# Insight from Steve Ritchie on His First Game for Jersey Jack Pinball **Source:** Knapp Arcade **Type:** article **Published:** 2022-07-19 **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.knapparcade.org/insight-from-steve-ritchie-on-his-first-game-for-jersey-jack-pinball --- ## Analysis Steve Ritchie has joined Jersey Jack Pinball as a designer and is working on his first game for the company, which features three novel toys and a standard body (non-widebody) design. He is collaborating with artist John Youssi on the project. Jack Guarnieri confirmed Eric Meunier is designing JJP's next game (not debuting in 2022), with Ritchie's game likely following. Mark Seiden is also designing his first JJP game, drawing inspiration from his Metroid homebrew but with a dramatically different theme. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Steve Ritchie is working on his first game for Jersey Jack Pinball — _Direct statement from Steve Ritchie at Pintastic New England seminar_ - [HIGH] The game features three toys that are 'new things to pinball' — _Steve Ritchie statement at seminar; Ritchie has whitewood prototype in development_ - [HIGH] Ritchie is collaborating with John Youssi (who worked on Toy Story 4) on artwork — _Steve Ritchie statement at seminar_ - [HIGH] Eric Meunier is the designer for Jersey Jack's next game — _Official confirmation by Jack Guarnieri at seminar_ - [HIGH] Eric Meunier's game will probably not debut in 2022 — _Jack Guarnieri official statement at seminar_ - [HIGH] Jersey Jack Pinball does not have the Sonic the Hedgehog license — _Jack Guarnieri definitive statement at seminar_ - [HIGH] Jersey Jack discontinued Standard Edition games — _Jack Guarnieri statement: 'Standard Edition games did away with themselves. The rarest games that we've ever built are the Standard Edition.'_ - [HIGH] Steve Ritchie expressed his hatred for widebodies during the Q&A — _Direct statement at Pintastic seminar_ ### Notable Quotes > "He utilized his higher budget at JJP to put three toys that are 'new things to pinball' in the game." > — **Steve Ritchie (paraphrased by author)**, Pintastic New England seminar > _Reveals Ritchie's design priorities and JJP's resource commitment to his debut title_ > "Standard Edition games did away with themselves. The rarest games that we've ever built are the Standard Edition." > — **Jack Guarnieri**, Pintastic seminar > _Official confirmation of JJP's discontinuation of Standard Edition tier; signals shift in product strategy_ > "JJP does not have the Sonic the Hedgehog license" > — **Jack Guarnieri**, Pintastic seminar > _Definitively closes speculation about JJP acquiring Sonic; clarifies licensing landscape_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Steve Ritchie | person | Legendary pinball designer joining Jersey Jack Pinball as a designer; working on first JJP game with novel toy mechanics | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Premium boutique pinball manufacturer; hiring legendary designers including Steve Ritchie and Mark Seiden | | Jack Guarnieri | person | Founder of Jersey Jack Pinball; made official statements about company direction, licensing, and product tiers | | John Youssi | person | Legendary pinball artist; most recently worked on Toy Story 4 for JJP; assigned to artwork for Steve Ritchie's debut JJP game | | Eric Meunier | person | Pinball designer at Jersey Jack Pinball; designing company's next game (official confirmation) | | Mark Seiden | person | Newest designer at Jersey Jack Pinball; working on first JJP game; created Metroid homebrew as part of hiring portfolio | | Pintastic New England | event | Recent pinball show that hosted seminars featuring Jersey Jack Pinball team; presentations released weekly on YouTube | | Knapp Arcade | organization | Source of this article; covers pinball industry news | | Super Awesome Pinball Show | organization | Podcast/show that interviewed Jack Guarnieri; referenced in article | ### Topics - **Primary:** Steve Ritchie joining Jersey Jack Pinball, Jersey Jack's design pipeline and upcoming games, Pinball machine design innovation (novel toys/mechanics), Jersey Jack product tier strategy (discontinuation of Standard Edition) - **Secondary:** Sonic the Hedgehog licensing status, Mark Seiden's first JJP game design, Pinball industry personnel moves and talent acquisition ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Enthusiastic coverage of high-profile designer hire and game design progress; optimistic tone about innovation and resources at JJP ### Signals - **[design_philosophy]** Steve Ritchie prioritizing novel/innovative toy mechanics in his debut JJP game; utilizing higher budget allocation (confidence: high) — Ritchie statement about three new toys to pinball; explicit mention of higher budget at JJP - **[licensing_signal]** Jersey Jack Pinball does not have Sonic the Hedgehog license (confidence: high) — Jack Guarnieri definitive statement at Pintastic seminar - **[personnel_signal]** Steve Ritchie, legendary pinball designer, has joined Jersey Jack Pinball as a designer (confidence: high) — Direct statement from Ritchie at Pintastic seminar; working on first JJP game with whitewood prototype - **[product_strategy]** Jersey Jack discontinued Standard Edition tier; now focusing on Premium and Limited Edition, making former Standard Editions the rarest (confidence: high) — Jack Guarnieri definitive statement: 'Standard Edition games did away with themselves' - **[product_strategy]** Jersey Jack's design pipeline: Eric Meunier's game next (not 2022 debut), likely followed by Steve Ritchie's game, then Mark Seiden's (confidence: high) — Jack Guarnieri official confirmation at seminar; author's speculation on queue order based on statements - **[technology_signal]** Standard body machines (non-widebody) preferred by Steve Ritchie; expressed hatred for widebody designs (confidence: medium) — Ritchie's game being standard body; explicit statement of widebody hatred during Q&A --- ## Transcript The recent Pintastic New Robert Englunds pinball show had a number of seminars that the great team there has been releasing as weekly episodes, every Tuesday on YouTube. I couldn’t sleep this morning, so I tuned in at 6 AM for the Live airing of this week’s presentation, featuring folks from Jersey Jack Pinball. The company was represented by its founder, Jack Guarnieri and it’s two newest designers, Steve Ritchie and Mark Seiden. A lot of what Jack talked about was already mentioned in my recent post about his great interview with the Super Awesome Pinball Show, so I want to focus most of this post on what Steve Ritchie had to say about his upcoming first game for Jersey Jack. Steve already has a flipping whitewood for the game. He is working with the legendary pinball artist John Youssi, who most recently did art on JJP’s Toy Story 4 pin, on art for it. Steve said that he utilized his higher budget at JJP to put three toys that are “new things to pinball” in the game. And that he’s particularly excited about one of them. Steve’s game is a standard body machine (he expressed his hatred for widebodies during the Q & A section). Jack officially confirmed that Eric Meunier is the designer for the company’s next game, but that it probably will not debut in 2022. While nothing was specifically said about what game will come after Eric’s, I personally suspect the it will be Steve’s. Mark Seiden is well into designing his first game for the company as well. If I had to guess, his machine is in the queue after Ritchie’s. Mark stated that while he did borrow some aspects from the Metroid homebrew pinball machine that he essentially used as his resume to get hired by JJP, the theme for the game that he is working on at the Company is so dramatically different that he had to change a lot of things around. Other tidbits of note from the session include Jack definitively stating that JJP does not have the Sonic the Hedgehog license and that the Company’s the “Standard Edition games did away with themselves. The rarest games that we’ve ever built are the Standard Edition.” I have embedded the very interesting presentation from Pintastic below: _(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 4f2e58b1-f64b-4ec8-98c0-6c3e20f1bd9a*