Steve Kordek
 Steve Kordek, 2004 | |
| Steve Kordek | |
|---|---|
| Retired | |
| Games Worked On: over 100 Photo courtesy of Jim Schelberg, www.pingamejournal.com |
Steve Kordek (1911-2012) designed over 100 pinball games for Genco, Bally, and Williams. Steve worked in the pinball industry from 1938 to 1999. He also designed gun games and roll-down games.
Steve is credited with several pinball innovations, the most recognized being the placement of two flippers at the bottom of the playfield in a 1948 game called "Triple Action." In this game the flippers faced outward (vs. tips together in modern games) and they were pulsed flippers that worked in unison, but the modern layout is generally acknowledged to have evolved from Steve's work. Other innovations are the swinging target in the early 1960s and the first game with game-initiated multi-ball in 1963 with "Beat the Clock."
Steve started at Genco in 1937 where he was offered a soldering job while seeking shelter from the rain in the Genco lobby. He managed soldering operations at Genco while they were manufacturing walkie-talkies during World War II. While working on the pinball manufacturing line he helped testers solve problems in the nearby test area. Recognizing his design skills, they transferred him to the engineering department where he began designing games under Harvey Heiss.
Under Steve, Genco used D.C. power to their advantage in the 1940s. They were the only manufacturer to use strictly D.C. coils. Quoting Steve: "... we didn’t have to have a motor to run all the equipment. I could run it just by the coils, with the relays operating to do the work that we wanted. How could I control it? No trouble at all. I learned how to put copper washers on either the front end or the back side of the relays – one place to hold it and the other place to delay it going in."
Steve's highest production games were "Space Mission" and "Grand Prix," both in 1976 with over 10,000 produced of each. Many of his games from the 1960s and 70s were big sellers, especially considering the number of different games that were released in that time frame.
References
- TOPcast Show 23, Clay Harrell interview with Steve Kordek, April 4, 2007. http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/showget.php?id=23. Transcription by Terry Nelson. http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/topcast_show23.pdf
- Steve Kordek games: [list]