Episode 104 - John Borg: The Man Who Doesn't F*&k Around

Deep career retrospective on legendary Stern designer John Borg from Gottlieb through modern era.

Synopsis

This podcast episode is a career retrospective on John Borg, Stern Pinball longest-tenured designer, covering his 37+ year trajectory from Gottlieb through Data East, Sega, and Stern. The hosts discuss his mechanical engineering background, signature design philosophies (fast turnaround, no-nonsense efficiency), iconic games across multiple eras, and the evolution of his design style from complex multi-ramp titles to streamlined cost-cut era games. Key themes include his reputation for shipping games on tight deadlines, his influence on modern pinball design, and how he became indispensable to Stern during the company's cost-reduction period.

Highlights

• John Borg started at D. Gottlieb & Co. as a mechanical engineer and designed the System 3 pointy-boy flippers that the community widely dislikes.
• Data Star Wars (1992) earned $500 per week at 25 cents per play (2,000 plays/week) at a Rock and Roll McDonald's test location.
• Data Star Wars was John Borg first game design credit and became Data East USA Inc. highest-selling game ever at 10,400 units.
• Last Action Hero was a design-by-committee game where all of Data East USA Inc. designers (Borg, Ed Cebula, Joe Kaminkow, Tim Seckel) plus programmer Lyman F. Sheats Jr. received credits, and nobody wanted sole credit.
• John Borg was laid off from Stern twice and spent seven years away before being rehired, with Indiana Jones as his first game back.
• In 2010, John Borg was the only designer left at Stern and designed Big Buck Hunter, Iron Man, and Avatar back-to-back as the sole designer.
• John Borg was attacked by a mountain lion named Curtis while visiting Slash's house during Guns N' Roses pinball development.
• Borg was known for being able to pump out games every year while other designers like Steve Ritchey and Brian could not, and attributed it to the fact that 'he doesn't fuck around.'
• Gary Stern is an avid motorcyclist and snowboarder who personally influences music licensing decisions for games, such as selecting Edgar Winter Group's 'Frankenstein' for the Frankenstein pinball game.
• Borg's original Jurassic Park T-Rex design was significantly more complex than the final version, including articulated head movement and little arms that would throw balls.

Entities

• D. Gottlieb & Co.· company
• Data East· company
• Sega· company
• Stern Pinball· company
• Avatar· game
• Guns N' Roses· game
• Indiana Jones· game
• Iron Man (Stern)· game
• Metallica· game
• Star Wars· game
• Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
• Alan· person
• Alex· person
• Ed Cebula· person
• Elliot Eismin· person
• Gary Stern· person
• Joe Kaminkow· person
• John Borg· person
• Lonnie D. Ropp· person
• Lyman F. Sheats Jr.· person
• Pat Lawlor· person
• Slash· person
• Steve Ritchey· person
• Tim Seckel· person