Pinball 2000 Part 2 - Featuring George Gomez

Gomez recounts Pinball 2000's origin: CEO pressure, mirror optics, and a garage prototype that saved the technology.

Synopsis

George Gomez, legendary Stern/Williams designer, discusses the genesis and development of Pinball 2000 technology on Fresh A Pinball Podcast. He details how a CEO-mandated innovation meeting in 1998 led him and Pat Lawlor to develop the mirror-and-video playfield concept as an alternative to John Papaduke's bulky CRT-in-backbox design. Gomez describes the three-week prototype phase, the technical inspiration from 1970s arcade cabinet design, and how the patent on virtual-to-real object interaction became central to the Pinball 2000 platform.

Entities

• Dave Nutting and Associates· company
• Midway· company
• Williams Electronics (Williams/Midway)· company
• Baby Pac-Man· game
• Cosmic Cruiser· game
• Fast Break· game
• Granny and the Gators· game
• Monster Bash· game
• Pinball 2000· game
• Revenge of Mars· game
• Space Invaders· game
• Fresh Pinball Podcast· organization
• George Gomez· person
• John Papaduke· person
• Kenny Fedesna· person
• Kyle, Corbin, Zach· person
• Larry DeMar· person
• Lyman Sheets· person
• Neil Nicastro· person
• Pat Lawlor· person
• Steve Ritchie· person
• Amiga 1000· product
• Johnny Mnemonic· product
• WPC 95· product
• Deluxe Paint Animation· software