So does Gofers!

Indeed!

Mudslide would be a great natural disaster game, and this can be the theme song (awesome song by The Darkness)

Of the games I've played of his, I just realized I'm not a big fan. My favorite would be Ripley's and I enjoy Addams but the rest are a little hit and miss. A person has to put serious time on his machines to learn to love them. It was that way for me on Ripley's. Will the game be given that chance? I keep thinking of the Walking Dead and how people gradually learned to like it after giving it hell and hope they are patient when this is release or revealed or whatever...

Guilty.

Whirlwind was and is my favorite game, and I love taf as well. Hell even rct is fun. I'm not a fan of nascar, but to me that team would have to try in order to have a flop. I hope it's affordable so I can buy one, but I'm not holding my breath.

More 'virtual Pinball' is not good IMHO.

Too early. It will be years before anything is materialized and cost will be an even more premium with Pat's name on it. Personally, I am more interested in what Ritchie has planned next. Lawlor had some great games but that was 20+ years ago.

I've got 2 fully paid on preorder. Hope it's a nah just kidding.

I haven't really enjoyed a Pat Lawlor game since No Good Gofers, and even that one pales in comparison to his godlike run of Whirlwind-TZ.

My expectations are low, and that's just regarding the game itself. I have my doubts as to whether or not this game will ever actually see the light of day.

This is an interesting insight into Pat's thinking 15+ years ago. He has had a lot of time to refine his plan and technology has improved by lightyears. If JJP has let Pat off the chain monetarily the combination of all these possibilities could be mind-boggling.

This is a long interview with Pat but it does provide us with a few clues as to what may be coming................................

Version 1.00

This is the Story behind Wizard Blocks, the 3rd Pinball2000, never completed but at least a playable prototype exists at Illinois Pinball...

This story was recorded by Jim Schelberg from Pingame Journal , who recorded it in Summer 2001 after an Interview with Pat Lawlor, the Designer of Wizard Blocks (and many other Pins like Addams Family, Safecracker....). The original story can also be find at Pingame Journal Pages .

09/15/01: Wizard Blocks, A Snapshot In Time -- by Jim Schelberg.

For those of you who have been locked in a bomb shelter for the past few years we offer this introduction. In January 1999, Williams first showed it's new pinball incarnation at the ATEI show in London England. It was dubbed Pinball 2000 and the premier game called Revenge From Mars. Pat Lawlor, along with George Gomez, developed the concept, and George lead the design team creating the sequel to Williams' popular Attack From Mars. Although this first effort was revolutionary in many ways, it was well known that an evolutionary process from game to game was needed for the form to mature. (check out the story of Revenge From Mars in PGJ #62, February, 1999).

Next came John Popadiuk and his Star Wars: Episode One. This second game built on the first as it advanced the use of video graphics and interactive action to a new level. (See the story of that effort in PGJ #68/69, November/December, 1999).

Then came number three. Pat Lawlor, Williams' senior designer and co-creator of the Pin 2000 concept, was given the task of moving forward, keeping what was good and answering the concerns some customers had about the previous two games. It was an exciting time for pinball but there was an undercurrent of danger.

Was Pinball 2000 living up to the expectations of the people with the control? Not the players, not the operators, not the designers. The control was with the "top brass" who were looking at the bottom line. Then came Pinball Expo 99 and the scheduled speech from George Gomez about Pinball 2000. The lecture hall was literally filled to the brim, with many forced to listen from the hallway. George gave a very emotional speech that had everyone there, hobbyist and industry person alike, riveted to each word. Nothing was final. Things were shaky but ok. Pat Lawlor's third game would keep it all going. But two days later, that very next Monday morning, Williams Pinball Division employees came to work to find that their pinball was done. Stopped dead. As of October 25, 1999, Williams Pinball was no more.

What of the Lawlor game? It stopped also. Unfinished, barely playable, this not-yet-a-game sat in storage for the past 20 months. There have been little or no details of this game released ... until now. Gene Cunningham of Bloomington, Illinois recently acquired the one working whitewood along with four additional playfields in various stages of completion. He kindly invited the PinGame Journal to photograph it and some surviving art for presentation here. The following is an interview recently conducted with Pat Lawlor about this game. Pat, along with his "Williams" design team, is currently working on a new game for Stern pinball, but took time out to discuss the idea behind Wizard Blocks, to make some points clear and correct some possible misconceptions people may have about this ill-fated pinball.

Pat Lawlor:

"The basic concept of the game was one where the game play mechanics had you knocking down a little brick or block wall. There had been many video games where that happened. My feeling was that since we were trying to integrate a video into a pinball machine, we'd try to integrate a game mechanic that everybody understood right away. They'd walk up to it and they'd just want to break up parts of the wall. Then I evolved the story line where there were things hidden in the blocks. There was an evil kind of wizard guy who put the stuff in them and it was your job to get it out.

"Some of the blocks just gave you points, some of the blocks had an extra ball, and some of the blocks were actually spell outs. You'd hit different things like B-A-L-L on the blocks if there were four across, and you'd get an extra ball. The idea was that occasionally there was this thing that would drop down called a Wizard Block. The deal was that this evil wizard had put other wizards in these blocks and so when they were freed they appeared on the left side of the game, in that area by the jet bumpers.

"At that point the wizard conjured up a challenge for the player to meet. There were five different kinds of wizards and five different challenges. You saw the jack-in-the-box ... that was from the little kid wizard. He conjured up his own challenge based on what he was ... the kid wizard conjures up an evil jack-in-the-box. It was then up to the player to attempt to defeat the challenge. In the case of the jack-in-the-box, you pounded on him and he exploded. However, that sequence was never completed. It's not done correctly. The jack-in-the-box was to have the ability to do many things; he was to have the ability to fight back. So there were parts of the game that were very unique in that the characters were allowed to attack you. They could do things like actually shoot missiles and then they were able to rebuild themselves.

"That was what you saw, but the game was just a whitewood. It was a minimum of two months away from even going on test. Those internal whitewoods aren't even finished mechanically. There's stuff that isn't even on the game. The game is not complete. The software is not complete. That seems like an insignificant thing to some people, but the game is in such a rough state ... we had barely gotten to the point where we were able to play it ourselves! There were three people working non-stop on video and the stuff you were looking at was maybe 10% of what was gonna be in the game. We has scads of art that was yet to be digitized.

"Not only is the game not done, but the software and artwork was never created. That stuff doesn't exist. The reason I'm saying all this is ... there seems to be some people who believe that if they could just get their hands on the computers that were at Williams, if they could just magically find some drawings of some kind, that they could complete the game. They can't. We were in the process of what we called 'cooking' the game. Most of the stuff never happened. It doesn't exist. There IS none of that.

"The game was being developed and it was killed part way through it's development so what you saw was a tiny little snapshot in time. A time when we were still trying to figure out what was fun. Please tell this to all the people who read your article, in a very clear way, that there was so much yet to be added, much of it people were just thinking about!"

While at Gene's we were shown the color separations for the playfield art. Pat explained that the only reason that part of the art was done was because of the time constraints they were under and had to complete the playfield first. The "seps" must be done by a minimum of six weeks before the playfield can be assembled. There was one feature on the game that was totally unexpected. It was a cool little detail Pat calls rotating domes. They are playfield light assemblies which feature one bulb surrounded by a spinning, slotted shadow box, inside a tinted plastic dome. Each fixture had it's own motor and when it spun it created a very neat flickering light effect. Pat explained that these were actually designed for use on Twilight Zone and they were never put on the game due to lack of money.

"My background out of college is theatre. So a great deal of what you saw on the playfield of Wizard Blocks is using stage lighting to make sure that you could see the jet bumpers and still have a part of the playfield that you were playing the Pin 2000 concept on. There was a great deal of work done on that area in that game to answer some of the early complaints about George's game. But in all fairness to George, we were given no time to turn that into what it really needed to be. Pinball, the way we know it, has taken 50 years to evolve. Pin 2000 was given nine months to evolve into something and then it was killed. You can't do 50 years of evolution in nine months."

Is there any future for Wizard Blocks or Pinball 2000?

"That game (Wizard Blocks) is what it was when we got shut down. But that's all it's ever gonna be. It will never be completed. There is nobody currently who has the wherewithal to pick up and build Pin 2000. The amount of manpower it takes to do it is so astronomical. Here's an example: I now have a normal game team ... an old-time game team ... which means to me that I have a mechanical engineer, a couple of software people, an art ist, a sound and music guy, and a dot matrix artist. That's a core game team that works full time from between nine and twelve months to produce a pinball machine. You take all their salaries and you come up with some number and say this is what it costs me to develop that game.

"A Pin 2000 project immediately doubles that number of people. It becomes a combination video game and pinball machine. It's like taking a Midway game team and coupling it with a pinball game team. You have an immediate increase in overhead and an immediate increase in the technological level it takes you to pull it off. There are people who bandy about this idea that you could somehow just buy the patents and build Pinball 2000. The amount of technical expertise is huge.

"First of all ... you can't build Pin 2000 the way it exists because the electronics that were in the Williams version are no longer available. You couldn't even reproduce them. The board that ran that system was a consumer product that is no longer available. So you can't just take the bill of material and turn on the assembly line. You'd have to re-engineer the whole video portion of how that game works. Could it be done with enough money, sure ... but is a company willing to take all the manpower and the year and a half to start up and do it? My humble estimate of what it would cost you to pick up the project and try to run with it again is a minimum of two million dollars. That get's you the first game to the assembly line."

Ok, but could you take the basic design of Wizard Blocks and build it as a mechanical game with some toy like a stack of blocks that go up and down like the file cabinet from X-Files?

"The answer is 'yes.' But first you'd have to deal with the patents and ownership of the concepts. More importantly, ideas are easy. Everyone you walk up to has a great idea for something that should be in a pinball machine. It could be a theme or concept or whatever.

"The hard part is building it and making it fun. People come up to me all the time at Pinball Expo and tell me they have a great idea for a pinball machine. And they are probably right. It is a good idea. But the hard part is building it. There's a great Larry DeMar quote about this. You are looking at a whitewood with no rules. Larry liked to say, "There's one great game in there, but ninety-nine bad ones."

Almost two years later, how do you feel about Williams and the project?

"The day they walked in and said, 'You're fired,' we moved on. They did what they did because they are a corporation and they do things for monetary reasons. The people in my part of the business love what they do because they get to create things. Any anger would be because we no longer get to do THAT kind of thing. Most everybody moved on happily and everybody did their own thing for their own reason. The one really unfortunate thing that I think Midway learned for itself, is that they took a whole lot of talented people and let them go, instead of finding places for them. It's unfortunate, in my mind, that they didn't find a way to do something with the assets. The company probably could have been sold and continued on. The answer to the question could Pinball 2000 have been made to work can be found in the latest issue of PlayMeter. Look at what game is number one ... it's a Pin 2000 product. And that's a year and a half after we closed.

"However, the current economic reality of things is that ... in order for pinball to survive we must build very good games of the type we are capable of doing now. And so I would hope that everyone would be on that program. Gary (Stern) calls it mechanical action pinball. So for the game that survives, we've got to build the very, very best representation we can ... even with the constraints that come with it. Was Pinball 2000 a great experiment? It was a great experiment. Should it have been given more of a chance? You could argue that all day long. Do the people who worked on it think that it could have been a superior evolutionary product compared to what existed before? Sure, we wouldn't have done it if we didn't think that. Everything else is arguable on a bar stool. The only way to answer that is to find the person with the two million and try it again."

What can you say about your new game for Stern?

"Everyone is all excited because they think we're gonna deliver something like Twilight Zone. That's not the case. What we're working on is going to be a very good representation of what this kind of pinball is capable of being. But the limitations of the current pinball market are such that you can not go out and tool some ungodly devices, you cannot spend the kind of money we were spending in 1992 and 1993 to put things on a playfield. Just can't happen.

"We can not sell enough games to make that possible. So what we have to do is take our best shot at what we are able to do and make it a very fun game and that's hopefully what we are doing. But for all these people who are claiming that what I'm working on is gonna be some ground-breaking tribute to pinball ... it's not gonna happen. Is what we're building gonna be a good game? Yes. Is it gonna be a smooth, fun game? Yes. Is it gonna have three Rudy heads? No. It's not, because in the current marketplace you can not afford to do that."

Do you have any final thoughts about Wizard Blocks?

"That game is what it is. That's how things played out. That's how the world is. That thing is a snapshot in time. A tiny little picture of what was going on at the time that Williams decided to close pinball. For that, it's a little piece of history. Were we trying to do something better? Of course we were trying to do something better. That's what we were paid to do. We're game designers.

"Somebody came to us and said, 'Ok, the first two games did this, can you do it better? That, in effect, is what happened. And that was our job anyway. Our job was to make something better and fun and that's what we were trying to do. To place some kind of intrinsic value on that piece would be wrong. It is what it is and now we move on. The world moves on. Ok, fine, look at it, have fun and then move on." PGJ

Subscribe your own Pingame Journal, to read the storys first from the author.

All things found here are copyrighted by Jim Schelberg and

I own three Lawlor games. I have heard this new game design is incredible.Will be different from the Stern lookalike games that have been coming out recently. I know JJP is working on the Lawlor game as we speak. I think it's great they are waiting for production till the reveal. I'll probably only have seen half of The Hobbits modes by the time the Lawlor game is out.

I think it will be a bad business decision if Jack shows Pat's prototype this year. That may w/draw Hobbit owners that have not gotten their pins yet. I know production is suppose to start on the Hobbit in September but we all know only a hand full will be out by December 2015. Just saying if i like what i see in Pat's game and i do not have the Hobbit, I'M OUT OF THE HOBBIT.

I'm thinking redemption will be involved one way or the other.

° Safecracker had tokens
° JJP games are supposed to have an option for redemption coming soon
° that WoZ coin pusher is like the hottest thing in arcades at the moment
° might be able to break into places pinball games aren't usually found
° everybody loves trinkets

BTW: awesome post, pindome!

I expect it to cost more than I am willing to spend on any pinball machine but look forward to dropping a few quarters in on route.

I'd just be happy if the thing gets finished so we can talk about JJP #4.

Flippers, playfield(s), ramps, two sets of pops

I believe this is correct.

Thanks for sharing pindome. Very interesting.

Besides all the "typical" things, I would like to see in a new machine:

- a mutli-level playfield that has an important meaning to the game.

- multi-ball that is not super easy to get.

- a "plot" to how you have to play the game. Woz has a multi-plot and it makes it much more challenging for the pinball geeks. That is not good though for the single or couple game players. Is this limited game intended for the pinball geek looking for a new 'unique' challenge, or a thoughtless flipper pusher that likes the flashing lights? What's the target pinball player?

- make it very unique that your target player will lust for years.

- think "out of the box".

- how about an interactive hologram (maybe a monster or such) that appears to disrupt play in the upper middle of the playfield when you complete a important task. In reality, the under playfield magnets are doing the disruption as the ball approaches. If you make it past the magnets, you destroy the monster after a few hits and visual injuries. Now that would be real cool! Why not?

Just some wild thoughts ... let me dream.

Counterpoint. I'm not a businessman, but if Pat's game is pretty far along, and JJP will soon have the capacity to manufacture two titles simultaneously, it seems like it would be a smart decision to reveal the 3rd game at Expo. Offer potential buyers what they want, give them choices, and they're likely to buy something. Dutch Pinball will be there, Stern, Spooky... If JJP doesn't reveal Game #3, or make some kind of big splash, that's fine, but some people would then be more inclined to spend their money on something else...

Side shots from upper flippers I always enjoy the side shots on Pat's games that can only be made from the upper flippers.

this is the first I had heard this and WOW I am bummed. This definitely puts a HUGE damper on my enthusiasm for the game. Why is Keith not lead coder for PL game? seems very strange to me.

Not to me; basically Keith is worth is weight in gold at JJP. It would make sense for him to be finishing up hobbit AND to make Keith less of a lynchpin at the whole operation.

If you were Jack, how happy would you be that much of the people who were in on your games were staying in mostly due to the rep of a single team member? If he walks, you're in trouble.

People weren't particularly jazzed about the theme or designer for WoZ, but people handed over fat stacks of cash and waited approximately one presidential election cycle due to faith "Keith would make it right". Jack sold and hyped the game, people stayed in because of Keith.

That, and if JJP wants to be around in a few years they need to make more than one new game every 3-4 years. Even Jack has acknowledged this. It is hard to do that if one guy is the lead of every single game.

I'm actually glad to hear it. Keith is one of the all time great programmers, but he has his way of doing things, and if JJP is all one coder for all their games then you don't get different perspectives. I'd say the same thing about Lyman coding every single Stern game. Mix it up some.

Doesn't mean Hobbit is going to play like WOZ, but if you look at Keith's catalog he has a certain style for sure, across all the titles.

This puts dreams in my head too. I think we all desire a certain euphoria from our machines, and I think that the daydreaming is 90% of pinball, design, play, and repair. Some games seem to give us a little more than that 10% when we play it. I think we are hoping for that machine in the future that the designers will dig in and give us much more than that 10%. And I think we all hope that we will have been there first and can educate the next generation of pinballers on what makes it so amazing.

Maybe PLD can do it

We have no clue what Pat's game will be, no clue...But hopefully it will be epic.!!

NASCAR, Ripleys, and no good gofers all have great flow. The rest of the lawlor games don't in my opinion. I'm not much of a fan.

What are your expectations for Pat's JJP game?

Payment in full for unmade/undelivered Hobbit pins. Not even kidding.

I'd like to see some pop up things to bash like MMR or Hobbit. If the title is decent I'm all in from the first day but I can be foolish at times.

They have to have Keith ready to work on Star Wars when he's done with Hobbit.

Pindome,

Thanks for posting that article, that was a great read. After reading that I realized what what I like best about Pat's game is his ability to create a unique and interesting world under glass. His games designs tend to not follow the status quo and that is what I enjoy best about them. In my opinion modern pinball design has been caught up in too much focus on flow at the sacrifice of unique mechanical devices.

Consumers are spending upwards of $8k-$9k on a pinball machine today. There is no reason why at that price point a pinball machine should not have multiple mechanical toys in it. Where are the power mini playfields, the TZ gumball machine and the Ruddy talking head type toys of today? In my opinion they don't exist due to a ramp, bash toy, or drop target being far cheaper which leads to greater profits for a machine. That's sad. Honestly, one of the only modern pinball machine that reminds me of Pat's older games is WOZ and I'm not saying that as a JJP fan. That games design took risks and a lot of features have been put into it. Same goes with Metallica premium / LE in the toy department. The cross rising out of the playfield and the hammer "smashing" the pinball to be locked under the playfield are examples of mechanical toys that consumers should expect to see in modern pinball machines.

I 100% agree! I love Keith's games, and I love the styles he creates. Some of the most engaging games ever made. But he has tended toward longer playing deep type of games (he does them better than anyone). However sometimes I like to just walk up and have a quick satisfying game.

And don't take that wrong, I'm not saying that Keith couldn't write an amazing shallow game... I'm very sure he could and it would probably be amazing. But it would be like having Mozart writing jingles for a car dealership.

And after saying that, would JJP ever put out a shallow game? My collection is about 50/50 new vs classic games. I really like older games that are based on nothing but score. Hit the target, get points. Light the spinner, and smack it for a big reward.

Good Morning America?

I'd like to hear of new talent working on this with new ideas. Sure, i like reverse flippers mode, but at some point we need young new guys taking pinball into the future. A new playfield toy and lots of modes are fine, but not really innovative.

At least Wizard Blocks was really intriguing and innovative but I can't imagine JJP taking any sort of risk with something like that.

Keith Johnson for deep rules
Ted Estes on a Pat Lawlor game for WIDE rules (ala TZ)

Yeah. I think there is some amount of collaboration too. I mean, I think Ted had a hand in WOZ, and I would think that #3 will re-use some amount of Keith-developed software (especially the platform part). Perhaps Alex has his hands in there too, or maybe he is more on the software test/build/release side. All that aside, I'm starting to have a concern that #3 could be very expensive, in the realm of the ridiculous. Hate to be a downer, but that's one way #3 could turn into a big disappointment for me.

If the Standard is $8500 like WOZ has apparently become then forget it. No number of toys or magnets or lights or anything will get me to pay that much for a base model pin, end of story. These prices are getting freaking ridiculous.

Agreed

For me, Twilight Zone was Pat's greatest game although I like pretty much everything he's designed. Believe It or Not and Funhouse are great games as well. The challenge with an original theme (possibly) is designing a game that will appeal to the broadest audience and bring new people into the world of pinball. Twilight Zone, based on its complexity, did not appeal to the masses as it was difficult to learn/play etc. That fact that its not always mentioned (and should be) when discussing Pat's past design accomplishments is evidence of that as well.

For his new game, I want a game that keeps you coming back. I would like to see a game where the ramps and other selected shots actually transform during the game. Multiple playfields is always fun as well. How about a playfield that is hidden and only emerges during certain modes? I don't mean it appears -- I mean it emerges -- it comes out of the machine or drops down from the back box etc.. I would like a lot of new mechanical innovation rather than video. I do not want a video game but some video interaction triggered by various shots/modes etc.. might not be bad.

Finally, I hope the new one is wide body and breaks new ground, BUT most importantly, retains the traditional pinball game feel.

Can we get all that at a reasonable price? Hmmm -- not sure..

In any case, I have no doubt it will be great and look forward to seeing it and hopefully purchasing it.

Jack's prices are not for a broad audience or those new to pinball.

Agreed. You can't tell some newbie who wants their first game to pay $8500. They'll look at you like you're crazy. I know people are excited about Pat, but let's be honest, no license and that kind of cost means it's for wealthy pinball insiders only.

The Hobbit is my first pin.

Stumbled upon a barcade last year and played TRON - loved it. Was about to order it, but found out about WOZ and that JJP was going to make the hobbit. So I ordered that instead. Before that the last time I played a pinball I was in high school back in 1989. Take that back - I did play Monster Bash around 2001 or so at a putt putt golf center.

Hey, if you can afford it then why not I guess. I'm on the cusp. I make enough money that if I seriously wanted one I could swing it. Not out of my reach. But it would feel like a kind of crazy purchase, it's just so much damn money for a pin. I really wanted TBL too, but I just couldn't do it.

I get it, people don't want to hear anything negative about Pat's game. I'm not trying to badmouth it. But JJP prices just jumped up to $8500 for a standard. That's a huge "JJP tax" compared to the rest of the market. It's hard to see any real sustainable success there. And I'm way biased towards unlicensed pins. I hope Pat's game is great! Just wish it was at least $1000 cheaper.

I don't mind one way or the other on JJP #3. The Hobbit is a good theme for me and after seeing WOZ I took a shot at The Hobbit, and later I played WOZ and felt good about that decision. But to your point, pinball machines are expensive - even if you can 'afford it'. Like my accountant used to say..."it's not the money, we have that - its the price!"

Pinball machines are a pricey toy for those fortunate enough to be able to own one. Sometimes I feel embarrassed about the nice things I own, and this will be another I am sure. But man are they a fun toy to have around.

Aurich, most all of us agree that NIB is expensive BUT you need to also look at the resale of these machines.

Here is the dreaded car analogy ---- Buy a new car drive it three years, how much of the value did you lose? 40%+!

I bought WOZECLE for $6,500 (no tax & no shipping) and have played the hell out of it with ZERO issues. I can probably sell it for what I paid for it and have had an awesome time playing the game. Same probably holds true for The Hobbit at $7,500. So yeah the the upfront cost is high and the preorder ride can be a bit long but to have this much fun playing the game and get my money back or even possibly make a couple bucks is not a bad investment.

Also I may be a bit unusual in that I don't mind the wait, it is interesting to watch the game reveal and entertaining to watch you guys on here get your panties in a wad every time Jack slips the delivery date. The game is taking longer to build than originally projected, those of us that ordered get a better game because of it --- there could be worse things!!

But if the game is fully coded on release, then "the rest of the market" is a couple of boutique manufacturers. JJP can justify the higher price if they deliver a superior product. Personally I'd be much more likely to spend $8500 on a finished product from JJP than $4000 for a work in progress.

I am the same way, money is not an issue but I just find it difficult to purchase one for that amount of cash.
Somewhere in the $4-5k range is really my mental limit I would spend on one machine.

My expectation of Pat's game is it won't be shipping until 2018.