Story dated 22nd November 2000, Updated 7th December 2000.

Over a year since William's announced the closure of their pinball division, pinball designer Pat Lawlor is back designing games.

Pat Lawlor Design, the company he set up the the wake of the demise of the William's operation is working with Stern Pinball Inc in developing a new game. The news was announced on Stern's website, but further details are sparse.

Lawlor - designer of such classic games and Funhouse, The Addams Family and Twilight Zone - formed the company with fellow William's refugees John Krutsch and Louis Koziarz with the aim of developing all kinds of games for the amusement industry acting as design consultants, but offering the full range of assistance right up to manufacturing. The three were all part of the same team at William's where they developed games such as No Good Gofers and Safecracker.

Pat said "We are pleased to be associated with Stern Pinball and look forward to designing great pinball games together."

The new game is believed to use Stern's manufacturing facilities, with PLD's design skills and should get its first outing in mid 2001, though it is unlikely to be Stern's next game.

Curiously, in a later posting to the rec.games.pinball newsgroup Lawlor used the singular when describing the games PLD is to design so it's unclear to what extent the two companies will be working together beyond their current project.

The full text of his posting reads:

"Last year at this time I wrote a message to this group about the passing of Williams Pinball. As you are aware Pat Lawlor Design Inc. has recently agreed to design a game with Stern Pinball Inc. . PLD is very pleased with this development. To be designing pinball machines again is like slipping into comfortable shoes. I hope that in the coming year you will get to play what are right now glowing electrons on my monitor. I believe that Gary Stern wants what you all want; that is, to keep the game alive, new and vibrant. Williams pinball has been dead for a year. To dwell in the past would be a mistake. Fate has brought us to this point. I promise you all this... we will try and make the best, most fun game possible, knowing full well that the marketplace could not handle a game like "Twilight Zone" or even Pinball2000 right now. The best thing this group can do is teach other people that pinballs are fun! Like I said a year ago... the game is bigger than all of us."