Line #7 Creator/MarkRitchie


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mark-ritchie_963.jpg]]
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3	Mark Ritchie (born August 20, 1958) is an American UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame designer who is best known for his {{Pinball}} games.
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5	Ritchie started off working for Creator/{{Atari}} in 1976 as a game assembler, but was soon transferred to be a production line lead for their pinball division. He was later promoted to prototype specialist in Atari's pinball engineering group, where he learned the business of pinball development. In 1979, Ritchie was hired by Creator/WilliamsElectronics as a prototype specialist; his first original commercial pinball game was ''Pinball/{{Sorcerer}}'', released in 1985. Ritchie went on to develop a dozen games for Williams, including pinballs like ''Pinball/{{Taxi}}, Pinball/FishTales, Pinball/{{Diner}},'' and ''[[Pinball/IndianaJonesThePinballAdventure Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure,]]'' as well as two baseball "pitch-and-bat" novelty games.
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7	Mark Ritchie left Williams in 1993 to join Creator/{{Capcom}}'s new pinball division, where he led the development of five pinball tables. Williams sued, claiming Ritchie violated his contract's non-competitive clause, but the case dragged on for years and was rendered moot when Capcom closed its pinball division in 1996. Ritchie then started his own game design firm, Ritchie Design, Ltd., and joined Incredible Technologies a year later, where he produced ''VideoGame/BigBuckHunter'' and a DigitalPinballTable based on ''Orange County Choppers''.
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9	Today, Mark Ritchie works at Raw Thrills/[=PlayMechanix=], the arcade game company led by Creator/EugeneJarvis. He currently works as a producer and production coordinator, and is involved in developing numerous coin-operated games. Oh, and he is the younger brother of fellow pinball designer Creator/SteveRitchie.
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12	!!Games designed by Mark Ritchie include:
13	[[index]]
14	* ''Pinball/{{Firepower}} II'' (Williams, 1983)
15	* ''Pinball/{{Sorcerer}}'' (Williams, 1985)
16	* ''Road Kings'' (Williams, 1986)
17	* ''Pinball/BigGuns'' (Williams, 1987)
18	* ''Pinball/{{Taxi}}'' (Williams, 1988)
19	* ''Pinball/PoliceForce'' (Williams, 1989)
20	* ''Pinball/{{Diner}}'' (Williams, 1990)
21	* ''Pinball/FishTales'' (Williams, 1992)
22	* ''Pinball/IndianaJonesThePinballAdventure'' (Williams, 1993)
23	* ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}}'' (Capcom, 1996; unreleased)
24	* ''VideoGame/BigBuckHunter'' (Incredible Technologies, 2000)
25	* ''[[Series/AmericanChopper Orange County Choppers]]'' (Incredible Technologies, 2005, prototype)
26	* ''Pinball/PulpFiction'' (Play Mechaniz/Chicago Gaming Company, 2023)
27	[[/index]]
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29	!!Tropes frequently appearing in Mark Ritchie's works include:
30	* AuthorAppeal: ''Fish Tales'', ''Diner'', and the pitch-and-bat games came out of Mark's own hobbies and interests -- namely, fishing, American nostalgia, and baseball.
31	%%* {{Combo}}s
32	* SignatureStyle: Mark Ritchie's pins tend to have:
33	** A fondness for crisscrossing ramps (see ''Pinball/{{Taxi}}, Fish Tales,'' and ''Diner'').
34	** Long shots from the lower flippers to the top of the playfield.
35	** Gradually escalating rules.
36	** [[TimedMission Timed modes and jackpot shots,]] where the player has to light a target and then shoot it in a few seconds to collect.
37	** Multiple ways to win a game.
38	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Mark created ''Pinball/{{Sorcerer}}'' as a second-anniversary gift to his wife Trudy, who enjoys FantasyLiterature, particularly ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.

Context Creator / MarkRitchie