Ep 59: The King of Flow, Steve Ritchie
Steve Ritchie joins us on this episode to talk about his dream theme, Led Zeppelin. Also we talk about the Williams days and some of the awesome people he has met in pinball over the years!
Kineticist’s take
Steve Ritchie discusses 47-year pinball design career, recent games, and philosophy on flow-based design.
Synopsis
Steve Ritchie, legendary pinball designer with 47+ years in the industry, discusses his career spanning Atari, Williams, Stern, and current work at Jersey Jack Pinball. He reflects on designing 30-40 games across pinball, slot machines, and redemption titles, with emphasis on design philosophy centered on flow and player accessibility. Key topics include the Black Knight Sword of Rage topper innovation, his three music-themed games (Elvis, ACDC, Led Zeppelin), design process evolution, and collaboration with younger programmers like Tim Sexton and Raymond Davidson.
Entities
- Atari· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Williams· company
- Black Knight Sword of Rage· game
- Led Zeppelin· game
- Chuck· person
- Danai· person
- Dennis Nordman· person
- Ed Boon· person
- Elliot· person
- John Rothermel· person
- Josh Roop· person
- Kevin O'Connor· person
- Nicole· person
- Pat Lawlor· person
- Ray Day· person
- Raymond Davidson· person
- Robert Plant· person
- Scott Larson· person
- Stefan Jensen· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Tim Sexton· person
- Wyman Sheets· person
- Zach· person