# Take away from JJP seminar Pintastic 2025 **Source:** Don's Pinball Podcast YouTube Feed **Type:** video **Published:** 2026-03-14 **Duration:** 10m 1s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tb4ClyiDmE --- ## Analysis Don reports on Jersey Jack Pinball's Pintastic 2025 seminar, covering updates on the upcoming Harry Potter Collector's Edition and a new unannounced game designed by Eric Menear. Key takeaways include specifications for a new Harry Potter Arcade Edition (lower-cost variant without premium components), expected launch timing (weeks to few months), confirmation that 5,000 LE units will be produced, and CE availability limited to a specific order window. Don also met with Avatar designer Mark Seidman and Multimorphic developers, and noted Jack Guarneri appeared in strong form. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Harry Potter Collector's Edition will have everything; Arcade Edition removes Invisaglass, art blades, rad cals (decals instead), shaker motor, but playfield is identical — _Don quoting information directly from JJP seminar at Pintastic 2025_ - [HIGH] New unannounced Jersey Jack game designed by Eric Menear will be the fastest-playing game he's made, expected to launch in next few weeks (by end of April or first week of May) — _Jack Guarneri confirmed timing to Don at seminar; Don's direct paraphrase of Jack's statements_ - [HIGH] Harry Potter LE will have 5,000 units produced — _Jack Guarneri confirmed this number to Don at seminar_ - [HIGH] Harry Potter CE will only be available for a limited order window (days to months), after which no more will be produced — _Jack Guarneri confirmed to Don at seminar_ - [HIGH] Harry Potter Arcade Edition will cost approximately $10,000, comparable to Stern Premium pricing — _Don's direct statement from seminar information_ - [HIGH] Jersey Jack is making an Arcade Edition of Harry Potter to meet operator demand in locations that don't yet have JJP machines — _Jack Guarneri's rationale explained to Don at seminar_ - [HIGH] Jack Guarneri stated JJP moves at their own pace with no deadlines, has never missed deadlines or overrun budget — _Don's direct quote from Jack at seminar_ - [MEDIUM] New unannounced Jersey Jack game will have music by composer from Pulp Fiction soundtrack (Don references 'Roger Avett' but seems uncertain of exact name) — _Don heard this at seminar but explicitly stated he was uncertain of the name and tired_ ### Notable Quotes > "we move at our own pace. There's no deadline. He's never missed. There's no budget. He's never overrun." > — **Jack Guarneri (paraphrased by Don)**, ~4:30 > _Defines JJP's production philosophy and explains why they won't rush product releases despite market pressure_ > "This is the most beautiful game like we've made." > — **Jack Guarneri (paraphrased by Don)**, ~7:30 > _Jack's reaction when picturing the new game's CE version, indicating high confidence in artistic execution_ > "we know there's other other companies have entered the water. Spooky and Cookie and whatever is what he said." > — **Jack Guarneri (paraphrased by Don)**, ~16:45 > _JJP acknowledging competitive landscape with Spooky Pinball; use of 'Cookie' nickname shows familiarity/ribbing_ > "once that window closes on the the CE order period, it will not open again" > — **Jack Guarneri (paraphrased by Don)**, ~13:00 > _Confirms limited production window for CE, affecting secondary market expectations and speculation_ > "There will be a time period. He didn't say exactly how long, but it could be a matter of days to a matter of months" > — **Don paraphrasing Jack Guarneri**, ~5:30 > _Establishes uncertainty around CE order window duration, with broad range affecting collector strategy_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Don | person | Host of Don's Pinball Podcast, content creator, attendee at Pintastic 2025, also mentioned as potential customizer/modifier of machines | | Jack Guarneri | person | Founder/executive at Jersey Jack Pinball, spoke at Pintastic 2025 seminar, recapped company history, described as in strong form and full of personality | | Eric Menear | person | Pinball game designer at Jersey Jack Pinball, designed Pirates of the Caribbean, Godfather, and Guns and Roses; designing new unannounced fast-playing game | | Mark Seidman | person | Pinball game designer, creator of Avatar, attended Pintastic 2025, discussed with Don about design tweaks and scrapped sculpt ideas | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Major pinball manufacturer, held seminar at Pintastic 2025, producing Harry Potter in multiple editions and new unannounced game by Eric Menear | | Harry Potter | game | Jersey Jack Pinball premium/collector game; Collector's Edition and new Arcade Edition variants discussed; CE order window limited; 5,000 LE units confirmed | | Avatar | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game designed by Mark Seidman; topic of discussion between Don and designer about tweaks and scrapped ideas | | Ken Cromwell | person | Contact person at Jersey Jack Pinball, Don indicated he will continue emailing Ken to arrange media access to play new game | | Stern Pinball | company | Competing pinball manufacturer; referenced with friendly ribbing at JJP seminar; Premium model used as price comparison for Harry Potter Arcade Edition | | Spooky Pinball | company | Competing pinball manufacturer, mentioned by Jack Guarneri as company that has entered the market alongside JJP | | Steve Richie | person | Pinball industry figure, present at Pintastic 2025 seminar, joking/ribbing with Jack Guarneri at podium | | Multimorphic | company | Pinball manufacturer/developer; Don met with Multimorphic representative who worked on coding for Avatar; Don noted interpersonal tensions with company leadership (Jerry) | | Mike Fus | person | Attendee at Pintastic 2025, mentioned as cool person Don met from Patreon community | | Lips Long Island Pinball Society | organization | Pinball enthusiast group or club based in Long Island area, member attended Pintastic 2025 | | Pintastic 2025 | event | Pinball expo/convention in Northeast (near Boston Logan Airport), hosted Jersey Jack Pinball seminar where Don gathered this information | | Pirates of the Caribbean | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game designed by Eric Menear, referenced as example of non-fast-playing game | | Godfather | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game designed by Eric Menear, referenced as relatively fast-playing due to combo shots | | Guns and Roses | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game designed by Eric Menear, described as not fast-playing | | Pulp Fiction | game | Referenced in context of composer who is working on music for new unannounced JJP game (Don uncertain of exact name) | ### Topics - **Primary:** Harry Potter Collector's Edition specifications and production, Harry Potter Arcade Edition (new budget variant), Unannounced new Jersey Jack Pinball game by Eric Menear, Jersey Jack Pinball production philosophy and timeline management, Secondary market expectations for Harry Potter variants (CE/LE/Arcade), Collector's Edition limited order window strategy - **Secondary:** Operator demand for Jersey Jack machines in location venues, Jack Guarneri's health/appearance and company leadership ### Sentiment **Neutral** (0) ### Signals - **[product_launch]** Jersey Jack confirming new lower-cost Harry Potter Arcade Edition with stripped components (no Invisaglass, art blades, shaker motor, rad cals) but identical playfield, targeting operator market segments (confidence: high) — Direct confirmation from Jack Guarneri at seminar; Don detailed specific omissions and rationale - **[product_strategy]** JJP implementing time-limited CE order window (days to months, unspecified duration) to control production and manage secondary market expectations; strategy designed to prevent FOMO flipping and maintain collector interest (confidence: high) — Jack Guarneri confirmed to Don; 5,000 LE units also confirmed; Don's analysis of resale price implications - **[product_strategy]** Harry Potter offered in at least three tiers: Arcade Edition (~$10k, feature-reduced), LE (5,000 units, mid-tier), CE (limited window, premium). Pricing strategy targets different buyer personas (operators, budget collectors, high-end collectors) (confidence: high) — Don's enumeration of editions and pricing; Jack's explanation of Arcade Edition rationale for operator market - **[product_concern]** Don predicts LE variant will depreciate most significantly (approaching Arcade Edition resale price), Arcade Editions will resell $7,500-$8,000, CE will maintain value due to built-in exclusivity (confidence: medium) — Don's analysis and prediction based on production numbers and market dynamics - **[announcement]** Unannounced Jersey Jack game by Eric Menear features music by named composer from Pulp Fiction soundtrack; Don uncertain of exact name but confirmed this detail at seminar (confidence: medium) — Don's account of hearing this at seminar; explicit statement of uncertainty about composer name - **[design_philosophy]** Eric Menear describes new game as his fastest-playing design; positioned between Godfather (faster) and Guns and Roses (slower) in terms of play speed and combo density (confidence: high) — Jack Guarneri quoted by Don; Don's contextual analysis of Menear's prior games to calibrate assessment - **[operational_signal]** Jersey Jack identified market gap: locations still without JJP machines, motivating Arcade Edition introduction to serve operator segment with budget constraints (confidence: high) — Jack Guarneri's explicit statement to Don about rationale for Arcade Edition - **[personnel_signal]** Don noted Jack Guarneri appeared in strong health and mental form at Pintastic (standing, engaging, joking, recounting history clearly); better form than recent TPF appearance; no signs of cognitive or physical decline (confidence: medium) — Don's subjective observation of Jack at seminar podium; comparative note about prior appearance at TPF - **[industry_signal]** JJP executives (Jack Guarneri) publicly acknowledged competitive entry by Spooky Pinball with friendly ribbing; also ribbed Stern while noting good historical relationship (confidence: high) — Don's account of Jack's comments at seminar about 'Spooky and Cookie' entering the market - **[content_signal]** JJP planning to grant media access to play new unannounced game; Ken Cromwell identified as contact point for coordinating media visits; Don pursuing invitation to Chicago location (confidence: high) — Jack Guarneri's statement to Don about media access; Don's explicit plan to contact Ken Cromwell - **[product_launch]** Unannounced Eric Menear game expected to launch within weeks (Don estimates end of April or first week of May 2025); Jack stated 'in the next few weeks' but no exact date given (confidence: high) — Jack Guarneri quoted by Don; Don's interpolation based on current date context (just after Pintastic, before Florida trip) - **[design_innovation]** Don identifies aftermarket upgrade path for Harry Potter Arcade Edition: custom armor, powder coat, Invisaglass, shaker motor, art blades (~$500-700 additional investment) can bring it visually close to LE or CE standard (confidence: medium) — Don's direct analysis and proposed modification strategy; references his own potential role as customizer --- ## Transcript Hey, what's up everybody? Don here. Freshly in the airport Hilton over at Logan Airport. Getting ready to fly down to Florida tomorrow. But wanted to give you some takeaways from the Jersey Jack seminar that just happened at Fantastic. We got some more information about Harry Potter. The collector's edition. Uh, well, it's going to have everything. The arcade edition, the cheap one, no invis, no art blades, no rad cals. It'll have decals instead. No shaker motor. They took all that out. We know the play field's going to be the same. We didn't get any other insight other than that. They want to do an arcade edition uh because of the need for operators to have Jersey Jack games cuz there's still locations that don't have Jersey Jack pinball machines. So, that was the impetus for that from that for Jack. Um I asked Jack some questions. Um why don't you drop the CE right now or drop Harry Potter right now? Capture the money in the market. Basically, he said they move at their own pace. There's no deadline. He's never missed. There's no budget. He's never overrun. He's on their own time schedule. They want to make sure that games are kind of in the hands of distributors. Now, they didn't quite do that with Avatar, but then he said he never meets deadlines, so they're not ready to release it yet, but he said, you know, in the next few weeks, you'll see it. So, I'm thinking, you know, maybe by the end of the month or maybe the first week of May, you should be seeing it soon. He wants to get media people in there to see it. I was I told him like, Jack, hey, Dawn here, which is cool. He knew who I was. Um, I was like, I'm in Chicago all the time. I'd love to come by and play the game. And he's like, we're going to have media in there, Don. Don't worry. So, I'll keep emailing Ken, my contact over there at Jersey Jack. See what I can get in there to see and play the game. As for the game itself, he did say that Eric is uh Eric Mure. He's a designer. We know that it's he says it's his fastest playing game. And so, he's done Pirates of the Caribbean, Godfather, and Guns and Roses. Neither of which is a very fast playing game with maybe Godfather just because there's a lot of kind of straight down the middle drains from the ramps if you don't hit them. But I don't think anybody could call Guns and Roses a fast playing game. I don't think uh Pirates of the Caribbean just exploring all over that widebody. So that's not fast. So Godfather is would be the fastest one I could think of because there are some combo shots and stuff, but apparently it's it's his faster game. So, it's more on the Godfather side of things than Guns and Roses, which is good. Um, so, uh, we'll see. I don't think we got really much else out of him other than you could tell when he was picturing the CE, he was like, "This is the most beautiful game like we've made." So, I'm thinking Topper is going to be legit. Um, the art's going to be cool. Uh, they have uh Teal. Wait, what's what's the guy's name that did the uh the good music for for Pulp Fiction? Roger Teal, something like that. You know, Theel, right? It's, you know who I'm talking about. So, he's on the music. Uh, they told me who was on uh like Rules and Code, I think, and who was on Art, but it escaped me. It's on the Twitch stream if you want to watch that all back. Um, otherwise, what else did he Jack kind of went through and did a recap of the whole history of Jersey Jack, which was fun to listen to, honestly. Um, Jack looked like he was full of spunk and vigor. Uh, I didn't see any issues uh with him like stumbling over things or seeming forgetful. He was he was on point. He was recounting the entire history. Um, kind of in better form than I've seen in some of his other appearances. Even at TPF, he seemed a little bit more sedate. Here he was, you know, standing at the podium engaging with everybody, joking with Steve Ritchie next to him, ribbing everyone. Like his personality was totally there. So, yeah. Yeah, Jack's a cool guy. He bought pizza and donuts for everybody and some canoli. Man, it was crazy being up here in the Northeast because these aren't people I see at normal pinball shows that I go to because I don't come up here. So, I'm meeting a whole new group of people. Um, a lot of cool people from the Patreon. Uh, shout out to Mike Fus. What a cool dude. Lips Long Island Pinball Society. I think it's what it stands for. We got food a couple of times. Salt of the earth. Super cool guy. and just like a different vibe of people up here than you see, you know, in the Midwest, in the Southeast, you know, out west. Like it was cool. Just just like different accents, you know, different takes on things. The political discussions were absolutely a different flavor. It was interesting. It was interesting coming up here. So, just wanted to share some takeaways. Um, we know the prices of the games, um, Harry Potter and all that stuff. Also, um, Mark Seiden was there. uh got to talk to him a bit about Avatar and um some of the little issues and tweaks I've had to make and I got some more of the backstory for that. Nothing really major. Um we talked about some other uh ideas for sculpts that didn't quite make it didn't quite work out. So, you know, if you can think of something that should have been in the game there, there was a thought to get it in there, but it wasn't working for this reason or that reason. Um I hung out with a multimmorphic guy, super cool dude. Uh he did the the coding uh I think for the game. And so, you know, we joked around. We got a good understanding. You know, I don't know if uh me and Jerry will ever be buddies, but from what I hear from people, that's not like a revolutionary re revelation, right? The guy's very much um kind of Howard Husing it. Um and I also got to meet the artist from Avatar. That was cool. The lady that did the art, uh her name escapes me because it's late and I'm tired. Um, so did we get any other juicy bits of Jersey Jack's new game? We're going to be seeing it soon. They're not even worried about Kong and everything else. They did give Spooky a shout out. They're like, you know, we know there's other other companies have entered the water. Spooky and Cookie and whatever is what he said. Super funny. Um, but gave Spooky a shout out there. Uh, a lot of ribbing on Stern, which was good. But like those guys have a good history and they know each other and stuff, so that was fun. um they're excited about the game and should be coming out uh sometime soon and I kind of think the C is going to be the way to go on this. Um there will be one available for everybody. I did have him confirm that uh there will be a time period. He didn't say exactly how long, but it could be a matter of days to a matter of months, but once that window closes on the the CE order period, it will not open again. And so everybody that wants a CE can talk to a distributor, get on a list, get an order in, and get one. So they're not going to be hard to get, but they're only going to be available in that time limit. Once the time limit's closed, no more will be made. Now, distributors can go ahead and purchase 10 extra, 20 extra, you know, more than orders that they have just so they have some uh some numbers in stock, you know, that they can then sell. So, um, in the near term, maybe even in the first year, demand for them will be met. There won't be any selling really for more money than they're worth. Um, and I think that's a good thing. Nobody's going to be buying or putting down a deposit on a Harry Potter CE, uh, thinking that they're going to flip that deposit for, you know, five grand in the next month once once the sales close because everybody that'll have wanted one would have had Apple time to get one. What that's going to mean is the only people buying are people that really want the game to keep it. And then, you know, in the next year, I think those people will still be holding on to their game. So, there might not be a whole glut of them out there. And that may paradoxically allow that value to maintain on the market. So, that's cool. You know, kind of like a game that doesn't sell very well and then is out of production and then becomes worth more later because it's just you can't get it. And since there wasn't like a huge demand at first, you know, they weren't made anymore, let's say. Uh what this means for Jersey Jack is they'll be able to not leave any sales on the table at the time of launch. The other thing though with the arcade edition not having anything removed from the playfield. Um, you'll be able to buy an arcade edition and then grab some custom cut armor, get it powder coated, throw invis on it, a shaker motor, art blades, and if you're willing to put in a little bit of work or hire someone like Dawn to do it for you, you're going to get a machine that looks as good at least as the LE version. Um, and may even approach what the CE looks like once we finally get there. Uh, did hear that the uh it'll just be a plain black wrinkle powder coat on the arcade edition, just very plain Jane. Um, so it'll be easily upgradable. If you want to get in on Harry Potter, you want the gameplay, you like the theme, you don't have 15 grand, and the thought of spending that much for a pinball machine makes you vomit. Uh, there's a $10,000 version, which is head-to-head with a Stern Premium. And with a little bit of work, like 500 bucks, uh, well, Invisaglass, 700 bucks. Um, you can have it Cadillaced out and it'll be looking like just as good as probably the LE. Uh, pick up an aftermarket topper. I I'll probably whip one up. Um, and you could have like a really good gameplay experience and save yourself like $4,300. Uh, the only sucker bet would probably be the LE. There'll be 5,000 of those. He did confirm that. And that's the one that, you know, is probably going to drop the most in value, to be honest. To the point that, you know, an LE will probably sell around the price of a new arcade edition. Arcade Editions will probably resell for 8,000, maybe 7,500 if they make like 10 bajillion of them. But um those will both lose value. The CE I think will hold on to some just because it was going to have that built-in exclusivity. That's what I have for tonight. How are you doing? I'm doing awesome. I have a flight in 6 hours down to sunny Florida and then we're going to be in Dawn of the Magic mode. I'm going to change my t-shirt. I got a Dawn of the Magic shirt. I can't wait to wear that. And then I'll be doing live streams at the theme parks. So, uh, follow that YouTube channel if you're not already. Subscribe to it. Dawn of the Magic is what it's called. Uh, that's me. I'll be doing, uh, live streams from the park. So excited about that. It's going to be amazing. All right, so let me get this up and later. Grenade. _(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v4)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ee9e08c5-e857-421f-bfad-94155ce42538*