Harvey Heiss demonstrated his prototype Baby in the Hole roll down game at Pinball Expo '88. This game was instantly familiar and apealing to those of us who had played Fascination, Pokerino, and other roll down games in Times Square or at the Jersey shore.

Harvey designed pinball machines and other games at Genco for nearly 25 years, starting in 1930. Harvey recounted many stories from his years at Genco and earlier during the Nostalgia session at Pinball Expo.

Some of the stories revealed his skills as a machinist. In one story, when Harvey left a lathe running, it cut most of the threads off its own spindle. Harvey worked all night to restore the machine. In another story, Harvey described making dies to form Oreo cookies.

Harvey also related some of his pinball machine innovations. He recalled Ding Dong, which used battery power to play a xylophone, anticipating chime boxes by 20 years. Harvey explained that Genco prefered DC power for smoother coil operation.

At the end of World War II, Harvey designed a series of coin-operated roll down games such as Total Roll and Advance Roll. His new game, Baby in the Hole carries on that tradition.

One year later, at Pinball Expo '89, Data East presented Harvey with a production version of Baby in the Hole with digital scoring and sound effects.