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Pinball Tapas - Segasa-Sega S.A. Sonic Pinball
PodcastAnalysis updated 4d ago1 hr 7 min listen
Highlights
- Segasa was founded in 1968 in Madrid by shareholders of Sega Enterprises with capital from the Japanese Sega firm
- Segasa licensed Williams pinball designs rather than copying them, giving them competitive advantage with proven mechanics
- Segasa's first pinball machine was Casbah in 1972, a licensed Williams Darling/Jubilee rethemed for the Spanish market
- Segasa rebranded to Sega S.A. Sonic in 1976 to avoid confusion with Japanese Sega when expanding to export markets
- Segasa's pinball machines featured clear-coated playfields ahead of the industry standard, starting in the 1970s
- Sonic games featured engineering improvements over Williams designs, including metal base plates for flippers and better chimes
- Casino Royale, Segasa's first original design by Jose Maria Gaeldo Goma, was so popular that Italian and other European companies pirated the design
- Segasa production ceased in 1986, marking the end of Spain's pinball manufacturing efforts
Notable quotes
“They didn't want anything too complicated. They didn't want a million mechanics... this is 1973 Williams Darling, or the four-player Jubilee. They've just rethemed it for their local market.”
“Europeans, very artsy folk. Old world.”
“If you're looking for back glass art to hang up, search for the Sagasa stuff. It is gorgeous.”
“They knew it only needed to last like five years. It didn't need to last 50... it needed to draw you in with the art. It needed to last like a rock for three years, and then it was no big deal after that.”
“One is the play fields are clear-coated. So they generally look way better than you would think a 50-year-old game would look.”
“Their flippers, instead of the parts just being screwed into the wood where they eventually loosen up and then the flippers suck, they go into a base plate before Williams was using a base plate.”
“Copying pinball machines especially american pinball machines was pretty common in Europe, but Segasa chose the more reliable and legal route, so hats off to them.”
“This game just sucks... so we're gonna yada yada yada over this one”
Entities
- Flippin' Out Pinball· company
- Gottlieb· company
- Playmatic· company
- Sega Enterprises (Japan)· company
- Segasa / Sega S.A. Sonic· company
- Williams Pinball / Williams Electronics· company
- Cannes· game
- Casbah· game
- Casino Royale· game
- Monaco· game
- Spanish Eyes· game
- Travel Time· game
- Silver Ball Chronicles· organization
- David Dennis· person
- Federico Baldo· person
- Jose Maria Gaeldo Goma· person
- Manuel Velasquez· person
- Pat Lawlor· person
- Ron Hallett· person
- Valid Verde· person
