I made a note of a few things that Pat said in that interview back in 2010 which may give us some idea about the direction he could take in designing his new machine.
Here's a summary:
- The template for the rules of a pinball machine (i.e. that you have several modes which need to be completed before you arrive at a wizard mode) has not changed since The Addams Family in 1992. TAF represents the limit of what is understandable for the new player and all games after it (starting with The Twilight Zone) were too complex to draw in new players (they "drove off the cliff", as he puts it).
- There are two directions in which pinball can go:
1. Cater to the enthusiast market - which will keep pinball alive for a while.
2. Revive the product on location by getting pinball to earn again.
- To get pinball to earn again you need to attract new customers, this can be attempted in two ways :
1. Make games simpler, more like they were in the 1980s - Pat doesn't think this is the right approach.
2. Be willing to take a risk and do something different, put some element of technological advancement in the games, "a miniature version of Pinball 2000 or video in a game." (He also said that there are other ways to do the Pinball 2000 trick that don't violate the patent.)
- Theme is more important now than in the past, people won't give the game a chance if they don't like the theme.
- He would like to put the rotating lights which were in Wizard Blocks in a game someday.
- At the end of the interview, when Clay says that he would like to see another Lawlor game made, Pat responds: "Me too, that would be fun...I think we need to shake up what the games do first but, who knows, maybe we'll give it another shot here."
