Pinball Designer Series: Pat Lawlor

Few pinball designers have left such a recognizable mark on the hobby as Pat Lawlor.

His machines are known for unusual mechanisms, distinctive toys, creative layouts and a very particular approach to making the playfield feel alive. From the great Williams and Bally machines of the 1990s to his later work with Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball, Lawlor has spent decades finding new ways to make pinball machines feel different.

And looking through his career, it becomes pretty obvious that there is a lot of Pat Lawlor DNA in modern pinball.

The 1990s: The Classics

Before getting to the machines we currently have mods for, it is impossible to talk about Pat Lawlor without mentioning The Addams Family.

Released in 1992, it became the best-selling pinball machine in history, with more than 20,000 units produced. Its combination of magnets, Thing Flips, memorable characters and incredibly well-integrated theme made it one of the defining machines of the era.

Then came Twilight Zone in 1993, another Lawlor classic and arguably one of the most ambitious pinball machines ever designed. It introduced an extraordinary collection of ideas, including the Powerball, gumball machine, working clock and Powerfield.

Lawlor's 1990s catalogue also included Red & Ted's Road Show and No Good Gofers, two machines that remain particularly interesting examples of his design philosophy.

We have Road Show pinball mods and No Good Gofers pinball mods at Wizard Mod, making them a fun part of the Lawlor collection.

Monopoly

After Williams closed its pinball division, Lawlor eventually returned with his own design company and began working with Stern.

The first major result was Monopoly, released in 2001.

It was a fascinating choice of theme and a great example of Lawlor adapting his style to a completely different era of pinball.

We also happen to have Monopoly Pinball Mods, making it the perfect starting point for our own collection of Pat Lawlor machines.

NASCAR

A few years later came NASCAR, released in 2005.

This machine is particularly interesting because the racing theme encouraged Lawlor to move toward a more flow-oriented style. Speed is the entire point, so the game feels very different from some of his more stop-and-start designs.

And now, more than twenty years later, we've just added our own NASCAR Pinball Mods.

The custom artwork extends the racing atmosphere around the cabinet, with WizBlades, WizPanels, WizAprons, WizBats and WizWings creating a more complete visual experience.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Lawlor's Stern period continued with CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2008.

It's another great example of how he could take a licensed theme and translate its central idea into pinball.

Instead of simply putting the CSI logo on a cabinet, the machine builds its gameplay around investigation, evidence and crime-scene themes.

Our CSI Pinball Mods give owners a chance to add another layer of custom artwork to the machine.

Dialed In!

Then came a major change.

Lawlor joined Jersey Jack Pinball, and his first machine for the company was Dialed In!, released in 2017.

It was a very modern Lawlor machine, with a deliberately unusual concept involving smartphones, cameras, disasters and technology. It also introduced features such as Bluetooth connectivity and smartphone integration.

And it looks fantastic with custom artwork.

Our Dialed In Pinball Mods include WizBlades, WizPanels, WizBats, WizDoors, WizWings and WizShooters.

It's one of those machines where adding a few carefully chosen pieces can make the whole cabinet feel even more complete.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

Lawlor's next JJP machine was Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

This was another perfect Lawlor theme: colourful, full of characters and packed with physical elements that could be turned into pinball features.

Our Willy Wonka Pinball Mods continue that visual world with custom WizBlades, WizPanels, WizDoors and WizWings.

The result is a machine that can become even more visually distinctive without losing the original design.

Toy Story 4

Lawlor's most recent completed pinball design was Toy Story 4, released by Jersey Jack Pinball in 2022.

Once again, the theme gave him enormous creative freedom.

Toy Story is bright, colourful and packed with characters and objects that translate naturally into pinball toys and objectives.

We have a complete Toy Story 4 Pinball Mods collection, with custom artwork designed for the different editions.

The Pat Lawlor Signature

Looking across more than three decades, the interesting thing isn't that every Pat Lawlor machine looks or plays the same.

It's the opposite.

He repeatedly found ways to make each machine feel different.

A haunted mansion, a sitcom, a board game, a crime investigation, a smartphone disaster, a chocolate factory or a toy-filled world — Lawlor consistently turned the theme into something mechanical and interactive.

That's probably the biggest reason his machines remain so memorable.

And we're lucky enough to have custom mods for a growing selection of them.

From Monopoly and NASCAR through CSI, Dialed In!, Willy Wonka and Toy Story 4, there's now enough Pat Lawlor representation in the Wizard Mod collection to make a Designer Series article feel very appropriate.

And if you want to explore the other designers we've covered, visit our complete Pinball Designer Series.