Recent Interview with John Borg

In an interview by Mike Sorenson of PinGame Journal, John Borg talks about his recent game designs including The Walking Dead and Kiss. As a favorite pinball designer, the article is an interesting peek into John's creativity and ingenuity. And we were excited that John mentioned our work during the interview!

In the article, John shares his enthusiasm for episode one of AMC's The Walking Dead which he still says is his favorite. He also talks about his ideas for toys and shots that did not make it into the final version of the game. For example, John describes his plan for a rotating barn and a ball lock that would dispense balls one at a time to, "mimic the scene where the zombies came out of the barn." Many other ideas for character related shots where part of his original ideas that were eliminated along the way for various reasons.

He also shared his affection for the Govenor's Fish Tank Topper which was sculpted by the show's special effects makeup designer, Greg Nictero. The article goes on to say,"As if that wasn't enough, 'Mezel Mods made a tower that bolts into the game that is very cool,' John tells me. 'I had originally planned for one and it's great that our friends at Mezel Mods took care of that for me. They also made a barn model that bolts in by the left orbit shot.'

We've been very excited about our partnership with Stern on projects like the prison tower for the reason John points out- it allows us the chance to help bring the designers original vision to fruition. It is tough as a designer not to be able to incorporate all ideas into the finished product- cost and time limitations frequently get in the way. Extending those original design ideas along with adding our own is part of what gives us 'juice'.

John has been a delight to work with both as a designer and as a human being. He is thoughtful, caring and just plain fun to be around! So a huge thank you to you John for being such a fantastic game designer and an all around swell guy! Pinball love from the Mezel Mods team. 

Check out the full article and explore what else John had to say TWD and about the Kiss design or even better, subscribe to PinGame Journal!

Walking Dead Pinball Topper photo courtesy, The Game Exchange of Colorado
John Borg photo courtesy, Pinball Soul