Ask Jack Anything: Episode 1

Stern Pinball·video·9m 58s·analyzed·Sep 24, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Jack Danger answers community Qs on Spike 3, IC features, backwards compatibility, and Star Wars streamer mode.

Summary

Jack Danger hosts the first 'Ask Jack Anything' episode, answering community questions about Spike 3 platform capabilities, Insider Connected features, Bluetooth headphone support, backwards compatibility between Spike generations, and upcoming features like streamer mode for Star Wars: Fall of the Empire. He also discusses topical items including R2-D2 topper incompatibility, IC upgrade kits for legacy home games, and operational topics like tech training and live streaming setup.

Key Claims

Bluetooth headphone support is coming to Spike 2/3 but not immediately; Mark Weiderelli is executing this feature 'soonish'
high confidence · Jack Danger directly states this is in development with named accountability
Spike 3 boards are backwards compatible with Spike 2 machines as a board replacement upgrade
high confidence · Jack Danger confirms Spike 3 can replace Spike 2 boards, providing bigger screen and better audio without being a full upgrade
Star Wars: Fall of the Empire will have an unlicensed/streamer mode to avoid DMCA takedowns
high confidence · Jack Danger confirms this after checking with 'Ry' regarding streaming-friendly music options
R2-D2 toppers from 2017 Star Wars are not forward compatible with Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, but the new topper will be backwards compatible with 2017 Star Wars
high confidence · Jack Danger directly answers the accessory compatibility question
Insider Connected will receive continued feature development and will not become stagnant
high confidence · Jack Danger commits to ongoing IC updates with 'tons of ideas' to execute

Notable Quotes

“Spike 3 is this new platform boost that's going to see a lot of really awesome stuff, and it's just getting started.”
Jack Danger @ ~2:30 — Sets expectation for Spike 3 adoption across future Stern titles beyond Star Wars
“Your Spike 2 games will be able to live in perpetuity thanks to the backwards compatibility of the Spike 3 system.”
Jack Danger @ ~5:15 — Directly addresses collector/operator concerns about Spike 2 obsolescence and parts availability
“So I'm not saying no, but I'm also not saying yes. But I'm not saying no. It's not a no.”
Jack Danger @ ~8:45 — Non-committal response on IC upgrade kits for legacy home games, indicating internal discussion but no firm timeline
“The knowledge of fixing them is so tribal. Like it is knowledge that you had to learn yourself or someone had to just tell you.”
Jack Danger @ ~14:30 — Identifies gap in formalized pinball tech training; acknowledges potential for Stern-sponsored tech academy
“I've been doing this for like 10 plus years. And I try to keep this as minimal as possible. Two lights, get your angles, call it a day.”
Jack Danger @ ~16:20 — Demystifies streaming setup for pinball content creators; practical advice from experienced streamer

Entities

Jack Dangerperson Mark WeiderellipersonStern PinballcompanySpike 3product Spike 2product Star Wars: Fall of the Empiregame Insider Connectedproduct

Signals

?
business_signal: IC upgrade kits for legacy home games (pre-Spike 3) under internal discussion but not committed; Jack Danger expresses personal desire but no timeline offered
medium · Jack Danger: 'It isn't a no. We just got to find a way forward...I'm not saying no, but I'm also not saying yes. I got an OG Jurassic Park home over here that I would love to start getting my badges on'
?
community_signal: Stern implementing formalized tech training/academy initiative; Kyle Spiteri creating instructional maintenance videos; Jack Danger acknowledges tribal knowledge gap in pinball repair
medium · Jack Danger: 'The knowledge of fixing them is so tribal...I know Kyle Spiteri is making some videos for us specifically at Stern...a formal training...would be phenomenal'
?
design_philosophy: Jack Danger emphasizes minimal, practical approach to streaming setup and content optimization; advocates for efficiency over expensive gear
high · Jack Danger: 'You don't need anti-glare glass...just two panel lights...Two lights, get your angles, call it a day. I promise you. I've been doing this for like 10 plus years'
?
announcement: Accessory compatibility clarification: 2017 Star Wars R2-D2 topper not forward compatible with Fall of the Empire; new topper will be backwards compatible with 2017 Star Wars
high · Jack Danger: 'The R2-D2 topper for the 2017 Star Wars will not work on the new Star Wars: Fall of the Empire...the topper...will work on your 2017 Stern Star Wars'
?
product_strategy: Star Wars: Fall of the Empire includes streamer/unlicensed music mode to support content creators and avoid DMCA issues

Topics

Spike 3 platform adoption and backward compatibilityprimaryInsider Connected feature roadmap and legacy hardware supportprimaryStar Wars: Fall of the Empire technical features and accessoriesprimaryBluetooth/connectivity features in developmentsecondaryPinball technician training and formalized educationsecondaryLive streaming setup and optimization for pinball contentmentionedStern product roadmap and future developmentssecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Jack Danger is enthusiastic about upcoming features and responsive to community questions. Tone is professional but casual and approachable. Minor hesitation on financing question suggests incomplete preparation but otherwise confident on technical topics.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

Hey there, pinheads. Jack Danger here, and we are coming to you with your very first Ask Jack follow-up video. I got this really fun uh suggestion box. So, if you got some I found, look at this cool sticker. I found the Stern pinball design. If you got some cool stickers, send them to Stern. Maybe I'll throw them on here. Uh, but we got a lot of great questions and I'm going to do my best to read them off and answer them. All right, so let's dig into our first question here. We got Greg says, "One of the things I've wanted has been Bluetooth connection to headphones among some other awkward things you wrote here." Uh, yes, Bluetooth from headphones is coming. It is not out immediately, but it will be rolled out soonish. Mark Weiderelli, who's in charge of executing all these fun things for Spike 2, Spike 3, uh, is working diligently on that, and it is on its way. So, thank you for your question, Greg. Good job. Our next question is from David. David asks, "With regards to Spike 3, to what extent of the Spike 3 platform is used in Star Wars?" You may have heard George Gomez talk on this a little bit. We have Spike 3 in the new Star Wars Fall of the Empire game. You've seen some semblances of Spike 3 in other games like the Star Wars home game, and there's more to come. So, Spike 3 is this new platform boost that's going to see a lot of really awesome stuff, and it's just getting started. So, hang on tight if you want or don't. That's up to you. All right. Phil asks, "Will Insider Connected get any more features in the future?" Yeah, yes, we we have a lot of conversations about what we want to do with this platform, and we can do a lot, and we've got a ton of ideas. We just have to execute it. So, yes, there's more to come for Insider, and I don't see it ever becoming stagnant. It will always have something new and exciting coming out for Insider Connected. Uh, Soup, that's a great name. Soup asks, "Well, oh, this is a good one. Will my R2-D2 topper work on the new Star Wars Fall of the Empire game?" The answer to that is no. So, the R2-D2 topper for the 2017 Star Wars will not work on the new Star Wars Fall of the Empire game, but the topper that is coming out for Star Wars Fall of the Empire will work on your 2017 Stern Star Wars. So that will be backwards compatible, but your R2 topper will not be forward compatible. So hopefully that clears that up for you. David asks, "Are Spike 3 boards backwards compatible with Spike 2?" This was an interesting thing that I actually just learned not too long ago is that your Spike 2 games, some folks were a little concerned like, "Oh, you're aging out Spike 2, so Spike 3, which means Spike 2 parts might become unavailable." What's great about Spike 3 is you can replace your Spike 2 board with a Spike 3 board as a replacement. And what's cool about that is along with the better sound and the larger screen and the HDMI audio out, you can replace say, you know, uh, Foo Fighters back here with a Spike 3 board system. You'll get a bigger screen, better audio, and the direct out. And it it's it's not an upgrade. It's sort of a sidegrade. So your your Spike 2 games will be able to live in perpetuity thanks to the backwards compatibility of the Spike 3 system. Cool. I'm excited for that. Michael asks, "Will Star Wars Follow the Empire have unlicensed music options similar to Mando?" I didn't know the answer to this. So, I reached out to Ry and Ry says, "Yes, there will be an unlicensed or a streamer mode for y'all that like to stream." So, there you go. No DMCA hits to you, friends. Make that ad money. Man, we got so many questions in here. Jonathan asks, "Does Stern offer financing?" Uh, no. No, we don't. I don't think we do. Probably should have double checked that. Probably not. No, maybe not. All right. So, Keith asks, "When will we see Insider connected upgrade kits for existing owners?" So, for like the original runs of the home games, that is a conversation that we do have internally. It isn't a no. We just got to find a way forward with that. All right. So, I'm not saying no, but I'm also not saying yes. But I'm not saying no. It's not a no. I want it, too. I got a I got an OG Jurassic Park home over here that I would love to start getting my badges on. This This thing, look at this thing. It's cute. Give me some I need some stickers to put on this thing. It's a little depressing. It's stern red, I believe, is the PMS color. So, we have some like non Spike 3, non-S Star Wars questions. Like Daniel for instance asks, "Have you ever considered doing a live stream that focuses on how to live stream?" I think I've I've put a lot of content out there about live streaming and there's been a ton of new streamers over the years that have shown up to show how they do it. So, I think there's plenty of content out there to learn from. But if you really want to see how I did it, go to deadflip.com and there's a whole area for how to live stream. It might be a little outdated though, but it you'll get the gist. This is a good one. Robert asks, "Uh, when I when Stern was purging before the move, how many unreleased game drawings did you find?" So, if you're unfamiliar, when Stern was moving from Lunt to where we are now, we had a bunch of like old boxes that we were just throwing away, and I was like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me dig through And I found a whole bunch of old drawings and mylars for games both released and unreleased. And I definitely found several titles that I remember seeing the the tag on it and going that was a game, opening it up, seeing a full play field, and it was a game that was never produced with a theme that was never made. And I have all of those sitting in my office at Stern. They're really, really cool. I probably can't show any of you any of it. All right, here's a cool question from Mark. Says, "Can we add QR codes to the attract screen that takes you straight to the game's official rule sheet?" That is an awesome recommendation. And to be absolutely honest, I'm I feel like that's something we should already have. And if we don't, then that is a conversation we need to strike up immediately because that just makes sense, right? Have a way to like flip through attract mode. There's a QR code, Ed Boon, right to the rule sheet. Awesome recommendation, Mark. Thank you so much. All right, so here's a cool question. Chase asks, "Could Stern put together a tech academy to teach techs how to get better at fixing pinball machines?" I I paraphrased there. I think that's an awesome idea. What's interesting about pinball is the knowledge of fixing them is so tribal. Like it is knowledge that you had to learn yourself or someone had to just tell you. And there really is no like rule sheet on how to fix. Why is my game weird? Why is it not working right? You know, so some formal training on that actually would be an incredible idea. And I know Kyle Spiterry is making some videos for us specifically at Stern to address certain things, but I think an overarching tech school would be phenomenal. That would be awesome. But here's a streaming question. Francis asks, "What do you use in your studio for best lighting to play pinball? Dark walls and ceilings." The only thing you need when it comes to streaming, you don't need anti-glare glass. You don't need to paint your walls any special color. You don't need to do any of that. You just need to be able to control the light and the angles in your room. Right? So, learning I've just got two panel lights. Usually, when I'm streaming, I keep all the lights out in the room I'm in. And I just use these two lights to bounce light off the playfield and also illuminate my face. And that that goes a long way. Just make sure you get your angles of the cameras right. Make sure you're not picking up any of the reflection of the lights on the glass. Takes a little trial and an error, but you don't have to go above and beyond with all of this extra stuff. You just need a couple of lights. Make sure you're hitting your angles right and you are good to go. I promise you. I've been I've been doing this for like 10 plus years. And I try to keep this as minimal as possible. Two lights, get your angles, call it a day. All right. Well, last question from Rod asks, "Who would win in a fight, a taco or a grilled cheese sandwich?" Well, the answer to that is uh also a question. What type of taco is it? Hard shell, soft shell. Uh that could go any which way. Grilled cheese, what's the bread made out of? There really is no proper answer to that. But I do appreciate the question. And with that, I think we're going to close the lid on this. That was probably really loud. internet. If you have any questions in general about anything pinball related for myself or for Stern Pinball, reach out to ask Jack at sternpinball.com or weekly we will be posting a question for you to answer or for you to ask questions to me so that I can address them. Thank you so much for all of your participation in this. Send me some stickers to put on this baby. Okay, I love you, internet. I'll see you on the next one.