Mark Ritchie (born August 20, 1958) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

designer and

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

producer. He is best known for his successful pinball designs from 1982-1996. He has continued to work in the coin-operated amusement industry, currently serving as production coordinator for Raw Thrills, Inc. / Play Mechanix, Inc. Mark is the younger brother of fellow pinball designer Steve Ritchie.

Career

Atari, Inc. (1976 - 1979)

Ritchie's first job in the pinball industry was with

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

in 1976. While at Atari, he held many jobs. His first position was as an assembler at Atari's Santa Clara,

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video game production facility. A few months later, Ritchie was part of a group selected to help start Atari's pinball production facility in

Sunnyvale Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...

. He served there as a production line lead and in 1978 was promoted to prototype specialist within Atari's pinball engineering group. There, he was responsible for building, cabling and testing prototype pinball machines. It was during this time that he learned the business of pinball design and development. While at that position, Ritchie worked on the pinball titles ''Hercules'', ''Superman'', ''Space Riders'' and ''Monza''.

Williams Electronics, Inc. (1979 - 1993)

In 1979, Ritchie was hired by Williams Electronics, Inc. in

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Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

as a prototype specialist, and in 1981, he was given the opportunity to design a game of his own, ''Thunderball''. Ritchie went on to design a total of 12 games for Williams, including ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Fish Tales'' and '' Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure''. While at Williams Electronics, Ritchie also designed two "pitch-and-bat" novelty amusement games, ''Pennant Fever'' and ''Slugfest''.

Capcom Coin-Op, Inc. (1993 - 1996)

Ritchie left Williams Electronics in August, 1993 for a new opportunity at Capcom Coin-Op, Inc. He was hired as director of engineering for Capcom's new pinball division. Capcom made 5 pinball titles under Ritchie's leadership, including ''Pinball Magic'', ''Big Bang Bar'' and ''Kingpin'', which was Ritchie's last conventional pinball design to date.

Ritchie Design, Ltd. (1996 - 1997)

After Capcom closed its pinball division in 1996, Ritchie started a game design firm aptly named Ritchie Design, Ltd. His first product was a redemption game entitled ''Road Kill Grill'', the rights to which were eventually sold to Incredible Technologies, Inc.

Incredible Technologies, Inc. (1997 - 2005)

In 1997, Ritchie accepted a full-time position at Incredible Technologies, Inc. as a designer and producer. While there, he was responsible for the packaging vision for a new digital jukebox project, which was at the forefront of the technology. Both designed and tested extensively, the product was not produced in significant numbers. Following, Ritchie was asked to provide packaging and design inspiration for I.T.'s new foray into touchscreen countertop game design. In 2001, Incredible Technologies agreed to produce

Big Buck Hunter Big Buck Hunter is a hunting video game developed by Play Mechanix, Inc. Primarily developed for arcades, the goal of the game is to shoot moving bucks without shooting a doe or female animal. The Incredible Technologies' initial series of games ...

which was developed by Play Mechanix, Inc., and Ritchie assumed the role of producer on the project. Ritchie also designed ''Orange County Choppers'' – a video pinball game themed after the popular

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series.

Raw Thrills, Inc. / Play Mechanix, Inc. (2005 - Present)

In 2005, Ritchie left Incredible Technologies and began work at Raw Thrills, Inc., a video game production studio headed by acclaimed game designer

Eugene Jarvis Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' an ...

. After Play Mechanix merged with Raw Thrills in 2006, Ritchie relocated to the Play Mechanix studio, where he currently works as a producer and production coordinator and is involved in the development of coin-operated amusement video games.

Personal life

Mark Ritchie currently resides in Illinois.

Mark Ritchie's games

Williams Electronics, Inc.

*''Thunderball'' (1982) *''Firepower 2'' (1983) *''Pennant Fever'' (pitch-and-bat baseball novelty) (1984) *'' Sorcerer'' (1985) *'' Road Kings (pinball)'' (1986) *'' Big Guns'' (1987) *''

'' (1988) *''

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'' (1989) *''

'' (1990) *''Slugfest'' (pitch-and-bat baseball novelty) (1991) *'' Fish Tales'' (1992) *'' Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure'' (1993)

Capcom Coin-Op

*''Pinball Magic'' (1995) *''Airborne'' (1996) *''Breakshot'' (1996) *''Big Bang Bar'' (1996) *''Kingpin'' (1996)

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Mark 1958 births Living people Artists from Chicago Pinball game designers