpen creëren ervan. Een verhaal over risico nemen. Over passie.
Kineticist’s take
John Borg shares how he left a secure job to design pinball, starting with Star Wars in 1991.
Synopsis
John Borg, legendary Stern Pinball designer with a 37+ year career, recounts how he left a safer engineering job at an injection molding company to join Premier Technology (later Stern) after seeing a tiny classified ad in the Tribune. He describes the decision as transformative, noting he has worked on approximately 75 games since 1991, with Star Wars being his first major title. He reflects on the diversity of disciplines required in pinball design and expresses enthusiasm about the industry's growth and influx of young talent.
Entities
- Premier Technology· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Dutch Pinball Museum· organization
- Jack Danger· person
- John Borg· person
- Star Wars (pinball)· product