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Potter Launch day

Don's Pinball Podcast (patreon feed)·podcast_episode·21m 6s·analyzed·Jun 7, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Don purchases Harry Potter Wizard Edition after serendipitous work opportunity coincides with launch.

Summary

Don recounts his intense 24-hour experience during the Harry Potter pinball launch, including his decision to purchase a Wizard Edition after receiving a lucrative out-of-town work opportunity that covers the exact cost. He discusses the game's layout, aesthetics, and his plans for an unboxing video, while also reflecting on Ken Cromwell's departure from Jersey Jack Pinball and his efforts to secure media day access and promotional materials.

Key Claims

  • Harry Potter is Jersey Jack Pinball's best layout compared to Avatar, The Godfather, and Elton John

    medium confidence · Don's subjective opinion based on gameplay trailer and promotional materials

  • Harry Potter will be completely unlimited across all three varieties and available everywhere

    high confidence · Don states this as a fact about Jersey Jack's production plans

  • Ken Cromwell left Jersey Jack Pinball to work at Flipping Out Pinball

    high confidence · Don directly states Cromwell's public statement about the move

  • Retro Ralph received early access to play Harry Potter at Jersey Jack Pinball factory

    high confidence · Don references Ralph's hands-on gameplay video and podcast episode

  • First location copies of Harry Potter are already appearing at arcades (Finney's Arcade in Ohio, Mad Pinball)

    high confidence · Don reports seeing location machines available immediately post-launch

  • Jersey Jack Pinball had previously planned a media day event for Harry Potter launch

    medium confidence · Don cites Ken Cromwell's casual mention of plans before Cromwell's departure

  • Don's banana shooter rods sold out in two days after he listed five on Pinside

    high confidence · Don states directly that all five units sold out

  • Wizard Edition features glitter on playfield, gold powder coated armor, and gold wire forms

    high confidence · Don describes premium features he researched for the Wizard Edition variant

Notable Quotes

  • “Every Jersey Jack Pinball game, except for Pirates of the Caribbean, is available for thousands less. And this is like a perfect storm of a game though where you've got gameplay and build quality and theme all coming together like we haven't seen before.”

    Don @ early in episode — Establishes Harry Potter as exceptional value and quality compared to prior JJP releases

  • “I got a text message literally an hour after the Harry Potter game launches... And they told me what they'd pay me. And damn it, if that price wasn't exactly the same price as a Harry Potter machine.”

    Don @ mid-episode — Describes the serendipitous alignment of work opportunity with game purchase decision

  • “He had mentioned to me casually, you know what, like that Avatar video was so over the top. We consider you part of the team now.”

    Don (quoting Ken Cromwell) @ mid-episode — Shows Jersey Jack's appreciation for content creators and Cromwell's relationship with Don

  • “I'm not going to pry into it... He answers back to me. So he's alive and he's communicating with me.”

    Don @ discussing Cromwell's departure — Demonstrates discretion about personnel moves while clarifying Cromwell's status remains positive

  • “This game is going to absolutely be everywhere... the first games are already on location. I know more coming soon.”

    Don @ late episode — Confirms unlimited production run and rapid distribution to commercial venues

  • “I did some math, and if I could sell 250 banana shooter rods, that would pay for a Harry Potter machine. And I'm almost like, should I announce that as a challenge, like the banana challenge?”

    Don @ Donkey Kong discussion — Shows creative monetization thinking around custom accessories

Entities

Harry PottergameDonpersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyKen CromwellpersonRetro RalphpersonJeffperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Don's custom modification ecosystem expanding with armor, powder coat, and accessory projects generating revenue stream separate from game purchases

    medium · Don developing Terror Island Banana Company backstory for Donkey Kong Limited Edition armor; creating custom powder coat designs; producing branded accessories

  • ?

    community_signal: Don planning special Patreon giveaways of Harry Potter promotional banners and seeking new contact at Jersey Jack Pinball to continue media partnership and swag distribution

    high · Don explicitly discusses plans to coordinate with JJP on banners/giveaways and seeking new contact person after Cromwell's departure

  • ?

    community_signal: Banana shooter rod custom project generating unexpected demand; Don sold out five units in two days and considering scaling production based on interest

    high · Don lists five banana rods on Pinside for $60 each; units sell out in two days; receives production interest inquiries

  • $

    market_signal: Content creator relationship evolution at Jersey Jack Pinball; Ken Cromwell's departure creates gap in media coordination previously handled informally through personal relationships

    medium · Don seeking new contact person at JJP after Cromwell's exit; describes Cromwell as part of informal early access and promotional gifting pipeline

  • $

    market_signal: Harry Potter immediately appearing at commercial venues (Finney's Arcade, Mad Pinball location) within hours of launch indicates rapid fulfillment and unlimited production run

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.063

0:00
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. It's Harry Potter Launch Day Talk. Let's get into it.
0:12
On this special Patreon episode, directly for you, I just want to recapitulate everything that happened during that 24-hour launch period we had yesterday for frickin' Harry Potter, man. I think it owned the day. It was absolutely a pinball moment. Let's get into it.
0:30
And thankfully we won't even have to wait. Let's truncate that intro. How you doing everybody? So Harry Potter came out. Oh my god. I got off work. I came home. I was up all night. The launch happened. Me and Genghis went over everything. It was just information freaking overload, right? And I knew it was going to be all encompassing like this. I knew. And I know myself. I know myself. I was trying to be disciplined like, you know, every Jersey Jack game, except for Pirates, is available for thousands less. and this is like a perfect storm of a game though where you've got gameplay and build quality and theme all coming together like we haven't seen before however it is also completely unlimited across all three varieties this game is gonna absolutely be everywhere so my mind was spinning right we saw everything first on what do you think of the game game looks great it looks like the layout is one of jjp's best i won't say that they've had the most creative layouts in existence but you know they've been pretty good and this is a fair bit better than avatar it's a heck of a fair bit better than godfather um i'd say it's even better than elton john elton john being kind of you know small and fast yeah small in terms of like not 37 ball pass this thing brings it giant mechanism spinning staircase i love it i've watched the gameplay trailer now i i dig it i think there's plenty of mechanism in there, right? That big Death Eater coming out, that upper play field looks amazing. I like everything about it. I like everything about it. You know, it's hard to give my impressions. It's still like running through my brain. So let me just encapsulate how the day went. Got up yesterday, got off work, came home. We were starting to get the flyers released a little bit early, about, I mean, like 30 minutes early before the actual time of the launch. uh jengis and i just geeked out over it try to encapsulate everything we could see um you know figure out what mechanisms are there and everything uh and then of course the release happened uh so as it happened uh i was like damn this game's out game looks pretty good 12 10 and 15 10 12 and 15 yeah a thousand dollars right and i'm looking at all the additions and i've made kind of my my wishes and thoughts clear when it comes to the wizard edition art i do think it It looks a little bit like a pediatrician's office. It's growing on me, and everybody else seems to really love it. I seem to be kind of like, not that there isn't a small cadre of vocal people who are like, we don't want this art, we want movie art. But definitely I think The Wizard has got the best art package because it's got the characters and it's on Radcals. That being said, I think The Wizard Edition looks great. I think the art is good. It's just I would have preferred to have more movie-inspired art, right? but I mean that's like the only detraction I could see from this I wish the topper had more projections and things I guess you know if you're twisting my arm but overall package looks good so I'm mulling it over and I'm talking to Jeff from mad because like now's the time you know he's taking orders these games are going to be made not with a brisk stern pace you know but it will slowly come out over time if I get my order in now I could maybe get like one of these first ones you know i was wheeling and dealing and see if like i could maybe you know get a uh i'm always trying to think like can i get a game just to have to borrow to unbox to get to play the live stream and then i'll bring it to expo and you guys can sell it as like an open box game you know it'll just have existed in my house for a little bit uh so far i haven't found any takers for that i think it'd be a fantastic idea but it's absolutely self-serving um so i'm looking around and I'm like, man, maybe I could take my Avatar CE that I have and this Gottlieb Wipeout and package them together and trade them in for one of these, plus probably a couple thousand dollars. And, you know, kicking that idea around, you know, does it make sense? I don't really want to get rid of Avatar just yet. That's why I haven't officially listed the thing, although I floated the idea of selling it during some periods of weakness. So all this is going on in my head in like the first hour post-launch, right? I put up the WAP episode, and then you know i'm just kind of sorting through the images and everything looking at the feature matrix thinking man that wizard edition looks good and then i got to this point where i said you know if i get this game i want to have the good one right i know the arcade edition is still as loaded as a game as all the other ones the wizard edition even comes with rad cows and a topper um but i'm looking i'm like i really want for this game i want the glitter on the play field I want the gold powder coated armor even though I can kind of make that myself I want the gold wire forms and I was actively researching what it would cost me to take those chrome wire forms out of the lower editions take them to a chrome shop and get them like chrome electroplated in gold you know instead um and oh my god it expensive man like it was like i should just go ahead and buy the wizard edition it's not worth buying a lower tier paying like 1500 or 1800 to get all these things changed over to gold chrome you know so i'm mulling all this over my head and uh you know jeff is like look this thing's expensive you should probably get an arcade edition and you know you should just plus it up yourself that's probably the best way to go and I'm thinking if I'm getting an arcade edition I'm definitely gonna wait because there's gonna be amazing an amount of these things and they're probably not coming anytime soon there's no urgency you know and but he's like you know if you want to get a wizard edition I can try to get you an early one but I gotta know quick and I'm like I'm not gonna get twisted arm into this thing forget it. And then the craziest thing happened. So I, uh, I, I do work, uh, in, in, uh, you know, my, my, my field of choice and I've got my main job, which I work, you know, every other week and the average is about 85 hours or so a month or so. Um, but then occasionally I go out of town and I pick up extra gig work, you know, and so not a lot I've been doing this year. Actually, I haven't gone out of town to work at all so far in the first half of this year. Um, and then I get a text message literally an hour after the Harry Potter game launches. I get a text message from this place out in Ohio and they're like, Hey, is there any way we can get you for a week in August? And then they told me what they'd pay me. And damn it. If that price wasn't the exactly the same price as a Harry Potter machine. And it's like, I'm right at peak FOMO here, right? Like not, not that I'm afraid of missing out on owning a game. Cause these things will be available for sure. For sure. It's just like I'm in the launch window. You know, everybody's going to be thinking Harry Potter here. It's going to be the hot new game out. So right as that's like fizzling through my brain and I'm doing my best to hold steady, I get a text that's like, hey, basically, if you come out here for a week, we'll buy you a game. And so like with like my brain didn't even have time to register it. And I'm saying yes to the job and saying yes to Jeff like at the same time. so I've confirmed that I've got the dates to work. The money that I'll generate from that will take care of the game. So for me, I have a road trip to Ohio, and I get a free Harry Potter, so I'm looking at it. Now, in actuality, it's absolutely not free. It's MSRP, but I found a way to kind of work it off in a way that makes my brain think that that is, you know, like an infinite money glitch or something. I'll probably be thinking different when I'm, like, you know, halfway through a work week in addition to my other work weeks I have that month. But for the time being, I'm celebrating with y'all. So that's what's happened. I haven't been very public about this only because, you know, of course this isn't a great financial decision. I could probably go buy a small car instead. But you know what? YOLO. That's what. And I do have some space in my game room. I've reconfigured some things in the lineup.
Avatar
game
Flipping Out Pinballcompany
Mad Pinballcompany
Finney's Arcadecompany
Donkey Kong Countrygame
Northwest Pinball Showevent
One-Up Loungecompany
The Godfathergame
Elton Johngame

high · Don reports first location machines already deployed to arcades; contrasts with typical Jersey Jack slow rollout

  • ?

    community_signal: Ken Cromwell transitioned from Jersey Jack Pinball to Flipping Out Pinball; timing and context suggest potential strategic shift or changed priorities

    high · Don confirms Cromwell's departure to Flipping Out Pinball; mentions Cromwell was actively coordinating early access and media relations before transition

  • ?

    product_strategy: Wizard Edition premium cosmetics (glitter playfield, gold powder coat armor, gold wire forms) command significant upcharge; aftermarket customization would cost $1,500-$1,800 to replicate

    high · Don researched chrome electroplating costs and determined Wizard Edition upgrade costs justified the higher MSRP

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Don's initial hesitation about Wizard Edition art (pediatrician's office aesthetic) moderated during launch day as community enthusiasm validated design choice

    medium · Don acknowledges growing appreciation for Wizard art despite preferring movie-inspired aesthetic; notes 'everybody else seems to really love it'

    • 8:19
    Kong will be going out about the time Harry Potter comes in. And so I'm like the happiest fricking wizard on the fence. Um, hashtag blessed it. Like it all, it all happened at the same time, but they must've known, they must've known like, let's, let's wait an hour after the launch, let's text him and then we'll, we'll get somebody to come in and fill. So, Hey man, I don't know. Uh, but it seemed like a good decision. I checked with the wife before I committed and she's okay with it. So it's absolutely happening. So I want to share that with you guys. I'll probably, uh, I might mention it in the main show or something, but I wanted to give you guys all the details. This is what happened. So that's how my launch day went. And the rest of the day, my mind is just like cloud nine, man. I'm at the top of Hogwarts castle, man. I'm flying around with the Hungarian horn tails or whatever. Me and Hagrid are riding side saddle in his motorcycle, zooming around through the air with the wheelsies. I'm getting ideas for an unboxing. Like I'm so excited because I really wanted to follow up the avatar unboxing with an even better Harry Potter unboxing. And I was like, as much fun as that's going to be, that's a lot of money just for like an internet video. But now it looks like it's actually going to work out. I'm ordering the costume. I can't wait for this, man. This is going to be so much fun. So if you want to get yourself a Harry Potter Wizards Edition and you want to pay less than MSRP and you want one from Don's Pinball Podcast, there may be one available. Who knows? Maybe I'll get this and it'll have to stay bolted. I have no idea. But for the time being, I found a way to go out and it's like I'm going to the mines. you know, or I'm going hunting. I'm going out and hunting and gathering enough money for the far off lands in Ohio to come back and exchange for a giant box of lights. And isn't that pinball, man? Isn't that amazing? So yeah, this is awesome. Now, the one drawback I've had about being all in on the wizard edition is the art. I love the art on the arcade edition. You got the heroes on one side, the villains on another. I love that villains panel. It's kind of green. It's got, you know, the evil wizards and stuff. And so I had a thought, you know, I'm going to get this game and I don't want to feel like I'm missing out because I didn't get the art package that I like. And I don really think there any way that Jersey Jack would put the wizard rad cows on a collector edition just for me That seems like kind of a weird ask and I don even know if they could do that But am I not Don? Am I not Don of the podcast, right? Am I not the transformationer of pinball machines? And no, I'm not going to tear the Radcals off of a collector's edition. what I can do though is I can order a replacement panel radcal for a wizard edition Harry Potter particularly that left one I can take that said radcal and double stick tape it to my cabinet in a way that you won't really notice and I can get the graphic that I want on there without damaging the underlying cabinet this is the way my brain works ideally they would sell me a cabinet without the radcals and I could just put the wizard ones on myself and then when it goes times comes time to trade the game in. I can put the wizard ones on there. That's not a problem. But I think I could be just as happy taking that wizard art and just laying it right up against the machine and then call it solved and I can golden snitch my way to glory. What do you think?
    11:34
    So that's kind of how the day went. It's been nuts, man. My head's still wheeling. I have to go watch a Retro Rouse video. This was crazy. I have some inside baseball for you. So I was talking to Ken Cromwell when he worked at Jersey Jack and he loved the Avatar unboxing video. I mean, I totally painted my entire body blue and got up there and did the whole thing. You saw it, you saw it. He had given me a bunch of banners to give away, which I did. Translites, we gave those away. Super fun, man. And like, I was really looking forward to being able to work with him in the future for Harry Potter and even bigger release. And so he had mentioned to me casually, you know what, like that Avatar video was so over the top. We consider you part of the team now. Let me see, you know, everything's pretty up you know tightened down at the factory given that harry potter's on the line um but let me see if i can talk to some people and get you into play it early and so i said yes sir i would you know no promises but i absolutely would love to do that i mean this was harry potter man come on uh so i'd email him periodically hey i'm in chicago again uh any chance you know we set something up or you know hey i'm coming back from a flight i'll be in this day you know if possible, I could totally swing by. And then I just started not hearing anything. And that turns out because he was leaving the company or he had left. Actually, you know, just before the launch, I emailed him again, like, hey, launch day, I'm available, I can totally come down. And I got no response at all, because he had already left at that point, which we come to find out. Now, I still don't know the reasons behind his departure. People have been speculating up and down. You know, he says he quit to go work at flipping out seems reasonable, do something different. I don't know what he was getting paid at Jersey Jack. I don't know what he was getting paid at flipping out, but something's got to be said about, you know, maybe it just all worked out. You can move to the country now, a little cheaper to live in Indiana, whatever it is. I'm sure he's going to have a great time. People were speculating, oh, he must've been fired. You know, I'm not even going to get into any of that. That's all his personal business. And he makes his, you know, he's, he's privy to that. I'm not going to pry into it. Um, you know, I, I texted him and wished him well, he answered back to me. So he's alive and he's communicating with me but like I kept reaching out to try to get in early to do something um and then uh fortunately they were able to get somebody in there Ralph did this video I still have to go watch it uh like the whole featurette video for Harry Potter um so you know I've been talking to him today and I was asking him like who's the go-to guy at Jersey Jack like I still want to get in there and find out how I can get some banners to give away to you guys um you know during the live stream again because that was so much fun man that was so fun you know maybe we can do a special Patreon giveaway of one of the banners, and then we give away the other banner during the live stream. That'd be super fun to do, and I'm happy to do it. So I'm waiting to find out who the contact person is there now. As far as media day, I haven't heard anything.
    14:17
    When Avatar was revealed, we kind of knew that they'd want to do some sort of media thing, but they didn't give any details until a week or so after the game was already launched and everything. So maybe that's still the plan, and if they went ahead and emailed us all next week and said, hey, come on down to the factory. We're doing a day. Here's the media day. I mean, that would still be in line with what they did last time. And when I was talking to Ken, he said they absolutely were planning on doing that again for this game. I know people are speculating, well, Harry Potter is such a big game. They don't need these guys in there. And while that's probably true, there still were plans to do it. I still think it's worthwhile. You know, it's just, why not get the free media? Come on, just invite people down, buy us some Jimmy Johns, let us play the game, give us each a banner, and send us out to the ethernet, and then we'll go ahead and blog and whatever, everything, and raise awareness, and maybe sell a handful of games for them in exchange for allowing us to come down there. Who knows? I mean, I'll go down just for fun. But as of today, I haven't heard anything about that, and it looks like they were able to fortunately reach out to at least Ralph. He was able to get in there. He played both games early, and he's got a podcast episode giving his gameplay hands-on demonstration review or whatever. So I have to go check that out too. I've been running nonstop. I rearranged my game room. I've got room for Harry Potter now. Everything's going great. Kong's going great too. I made that banana shooter rod just because I thought it would be fun. And I showed it off and immediately I got emails like put me on the list for that And like I wasn even planning on making it an actual product But I got my list together I went ahead and put five on pin side and they sold out in two days So all five banana rods are gone. And I'm trying to judge interest. If there is interest, I could sell some more. And I think $60 is a pretty good price for a shooter rod. I know I've paid much more. I see them going for like $120 sometimes. It's a simple banana. It's fun. It's cool. I made its own Kong banana company Chiquita sticker that goes on there. Super fun. I do like that. It's 3D printed, so it's embedded in there. But yeah, it's rad, and people seem to love it. Hopefully they hold up well. And if there's interest, I could do some more. I did some math, and if I could sell 250 banana shooter rods, that would pay for a Harry Potter machine. And I'm almost like, should I announce that as a challenge, like the banana challenge? come buy bananas let Don get a game seems a little bit self-serving but it was kind of funny like how much was this game it was 250 bananas that's how much it was I thought that would be kind of interesting I have the armor coming for King Kong I'm doing Ellie armor on the sides and I'm doing hinges that say Terror Island Banana Company I'm creating this backstory of this banana company that operates on Terror Island and then they met an untimely end and so they left remnants of their factory and their process around the game. So I'm making, you know, old, old disused banana crates to go places. Um, there'll be like, uh, some, some allusions to, uh, some of these floating banana crates are like in the river area. Uh, so I decided to create like kind of my own little sub story for Kong. So I'm working on that, uh, color for the powder coating. I'm actually taking the inverse of the LE colors. So we all know that the LE for Kong came out with this matte finish black color and it wasn't very uh i mean it wasn't very exotic or impressive right there's no shiny flake in it or anything and then it's got a shiny gold underlayment there for that kind of art deco design on the le armor so i'm inverting that i'm gonna go shiny gold sparkle on the outside with shiny black highlights underneath so it'll be the inverse of the le and i think it's really gonna pop man it's gonna be the golden banana game is what i'm gonna call it when i'm done with it gameplay wise game's great too i'm doing better with it um so that is on the way and i kind of think the the colors that i'm choosing for powder coat is actually going to be pretty similar to the wizard edition harry potter so i got that going for it too so that sparkle that's on the harry potter i'm going for that effect but on kong inverted colors with the le let me know if you think it's a good idea but rather than just do like yellow banana powder coat i think this kind of pop more and tie into more of a cohesive theme. I'll celebrate in the Terror Island Banana Company, which was kind of my own open source idea. So let me know what you think about that. I'm waiting to get Ellie armor and back glasses. Still don't have the imaging yet or the art. I think as soon as somebody gets a high intensity scan and the art is out there, then we'll be able to get it and really go to work. Because I love the Ellie art image for Kong. So that's a little Kong update. that's what happened during the harry potter launch yesterday um and it looks like there's a game at the headquarters for jersey jack where you can just wander into the lobby and go play it so i think if nothing else i'll probably go do that but again this game is going to be absolutely everywhere um the first location game i saw just popped up in a finney's arcade out in ohio mad pinball took their game they got i think yesterday and it's there now they may have they may unbox it this morning for all I know. But like the first games are already on location. I know more coming soon. This game is going to miss the Midwest or Northwest pinball show. Oh, the Northwest pinball show is home to two of my games. The one up lounge has brought them out there. The jaws build that I did is there and the Metallica build. And from what they told me, they're setting up for the show right now. And the jaws was so impressive that they're putting in a pretty prominent location out there like with my topper on there so excited about that so if you're going to the northwest pinball show you can go play two of my builds they're out there um the dungeons and dragons build is also out there but it's at the arcade right now earning money um but you'll get to go see those two and then kong will be joining that lineup here shortly i'm having a lot of fun in pinball can you tell i hope you guys are enjoying too i want to give you guys the straight story regarding my end of my purchase of harry potter i was absolutely gonna hold off i woke up that morning saying, you know what? This is launch day. This game's going to be available. I don't need a new game right now. I can wait six or eight months. I'll save a couple thousand dollars. It'll be great. And then just simultaneously, Jeff is like, I could probably get you early on the list. And then I get a text like, hey, here's the money you can use to give to Jeff. And all you have to do is go out of town for a week. And I'm like, what do I do? What's a girl to do? What's a girl to do with that many suitors? All right, guys, I'll talk to you later when I have some more information. I need to synthesize these thoughts, have a Diet Coke, and then slowly go through a regular Don's episode. We'll probably put that up later. As I hear, hopefully I'm able to get some banners and swag from Jersey Jack and I'll hook you guys up and hook up people on the live stream. I have my costume ordered. I'm very much looking forward to this. This is going to be awesome. It's a season of Potter, man. All right, take care of yourself. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye.