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Jersey Jack Pinball Update - 2023

Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo·video·57m 55s·analyzed·Mar 14, 2024
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TL;DR

Jersey Jack leadership and designers discuss company vision, new projects, and pinball design philosophy at Pintastic Expo.

Summary

Jersey Jack Pinball hosted a panel at Pintastic Expo featuring legendary designer Steve Richie, new designer Mark Siden, and company leadership discussing the state of the company and upcoming games. Richie emphasized his creative freedom on his current project, described as his best game in many years, while Siden discussed his dream job and design philosophy. The company discussed their approach to inclusive game themes, supply chain management, and the importance of gameplay over licensing.

Key Claims

  • Steve Richie's current game at Jersey Jack is his best work in many, many years

    high confidence · Direct statement from Jersey Jack leadership introducing Richie's game as exceptionally high quality

  • Richie made two James Bond playfields for Stern before leaving, neither of which were used

    high confidence · Steve Richie stated directly: 'I made the uh the James Bond playfields for stern before I left they didn't use either one of them'

  • Jersey Jack ideally wants to release a new game every 9-10 months

    high confidence · Company leadership stated: 'for me ideally I on record to say you know every nine or ten months I'd love to see another game'

  • Jersey Jack has not had supply chain problems due to strong vendor relationships and good payment terms

    high confidence · Leadership stated: 'we have an amazing procurement Department our buyers are they're amazing... I can't really say we have a problem with with parts uh we pay very well'

  • Steve Richie's last game release was 3.5 years ago before joining Jersey Jack

    high confidence · Steve Richie: 'I haven't had a game out on the street like in three and a half years'

Notable Quotes

  • “I wouldn't rather do anything else in the world except make pinball”

    Steve Richie @ ~2:00 — Core philosophy statement about Richie's dedication to pinball design

  • “if three people tell you something is no good it's no good”

    Jersey Jack leadership, describing Steve Richie's design philosophy @ ~5:30 — Reveals Richie's design approach and why creative freedom matters to him

  • “it's Cinderella without a Disney license”

    Steve Richie @ ~8:45 — Cryptic hint about the theme of Richie's unreleased game

  • “the game is the game is freaking magnificent I'm sorry can't I shouldn't say that it's like I'm patting myself on the back but I'm not there's 15 other people involved”

    Steve Richie @ ~8:30 — Reveals confidence in the project while acknowledging team effort

  • “I want feeds I want I want I want the ball to come back to the flippers whenever I can”

    Mark Siden @ ~38:00 — Reveals design philosophy on ball routing and gameplay feel

  • “if the game is a good game and you have a bad theme you still have a bad game”

    Jersey Jack leadership @ ~47:30 — Core philosophy: gameplay trumps licensing

  • “I remember being at pinball shows and it was just us Freaks and Geeks”

    Jersey Jack leadership @ ~21:00 — Reflects on industry evolution and efforts to make pinball more inclusive

  • “I want people that know the difference between a cornfield and a Playfield”

    Jersey Jack leadership @ ~40:00 — Recruitment philosophy emphasizing pinball expertise

Entities

Jersey Jack PinballcompanySteve RichiepersonMark SidenpersonPat LawlorpersonDrew YoungpersonEricpersonStern PinballcompanyAmerican Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack actively recruiting for multiple roles from manufacturing to design; emphasizing need for pinball expertise in hiring

    medium · Leadership stated: 'we're always hiring we're always hiring good people we're always hiring we're looking for people all the time to do all kinds of things' and emphasized wanting 'people that know the difference between a cornfield and a Playfield'

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack reports no supply chain problems and attributes success to strong vendor relationships and premium payment terms

    high · Leadership explicitly stated: 'I can't really say we have a problem with with parts uh we pay very well um so our vendors are really uh partners with us'

  • ?

    community_signal: Jersey Jack focusing on inclusive game design to broaden audience beyond traditional male-dominated hobby

    high · Leadership discussed Wizard of Oz intentionally designed for women/girls appeal, noting shift from 'testosterone based games' to broader appeal; Toy Story and other recent titles designed for families

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Jersey Jack positioning gameplay quality as more important than theme/licensing, contrasting with competitors who may rely more heavily on IP appeal

    medium · Leadership stated: 'if the game is a good game and you have a bad theme you still have a bad game you have a bad game with a good theme good license' and emphasized there are great older games with no license at all

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Mark Siden's design approach emphasizes 3D CAD modeling before physical construction, contrasting with some designers who work virtually first

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:12
all right listen tastic you be quiet over there right so um I wanted to introduce uh couple of people that came with me from Jersey Jack pinball this is Mark seiden hello [Applause] you're I guess I guess a couple of you get people know more okay native Native Son local boy makes good local boy becomes pinball designer that's the American dream I guess right right there he's very talented and we're very thrilled to have him be part of the company and he fits in perfectly and I would tell you all about his game but I can't I will I'll tell you all later though Steve on the other hand he's got a real big mouth if you get get a few drinks in him he's going to Spill the guts from World War II he'll he'll tell you who shot JFK and who's going to win who's going to win the World Series we'll let you know everything right Steve yeah any other person with me is is the amazing king of flow the king of pinball the innovator of so many things pinball the greatest selling pinball designer ever Steve Richie my friend oh thank you thank you
1:36
I wouldn't rather do anything else in the world I wouldn't rather do anything else in the world except make pinball so I'm gonna ask Steve uh to talk a little bit and then I'll ask Mark to talk up a little bit we'll take some questions we have some dessert coming too and we have a couple of surprises later maybe a Q&A uh trivia contest kind of thing and we'll have some fun what the heck everybody that's what we here for for right we make these games to put smiles on your face we try to make some money now and then too that might help keep the lights on keep everybody paid but really this is a passion this is something that we love to do uh we're actually honored to do it um I'm very blessed I'm doing this a long time I don't even want to say a number anymore I you know I just my dad my dad was an accountant and after he was an accountant like 30 years 40 years he started saying more than 20 years experience so let's just say I have more than 20 years experience doing everything and I'm happy to do it and it's uh very exciting so take it away Steve take your unscripted uh script away I want to say this first um working at Jersey Jack has been a great experience like hate to say it way more fun than I had at the previous company was I forgot the name I think it's like stem I think that's it stem and uh uh
Ryan McQuaid
person
Wizard of Ozgame
The Godfathergame
Toy Storygame
Willie Wonkagame
The Hobbitgame
Dial Ingame
Black Knightgame
Fish Talesgame
Mike Theonaperson
Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expoevent
Vicki Youngperson
Aaronperson
Jenperson

medium · Siden described: 'I did a lot of um like CAD work first uh I designed 3D first um so um what I did is just have like every shot return a sketch' and noted he 'denied in 3D that I was like this is never going to work and it worked perfectly first time'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Jersey Jack leadership emphasizes creative freedom for designers, allowing them to implement full vision without external pressure to remove features

    high · Leadership stated: 'I made Steve a promise before he came to the company that he was going to get a chance to do whatever he wanted to do on the game and nobody was going to tell him to take anything off the game'

  • $

    market_signal: The Godfather game is attracting new players to pinball hobby as their first machine, driving secondary market demand for the company's other titles

    medium · Leadership noted: 'what's happening with Godfather is that people are finding out there's a Godfather game and they buying a Godfather game is their first pinball machine and then you know what happens after that right... the guy's guy's putting an extension on his house and he's taking another job'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Drew Young recently hired by Jersey Jack as prototype builder after previous builder departed; brings strong pinball knowledge and experience

    high · Steve Richie praised Young as having 'great pinball experience and a lot of knowledge' and being helpful in building prototype games in the lab

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Steve Richie transitioned from Stern Pinball to Jersey Jack Pinball after 3.5 years away from game design

    high · Richie stated directly his employment at Jersey Jack is 'way more fun than I had at the previous company' (Stern) and that he made two James Bond playfields for Stern that were never used

  • ?

    announcement: Steve Richie has a new unreleased game at Jersey Jack characterized as his best work in many years; cryptically described as 'Cinderella without a Disney license'

    high · Direct statements from leadership and Richie himself describing game quality and creative freedom; Richie said he hasn't had a game on the street in 3.5 years and is excited to get this one to production

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack ideally targeting new game release every 9-10 months; currently operating two production lines

    high · Leadership stated: 'for me ideally I on record to say you know every nine or ten months I'd love to see another game' and 'we have two lines and right now we're running two different games'

    • 3:13
    yeah I don't know what that's about anyway so we anyway this is generous
    3:22
    yeah another one all right yeah fine thanks all right anyway life is good at Jersey Jack he's throwing money at me put the pizza and drinks now I'm I'm not saying that I mean there's a lot of people at Stern that I love they're my friends I can't help it I've known them for years and years oh you guys know them too know it's uh but not Gary uh no and uh damn it Steve what damn it com
    3:59
    back anyway it's really nice and now I want to speak speak to a couple of other people uh one of them is a guy sitting on my right he has been a tremendous help on my game I know he walks in he he knows something about pinball he's done you know a home game and all that he's he's a project which is which means basically a lot of suffering a whole lot of suffering that's it when you build your own game and uh anyway he helped me tremendously he has um uh a lot of knowledge about designing things uh Pinball's coming along just fine for Mark he's making a good game but he's like a 3D and so he drew some parts that I needed drawing I'm not I'm 2D 2D is fast I can get my game done uh quicker or at least get a start on it so people can see what I'm doing but 3D is like anyone can use the 3D program to produce the part right so Mark the that and um a lot of other things just suggestions and uh uh we've become good friends and that's my view it might not be his I'm going to say yes it is okay nice anyway anyway I've uh we have
    5:18
    become we have be good we have become good friends um also with his wife Aaron and uh there's somebody else I want to speak to uh yes definitely
    5:39
    W and um he's kind of a new employee but I was going in a panic because we have a shop where we build our prototype games and the guy that built them got canned uh and it was kind of his fault but I was starting to go into uh I don't know just a bad place without having a guy to build games in the lab so uh this guy comes along uh I think I told you he'll say anything I told
    6:05
    you you guys didn't believe me right you didn't believe me okay anyway this guy is it turns out has great pinball experience and a lot of knowledge and um it's been a pleasure to work with him and build with him um and we're talking about Drew Young he has to stand up right now Get Up Stand Up right and his lovely wife Vicki
    6:35
    anyway new friendships good time the game is the game is freaking magnificent I'm sorry can't I shouldn't say that it's like I'm patting myself on the back but I'm not there's 15 other people involved in making you know and making this thing happen so but we're very excited and uh it's
    7:01
    Cinderella without a Disney license I'm not going to mess with that I thought it was My Little Pony you've been working on that game for 10 years no My Little Pony yeah My Little Pony the back burner can't barie as a rum so um what is it working at Jersey Jack you know it's been 180 degree turn for me and it's been a lot of fun and very exciting and finally I I haven't had a game out on the street like in three and a half years I made I made the uh the James Bond playfields for stern before I left they didn't use either one of them kind of crazy I made an Le and a a uh you know a pro model so uh I haven't had one on the street and I'm very excited to get this guy out in production and uh and watch people enjoy it hopefully anyway that's all I have to say and thank you for listening I'm sure I'm sure you'll have I'm sure you'll have more to say I'm sure you'll have more to say I'm Mark siden the newest designer at Jersey Jack um I don't have nearly as much to say as Steve um but it's it's it's been this is my dream job I love every minute of it I get I love that I got to work with Steve Pat Eric um all help me get going and uh teaching me what they know it's um uh yeah I can't say enough good things about the people I work with at Jersey Jack that's it's just a great company he's already given me all the money so it's fine um yeah and I don't have a game out yet but um I'm really looking forward to showing you what we we've been working on so yeah you know it's it's a hard thing when you um when you have uh these games in process and these take a long time um years literally uh when we start thinking of an idea then we go get a license and all the things I'm going to stand up so everybody can see me all the things that it that it takes to get a game and get the assets so that they have the um you know all all the tools they need to make a really great game with with Steve's game I'm going to tease you a little bit um I made Steve a promise before he came to the company that he was going to get uh uh a chance to do whatever he wanted to do on the game and nobody was going to tell him to take anything off the game and doing that changes everything because nobody's going to come to him and say take that off the game but doing that also what it did it put a lot of pressure on him because Steve will tell you and I'll use my best Brooklyn if if three people tell you something is no good it's no good that's the saying that he lives by with design right yes and uh there wasn't anybody that came to him and said that on his game there was some times where some people wondered when is he going to finish XYZ you know when is he going to do that maybe maybe that doesn't need to be there that way or maybe that doesn't need to be there maybe it could be there a different way and um not everybody's Steve Richie I'm just going to say that I know it's kind of silly to say that kind of not everybody's Steve Richie but um he got a chance to do it and for me personally um you know I'm going to just put it out there I think this is like his best game in many many many years many many
    10:52
    years yeah well he he made he made a lot of great games you know I'm not talking about him like he's not here or he's dead or something go so I know he's going to say something but you know he the first time I saw Black Knight I was at an arcade in Coney Island you know we opened up a box and we set it up and this guy Wally's arcade and it was talking and it was saying all kinds of stuff what was it saying Steve what was Black Knight saying to me like in 1980 what was it saying to me I better the Black Knight I don't remember it all but yeah give me a little bit of it I will slay you I remember I just you know the pitch dropped electronically it didn't say all that much yeah but it was it was tortur when you dra the
    11:45
    that's if I still do that when the ball drains like a marks playing on my game all the time all the time someone I really don't like though when they're doing it and they lose their ball I [Music] [Laughter] go will you have any speech in your upcoming game I'm sorry will you be doing any speech in your upcoming game yeah there'll be some there'll be some am a character okay will it be like play better no it's not going to be play better oh okay you think of something new stuff we can't talk about oh okay x on a play better did the pizza arrive yes oh okay so there's they're setting it up I you going to bum rush the table when everything's done no just don't try not to knock the lady down okay when she let her get out yeah it's okay let her get out of the way if anybody W seconds there's plenty of pizza Gabe people get the first first okay Gabe how we doing there buddy getting some ice we're get they're getting thirsty I think they're getting thirsty they're Pizza well at least you didn't lose the recipe for the ice yeah not
    12:59
    thatall Tak a long timeball is hard right some people say that I haven't said that I'm too stupid pinball is great um so yeah so uh I don't know how about we do a couple of questions if anybody has any questions for anybody don't all be
    13:26
    silent there the glass slipper this is the first audience that knows everything everybody there ndas outside when you get the
    13:40
    pizza our attorney told us that by you eating the pizza you've agreed to keep quiet and you can't divulge anything in here and if anybody asks you you just say on advice of counsel I respectfully decline to answer the question on the ground So my answer May tend to incriminate me don't ask me why I know know that don't ask me why I know that how many times how many times you have to say that before you actually memorize that crazy no questions really
    14:23
    yes table a table okay I don't know are you a pinball person let me ask you a question okay go ahead I'm sorry kid a prall person go ahead he's got his
    14:53
    th if Steve Richie doesn't design it maybe or Mark sidon doesn't design it or Eric doesn't design it right he's telling Steve what you just said right now he's translating into a
    15:16
    cherish are you waiting for an answer he's waiting for Coca-Cola right I can't think of one I mean yeah I mean there's a million aspects right to every pinball machine uh there's a million ways to screw it up right well you gota you do things with taste be very self-critical that's the magic can you can you really tell yourself that oh no this works oh it kind of works no it doesn't work and somebody else comes along goes that thing sucks okay that's it it's got to go I don't know uh if you make the right decisions it's never a
    16:00
    yes lot of P people and they all made the point of everything's kind of a at 40y old guys you guys any I think Toy Story was a
    16:14
    at you know I'm I'm glad you asked that question I was really really happy to see so many young kids in the tournament today I mean I think that was really spectacular and here participating shut up partip dissipating and having fun and getting all the trophies gab ate it all it all okay well there's got to be more there so you know um we're open we're open obviously when you have Toy Story which is a family themed game and then you have the Godfather which is a family themed game just a different family right I mean you're you're open you're open to uh do any kind of theme at all right so uh yes the answer would be yes uh it's not particularly aimed at any exact because we we're bringing more people into pinball and what I thought would happen with Godfather since it's one of my favorite movies um what happened with Godfather and what's happening and and our biggest distributor in the country Mike Theona is sitting right here and he'll tell you and his lovely daughter and his lovely daughter Michaela is next to him too so
    17:33
    so what's happening with Godfather is that people are finding out there's a Godfather game and they buying a Godfather game is their first pinball machine and then you know what happens after that right yeah yeah everything everything goes sideways after that the guy's guy's putting an extension on his house and he's taking another job you know like so but but it's really been great and uh I've I've gone to a couple people's homes in the last couple weeks where uh games were getting set up and I surprised people with uh I went with canoli and I went to help them set up games and stuff like that and it was a lot of fun to see them play their first pinball machine and I got a text from some guy at 300 in the morning the other day he was still playing the game I wasn't waiting for his text I was sleeping but uh I didn't see that till I woke up and he was still playing he sent old pictures and everything like that right away did anybody see on Facebook a little while ago somebody couldn't fit that topper for the for the Godfather game and the ceiling did you see what the guy did he put the he put the guys the bad guys on the sides of his game like on a shelf so they're here and here and they're shooting at you like I got to tell you it reminded me of the time I sold somebody of Fish Tales and we delivered it years ago with pinball cells and the guy couldn't fit on the ceiling and I had to come back with water fire and he put it on the shelf so that when he got it the fish would bang on the shelf and everything like I'm like that's when I knew the pinball people were a little different than everybody else I said maybe that's an inkling that you know like I want my toy but I I want everything about my toy I don't want to give anything up so yeah I know that was a long-winded answer but yes yes we're uh we're trying to hit everybody and you know I have to be mindful of the World Market too because what might play well in America might not play well in Australia or Europe and everything like if I wanted to do a baseball game it would probably go well in America uh probably wouldn't sell well in Australia or UK like that so you know if I did doing a FIFA game huh so you're doing a FIFA game FIFA game I'd love to do that we get messy and we're all set yeah why not why not question
    20:12
    well we have two lines and right now we're running two different games uh so you figure that out okay um you know what happens it it was related to parts and it always comes down to parts right you know you hear people they talk about supply chain issues and everything we have an amazing procurement Department our buyers are they're amazing they're amazing the communication they have with the designers and engineers and the company the sourcing they have um and what they do to get parts to us I can't really say we have a problem with with parts uh we pay very well um so our vendors are really uh partners with us so you know if you're asking if uh you'll have more than two games a year kind of question uh for me ideally I on record to say you know every nine or ten months I'd love to see another game so you know will you see Steve's game this year stay tuned maybe not at this show not at this show thank you Gabe all right Gabe herey wait a minute wait a minute you want some money no I gave it the office that's okay thank you thank you yes everybody help yourself he's all right um yes you had a question
    22:03
    right so so uh when I started the company in 2011 on January first I announced that I announced that the first game we were going to do is Wizard of o and um a lot of people laughed at me uh criticized me the reason was because my daughter loved the Wizard of Oz my daughter Jen uh growing up must to watch that movie a thousand times a day and she mimicked everything that darthy did she had a basket she had a little dog she did everything that darthy did and I said you know these testosterone you know based games that were out with um let me just say in a tastes of way female anatomy that appealed to teenage boys which was the thing at the time I wanted to go to something that would appeal to women and girls and that's what I did with Wiz eyes and I remember saying at a show somebody was criticizing me an operator and I'm a game operator too and the operator says I don't know if that'll work I says I'll tell you what you put that in the bar every girl in the bar will be playing that and every guy will be right there with them and that's exactly what happened it's still today you know no disrespect to these guys for me personally it's still my favorite game is Wizard of Oz because we didn't put the plumbing we didn't put the kitchen sink in that game we put the whole plumbing department in that game so it was everything who has a Wizard of Oz game okay yeah so you know um I'm mindful of that uh Toy Story is for everybody Willie Wonka is for everybody dial in was for everybody Hobbit was really for everybody you know we've tried to we've tried to you know it's difficult companies you hear different companies make things and they try to be everything to everybody and it's real hard to be everything to everybody you know we're trying not to lose our our way in what we do design our games are very distinctly different than any other game in the world I mean if you see one of our games you'll know it's it's it's the same as all the others but completely different than all the others you know so but we're mindful of that you know you know if we could do a Bobby game really and and put it out there in kind in some kind of way I don't know never say never but thank you for that and thank you for being part of pinball too because I remember being at shows years ago yeah exactly the sisters the sisters they're sisters you know I remember being at pinball shows I remember being at pinball shows and it was just us Freaks and Geeks and people that didn't shower and if there was they'd be crop dusting they'd be crop dusting you know and uh you know there were no there were no women there there were no children there certainly there were no children there there were no women there and if there was a woman there there were like 25 guys trying to find out you know what was going on [Laughter] so next question where I get in trouble yes yes sir here's a game designer this guy works for American pinball anybody know
    25:28
    him Ryan yes Ryan question from Mark um I'm really happy I get to in on another of your fantastic invol panels Y and I want to know what feels different this time around now that you've been at this company for a year
    25:59
    more it it does feel more confident because I have a like pretty much design game at this point so um it's it's just me oh there we go hello so yeah it's just me this waiting my turn to be able to tell you all about it like it's like what can I say yeah yeah it's definitely a different feeling yeah yeah definitely um so yeah thank you and you too May the best designer win yeah it's me it's me
    26:33
    yeah wor May May the best designer win it's okay I'll be the first one to pre that's pretty cool you know by the way we're hiring we're always hiring we're always hiring good
    26:51
    people we're hiring we're looking for people all the time to do all kinds of things from from putting games in boxes to designing them them so uh I'm always out there searching around and I'm looking for pinball people especially not people at work that like Grumman aircraft building a jet fighter or something like that you know maybe Steve wants that guy but uh I I want I want people that know the difference between a cornfield and a Playfield so that's what I say right okay we have any other questions yeah had a guy in the back over
    27:44
    can you can you translate can you can you translate that to Steve in gibberish please hang on I need a translation's so how do you decide when when a shot is too easy or too hard how do you deci [Music] you look at the room you got and um talking to your microphone testing one two damn it better this level needs to go up hello testing one two no I've been turned down definitely turned down on purpose damn it you're lucky Fred young is you're lucky Fred young isn't here just kidding all right I don't know you know you have so much room yeah there if like let's say you want to put in three shots and you have you know like 5 in wide you can uh there's a lot of things you can do to feed balls in from you don't really need the 5 in to incorporate three shots if you play your cards right it's hard to explain but I mean it's easy to understand it just it probably means extending shots making one longer than another so that the ball can get in um and bad shots a million times I have gone you know I've just said that's it take it out and do another shot a different shot and that happened several times on the the game I'm working on now just because we had better opportunities that came up for feeds I'm a feed a fiend a feed fiend that's it I want feeds I want I want I want the ball to come back to the flippers whenever I can you know and it's like you would think that's easy but if you make the game fast enough it's not easy or it can be I don't know you can shoot it careful and maybe avoid some problems uh I'm not sure I answered your question
    29:35
    but remember though question had to be translated through two different people to [Applause] me so basically you shoot the game and it and everybody tells you it sucks and you have to fix it like um but like there's a whole corner of my Playfield that I just scrapped from the first Whitewood it it just did not shoot the way I expected to um so yeah it's just iteration that's uh you think it's going to work and you build it and it doesn't so you fix it
    30:16
    yes you can you can build it up in Virtual uh like VPX or something first um I did a lot of um like CAD work first uh I designed 3D first um so um what I did is just have like every shot return a sketch of every shot return where is that likely to go if it was going like full speed um every Ricochet off of every Target calculate that and like like okay you can move it a little bit where did I hit it on a flipper and like see where does that go so he can see the range things like that um but yeah um a lot of people like to work with virtual pinball first and like lay it out uh I know Ryan's like that um but I am more of a like all right I'm going to I'm going to draw it in 3D first and then I want to actually feel it like um there are things that I've denied in 3D that I was like this is never going to work and it worked perfectly first time
    31:21
    yes yeah we need somebody to test play Everything sure okay well go to 1850 Green Leaf Avenue elro Village
    31:33
    6007 tell them that Jersey Jack sent you remember no I'll text it to you I'll write I'll write it down on this piece of tablet Stone so that you can that you can
    31:50
    take get that man a chair by the way Gabe just told me that there's drinks out there if anybody is like thirsty you're dying of thirst and you want to get some something to drink you can go okay yes sir do you think I try do you think do I have no clue I have no clue I'm I'm not doing this long enough really things you know I have friends in the stock market I have friends in real estate I have friends that are in Bitcoin I have friends that are in Gold I have friends that are in all kinds of crazy things and they ask me questions like that as if I actually know and all I could say is you know things going Cycles when things are going good they don't go good long enough and when things are going bad they go bad too long but everything goes into cycle I could tell you this long term I remember thousands of pinball machines I sold uh you know if I go back to 2000 I was buying Adams families from Europe for 400 bucks reconing them putting a lot of time in them put another 5600 bucks in them and sell them for $1,800 and I thought like what we were you know and that game today is worth you know a bundle even a crappy one you don't see and a wise man A very wise man once told me that he never got stuck with a pinball machine and I'm going to believe that because look when you buy something you use it you expect to lose money on it I think uh Co spoiled a lot of people you know you bought something you could play it six months or a year and sell it and make a grand you know but a lot of new people came into the Hobby and a lot of new people want to buy games we're still getting people that come into the Hobby and they want to spend uh all kinds of money and get an instant collection they want the oldies they want the new ones so I think if you have some Timbo machines I think they're a worst places you could put your money so I I wouldn't worry about it too much it's going to go up a little bit it's going to go down a little bit if you see something by the way and not just my games but if you see something that you want that you really like whether it's pinball related or not just do it you know eat the piece of cake or do it life is too short really life is too
    34:18
    Joey like [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] yours [Applause]
    34:43
    I don't know I don't know if anybody can see what's here this is 125
    34:51
    canoli Joey you get the first canoli pick what you want this pistachio I'm going to have this one right here are your fingers clean yeah okay all right we're going to we're going to have those in a little while thank you but widebody I don't know I have to consider it you know I was told that you got to go to the widebody wood tree and that the Unicorn had to fly up to the top of the mountain so I don't know a if you know you know Gabe what the hell do you want oh okay it's going to stab me I think yes that gentleman over
    36:00
    good luck all right so you've been designing a while yeah while we're talking what do you think I could probably take another question while he's figuring that out I'll just wait another
    36:17
    minute okay all right so what's it just you've designed in many different eras how the hell do you do what you do Steve what do you think about modern uh deep rule sets versus more class I don't think they're modern I think that deep rule sets have been around for a long long time don't tell us tell them we know we know Steve tell them please somebody give me an example of a modern rule set your your description of what that is Father what Godfather what game Godfather Godfather I I better answer the question the right way I don't know how deep it is I because I can't get there but I also I don't want to be influenced by other people's games so I don't look I don't play much I just do what I have to do um but uh rule sets that are de are great um I am not that kind of a player I'm every man's I don't know I'm you're a loser well there's only a few great players the the rest of the players are average you know and I try to make them happy too if I need an extra ball here I will tell them programmers I you next wall here because I'm not going to be able to go any further in the game and I want to and this would be good for average players not just good players thank
    37:46
    you the guy the guy knows his stuff you know really it's real hard to stump Steve he knows his stuff he's doing this a really long time next question if we have one yes sir
    38:11
    congratulations I advice to counsel I respectfully the [Applause] client we're working on it
    38:24
    fig yeah we're working on it this we're working on everything that's the problem you work on everything but you got to give some things priority and some things secondary and all that stuff but yes sir Eric how are you I'm doing good good New England Patriots Yeah okay not my football team okay don't throw
    38:57
    anything is that for me yeah uh am I a sales guy I thought my game sell themselves
    39:05
    really well I think what's I think what really sells games is the game play right if the game is a good game and you have a bad theme you still have a bad game you have a bad game with a good theme good license you know that's what I think um there are games out there right now that don't have any license at all that are older games that are really great pinball machines you know well there you go thank you thank you very much I'll see me
    39:37
    afterwards um but you know it's it's for me it's always gameplay theme is important it makes it a little sweeter you know like um if you like something and you buy it I mean we have people we know that if they hear about a theme and their pinball people they want it sight unseen because they love that movie or they love that band or whatever it is and then they might get the game and say everybody okay there is something to drink who who's choking come on something to drink take a drink um okay great but but you know the the problem is uh they play it and then they find out that it's not really a good game even though it had a good theme and they wind up selling it so I think um I still think it's important to play the game or have somebody you know play the game or watch a video of a good player playing the game so you could see what the game can do and I'm a player like Steve I love to play but I can't get that far in there you know I got to take the glass off and play it with my hand and you know get it to do everything it's supposed to do and then maybe I could see the end of the wizard mode of uh Wizard of Oz or something like that you know find that with us yes this is your second question okay well we're going to keep an eye on
    41:21
    you yeah yeah I we have a historian here that could explain that to you it's been it's been tried what we have done though it's a good idea you know if I if I'm not so good maybe set it on extra easy there are a lot of presets install presets in our game so you can just go in the menu and install like extra easy or harder or you know you didn't have to go through every setting to go through a 100 settings to try to figure out what makes that so we shortcut it for you you know so you know if that could be on the outside of the cabinet kind of thing who knows maybe one maybe one day but yeah yeah right well if our programmers watch this uh be one more thing on their
    42:43
    I'm I'm de in case you guys didn't know I mean I don't hear well what go ahead at what point in the design process do you know the heart of the game like what the game should be about and stuff like that yeah well it's when Chris franie comes in the room and he goes I like
    43:03
    it n that ain't it that ain't it um I could look at a game and continuously work on it one of the big tricks is to not take it too far uh I don't know it's um what could I say the point point where you know where it's good we we know this game is good we definitely do there's no question because so many people are involved in it and and they like it and it's it's it's a good uh it's it's a breakout in many ways so the first time for a few things and that sort of stuff I don't know if he I know that was such a good description I am tired plus actually you know Jack and just talk that's
    43:52
    enough next question wise guy I'm not anybody else I just you know yes yes
    44:03
    could somebody translate that for me original versus license well we did an original uh took 40 yep took took 42 months to do um it's hard it's it's very hard doing an original game because you have a blank piece of paper so you can wander all over the place with the license um you know you kind of know the story your creative story uh would we do one again possibly I would not say no but uh anything's possible um here's another interesting item uh I thought he wasn't going to talk again right he didn't hear you item is this uh I made Black Knight sort of rage and it's like young people didn't know what it was and they don't know I don't it didn't sell as well as many of my other games uh because they didn't know and because it wasn't a license uh a license that's good is definitely a great tool I mean uh I uh we we all know a guy who always said this title title title we're not going to say his name but it I think it began with s Sam or something no that was his dad's name but but he's right he is right about that title title title I think it is very important make a game that people want to experience what they already experienced in a movie or through music or through you know any other kind of mechanical um I I can't explain it
    45:38
    but yeah you got the message title that's me you don't okay yes sir I have no questions Jack I just want a
    45:57
    canoli it has been I know I'm trying to feed this Army here to get it much further
    46:12
    it thank you thank you [Applause] appreciate you know it was yes David's in the we'll get to that in a minute you're not we're not ready for that yet okay stand what the hell's with this thing hello that's better thank you I'm sorry I'm screwing up your audio I'm making you look bad thanks give a big thanks our audio person our technical a technical technical wizard technical wizard thank you thank you um so one one day the guy guy over there called me yeah you had your hand up what was it
    47:15
    the answer is yes just how far I can go beyond yes is the uh yeah I I didn't understand a Gabe shots are not toys what did he say are you going to push the envelope on Jersey Jack games for light and toys we always will yeah we always will no doubt Steve's game's got a couple of lights on it I can tell you that just just a couple couple it's got a couple of Lights you know what I was going to say after your comment was years ago Gabe called me up one day and he said hey um I'm thinking of starting a pinball show you know what do you what do you think about that idea and I I pulled them off the ledge and I told him it would be a great idea it would be a great thing to do and this pin and this's tastic his partner that started the show and they're
    48:11
    together and and it's it's a it's a great show it's a lot of work uh I wouldn't want to I mean here I started a pinball company and I can tell you I don't want to start a pinball show so it's a whole different thing because everybody criticizes everything you do Gabe the piz was cold but [Laughter] you well thank you you filthy animal keep the change yes one or two more questions and then I want to move to the next part of the program few years ago
    48:48
    the God Bless America that technology is in dialed in and it's the toy in the middle of the Playfield it's pinball 2000 it's right there and it's something something we might use again on our games it's a great it's a great thing to have uh pinball 2000 was a good thing at the time I was an operator and I remember I was at um the amusement show when it was revealed and you know all the Mucky mucks that designed it uh were there explaining to us operators how stupid we are because they made it so that we could actually leave an extra Playfield in our trucks so then we could go into the bar and pull out the dirty Playfield because we were too stupid to clean it and fix it and we could put a brand new Playfield in there and then bring it back to the shop and clean it and everything and everybody was asking questions at that show and I waited a little while and I looked at the game play I didn't play the game yet because there was big big crowds around the games and I said to a designer who I won't name these games are going to get boring real fast and everybody got quiet and they didn't know who the hell I was I was just the game operator from Brooklyn once I said all the shots have to go to the middle of the Playfield to interact with the screen I said after the third game nobody wants to play this game and you know it's it's a novelty it's kind of cool you know a lot of people like the Star Wars better I sold Star Wars through FAO Schwarz so FAO Schwarz when when Williams went out of business in 1999 on October 25th um I had that game in the FAO Schwarz catalog and they were selling the game for 57.95 right no I'm sorry they were selling it for $7,500 they were buying it for me for $57.95 and that was a lot a lot a lot a lot of money in 1999 and a lot of celebrities bought them and they got into pinball and it was a great thing but you know good ideas uh they're good but you got to keep them alive it's like a plant you got to keep watering it and fertilize it and get the sunshine but hope I answered your question thank you one more question okay so I write a column in replay magazine replay magazine is the Premier magazine in the coin op Amusement world and my column is called Jersey Jack and the editor of the magazine Eddie adlam gave me that name like I don't know 18 or 19 20 years ago something like that when I started writing and I didn't like the name Jersey Jack because I'm from Brooklyn and he says well your Jersey Jack and you're going to like
    51:35
    it so I said okay so after a while I got used to it and then when it came time to name the company something a lot of my customers from pinball sales at the time was saying why don't you call it Jersey Jack and I was like I don't like that name I don't I don't like that name but I listen to the customers because the customer always right and we named the company Jersey Jack but the point is I wrote a column last month and it's just one little page I just want to read it to you and it's about somebody in the room and it's Big Mike one of Pinball's biggest fans and it says many years ago I met Big Mike Theona Jr who owned automated services in Milford Connecticut a pinball distributor who sells mainly to home customers when I was managing mandal's Springfield New Jersey office in 1997 automator was buying so much of equipment there they had one person dedicated just to Mike's account when you pulled up to his building there were two Coca-Cola track the trailers at his building every single day so he must have been doing something big he started with a gumball machine and through his hard work and grit and determination became a force in the industry he looks like a tough guy he's a big marshmallow he supports many charitable causes and has done so for years to a fault he never says no to anyone in need never ever I know he's lent people money and they never PID them back and he never sent anybody from The Godfather to go find
    53:10
    them uh he supports many charitable cloes and has done so for years through a fault he never says no to anyone in need he's also very humble and rarely steps into the spotlight sorry Mike while Mike is very much old school he's also a high-tech Savvy he has an amazing showroom people visit sometimes they visit for weeks at a time before they buy a game he's hands on but there's no pressure he remains as calm and cool as a cucumber right Michaela in short his customers love him so do I his steadfast support of everything pinball has earned him a place as one of the game's largest distributors in the world at Jersey Jack pinball we wanted to salute Big Mike for his love of the game so we put him into all thousand of the collector edition games
    54:08
    as as big Mikey where he's a perfect fit looking at the Playfield character you're immediately recognize him over the years our relationship has transcended business Mikey has become one of my very best friends I admire his love of his family first and then of life and his ideas and his ideas for the industry I continue to admire and learn from him all the time and now I get to see him on one of my games how cool is that congratulations and thank you for everything Mikey salute senton and guess what today is Mike's [Applause]
    54:56
    on we got to get we got to get somebody with a camera on the
    55:02
    cake come on over here I'm afraid to touch it look at that cake Mikey beautiful you know uh Gabe said to me what's Mike's favorite cake and I asked your wife and your wife said Mike never met a cake eat in
    55:26
    you happy Birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday big Mighty happy birthday to
    55:47
    you I know I know you don't talk much but here here's a microphone no no I'm if I thank everyone I thank every I made a lot of new friends my there's a lot of them in this room the
    56:16
    [Applause] picture how you nice all right you're going to Cut the Cake who's cut gab you going to Cut the Cake Mikey make the first cut for good luck
    56:30
    okay I'm curious to see what kind of cake it is cuz I think this is my dinner unless we going into the Mexican place this P one slice of pizza oh look at that so
    56:45
    beautiful may I have the corner Pizza you can have anything you want Mike there's a plate there there's a fork and Gabe will help you out
    57:00
    and really Mike touched on it you know the games bring us together but it's about relationships and friendships and that's really what we celebrate together you know we might not agree on football teams and baseball teams and politics and maybe we do agree on politics maybe not but you know what there's nothing that brings us together better than pinball and I love all of you people and I hope you have a really great time the rest of the show come on up and get some cake in an orderly fashion please and canoli and go sit back down there's drinks outside and if you think of any other questions uh maybe you're going to beat something out of Steve I don't know can feed him a couple of drinks at the bar thanks love you [Applause]