Pinball Odds & Ends: New Hires at Stern & Jersey Jack, New Digital Pinball

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Aug 31, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

JJP hires Stern's Tom Kopera as COO; Stern promotes Kevin Payne; Zen announces horror tables.

Summary

Jersey Jack Pinball hired Tom Kopera, a veteran mechanical engineer and designer, as COO from Stern Pinball, prompting Stern to hire Kevin Payne as his replacement Director of Mechanical Engineering. Zen Studios announced a new horror pinball collection for Pinball M, and the digital pinball game XENOTILT launched as a spiritual successor to Demon's Tilt.

Key Claims

Tom Kopera was Stern's Director of Mechanical Engineering since 2021
high confidence · Official announcement by Jersey Jack Pinball and Stern Pinball
Tom Kopera designed the glove mechanic in Johnny Mnemonic and basketball shooter in NBA Fastbreak
high confidence · Knapp Arcade article citing Kopera's design portfolio
Kevin Payne previously worked with George Gomez at Incredible Technologies (Golden Tee maker)
high confidence · Stern Pinball announcement cited by Knapp Arcade
Zen Studios is developing a horror pinball collection for Pinball M with original tables
high confidence · Zen Studios official announcement
XENOTILT is a Lovecraftian digital pinball game and sequel to Demon's Tilt from 2019
high confidence · Knapp Arcade article; XENOTILT Steam page reference

Notable Quotes

“The interesting part is that they hired him away from Stern Pinball.”
Knapp Arcade — Highlights the notable talent acquisition from a major competitor to a boutique manufacturer
“a unique, fresh creation from the darkest, goriest franchises”
Zen Studios (quoted by Knapp Arcade) — Describes the design philosophy for the new horror pinball collection
“Its fun, I bought it to play on my Steam Deck.”
Knapp Arcade — Personal endorsement of XENOTILT, suggesting positive reception

Entities

Tom Koperaperson Jersey Jack PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyKevin PaynepersonGeorge GomezpersonZen StudioscompanyPinball MproductXENOTILTproductDemon's Tiltproduct

Signals

?
event_signal: XENOTILT digital pinball game launched as sequel to Demon's Tilt; Lovecraftian-themed with availability across multiple platforms
high · Product launch; Steam page reference; author purchased and tested on Steam Deck
?
personnel_signal: Kevin Payne hired by Stern Pinball as Director of Mechanical Engineering to replace Tom Kopera; brings experience from Incredible Technologies and work with George Gomez
high · Stern Pinball official announcement
?
personnel_signal: Tom Kopera, veteran mechanical engineer and designer, hired by Jersey Jack Pinball as COO from Stern Pinball where he was Director of Mechanical Engineering since 2021
high · Jersey Jack Pinball and Stern Pinball official announcements citing the hire
?
announcement: Zen Studios announced new horror pinball collection for Pinball M platform with original tables themed around 'darkest, goriest franchises'
high · Zen Studios official announcement

Topics

Personnel moves between manufacturersprimaryMechanical engineering and game design talentprimaryDigital pinball developmentprimaryZen Studios product announcementssecondaryHorror-themed pinball contentsecondary

Sentiment

neutral(0.5)— Knapp Arcade reports these developments matter-of-factly with mild interest ('collectively are pretty interesting'). Some positive sentiment toward XENOTILT personal endorsement, but overall tone is informative rather than opinionated.

Transcript

raw_text · $0.000

Here's a couple of news items that I've seen over the past several days that I didn't really get excited enough about to write an entire article on, but collectively are pretty interesting. First up, yesterday Jersey Jack Pinball announced that it has hired Tom Kopera as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). The interesting part is that they hired him away from Stern Pinball. He had been Stern's Director of Mechanical Engineering since 2021. For those of you who aren't familiar with Tom, he is an industry veteran who worked previously with George Gomez at Midway Games and Bally / Williams. He has created pinball mech such as the glove in Johnny Mnemonic and the basketball shooter in NBA Fastbreak, co-designed Cactus Canyon and designed Stern Rolling Stones. Tom's hiring at JJP explains why last week Stern Pinball announced that it has hired Kevin Payne as it's new Director of Mechanical Engineering. Kevin has mechanical engineering experience in a number of industries, including a stint with George Gomez at Incredible Technologies, the maker of Golden Tee. On the digital pinball side of the hobby, yesterday Zen Studios teased a new horror pinball collection that it is working on. Its upcoming "Pinball M" is a collection of original "tables" each of which is "a unique, fresh creation from the darkest, goriest franchises." No word yet on when these new tables will launch. Last up, the sequel to the fairly well-known virtual pinball game Demon's Tilt from 2019 - which itself was the spiritual successor to the iconic TurboGrafx game Devil's Crush, XENOTILT has launched. Available on most platforms, XENOTILT: HOSTILE PINBALL ACTION is a unique Lovcraftian digital pinball creation that you really have to see to understand. I'll place a link to its Steam page below for anyone who wants to check it out. Its fun, I bought it to play on my Steam Deck. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008980/XENOTILT_HOSTILE_PINBALL_ACTION/#:~:text=XENOTILT%2C%20th