Drinks With Jack Featuring Gary Stern & Seth Davis (Part 1)

Stern Pinball·video·7m 0s·analyzed·Dec 16, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Stern execs discuss growth, factory tours, and manufacturing advantage at Chicago Expo.

Summary

Jack Danger hosts Gary Stern and Seth Davis at Chicago Pinball Expo for an informal interview covering Seth's four-year tenure at Stern, record factory tour attendance (1,200+ visitors, 20% growth YoY), the significance of Stern's new manufacturing facility, and Gary Stern's philosophy on manufacturing scale and game design primacy.

Key Claims

Stern's factory tour attracted 1,200+ people in 2024, exceeding 1,000 the prior year (20%+ growth)
high confidence · Seth Davis, Stern exec, stated directly on stage with tangible evidence (hats handed out)
More than 80% of tour visitors this year were first-time visitors to the Stern factory
high confidence · Seth Davis stated survey findings from tour feedback collected during the event
Gary Stern joined Stern Pinball exactly four years ago (from Pinball Expo 2020), started by Jack Danger during initial onboarding
high confidence · Seth Davis confirmed two-day anniversary milestone during live interview
Stern Pinball's new factory is the only modern pinball manufacturing facility comparable to industrial standards (GE/Ford-level quality)
medium confidence · Gary Stern's opinion/assertion about competitive advantage vs other pinball manufacturers
Stern manufactures at volumes and model variety no other pinball manufacturer can match
medium confidence · Gary Stern stated as justification for manufacturing-first strategy; not independently verified
Community growth in pinball is significant: 75% of people at Expo are new to pinball (within 4 years)
medium confidence · Seth Davis, based on his conversations at the expo; limited sample size acknowledged

Notable Quotes

“I've learned a ton about pinball. Look around you. It's a super passionate fan base that really loves games. And just in the four years I've been here, I've seen it grow tremendously.”
Seth Davis @ ~2:40 — Directly articulates growth narrative and passionate community characterization from insider perspective
“We have to manufacture cuz we want you to be able to play our games. Nobody else can make the quantity that we make. Nobody else can make the number of models.”
Gary Stern @ ~5:20 — Core manufacturing philosophy: production capacity as competitive moat and customer service justification
“This is the only factory that's ever been in pinball. And I was at Williams on Fillmore or Williams on California Avenue. This is the only factory somebody from GE or Ford would come in and say, 'This is a factory.'”
Gary Stern @ ~8:30 — Explicitly positions new Stern facility as industry-first in terms of manufacturing sophistication vs prior Williams facilities
“If you don't grow, you shrink. And we need to grow pinball.”
Gary Stern @ ~4:40 — Reflects growth imperative and industry stewardship mindset
“We are first and foremost game designers. The game is the most important thing.”
Gary Stern @ ~9:00 — Reaffirms design primacy despite manufacturing infrastructure investment

Entities

Gary Sternperson Seth Davisperson Jack Dangerperson George GomezpersonChicago Pinball ExpoeventStern PinballcompanyData East PinballcompanyWilliams Pinballcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: Stern's new manufacturing facility represents significant capital investment and positioning as only modern-standard pinball factory; facility scale and design enable production volume/variety competitors cannot match
high · Gary Stern emphasized new facility is 'astronomically larger,' only pinball factory meeting GE/Ford industrial standards, and uniquely enables their manufacturing strategy
?
community_signal: Record factory tour attendance (1,200+ visitors, 20% YoY growth) indicates strong community interest and accessibility strategy at Stern; majority first-time visitors suggests expanding audience reach beyond core enthusiasts
high · Seth Davis reported handing out 1,200 hats and stated over 80% were first-time tour visitors
?
design_philosophy: Gary Stern reaffirms manufacturing exists to serve game design goals; manufacturing sophistication justified as enabler of design vision and production capacity needed for market reach
high · Gary Stern: 'We are first and foremost game designers. The game is the most important thing.'
~
sentiment_shift: Community growth narrative: 75% of expo attendees are new to pinball (within 4 years), indicating significant influx of new players and expansion beyond legacy enthusiast base
medium · Seth Davis reported conversation sampling at expo: 'probably 75% of the people I've talked to are within pinball four years or less'

Topics

Factory tours and manufacturing facility capacityprimaryCommunity growth in pinballprimaryStern Pinball manufacturing advantage and scaleprimarySeth Davis onboarding and tenure at SternsecondaryPinball industry history and evolutionsecondaryGame design primacy vs manufacturing operationssecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Upbeat, celebratory tone with pride in growth metrics, facility accomplishments, and community engagement. Light humor and camaraderie between speakers. No criticism or negative sentiment expressed.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

What's up, Chicago Pinball Expo? Thank you for joining us again here on the Stern Pinball stage. I am joined by two wonderful gentlemen, uh, my my two beautiful bosses, Gary Stern and Seth Davis. Let's get a round of applause, please. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you, Jack. All right. So, I thought I'd ask Seth some questions. He's got this old thing planned, but Seth, how long ago was it that you joined us? Uh, this is the I actually two days ago was the four-year anniversary. You actually started me. You started me at Pinball Expo. You said, "Hey, welcome. You're going to pinball expo and talk to the people." Did you Did you Did you get a Did you get the four-year watch? I did not. No. What is the four-year watch? No, we'll get you a four-year watch. If you make it five years. Did I interview you guys here? Was that both of you on stage years ago? It might have been three. I'm 80 years old. I don't remember this. I I remember being like first week and I'm up on stage answering questions. So, so since you've been here, what what have you learned about uh about Stern and about pinball? Uh I've learned a ton about pinball. I can tell you that. Look at look around you. It's a super passionate fan base that really loves games. And I mean, just in the four years I've been here, I've seen it grow tremendously in terms of the the people that have come in. I mean, just at this expo, I've talked to probably, you know, I don't know, 75% of the people I've talked to are with in pinball four years or less, right? They're They're new to pinball. Um, we got a lot of people been here for a long time that I've gotten to meet and then we have a bunch of new people that have come in because it's just that much fun. So, this is an indication he comes up with a serious answer. I'm sort of just acting around up here. Let me interview him. Wait, Wait, wait. I might have to ask. Okay, you go ahead for a while now. How do you like being with Stern Pinball? Whoever we are. I'm so tired. I'm tired. Go ahead. I can't take this too seriously. So, working for Stern Pinball has been fantastic. Yeah. Well, you know, again, we are the history is we started as Data Pinball, sold it from Data to Sega, sold it from Sega to Stern, but it's the same company. We just changed the name. And now it's going to be Danger Pinball here in about four years, right? It's going to be um how much money you got in your pocket. Yeah, right. Exactly. I'm going to have to ask for a raise. Uh Seth was talking about like the sort of growth he was seeing here. Um why don't you talk a little bit about the tour that we just had at Stern Pinball today? Yeah. So, uh we had 1,200 hats to hand out to people today and we ran out before we got done. So, that means there were more than 1,200 people that took the tour. Uh last year we just hit a thousand. So, that means there's like more than 20% more people came this year. So Gary and I have been talking for for a while today. We just finished up and got over here in time for this. Um, as we asked people who had ever been on the tour before, you know, we did a thousand people last year. I would say more than 80% of the people that came on the tour this year had not been on a tour before at Stern. Even more than that. And we really we want everybody to come. I've been suggesting just move this whole show over to our factory so everybody gets to see what we're doing. Uh but uh clearly there there was there were more people that wanted to go. So uh we need to we need to let everybody come by. We're very proud of of what we've done, what we what you've done because you've done it with us. Uh without you as a a lover of pinball and marketer, without the community um and new people getting in that community, we wouldn't be able to grow. If you don't grow, you shrink. And we need to grow pinball. Gaming is growing everywhere. All kinds of gaming is growing, casual gaming is growing, but you know it we're we're just we're we're not just a manufacturer that doesn't consider us that manufacturing only so that we can make our games and because nobody else can make what we make. Nobody else can make the quantity that we make. Nobody else can make the number of models. So we have to manufacture cuz we want you to be able to play our games. The building also I think is big enough to accommodate like this event like the if you haven't been to Stern Pinball especially the new building it is astronomically larger than where we came from. The other thing about it is you walk in there and it is it looks like pinball. It speaks it screams pinball. The artwork that George did screams pinball. George is supposed to be here at 4:30 still talking over there. Uh, and the the ball out. I mean, when we took it over, there was no 8ft ball outside for you all to get your pictures taken. I think being installed was hilarious, too, cuz everyone was expecting it to like roll down the street like from the that there. Well, this one's a nice factory, Gary. I understand that 50% of the factories you've been in were torn down when you left them. Less than 50%. Two of the buildings that we were able to occupy uh one way or another. and in some cases occupy if you just walked in and took them over. They were torn down. It wasn't our fault. They were planned to be torn down. We started out uh our first after we left my basement. We were in uh two rooms in a 500,000 square foot building that it was an Ironbelt manufacturer. They made these big uh valves and they left Chicago. Maybe they left the country. I don't know what they did, but uh they had planned to tear the building down before we moved in. After we moved out, they decided, yeah, we'll tear it out to them. Oh, right. So, what it is is you actually like to select condemn buildings for your factory. It wasn't that this building is not No, the building we're in now is is unlike anything. It is a factory that can scale up unlike anybody's ever had a pinball. And if some I say this, if somebody from a GE or Ford came in to our other factories, they say these are garage shops. And this is the only factory that's ever been in pinball. And I was at Williams on Filmore or Williams on California Avenue. This is the only factory somebody from the GE or Ford would come in and say, "This is a factory. This thing is really a factory." But that's that's just cuz we need to have that to make our games. Nobody else, if nobody else has a factory like that, nobody else can make our game. We are first and foremost game designers. The game is the most important thing.