Steve Ritchie (pinball designer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Steve Ritchie
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Steve Ritchie speaks during the Atari panel at California Extreme 2009
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| Born | February 13, 1950 |
| Occupation | Pinball designer, video game designer, voice actor |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Employer | Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc., Steve Ritchie Productions |
| Known for | Black Knight, Flash, Firepower, High Speed |
| Relatives | Mark Ritchie (brother) |
Steven Scott Ritchie, born on February 13, 1950, is a famous American designer of pinball machines and video games. He started his amazing career in the 1970s. Steve holds the record for selling the most pinball games ever! People call him "The Master of Flow" because his games are known for fast ball speeds, cool loops, and smooth shots. Steve also provided the voice for Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He was the announcer for Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), and its updated versions. He is the older brother of another pinball designer, Mark Ritchie.
Steve Ritchie: A Pinball Wizard's Journey
Steve Ritchie was born in San Francisco, California. When he was five, his family moved to Pacifica. He first played pinball at a local bowling alley. He went there during his parents' bowling league nights. Steve finished high school early. Just before his eighteenth birthday, he joined the Coast Guard. He trained to be an electronics technician. He served in Vietnam, California, and Alaska. After leaving the Coast Guard, he worked different jobs and played in a band.
Starting His Design Career
Steve joined Atari Inc. in 1974. He was the 50th employee there! He first worked on the assembly line. He was an electro-mechanical technician. Two years later, he got a promotion. He moved to Atari's new pinball division. There, he worked on his first game, Airborne Avenger.
Steve then started designing a pinball machine based on the Superman comic book. But before it was fully finished, he left Atari. He decided to join Williams Electronics. This was a very big pinball company.
Designing Games at Williams
In 1978, Steve moved to Chicago, Illinois. This was where Williams' main office was located. His first game for Williams was Flash, released in 1979. This game was special because it had a new figure-8 design. It was also the first pinball game with bright Flash Lamps. It also had a background sound that got louder and more exciting as you played longer. Flash became his best-selling pinball game. It sold over 19,000 units!
In 1980, he designed Firepower. This was the first electronic pinball game to have multi-ball play. It also had a feature called Lane Change. Eight months later, he designed Black Knight. This game was famous for having the first two-level playfield. It also had a special "Magna-Save" feature. This used magnets to help stop the ball from draining too quickly.
After his 1981 game Hyperball, Steve took a break from pinball. He started his own company, King Video Design. There, he designed video games. One game, Devastator, was a cool 3D flying-shooting game. It had amazing graphics. Steve found a way to turn video-taped color images into objects for the game.
He returned to pinball in 1986 with High Speed. This game was based on a real story. Steve was chased by the police in his fast car! He drove very fast before being pulled over by nine police cars. High Speed was the first pinball machine to have music. It sold 17,080 units. This game helped make the whole pinball market exciting again.
After that, he released F-14 Tomcat in 1987. In 1989, he released Black Knight 2000. This was a follow-up to his 1980 game. Many people think it has one of the best musical soundtracks for a pinball game. Steve helped compose the music himself! It was also one of the first games to have a "Wizard Mode" called "The King's Ransom."
Next came Rollergames (1990). This game was based on a TV show. It had a loud and exciting soundtrack. It was also one of the first games to feature mainstream advertising. Steve then designed Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This game featured the voice and likeness of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. T2 was the first Williams game to use a dot-matrix display.
After T2, he designed The Getaway: High Speed II in 1992. This was a sequel to his 1986 game High Speed. In 1993, Steve released a wider game called Star Trek: The Next Generation. Many pinball fans think this is Steve's best game. For this game, Steve got the entire cast of TNG to record their voices. This included Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn. The game sold 11,728 units. It was the last pinball machine to sell over 10,000 units. After his 1995 game No Fear: Dangerous Sports, Steve left Williams. He felt he could help Williams/Bally/Midway more by making video games at Atari Games. The mid-1990s saw a decline in pinball sales. Eventually, most pinball makers closed down, except for Stern Pinball.
Video Games and Voice Acting
Steve Ritchie went back to Atari Games in 1996. He became a senior staff producer. There, he designed and produced the racing game California Speed. Steve is also a big fan of PC games and motocross racing. He loves riding dirt and street motorcycles. He also helped design Williams' video game Defender.
Steve was a voice actor for many of his own games. He also voiced characters in Williams and Midway video games. He is most famous for being the voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series. He even came up with the name Mortal Kombat! Before his idea, the game was just called 'Combat'. Steve was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight and Black Knight 2000. He was the Skull in No Fear. He was also the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football. He voiced the monotone voice of Firepower and had other small parts in many games.
Working with Stern Pinball
After designing some redemption games, Steve started Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP) in 2002. He returned to designing pinball games. He worked with Stern Pinball to sell his games. For his first game with Stern, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, he again got Arnold Schwarzenegger to lend his voice. He also brought back the same team who worked with him on the T2 pinball.
After T3, Steve released Elvis. This game came out just in time for the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's first song recording. Steve's third game for Stern was World Poker Tour. This was the first game to use Stern's new hardware, called S.A.M.
In 2009, after finishing 24, a pinball machine based on the TV series, Steve was laid off from Stern. Most of the other pinball designers were also laid off. But in March 2011, Stern announced that Steve had returned! He came back to design the next generation of pinball machines. His first game after returning to Stern was AC/DC. Between 2011 and 2021, Steve designed many more games. These included Led Zeppelin, Black Knight Sword of Rage, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek.
Joining Jersey Jack Pinball
In August 2021, Steve Ritchie left Stern Pinball. He joined Jersey Jack Pinball. He was the third pinball designer on their team. In an interview in April 2022, Steve said he was actively working on a new game for Jersey Jack. He thought it would be released in the second half of 2022. In 2023, Jersey Jack announced their new Elton John pinball machine. This was Steve Ritchie's first design for the company.
Personal Life
As of 2017, Steve Ritchie was diagnosed with Ménière's disease. This condition has slowly reduced his hearing over the years.
Steve Ritchie's Games
Atari
- Airborne Avenger (1977)
- Superman (1979)
- MeanStreak (video game) (1997)
- California Speed (video game) (1998)
Williams
- Flash (1979)
- Stellar Wars (1979)
- Firepower (1980)
- Black Knight (1980)
- Hyperball (1981)
- High Speed (1986)
- F-14 Tomcat (1987)
- Black Knight 2000 (1989)
- Rollergames (1990)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- The Getaway: High Speed II (1992)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993; part of WMS' SuperPin series)
- No Fear: Dangerous Sports (1995)
Midway Atari
- Elvira and the Party Monsters (1989; co-designed with Dennis Nordman and Jim Patla)
- Steve helped with parts of this game after the original designer was injured.
Stern / Steve Ritchie Productions
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
- Elvis (2004)
- World Poker Tour (2006)
- Spider-Man (2007)
- "24", based on 24 (2009)
- AC/DC (2012)
- Star Trek (2013)
- Game of Thrones (2015)
- Star Wars (2017)
- Black Knight: Sword of Rage (2019)
- Led Zeppelin (2020)
Jersey Jack Pinball
- Elton John (2023)
Voice Work
Steve Ritchie has lent his voice to many games, both pinball and video games.
- Firepower (pinball) (1980) - Mission Control
- Black Knight (pinball) (1980) - The Black Knight
- Space Shuttle (pinball) (1984) - Mission Control
- F-14 Tomcat (pinball) (1987) - Yagov
- Space Station (pinball) (1987) - Mission Control
- Big Guns (pinball) (1987) - King
- Taxi (pinball) (1988) - Gorbie
- Black Knight 2000 (1989) - The Black Knight
- Police Force (pinball) (1989)
- Rollergames (pinball) (1990) - Announcer
- Diner (pinball) (1990) - Boris
- Mortal Kombat II (1993) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- Revolution X (1994) - Vocalisations
- Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- No Fear: Dangerous Sports (1995) - Skull
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996) - Shao Kahn/announcer
- Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005) - Shao Kahn, additional voices
- AC/DC (pinball) (2012) - Announcer
- Black Knight: Sword of Rage (2019) - The Black Knight
