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Preview of No 1
Special:
ROGER SHARPE
40 page interview
his history his book his pinball designs licensing pinball leagues
how to make
money as a pinball operator
Plus: IFPA - Pinside.com Pacific Pinball Museum and more...
Editorial Welcome to the preview of the very first issue of Pinball Magazine, the new in-depth glossy publication dedicated to pinball. I am Jonathan Joosten and I have been fascinated by pinball ever since I was a young boy. Apart from enjoying playing pinball, I also found myself interested in what was going on behind the scenes. This resulted in my interviewing several pinball industry veterans, the results of which were published in the Dutch Spinner magazine. I even became chief editor of the publication for three years, so producing a magazine is something I am familiar with. Now I have set up this new adventure: Pinball Magazine. Each issue of the magazine will put one pinball topic, person or brand under the spotlight, and Issue One gets the ball rolling with industry legend Roger Sharpe. Pinball runs in Roger’s veins, and he has been deeply involved in the game as a player, author, game designer and marketer and in many other ways too. Roger’s passion for pinball shines out of the feature through his insights and anecdotes, plus he also has some practical suggestions about how (future) operators might put pinball back on the map. Speaking personally, I am fascinated by what Roger has to say; I am sure pinball enthusiasts and operators all over the world will be equally captivated. However, there’s much more to Pinball Magazine than just the main feature. In issue one’s ‘Others about…’ feature, people close to Roger share their experiences working in the industry with him. Other regular features will include visits to the best pinball collections around the world - in Issue One we’ll be taking a look around the Pacific Pinball Museum - and profiles of the people behind the best pinball websites - starting with
the huge online community that is Pinside.com. And there is much more, as you’ll discover in the following pages. This issue offers a sneak preview of some of the many articles available in the full magazine. If you’re interested in reading more, there’s a simple solution: order the magazine at www. pinball-magazine.com! At the time of the publication of this preview, some of the content for the first edition was still being edited. For that reason, the ‘Table of Contents’ section below is only provisional, and some of the example pages shown in this preview magazine may differ slightly from how they appear in Issue One. Each issue of Pinball Magazine will have a minimum of sixtyeight pages, but the first issue is likely to have more: the interview with Roger Sharpe alone may run to more than forty pages. That may sound a little on the long side, but when you read it I’m sure you’ll agree that Roger’s life in pinball easily merits an article of this length. Finally, I want to acknowledge the many people who have helped me get Pinball Magazine off the ground and make it what it is. My very special thanks go out to Roger Sharpe, Ellen Sharpe, Josh and Zach Sharpe, Erik J. Kos, Paul Rubens, Susanne Arnoldussen, Martin Ayub, Jeremy Fleitz and all the other people who have contributed their words, photographs or time to the launch of Pinball Magazine. Thank you all! Jonathan Joosten
Table of Contents Interview with Roger Sharpe
IFPA 2.0
Roger talks about how he got into pinball, his book, his pinball designs, setting up pinball leagues, licensing in pinball, the IFPA, the late Steve Kordek, how to make money as a pinball operator, and much more.
Josh and Zach Sharpe talk about the success of the new International Flipper Pinball Association.
A look inside Pinside.com
Others about Roger
An interview with the founding brothers of what has become the largest online pinball community in the world.
Including contributions by Steve Epstein, Larry DeMar, Greg Freres, Dennis Nordman.
Exploring the Pacific Pinball Museum
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Tour the museum with founder Michael Schiess.
and more
Photo credit: www.SpecialWhenLitmovie.com
Cover story: the Roger Sharpe interview Interview: Jonathan Joosten, special guest-editor: Roger C. Sharpe, copy editor: Paul Rubens
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hen you get the chance to interview a living legend like Roger Sharpe, it can be difficult to focus on a specific topic: Roger has been involved in the pinball industry for over 30 years, on many different levels and in many different roles. As a writer Roger wrote the heavily illustrated book ‘Pinball!’, as well as numerous articles for industry magazines and newspapers including The New York Times. He is also well known for testifying before the New York City Council in 1976 and successfully demonstrating that pinball is a game of skill, not chance. Roger designed several pinball machines for manufacturers including Game Plan, Stern, and Williams, and he founded the Professional Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA) together with Steve Epstein, owner of the legendary Broadway Arcade at that time. He became head of marketing at Williams, where he licensed many themes that subsequently featured on pinball machines (or slot machines.)
This list of his pinball-related achievements just goes on and on. Today Roger is in good health and still active in the coin-up industry. Josh and Zach, his two sons, run WPPR and IFPA, and Roger still follows new developments in the pinball industry.
PM: From the point of view of someone who is interested in pinball, do you feel you have had a pretty good life given all that you have achieved so far? RS: I have no complaints. What is so remarkable to me is that, compared to other people who are in hobby or work in the industry, is that I grew up pinball deprived. I didn’t really discover pinball until I was in college. From that point on pinball has truly become the journey of my life in many respects. That is probably much more astounding to me than many of the accomplishments I’ve achieved. What I have been so fortunate to accomplish were just ‘stops’ along the road and not specific goals that I set out to do, if that makes sense at all.
PM: It does, and again it indicates your journey must have been fun. RS: It was! There was one surprise after another, after each door that was opened and each corner that was turned. PM: Don’t you think that it’s ironic that you grew up in Chicago - where most manufacturers were based - but since pinball was illegal in those days you didn’t play it until you went to college? RS: It would be comparable to growing up in Detroit, Michigan and not knowing automobiles are being built there. When I was very young I had played pinball, (very much as I wrote in my book) standing on a crate, during a vacation in California. I was overwhelmed by it, but then I went back to my day-today life and forgot about it. Until, as was the case in my life, I have an older sister and my parents and I would travel to visit her at the University and there were pinball machines around. So I would play a game while the family was having lunch. Then go back to the real world and there’s no pinball. So it didn’t stay on the radar until I went to college. I went to the University of Wisconsin and there were pinball machines in the local bars, the bowling alley and other places and I found myself mesmerized. Crazy flipping I was a terrible player at that time and had no clue what I was doing. I would just pull back the plunger, shoot the ball up the playfield and start flipping like crazy. Little by little I started to realize I did not have to flip if the ball was not close to the flippers. And then there was another epiphany: if the ball is only on the right side, I only have to flip the right flipper. There were these points of discovery. I was just learning on the job so to speak. The true turning point for me was watching a fraternity brother of mine at a local burger place on campus. I watched him play pinball while he ate his lunch. I had never ever seen anybody cradle a ball on a flipper, did not know that was possible, then aim and do things that obviously had a skill component to it. At that time in Wisconsin, games were set on add-a-ball. It was a five ball game and he got it up to ten balls. When he was down to eight or seven, he did what he needed to do and got the game back up to ten balls while finishing his hamburger, French fries, soft drink and a cigarette. Defining moment At a certain point he turned to me and asked if I wanted to play, as he had to go back to class. I think I drained
all 10 balls before he even left the restaurant. Maybe he got like a block away. But that was a defining moment for me when it comes to pinball. I saw that there was skill definitely involved in playing. I remember I went back to a bowling alley where there was this game, Gottlieb’s Hurdy Gurdy, I used to play all the time and started trying to apply some measure of control and skill. So, again, it was self-teaching and it was something I found remarkable. Eventually I experienced that incredible rush of turning the machine, seeing where my high score was, and then trying to better that and getting to the point where I mastered the game using the techniques I had acquired on other games. Instead of being able to play one game well, it became a situation of being able to play multiple games exceptionally well. PM: So at that point were you constantly on the lookout for new games to play? RS: Well, it’s interesting. In Madison, Wisconsin there were a number of places to play pinball, including the student union, but the turnover of games wasn’t as frequent back then compared to what everyone is used to now. I think there were some machines that were actually in operation for all four years I was in college. I know that there was a new game or two added at the start of a new semester. But I was never on a quest to find new games. I suppose I assumed that whatever was available was it. Pinball famine When I graduated and moved to New York, I was on the lookout for any pinball machines anywhere in the city and I couldn’t find any in arcades that were in midtown Manhattan. So, there I was, having discovered and enjoyed pinball for four years and feasting on the games, to a state of pinball famine. But then one day everything was to change for me and for pinball. I was walking past this store and heard a very distinctive sound— the ringing and chiming of pinball machines. I immediately turned back and entered this adult bookstore where they had pinball machines and I started playing every day after work on my way home. And then one day the games were on their sides and confiscated by the local police. The odd thing was: behind the curtain there were peepshows, but it was the pinball machines that were the object of the police enforcement. I was able to find a store in Greenwich Village that had a few machines and that became a place I visited fairly regularly. But I found myself thinking that ......... Continued in Pinball Magazine
Some more page examples from the Roger Sharpe interview
www.pinball-magazine.com
Larry DeMar Director of Engineering, Pinball Programmer
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hile attending college in the late ‘70s I was as big a pinball enthusiast as the die-hard collectors I enjoy meeting today. At that time the Internet was not being used to compile reference information and there was little other material available about my favorite passion. That is until I discovered a beautiful, colorful book at the Student Center bookstore in 1977. I read every page of ‘Pinball!’ and looked at every picture. Many times. What an amazing thing, that someone was able to interact with all of the industry design groups along with bringing us the history; someone who helped to overturn laws banning pinball (pinball was still illegal in my hometown of Chicago at that time).
We all have a much richer hobby thanks to Roger’s devotion.
In three short years I was working at Williams and my first assignment was to work on a game with Roger and Steve Epstein. The game was called Las Vegas and would be re-themed twice as Jet Orbit and Barracora before it was released. I remember being in awe of working with these pinball legends to such an extent that when we went out to play at Chicago Game Company on Western Avenue I couldn’t make a shot or run up any kind of a score even though I was normally an excellent player. I worked with Roger for over a decade which included Williams/ Bally’s great run in the ‘90s. I regained the ability to play competently in his presence and over the years we have played competitively as well as collaboratively as partners on an IFPA team aptly named “Hittin’ Rubber”. Roger has been a major force in the advancement of competitive pinball including the formation of PAPA and IFPA and of leagues of various styles and flavors. I got to work closely with Roger in his capacity of Director of Licensing on The Addams Family, Twilight Zone and World Cup Soccer. It was a new concept for me to have Roger working on our design team and to be honest, it took some getting used to, having limitations from the brand, voiced through Roger. But I learned from Roger how the brand interaction is about people and relationships and always marveled at how he would resolve our issues and difficulties through his work with the licensors. And now that Roger was participating in the design process in the licensing arena he was able to contribute more directly in other areas of the design. I remember toward the end of The Addams Family development we took a prototype game to LA for the movie premiere and party. Pat and I were really frustrated by Thing’s role in the game which at the time was too frequent and too disconnected from achievement. I vividly remember Roger working with us to ease some tension and help us to work through these issues. The results speak for themselves. Over the years it has become clear what a faithful and untiring ambassador Roger has been for our profession and hobby. As a historian, writer, designer, critic, licensor, regulator, promoter and competition advocate, Roger has always found a place to make pinball a major part of his life and has certainly done it all. This page shows a preview of the ‘Others about Roger’ feature in Pinball Magazine Nr. 1. Want to read the other contributions? Order your copy at www.pinball-magazine.com.
Insert photo credit: PinGameJournal.com
Some more page examples, taken from other articles
<--Interview with Josh and Zach Sharpe, sons of Roger Sharpe, on the International Flipper Pinball Association and how it became so successful.
<--Founder Michael Schiess takes us on a guided tour through the various rooms of the Pacific Pinball Museum and talks about Pacific Pinball Expo.
---> An interview with Robin and Martijn van Mourik, the two Dutch brothers who have been building Pinside.com for the past ten years and have seen their hobby project grow into the largest online community for pinball enthusiasts. www.pinball-magazine.com
NEW PINBALL MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED Martin Ayub
Jonathan Joosten is a man with a mission. As the former Editor of the Dutch Spinner pinball magazine, his mission is to take pinball publications to a hitherto unexplored level and create a true highquality pinball magazine unlike anything seen in the business before. His mission is to create Pinball Magazine. Pinball Magazine will differ from previous publications in two important ways. The first is the content, which will concentrate on a single topic and explore it in depth. Be it an interview with someone notable in the pinball business, the examination of a pinball company or the development of a single machine, Pinball Magazine will give the subject as many pages as are needed to fully cover it. The second difference is in the production values which will result in a Vogue-like quality, with stylish layouts and large, high quality photographs printed on quality glossy paper stock. In addition to each edition’s main subject, there will be regular features such as an editorial column, an update on who is working on what, and a diary of upcoming pinball events. Pinball News spoke exclusively to Editor and Publisher, Jonathan Joosten, and asked him why he chose to enter the pinball magazine business at this time. “I just see an opportunity and I think I have the right amount of energy, enthusiasm and creativity to produce something that people will actually like: a glossy magazine on pinball like not seen before. I came up with a format in which I can combine some of the things I truly like to do: interview the creative minds from the pinball industry and make a magazine. Plus, also important, I think the format will be so different that it won’t be competing with what a magazine like Pingame Journal currently is doing, which I wouldn’t want.”
Pinball Magazine will also break the mould by not requiring readers to sign up to a subscription. Instead, each edition will be published as and when it is ready, and will be sold individually through the publication’s website, or possibly through distributors where that makes commercial and practical sense. Jonathan told us, “I’ve set up a newsletter on the magazine’s website: www.pinball-magazine.com. The online shop will follow soon. The newsletter will inform people when a new issue is due and what it will cover. Then they can decide wether they want to order it or not. The same goes for advertisers. Potential advertisers will receive an e-mail upfront with what the next issue is about. Then they can decide wether they want to advertise in it or not. So, basically it is up to me to find the right topics people want to read about, and the advertisers want to advertise around. I’m pretty confident I can do that, so everybody wins :)” You can keep up-to-date on the latest developements on the magazine’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and Pinball News will have a full interview with Jonathan in the coming weeks as publication of the first edition of Pinball Magazine draws near.
www.pinball-magazine.com