On October 7, 1988, with help from the Data East team, the Pinball Expo '88 audience designed Olympiad Pinball by consensus. Data East chief designer Joe Kaminkow led the design seminar to demonstrate the myriad decisions that lead to a successful pinball machine design.

Joe showed us an empty plywood playfield with no holes, no art, no parts, and no wiring. There was plenty of space to fill.

The audience suggested various themes for the game and eventually selected Olympiad Pinball. Joe led the selection of features while Data East president Gary Stern listed them on an easel pad. Read the late Russ Jensen's excellent notes for details of our choices.

As we selected playfield features, game designer Ed Cebulas sketched them onto a full size paper template, which was preprinted with the playfield outlines, the ball shooter, and the lower flipper area. After the seminar, Joe and Ed converted the rough sketch into a full scale paper mockup of the Olympiad Pinball playfield.

Joe promised to bring a working prototype whitewood to Pinball Expo '89.