Episode 121 - Barry Oursler: Pinball's Rollercoaster Man

Deep dive into Barry Oursler overlooked legacy as one of pinball's most prolific designers.

Synopsis

Wedgehead Pinball Podcast episode exploring the career of Barry Oursler, a legendary but underrated solid-state pinball designer who sold 135,000+ units at Williams (1978-1996): more than Pat Lawlor and second only to Steve Ritchie. The hosts discuss Ousler's prolific output of 30+ games, his early hits (Phoenix, Time Warp, Gorgar, Laserball) and rare gems from the industry crisis years (Time Fantasy, Starlight, Cosmic Gunfight), noting the stark contradiction between his commercial success and contemporary obscurity in modern rankings.

Highlights

• Barry Oursler sold 135,000+ units during his Williams career (1978-1996), more than Pat Lawlor and second only to Steve Ritchie 147,000 units
• Ousler designed over 30 machines in his career
• Some of Ousler's games are credited with saving the pinball industry in the mid-1980s after the video game crisis
• Ousler's first design credit was Phoenix in 1978, which sold over 6,000 units
• Time Warp (Ousler's second game) sold 9,000 units and was designed with banana flipper geometry in mind
• Gorgar (1979) was the first Williams game with speech and sold 14,000 units
• Ousler was the only working designer left at Williams for a couple of years during the early 1980s crisis, even after Steve Ritchie left briefly
• Barracora was originally based on a sketch by Roger Sharpe and Steve Epstein, but Ousler completely reworked it
• Baracora's name was changed from Barracuda by marketing because Doug Watson's artwork resembled an image already in use
• Time Fantasy was designed as a low-budget experiment with minimal moving parts and switches, which resulted in exceptional gameplay

Entities

• Williams· company
• Barracora· game
• Cosmic Gunfight· game
• Defender· game
• Gorgar· game
• Joust· game
• Jungle Lord· game
• Laser Ball· game
• Phoenix· game
• Scorpion· game
• Solar Fire· game
• Star Light· game
• The Addams Family· game
• Time Fantasy· game
• Time Warp· game
• PinballRanker.com· organization
• Pinside· organization
• Alan· person
• Alex· person
• Barry Oursler· person
• Joe Kaminkow· person
• Pat Lawlor· person
• Roger Sharpe· person
• Steve Ritchie· person