Date: 11 April, 2013

Stern Pinball has an expanding range of products; from their regular Pro models, through the enhanced Premiums to the top-of-the-range Limited Editions, and - more recently - the introduction of their The Pin range which extends the number of models further.

While making four (or more) versions of each game provides plenty of choice for the buyer, it puts a big strain on the development team and in particular the programmers.

Gary Stern told Pinball News recently how the company would be getting some help in that area soon, and we can now reveal that Tanio Klyce has joined Stern Pinball as Senior Software Engineer.

Tanio Klyce

Tanio started in the amusement business fifteen years ago as a video game programmer, and had recently been working on Linux game development at Valve in Bellevue near Seattle in Washington.

He first got into pinball when a Black Knight machine arrived at his local movie theatre in New Orleans, and was later reintroduced through the Lucky Ju Ju (the forerunner to the Pacific Pinball Museum) and the Pacific Pinball Expositions where he has spoken in several of their seminars.

He used his software, electronics and audio skills to team up with artists Wade Krause and Dirty Donny to create games such as Metallica and Beatniks Koolsville, and worked with Jeri Ellsworth both at Valve and on their private joint project to prototype a new pinball control system.

Now Tanio is moving from Bellevue to take up his new position with Stern Pinball in Melrose Park, Chicago. He hopes to start working there from 1st May.

With Stern's own Metallica pinball just announced, the timing could not be better, but Tanio insists it is purely coincidental. He told Pinball News, "I have not been involved in the making of Stern's Metallica Pinball, ... but I plan on buying one because it is freakin' awesome."

© Pinball News 2013