# Harry Potter Pinball: I Played It...

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2025-06-12  
**Duration:** 31m 29s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpZnkOMRYWc

---

## Analysis

Cary Hardy shares detailed first-impressions of Harry Potter Pinball after playing for over an hour at a location. He praises Jersey Jack's passion-driven design, the innovative spinning staircase mechanic, varied gameplay, and skill shot options, but strongly criticizes the Collector's Edition topper as aesthetically poor and mismatched. He also expresses concerns about the overly vibrant RGB lighting clashing with the films' muted color palette, and notes the code is initially overwhelming but will likely reward extended play.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] The spinning staircase rotates randomly or semi-randomly on each ball, providing unique variety rather than predictable playfield routing — _Cary notes uncertainty: 'i only have so much time on it but it felt random to me and if it is random...you're guaranteed a different experience every single ball'_
- [HIGH] The Collector's Edition topper looks poorly designed and doesn't match the rest of the game's aesthetic quality — _Multiple emphatic statements: 'it just looks like a mod and not a good mod...to the point to where if i were to get a ce i wouldn't even install the topper'_
- [HIGH] Harry Potter Pinball has a secret skill shot accessible by holding left flipper button during plunge that's more skill-based than standard plunge options — _Detailed explanation: 'Hold down your left flipper button whenever the ball is in your shooter lane...the play field change and start to shine and flash red'_
- [HIGH] The code/rules are initially overwhelming and incomprehensible but will become clearer with extended play time — _Direct admission: 'I had no clue what I was doing because there's so much coming at you...that's going to come later as I get more familiar with the game'_
- [HIGH] RGB lighting effects clash with Harry Potter films' actual color palette, which trends toward muted/dark tones except Order of the Phoenix — _Detailed analysis using movie barcode tool: 'a majority of these movies except for the order of the phoenix the colors are a little bit more dark'_
- [HIGH] Eric Minor (designer) has a personal passion backstory involving driving to midnight release of Order of the Phoenix as a teenager with his girlfriend — _Cary recounts: 'he was 16 and his girlfriend at the time in high school, they were really into Harry Potter, drove to an hour away to wait in the midnight release of The Order of the Phoenix book'_
- [HIGH] All three editions (Pro/Arcade, Premium/Wizard, Collector's) have identical playfield mechanics and spinning staircase — _'the play fields between the three tiers are all the same at least when it comes to mechs so you're still getting the spinning staircase...even on the arcade edition'_
- [MEDIUM] Distributor floor models are receiving approximately four units for testing/demo purposes — _'Distros are getting basically four floor models. So those of you that live close to one can go up there and experience the game'_

### Notable Quotes

> "when you have a designer say that they initially just didn't want to do it...that basically kind of tells me that there's no passion behind what you're creating...but this was something that as from a designer standpoint that he really wanted to do He really wanted to pour his passion and effort into creating this game"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~2:30
> _Core thesis about designer passion vs. obligation; contrasts Eric Minor's enthusiasm with other manufacturers' formulaic approaches_

> "this topper it just really falls short...if i were to get a ce i wouldn't even install the topper i wouldn't even want it on there...i would rather put a freaking Legos Hogwarts castle together and put that on the machine"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~8:00
> _Strongest criticism of the video; directly impacts CE purchase decision and highlights aesthetic disconnect_

> "the spinning staircase is what i think gives you the most variety...you're guaranteed a different experience every single ball you play...that's the thing i think that wears down on a lot of us when playing a particular game...whereas on harry potter even though i hit this shot there's a chance that that spinning staircase is going to be in a different orientation"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~13:00
> _Key mechanical praise; explains how randomization provides longevity and replayability vs. predictable routing_

> "I had no clue what I was doing because there's so much coming at you...I would call you a damn liar if you told me that your first game of Harry Potter was like, oh, yeah, it's pretty straightforward"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~20:00
> _Honest assessment of code complexity; sets expectations for new players but suggests depth will reward learning_

> "I don't feel that the rainbow matches very well with this theme...during a track mode, okay, do your thing. But while I'm playing, let's turn that rainbow effects down a bit"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~38:00
> _Major design critique of RGB lighting implementation vs. film aesthetic; suggests settings/customization option_

> "Jersey Jack pinball machines typically are [targeted at home buyers], because there's so much code and so much that you can do in this game, to where they have a giant diagram showing you how you can progress through the code"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~48:00
> _Market positioning insight; identifies JJP's focus on complex home game experience vs. commercial accessibility_

> "I strongly encourage you to get out there and play this game wherever it's available...I'm thinking it's definitely going to start shipping out this week to more and more customers. The CEs are heading out the door"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~50:00
> _Production timeline confirmation; encourages community playtesting before home orders arrive_

> "I really do feel that this is going to be a game that you may not like the theme like myself but I really do feel that you're going to enjoy the game in the entirety of it"
> — **Cary Hardy**, ~53:00
> _Balanced closing; suggests game's design quality transcends theme appeal, targeting broader audience_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cary Hardy | person | Pinball YouTuber and content creator; played Harry Potter Pinball for extended session at location and provides detailed first-impressions analysis |
| Eric Minor | person | Designer of Harry Potter Pinball; known for personal passion connection to franchise (drove to midnight book release at age 16); referred to as 'Eric Vignier' once in transcript but normalized to 'Eric Minor' |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Harry Potter Pinball; praised for passion-driven design philosophy and quality execution; history of complex code implementations |
| Harry Potter Pinball | game | Premium pinball machine licensed by Jersey Jack; available in Arcade, Wizard, and Collector's editions; features rotating staircase mechanic, Quidditch upper playfield, 90+ modes, and theatrical licensing; release imminent with CEs shipping |
| Mark Silk | person | Voice actor/callout performer on Harry Potter Pinball spell-casting interactive video mode; provides prompts for button sequence gameplay |
| King Kong | game | Pinball machine that Cary Hardy currently owns; plans to sell/replace with Harry Potter; praised skill shot design vs. soft plunge alternatives |
| Tales of the Arabian Nights | game | Vintage pinball game owned by Cary Hardy's wife; relatively simple code; rarely played; considered for potential replacement if Harry Potter acquired |
| Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory | game | JJP game referenced for similar sound design choices (slot machine-style effects); Harry Potter shares some audio aesthetic concerns |
| Pulp Fiction | game | JJP game referenced for strong audio callout design; Cary contrasts as audio-focused alternative to backbox video focus |
| Dune | game | Recent game with selectable skill shot feature similar to Harry Potter's action button skill shot cycling |
| Godzilla | game | Referenced for dynamic playfield routing mechanic (building tower lowering) that differs from Harry Potter's random staircase approach |
| Theater of Magic | game | Classic game with spinning trunk mechanic; Cary draws visual comparison to Harry Potter's aesthetic engagement/eye-catching design |
| Elton John | game | JJP game with live show video presentation; referenced as example of rainbow color light show implementation that Cary criticizes as theme-inappropriate |
| Order of the Phoenix | product | Harry Potter book that Eric Minor and girlfriend drove to midnight release for; most colorful Harry Potter film based on movie barcode analysis; establishes designer's personal connection to franchise |
| Pinside | organization | Pinball community forum/website referenced implicitly for rankings and community discussion |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Designer passion and intentionality as quality differentiator, Aesthetic design execution (topper quality, lighting, art direction), Mechanical innovation (spinning staircase randomization), Code complexity and learning curve, RGB lighting theme-matching concerns
- **Secondary:** Skill shot design and plunge mechanics, Video mode implementation and audio sync, Edition pricing and feature differentiation (Pro/Wizard/CE value)

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Strongly positive overall with one major aesthetic complaint (topper) and secondary concerns about RGB lighting. Cary's enthusiasm for mechanics, design philosophy, and gameplay variety substantially outweighs criticisms. Final recommendation is enthusiastically affirmative despite identifying flaws.

### Signals

- **[code_update]** Harry Potter Pinball features intentionally complex rules/code targeting extended home play; overwhelming on first session but rewards learning; includes massive progression diagram for ruleset navigation (confidence: high) — Cary acknowledges initial confusion: 'I had no clue what I was doing because there's so much coming at you' but frames as positive for longevity; mentions 'giant diagram showing you how you can progress through the code'
- **[community_signal]** Positive player reception from Cary's contacts; anecdotal evidence suggesting broad appeal despite theme specificity; players enjoying comprehensive gameplay package (confidence: medium) — 'so far from the people that I know that have played the game they enjoy it...I really do feel that you're going to enjoy the game in the entirety of it'
- **[design_philosophy]** RGB lighting effects clash with Harry Potter films' actual color palette; most films feature muted/dark tones rather than vibrant rainbow spectrum; suggests film research (movie barcode analysis) should inform aesthetic choices (confidence: high) — Detailed movie barcode comparison showing HP films predominantly dark except Order of Phoenix; Cary: 'I don't feel that the rainbow matches very well with this theme'
- **[design_philosophy]** Collector's Edition topper aesthetically mismatched to game's overall art direction; described as looking like 'a mod and not a good mod'; Cary explicitly states he would not install it despite $15k price point (confidence: high) — 'this topper it just really falls short...to where i'm spending 15 grand for a machine that the whole thing would look great and then this topper it just really falls short'
- **[design_philosophy]** Eric Minor's designer passion and personal connection to Harry Potter franchise (midnight book release story) positioned as key differentiator from obligation-based game development at other manufacturers (confidence: high) — Cary repeatedly emphasizes passion as motivation factor and contrasts with designers who 'initially didn't want to do it'; frames Harry Potter as 'something special' vs. formulaic business approach
- **[market_signal]** Jersey Jack Pinball consciously targets home collectors with deep, complex code experiences rather than commercial venue/casual appeal; Harry Potter positioned as collection piece requiring extended ownership (confidence: high) — 'Jersey Jack pinball machines typically are [targeted at home buyers], because there's so much code and so much that you can do in this game...something I think is definitely targeted towards the home buyers'
- **[design_innovation]** Spinning staircase mechanic may feature random/semi-random rotation creating variable playfield routing on each ball; distinguishes from predictable mechanical transitions in competitor games (confidence: medium) — 'i only have so much time on it but it felt random to me and if it is random which is not ideal for tournaments but if it is random then you're guaranteed a different experience every single ball'
- **[product_strategy]** Wizard edition ($12k) positioned as optimal value proposition vs. Arcade ($9,999) and CE ($15k); balanced feature set including topper and art package without excessive premium (confidence: medium) — Cary's purchasing decision: 'going over what you're getting for the price i do feel like the wizard edition you're getting a pretty damn good bang for your buck'
- **[product_concern]** All three editions (Arcade/Wizard/CE) share identical playfield mechanics including spinning staircase; differentiation is cosmetic (artwork, glass, topper) rather than functional (confidence: high) — 'the play fields between the three tiers are all the same at least when it comes to mechs so you're still getting the spinning staircase...even on the arcade edition'
- **[manufacturing_signal]** CE production shipping imminent; general production expected to begin 'this week'; distributor floor models (~4 units per location) available for public playtesting (confidence: medium) — 'I'm thinking it's definitely going to start shipping out this week to more and more customers. The CEs are heading out the door...Distros are getting basically four floor models'

---

## Transcript

 what's up guys and welcome back to the channel where i talk and do everything pinball so if that sounds interesting to you then hit the subscribe button down below yesterday i did like a one hour live session immediately after getting back from playing harry potter for over an hour if not longer i didn't keep track but i know i got there around lunch and i was there till they were close getting ready to close so i was there a good while but not all of it was on the machine but i wanted to just before i forgot anything go live and just tell you while i was still on the the high of harry potter kind of thing and now that i've slept on it got more time to think about it i wanted to give you a more compressed video of my likes and dislikes of this game so far but before i start that a huge round of applause to the jersey jack pinball team for creating this game like any manufacturer that creates essentially any game needs to be like it's definitely more than i could do obviously and we know that pinball is not easy and especially when you're dealing with a license such as this was a huge following you've got a lot of pressure on you for this to be a hit but thankfully i believe it's going to be your best yet i think one thing that is definitely going to be setting this game apart from a lot of other games including the one that i've got back here is that you can see the passion behind this and watching or listening to interviews with you know eric vignier over there who designed this game this is something that i wish we would have more of in this industry when it comes to developing these games because it seems like through a lot of manufacturers that they make these games because like hey you know we need to make this game because obviously you have to keep the lights on gotta pay those bills and alongside with that Jersey Jack does the same thing they had to pay their bills but this was something that as from a designer standpoint that he really wanted to do He really wanted to pour his passion and effort into creating this game. He wanted this, and he wanted to build a world under glass. And whenever you listen to interviews, including this game back here, when you have the designers say that they initially just didn't want to do it. Okay, so then that basically kind of tells me that there's no passion behind what you're creating. And you don't need passion to create a fun game, granted. But I think the passion definitely is more motivation to make something special. And I believe that's what this game is, something special. So knowing that Eric has a whole backstory that he has expressed on podcasts where he was 16 and his girlfriend at the time in high school, they were really into Harry Potter, drove to an hour away to wait in the midnight release of The Order of the Phoenix book. and on the way back while he was driving she was reading it aloud it's a it's a very lovely story a story that i wish i had to say on in my own life something special of that nature so when you have a little bit of a backstory there and the fact that he's mentioned how big of a fan he is the passion is there this wasn't just a job for him this wasn't something that he just it's like hey it's just a rigmarole got to get this game out got to pay those bills this was something again special but not everything about this game what i consider special there are a couple of things one major one that i believe is a huge miss but definitely the pros and the things that i enjoy about this game heavily outweigh the cons let's just jump right into it when it comes to talking about the aesthetics of the collector's edition this is the 15 000 machine right here and pictures are one thing and then you get there to look at it and it's something different but in a in a good way because you i mean pictures alone and the trailers showing off the game i was already like this is a beautiful machine and i think at first i was kind of iffy about the art for the ce but it grew on me and i really actually appreciate it and i think those that are really big fans of Harry Potter, especially the books, then this is something that's going to be even more special to you. And I think for those of us out there that don't really follow Harry Potter, and our only knowledge on Harry Potter is the movies, that's where the Wizard and Arcade Edition are going to speak more to us. But when I'm admiring this collector's edition, I'm starting from the bottom and just working my way up and it's just an art piece it all just flows beautifully going from the lower cabinet up to the backbox and then something happens when you get to the topper and this is where i really have to wonder what the hell happened when it came to designing and putting this topper together and then ultimately putting it on the game stepping back looking at it because you know you had to at one point or time and then going yeah beautiful it fits it's amazing i don't see how you came to that conclusion the cabinet by itself everything step back yes looks great looks beautiful amazing and then you put something on the top that looks like a mod and not a good mod a good mod is something that looks like it should be on the game or in a game this is a bad mod this is the kind of mod where you look at and go okay to each their own but you know you think whenever you're spending 15 grand for a machine that the whole thing would look great and it was so close to the whole thing looking great and then this topper it just really falls short so to the point to where if i were to get a ce i wouldn't even install the topper i wouldn't even want it on there and that's the main one of the main reasons driving force that i'm not getting a ce is that i'm spending extra extra money for something that i don't even want i don't want that topper i would rather put a freaking Legos Hogwarts castle together and put that on the machine and pray to God it doesn't fall off but like there is a many other things out there that have been created that you could buy that would just put on top of the backbox that are so much better than what this thing does especially since even while I was there playing the game I rarely even looked up to see what the topper was doing even though there is movement so it's like I don't need the topper I don't want it And so it's the most awful part, the only awful part of this entire machine to where I just question what happened. Like I can't even – I don't even know how it got approved, but the people that are doing the approving and the licensing part, they don't see things the same way as a lot of us do in this hobby or industry. I don't know. It just seems like it sticks out like a sore thumb to where I'm just like it doesn't flow with the rest of the art. It doesn look as pretty and good as the rest of the game It just that my biggest gripe on this and I glad that that is my biggest gripe on this i would rather it be something that is you pay extra to get not something that underneath the glass that you're stuck with this is an optional thing that you don't even have to purchase or put on your machine so i'm glad that that is the bad part of this game relieved and don't try to sell me on it's got a projector that puts the mark on the ceiling not a saving grace that's not a positive for this topper guys just saying but to easter own if you like the topper you think it's great good for you that is but like i said it's my only major ah when it comes to talking about the aesthetics of this game something else i need to applaud on this is that the playfields between the three tiers are all the same at least when it comes to mechs so you're still getting the spinning staircase which is i think my favorite part of this game and i was honestly a little surprised that they still gave you the spinning staircase even on the arcade edition so again for just a bottom tier of arcade edition to get a fully mechanical version of Harry Potter as anybody else is spending 2 to 5k more than you is pretty nice especially for the arcades that just want to give people the experience to give those of you out there the chance to play a fully functioning Harry Potter how it was intended without the extra flair and pretty stuff inside or on the outside for that matter one thing I definitely got to give kudos to on the collector's edition also is underneath the glass i really do like the like the plating on the wire forms to make them look like they're gold very nice touch i almost kind of want to do that on a wizard edition if i get the game i don't know how well that would look on that particular art package i think they just look really good it just i felt like while i was playing this game it gave me the rim like memories of playing like theater of magic with the spinning trunk and just things just looked pretty and i i think that was the most like thing and i can call out on playing this game is that i just kind of like looking at everything and watching the thing spin around and it just definitely catches your eye so i think that about does it for the aesthetics let's talk about underneath the glass and how i feel about the whole playing experience from mainly a player's perspective on this i don't do tournaments or anything so it's nothing about you know points i'll go over just a little bit about that but when it comes to just you know what's going on underneath the glass how does it shoot i gotta to give so much praise on this because i feel what's going to give this game longevity is the variety and style of the gameplay it's got a little bit of flow it's got a little bit of speed a little bit of stop and go and just the upper play field up there is a nice little touch you're not up there all the time and the spinning staircase is what i think gives you the most variety you play a lot of these games where the ball paths change for instance like the godzilla building that tower you know moves downwards and it changes the ball path but as you play it eventually you learn how the play field is changed now i don't know if the harry potter spinning staircase always rotates the same way on a particular thing that you do or if it is just random because i only have so much time on it but it felt random to me and if it is random which is not ideal for tournaments but if it is random then you're guaranteed a different experience every single ball you play not so much every game but every ball that you play your experience is going to be different and that's the thing i think that wears down on a lot of us when playing a particular game this one back here is that even though the flow is great and the speed is great i know what the game is going to do next because i've hit this shot before so many times so i know where the ball is going to go whereas on harry potter even though i hit this shot there's a chance that that spinning staircase is going to be in a different orientation and cause the ball to go somewhere else so that leads to chaos variety you know a wonder and i think that's definitely going to be a good driving factor for those of us that want more out of our games especially over time cutting in here this is actually an edit after i already made this video and i realized that i forgot to talk about the code and what i felt about it and here's the thing I think the reason why I initially forgot about it is because if you were to ask me, Carrie, how was the code? Did you feel like you were progressing through this or accomplishing this or doing that? And did you know what you were doing? And the guys, the answer is absolutely no. I had no clue what I was doing because there's so much coming at you. I would be so I would call you a damn liar if you told me that your first game of Harry Potter was like, oh, yeah, it's pretty straightforward. I knew exactly what to do. Everything was just outlined for me. It all makes sense. I'd call you a liar. I'd be like, bullshit. But the fact of the matter is, I think that's going to come later as I get more familiar with the game and I just kind of get used to it. Now, then it's going to get to the point to where I'm like, okay, how do I accomplish these certain tasks? What does this and how do I get through this particular mode or whatever? This session was me just playing it and enjoying the experience of the game in its entirety. So there was a couple of portions I want to point out that I also enjoyed. One of them was the spell casting that you do. I don't know how you get to this particular point, but it's kind of like a video mode, but it's an interactive video mode. you're going to have a call out. Marc Silk is like, you know, pay attention. The spell is this, and it's like left flipper, action button, right flipper. The times that it came up to me, it was three interactions. And then you have to do that interaction when it prompts, like hit it now, now, and you'll see it on the screen, I'm sure, in future streams if you haven't seen it already. My opinion on that currently is that cool. I like it. I like an interactive, you know memory type of video mode i'm kind of curious if that progressively gets harder as you get deeper into the game or if it's just a simple three button sequence if it always is a simple three button sequence then that may get to the point where i'm like yeah yeah whatever let's get on to the next thing i'd like to see some variances in that and there could be down the road but there obviously is is variances when it comes to which button is what and combination wise but I just kind of wonder where that's going to progress. And that's pretty much it when it comes to code, guys. I would love to be able to tell you this is how you do this, this is how you progress on this, but no. It's me at this point in time just telling you that the game was an enjoyable experience. All right, back to the rest of the video. Some other things that kind of cross my mind when it comes to gameplay is that I tried to make a list here of things so that way I don't forget, but I really wanted to comment also on the Death Eater ball eject that thing comes at you pretty damn quick But as long as you just leave your flippers down at least on the game that I was playing the ball would slam straight into your right flipper, and then it would bounce over kind of thing. So you should be fine as long as you don't react to it. But that ball does launch out pretty damn quick. The whole upper playfield region where the Quidditch match is being held, there is a variety of shots. I think there's a total of one, two, three, four, I guess five if you consider the one getting out of the upper play field. But there's at least four shots to make. One of them is to 180 onto the wire form so you can continuously do the loop over and over again. I got up to nine loops. If you get better than that, by all means, let me know in the comment section down below. But I did get the number one at least on that particular location where I was at. I believe that is definitely where you're going to be getting a lot of bonus points when it comes to getting a better score Don't let the quidditch match area just be up there and never go up there That's something that you want to rack up points on and I think you get that bonus On your last ball and if you tilt out then you lose that bonus I mean depending on how well you do up there you could lose 60 million plus kind of thing because i know that i had bonuses that were like 60 or 80 plus million of points at the end of my game so you don't want to tilt out or you just lose that bonus because they i forgot what they call it like you know interference or whatever so you basically you essentially lose the quidditch match and you do not get that bonus nice little touch on there so if it's here at the house i'll be taking out that tilt bobber something else i wanted to comment on was the skill shots there is the option for you to change which skill shot that you want whenever the ball launches into the shooter lane you can hit the action button to circulate through which skill shot you want kind of like on a number of recent games and dune was one of those as well whenever you hit the flipper buttons you can change what skill shot you want now when it comes to me and skill shots i'm not one that likes the soft plunge it's like oh if you hit it just enough it goes in here and you get extra points no i want to be able to you know reasonably pull the plunger back and make it feel a little more skill worthy other than just pulling the plunger back on a certain amount and luckily you still have that option on this game so if you have not played it yet remember this secret skill shot maneuver something i just learned along with changing your skill shot with the action button. What if you don't want to use the action button or these? You can hold down the left flipper button and boom. Full plunge it and just loop around over and over again. Uh, yes please. Go up to the game. Hold down your left flipper button whenever the ball is in your shooter lane. You will then see the play field change and start to shine and flash red for a particular shot on the game i was playing on you would easily make that full roundabout with a full plunge full and release and it goes up that aisle and feeds to your upper flipper and while still holding down your left flipper button if you manage to make that particular shot with your upper flipper then you get the secret skill shot it's much more pleasing to make especially just getting the ball into play still requires a skill set and i just enjoy it better and those are the games that i really enjoy that's why i enjoyed the skill shot back here on king kong was that there's one that you can hit up to a particular spot to make it more challenging more skill instead of just plunging something just right that was just something that i wanted to highlight that i really enjoyed about that so if you have not played it yet or if you have next time you play it try out that secret skill shot now let's just spend a little bit of time on this whole muted clips ordeal and look it's never been something that's bothered me personally because while i'm playing a game i'm looking down at my play field i'm not watching my backbox to make sure that the scenes that are on there are synced up with audio that's just me i'm more of an audio person whenever it comes to like call-outs so when i'm playing pulp fiction and i'm hearing all these call-outs from the movie that's all i technically need is the audio for it and i'm like okay i can see i have a visualization of the movie in my head type of thing the call-outs for me are more important now while the game is playing i believe that there are variety of multitude of different scenes from all the movies that are playing on the screen they're muffled to an extent to where if you pay like attention if you were to cradle the ball then you might still be able to hear them a little bit but definitely the sounds of the game and everything else is that's going on is going to overpower that but where you will actually be able to hear clearly and synced up audio and everything is during like a transition of a different mode or when you lock a ball that's when all of those scenes are going to be synced up when you're actually staring at the screen and to me that's more important and that's what i would prefer so mute eclipse that's just something i don't even think it should be even mentioned honestly because i i feel like if you're wanting the game and always be playing something in the movie and always being able to be able to hear it put the damn movie in your tv and turn that on while you're playing the machine if that's what you want that's just me now to double down on the audio on this let's talk a little bit about the sound effects now when you're watching the stream you're gonna think that this sounds very slot machine vegas whatever type of term that you want to use you're going to hear a lot of certain sound effects that you heard in willy wonka and i felt the same way major concern wondering why they have all these weird sounds on a game like this and then I played it and I'm guessing since my sensory was focused on other things that I didn't feel like the sound effects were a bothersome or really like irritating or out of place until I actually really wanted to focus on it and I was like I feel like this those sound effects are a little too you know slot machine-esque I'm not gonna lie there are sound effects if you focus on it that okay that that i kind of wish that was a little less what it is now what kind of sound should they use i don't know i'd be one of those things where i feel like i would need to watch the movies again and kind of figure out what kind of sound effects you typically hear on it but the sounds effects are okay that i mean it's one of those things where i it's not a basically where i'm irritated by it but i do feel that there's definitely sounds that I wish were different. Audio when it comes to the music, excellent. I have no complaints there on that. I love how they implemented the main theme whenever you first start your game. It's very important. It's something that everyone more than likely recognizes when they hear it. Now let's talk a little bit about the light show. Now Jersey Jack has a, basically this is something that they do with all of their games and they. Did it with this game as well, and it wasn't so bad on Elton John because it's the live show, the live show, although amazing in itself, it's great visuals, not going to deny that. But I don feel like the rainbow colors really kind of like mesh with the theme of this game and I was kind of curious about that so I decided to look up something here and it something called movie barcode it kind of gives you colors of every frame in an entire movie and it's on one single barcode it kind of gives you an idea of what kind of colors are used in a particular film and if you look at the Harry Potter portion, let me show you right here. So here are the Harry Potter movie barcodes, and this kind of gives you an idea of the kind of colors that you're going to be seeing through the movies, all of them. And you're not really getting, I think this was probably the most colorful, the Order of the Phoenix. This looks like you got a lot more, some pinkish and blues and some teals but it's still not really bright and then you start getting dark again and more dark and then really dark but i'd say a majority of these movies except for the order of the phoenix the colors are a little bit more dark and it's like well how do you compare that to something else and i was like okay well what movies would have a lot of like bright and colors to give you a better visual and what that would look like so i was like okay maybe there's something on here and sure enough there is so i'm guessing this is going over all of the pixar movies so here we have toy story i thought that would be a little more colorful than it actually is but i guess not then you start seeing more of a color spectrum on bugs life toy story 2 a little more color through here monsters incorporated you start seeing all types of colors and then finding nemo obviously you get a lot of blue because of the ocean and everything like that And then the Incredibles, more dull, but again, it just shows you the difference on the colors that you typically see in a movie. And this is what I was pointing out. This is why I feel, and this is Cars too, a lot of variety of colors. So when I'm talking about making the game whole, as a whole, and the light show is part of that. I don't feel that the rainbow matches very well with this theme. I really do wish that that would be turned down a bit. Not so much. I mean, during a track mode, okay, do your thing. But while I'm playing, let's turn that rainbow effects down a bit, shall we? I kind of wish that when it came to options or settings, that there was like a classic setting or something like that to where the only colors you're going to get are like, you know, sunlight to make it seem a little more, I don't know, old school kind of version kind of thing. That you don't want all the RGB lighting effects. You want a little bit more simplicity to it. And the times that the game didn't give me the RGB going on, and it did feel a little more old school, the game honestly looked better. It just looked more aesthetically pleasing to me. so i would hope that there would be some kind of setting maybe in the future that for those of us that don't want that really out there just in your face rainbow light show give us something the option if we so wanted to to have a classic aesthetic and i'm sure the person that did the light show is probably pulling their hair out right now they're watching this like i put all this time and effort i'm like yeah i'm not denying that it's pretty i just don't think it meshes well with this particular theme. And I'm just going by memory here, but I don't recall, especially after watching the movie barcodes here, I don't recall the Harry Potter series being ultra rainbow colorish. So with that being said, I really enjoyed this game. I honestly would like to get a wizard edition. And for those of you asking me, why not an arcade edition? I went through all the things that you get with the arcade versus the wizard. The arcade, yes, you're getting the full working game like anybody else kind of thing the upgrades are mostly aesthetics including like you know your invisiglass and stuff like that the radcals or whatever and going over what you're getting for the price i do feel like the wizard edition you're getting a pretty damn good bang for your buck including a topper that i may or may not even use and as far as the collector's edition goes nothing against it it looks beautiful except for that damn topper is man i don't get me wrong that ce does look really good and i wouldn't mind having one it's just that the extra cost for what i'm getting i'm just like i don't need it that much kind of thing so i think the wizard edition especially since the art package speaks more to what i'm aware of and that's the movies so i think the wizard edition would be just fine but it's like if i was to get this game and eventually i do feel like i will once i cycle out King Kong. I may get one, but I do feel like this would be a game that I would want to hold on to for a long period of time, because it's not going to be something that I'm going to be able to go through very easily. This is something I think is definitely targeted towards the home buyers, and Jersey Jack pinball machines typically are, because there's so much code and so much that you can do in this game, to where they have a giant diagram showing you how you can progress through the code so it's something that definitely you would need a lot of time on to experience everything so i definitely feel like it would be a game that i need to replace something back here that doesn't ever really get touched and that's honestly my tales of the arabian knights it's a game that's mainly my wife's and it just sits there because it never gets played and when it does get played i beat it because the code is so you know pretty simple on it beautiful game got magic and all that but if i had to compare what you're getting out of the harry potter versus what you're getting out of to tell the arabian knights rarity aside like i said i would rather have a game that i actually play here that has a lot of cool stuff in it versus something that's just taking up space and is just a game that a lot of people want especially since the rumor is that we may be getting a remake of it here soon but there you have it my current thoughts and feelings about Harry Potter pinball. I strongly encourage you to get out there and play this game wherever it's available. Distros are getting basically four floor models. So those of you that live close to one can go up there and experience the game. I'm thinking it's definitely going to start shipping out this week to more and more customers. The CEs are heading out the door, guys. This is going to be a game that Jersey Jazz is going to be making for years. but I definitely feel that this is going to be a game that you may not like the theme like myself but I really do feel that you're going to enjoy the game in the entirety of it the entire package all together pros and cons weigh them out in the end I think that you're really going to enjoy Harry Potter and so far from the people that I know that have played the game they enjoy it so definitely if you have played it and even if you haven't played it let me know how you feel about the game in the comments section down below. And until next time, guys, peace out. Hey! Have you thought about selling Totan yet? Not really. I'm sure I could get somebody that wants it. I'm just saying. You said you'd think about it. I don't know. She says, like, oh, I'll think about it. But us parents, we know what the hell that means. We know exactly what the hell that means. I don't know. It's an ongoing battle. We'll see what happens.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 8f1d415f-efaa-4394-9d74-6ecce9770725*