Let’s Make a Deal: How Dwight Sullivan’s Quirky Gameshow Became the Best Thing at Pinball Expo

Dwight Sullivan is a soft-spoken, super-smart guy who you may also know as the Senior Game Developer at Stern Pinball. What does that mean? Great question and one I’m not exactly qualified to answer – but I do know that he makes rules for a bunch of the Stern games. Like, very interesting rules that challenge the way we think about how pinball games should play.

Like, for instance, that a single pinball game might be just one moment in an overarching story. That maybe pinball could have – a plot? Dwight’s work on Venom and Dungeons and Dragons has subtly shifted how a single game of functions within the context of a bigger story. While we’ve always had fun rule sets, he’s taken the torch from guys like Lyman Sheats, and pushed pinball forward into even deeper rules that help tell stories. Using the Stern Insider Connect system, players can now do things that weren’t possible before. They can become part of a multi-game adventure.

The best example of this is DnD. In Dungeons and Dragons, you’re able to pick a player class, go on quests, and even buy stuff at shops that will help you on your way. While there are varying degrees of how much pinball traditionalists like these features, it’s this kinda outside-the-box thinking that gives Dwight an almost universal approval rating in pinball.

Oh, and there’s one other thing: He’s a gamer. He’s just like the rest of us freaks in this hobby. Meaning, he doesn’t just like to make games; he plays them too. His love for DnD is well known, and my first interaction with him was secretly taking his pic (I didn’t know who he was at the time) while waiting in line at Pinball Olympics. Point being, the guy likes games.

Pinball Expo needs more fun panels

The panel rooms rule at Expo. They’re a much-needed break where you can sit back and relax during a weekend when most of the time you’re on concrete floors playing pinball with a million other disgusting people (I acknowledge my own disgustingness, and I hope the reader can bring themselves to admit that they, too, are also disgusting). Being able to just veg out in the panel rooms is a CRUCIAL break that allows you to recharge your batteries before heading back into the breech. Plus, you can just sit there and be kinda stoned.

But I’m sick of panels that just consist of a bunch of talking heads. Because the panels could be so much more. The team that produces the panels (and also runs Pinball Magazine, which I wasn’t familiar with at the time, but now am pretty into) can do almost anything within that space. These guys are pros. They integrate video, live streaming, and multiple microphones with an absolutely amazing setup.

And yet, most panels are just people sitting there and talking. I realize some of them are interesting and needed. The Women in Pinball panel is always a standout, and every once in a while, we get a really good documentary panel – but for the most part, these things are kinda boring, or are at least an opportunity to try something out of the box. Dwight’s game show is a great example of what we COULD be using this space for. Creative expression and interactive, fun events.

Let’s Make a Deal is the best thing at expo on Saturday Night

It’s a tribute to how great it is that, despite there being almost limitless pinball options on Saturday night, I invariably always find myself at Dwight’s gameshow for somewhere between 2-3 hours every Saturday night at Expo. It fucking rules.

For the uninitiated: Dwight Sullivan and a volunteer team from Stern run a very unofficial gameshow out of the panel rooms every Saturday night. And like I just said, it fucking rules. While the premise is simple, there’s no end to the craziness, frivolity, and ultimately high-stakes moments that make any game show worth watching.

And the best part is that anyone in the audience can win. Players are chosen randomly from a ticket-based system that was handed out by “Dwight’s best friend from high school”, which is how he was announced to the audience. From there, contestants compete against each other to identify old pinball art based on increasingly more obvious clues. The fastest contestant to buzz in and get it right gets a prize, but that’s not where it ends dear reader. Oh no, that’s when shit gets REAL.

Sullivan’s Math: Prizes, Heartbreak, and Zonks all doled out in equal measure

As soon as you win a prize, Dwight comes in with an offer. Each offer is a little different, and that’s where it gets good. You can either keep the prize you have, or Dwight will give you some combination of prize and “cash” which is fake currency which can be exchanged for prizes at an exchange run by Kyle Spitieri (of Stern) and David Sullivan (also of Stern and Dwight’s frickin’ kid).

The prizes can be awesome, the best of which is always some kind of super-rare Stern topper. This year’s top prize was a Rush topper, and I’m not even going to look at how much those are going for on Pinside, but it’s in the thousands of dollars, I’m sure. Point being: you can win real frickin’ nice stuff.

But you can also get zonked. Zonks are no-prizes. They come up pretty often during prize reveals, and as someone who engages in a fair bit of schadenfreude, I must say they’re the highlight of the evening. There’s nothing more fun than when someone doesn’t listen to the audience, waits for a big reveal out of a box, and a giant ZONK token comes up.

Now, there’s even more to the rules of this game, including a final round that you need a golden ticket to, but let’s just leave it there and say you get the idea of the show, right? WRONG.

This thing brings out the expo freaks in the best way

Most of the fun of the show comes from people trying to get Dwight’s attention. That often seems to mean attempting some attention-seeking tactics that include everything BUT shame. All the classics are represented here; jumping up and down, screaming, waving baudy signs, wearing insane costumes, and raw sex appeal. For real, one woman got on all fours in a cat costume and stayed that way for an uncomfortable amount of time.

While it IS an all-ages show, I’d put it closer to PG-13 than PG – but even PG can get a little, ah, freaky. And for me that’s when Dwight shines. He’s so sweet and good-natured that even something as nutso as a furry gyrating their hips in his face elicits the same kinda wry smile as anything else. He’s just like, “Hey, life is crazy! Right?”

Anyway, I went to the master himself to ask a couple lingering questions I had after this last Expo. Here are his responses.

An interview with Dwight Sullivan about his game show

You design rules for a living. Why the format of ‘Let’s Make a Deal’?

The LET’S MAKE A DEAL format allows me to make those mini-games that I call BUZZ WHEN YOU KNOW. And it allows me to give away lots of prizes, which I love to do. That’s the real reason we now have almost 400 people showing up: we are paying them.

You have a star-studded lineup of Stern employees that help you pull this off. Could you list them just so that I don’t miss anybody?

Hopefully, I can remember them all. Corey and I have a team that we could not do without, and then there are several other people who also show up and help, too.

This all started with Corey and I doing FAMILY FEUD at various shows. While I guess I am the ringleader, Corey is my partner in all this. It would not exist without him.

So here we go:

Corey Stup - Right-hand and in charge of all things electronic

Jerry Thompson - All Music, VO, and sound FX. Jerry and Corey work together. They figure out all the sounds that are needed, and Corey provides what Jerry needs to say when a prize is awarded.

Tanio Klyce - In charge of the boxes-behind-the-curtain and routing all the prizes to where they go throughout the show.

Mark Penacho - Helps Tanio route the prizes and prepare the boxes for each round.

Kyle Spiteri - Works the Prize Table and is responsible for handing out tickets.

David Sullivan (My Son) - Helps Kyle hand out tickets and sell things at the table.

Phill Gullett - Helps Kyle with Tickets and the Prize table.

Then, we have a few other people who have helped quite a bit when they are present:

Damon Beals (an old friend of mine and a good friend of Corey's) has helped Kyle and Tanio

Glenn Lee Wilcox Jr. (My friend from high school ) helps Kyle with Tickets

Josh Wilcox (Glenn's son) helped two years ago to hand out tickets.

Phil Steder - Helped quite a bit this year with setting up the room.

I am sure I am missing people.

How many years have you been doing it?

Corey, team, and I have been doing LET'S MAKE A DEAL for 3 years now. Before that, on and off, over a few years, just Corey and I did our version of FAMILY FEUD. Family Feud was much easier; we could do it just the two of us.

What’s more fun to give out: prizes or zonks?

What's fun is when I make a big deal about one of the prizes and the player doesn't take my suggestion, and then one of two is a zonk. It doesn't really matter which was the Zonk. It's dramatic either way. Each time a player gets a ZONK, the prize they would have won goes to the table to be given out to people with cash. We give out all the prizes each time, one way or another.

Any weird moments come to mind? People go nuts.

People did go nuts, didn't they? I can't think of anything weirder than our show when it's all going correctly. This year it was pretty great. It felt like a real game show: people came in costume. People bring all kinds of weird stuff in their pockets. People scream when they are selected and they know they may be about to win a prize. It was all pretty amazing.

You referenced Letterman, during the show this year. and I can see that. It’s dry humor. How would you describe your hosting style?

I love dry humor. I dont think I have a style. I just try to keep the show moving forward and joke with people as often as I can. Once the show starts, those are my two jobs.

Rob Berk gave a speech before Let’s Make a Deal began and said you had been thinking about stepping back from doing it. It IS a Saturday night Expo staple at this point – do you have plans to keep doing it?

First, Rob was great. He knew we were running a bit behind and filled in really well.

He was joking a bit about me not coming back. You see, a couple of weeks before EXPO, for a couple minutes, our show was scheduled for 10:30 PM. I told them I can't start that late. They moved the time back to 9:30, and we were back on. As long as they let us do it at 930, setting up from 9 to 9:30, Corey, the team, and I will be back next year.

END OF INTERVIEW

More weird panels, please

The thing that makes this cool are also the things that make it the exact opposite of nearly every other panel I’ve been to. It has perspective, it’s entertaining, and it has real meaningful audience participation – in fact, it’s sorta built around it. Now, I’m not saying that EVERY panel has to be a game show, but maybe we need to expand the idea of what an Expo panel might be.

How about a Mystery Science Theater style watch-along of a King Kong movie hosted by Zombie Yeti, or watching a live jam session with Jerry Thompson and John Borg? Hell, I’d watch Cooking with Mark and Steve Ritchie every single year. Literally wouldn’t miss it.

Point being, I don’t think people would miss another “making of” pinball panel if it made room for fun stuff. For real, everybody. The audience, the panelists, and even the dudes producing it. We’re there, why not have some more fun with it? If there’s one thing I learned from Dwight’s game show, it’s that there’s always fun in taking a chance on something and shaking things up. Sure, You might get zonked – but if you never take the risk, you’ll never reap that sweet, sweet reward.