Fred Yates

Fred Yates was a pioneering engineer whose work at Atari’s pinball division in the mid-1970s helped usher in the era of solid-state pinball. Trained in electronics during a time of rapid technological change, he joined Atari to develop its first pinball machine, The Atarians (1976). Yates was the lead programmer and sound engineer on this groundbreaking project, introducing features like microprocessor-driven rules, electronic audio, a widebody playfield, and inductive sensors under the playfield—innovations that pushed pinball beyond its electromechanical roots.