# Ask Jack Anything: Episode 6 **Source:** Stern Pinball **Type:** video **Published:** 2026-03-06 **Duration:** 10m 25s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTshnG24jJQ --- ## Analysis In Ask Jack Anything Episode 6, Jack Danger fields audience questions about entering the pinball industry, design philosophy, IP licensing, streaming plans, and technical aspects of pinball design. He discusses dream vs. nightmare themes (naming Pee-wee's Big Adventure as both), the balance between humor-forward and serious IPs, upcoming streaming initiatives, and the bidirectional nature of IP licensing between manufacturers and licensers. He confirms that game leaks are not preventable and provides technical insight into flipper angle calibration. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Stern aims to stream once a week; streaming gear is in transit and requires approvals — _Jack Danger, responding to Jordan's question about streaming resumption_ - [HIGH] A third mode for Kraken in Deadpool was not implemented due to IP licensing constraints with the licenser — _Jack Danger, responding to Brad's question about the Deadpool retrospective_ - [HIGH] Multiplayer over Insider Connected is not coming in the immediate future but remains in the realm of possibilities — _Jack Danger, responding to Mike's question about multiplayer functionality_ - [HIGH] About 50% of Stern's licenses are actively sought by Stern; the other 50% approach Stern — _Jack Danger, responding to Super Macho Man's question about IP licensing approach_ - [HIGH] Game leaks cannot be prevented — _Jack Danger, responding to Eric's question about preventing leaks_ - [HIGH] Pee-wee's Big Adventure is both a dream and nightmare theme for Jack Danger due to fear of not doing it justice — _Jack Danger, responding to Thomas's question about nightmare themes_ ### Notable Quotes > "Mike Vicor asked me to stop pushing my SCA agenda on you, so I will not be bringing up the Aquabats at all in this episode for him." > — **Jack Danger**, 0:00 > _Humorous opening reference to internal Stern culture and a prior episode topic_ > "Sometimes not everything that we want to do makes it into a game, whether it be time constraints, resources, but most of the time it's an IP conversation with the licenser" > — **Jack Danger**, ~4:30 > _Explanation of why certain game features don't ship; reveals IP licensing as primary constraint_ > "We aren't. All right, next question." > — **Jack Danger**, ~17:30 > _Blunt confirmation that Stern cannot prevent game leaks; indicates acceptance of inevitability_ > "It's all flavor. If you lay something out and you're flipping and things don't feel quite right, you just adjust the flippers a little bit and everything shoots great." > — **Jack Danger**, ~19:00 > _Reveals flipper angle design is empirical and intuitive, not formulaic_ > "There will be IPs coming to us or we'll know IPs that we want to go find. Sometimes IPs don't know pinballs exist and then we need to go educate them." > — **Jack Danger**, ~22:30 > _Shows Stern's active licensing strategy and educational outreach to potential licensers_ > "I would create an absolute banger... Beauty and the Beast... The big mansion in the back, water slide, Corvette going in and out, dude." > — **Jack Danger**, ~12:30 > _Demonstrates design enthusiasm for feminine-skewed IP; suggests untapped market opportunity_ > "I promise there will be more pinball machines that exist because of my involvement. That is a guarantee." > — **Jack Danger**, ~28:30 > _Direct commitment to continued game design despite role transition to Head of Community_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Jack Danger | person | Stern Pinball designer, Head of Community, host of Ask Jack Anything series, answering fan questions | | Mike Vicor | person | Referenced as someone who asked Jack Danger to stop mentioning Aquabats; presumed Stern employee or associate | | Zack Sharpe | person | Stern Pinball HR contact (Zack.sharpe@sternpinball.com) for career inquiries | | Tio | person | Stern Pinball designer/developer working on Deadpool; involved in Kraken mode discussions | | Emma | person | Post-production editor for Ask Jack Anything series; referenced by Jack Danger regarding video editing | | Stern Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer; employer of Jack Danger and source of content; implements IP licensing and streaming strategy | | Deadpool | game | Stern Pinball game; discussed in context of humor, IP licensing constraints, and canceled Kraken mode feature | | Godzilla | game | Pinball game referenced as example of humor-forward design with strong thematic integration | | Foo Fighters | game | Stern Pinball game referenced as having decent humor and Scooby-Doo gags integrated into design | | John Wick | game | Stern Pinball game; Jack Danger standing in front of it during recording; discussed as serious IP incompatible with forced humor | | Scooby-Doo | game | Referenced for humor integration in Foo Fighters game | | Insider Connected | product | Stern's digital platform; subject of feature request for multiplayer functionality | | Beauty and the Beast | ip_theme | Disney IP suggested by fan as ideal feminine-skewed pinball theme; Jack Danger enthusiastically endorsed concept | | Pee-wee's Big Adventure | ip_theme | Example theme used by Jack Danger to illustrate dream-nightmare duality; feared he couldn't do justice to the IP | | Super Macho Man | person | Fan/question submitter asking about IP licensing direction at Stern | ### Topics - **Primary:** Career paths and hiring in pinball industry, IP licensing strategy and constraints, Design philosophy and theme selection - **Secondary:** Humor in pinball game design, Streaming and content creation plans, Technical aspects of playfield design and flipper calibration, Game feature implementation and constraints, Gender representation and feminine-skewed IP themes ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.78) — Jack Danger is enthusiastic, helpful, and candid throughout. Tone is casual and humorous. He expresses love for the community and commits to continued design work. Only slight negativity in discussing constraints (leaks, licensing), but presented matter-of-factly without frustration. ### Signals - **[content_signal]** Jack Danger confirms intent to stream once per week with Stern; equipment in transit pending approvals. Timeline unclear but described as 'coming soon.' (confidence: high) — I'll tell you, the intent was to stream once a week with Stern. We're still going to do that. All of the streaming gear is sort of in transit because we're also doing like approvals for games. - **[design_philosophy]** IP licensing is the primary constraint blocking feature implementation (e.g., Kraken mode in Deadpool). Licenser approval gates game direction. (confidence: high) — most of the time it's an IP conversation with the licenser on like, can we keep moving forward with this? - **[design_philosophy]** Jack Danger uses thematic coherence to guide design decisions; refuses to force humor into serious IPs like John Wick; advocates for IP-appropriate tone. (confidence: high) — trying to force humor into that would feel disjointed and out of place. But there's still a market for people that love this IP. - **[product_strategy]** Head-to-head multiplayer over Insider Connected is not coming in immediate future but remains possible longer-term. Insider team is 'overburdened' with other work. (confidence: high) — Not in the immediate future, but you never know when that's going to come down the pike. - **[industry_signal]** IP licensing flows both directions: ~50% of Stern licenses originate from Stern's outreach; ~50% from licensers approaching Stern. Stern sometimes educates IPs about pinball market. (confidence: high) — Sometimes IPs don't know pinballs exist and then we need to go educate them. Other times IPs come to us... It's almost a 50/50 on like the licenses that come through. - **[leak_detection]** Jack Danger explicitly acknowledges that Stern cannot prevent game leaks. No mitigation strategy disclosed; accepted as inevitable. (confidence: high) — Eric asks, 'How are you able to keep upcoming releases from being leaked to the public?' We aren't. All right, next question. - **[personnel_signal]** Jack Danger confirms continued involvement in game design despite title change to Head of Community. Explicitly promises future games: 'I promise there will be more pinball machines that exist because of my involvement.' (confidence: high) — I promise there will be more pinball machines that exist because of my involvement. That is a guarantee. - **[design_innovation]** All Stern games feature two pin-prick holes at flipper tip to guide technicians on flipper centering. Designers use empirical playtesting to set flipper angles; no formulaic approach. (confidence: high) — if you look at a playfield at the tip of the flipper, you'll see two little pin prick holes... aim the middle of your flipper at that hole, and that's exactly where the flipper needs to be. - **[sentiment_shift]** Jack Danger positively receives suggestion for Beauty and the Beast pinball and acknowledges gap in feminine-skewed IP offerings. Enthusiastically designs concept, suggesting market opportunity recognition. (confidence: medium) — I agree that there could and should be more IPs that skew more feminine... I would create an absolute banger... Beauty and the Beast... The big mansion in the back, water slide, Corvette going in and out, dude. - **[community_signal]** Multiple fan questions about entering pinball industry careers. Jack Danger provides clear pathways: attend shows, network, identify skill fit, contact HR or reach out directly. (confidence: medium) — Kieran asks, 'How can I get started in a career in pinball?' The best way to do that is to start attending shows, meeting some of the folks that actually work in the industry - **[product_concern]** Insider Connected team reportedly 'overburdened' with current workload, limiting ability to add new features like multiplayer or expanded leaderboard functionality. (confidence: medium) — They are completely overburdened with stuff that they're working on right now, but they are always looking for cool and interesting ideas to add - **[design_philosophy]** Jack Danger articulates that ideal themes are those he both loves AND fears not executing justice to. Pee-wee's Big Adventure cited as example of dual emotional investment creating pressure. (confidence: medium) — I would love to make that game. That is a dream theme for me, but it is also a nightmare theme for me because... I'm also afraid that I won't be able to do it justice. --- ## Transcript Sorry I'm late, internet. I got the box, lots of stickers. Listen, Mike Vicor asked me to stop pushing my SCA agenda on you, so I will not be bringing up the Aquabats at all in this episode for him. So, um, we're just going to put that to bed right now and let's jump right into it, shall we? Look at this. Y'all stepped it up. We're We're moving right along. Sorry about the dinking noise in there. Funny enough, completely empty. Everything's on the screen. My printer broke. So, I'm just going to read off of here, and we'll move forward. Here we go. Kieran asks, "How can I get started in a career in pinball?" The best way to do that is to start attending shows, meeting some of the folks that actually work in the industry, and finding out where you would fit in that sort of machine. Are you a marketing person? Are you an art person? Are you a programmer? Are you a creative? But as far as like a designer is concerned, find where you fit in that universe and then you can always reach out to any manufacturers like HR or whomever you can get a hold of. For us, you might reach out to like Zack.sharp at sternpinball.com, but go to the shows, meet the people, find out where you fit. That's the best way to start. We have another question from Nick, who is also asking how to get involved in starting a career in pinball. These are great. you're more of a marketing person, I'd say from the marketing standpoint, you can reach out to me and then I will move that information forward. jack.dangerpinball.com. [music] There's going to be a lot of emails thrown around in this episode. But yeah, if you want a job in pinball, it can happen. You just got to find out where you fit in that machine. Brad asks, "I watched your Deadpool pinball retrospective. It got you so excited. You wanted to buy an Ellie. That's awesome. But you overheard me talking about a third mode for the Kraken. Sometimes not everything that we want to do makes it into a game, whether it be time constraints, resources, but most of the time it's an IP conversation with the licenser on like, can we keep moving forward [music] with this? So, I'll let Tio talk more about that if he cares to, but it was just something that never made it into the game. Thomas has an interesting question. He says, "We always talk about dream themes, but what's the design team's nightmare theme? [music] themes that you would hate to make, whether it be difficult, integrated into theme into gameplay, uh, blah blah blah blah blah. Typically, like a nightmare theme would be something that you don't think you could do justice to inside of the space of pinball. I can't give a lot of examples to that because I don't want to like cut down anything someone else might be making. And there's some themes that have come out where like I know I wouldn't have been able to do it justice and I'm glad someone else made it to do it justice. For me, let's say PeeWee's Big Adventure. I would love to make that game. That is a dream theme for me, but it is also a nightmare theme for me because as much as I love it, I'm also afraid that I won't be able to do it justice. It's sort of like a self deprecation thing. Like I would love to make it. I got all these ideas, but I still don't know that I could do it justice. But I think at the end of the day, it's just a license that you just don't think you could bring to life properly under the glass. But I mean, honestly, there's a lot of talented people out there, so I'm pretty sure we could make anything work if we really put our minds to it. How's my hair look? Emma, can you fix this in post? Frank asks, "When we're going to be making more genuinely funny pinball machines, Godzilla, Deadpool, where there's a lot, it's more humor forward." That all depends on the IP. You know, like a John Wick, which I'm standing in front of right now, is obviously a more serious IP, and trying to force humor into that would feel disjointed and out of place. But there's still a market for people that love this IP. So, I agree. I love games with a lot of humor in them, but it doesn't have to be every game. I think it works really well in Deadpool. They figured out how to do it really well in Godzilla. I think Foo Fighters has a decent amount of humor in it. Also, we have a lot of like funny sort of Scooby-Doo gags in there. But yeah, it really all depends on what the IP is and what we're afforded with those IPs. Mike asks, "Will we ever get multiplayer over Insider Connected?" That's a tough one because we have so much stuff coming from Insider and it's not to say that isn't in the realm of possibilities immediately is not something that is coming out but a a live [music] head-to-head multiplayer just over insider like you're on your game, I'm on my game and we're doing that thing. Not in the immediate future, but you never know when that's going to come down the pike. Jordan says, "Hey Jack, we missed the streaming days. When are you going to start streaming again?" I'll tell you, the intent was to stream once a week with Stern. We're still going to do that. All of the streaming gear is sort of in transit because we're also doing like approvals for games and such. And I have to put a laundry list of stuff together to buy new gear. So, coming soon, we just have to cement in place like where the streaming is going to happen outside of me just coming to my studio to stream, which I also love. Yeah, maybe we do that. We're just going to stream here. Yeah, that's a later conversation. It's coming soon. I miss it dearly and I miss you. Michael has a question and says, "What do you think of more games targeted towards women and girls? My wife has often said that a Disney princess theme or more specifically Beauty and the Beast." Nice. Would be an instant buy for our house. I agree that there could and should be more IPs that skew more feminine. And [music] while there are plenty of IPs out there that are evergreen for everybody, and everything is for everybody, but I don't disagree. I mean, I know that I would create an absolute bangerby's dreamhouse game. The big mansion in the back, water slide, Corvette going in and out, dude. Like, I'm ready. Throw it at me. G, give it to me immediately. Bryce asks, "Enjoyed episode 5. Nice work. How can I send you a custom sticker I made for the local pinball league?" Well, send any and all stickers to Stern and just CC Jack Danger and it'll show up magically at my desk and I'll slap it on this beautiful red box. Trogdor, any Trogdor fans out there? Dr. Feelgood. Dr. Feelgood says, "Hey, Jack. Home leaderboards are something my family has really been enjoying. Would love if the leaderboards could incorporate popular group games like golf or co-op scoring. I think that is a fantastic idea. I will immediately run that up the pipe to the IC team. They are completely overburdened with stuff that they're working on right now, but they are always looking for cool and interesting ideas to add to our little wall there. So, I will run that up the pipe the second this video is done. Excellent recommendation. Eric asks, "How are you able to keep upcoming releases from being leaked to the public?" We aren't. All right, next question. [laughter] Joe says, "Hey, Jack. was wondering how the flipper angle is decided on designing a game. Every designer is different. So, how do you make sure every game is aligned properly on the line? Well, some of you may know this, some of you may not, but if you look at a playfield at the tip of the flipper, you'll see two little pin prick holes into the playfield. Just just two little holes. And that hole is to tell the line exactly where to center the flipper so that they have an understanding of approximately where that needs to be. Now, if it's like a fraction of a degree up or down, sometimes tightening it, they'll they'll miss that on the line, but that's what final is for, so they can actually fine-tune that. But there's a little dot between the flippers on all of the Stern games. You can look at go look at yours right now. Aim the middle of your flipper at that hole, and that's exactly where the flipper needs to be. As far as like the angle being chosen by the designer, it's all flavor. If you lay something out and you're flipping and things don't feel quite right, you just adjust the flippers a little bit and everything shoots great. That's your new angle. So, there's typically not a rhyme or reason to it. It's just whatever is feeling good to the geometry. Jeremy asks, "Which is better, shampoo or conditioner?" Shampoo goes on first and cleans the hair, but conditioner leaves [music] the hair silky and smooth. You don't you can't you don't just just conditioner because then your hair's going to be triple greasy. like this. Like look at this. This is pomade but man hair. Super Macho Man. Uh all right. Super Macho Man asks, "Do the licensers come to Stern to pitch their IPs to make a game or is Stern going out to get those licenses?" That is a dance that happens all the time. There will be IPs coming to us or we'll know IPs that we want to go find. Sometimes IPs don't know pinballs exist and then [music] we need to go educate them and tell them we need to make one. Other times IPs come to us and see this as like a really awesome like trophy for their license, you know, like a playable version of the thing that they've created. So it really goes both ways and there is no one over the other. It's almost a 50/50 on like the licenses that come through. Did we go get it or did they come to us? Typically, if a license comes to us, we're afforded a little bit more freedoms because there's some enthusiasm brought to the project of wanting a pinball machine. And usually, they will have an idea of what pinball is when it's brought to us. Every IP is different, but yeah, it's about a 50/50 split. Let me just fix my shirt here real quick. I'm not talking about it. Mike Los asks, "Would you rather spend a day in wet socks or with shoes on the wrong feet?" Shoes on the wrong feet. Wet socks is like your own personal hell for as long as those socks [music] are on. It's awful. It's awful. We got a question here from John that says, "Jack, we need more games from you." Amen. And you [music] will get more games from me. I promise there will be more pinball machines that exist because of my involvement. That is a guarantee. And with that, internet box, come to me. Thank you, Box. All right, folks. Thank you for submitting your questions today. Was a little goofy. If you have any more hard-hitting questions, remember to reach out to askjack@ sternpinball.com or sternpinball.com/askjack. And as always, I love you. I'm in love with you. And don't definitely don't go listen to some Scott music. Okay, have a wonderful night. _(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 5629ad92-fea2-40a1-be2e-2db916553038*