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24 Hours After the Reveal: Should I Get a Harry Potter Pinball Machine? FOMO is Strong Here

Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama·video·23m 26s·analyzed·Jun 6, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Gonzo expresses strong post-reveal enthusiasm for Harry Potter pinball and details his acquisition strategy.

Summary

Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama host reflects on Harry Potter pinball 24 hours after announcement, expressing strong enthusiasm after watching reveal videos and gameplay footage. He discusses his collection decisions, compares Potter to other recent premium releases (Evil Dead, Dune, Kong), and outlines his hands-on testing plans. Despite never owning a JJP machine before, he's impressed by the design philosophy, compartmentalized screen layout, rotating staircase mechanism, and thematic execution, though acknowledges practical trade-offs around edition selection and cabinet customization.

Key Claims

  • Jersey Jack Pinball is building CEs now, Wizard editions next, then Arcade editions last

    high confidence · Host discussing production sequence; claims he understands production timeline

  • John Williams licensed music is in the game but excluded from promotional videos due to copyright strike risk

    high confidence · Host explaining copyright strategy for YouTube videos; states this is the reason music absent from videos

  • Harry Potter game includes all eight films' assets

    high confidence · Host citing what 'seems to have all of the film assets all eight films'

  • Eric Menier designed the Harry Potter game as 'a love letter to Harry Potter'

    high confidence · Host quoting friend Paul's forum post describing Menier's design approach

  • The game features 48 different ball paths in the diverter mechanism

    medium confidence · Host mentions someone commented about 'not more ball paths from Eric Menier' with '48 different ball paths'

  • Pinside forum thread on Harry Potter has approximately 7,000 posts

    medium confidence · Host estimates thread size as 'something like 7,000' and claims reading most posts

  • The Collector's Edition costs approximately £5,000 more than the Arcade edition

    medium confidence · Host states 'but that's five thousand pounds more' regarding CE vs Arcade

  • Host has received Jersey Jack games from Pinball Heaven (channel sponsor) for review purposes

    high confidence · Host explicitly credits 'Pinball Heaven' as sponsor who sent games including Elton John and Avatar LE

  • Harry Potter game has Quidditch as a separate playfield section at upper playfield

    high confidence · Host discussing gameplay footage where Menier describes Quidditch location and World Cup feature

Notable Quotes

  • “a love letter to Harry Potter, that the game that Menier had designed was a love letter to Harry Potter”

    Gonzo (citing Paul's forum post)@ 2:03 — Characterizes the design philosophy and emotional intent behind the game

  • “it feels like an occasion i think maybe just maybe that's what jersey jacks are...is that whole world under glass?”

    Gonzo@ 11:17 — Describes perception shift about Jersey Jack design philosophy as creating 'event' experiences

  • “If Harry if I enjoy Harry Potter more than I've enjoyed Jaws, I mean, I would be amazed. I really would.”

    Gonzo@ 12:10 — Indicates Jaws is his current favorite game; Potter would need to exceed it

  • “The Big Lebowski Pinball is I still think to this day is probably the best pinball machine in terms of a pinball machine ever made”

    Gonzo@ 5:02 — Expresses strong attachment to Big Lebowski; identifies it as potential trade-off for Potter acquisition

  • “it has had me refreshing...I think the thread on Pinside was something like 7,000. I think I might have read every post on there.”

    Gonzo@ 14:12 — Illustrates intensity of community engagement and personal investment in Potter reveal

  • “I don't have a Jersey Jack Pinball. I've never had a Jersey Jack Pinball...I've had them here to review them because kindly the channel sponsor sent me the games.”

    Gonzo@ 9:33 — Clarifies that channel sponsorship relationship provides access but not ownership

Entities

Harry PottergameJersey Jack PinballcompanyEric MenierpersonGonzopersonPinball HeavencompanyElton JohngameEvil Deadgame

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Host planning live gameplay reveal video with full production on Harry Potter after hands-on session; indicates major content event in pipeline

    high · Host: 'next week I will I will even upload it I'll upload the video as quickly as I can' and references to 'really special video coming up for you at the end of the weekend'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Negative player comment criticizing 48 ball paths/diverter mechanism received direct response from designer Eric Menier; indicates community skepticism despite broader enthusiasm

    medium · Host describing comment: 'somebody on yesterday's video had actually put on the comments...they didn't like the ball diverter...He wasn't happy. He was angry. He was angry with the game'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Jersey Jack Pinball games create 'event' experiences rather than traditional pinball mechanics; compartmentalized LCD screen design, rotating staircase mechanism, and thematic integration position Harry Potter as 'world under glass' entertainment spectacle

    high · Host: 'it feels like an occasion...it doesn't even feel like a pinball machine...it feels like an event' and discussion of 'world under glass' concept differentiating JJP approach

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Harry Potter reveal creating intense community engagement spike; host reports reading ~7,000 post thread on Pinside within 24 hours, personal refresh-cycling behavior, and documented negative comment from critical player generating designer response

    high · Host: 'it has had me refreshing...I think the thread on Pinside was something like 7,000. I think I might have read every post' and story of critical comment receiving Eric Menier response

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.070

0:00
24 hours on from the initial announcement of Harry Potter as JJP's next game, we've learned quite a lot. Well, in fact, there's been another two videos since I recorded my video that I uploaded yesterday. So we know a lot more about it and I feel I'm a little more closer to making a decision. People look at pinball in very, very different ways. For me, at the moment, there appear to be four sort of stellar games, or what I would call that, more recent games. And I think it would be Evil Dead, it would be Dune, it would be Kong, and finally Potter. Now I've got to say here I've not played any of these games so they could all be brilliant to play or they could be terrible to play. Now I'm going to play Potter on next week. So next week on this channel I'll be uploading a video of Potter and again glass off, eyes on, we will do the full works. We will have a really really good deep dive. We'll take a close look, We'll get gameplay, lots of gameplay. We'll do lots and lots of stuff later on this month. We've got Jack coming on the channel and we've also got something else happening. I don't want to preempt it in case it doesn't happen. We've got something pretty big coming from JJP on this channel as well. Very, very soon.
1:40
And that's going to be a real eye opener. So I'm trying to decide myself what I want to do and what am I going to do and which games do I particularly want. So the more I see a Potter, the more I like it. I thought the featurette was excellent. It was really interesting listening to Eric Munier talk about his love for Potter. And as somebody who's actually my friend Paul actually posted on the forum earlier today that he felt that it was a love letter to Harry Potter, that the game that Mooney had designed was a love letter to Harry Potter. And it looks amazing. It really, really does. I love the story that Mooney said about when he was 16 years of age. He drove his girlfriend, who is now his wife, to the book launch of the of the second book. And it was quite funny, actually, I'd forgotten all about that because whilst I didn't read the books myself, I definitely remember there being a real fanfare. It was almost like the like the January sales or something. People were queuing outside bookshops. It was a real event and possibly even the last time anything like that happened for a book. so it was a big deal but the more we saw the featurette the more a lot of the concerns sort of melted away they've made it very very clear because they've now produced another gameplay video that the reason the iconic john williams music is not in any of those videos because you'll get a copyright strike and you absolutely will some things you just get more of a copyright strike than any other i always wanted to do more led zeppelin stern led zeppelin videos on this channeled on did but it's just no point you just get get a copyright strike and they pull your video and you put you put all the work in you record it you edit the video you spend two or three hours doing this stuff and then youtube just won't let anybody watch it so um yeah that's the reason it's not been there but the music the score is in the game it seems to have all of the film assets all eight films it's just got a bit of everything the other thing I should probably say is I have been invited Neil McRae has invited me to his house to play Kong he's got a Kong LA so hopefully that'll I'll notch that one off the list as well which just leaves two others to play but I do think we're in a really really exciting golden age of pinball and Potter is a real consideration for me but I may even look to try and get a couple of those games and if I do I say something's got to go two things have got to go I think it may be down the line because I don't think you're getting any of these games quickly as I understand it Jersey Jack are building and they're building the CEs now the CEs are the collector's editions that they're going out now the wizard editions will be next and the arcades last if I get a Harry Potter it probably will be an arcade but for me to get that something's going to go it would it would probably bond the next game on my list that would probably have to go would be Lebowski so if I got another game then Lebowski would possibly go but I mean it's really really tough it's it because you know pinball machines are amazing and Lebowski is I still think to this day is probably the best pinball machine in terms of a pinball machine ever made the best game no but the best pinball machine so that would be a real wrench to let that go I'm not sure I will but anyway but if I'm anyway but it would probably be James Bond that went for Potter which is one deep game for another but I struggled to really nail all the shots in James Bond and even though I'd put it up to four or five balls and I was still really really struggling to get anywhere on the game. I think the arcade version for me is the way to go because I mean I been absolutely blown away from what I seen the gameplay There were two things that I was uncertain about in the build to the release and that was how would the ball shoot and were there any mechanisms in the game I've now seen there's mechanisms in the game, that's fine. Now, basically, can I hit the shots? If I can hit the shots, I'll get this game.

Host plans to film Harry Potter with three cameras, gimbal, and XLR attachment during hands-on session

high confidence · Host explicitly stating 'I'm taking my three big cameras there i'm taking the the gimbal um honestly the the xlr attachment'

  • “The Elton John the flippers were snappy...James Cameron's Avatar the flippers were snappy this will be the same just shoot like you want it to shoot”

    Gonzo@ 21:24 — References improvements to JJP flipper response on recent games; applies expectation to Potter

  • “I think that art, the artwork on the cabinet looks amazing...The only reason I can see personally that I would get the CE, the collector's edition, is I think the glitter under the playfield.”

    Gonzo@ 6:25 — Articulates specific reason for preferring Arcade over CE despite visual appeal

  • “It's not even a pinball didn't even feel like a pinball machine what is this it feels like an occasion”

    Gonzo@ 11:13 — Key emotional response indicating design transcends traditional pinball expectations

  • “I'm really looking forward to playing the modes in this...There's just a lot to like about this game”

    Gonzo@ 16:46 — Summarizes enthusiasm post-reveal, identifies mode design as key attraction

    • Dune
    game
    Konggame
    Jawsgame
    James Bondgame
    The Big Lebowskigame
    The Lord of the Ringsgame
    Attack from Marsgame
    James Cameron's Avatar (Limited Edition)game
    The Godfathergame
    Theater of Magicgame
    Pinsideorganization
    Neil McRaeperson
    Precision Partscompany
    Cabinet Customscompany
    Fred Marco Vinciperson

    licensing_signal: John Williams licensed music present in game but strategically absent from promotional YouTube videos due to copyright strike risk; represents known licensing constraint on content distribution

    high · Host explaining: 'the reason the iconic John Williams music is not in any of those videos because you'll get a copyright strike' and relating to own Led Zeppelin video experience

  • $

    market_signal: Production sequence reveals CE production now active with Wizard editions and Arcade editions following; suggests CE edition may have limited window availability

    high · Host: 'Jersey Jack Pinball are building and they're building the CEs now the CEs are the collector's editions that they're going out now the Wizard editions will be next and the arcades last'

  • ?

    community_signal: Host planning significant content expansion around Harry Potter: hands-on video next week with full production capabilities (three cameras, gimbal, XLR, extra lenses), plus upcoming special video from Jersey Jack Pinball partnership

    high · Host: 'I'm taking my three big cameras there i'm taking the the gimbal um honestly the the xlr attachment everything everything's coming with me'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Harry Potter editions differentiated by: glitter under playfield (CE only), art blades, cabinet art, back glass vs translite, Invisiglass, and shaker motor (absent from some models); host indicates Arcade edition functionally equivalent to CE minus cosmetics

    high · Host detailed comparison: 'The CE has a glittery playfield. But aside from that, it's exactly the same. Which makes the arcade one the way to go for me' and discussion of optional cosmetic upgrades

  • ?

    product_concern: Host previously uncertain about ball shooting mechanics and mechanism inclusion on Harry Potter; concerns 'melted away' after viewing gameplay footage showing snappy flipper response

    medium · Host: 'I've now seen there's mechanisms in the game, that's fine. Now, basically, can I hit the shots? If I can hit the shots, I'll get this game'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Recent Jersey Jack games (Elton John, Avatar LE) demonstrate improved flipper response and 'snap' compared to earlier JJP titles (Godfather); host expects Harry Potter to maintain this improvement trajectory

    medium · Host comparing flipper feel across JJP titles: 'The Godfather was a little bit better elton john the flippers were snappy...James Cameron's Avatar...the flippers were snappy this will be the same'

    • 6:08
    The CE is a thing of beauty, and it's absolutely gorgeous, but I didn't read the book, so the books mean nothing to me. I think that art, the artwork on the cabinet looks amazing.
    6:21
    And the only reason I can read, but I've watched the films. I like the characters. The only reason I can see personally that I would get the CE, the collector's edition,
    6:37
    is I think the glitter under the playfield. but that's not a reason to to it's because that's five thousand pounds more i don't have five thousand pounds so i it really would be but i'd have to be able to get rid of james bond and then get um and then get the arcade edition so um you know we've hopefully hardly any money changing hands basically the wizard edition looks excellent it's got the art blades i prefer the art blades on the wizard edition i like the back glass i like the fact that half of it is evil and half if it is good and the same with the cabinet. And I really like Radcows. I bet the Radcows would look absolutely excellent. But you know what? I can live without Radcows.
    7:19
    I've said this before about Shaker Motors, and some people agree. I understand them certainly in the minority.
    7:26
    I don't care. I don't like them. I don't even really notice they're going off half the time. I think some games they probably lend themselves to, and as somebody said, on things like Earthshaker, well it's a sort of must have really aren't they maybe when the t-rex roars or something on jurassic park but in the main i don't feel the need to have a shaker motor in every in every game um i'm struggling to think i'm struggling to think of an event that might happen in harry potter where i might want to feel it feel it shaking and feel the resistance of it So I can live without the shaker motor. Artblade, someone will produce them.
    8:10
    Powder coating, I would. I'd get that done anyway. I'd probably get Cab Customs to laser cut some rails because they'll do something amazing or get Marco Vinci to do something. I'd get something impressive done with those. And apparently the arcade has a trans light rather than a printed back glass. I don't care. I don't think I'd even notice.
    8:33
    But the game itself is exactly the same. The CE has a glittery playfield. But aside from that, it's exactly the same.
    8:43
    Which makes the arcade one the way to go for me. I'm sure I'm probably missing something else out that it may have.
    8:53
    Oh, Invisiglass. Well, that's OK. I'll just take Invisiglass off one of my other games. I've got five or six sheets of Invisiglass. It's not a deal breaker for me. It's really not.
    9:08
    And the more I think about it, the more I like this game. I was amazed by the staircase. I thought that was brilliant. That's a really great mechanism.
    9:17
    The game had a lot more flow than I thought it was going to have. The flippers, the shots look really snappy. I am so impressed. I'm so impressed.
    9:33
    Because I don't have a JJP. I've never had a JJP. I've had them here to review them because kindly the channel sponsor sent me games. Pinball Heaven, there you go. UK's largest pinball distributor. They sent me games. I'm really, really lucky. So I've had Elton John in this very games room here. I've had Avatar here. And I played them and I enjoyed them. But it's not the same as having a game for a long, long period of time.
    10:08
    I just still marvel at those screens. And the way they layer up, the way they compartmentalize the screens. And I was looking at the gameplay. I guess it was a bit of a tutorial that was put out by Jersey Jack and Eric Meunier was describing what was going on at the start and he was discussing the what everything meant on the screen. I thought it was amazing. I like that the Quidditch is a second section.
    10:43
    And it makes absolute sense that it would be up high. That's Quidditch, right? And they're up high and they've got like a separate Quidditch World Cup. Oh, that's cool. That's really, really cool. I love the magic wands there. I think they look absolutely amazing. But it's really the. the entertainment in terms of the game and i guess the game feeling like an like an event and i think when i was watching it that's what i was thinking i think this game is an event it's not even a pinball didn't even feel like a pinball machine what is this it feels like an occasion i think maybe just maybe that's what jersey jacks are i've not spent enough time with to make that statement, but is that whole world under glass?
    11:30
    Not every game is a world under glass. So my favourite game at the moment is Jaws I think it amazing I cannot stop playing Jaws It is so immersive I love the movie clips I understand it not everybody favourite game It's my favourite Elwynn game, and I know I'm probably in the minority there.
    11:55
    But the theme is everything to me. It is one of my all-time favourite films. It's nostalgic. It's just I just think it's amazing. I love you. And just the shots are just so hit. It's wonderful. Wonderful. If Harry if I enjoy Harry Potter more than I've enjoyed Jaws, I mean, I would be amazed. I really would. I can't see I can't ever see a point where Jaws would go.
    12:26
    But it's not a world under glass. I'll be producing my Jaws video very, very soon, by the way. I've got some great mods, some great mods going on. Well, they're already on there. The game is pretty much finished now.
    12:40
    Got Davey Stumblaw's mod on that. Got the Cab Custom stuff on there. Got the Precision flippers. Sorry, the Precision discs. I've got the Hot Mod stuff.
    12:52
    Got a Collie Wobbles Plastics on there. It's looking pretty good. It's looking far better than a standard Jaws, don't get me wrong. But I don't love it because it's a world under glass. It's just got the moments and it's just the shots. I love it. I love it. I think it's brilliant.
    13:11
    But this does feel like an occasion. It feels like the movie, I guess. Or movies. There's eight of them.
    13:20
    I was absolutely wowed by what I saw. I don't think since doing this channel I've done a video the day after and I've not even seen the game yet. but I guess like a lot of people you fall in love with pinball and sometimes you're really into it in a very intense way and then sometimes your interest starts to wane and there'll be times when you play a lot of pinball and then other times when you don't there's maybe times when you're
    13:50
    watching every video or listening to every podcast and reading everything on on every website there'll be times where you step away and maybe you'll have a couple of games of pinball but you're not really in the pinball zone.
    14:02
    And that would very much describe me very recently. And all I can say about this, the Potter game, is it has had me refreshing. And I've read, I think the thread on Pinside was something like 7,000. I think I might have read every post on there. Not all over the last couple of days, but every post that's been put up anywhere, I've been reading about.
    14:34
    Actually, somebody on yesterday's video had actually put on the comments and they'd said they didn't like the ball diverter. I think it was something like they didn't like the ball diverter. So this has got like 48 different ball paths. And they'd written in the comments section of yesterday's video,
    14:51
    not more ball paths from Eric Meunier. He wasn't happy. He was angry. He was angry with the game. It was clear. And he said, why? He said, nobody's interested in this game.
    15:02
    And it's just not true. So many people are interested in this game. And. And if you don't like it, that's that's cool. You know, maybe one of the others I mentioned is going to be for you.
    15:16
    But I just wanted to play it. I just wanted to play this game. And it's not just play it. I found myself thinking I just want to experience it. I want to experience this game.
    15:29
    I think it looks brilliant. I think it looks... There's always people that are, I think, highlighting things that might not be right with it. Is it going to have the theme tune? Is it going to have flow? Is it going to have all the assets? As I say, they've just sort of started to melt away. Is it going to have the most flow of any game? No, but some people would say, it's a slow game with no flow. That's not true. I think it will shoot really well and I would look forward to exploring the modes on there there's some people that have made the observation that maybe there are too many call outs instructing you what to do on it to the detriment of you maybe can't hear some of the movie footage I'm sure that's all something that can be coded and that can be balanced out To be fair, I actually do like when games are, well, theater of magic. Shoot up the center staircase. Yeah, okay, brilliant. I like being told that. You don't want to hear it on every shot, of course. You don't want to hit the left ramp, hit the center loop, hit the right ramp. You don't want it on every single one.
    16:41
    But that stuff can be ironed out. I'm really looking forward to playing the modes in this. I like the fact that the Quidditch is separate. I like the fact that so much of the game's compartmentalised, but then you've got the main way to move forward. I like the multipliers. There was just a lot to like about this game, and I really enjoyed listening to the team talk about it on the featurette.
    17:06
    And they were all really into it. And you get that, don't you? You get that with these games, when sometimes you get a game and you get a theme,
    17:16
    and everybody's really, really keen on it, and everybody wants to produce this game. And it was quite clear that everybody involved was a really big,
    17:27
    and I mean a really really big Harry Potter fan which I am not But I have watched it because I not been living under a rock as I mentioned in yesterday video I watched all the films with my daughter who 11 now, I watched all the films with her, she's watched them all her life, but she said, come on, dad, sit down and watch the films with me, so I did, and they were pretty good, you know, I was in, are you not entertained, I was entertained, I thought they were, I thought they were pretty good films, and I, whilst I didn't necessarily fall in love with them, I could understand why other people have if that makes sense i i absolutely understand why people really got invested in the law of harry potter and i love stuff like that fantasy wizards castles the detail of it giant spiders and broomsticks and that strange animal with with wings who i can't i i kept i kept on thinking when i was listening the films it was saying a hypocrite it's not it was a hippogriff hippogriff i don't that's in the game um very very good i'm very impressed i think it looks gorgeous if you're going to get a ce i totally understand why by the way i don't don't mean to rubbish that i think it looks stunning if you love the books you're probably going to have to have that but i just think for me by the time I have finished toying with it and someone's going to make some incredible mods. I'm not a topper guy.
    18:57
    I'm not a topper guy. Well, number one, I don't have height in here to have toppers in here. So there are two pinball machines that can go in a house that can have toppers.
    19:09
    And I've got an attack from Mars LE with the alien on the top. That's going to stay, right? so I just don't I don't care for toppers I actually got to be honest I've got a uh I'll show you another time but I have a golem it's not a topper but I have a golem which is this big he's holding the ring it's going on top of my lord of the rings so they'll probably be in the house anyway I actually just fitted I've got to say I fitted my precision flippers I've been waiting a long time to my lord of the rings today so i'll have to do a video on that um incredible i'll go into detail with lord of the rings you get flipper fade i i from uh precision flippers precision parts precision pinball parts i don't want to i'm going to do a proper video on it because i don't want to get the name i want to put the website in and and john who sent them over has been such a gentleman but i've got the bushings on there and there's the hybrid flippers i've really been playing around with it today and uh yeah they've made a hell of a difference and because the flipper fades and hitting the ring shot on on lord of the rings really good um yeah really really really impressed um the game needs a service though and i'm not sort of equipped i'm not technically equipped to really service game anyway i'm waffling on now aren't i just a bit a bit amazed i cannot wait so next week I will I will even upload it I'll upload the video as quickly as I can so as I can give you my view on on uh on Harry Potter but it looks it looks to be an awesome game it really really does and I really enjoyed Elton John and I actually thought Elton John was going to was going to be the one I thought that was going to be my Jersey Jack game because if I'm honest I didn't like the way the flippers felt on all the other games they just flippers felt weak on on jersey jack games or not so much weak they just didn't have to snap to them you know what i mean if you played this stuff you know you know what i mean godfather was a little bit better elton john the flippers were snappy um avatar the flippers were snappy this will be the same just shoot like you want it to shoot and expect it to shoot um well imagine if if pirates are the shot like that what a game Anyway, I did think that Elton John would be the one. But I thought, oh, wait, I will wait and see.
    21:47
    I will wait and see what happens. And if the rumours were correct, which obviously they were, that Harry Potter was the next one, I thought, yeah, that would be a theme I could really get into. And so I think I'm glad I did now.
    22:01
    To tell you what, if it's better than Elton John, it'd be some game. and I think on this one I'll certainly enjoy the modes maybe in other words on Elton John which I still think is probably the best looking pinball machine I've ever seen circus vault that that's a video for another day we'll do that and remind me if I forget remind me we'll do that another day the most beautiful pinball machines you've ever seen wow anyway there we go right I'm gonna love you and leave you now we should have a really special video coming up for you at the end of the weekend start sunday or monday should have a really special video coming up for you and um and then next week yeah next week we'll have some um some hat some proper hands-on harry potter footage i'm taking everything i'm taking i'm taking my i'm taking my three big cameras there i'm taking the the gimbal um honestly the the xlr attachment everything everything's coming with me extra lenses three cameras everything i'll go i will leave nothing unphotographed and unfilmed on the pinball machine that is
    23:25
    you