2024 Hall of Fame Inductee

JOSEPH KAMINKOW, Chief Innovative Officer, Pixie Dust at Aristocrat

Joe Kaminkow’s career began when he started his own game development company, Logical Highs. He soon joined Williams Electronics where he quickly rose to prominence when he secured licensing rights from NASA that led to Williams’ 1984 smash hit game Space Shuttle.

Noticing a resurgence in pinball games in the mid-1980s, 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 The Simpsons, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Joe also pioneered licensing in the arcade novelty business. He was then recruited by International Game Technology (IGT) to revolutionize slot machines through the extensive use of licensed titles, including Wheel of Fortune, Elvis, and Sex and the City.

Joe went on to found Spooky Cool Labs in Chicago, where he developed an online Wizard of Oz city builder, before the company was acquired by Zynga (home to Farmville and Words With Friends). Joe developed the successful Hit It Rich online social slot before leaving Zynga in 2022 to devote himself full-time to Aristocrat Technologies, where he expanded his efforts to bring pop culture icons to life on the casino floor. Joe resides in Las Vegas with his wife Benita.