Ask Jack Anything: Episode 4

Stern Pinball·video·16m 18s·analyzed·Dec 31, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Jack Danger answers community Q&A on design, QC, licensing, and X-Men updates.

Summary

Jack Danger hosts Ask Jack Anything Episode 4, answering community questions about pinball design, development, quality control, and Stern's operations. He discusses X-Men code updates, Vault/Remaster licensing complexity, design philosophy differences, Spike 3 lighting capabilities, and provides candid commentary on quality assurance processes and secondary market depreciation. The episode emphasizes ongoing development efforts and Stern's commitment to post-launch support.

Key Claims

Stern has 5-6 games in active development at any given time, potentially dozens if including early licensing discussions
high confidence · Jack Danger directly answering Joseph's question about development pipeline
New Walking Dead topper is incompatible with older DMD-era Walking Dead games due to platform differences (DMD vs Spike 2/3 LCD)
high confidence · Jack Danger providing technical answer to Mike Jones about topper compatibility
X-Men will receive significant code updates beyond current state, including both groundwork and feature additions leading to 1.0 release
high confidence · Jack Danger answering Rich about X-Men code roadmap
Vault and Remaster selection depends on community demand, graphics capabilities, and licensing availability, with licensing deals changing significantly between years
high confidence · Jack Danger explaining Phillip's question about Vault selection criteria
Stern officially does not endorse game modding due to safety and gameplay concerns, but Jack Danger personally appreciates the modding community
high confidence · Jack Danger providing official vs unofficial stance on modding
Stern QC processes test games multiple times throughout assembly and uses internal testers who beat on machines for weeks
high confidence · Jack Danger detailed QC explanation addressing quality control concerns
Jack Danger is working on co-designing an unnamed LE game with George Gomez, potentially the first Stern LE with two designers
high confidence · Jack Danger answering Dustin about future design work
Jack Danger will continue in his current role (Head of Community/Marketing/Streaming) for the foreseeable future
high confidence · Jack Danger answering Paul about duration of Ask Jack Anything series

Notable Quotes

“There is no real comparison in product that exists out there to Insider Connected... but there's a lot of really great third-party connectivity platforms like uh Scorebit and such.”
Jack Danger @ ~6:30 — Acknowledges Insider Connected's unique position while validating alternative connectivity solutions
“I personally like to make the ball do weird, stupid stuff. And then I tried to figure out where I can put really cool mechs in that and to work with the ball pathing that I have.”
Jack Danger @ ~23:00 — Reveals Jack Danger's design philosophy contrasting with George Gomez's mech-first approach
“We QA or QC, I'm going to get those mixed up... We do test a lot of mechanisms as we come up with them and we put it in something called the bang and clack room.”
Jack Danger @ ~32:30 — Reveals internal testing facility name and methodology for stress-testing mechanisms
“Obviously, we want to sell you the coolest, best, most rewarding product that you can get your hands on... buy it because you want to play it and then trade it on if you're trying to get something better.”
Jack Danger @ ~18:00 — Official response to secondary market depreciation concerns; emphasizes gameplay value over investment
“So, George Gomez has gone on record saying he wants you to show him, is it like three great ideas instead of like eight mediocre ideas?”
Jack Danger @ ~21:30 — Reveals George Gomez's design quality philosophy emphasizing fewer, better-executed mechanics
“It's a physical thing. It's made by hand. Shipping temperature changes. There's so many different things that can happen between here and you.”
Jack Danger @ ~35:00 — Acknowledges inherent challenges in pinball manufacturing and logistics affecting quality
“We produce more pinball machines than anyone. So visibly our number of problems is going to be larger, but our number of games without problems is also drastically larger than that.”
Jack Danger — Statistical framing of quality issues in context of Stern's production volume dominance

Entities

Jack Dangerperson George Gomezperson John Borgperson X-Mengame The Walking Deadgame Foo Fightersgame Spike 3product

Signals

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community_signal: Ask Jack Anything series demonstrates active Stern engagement with community; Jack explicitly solicits sticker contributions and invites follow-up questions
high · Jack closing remarks inviting continued participation and sticker submissions
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design_philosophy: Contrast between Jack Danger's ball-pathing-first approach and George Gomez's mech-centric design methodology; multiple design philosophies validated
high · Jack describing his approach vs George's: 'I personally like to make the ball do weird, stupid stuff... For someone like George, it's Toys and Mechs right up front'
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licensing_signal: Vault/Remaster licensing deals change significantly year-to-year; specific games (Tron, LOTR, Ghostbusters) mentioned as desired remasters but licensing unknown
high · Jack: 'the deal that we had in 2016 is definitely not going to be the deal we have in 2026... teams change over there'
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market_signal: Stern acknowledges secondary market depreciation is a concern but maintains they cannot control secondary pricing; repositioning value as gameplay vs investment
high · Jack: 'we don't love that certain games don't hold value as much as others...the secondary market is the secondary market. We don't have any real control'
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market_signal: Beat That Score community challenge badges exist and being used by community (converted to stickers), indicating active community engagement initiative
high · Jack noting sticker made from Beat That Score badge on suggestion box

Transcript

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0:03

It's time for Ask Jack. Ask him anything. Hey there pinheads. I'm Jack Danger and this is Ask Jack Anything where you ask me anything and I try to answer it. This is my trusty suggestion box that I put a bunch of stickers over that you guys gave me. Thank you. Look at it all. Ooh. Ah. Oh, Trogdor. Th This is freaking cool. Look at that. Oh, you can't see it. Someone took their Beat That Score badge and made a sticker out of it. Let's just get right into it, shall we? There's some spicy ones in this, so uh sit back, relax, and get your popcorn. I'm going to try to answer them all. Okay, our first question comes from Mike Jones. Hey, Jack. Love AskJack. Me, too. Uh The Walking Dead Pro. I'm wondering if there is a way to hook up the new Walking Dead Stern Topper to my old game. I have an answer for this. I just got the answer for this. The answer is no. There is no support for the new topper on the older games because it is a completely different platform like DMD era versus like our Spike 2, Spike 3 LCD era now. So unfortunately, no. I'm sorry. Just go buy a new Walk and Dead. I mean, I'm I'm joking. We got a question here from Joseph. How many titles are currently in development at Stern right now? I think there's like five or six games in active development at any given time. maybe more depending on what you consider in development. If discussing the license means in development than like dozens. We've got a lot of our landscape planned out many many many years in advance. So hopefully that answered your question. Stu asks, "I'm new to pinball ownership. On a new machine, would you wax or just clean? Thanks in advance." If you have a new machine, right out of the box, just play it. But if it's starting to get a little dirty, uh, just clean it. No need to wax it, just clean it. Now, everyone has their own style and how they want to upkeep their game. I am of the just clean it really well camp. Other people have other ideas on like waxes and stuff that they add to their game. Me personally, I'd say just clean it. But also like reach out to the community. Like, everyone will have their opinions on what is best for the game. And sorry for the glasses, guys. I'm freaking getting old. I apologize. Look, look at this. I got like gray hair. Jerome asks, "Do you think Stern should open up Stern Insider to other pinball manufacturers?" That's an interesting concept. There is no real comparison in product uh that exists out there to Insider Connected. So, opening that up to other manufacturers would be cool. I'm sure everyone wants to sort of create their own solution to the connectivity problem. And there's a lot of really great third-party connectivity platforms like uh Scorbit and such. Like go check all of those out. I think Plunger is another one. There's there's a bunch of them coming out. So, it would be cool, but I would imagine other manufacturers are trying to create their own product [music] for that. So, James asks, "As a person who has never owned a new Unboxed Pinball machine, I hear people talk about dialing in a new game. What does that mean exactly?" Dialing in a new game could mean a number of different things. It could be as simple as just making sure it's leveled, making sure it's clean. Some games have adjustable ball guides so that you can, you know, dial in, literally that term, dial in that shot to make sure it goes where it's supposed to. So, it's really just like fine-tuning what you have control over to make sure that game shoots the best it can in your environment. So, that's dialing a game in. Rich asks, "Big fan of the design in X-Men." Thank you. appreciate it. My question is, will X-Men undergo significant code changes that we can see coming? The answer is yes, but so there is a lot of stuff that we have ideas for to make that game freaking sing. It's just down to time and resource management. So, we're trying to do everything we can to cram a bunch of really cool stuff in there thoughtfully, obviously. And hopefully you've been seeing some of the changes and adaptations that we're making to the game to make it more engaging, more fun. All we can say is stay tuned. There's a lot more code updates to come and we hope that, you know, some might just be like groundwork, some might be feature editions, but uh all in all, you know, we're trying our best to get to 1.0 with all of the cool stuff that we have in mind. So stay tuned. There's more to come. Philillip asks, "How is the next Vault and Remastered decided?" Well, we we stick our hands in a bucket and well, that conversation is uh multiaceted, right? So, it's community demand. It is what we know we can remaster with graphics and stuff and really license availability because there's a good chance, you know, we don't have that license anymore, so we have to get it again. And the fun thing about licenses is the deal that we had in 2016 is definitely not going to be the deal we have in 2026. You know, teams change over there. Deals and ideas and like how things are structured all change. So, there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. I know I would love to see a lot of the same remasters you would love to see. There Tron, Lord of the Rings, Ghostbusters, all that fun stuff. obviously like banger games that I would love to have, you know, a screen associated with. All I can say is trust us. We are working as diligently as we can to make your dreams come true. Patrick asks how many flippers are in Elwin's next game. I can't give you the exact number, but I think Keith has gone on record saying that he will never make a game that has less than three flippers. So, take that for what you will. Mike asks, "Hey, Jack. Big fan. I always wondered what's Stern's thoughts on the modding community. As a official stance, we don't want you modding the games because it offers up a whole litany of things that could go wrong with your game. You could short something out. You could hurt yourself. You could start. I don't know. Who knows what could happen. We don't endorse modding officially. Unofficially, I freaking love seeing all the crap you guys put on these games. [laughter] like X-Men specifically, I tried to leave some platforms and stuff for who knows what. Uh, officially, don't do it. Unofficially, I I think it's cool that you guys really take something and make it your own, you know, as long as it's not like messing up gameplay and stuff, you know? So, the stance is no. But [laughter] Richard asks, "I'm considering buying a Stern pinball machine." Hell yeah. My question is about delivering setup. Does dealer purchased from setup the unit? That I read that weird, but I get what you're saying. Every dealer uh in DRO is a little different. Some will just sell you the game and then you take it home and then you cut open the box, put on the legs, wipe down the balls to uh do what you got to do to set the game up. Other dealers have uh like a white glove service where they'll come, they'll like move it into position, set it up, get the thing absolutely humming. So really reach out to the distributor or dealer that you're working with and ask them like what is something that they offer. Typically they will do that for you. But you got to ask you got to ask. All right. Justin asks, "Does Stern care that their LE trim level loses thousands of value on secondary market within a few months?" Spicy. We obviously want to sell you the coolest, best, most rewarding product that you can get your hands on. And obviously, we are watching what's happening on the secondary market. And no, we don't love that, you know, certain games don't hold value as much as others. It is a game to be played, right? Um there there is an investment angle, yes, but in my mind like buy it because you want to play it and then trade it on if you're trying to get something better. The official stance is yes, we are watching that and we don't like to see you guys losing money on anything, but the secondary market is the secondary market. We don't have any real control over that. And uh hopefully, you know, we start making more and more appealing products that hold value and actually just want to stay bolted into your homes. We don't want you. Don't sell your games. That That's it. That's the answer is like just buy it and then literally bolt it to the floor. Coffee break. All right, Brad. Hey, Brad. Brad says, "Toys versus mix. How important are they to a game designer? How many do you need and where in the process do you start to integrate them?" So, George Gomez has gone on record saying he wants you to show him, is it like three great ideas instead of like eight mediocre ideas? I'm getting that number wrong. A lot of designers work differently, right? I know George is very mechentric upfront. He's like, "Put your big mechs down and make the shots go around them." It's a proven awesome way to design pinball machines. I personally like to make the ball do weird, stupid stuff. And then I tried to figure out where I can put really cool mechs in that and to work with the ball pathing that I have. Everyone's different. There is no like one answer to that. For me, I like to make the ball do something cool first. [music] For someone like George, it's Toys and Mechs right up front before anything else. So, Phipe asks, "Hi, Jack. I appreciate the concept and the openness of the approach." Hell yeah. My question is about lighting. Is there any plan to go to the next step in the light show with Spike 3? So, with Spike 3, we are afforded more computing power to do cooler things with lights. And again, to throw it back to George, he said like this is sort of just the beginning. like we've built a platform that now we can build on. So, what we're going to do sort of like is limitless. We could do kind of whatever we want. We just need to invest time and resources into making things cooler, better, uh cool additions. We're working on a lot of stuff is the official legal answer that I can give you. We want these things to be as freaking insanely beautiful as possible. Uh, I'm tiptoeing around stuff. Um, yes, we we light shows are great and [music] we would love more and better light shows. Dustin asks, uh, "Hey Jack, Foo Fighters Ellie layout and shots have me spoiled. What are the chances of seeing you make another game?" Very high. [music] So, I began a project before I moved into this role and George took it over to see it to the finish line. And when that game comes out, I believe we're co-designing it or co-signing it. So that might be the the first LE I think in Stern's history that'll have two designers on there. That and also like I mentioned the series I'm going to do, building a pinball machine. You're going to see a whole fresh new original theme come out of that uh from myself as well. So there's more to come. I'm not done designing. I freaking love designing. I would never step away from that. John Borg asks, "Can Borgie take a vacation yet?" Lol.

11:33

Yes, John. I love you. Take a vacation on me. I love Borg. We That guy works harder than anybody here. It's insane. Koi asks, "Jackie, baby, if you were to design a Christmas themed pinball machine, what would be some elements?" Well, if it's just Christmas, got to have a house. Ball goes in the chimney. There's got to be a sleigh at some point. Maybe the sleigh bag you lock balls in to make it get bigger and bigger. Then you lock a ball into the sleigh to like make it take off. Maybe it obscures behind some like clouds or something. You would need power balls in there for the snowball effect. Uh, that's all I'm giving you so someone doesn't steal all my ideas. [laughter] Doug asks, "If licensing was not an issue, what's your absolute dream theme?" Aquabats. Go listen to the Aquabats today. If you don't like that kind of music, shut up. Yes, you do. Plus, like the lead singer was like the co-creator of Yo Gaba Gaba. Like, how Paul wants to know, Jack, how long are you doing this for? The foreseeable future. I'll do this until they fire me. [laughter] Thomas asks, Stern said, "I'm allowed to ask hard-hitting questions. What color will your next pinball machine be?" Obviously, with any machine we come out with, there's different color trims and stuff. You might see some reds, some yellows, some blues, some greens. Yeah, who knows? There's lots of colors. All right, we're going to bookend this with the one topic that we got a lot of feedback from, and that would be quality control. Okay. So, questions like, you know, why aren't these things QA before they leave QCD? Why are we seeing so many problems pop up here and there? So, there's a couple of answers to all of this stuff, right? And it's a very sensitive subject and I appreciate upper management letting me discuss this. So, first off is, and this is just a given, is quantity, right? We produce more pinball machines than anyone. So visibly our number of problems is going to be larger, but our number of games without problems is also drastically larger than that. But we QA or QC, I'm going to get those mixed up. I apologize. Three times, four times, several times in the process. So when putting the parts on, when it's just a playfield, check it all. Put it in the cabinet, check it. Before it gets in a box, we check it and shoot it. Then we put it in a box. We try to test a lot of mechanisms. Well, I apologize. We do test a lot of mechanisms as we come up with them and we put them in something called the bang and clack room. One of these days I will bring a camera in there to show you exactly everything that is being test. There's stuff in there that's being test for games long into the future and that's why it's going to be hard to figure out how to show you that room, but we are beating on everything. We have things in there that are like using magnets from like 3 years ago that are still going strong. We try to test everything. We've got testers internally here that will take product development games into a room and just absolutely spend, you know, weeks and weeks and weeks beating the crap out of it, hitting the same shot 40 times. That's not to say things don't get away from us. Obviously, this wouldn't be a topic if things got away from us. The biggest thing we can offer is we have an excellent team that responds to those problems really quickly, as quick as we can to catch things, make kits for them, to get them fixed as soon as possible. But also, that's why we instated the warranty because we believe like we want your game to be the best game it can be. So, we want to help you if you come across a problem. It's a physical thing. It's made by hand. shipping temperature changes. There's so many different things that can happen between here and you. It's multiaceted. We do absolutely test the living heck out of these things, but obviously some things get away from us and we try to do our best to make sure we make good on repairing and fixing what would or could go wrong. So hopefully that answers your question. Um, we're getting better every day. We're trying more and more things to QC along the process, but all we can do is try to make it right if it isn't right once it gets into your hands. So, hopefully that answers your question. All right, pin heads. The time has come to say goodbye. Hopefully, uh, your question got answered. If not, I don't know, send it again. Uh, I'll see you on the next one. Send some stickers to Stern CCJ Jack Danger. I'll try to fit them on here and I'll see you on the next one. All right, friends. Have a wonderful day.