Lawlor vs Ritchie (Steel Cage Match)

[Nightwing]

Lawlor's pins I like slightly better than Ritchie's so he gets my vote.
I love both though.

 

[The loafer]

I don't know if I can pick between the two of them, I guess it depends on what I want to play.

A note about Ritchie: I never see his tables as focusing on speed, but rather on flow which then leads to speed. The greatest part of pinball is the flipper shot because that is the one part of the game where you are in control; good or bad it's all up to the player. So I guess Steve has this incredible desire to bring that ball back to the flipper ASAP so you can keep making good shots or bad shots, and that's where having good flow comes into play.

 

[Dedpop]

I don't know if I can pick between the two of them, I guess it depends on what I want to play.

A note about Ritchie: I never see his tables as focusing on speed, but rather on flow which then leads to speed. The greatest part of pinball is the flipper shot because that is the one part of the game where you are in control; good or bad it's all up to the player. So I guess Steve has this incredible desire to bring that ball back to the flipper ASAP so you can keep making good shots or bad shots, and that's where having good flow comes into play.

 

[kinggo]

lawlor........... except that crap called safe cracker.

 

[neglectoid]

Look again.

ah, I didnt recognize him with the haircut.

 

[EccentricFlower]

Somebody help me, I can't stop...

OK, Python Angelo looks EXACTLY like I would have imagined him in that photo.

Why is Dave Christensen "notorious"? I'm not as steeped in Pinball Lore as I'd like to be.

 

[invitro]

Why is Dave Christensen "notorious"? I'm not as steeped in Pinball Lore as I'd like to be.

Oh boy! OK first, in case you don't know who he is, he's a pinball artist of the 1970's. All his art was for Bally machines. His most famous machines were Fireball (his first), Wizard!, and Capt. Fantastic. He also did Dolly Parton, Nitro Ground Shaker, Ro Go, Air Aces, Mata Hari, The Six Million Dollar Man, Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom, Monte Carlo, Bobby Orr's Power Play, Old Chicago, Twin Win, Odds & Evens, Future Spa, and Fireball II (his last).

Why he's notorious: I can't improve on this paragraph from tvtropes:

"Christensen is believed to be the first artist to include his signature on pinball playfields, often signing his nickname “Mad Dog.” Dave's art is provocative in its unapologetic use of risqué motifs and sexy women — his work is brash, playful, energetic, and outrageously titillating, with a design motif taken from Comic Book art, old Republic serials, and pulp Science Fiction. Dave also indulges in his mischievous side, and often snuck in ribald references both subtle and gross in his highly-detailed backgrounds. He is also a skilled caricaturist and portrait artist, with a deft handling of celebrities that made him highly suitable for licensed games."

Browse his art here: Pics from Google

Further reading:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/DaveChristensen
https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/dave-christensen
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?searchtype=advanced&ppl=Dave Christensen
http://beautifuldecay.com/2009/06/24/broads-boobs-and-buckles-the-pinball-art-of-dave-christensen/
http://www.kensmurals.com/Dave Christensen pinball line artist.htm

He is my favorite pinball artist.

 

[Bowflex]

Mark Ritchie? Wouldn't even make it to the cage.
Pat Lawlor would be my pick every time by a mile over Steve Ritchie on table design. In an actual fight I think I would go with Steve Ritchie. He looks like he's got a little more size and seems like a bit of a badass. However if it was Jerry The King Lawler, he would definitely destroy any pinball designer in a wrestling match.

 

[EccentricFlower]

Oh boy! OK first, in case you don't know who he is, he's a pinball artist of the 1970's. All his art was for Bally machines. His most famous machines were Fireball (his first), Wizard!, and Capt. Fantastic. He also did Dolly Parton, Nitro Ground Shaker, Ro Go, Air Aces, Mata Hari, The Six Million Dollar Man, Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom, Monte Carlo, Bobby Orr's Power Play, Old Chicago, Twin Win, Odds & Evens, Future Spa, and Fireball II (his last).

Ah, HE's the person who snuck all the people doing illicit things into the Captain Fantastic backglass!

Thank you! That was highly informative. I have emulations of three of the tables he did art for, in Visual Pinball.

 

[trunchbull]

I'd vote for Lawlor, even if there is something really satisfying about a good run on a Ritchie machine. Lawlor machines feel more like a comprehensive experience, moreso than I think any other machines or designers. It helps that his machines are all of a similar kind of flow, but the integration of humor, particularly in the video display and sound clips, really makes them for me (NGG and Road Show both crack me up).

 

[TNT]

Tough call. And in fairness I haven't played all of their tables.

Both are brilliant but I would have to go with Lawlor by a hair.

 

[pedersonsx]

Ritchie by TKO.

 

[dtown8532]

That's a tough one but probably Ritchie for me. Also, with all those pinball personality pics, how can you forget the legend, Wayne Neyens??? Designed almost every Gottlieb from the 50's into the late 60's. And he's still alive too. I mean the guy drew the schematics for his own games. Respect.


photo upload sites

 

[Nolan]

Ritchie by a mile, Lawlor tables feel tedious to me.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

oh, i hate to get into the middle of this... ;0 but i must, i must! "brethren, why can't all we come together - the people-who-hate-people party?" ;0 (nod to tha bill hicks fans out there! ;0)

other than that if there's a first "name brand" i know in pinball, it's lawlor (i did my best to butcher rudy at the pinball hall on-campus, when it first came out! and that was the first table to really revive me to the idea of "pinball"... it took TPA many years later to re-revive that interest...)

at the same time, i know ritchie's awesome playfields from the same time, watching friends play the t2 and sttng layouts! back in "tha day" (ahhh, early ninties! what sweet youth lol ;0), i played lawlor, but my friends all played ritchie!

i'd just expounded upon some of the possible diffs between their two design asthetics over in the "5-10 top rw tables by rules" style table; i don't wish to repeat too much here...

but i do have a secret "surprise" here! ;0

so, now having mentioned -none- of that... ;0 this is all i'm gonna say...

HERE'S THE SURPRISE! ;0 too many of lawlor's layouts have upper flippers placed/backed against gutters, where the ball can get trapped -underneath/behind- the flipper! then only get released into a certain-doom trajectory, SDTM... ;0 (is this a "feature" and not a "bug" in the table design?)

(now goes running hiding away from my sensei/teacher/mentor, lol i feel ... truly in retrospect, there's just that much cross-current betwee-ixt lawlor n ritchie-style designs. BUT, that's not the end of the story... ;0)

but p.s. in case you didn't catch it... i prefer lawlor to ritchie, -but- it's a stretch cuz, besides what says i can't choose my fave lawlors, along with a few ritchies here?? ;0 no table limits ever set, was there? ;0 i'd def take with me a STTNG... T2 is a derf possi. ;0

 

[ZREXMike]

Steve Ritchie: Terminator, STTNG. Pat Lawlor: No Good Gofers, Ripley's. An even tie, if pressed a slight edge to Ritchie. Honorable mention to Brian Eddy for MM.