An arcade game and pinball machine designer with 38 U.S. patents in amusements, bowling systems and casino games, Larry DeMar was one of the recent additions into the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame. Among his video game co-designs were Defender, Stargate, Robotron: 2084 and Blaster.
In 1984, he collaborated with Barry Oursler and Joe Kaminkow on Space Shuttle, a pinball game credited with keeping the doors at Williams open and helping launch a resurgence of the pinball industry.
By 1986, he moved into pinball full-time at Williams/Bally, serving as the director of pinball engineering and director of slot machine design.
He co-designed several of the era’s biggest hits, notably Black Knight and High Speed with Steve Ritchie and Banzai Run, Fun House, Twilight Zone and Addams Family – the biggest selling pinball machine of all-time – with Pat Lawlor.
DeMar later founded Leading Edge Design and created popular casino titles for IGT and the Norway Lottery.
“His legacy includes the creation of automatic replay precentaging that adjusts the replay score based on the skill of the players, automatic switch testing and self-healing which keeps features working even if the mechanical hardware fails, and many other features that now come standard in virtually every new pinball machine sold,” said AAMA Executive VP Pete Gustafson during DeMar’s induction.