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Getting the ball rolling

By BREANNA HANLEY bhanley@lockhaven.com 9 min read

There's something new in the Haven!

Recently, LSS Amusements owner Alexander Di Costanzo purchased a few pinball machines produced by a company called Stern Pinball, Inc.

Di Costanzo has placed two of these machines in Two Maidens Cafe and Tea Room and one in the back room of The Express.

"Pinball machines are a beautiful marriage of a physical dexterity game and video games," said Di Costanzo.

The games featured at Two Maidens Cafe and Tea Room are Deadpool and D&D themed -- each one having the ability to connect to your Stern Insider account through a QR code on your phone.

"I chose Stern for the machines that I have on location because I think they carry the most popular and fun IPs and I really enjoy their Stern Insider Connected system. You can log into your account on each machine, track your scores and where you've been playing. A lot of the newer games have an innovative feature that lets you save your progress," said Di Costanzo.

Stern Pinball, Inc. ("SPI") is the oldest and largest designer and manufacturer of arcade-quality pinball games. The company traces its lineage to the early 1930s and the founding of modern pinball, offering a full line of commercial and consumer pinball games, merchandise, parts and accessories around the globe.

"I think their machines offer a really fun experience at a very reasonable price point, which makes it easier to put them on location," said Di Costanzo.

"Most people, when they think about pinball, have a certain vision of older machines, where newer machines nowadays have a depth of code and gameplay in the games that would surprise a lot of people," said Di Costanzo.

The Express had the opportunity to interview both Keith Elwin, Game Designer at Stern Pinball, and George Gomez, Chief Creative Officer at Stern Pinball.

There has been a resurgence in pinball over the past few decades, with more and more machines cropping up in bars or arcades.

"We have worked very hard to drive a renaissance in pinball by updating the game with modern technologies like Insider Connected, by creating community events like the Stern Army launch parties that allow players to discover new games and by selecting themes that are culturally relevant to a varied player base," said Gomez.

"Much of our entertainment today is based on video screens of one sort or another, but pinball is distinct because it is a physical and visceral experience that engages a player emotionally, mentally and physically. Yes, we also have a screen but it is peripheral, the main event is under the glass," said Gomez.

The pinball machines you see today have the spirit of the old machines, while also upgrading to an innovative gaming experience.

"Pinball through the ages has always leveraged the state of the art in technology. The transformation to our current state began with the adoption of microprocessors in the early '70's. These computers and the associated evolution of displays and sensors have transformed the game," explained Gomez, "Our toys now have greater ability to transform and animate, again due to the application of modern computer controlled motor technology. The things a player feels are enabled by the combination of choreographed elements."

Gomez explained to The Express how the games are designed through multi-disciplinary teams that consist of many talents -- including designers, software developers, mechanical and electrical engineers, sound designers and composers, sculptors, illustrators, motion graphics artists and technicians.

"All of the members of a team collaborate creatively and technically to achieve the vision and make the game fun. The best games integrate the theme cohesively across all of the elements of the game," said Gomez.

"We try to select themes that have broad appeal with elements that lend themselves to creating entertaining events, toys and stories. It's very important that the development teams are passionate about the themes that they work on. We try to match people with themes that they are excited to work on," he continued.

Elwin is a six time Professional and Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA) World Champion and a former world #1 ranked player.

"I have been playing pinball for almost 50 years and was on the tournament circuit for a long time. Ever since I was a kid I would build kinetic ball games and ball maze type devices in the garage growing up," said Elwin, "After playing pinball for many years I wanted to try to make my own game. Next thing I know Stern is knocking on my door."

His first machine was "Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast" followed by "Jurassic Park," "Avengers: Infinity Quest," and the critically acclaimed "Godzilla."

"Avengers: Infinity Quest" was the first pinball machine Di Constanzo ever purchased, and is one of his favorites to play.

His "Godzilla" machine is widely regarded by critics to be one of the best pinball machines ever made -- and is the one currently located in the back room of The Express.

"For Godzilla specifically when I was informed I was doing this game I started with coming up with a collapsing building. I made a working prototype out of foam core and business cards to get an idea of how it will work and where to place it on the playfield," said Elwin.

The game has blinking lights and sounds that are typical to pinball machines, but with an added element of complexity using the screen above the playing field.

The Express' General Manager and resident Godzilla enthusiast, Jordan McCloskey, spent time compiling information about the cutscenes that show on the screen.

According to him, all of the cutscene footage comes from a combination of the first 15 Godzilla films, which is often referred to as the "Showa Era" starting with "Godzilla" (1954) and ending with "Terror of Mechagodzilla" (1975) -- though he also noted the machine doesn't have any cutscenes from "Godzilla Raids Again" (1955) or "King Kong vs Godzilla" (1962).

There are five main enemies and two additional enemies to defeat during the game, including Ebirah ("Ebirah, Horror of the Deep"), Titanosaurus ("Terror of Mechagodzilla"), Gigan ("Godzilla vs Gigan"), Megalon ("Godzilla vs Megalon") and King Ghidorah ("Invasion of Astro-Monster") and bonus enemies Hedorah ("Godzilla vs Hedorah") and Mechagodzilla ("Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla").

You can also unlock allies Mothra ("Mothra vs Godzilla"), Rodan ("Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster") and Anguirus ("Godzilla vs Gigan") to help you rack up points.

"The teams first immerse themselves in the theme and they begin to brainstorm key elements of the game which includes defining the story, art, game progression elements and rules, toys and the playfield. Integration of the art begins with rough concepts that illustrate the feel of the game. To this end Backglasses and cabinet concepts happen early in terms of style, composition and palettes," Gomez said.

Elwin also commented on his part of this process.

"Once (I watch or read), I will try to figure out what kind of cool mechanical devices will translate well into the pinball world. From there I will design a physical layout around those mechanical "toys" then design a ruleset for the whole game," said Elwin.

Elwin works with the sound engineers as they send a suite of sounds they think will work with the game.

"From there we will trim them down and assign them to certain targets or events that happen in the game. It's pretty common to take two or three passes on the sounds to get them just right," he said.

The sound design for the game plays a huge role in setting the theme and creating feedback for the player, according to Gomez.

"Games are all about feedback. The choreography of sounds, lights, video display events and mechanical actions is the key to providing feedback to the player. This is similar to creating a soundtrack for a film, where the story and visuals are reinforced by the music, sounds and dialog," said Gomez.

Gomez expanded on the creation of the playfield art, "(It) is a very unique challenge because it has to communicate information about the game to the player and it has to fit in with the architecture of the playfield and, of course, illustrate the theme. It is the most difficult thing that the illustrators work on."

The individual components of the games have been upgraded over the years from the simple designs to more complex systems.

"The ball moves faster due to more powerful flippers which in turn are possible due to the ability of the electronics to provide software control of the electromagnets by duty cycling them. More powerful flippers enabled more complex ramp architecture," said Gomez.

"All of our games are built with a lot of love and passion for entertainment. The prime directive is creating fun, state of the art pinball; that's what you can expect," Gomez continued.

For anyone interested in creating your own pinball machine, Elwin encourages you to find like-minded individuals.

"I recommend finding people in your area with a common interest in making a game. Trying to do the whole thing yourself would be tedious. Having a team is great motivation and the more people you can bounce ideas off the better!" he said.

Gomez suggested interested parties should locate an old machine that still works and strip the playfield.

"(I would) begin constructing the design out of simple materials. Physical exploration and iteration is the only thing that will allow a designer to get to something great. I might go as far as retheming the game around the rules of the sacrificial game by moving light and switches to correspond with the new design," he said.

For those who might be interested in trying out these state of the art machines, they can be found at Two Maidens Cafe and Tea Room. Two Maidens is open Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 12 to 7 p.m. but is closed Sunday and Monday.

"I hope that bringing these machines here will instill the same love of pinball I have in the rest of the community," said Di Costanzo, encouraging everyone to try the games out at Two Maidens Cafe and Tea Room.

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