Ok lets see who your favorite Designers are. For me I vote
1. Pat Lawer
2. Brian Eddy
3. Python Anghelo
4. Steve Ritchie
5. Dennis Nordman
6. Barry Oursler
7. Jim Patla
8. Greg Kmiec
9. Jon Norris
10. Joe Kaminkow
Thats my top 10!
Eddy
Jpop
Gomez
Nordman
Lawler
Ritchie
Really only 1 and 2 are locked for me, all of the others have games I love and not so much
Or Kordek.
Wow, I could out together an all-star list out of the people left off the initial top 10!
Borg all the way for me...he's great, Star Wars, TFTC, JP, LAH, AP13, Twister, Tron, MET he had some great hits.
Lawler was a pinball genius though, he did a lot for pinball that influenced a lot of the other designers. SR gave us some great hits also, he did a lot for pinball too, I feel he was almost the antithesis of Lawler in many ways, both great but from different school of thought. Jpop was an artist.
1. Gomez is the king in this list .....
2. Lawlor
3. Borg
4. Eddy
5. Ritchie
6. Nordman
7. Oursler
8. Anghelo
1) John Trudeau - his games are unique and most of the time, just plain fun to play.
2) John P. -wish we had more from him
3) Barry O - based on volume, outlanes, sales, and BSD
Everyone else falls through after these. I like Pat's and Steve's games, but they seem to incoporate the same ideas over and over.
I have 'favorite' games from each designer. Hard for me to pick the best one.
They each have made games I love, and that I dislike.
It's hard to argue with Lawlor and Ritchie not being the top two of the modern era, though. They combined to innovate most of the features we think about when with think of modern pinball.
I wanted you all to add to it lol. I have not played enough of Jpop's games I guess then.
Circus and Theater are amazing though. The rest of the list has a min 3 tables That I loved from each one.
John Popadiuk
Python Anghelo
Steve Ritchie
John Trudeau
Ward Pemberton
George Gomez
Pat Lawlor
Python Anghelo
Obviously, Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawlor will top my list as well. But how about some of the less remembered names like... Joe Kamikow? (Space Shuttle, Laser War, Secret Service, Time Machine, Phantom of the Opera, Batman)
Ray Tanzer? (Arena, Bone Busters, SF2)
Ed Cebula? (Old Coney Island, also contributed to Time Machine and Batman)
Jon Norris? (CBW, Gladiators, also contributed to SF2)
(ETA: missed OP's original list when reading this thread the first time.)
1. George Gomez (for MB & LotR. Not the most innovative designer but fast & fun. Perfect, natural feeling playability)
2. JPop (mainly for CV. So much art, so many fresh ideas, such unusual ball-movement. If it wasn't for the mediocre software on most of his games he would be miles ahead of any other designer)
3. Brian Eddy (for The Shadow & MM. Simple but clever designs and great playability)
4. Steve Ritchie (Doesn't really matter which pin, he's been repeating the same design for decades with minor changes - but - it works!)
5. Pat Lawlor (for RBION & TZ. I respect his work, but like Steve he has "his one design idea". Often his games are to heavy on brains and lacking gut-feeling which lowers the fun-factor heavily.)
Quoted from skquinn:. But how about some of the less remembered names
Exactly why I included Ward Pemberton 
(Mousin' Around, Riverboat Gambler, Fathom, Gilligan's Island, Dungeons & Dragons, BMX)
Chris
Quoted from skquinn:But how about some of the less remembered names like...?
Because there is a reason why they are less remembered.... 
Quoted from SilverUnicorn:Exactly why I included Ward Pemberton (Mousin' Around, Riverboat Gambler, Fathom, Gilligan's Island, Dungeons & Dragons, BMX)
Chris
And Goldeneye!
SR is the king!! What other designers get their own Pinside abbreviations? 
Also, consider some of his contributions to pinball that are now standard on all machines - background sound/music, flashers, lane change. SR designed High Speed which was the first pinball to play a complete song, first use of Auto Percentaging (for replay scores), first Jackpot available only during multiball, first use of broken switch compensation programming and first SS game with operator report.
Harry Mabs
Wayne Neyens
Norm Clark
lots of great designers are forgotten over time. Mabs invented the flippers.
Quoted from ShootForSlrValue:Does Larry DeMar count? That guy doesn't get enough credit for the work he's done IMO.
Larry DeMar is such a big influence in pinball design, king of software. helped design the best selling modern pin.
Black Knight
Space Shuttle
High Speed
Banzai Run
Funhouse
TZ
TAF
Quoted from Kerry_Richard:Pat Lawlor
Steve Ritchie
I think you have that upside-down
Quoted from kvan99:Borg all the way for me...he's great, Star Wars, TFTC, JP, LAH, AP13, Twister, Tron, MET he had some great hits.
Lawler was a pinball genius though, he did a lot for pinball that influenced a lot of the other designers. SR gave us some great hits also, he did a lot for pinball too, I feel he was almost the antithesis of Lawler in many ways, both great but from different school of thought. Jpop was an artist.
Borg did Iron Man as well
Quoted from SilverUnicorn:Exactly why I included Ward Pemberton (Mousin' Around, Riverboat Gambler, Fathom, Gilligan's Island, Dungeons & Dragons, BMX)
Chris
The only Gilligan's Island I ever got to play wasn't working properly but looked like a fun layout. I think I saw D&D briefly at one point and don't remember it well, I'm pretty sure I got to play three or fewer games on it if any.
Hardbody was another one of his that I *did* get to play quite a few games of, and it was a decent design. Not particularly great but not a steaming turd either.
I've yet to play a Steve Ritchie game I don't like at least a little. Most of his designs just sit very well with my style of play, along with just their overall presentation and aesthetics. I have plans to try and make BK2K my very first pin once I can afford to get into collecting, plus my second game ever of T3 was during league play and I managed to get the second highest score out of everyone else, despite the rest of my scores for the night being mediocre to average! : D
As for several other designers who's games I've played, ordered from top of my list to bottom:
2. John Borg - I find this guy's more recent designs far superior to his earlier designs though even his early stuff's not that bad.
3. Pat Lawlor - The only game of his I've played which I don't like at all is Ripley's. Everything else I like at least a little, or in the case of No Good Gofers, a lot. : 3
4. Barry Oursler - Haven't played many of his designs, but the ones I have I enjoyed for sure.
5. George Gomez - Just like with Barry, haven't played many of George's designs, but the couple I have I enjoyed.
6. John Popadiuk - While he hasn't done many designs, many of the ones he has I find mostly fun, save for minor quirks here and there.
7. Dennis Nordman - I find his game designs hit or miss with me.
8. John Trudeau - As with Dennis, I find John's designs hit or miss with me.
9. Mark Ritchie - Oddly, while I thoroughly enjoy Steve's stuff more than anyone else's, Mark's stuff just doesn't appeal to me, though his games are playable for sure.
10. Jon Norris - I've yet to enjoy a Jon Norris game, though admittedly I've only played a few.
Quoted from oldskool1969:No one person is a guru, everyone of them has a hit and a miss.
....
^^^ this!
How about John Buras and Adolf Seitz Jr., who came together to design Black Hole?
John was also the guy behind Buck Rogers and Mars God of War (just going by production numbers here, 2000+ units is enough for me to call it at least a non-flop if not a modest hit).
Quoted from kvan99:Borg all the way for me...he's great, Star Wars, TFTC, JP, LAH, AP13, Twister, Tron, MET he had some great hits.
Quoted from Jeff_PHX_AZ:Borg did Iron Man as well.
Don't forget about GnR, another awesome Borg game.
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