Line #40 Creator/PatLawlor


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pat-lawlor-2014_3388.jpg]]
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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.
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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.
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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).
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9	[[http://www.patlawlordesign.com His website is here.]]
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11	----
12	!!His games include:
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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:
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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''.

Context Creator / PatLawlor