Drinks with Jack - Gary & Seth EP6

Stern Pinball·video·6m 35s·analyzed·Mar 4, 2022

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Gary Stern introduces new president Seth Davis; discusses future digital expansion.

Summary

Jack Danger hosts Gary Stern and Seth Davis (new president of Stern Pinball) in an informal video conversation. Gary discusses Seth's background (Disney streaming/video games, GE manufacturing, accounting/IT education) and Stern's strategic shift toward digital business and home markets beyond traditional commercial pinball. Gary shares anecdotes about his father Sam Stern's role in game concept critique and reflects on iconic playfield mechanisms like Godzilla's Skyscraper and Flight 2000's ball walker.

Key Claims

Seth Davis has spent 10 years working on video games for Disney and a couple years on Disney streaming
high confidence · Seth Davis directly states his professional background; framed as factual employment history
Stern Pinball is positioning itself to operate for another 76+ years through expansion into commercial, home, and digital business segments
high confidence · Gary Stern explicitly states company strategy: 'we're positioning this company to be around more than another 76 years. We're going from a commercial business to commercial home business to a whole new digital business.'
Digital business expansion is expected to drive geometric growth in pinball interest
medium confidence · Gary Stern predicts digital expansion 'is going to take us to a whole new geometric growth in the interest in pinball' but frames it as something he personally doesn't fully understand
Sam Stern (Gary's father) did not design pinball games but was a conceptual critic and trend-spotter
high confidence · Gary states 'Did your dad ever design a game in his time in being in coin-op? Not to my knowledge' and describes Sam's role as identifying trends and suggesting design improvements to Harry Williams' drafts
Godzilla's Skyscraper mechanism on Premium/LE is one of the best playfield mechanisms Gary has seen
high confidence · Gary ranks it among top mechanisms: 'What in the world is better than the Skyscraper on the Premium LE?'

Notable Quotes

“We're going from a commercial business to commercial home business to a whole new digital business. Something that is over my head.”
Gary Stern @ mid-content — Explicit statement of Stern Pinball's three-pillar strategic expansion including digital—suggests major resource commitment
“I'm 76, which we're positioning this company to be around more than another 76 years.”
Gary Stern @ mid-content — Succession planning and long-term vision statement; implies intentional leadership transition (Seth Davis hire)
“Being under the tutelage of the infamous George Gomez was fantastic. Steve helped me a lot. Keith Elwin helped me a lot. John Borg helped me a lot.”
Jack Danger @ late-content — Jack Danger credits George Gomez, Steve Ritchie, Keith Elwin, and John Borg as mentors on his game design; indicates collaborative design culture at Stern
“What in the world is better than the Skyscraper on the Premium LE?”
Gary Stern @ mid-content — Explicit praise for Godzilla's Skyscraper mechanism; suggests Gary considers it a pinnacle playfield feature
“They all came in, played my game, told me what sucks, told me what I couldn't do because it didn't work.”
Jack Danger @ late-content — Jack describes iterative feedback process from experienced designers; validates collaborative game design culture at Stern

Entities

Gary Sternperson Seth Davisperson Jack Dangerperson George Gomezperson Sam Sternperson Harry Williamsperson

Signals

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business_signal: Stern Pinball executing strategic pivot toward digital business expansion and home market alongside traditional commercial operations
high · Gary Stern: 'We're going from a commercial business to commercial home business to a whole new digital business' and 'it's going to take us to a whole new geometric growth in the interest in pinball'
?
community_signal: Stern Pinball continuing 'Drinks with Jack' content series as informal community engagement format featuring leadership and designers
high · Video is episode 6 of 'Drinks with Jack' featuring Gary Stern and Seth Davis in casual conversation format with Jack Danger hosting
?
competitive_signal: Gary Stern emphasizes Godzilla's Skyscraker mechanism as exemplary playfield feature, positioning Godzilla as showcase title
high · Gary rhetorical question: 'What in the world is better than the Skyscraper on the Premium LE?' suggesting it represents pinnacle of recent mechanism design
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design_philosophy: Collaborative mentorship model at Stern Pinball with experienced designers (Gomez, Elwin, Ritchie, Borg) providing iterative feedback to newer designers
high · Jack Danger describes being mentored and receiving critical feedback: 'They all came in, played my game, told me what sucks, told me what I couldn't do because it didn't work.'
?
personnel_signal: Seth Davis hired as new president of Stern Pinball with background in Disney streaming, video games, manufacturing (GE), accounting, and IT
high · Gary Stern formally introduces Seth as 'the new guy' and 'president of the company' and details his professional background spanning Disney and GE

Topics

Stern Pinball strategic expansion (digital/home/commercial)primarySuccession planning and leadership transition (Seth Davis hire)primaryPlayfield mechanism design and innovationsecondaryGame design mentorship and collaborative culture at SternsecondaryPinball industry history and legacy (Sam Stern, Harry Williams)secondaryJack Danger's game design process and recent releasesecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Casual, collegial tone throughout. Gary expresses confidence in Seth's qualifications and vision for company growth. Jack expresses gratitude for mentorship and satisfaction with design outcomes. No criticism or controversy present; primarily celebratory of leadership transition and future direction.

Transcript

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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us here today. I appreciate it. I can't hear you. I can't hear me either. I can't hear you. I can hear me. No, give me your money. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us. I can't hear me anymore. You don't need to turn by. This is Gary's turn and Seth Davis. It's Davis. Yeah, yeah, he's the new guy. It's good. It's good that you know the name of the president of the company. That's a good move. All right, I'm Jack Danger. I'm just some ding dong, and I appreciate you being here. Uh, to take the time, we're gonna be um drinking and just shooting the breeze with these two gentlemen. Do you want to read the question yourself now? Go ahead. Listen, we scripted all of this, folks. Gary, I want to know how you found Seth and what are the plans for the future together with you two moving forward with the company, and then we'll talk about random other garbage. The question, you know, this was all done by Zoom because it was COVID, and we couldn't really meet in person for some time. And for every, we interviewed a lot of people, and I think we picked the right one. What my main question, which we couldn't answer until we met, for everyone I wanted to know, how tall are they? And nobody could tell me how tall they were. You saw us stand here before, and I'm confirming that he's qualified. He's tall enough. That's how I know he's qualified. But he also has a great background for our business, which he's now going to talk about. His background: I spent a couple of years working on Disney streaming. Um, before that I spent 10 years working on video games for Disney. Um, and you guys make a lot of games with Disney, so uh, there's good overlap there. Um, and before that I spent a number of years at GE working in manufacturing businesses. To take a little further, his he has an undergraduate degree, like I do, in accounting, which is the language of business. He understands business and in information technology, which I know nothing. Is that right? Which I know absolutely nothing about. So what are we going to do? I'm 76, which we're positioning this company to be around more than another 76 years. We're going from a commercial business to commercial home business to a whole new digital business. Something that is over my head. Other than I know that we need to do it and have it, and it's going to take us to a whole new geometric growth in the interest in pinball. Thus, we have set. Yeah, because I know nothing and he knows about this. So uh, Gary, I actually had a question. Um, did your dad ever design a game in his time in being in coin-op? Not to my knowledge. He would know what you know what a trend was, what you should do with it, what should be in the game. Harry Williams was with us forever. Harry's got a uh, a uh, a drawing. Because in those days you did it with pencil, paper drafting. You know, the drafting stuff on a drafting table. He's got a drawing, and he looks at it, and we're looking at it, and Sam says, "It says it's great, but you should do this in this upper left corner. Not what you got. Change it to this, this and this." So I take Harry back to the hotel. Next morning, Harry rolls out a drawing with this, this and this done just like Sam said. You know, he didn't have a drafting table in his hotel room. You know, he had already had two drawings with him, and he knew what Sam was going to want. Sam didn't design, but he knew the concept. He was a great critic, and he could see a trend. What is a mechanism you've seen in a pinball machine that really blew you away? Like, is the best thing you've seen today that maybe you didn't put on a pinball machine if your own, but you're just like, "Holy crap, that's it"? All right, I'm gonna do this. I'm taking this. I'm gonna give you two. One now, hold on. You're not allowed. Godzilla's not part of it. Oh, too bad, too bad. He's not one of all. It's gotta be. What in the world is better than the Skyscraper on the Premium LE? But but I'll give you one from the past on Flight 2000. In the upper left, there's a ball walker, and it is fantastic. But it's a widebody, and the problem with widebody games—they're too slow. You have to put too much stuff in it. The ball slows up left to right. Take that ball walker, make a narrow body game with one pop-up, or instead of three, instead of the ball walker itself, use ejects one, two, three, and you have a conversion kit called Gammatron. That's right, Gammatron plays much better than Flight 2000. Unfortunately, the idea of converting a pinball was stupid, and somebody tried it. Me. So I proved the concept doesn't work. But those are two great sets of devices. I think now you have to interview me, right? That's how this goes. What was the experience of designing your machine like? Well, thank you for asking, Seth. Um, it was quite a unique experience, actually. Uh, being under the tutelage of the infamous George Gomez was fantastic. You call it tutelage? Huh? Tutelage. If you will, yes. Um, Steve helped me a lot. Uh, Keith Elwin helped me a lot. John Borg helped me a lot. They all came in, played my game, told me what sucks, told me what I couldn't do because it didn't work. And honestly, I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. And now you guys have to give me a cornerstone game, and you have to say yes in front of all these people. I think we're gonna wait for some sales numbers. No, I don't want to hear that. Right into the sales department. All right. Uh, Internet, everybody. Thank you for hanging out here and talking to Gary and Seth. All right, y'all. Thank you so much.