Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
JOE KAMINKOW
Joe Kaminkow grew up in Maryland and after graduating from Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts he started his own game development company, Logical Highs. He soon joined Williams Electronics to expand his knowledge and skills. He quickly rose to prominence when he secured licensing rights from NASA that led to Williams’ 1984 smash hit game Space Shuttle and worked on the game-changing , legendary Defender.
Noticing a resurgence in pinball games in the mid-eighties, Joe and Gary Stern founded Data East Pinball, where Joe quickly leveraged his talent at securing valuable licenses into a flurry of successful pinballs such as RoboCop, Back to the Future, The Simpsons, Star Wars, South Park, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek and Lethal Weapon 3. When Sega purchased Data East, Joe stayed on with Sega as Executive Vice President of Game Design.
Joe joined a new industry when he was recruited by International Game Technology in Reno, Nevada, in 1999 to revitalize their sinking position in the slot machine industry. Joe revolutionized slot machines by the extensive use of licensed titles and videos. IGT rolled out his groundbreaking Wheel of Fortune video slot machine, themed after the popular game show of the same name and Joe garnered the prestigious “Inventor of the Year” award for his development of the Wheel of Fortune brand. While at IGT he continued to pioneer the licensed brand concept, bringing to casino floors ground breaking machines based on pop culture brands such as: Sex and The City; The Price is Right; and Jurassic Park. Joe served as Vice President of Game Design at IGT and earned the title of “Master Inventor” for his contributions to IGT’s intellectual property portfolio.
In May 2004, The New York Times, in a feature article, noted that IGT was so profitable during Joe Kaminkow’s tenure that if you bought $10,000 worth of stock in both IGT and Microsoft when Joe arrived at IGT in January 1999, the Microsoft shares would have been worth $6000 on the date the article was written while the IGT shares would have multiplied to more than $70,000.
After leaving IGT, Joe moved on to the burgeoning industry of online games, founding Spooky Cool Labs in Chicago, and developed an online Wizard of Oz city builder. Spooky Cool was soon acquired by San Francisco based Zynga, home to Farmville, Words With Friends and many other successful online games. At Zynga, Joe developed an extremely successful Hit it Rich online social slot, in addition to Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and Harry Potter match games. He was employed by Zynga as a Chief Creative Officer. Joe recently resigned that position to devote full time to Aristocrat Technologies, where he first came on board in 2013, creating casino-based slot machines.
While at ATI, Joe continued his work with licensed games, bringing many pop cultural icons to life on the casino floor, including Britney Spears, Game of Thrones and Batman. Coming on full time in October 2022, Joe will be able to greatly expand his vision for ATI and implement new and exciting games and concepts throughout the company.
Joe is a named inventor on over 130 patents throughout the fields of game design, operations and networks. He has over 1500 games in the various coin op, slot and social gaming markets which he has either designed or to which he has contributed game design intellectual property. The summer of 2022, ABC premiered the hit television show “Generation Gap”, starring Kelly Ripa, which was created and co-produced by Joe Kaminkow through his former company, Backlot Tours, in cooperation with Mark Burnett.
During his career, Joe has received many accolades from his peers, including:
* Inducted into the Pinball Hall of Fame 2004
* “Top Ten Most Influential People in the History of Gaming” Strictly Slots Magazine
* Inducted into the AGA Gaming Hall of Fame 2017, the highest honor in the gaming industy.
* Became the first inductee into the EKG Slots Hall of Fame in 2019.
Joe resides in Las Vegas with his wife, Benita, a retired attorney and former Special Justice on the Supreme Court of Kentucky. In his “spare time” he enjoys collecting and restoring cars. His current project is a 1965 “Goldfinger” Aston Martin DB5, complete with all of James Bonds’ weapons and gadgets.
JOE KAMINKOW
Joe Kaminkow grew up in Maryland and after graduating from Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts he started his own game development company, Logical Highs. He soon joined Williams Electronics to expand his knowledge and skills. He quickly rose to prominence when he secured licensing rights from NASA that led to Williams’ 1984 smash hit game Space Shuttle and worked on the game-changing , legendary Defender.
Noticing a resurgence in pinball games in the mid-eighties, Joe and Gary Stern founded Data East Pinball, where Joe quickly leveraged his talent at securing valuable licenses into a flurry of successful pinballs such as RoboCop, Back to the Future, The Simpsons, Star Wars, South Park, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek and Lethal Weapon 3. When Sega purchased Data East, Joe stayed on with Sega as Executive Vice President of Game Design.
Joe joined a new industry when he was recruited by International Game Technology in Reno, Nevada, in 1999 to revitalize their sinking position in the slot machine industry. Joe revolutionized slot machines by the extensive use of licensed titles and videos. IGT rolled out his groundbreaking Wheel of Fortune video slot machine, themed after the popular game show of the same name and Joe garnered the prestigious “Inventor of the Year” award for his development of the Wheel of Fortune brand. While at IGT he continued to pioneer the licensed brand concept, bringing to casino floors ground breaking machines based on pop culture brands such as: Sex and The City; The Price is Right; and Jurassic Park. Joe served as Vice President of Game Design at IGT and earned the title of “Master Inventor” for his contributions to IGT’s intellectual property portfolio.
In May 2004, The New York Times, in a feature article, noted that IGT was so profitable during Joe Kaminkow’s tenure that if you bought $10,000 worth of stock in both IGT and Microsoft when Joe arrived at IGT in January 1999, the Microsoft shares would have been worth $6000 on the date the article was written while the IGT shares would have multiplied to more than $70,000.
After leaving IGT, Joe moved on to the burgeoning industry of online games, founding Spooky Cool Labs in Chicago, and developed an online Wizard of Oz city builder. Spooky Cool was soon acquired by San Francisco based Zynga, home to Farmville, Words With Friends and many other successful online games. At Zynga, Joe developed an extremely successful Hit it Rich online social slot, in addition to Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and Harry Potter match games. He was employed by Zynga as a Chief Creative Officer. Joe recently resigned that position to devote full time to Aristocrat Technologies, where he first came on board in 2013, creating casino-based slot machines.
While at ATI, Joe continued his work with licensed games, bringing many pop cultural icons to life on the casino floor, including Britney Spears, Game of Thrones and Batman. Coming on full time in October 2022, Joe will be able to greatly expand his vision for ATI and implement new and exciting games and concepts throughout the company.
Joe is a named inventor on over 130 patents throughout the fields of game design, operations and networks. He has over 1500 games in the various coin op, slot and social gaming markets which he has either designed or to which he has contributed game design intellectual property. The summer of 2022, ABC premiered the hit television show “Generation Gap”, starring Kelly Ripa, which was created and co-produced by Joe Kaminkow through his former company, Backlot Tours, in cooperation with Mark Burnett.
During his career, Joe has received many accolades from his peers, including:
* Inducted into the Pinball Hall of Fame 2004
* “Top Ten Most Influential People in the History of Gaming” Strictly Slots Magazine
* Inducted into the AGA Gaming Hall of Fame 2017, the highest honor in the gaming industy.
* Became the first inductee into the EKG Slots Hall of Fame in 2019.
Joe resides in Las Vegas with his wife, Benita, a retired attorney and former Special Justice on the Supreme Court of Kentucky. In his “spare time” he enjoys collecting and restoring cars. His current project is a 1965 “Goldfinger” Aston Martin DB5, complete with all of James Bonds’ weapons and gadgets.
