2010 Special Edition, Part 2:
Wayne Neyens at Gottlieb

If you never had a chance to read Part 1 of this interview, or you'd like to review it again, click here to access it >>

Wayne Neyens was Gottlieb’s chief engineer and pinball designer for over 30 years. He began working with Dave Gottlieb, the founder and president of D. Gottlieb & Co. until Dave retired. Next, he worked with Alvin Gottlieb, Dave’s son, and Judd Weinberg, Dave's son-in-law, who became the company’s next President. Judd continued as President until he sold the company to Columbia Pictures, who in turn sold it to Coca-Cola.

Wayne Neyens' Account of Working at D. Gottlieb & Co.

Working at Gottlieb was a completely different experience from working at Western Equipment and Supply Company. "I woke up with a smile on my face, ready to work," said Wayne. He enjoyed going to work, he was learning and developing his skills. D. Gottlieb & Company was a family business and he became part of the family.

The first game that Wayne could call his own while working for Gottlieb was "College Days," Model Number 23, released in August of 1949. This was a game that he'd been designing in his free time for a long while. This was during the time he also worked on games, designed by Harry Mabs, now the Head of Engineering. Wayne was building Test Fixtures for these games. Each game had three test fixtures for the light box and three test fixtures for the bottom panel. He'd work on these fast enough to allow himself some extra time to work on his own game or go on the assembly line floor to troubleshoot. His co-workers would come by periodically and ask him how his game was going.

He never expected to have this game produced. He worked on it for over a year and then they ran it and it was quite successful. It had a run of 2,200 units. Not bad for a rookie.

Wayne continued to work, create and develop his abilities, picking up invaluable knowledge from the senior staff. When Harry Mabs left Gottlieb to work for Williams over a salary dispute, Wayne became the Chief Designer. He designed 163 games in almost 20 years. The last two were "Cow Poke" in June of 1965, and "Paul Bunyan," in September, 1968.

Wayne never liked the Paul Bunyan game. He said it was a rush job. From then on, he became Chief Engineer and headed the Design Department. Ed Krynski was hired to design games, with his first being Dodge City. Recently, we had the great fortune of receiving this game as a generous donation from Ed's daughter, Debi Krynski.

Wayne's final Design Team accomplishment was "Spirit of '76" in December, 1975. By this time, Judd Weinberg—David Gottlieb's son-in-law—had taken over the reins at Gottlieb.

"Spirit" was the brainchild of Wayne a few years before it ever landed on the drawing board. Wayne felt that with the coming of the bicentennial, Gottlieb needed to commemorate this momentous event with a pinball game that represented America.

At an informal round table discussion after dinner, Judd asked Wayne and his colleagues what their expectation of the production run of "Spirit" would be. Wayne said nothing and just listened. The others speculated about 2000, 2,500, or 3,000. Noticing that Wayne hadn't said a word, Judd asked him how many he thought would go. Without hesitation, Wayne said 10,000. They all looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. Judd told Wayne if that happened, he'd have the ten thousandth game delivered directly to his home, set up, and readied for play. Of course, as you may have guessed, Wayne still has that 10,000th game, and no other, set up in his home.

One of many of pinball's historic milestones was the introduction of the Add-A-Ball game. Operators in the Northeast were screaming bloody murder for a way around the Free Game Award. The laws there were such that a Free Game was considered a thing of value. Giving away a thing of value was considered gambling and was not acceptable to the powers that be. So, around 1960, with Alvin Gottlieb's creative mind and Wayne's engineering genius, they created and built the Add-A-Ball mechanism, which was first introduced in the game, "Flipper."

Wayne considers his most significant design accomplishment to be the creation of the four-player game. On top of that, there was the bumper contact, still used today, as well as the Roto-Target.

But to me, the most significant advancement in pinball history came at the expense of his daughter, Phyllis. Around 1965 or '66, young 11- or 12-year-old Phyllis was "helping her father out," of course, when he wasn't home and without his knowledge. Christmas lights had been strung up along the ceiling of the Neyens' basement, and Christmas had definitely passed. She took it upon herself to climb on top of the backbox of one of the family pinball machines to remove the lights.

As you can guess, she fell off and landed on the playfield glass, breaking it and cutting her knee badly. Her sister Pat came to the rescue to bandage her up. Only two years older, Pat had taken classes in first aid and immediately applied a tourniquet. Now, who applies a tourniquet to a cut? Well, she thought she'd done a great job until Wayne came home from work and noticed a trail of blood in the kitchen following her movements. Concerned, Wayne asked about what happened. That fateful experience changed Gottlieb's use of plate glass to tempered glass in a matter of days. A little act of fate made it safer for all of us to play.

Wayne continued to work at Gottlieb until the summer of 1980. Once D. Gottlieb and Company was sold to Columbia Pictures, it was the end of a long family relationship. Both Wayne and Judd left Gottlieb about the same time, and the company would never be the same.

This has been the working history of the man and his many accomplishments.

WAYNE TODAY

At 92 years old, Wayne is in excellent physical shape, eating healthy meals and walking two or three miles a day. Two years ago, he drove to see his daughter in Pensacola, Florida, then drove to visit his 94-year-old sister in Sun City, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix. He is a volunteer in his community and helps the elderly with meals and at day rehabilitation centers. He is a man with a great wit and a quick mind, a man who makes a mean pot of chicken soup, and I should know. He still plays pinball like a champ, beating me three times in a row on the pinball machine in his garage ("Spirit of '76").

Wayne’s personal stories are invaluable to the history of pinball. His ability to remember so much with such detail is astounding. He is one of a kind, and I hope he will be around for a very long time, so his wisdom and knowledge can be shared with other pinball enthusiasts.

In sum, Wayne concluded, “I enjoyed getting up in the morning and going to work. Working for and with the people at Gottlieb was an honor and a pleasure, nothing like that will ever exist again.”

Unfortunately that is probably true. It was a very special time with very special creative people. We can only hope that these memories are kept alive through word of mouth and interviews like this one.

Yours truly, fellow Pinhead,

David Silverman