A new pinball and coin-op game publication has been announced, but this one is strikingly different from anything seen before.
Coin-Op Carnival is a collaboration between noted cartoonist and pinball fan, Ryan Claytor, and equally-noted podcaster and electromechanical pinball & arcade game nut, Nick Baldridge.
The two have been close friends for many years, and on one of their joint family vacations two years ago they came up with the concept of a coin-op publication promoting electromechanical pinball and arcade games of all types.
The result is Coin-Op Carnival issue #1, a 64-page offset-printed publication produced on paper stock chosen to reflect the era of the vintage games they cover.
Issue #1 of Coin-Op Carnival
Ryan told Pinball News why they decided to produce a printed publication, rather than publish on-line or in e-book form. He said, “We both have an affinity for print media. Nick has a heavy connection to zine culture from his youth and I am a long-time comic book reader, creator, and professor. When conceiving of this project, we both envisioned it to be an analog offering. Much like the machines and the era that Coin-Op Carnival documents and pays homage to, we wanted this project to also be untethered to modern advances, like screens.“
This is the first of four issues they plan to produce together, each one looking at a different game designer from the electromechanical years 1934-1978, explaining how the games were designed and built, and how they function both mechanically and electrically.
The first designer they feature is Wayne Neyens who they interviewed extensively and who provided a mass of new information about his many years working at Western Equipment & Supply and then, more notably, at D. Gottlieb. The subsequent game designers featured won’t be announced until closer to the publication date of their respective issues.
The featured game designer in the first issue is Wayne Neyens
Nick then explains the workings on one of the most basic components of any EM game, the relay – what it does, how it works, how it is constructed and, perhaps most importantly after so many years’ service, how it should be adjusted.
The
