121 episodes tracked since 2023 about →
Episode 65 - Die on this Hill: Wheel of Fortune
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago45 min listen
Highlights
- Wheel of Fortune has only 1,000 units manufactured and one remaining in Portland at a pickleball venue
- The game was never finished with complete code and has no wizard mode
- Wheel of Fortune was marketed toward Europe where it also failed, as the TV show had different hosts and language versions there
- Stern was struggling during Wheel of Fortune's 2007 development period with layoffs occurring
- Pat Sajak recorded custom callouts for the pinball machine
- The bobbleheads on Wheel of Fortune are likenesses of actual Stern employees: Lonnie Ropp, Dwight Sullivan, Keith Johnson (programmer), and Maria Alejandra (assembly line worker)
- Uncanny X-Men (2024) is the first Stern machine since Wheel of Fortune (2007) to feature non-standard flipper arrangement
- Wheel of Fortune ranks #254 out of 306 machines on Pinside Top 100 list
Notable quotes
“For me Wheel of Fortune pinball, this sounds like hyperbole, but I really do feel this way. It is an affirmation that we all die soon and alone. And that this machine confirms that there's nothing in between that that actually matters.”
“The machine looks wet... I think it's way ahead of its time... Wheel of Fortune made me feel welcome.”
“What is fun alan like when you walk up to that pinball machine what is it gonna take for you to walk away feeling good about your time there... Wheel of Fortune's there for you.”
“I'm not very good at pinball. Like I never have been, and I never will be. And the fact that this machine is so jarring made me feel like it was a safe place to express that to a pinball machine.”
“I immediately am drawn like a moth to the flame for any different flipper placement.”
“it's like everyone's like it's all derivative cookie cutter bs right god forbid you know put the center drain that they put on this game onto a game everyone freaks the fuck out”
“The design team from dennis nordman you listen to the show i love dennis nordman i think dennis nordman is the man i love his layouts.”
“Spy Hunter is probably why it gets left on the side of the road in glendale you know what i mean there's a home for every pinball machine except for spy hunter”
Entities
- Stern Pinball· company
- 24· game
- CSI· game
- Family Guy· game
- Pirates of the Caribbean· game
- Spider-Man· game
- Spy Hunter· game
- Uncanny X-Men· game
- Wheel of Fortune· game
- Pinball Map· organization
- Pinside· organization
- Shanghai Tunnel· organization
- Voodoo Donuts 2· organization
- Wedgehead· organization
- Alan· person
- David Thiel· person
- Dennis Nordman· person
- Dwight Sullivan· person
- Keith Johnson· person
- Lonnie Ropp· person
- Maria Alejandra· person
- Pat Sajak· person
- Ryan· person
- Scott· person
