![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/steve-ritchie-joins-jjp\/01-steve-ritchie-joins-jjp.jpg\")
<\/a>Steve had his first day at Jersey Jack Pinball today, where he was greeted by JJP founder Jack Guarnieri and the Head of Game Design, Steve’s former fellow designer at Williams and Stern, Pat Lawlor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Steve began his pinball career at Atari in his native California where he soon moved from a support role into full game design, producing Airborne Avenger<\/a><\/em> and Superman<\/a><\/em>, although by the time Superman<\/em> went into production Steve had already left to join Williams. Steve has spoken about his frustrations working under the management constraints at Atari. “I was also a lot happier working at Williams, happiness being an important ingredient that enables a designer to create to his\/her potential<\/em>“, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was at Williams where he achieved his greatest success in terms of units sold, with his initial design, Flash<\/a><\/em>, revitalising the company’s fortunes and selling more than the preceding three titles combined. Further hits came with Firepower<\/a><\/em>, Black Knight<\/a><\/em>, High Speed<\/a><\/em>, F-14 Tomcat<\/a><\/em>, Terminator 2<\/a><\/em>, High Speed 2: The Getaway<\/a><\/em> and Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Williams downsized and ultimately exited the pinball business, Steve went to work for Stern Pinball – first as a contract designer through his California-based company Steve Ritchie Productions, and then relocating to Illinois to work full time at the Stern Pinball factory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After being allocated a number of themes which held little interest for him such as Elvis<\/a><\/em>, World Poker Tour<\/a><\/em> and 24<\/a><\/em>, Steve was able to recreate his earlier success with the enduring titles Spider-Man<\/a><\/em> and AC\/DC<\/a><\/em>, both of which spawned several remakes and multiple different editions, and, it is understood, continue to be the company’s biggest sellers. These latter two titles were collaborations with Lyman Sheats who crafted the games’ software and rules. Lyman also left Stern Pinball, in his case at the end of last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Jack Guarnieri was setting up Jersey Jack Pinball a little over ten years ago and was in need of a game designer, Jack was in discussion with Steve about him coming to work for the company. They were unable to reach agreement at that time but, although expanding, the pinball world is still relatively small with many of the same people moving from company to company. Steve’s fellow designer at Williams, Pat Lawlor, took a similar path, contract-designing games for Stern Pinball before joining Jersey Jack, while JJP’s lead programmer, Keith Johnson, also moved to Stern before joining Jersey Jack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now Steve has moved one street north from Stern Pinball on Lunt Ave. to Jersey Jack Pinball on Greenleaf Ave. in Elk Grove Village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n