Wedgehead Pinball Podcast

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Bonus Episode of the show coming at you featuring two local portland players and friends who met through the discord for this show, Rob and Miggy! They recorded this episode to tell everybody why they love Pat Lawlor and his 1992 game "The Addams Family" so much.

You can hear the excitement in their voices and no, the playback has not been sped up, they are just naturally that hyped up all the time! Enjoy!

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There's something very different about Stern's latest game, and for really the first time ever on the show, we're breaking from our normal format and covering a brand-new game from the location player and operator's perspective. This feels like a historic moment, and so we're going to talk about the first couple weeks of Pokémon on location and what they did differently with this title and why this feels like it's breathing fresh life into the pinball hobby.

But i...

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In this episode we cover the 20 machines that Gottlieb made from 1982-1985 and discuss all the weird, strange, wacky, and good games and innovative designs that they churned out during the doldrum years of the mid 1980s.

But buckle up, there's adult language throughout.

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Our friend Lisa, a pinball tech at Next Level comes on the show to defend her love for Stern's Austin Powers machine from 2001, and makes sure to state clearly that she does NOT like the movies at all. We read all the bad reviews we could find online and Lisa educates us on why they are all wrong.

But be warned if this is your first time, we do use adult language on the show.

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In this episode Alan sets the record straight on the true greatest game of all time, Dennis Nordman's masterpiece, 1993's Whitewater made by Williams. Listen to us discuss why Whitewater not only excels in all aspects, but why it truly transcends the medium.

Normal disclaimer: We curse when we get excited, and this episode is about the GOAT, so there's some spicy language throughout.

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In this episode we discuss 6 names from the EM era that you should be aware of, two from each of the Big Three of Williams, Bally and Gottlieb. This episode really is a love letter to EM machines, and all the very talented designers of pinball's most popular, but least celebrated era.

But as always, we use some adult language when we get really excited, and this is your warning that we are more hopped up than two fat kids on...

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AJ of Flip a Coin in Colorado is back to discuss the current affairs of operating brand new pinball machines in the year 2026 and beyond. AJ buys lots of new games from Stern, Barrels of Fun, JJP, and CGC and he's here to cut through all the marketing talk and just discuss the business side of buying NIB games and trying to make money with them on route.

As always though, we might swear a bit throughout...

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This episode we explore the period from 1995-1999 when Gary Stern successfully convinced another Japanese arcade game manufacturer to partner with him and rebrand from Data East to Sega for the North American coin-op pinball market.

These games are mostly pretty low production run games, with some clear cost cutting measures in place, and the art packages are pretty uneven too. Many pinheads haven't seen or played these games very much, if at all, but they still seem to get...

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In this episode we are joined on the show by veteran pinball machine mover, casual on location pinball player, and Alex's wife, Megan aka the Watergirl and she is here to give her thoughts on all the 2025 pinball releases from her unique perspective as a non-nerd, and non middle-aged man.

Hear about how the average pinball player views all these games, the results are guaranteed to surprise you.  But as usual, we do swear in the episode...this is your warning.

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This whole episode is Alex trying to describe to the listener why there has never been a good center ramp in a pinball machine, and even the ones that you think are good, aren't actually center ramps (according to him).

As always when discussing niche nerd topics, we speak fluent profanity in the episode.

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For the first and probably only time, we bring you the Wedgehead Podcast Holiday Special! So, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and listen to us as we run down the best holiday games from pinball's past, what to buy for the pinhead in your life, and a good reminder of what this season is really all about: PINBALL!

Warning: We were in the holiday spirit, and the holiday spirit swears sometimes.

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This week's episode has us exploring the history of the ball save in pinball, why it has grown bigger over time, and whether or not it was actually all a big mistake.

But we do curse throughout the show...this is your warning.

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Former guest of the show, and video game designer Paul Michael Melio gave us this bonus episode to share on our channel with the first edition of BEST GAME EVER!

Hear about why Jaws is Paul's favorite game of all time, and maybe why it should be yours as well.

Warning: We must've rubbed off on Paul, because he does curse while he describes his love for Jaws, you have been warned.

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We are back once again, looking back through the decades with the mighty power of Hindsight to accurately give out awards to the best pinball machines that were released in the year 1991!

Unlike network tv awards shows, we do however use occasional adult language. 

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We are discussing the pinball career of legendary pinball designer and mechanical engineer, John Borg.  He worked at Premier, Data East, Sega, and still works at Stern to this day, and we deep dive into his games and what design hallmarks that he is best known for.

As always though, just like John, we don't f*&k around on this show. Curse words are present. 

Career Retrospective Seminar Expo 2024

TOPcast Interview 2008

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Our friend Paul, a video game designer and aspiring pinball designer joins us on the show to defend his DOTH Game: SHAQ ATTAQ! At the time of recording, this is the 8th lowest rated game of all time on the pinside list, and the second lowest rated game that we have covered on the show.

But Paul joined us to set the record straight (with some choice swear words)!

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We're back with a nice culmination episode that pieces together a lot of bits and themes from the last 100+ episodes of the show, and compiled them into a nice and tight episode not only showcasing the importance of community building, but also some actionable advice for how to grow a scene around you, no matter where you live.

But as long-time listeners already know, we swear when we record the show, so this is your warning for sensitive ears.

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Waterboy is back with his own response to the age-old question: what is the greatest pinball machine of all time?

As always with our show, swear words were used in the making of this episode.

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Well... unfortunately sh*t happens. We will be back though, although we don't know if we will ever get to release episode 100 for y'all or not. It was a DOOZIE.

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Alex is bringing y'all a very special episode of the show all about one of the dumbest and yet most discussed aspects of the pinball hobby today, and that's TOPPERS!

Warning: curse words were cursed in the making of this episode.

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This episode is all about the pinball's most important mech, the flipper. We cover the history and evolution of the flipper, discuss how they work, and the differences in flipper feel over the years.

Warning: We manage to discuss some of the science behind electricity while still managing to swear quite a bit.

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In this very special episode of the show, legendary sound designer Chris Granner joins us once again. In the last episode we discussed his career, and his artistic process, but in this episode, we listen to selections from 15 different games and over 50 pieces of his music, and Chris tells us about each one.

Our first episode covered the artist, and this episode covers the art.

Enjoy! But be warned...

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A very special interview with LEGENDARY pinball composer and sound designer Chris Granner. Chris worked at Williams, Capcom, and Stern and his name is credited on the sound packages of more than 40 pinball machines during his career.

He is the man responsible for most of your favorite games, and it was a pleasure to have him on the show.

Be warned though, we do swear on this show.

More Granner Interviews

Chris Granner (2019 Pintastic)<...

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In this episode we talk about the invasive species of multipliers that have invaded the old school bonus multipliers habitat and completely overrun it. Alan discusses why he thinks all games are better without them, and Alex argues why they are good sometimes.

In case you don't know, we swear on the show.

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We're back to honor another year in pinball history, with the Pinball Hindsight Awards of 1985!  This was a major downturn of the industry, but that doesn't mean that there still aren't some great games released this year, and we honor all of them in this episode with some awards given out with the power of hindsight!

This isn't network television, so we do swear on the show.

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This episode is all about the rise and fall of one of pinball's most magnificent and enigmatic designers, Mr. John Popadiuk Jr., sometimes better known as JPOP in pinball nerd circles.  He made a string of some the absolute best games in the 1990s including World Cup Soccer, Theatre of Magic, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Cirqus Voltaire.

But after the closure of Williams' pinball division, and his last production game Star Wars Episode One for the Pinball 2000 platform, the s...

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Join us as we discuss with frequent guest on the show Greg Dunlap to discuss the important role that programmers play in the design and development of pinball machines as we talk about all the many different ways that programmers can influence a player's perception positively or negatively through their work.

But there's some tasteful swearing present throughout.

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This episode features former guest on the show, and dot matrix pinball programmer Greg Dunlap to discuss how Gary Stern ends up surviving TWO pinball extinction events at the turn of the millennium, and then another one at the end of the decade.

This is the only era in pinball's long history where there was only a single manufacturer in business.  Gary made a lot of tough calls and hard decisions to keep pinball alive during this dark age, and contrary t...