Confirmation that Stern Pinball Has Jaws, but Not All the Assets?

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Jul 17, 2022

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

Jack Guarnieri confirms Stern has Jaws license but likely lacks actor rights.

Summary

Jack Guarnieri's interview on The Super Awesome Pinball Show reveals that he pursued a Jaws pinball license for two years but abandoned it when learning he would only receive a movie poster, after which Stern Pinball acquired the license. The article interprets this as confirmation that Stern has Jaws but likely lacks actor likeness rights (Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider), suggesting a game with original story similar to Jurassic Park.

Key Claims

Jack Guarnieri pursued a Jaws pinball license for two years
high confidence · Direct statement from Jack Guarnieri on The Super Awesome Pinball Show
Guarnieri abandoned the Jaws license pursuit when told he would only receive a movie poster
high confidence · Jack Guarnieri quote paraphrased in article: 'when he found out that all he was going to get was a movie poster he abandoned ship'
Stern Pinball acquired the Jaws license after Guarnieri abandoned it
high confidence · Article states 'Stern Pinball scooped it up' following Guarnieri's withdrawal
Stern likely does not have rights to actors from Jaws (Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider)
medium confidence · Article interpretation of Guarnieri's statement about limited asset access; inferred from 'only a movie poster' comment
Stern Jaws would likely have an original story independent from the movie, similar to Jurassic Park
medium confidence · Article speculation based on licensing limitation implications

Notable Quotes

“when he found out that all he was going to get was a movie poster he abandoned ship”
Jack Guarnieri (paraphrased by article author) @ The Super Awesome Pinball Show interview — Direct evidence of licensing limitations that caused Guarnieri to abandon Jaws pursuit before Stern acquired it

Entities

Jack GuarnieripersonStern PinballcompanyJawsgame Keith Elwinperson The Super Awesome Pinball Showorganization Richard DreyfusspersonRoy ScheiderpersonJurassic Parkgame

Signals

?
leak_detection: Unofficial confirmation of Stern Jaws project through industry figure interview on podcast, prior to official announcement
high · Jack Guarnieri's interview on The Super Awesome Pinball Show revealing licensing details through implicit statements about his own failed pursuit
?
licensing_signal: Jaws licensing limited to shark/concept intellectual property, excluding actor likeness rights (Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider). Implications similar to Jurassic Park model with original story
medium · Guarnieri's comment about receiving only 'a movie poster' interpreted as evidence of limited asset scope
?
announcement: Confirmation that Stern Pinball has acquired Jaws license, with unofficial details about scope of intellectual property rights limiting actor likenesses
high · Jack Guarnieri's statement about abandoning license pursuit when learning of limited assets, followed by Stern acquiring license

Transcript

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So I’m sitting here in the parking lot of a Bagel shop, about to pick up breakfast for my family and a pinball brunch that we’re hosting and I just heard another interesting relevation from The Super Awesome Pinball Show’s interview with Jack Guarnieri. Jack talked about how he pursued a license for a pinball machine, which they strongly implied was Jaws, for two years but “when he found out that all he was going to get was a movie poster he abandoned ship” and Stern Pinball scooped it up. Let’s dissect this. In one small statement, Jack essentially confirmed the rumor that Stern Pinball is making a Jaws pin AND that they likely do not have the rights to the actors from the movie, like Richard Richard Dreyfuss or Roy Scheider, just the shark and the concept. This lends credence to the talk that a Stern Jaws pin would be similar to Stern Jurassic Park, with its own story that is independent from the movies. None of this was said flat out, but the hints were very clear. I wonder if this means that Keith Elwin would be the designer or Jaws, like he was with the similar custom story pin, Jurassic Park. Here’s a link to the Super Awesome Pinball Show’s latest episode for those of you who want to check it out: https://superawesomepinballshow.libsyn.com