No, I still love UK and pretty much hate the NFL.

Welcome Barry and Barry to AP! Good luck to you both. Honestly wishing the best for both of you and AP! I for one like American Pinball. Have they reached Godzilla level of game design and playability? No, but man they keep moving in that direction. I have played all their titles and while I have no interest in Vikings or whatever, that damn Legends of Valhalla game keeps pulling me back. I can hear that dude's voice in my head... WAR!

I wish you the best of luck! Welcome back to AP! Such a GREAT company!

Once a wildcat, always a wildcat. These colors don’t run.

It sucks working in the customer service department of a company that will not let you actually provide customer service
I would probably stop answering the phone and emails also

It will never happen and I know it would be career suicide, but it would be great if we got the truth from barry. Man, the stories he could probably tell would light pinside on fire.

Just someone else's gossip and drama. It happens in any company, hardly set the world on fire news.

The made some TV shows out of it, like Friends, and Seinfeld (not to mention the aussie classic The Office).

Sure, he announces on Tuesday hes leaving, TWIP runs a story on sunday hes back at American, im sure there’s nothing to it.

My apologies if you thought i'd said there's nothing to it. I wasn't trying to dismiss your interest in their private politics.

I was merely saying that the same dramas play out in offices all over the world everyday and i am no more interested in this one than any other.

If you think those mini he said, she said holds importance, get into it.

I agree totally but this month I'm making an acception. Who dey! Tampa then Cincinnati.

Crickets...

My distributor has inform me of a march/april date, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic about that.

Hmmmm that lines up nicely with maybe an announcement/reveal at TPF this year?

Jeff Teolis let me know that Barry Oursler will be on Pinball Profile podcast this Thursday.

37535CFE-22ED-4CF9-894F-0C15121EABCF (resized).jpeg

Sad news

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rip-barry-oursler

https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2022/02/22/barry-oursler-dies/

Pinball designer Barry Oursler has died.
Barry had recently started working for American Pinball as a game designer, having previously been employed at Deeproot Pinball.

He is understood to have been undergoing treatment for cancer and died yesterday as a result of complications. Barry had a long and illustrious career designing pinballs for Williams, starting in 1978 with his first game, Phoenix and ending in 1996 with Junkyard. In-between he designed many landmark titles including Gorgar, the first speaking game, Space Shuttle – widely credited with saving the pinball business in the mid-’80s – as well as the Comet-Cyclone-Hurricane trilogy based on rides at the Riverview amusement park in Chicago, and Pinbot which also went on to spawn two sequels.
Barry quickly developed a reputation for speed and flexibility in his work.

He could rapidly create game designs, always had numerous design ideas in his head, and often collaborated with other designers and artists to help complete their projects, most notably working with Python Anghelo on titles such as Jokerz!, Bad Cats and Popeye Saves The Earth.
After leaving Williams, Barry moved to Betson as a Purchasing Manager before spending time working remotely on game designs at Heighway Pinball. He came to the UK to visit the factory in 2014 and be the special guest at the UK Pinball Party where he was inducted into the UK Pinball Group Hall of Fame.

It was also in 2014 that Barry made an appeal to the pinball community for help paying medical bills. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer in February 2013, while his wife, Donna, was suffering from kidney failure. His initial target of $20,000 was quickly achieved, with the total of the donations reaching $33,718 by the end of the fundraiser.

When Deeproot Pinball began their operation in San Antonio, Barry was one of the four game designers at the company alongside John Popadiuk, Dennis Nordman and Jon Norris.

He remained there until the company ceased operations at the end of 2021, before taking up his recent position working on game designs at American Pinball.

We are expecting an official announcement with more details from American Pinball shortly and will bring that to you as soon as we have it.

Was this already recorded?
Curious if this is his last interview?
Sad news.
Was really looking forward to him doing an AP game.

Jeff Teolis sent me a message : “His wife asked that I release our Pinball Profile ep. I'm going to add to it with update. But it will happen.”

Hopefully we’ll hear from Jeff soon. He does such great work with Pinball Profile

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pinballprofile/permalink/2045948812250728/
9D7653F1-01DD-412F-B9C0-BA9C1AF6B6E8 (resized).jpeg

https://www.knapparcade.org/post/rest-in-peace-barry-oursler?fbclid=IwAR1eiOq8GJyOgCV2QgArp_eB6hFPiFxEyOjHeWbUGEvI2AEJWZBfEbHEdQM

"American Pinball Lost a Good Friend

American Pinball and Aimtron Corporation are saddened to announce the passing of legendary game designer, Barry Oursler at the age of 70. Barry designed more than 40 pinball games over his long and illustrious 40-plus year pinball career. Among them, his Space Shuttle game released in 1984 is said by many to have saved and revitalized the pinball industry.

“I was looking forward to designing new games and new mechs with you. I had a wonderful time working on all your games.” – Zofia Ryan

“I will always remember Barry’s brilliant, dry sense of humor, and always having me in stitches.” – Jack Haeger

“I was looking forward to him coming to American Pinball to work with him and enjoying all of the good cooking that Barry made.” – Dennis Nordman

“What can one say about one of the true pinball design masters of the past forty years. Barry established himself as not just a creative talent but a genuinely humble individual who never sought the outside accolades but rather the internal contentment of what he was achieving. From the first time we worked together with Phoenix and Barracora to many subsequent projects, Barry remained a very special coworker and friend. I will miss him dearly but know his legacy will endure forever.” – Roger Sharpe

Those who have had the honor of working with Barry know of his dedication, his efficiency, his kindness and great enthusiasm for pinball and its players. His games are easy to understand, fun to play, and difficult to master, the perfect combination that earned him admirers from all over the pinball world.

“Barry’s game, Space Shuttle, was my introduction to the pinball world. It was a privilege and an honor to work with him as a new member of the pinball industry and then again here at American Pinball.” – Steven Bowden

“Barry has always come across as a gentle giant. He was a guy I was happy to bring on to American Pinball. I am greatly saddened for his family.” – David Fix

“I will always miss Barry for his soft spoken nature and his support of Pinball Expo since day one.” – Rob Berk, Pinball Expo

“Barry was a great friend and an early mentor for me in the Pinball biz. We spent 15 years working together at Williams. Barry was always willing to help me out with anything I needed while cutting my teeth in Pinball design. He was also a really fun guy. We made friends almost immediately. He had a sharp mind for humor and would jab me with practical jokery from time to time. I have nothing but fond memories of our time together.

Barry had a heart of gold and was a good man. I had the pleasure of working on a game with Barry -- that game was Police Force. We would jokingly lament together regarding Python's crazy ways during development. It was a great experience and I am thankful to have had that opportunity.

There were so many good times over the years. Suffice it to say – Great Friend, great person, and I shall miss him a great deal. Rest In Peace, my friend.” – Mark Ritchie

“It saddens me that we lost one of the good guys. He was known as a prankster on some occasions and possibly playing with fireworks in the offices. A great designer and a good friend. He will be sadly missed.” – Ken Fedesna

“It was a great privilege to host him at the UK Pinball Show and to have him speak at the banquet about his amazing career in gaming.” – Gary Flower - UK

Our deepest condolences go out to his family, many friends and the pinball community. He will be truly missed."

https://projectpinball.rallyup.com/slightlyused-great-condition-oktoberfest-pinballmachineraffle/Campaign/Details?fbclid=IwAR0UGvpdl7EesftMyi7h7kvSPiOT2PBa5_dXGWW4j9w06DAeUxGe0ArEkzE

Oktoberfest raffle

42E003D8-33E3-48E4-99E3-EC7F80650556 (resized).jpeg

I just brought home the latest edition from API. The quality of these machines are superb and the latest is exceptionally beautiful. The mirrored backglass on LOV is a sight to behold. I already told my distributor to put me down for their next release. Thank you API for making some of the best machines in the business.

20220223_210433 (resized).jpg

The entire API collection, very impressive!

Jeff Teolis has his interview with Barry Oursler up now.

https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-337-thank-you-barry-oursler/

Also if you’d like to help with the family’s medical bills, you can contribute to the go fund me.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/barry-oursler-memorial-fund

D2C37E12-FDA6-4730-9BD8-63E85C3FD675 (resized).jpeg

This is a great interview and completely worth the time to listen, though it did make me quite sad knowing that Barry passed so soon after recording this. Some interesting tidbits relevant to this topic is that he had two games he was working on for A.P., the first is / was a retro-style game with a simplified layout as this is the direction A.P. wanted to go, his second one sounds like it is / was loaded "with everything in it". Let's all hope that at least one of these games gets produced by A.P. in his honor and for our enjoyment. R.I.P Barry.

If AP do go ahead with the production of one of Barry’s games, they could have them numbered with the Barry Oursler memorial plaque…..just a thought.

I still think Assassins' Creed would suit AP down to the ground for their next pinball. It could be a massive mode based game with missions and escape hurry ups.

Let's have something at least slightly relevant to today.

Vikings are relevant

Legends of Valhalla is such a great shooting pin. The flow is tremendous.

Popular in Denmark last time i was there.

Big bastards walking through Tivoli Gardens with axes over their shoulders.

It was 30 years ago, but i bet they still do it.

It would be kinda funny if *American* Pinball brought us the first anime themed pin.

(there hasn't been an anime pin yet has there? - me, a n00b )

I'm a middle school teacher, and I swear 75% of the kids are maaaaassive anime fans. They're decades from being old enough to buy for their own home use, but with a Demon Slayer or My Hero Academia game I think you would need a funnel to catch all the quarters pouring in at a family friendly location.

Anime. That's cartoon pornography right?

Bahaha, frequently

Is AP going to the Texas show? Hoping they reveal something soon. I really like their quality and customer service. Hot wheels was a really fun pin for us. it scares me in this market that dealers haven’t sold out the 500 Lov LEs and the ones on the used market for around 8k are sitting. I’m hoping they have an awesome hit on their next release

From looking at the game list for TPF on the website, it would appear that AP will be showing all of their games at the show. I would expect them to have a strong presence there. It's great how accessable these guys are at shows... always can talk to them and get good info from them out on the floor.

American Pinball will be at the AMOA show in Las Vegas booth 1448.

67BC61F3-9294-47AA-8AF3-A9B89C810DAC (resized).jpeg

50E12FAF-0DF5-4FE7-BC45-0EF66469BDF1 (resized).jpeg

I would be shocked if they announced anything. They’re really behind on LoV and despite that some dealers might have open slots, the truth is AP is still filling those sold. They appear to be building HW and OF still which is strange to me considering the new one is so behind but perhaps specific parts are the issue.

Hoping they can catch up and get back on track soon!

That’s good they sold most of them it sounds like.

I know we are all chomping at the bit to hear about their next pin, but I agree with you, there needs to be more exposure to the existing titles.

I'd love to see AP on location more. When I was looking to buy Hot Wheels I had to drive almost an hour to find one. With things opening up a bit more I'd love to see them be more aggressive. That, and hook up with some top streamers to show off their pins. I think that would make for a solid marketing strategy for when they can scale manufacturing.

Agreed here. I ordered my LOV back in October and my distro still has no idea when I will be getting it. They need to deliver on all of their LoV’s before announcing anything new.

I think it's great that so many of their games are unlicensed themes, and their one that is licensed is off the beaten movie/tv show path. I would love to see AP have a mega hit with an original theme. I'm a massive Star Wars fan, and Marvel is ok, but for whatever reason I just feel more appreciation for games with original themes.

I’m ok with either but I want them to succeed. I have bought a couple AP pins and they build some great pins and seem like great people

Man I could sure see myself excelling in the “Final Game Tester” position.

Note to self: win lottery so having a high income is no longer necessary so I can work just for fun…

Are there any rumors floating around about the next ap title?

Steven Bowden informed me that he and the team will be at TPF. American Pinball will have all 4 games available for play. Houdini, Oktoberfest, Hot Wheels and Legend of Vahalla- hope everyone has fun

Honestly at this point, and this goes for all the manufactures I would not blame any of them, and might be a smart move to say, due to all the current issues, supplies, parts, war, Covid etc. we are focusing this year on all the current games and on software updates to give everyone the best we can offer.

Update from TPF - from Knapp Arcade

https://www.knapparcade.org/post/american-pinball-announces-artist-for-next-game-production-schedule-more?fbclid=IwAR3U8m9wwtw9_r3GWeTUJ1q5HU8oLHxFxgqTrKEBEZILI8c3IMxbwRrQHxg
E03D5508-1856-490F-9925-67F412ACE78A (resized).jpeg