Episode 121 - Barry Oursler: Pinball's Rollercoaster Man

Barry Oursler: Williams' third best-selling designer overshadowed by volatile game quality and modern ranking bias.

Highlights

• Barry Oursler sold over 135,000 units at Williams (1978-1996), second only to Steve Ritchie (147,000+) and more than Pat Lawlor (70,000)
• Gorgar (1979) was the first Williams game with speech and sold 14,000 units
• Only one Barry Oursler game appears in Pinside's top 100 (Bram Stoker's Dracula at #74), while PinballRanker.com lists three (Dracula, Doctor Who, Jackpot)
• Pinball industry collapsed dramatically in 1981 after Pac-Man and Galaga arcade releases, with production shifting from strong 1980 sales to near-zero
• Barry Oursler was the only working designer at Williams for a period after Steve Ritchie briefly left, producing very rare games during this run
• Time Fantasy (1983) was designed as a low-budget, minimal-parts game with intentionally stripped-down rules to reduce manufacturing costs
• Joust (1983) is a head-to-head, two-player mandatory game with only ~400 units sold; requires dual machines back-to-back on arcade floors
• Starlight (1984) sold only 100 units; possibly only ~20 remain in existence
• Banana flippers on Time Warp and Disco Fever were a repurposed component originally designed for a sport game (lacrosse/highlight) that failed, with marketing claiming women tested well with them
• Barakora (1981) was originally sketched by Roger Sharpe and Steve Epstein but significantly reworked by Barry Oursler, retaining little of the original design