1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pat-lawlor-2014_3388.jpg]] |
2 | |
3 | Pat Lawlor is a foremost designer of arcade {{Pinball}} machines. Though he got started in the industry working on video games, he is most famous for his attention-grabbing pinball designs. |
4 | |
5 | A list of Pat Lawlor's games reads like a who's who of popular pinball tables: ''Pinball/BanzaiRun'', ''Pinball/{{Earthshaker}}'', ''Pinball/{{Whirlwind}},'' ''Pinball/{{FunHouse|1990}}'', ''[[Pinball/RedAndTedsRoadShow Red & Ted's Road Show]]'', and ''Pinball/NoGoodGofers'' for Creator/WilliamsElectronics; ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily'', ''Pinball/TwilightZone'', and ''Pinball/SafeCracker'' under the [[Creator/WilliamsElectronics Bally]] label; and (as Pat Lawlor Design) ''Pinball/{{Monopoly}}'', ''Pinball/RollerCoasterTycoon'', ''Pinball/RipleysBelieveItOrNot'', ''Pinball/{{NASCAR}}'', and ''Pinball/FamilyGuy'' for Stern. He had previously predicted the complete demise of pinball manufacturing, but in 2014 joined Creator/JerseyJackPinball to work on a new table titled ''Pinball/DialedIn''. After its release in 2017, he would continue to design games for the company going into the next decade. |
6 | |
7 | Lawlor's games typically introduce gameplay-altering features that are related to the game's theme, such as the spinning discs in ''Whirlwind'' that tossed balls off-course. His pins also have a mix of "vertical" shots (from the bottom of the playfield to the top) and "horizontal" ones (side-to-side, typically with the aid of additional flippers). |
8 | |
9 | [[http://www.patlawlordesign.com His website is here.]] |
10 | |
11 | ---- |
12 | !!His games include: |
13 | |
14 | [[index]] |
15 | * ''Demons and Dragons'' (Bally/Midway, 1982; unreleased) |
16 | * ''Ten Pin Deluxe'' (Bally/Midway, 1984) |
17 | * ''Pinball/BanzaiRun'' (Williams, 1988) |
18 | * ''Pinball/{{Earthshaker}}'' (Williams, 1989) |
19 | * ''Pinball/{{Whirlwind}}'' (Williams, 1990) |
20 | * ''Pinball/{{FunHouse|1990}}'' (Williams, 1990) |
21 | * ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily'' (Bally, 1992) |
22 | * ''Pinball/TwilightZone'' (Bally, 1993) |
23 | * ''Pinball/RedAndTedsRoadShow'' (Williams, 1994) |
24 | * ''Pinball/SafeCracker'' (Bally, 1996) |
25 | * ''Pinball/NoGoodGofers'' (Williams, 1997 - his final table for the company) |
26 | * ''Wizard Blocks'' (Williams, 1999; unreleased - one of two prototypes intended for the ill-fated Pinball 2000 engine) |
27 | * ''Pinball/{{Monopoly}}'' (Stern, 2001) |
28 | * ''Pinball/RollerCoasterTycoon'' (Stern, 2002) |
29 | * ''Pinball/RipleysBelieveItOrNot'' (Stern, 2004) |
30 | * ''Pinball/{{NASCAR}}'' (Stern, 2005) |
31 | ** ''Grand Prix'' |
32 | ** ''Dale Jr.'' |
33 | * ''Pinball/FamilyGuy'' (Stern, 2007) |
34 | ** ''Shrek'' |
35 | * ''Pinball/{{CSI}}'' (Stern, 2008) |
36 | * ''Pinball/DialedIn'' (Jersey Jack, 2017) |
37 | * ''Pinball/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' (Jersey Jack, 2019) |
38 | * ''Pinball/{{Toy Story 4|2022}}'' (Jersey Jack, 2022) |
39 | [[/index]] |
40 | ---- |
41 | !! Tropes frequently appearing in Pat Lawlor's pinballs include: |
42 | |
43 | * AuthorCatchphrase: Nearly all of his pins have some reference to "The Power", either as part of a quote or a playfield element. |
44 | --> [[Pinball/{{Whirlwind}} "Feel The Power of the Wind!"]] |
45 | --> [[Pinball/TheAddamsFamily "Feel The Power..."]] |
46 | --> [[Pinball/TwilightZone "Never underestimate The Power in The Twilight Zone."]] |
47 | --> [[Pinball/NoGoodGofers "I can feel The Power!", "That's all those wires down there!"]] |
48 | --> [[Pinball/{{Monopoly}} "Feel The Power!"]] |
49 | --> [[Pinball/DialedIn "What would you do with The Power?"]] |
50 | * CreatorThumbprint: |
51 | ** The artwork for Lawlor's games include a joystick with a thumb button. It became the company logo for Pat Lawlor Design. |
52 | ** Both ''Pinball/TwilightZone'' and ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily'' have references to "greed", though the former (which was released later) seems to be referencing the latter (whose "greed" reference was an allusion to something in [[Film/TheAddamsFamily the movie it was based on]]). |
53 | * DevelopersForesight: Usually lampshaded with a smart remark. |
54 | * DialogDuringGameplay: Whether it's a single DeadpanSnarker (Rudy from ''Pinball/FunHouse1990''), a pair of characters (Red & Ted from ''[[Pinball/RedAndTedsRoadShow Road Show]]''), or an entire cast of commentators, expect lots of chatter during a Lawlor pin. |
55 | * FetchQuest: Certain bonuses are available only after making a certain number of shots or hitting a target a number of times. |
56 | * SignatureStyle: |
57 | ** The "Bumper Shot", requiring the player to shoot a ball between a set of pop bumpers to hit a crucial target. |
58 | ** There are at least three flippers on a table, with flippers high on the board positioned to hit high-scoring shots. |
59 | ** "Soft plunge" {{Skill Shot}}s. |
60 | ** Dual inlanes on either side of the playfield, usually located above the lower pop bumpers. |
61 | ** A "Million Plus" shot that starts at either one or two million points and increases by 1,000,000 each time it's made. |
62 | ** Spinning discs, flippers, or magnets beneath the board that throw off the ball's trajectory. |
63 | ** A counter for a specific shot, with various rewards for hitting milestones and large scoring bonuses for making the shot once the counter's maxed out at 99. |
64 | ** Thematically-related gimmicks, such as the shaker motor in ''Pinball/{{Earthshaker}}'' that made the entire cabinet shake during the game, and Rudy, the talking doll head in ''Pinball/FunHouse1990''. |
65 | ** A "Ripoff" multiball mode made appearances in ''No Good Gofers'', ''Monopoly'', and ''Ripley's Believe It or Not''. |
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