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Eric Meunier discusses Harry Potter Pinball design, accessibility features, and licensing challenges in extended interview.
Harry Potter Pinball was pitched to Warner Bros on March 2023, the day before Texas Pinball Festival, after the franchise team saw pinball machines at Warner Bros Studios and specifically requested a game
high confidence · Eric explains the origin story: 'March 2023, the day before Texas Pinball Festival. I was in the boardroom at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank and I met with the Harry Potter franchise team'
The staircase mechanism uses a 24-volt stepper motor with custom electrical control board that allows precise speed and movement control
high confidence · Eric describes the mechanism: 'It's a. Yeah, 24 volt stepper motor. Um with a. with a PC board that runs it. Um we can get tons of resolution out of this thing. Lots of speed.'
Joe Catz, the lead programmer, had never read Harry Potter books or seen the movies before working on the game
high confidence · Eric states: 'in your corner is the lead programmer, Joe Catz. Joe had never read a book. Had never read the Harry Potter books. He'd never seen the movies until this started.'
The game features a self-regulating wizard mode (Battle of Hogwarts) that adjusts difficulty requirements based on play history to ensure accessibility
high confidence · Eric explains: 'The Battle of Hogwarts is started after you've played any four different multiballs. But if you haven't done that in 200 games, the Battle of Hogwarts has started after you've played any three multiballs'
Game Changer QR code keychains allow players to scan different difficulty settings (easy, normal, wizard) that customize game settings persistently
high confidence · Eric describes: 'you hold it up in front of the QR code or in front of the camera. It scans a QR code and instantly all the rules in the game are set to easy.'
Warner Bros rejected alterations to movie footage, including a clever Easter egg where 'I must not tell lies' would be changed to 'I must not tilt'
high confidence · Eric explains: 'Under no circumstances can you alter our movie footage. That's just not allowed by anyone ever, right? It's not like we hate pinball. It's just you can't alter movie footage.'
“This is the first Jersey Jack I've ever owned... And I said, 'Harry Potter, it's going to earn.' And that's it, man. And it is going to.”
Manu (host, co-owner of Harry Potter machine) @ early in interview — Demonstrates operator confidence in Harry Potter's earning potential as a location machine
“One of the things that I love about this game is I'm not a high level player, not a super high level player. So I can't get trapped behind one shot.”
Manu @ discussing game design — Highlights inclusive design philosophy that prevents casual players from being locked out of game content
“March 2023, the day before Texas Pinball Festival. I was in the boardroom at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank and I met with the Harry Potter franchise team”
Eric Meunier @ describing game origin — Establishes the specific moment and origin of Harry Potter Pinball project
“Everything else is shots and spinners, right? So, it's not like that or it's not like some weird thing.”
Eric Meunier @ discussing mechanical complexity — Reveals design philosophy of minimizing complex mechanics in favor of accessible shot-based gameplay
“I have an electrical engineering degree... it's a really interesting electrical chip that runs it um and does current limiting and does uh voltage regulation”
Eric Meunier @ technical discussion of staircase motor — Demonstrates sophisticated engineering approach to stepper motor control for game reliability
“There's so many hours in a week. Um, and us three, myself, Joe Catz, and Dan Lechek, who's the mechanical engineer on the game, put in a lot more than 40 hours a week.”
Eric Meunier @ discussing production effort — Acknowledges intense development commitment from core team
“You can totally squeeze ahead in a tournament if you had Quidditch on your mind and your competition didn't. You can get... 40 million at the end of the game because you grabbed a Snitch.”
Eric Meunier — Shows strategic depth and competitive viability through high-value endgame multiplier
business_signal: Harry Potter Pinball has achieved significant commercial success; operator Manu (first Jersey Jack owner) and Matt invested in machine based on two test plays; confident in location earning potential
high · Manu: 'This is the first Jersey Jack I've ever owned... And I said, Harry Potter, it's going to earn. And that's it, man. And it is going to' and describes ownership decision after just two games at Pinball Pirates
community_signal: Eric Meunier scheduled for Melbourne Pinball Expo in November (post-game release); signaling continued community presence and support tour by designer to international markets
high · Eric discusses confirmed travel: 'I've confirmed I'm going down to Australia November to the uh Melbourne Pinball Expo' for solo trip after first family vacation in 2 years
competitive_signal: House Cup endgame mechanic provides tournament-level strategic depth through 10M per house point multiplier; Quidditch upper playfield offers competitive advantage (40M swing in 4-player) for knowledgeable players, creating skill differentiation
high · Eric: 'You can totally squeeze ahead in a tournament if you had Quidditch on your mind and your competition didn't... 40 million at the end of the game because you grabbed a Snitch'
design_philosophy: Chat members requested information on cut features, particularly wondering 'Where's the dragon?'; Eric acknowledges budget/time constraints resulted in scope cuts but declines to specify what was removed
medium · Chat: 'Did they cost cut any ideas out? Yeah. What was it? What? Where's the dragon?' Eric declines specifics: 'I don't really want to talk about it cuz what you guys see, you don't know what's not there'
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The game had one programmer for the first year, then gained additional resources; the core team consists of Eric Meunier (designer), Joe Catz (programmer), and Dan Lechek (mechanical engineer)
high confidence · Eric states: 'For the first year of the game, I had one programmer. Um, and it wasn't until we were over a year in that I got more resources applied.'
The staircase has 13 different ball paths to feed different playfield modes
medium confidence · They discuss 'They said there's 13 different paths' and Eric confirms some paths were designed to feed specific modes like Quidditch
“Under no circumstances can you alter our movie footage. That's just not allowed by anyone ever.”
Eric Meunier @ discussing IP licensing constraints — Reveals significant creative constraint imposed by Warner Bros IP licensing
design_philosophy: Harry Potter Pinball deliberately designed to allow casual/non-expert players to progress through all eight movie scenes without being locked behind any single difficult shot; multiballs available from simple early shots; self-regulating wizard mode adjusts difficulty based on play history
high · Eric: 'One of the things that I love about this game is I'm not a high level player... So I can't get trapped behind one shot' and describes self-regulating Battle of Hogwarts mode that triggers after 4 multiballs normally, 3 after 200 games, 2 after 300 games
licensing_signal: Warner Bros maintains strict control over Potter movie footage, rejecting all alterations including clever Easter eggs (the 'I must not tilt' modification); represents significant creative constraint on IP-licensed games
high · Eric: 'Under no circumstances can you alter our movie footage. That's just not allowed by anyone ever' regarding rejected feature where 'I must not tell lies' would become 'I must not tilt'
personnel_signal: Core Harry Potter development team small (Eric Meunier designer, Joe Catz programmer, Dan Lechek mechanical engineer) with single programmer for first year; significant resource constraints influenced scope and cut features
high · Eric: 'For the first year of the game, I had one programmer. Um, and it wasn't until we were over a year in that I got more resources applied... There is stuff that was left on the cutting room floor'
product_strategy: Staircase mechanism designed with 13 different ball paths enabling cascading feature access; fiber optic wand lighting with replaceable LED modules addresses operator maintenance concerns for location machines
high · Discussion of 13 ball paths and wand design: 'there's a fiber optic that runs the whole length of the wand and the LED is buried actually way in the back. If there ever is an LED issue... that wand can unscrew, come off, and you can replace an LED'
product_strategy: Game Changer QR code feature allows location operators and home players to independently set difficulty levels (easy/normal/wizard) with persistent custom settings, addressing accessibility without requiring code changes
high · Eric describes QR code keychains that scan to set game difficulty: 'you hold it up in front of the QR code... It scans a QR code and instantly all the rules in the game are set to easy' with persistent settings
product_strategy: Game Changer QR code feature is Harry Potter exclusive; potential for backport to older Jersey Jack games discussed but no timeline committed
medium · Eric: 'Potter's the first game we ever had it. Uh, it seems like there's an overwhelming interest... it's something we've discussed. Um but I can't say when that would happen if it's going to happen'
technology_signal: Wands have arrived warped in shipping; Eric attributes to intentional flexibility in molded design to withstand ball impacts rather than brittleness; represents manufacturing specification that may not be well understood by field operators
medium · Chat question: 'those wands seem like they've been arriving warped in shipping. Well, here's the thing... The wands are not brittle... They're flexible on purpose'