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A Special Pinball Show Tribute To Wayne Neyens
PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago14 min listen
A Special Pinball Show Tribute To Wayne Neyens The Pinball Show's Zach & Dennis Reflect Upon The Loss Of An Industry Great & Honor Pinball Pioneer Wayne Neyens.
Highlights
- Wayne Neyens designed 180 pinball machines for Gottlieb, with 159 actually produced
- Neyens patented the pop bumper spoon switch (electric switching device) and the two-player pinball machine (1972)
- Queen of Hearts (December 1952) was Neyens' greatest engineering achievement, solving the problem of stacking switch closures without electronics
- Neyens started in pinball in 1937 with Western company, joined Gottlieb in 1939, and remained there his entire career
- Neyens served in World War II and returned to Gottlieb, where his first game design was in 1949
- A pinball can only reliably close three sets of switches maximum due to its weight
- Neyens remained mentally sharp into his 100s and was frustrated that he could no longer mentally reconstruct the Queen of Hearts circuit from scratch
- Ed Krinsky, Neyens' successor as lead designer at Gottlieb, viewed pinball design as 'just a job' rather than a passion
Notable quotes
“It would not have been unheard of for Wayne to do 10 games in a year. Different layout games.”
“Wayne really had a love for the game... he was so into pinball... still doing interviews about pinball and his love for the game.”
“I remember my peak. And it's like I sit and I try and remember and come up with the circuit. And I just I can't. I know I did it. I don't remember how I did it anymore.”
“His mind remained extremely sharp... he could recall all of this stuff.”
“He is extremely influential to many throughout this industry. Our industry would not be the same without his legacy.”
“At age 104, Dennis, that's one hell of a high score that I don't think anyone is going to be.”
“Unless these employees, these workers, these designers share their stories, we wouldn't have them. There's a lot we lost from the early days of pinball that didn't get shared.”
Entities
- Gottlieb· company
- Western· company
- Williams· company
- Kansas City Pinball Championship· event
- Continental Cafe· game
- Queen of Hearts· game
- Scoreboard· game
- Slick Chick· game
- Soccer/Super Soccer· game
- Spirit of 76· game
- Womenelle· game
- Pinball News· organization
- PinWiki· organization
- The Pinball Show· organization
- Barry Oursler· person
- Dennis Nordman· person
- Ed Krinsky· person
- Harry Mabbs· person
- Ryan Clayton· person
- Steve Kordek· person
- Wayne Neyens· person
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