Yeah I'm not following you there

Edit the name then - and then the poll would make sense. IE "Best Pinball Designers this century"

The Lawlor

Please add Oursler to the poll. He deserves to be on there.

Honestly how do you forget Barry Oursler? Titles like Bram stoker's dracula, junk yard, jackbot, pinbot, bad cats, comet, cyclone, dirty harry, gorgar, space shuttle just to name a few. Please add him to the poll

Lawlor. No question.

With Ritchie, I feel like I respect his abilities as a designer and his body of work a lot more than I actually ever enjoy playing one of his games. High Speed was probably the first game that really made me ignore the arcade machines I grew up with, but Lawlor's games were always more fun to play, and that continues to this day. Far superior theme integration as well (which has been noted).

The others have had their moments here and there, but have never been as consistent as the big two. Elwin shows promise, but I think its way too early in his career (and too recent) to claim favorites with him.

Trudeau had a lot of cool layouts back in the day.

Barry Oursler. I own 12 games of which 4 are Barry's: BSD, DH, DrWho and Pinbot (Pinbot I think is ok, but that isn't my favorite but I really like the other 3).

Best talent: Keith Elwin and Eric Meunier.
Pat Lawler games shoot well and have some interesting shots a lot of the time.
I'm in the minority that likes the layout of Ghostbusters. WWE not so much, but I do like a lot of other Trudeau games.
Dennis Nordman has some great games. So does George Gomez. So do almost all the others as well!
Hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to chose one, he wouldn't be on the list (Barry)

The thing about Trudeau's games that I like is generally he has a unique layout and also he is one of the very best to incorporate the theme of the pinball machine into his game. Creech is one of my all time favorite pins. And while his 80s output didn't have a lot of toys or mechs and the rules are super primitive by today's standards I really enjoy playing all those games. They shoot fantastic and are just great fun to be had. I look forward to moving to a new house with lots more room so I can collect his 80s gottlieb games.

Steve Ritchie the themes can feel interchangeable and just tacked on for some of his games. He does have some games of course where he just kills it on theme integration. But, what's funny is I listened to an interview with Python Angelo and he claims(not too certain I believed everything he said) Ritchie was against toys in the playfield and he didn't like the spinning lights topper gimmick. So I think it was just maybe his idea of what should be in a pinball machine might be why I feel his theme integration isn't the best. He's more focused on the shots and the layout and the kinetic interaction.
I don't think Trudeau's have the flow or smoothness that a Ritchie or Lawlor game has.

But, with Pat Lawlor he reuses a lot of his core ideas and layouts and just flips them around. I'm not saying that is a bad thing. Just a lot of his classic games have similar shots and layouts. Fun House is one of my all time favorite pins, and I love Addams Family, and Whirlwind, and while I don't like the theme of Dialed In the game is amazing. So while yes there are recycled elements game to game, you can't fault a person for having a style. And he has a lot of amazing games and they each play different.

To me those are probably my favorite 3. But, I'm looking forward to the future for what Elwin will create. And I think Scott D is one to watch as well. I know Scott D claims to be done making pinball machines. But, I'm hoping he'll keep making them going forward. I don't own a TNA yet. But, I hope to get one.

Eric Hadley has been and will always be my favorite pinball designer, hands down.

It's too bad so many of his whitewoods did not see the light of day due to timing of or market acceptance.

Yeah but he's a big PEDOPHILE and don't get me started on flipper gap.

Liked my Borg games, fair pins for a casual player like me. But none of them stayed long time.

Had some Lawlor and Gomez Pins and was never disappointed.

But the pins i love are ALL designed by Steve.

Actually have AC/DC and SW.

Miss my GoT,
want next a BKSoR,
the pin which hooked me to pinball hobby is T2,
the pin i best remember when i was young is BK.

So, after owning nearly fifty pins (not at the same time lol), i have a clear view who designs pins which give me good times.

SR

Not sure if he had the illness 30 plus years ago.

When someone commits a crime, it does not immediately erase that person's lifelong accomplishments. You can hate a person and love their art.

My favorite designers and my favorite games by them:

1) Pat Lawlor: Twilight Zone
2) George Gomez: Monster Bash
3) Steve Ritchie: No Fear: Dangerous Sports
4) Brian Eddy: Attack from Mars
5) J. Pop: Cirqus Voltaire

Honorable Mentions: Dennis Nordman, Mark Ritchie, John Trudeau, Joe Kaminkow, Joe Balcer

I like them all. After some thought I voted for Lawlor for "all time favorite". Not that I'm a huge fan of newer Lawlor titles, but thinking about the classics... Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Funhouse, Earthshaker, Whirlwind...

Qbert's Quest

I have played that game more than a couple of times. Its at the Galloping Ghost pinball. Which is about a 45-50 minute drive from where I live. Its unique, and its fun for a couple of minutes. Interesting rules, but that one gets boring.

And its quite expensive. So that is one I'll never own. That and Spirit. Spirit looks amazing, and is a nice shooter too. But, no thank you on the price. Just too expensive. I've been looking at a lot of online videos for Genesis and I kind of want one. That game looks fun!

I have 2 Gomez games and love them! Steve Richie has done a bunch of games I would like to own as well.
The new blood is Killing it too! Scott,Kieth,Eric, future is very promising! Can’t wait to see what is in the works,also sorry I missed out on a couple new machines.
Voted Gomez but this is a tough call,may change on a different day.

Barry Oursler

You can't catch it like the Flu. I can assure you he WAS a Pedo 30 years ago. I worked with child sex crime cases for 8 years. He was born this way, or in rare cases, was abused as a child and lives out those memories by doing it to other kids. In both cases, he has been this way his entire adult life at the least.