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Jack Guarnieri Interview | How JJP Brought Harry Potter Pinball Machine to Life

Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama·video·41m 25s·analyzed·Jun 10, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.036

TL;DR

Jack Guarnieri reveals Harry Potter's 2-year dev cycle, licensing history, and record launch success.

Summary

Jack Guarnieri, founder of Jersey Jack Pinball, discusses the development and launch of Harry Potter Pinball in an interview with Gonzo's Pinball Flipperama. He reveals the game was in development since May 2023, explains the licensing journey with Warner Brothers dating back to 2011, and details manufacturing/design philosophy decisions such as building CE models first and keeping all playfield mechanics identical across tiers. Guarnieri emphasizes the game's record-breaking sales performance and community reception while addressing future projects (three games in development by Steve Richie, Mark Seidman, and Eric Mounier).

Key Claims

  • Harry Potter pinball has sold hundreds of games within 3-4 days of announcement

    high confidence · Jack Guarnieri directly stated 'we've sold hundreds of games' in the first few days after release announcement

  • Jack Guarnieri has been pursuing the Harry Potter license since 2011-2012 when starting Jersey Jack Pinball

    high confidence · Jack stated he wanted the license 'back in Papa Duke much when I started the company, 2011, 2012' and described years of rejections before the February 2023 breakthrough

  • Warner Brothers IP holders played The Hobbit machine and indicated interest in doing Harry Potter based on that experience

    high confidence · Jack recounted: 'they actually played The Hobbit machine. And I think they're interested in doing a pinball machine with you. They actually said, if you could get the company that did this game to do Harry Potter, we're in.'

  • Harry Potter was in development for approximately 2 years (since May 2023)

    high confidence · Host asked 'How long have you had this in the bag then, Harry Potter?' and Jack responded 'Since about Sam May of 23'

  • JJP built Collector's Edition models first before other tiers to show off the premium version

    high confidence · Jack explained: 'this is the first time we built CE games first. I wanted to build them first because I wanted to show off the CE'

  • All Harry Potter playfield mechanics are identical across Arcade, Wizard, LE, Premium, and CE models; only cosmetic differences exist

    high confidence · Jack stated 'all the play fields are the same all the mechanisms are the same' and 'there's only two play fields. there's one play field for the Wizard and the arcade and there's one play field for the ce because it's got sparkle on it that's the difference'

  • Eric Mounier designed the game to be 'fun fast flow' and it's the fastest, best-flowing game Mounier has made

    high confidence · Jack: 'when he started the game i said i want it to be three things fun fast flow those three things okay and he did those things he made the fastest best flowing game that he's made so far'

Notable Quotes

  • “We don't run a marathon we don't run a sprint we run a marathon...now is just the starting line because now is sales of the game building the game shipping the game supporting the game promoting the game”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 1:26 — Describes JJP's philosophy on long-term commitment and the scale of work ahead post-launch

  • “I had to do all the talking for the game until now. Now I can shut up and let the game do all the talking”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 3:13 — Indicates shift from pre-release marketing to post-release gameplay focus; confidence in product quality

  • “I wanted it to be three things fun fast flow those three things okay and he did those things”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 13:54 — Core design philosophy for Harry Potter; prioritizes gameplay feel over feature novelty

  • “We build games with passion. I don't build games with a calculator. We build games with passion.”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 16:23 — Differentiates JJP approach from competitors; emphasizes prioritizing fun over cost-cutting

  • “if three people say something's no good, it's no good...the baby is beautiful because you thought of it, but other people look at it and see the baby is not that beautiful”

    Jack Guarnieri (attributing Steve Richie)@ 16:02 — Explains iterative design process and willingness to cut features if they don't add fun

  • “at 11.59 last Thursday, pinball sales was Papa Duke glum. But Barnyard 12.05 the same day, all the world got turned upside down”

    Jack Guarnieri — Dramatic description of sales impact at launch; captures market disruption caused by announcement

Entities

Jack GuarnieripersonEric MounierpersonJoe KatzpersonSteve RichiepersonMark SeidmanpersonJean-Paul DeWinpersonJen GuarnieripersonJersey Jack Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Harry Potter production timeline will dominate JJP factory capacity for extended period (potentially 2-3 years), creating uncertainty around Steve Richie's game timeline

    medium · Jack: 'Steve's game might be in there or similar interjection three years when we're done building Harry Potter'

  • ?

    community_signal: JJP implementing QR code/camera feature (GameChanger Pinball) for difficulty selection (Easy/Normal/Wizard); designed to lower barrier to entry for new players

    high · Jack: 'Jersey Jack Pinball Gamechanger Pinball...key fobs or the QR codes...the game plays easy, normal or Wizard' and 'I wanted to do that 15 years ago and we couldn't do it'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: JJP prioritizes 'fun, fast, flow' as core design principles; willing to cut features that don't serve gameplay even if designer invested in them

    high · Jack: 'I want it to be three things fun fast flow' and 'if three people say something's no good, it's no good...take that out of the game'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Warner Brothers IP holders' interest in Harry Potter pinball was triggered by playing The Hobbit demo at company facility in February 2023

    high · Jack: 'they actually played The Hobbit machine...they actually said, if you could get the company that did this game to do Harry Potter, we're in'

  • $

    market_signal: Harry Potter launch reportedly transformed market sentiment from 'glum' to explosive demand; described as 'market maker' event that expanded player base rather than cannibalizing other sales

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.124

0:00
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. I think we've got all things covered with the three people here, by the way. So anybody watching, wherever you're watching this, we're blessed. We're spoiling everybody because we had Eric, game designer Eric Mounier, a couple of days ago and was very kind enough to talk us through the game and his fantastic design. Harry Potter and of course Harry Potter's on on Jersey Jack we got Mr Jersey Jack himself with us now it's not his first time on the channel Jack thanks so much for joining us thanks for having me I appreciate it oh we we love we love it you are you honor us by uh by joining us for a podcast and can I say you've been so reasonable with with times and time zone that Jack is Jack so cool he said hey whatever time Enzo's got the sniffles and Jack said Enzo don't don't stay up too late so we're actually recording this a bit earlier how are you feeling enzo i'm good i'm good it's i wouldn't i wouldn't miss it for the world that's for sure excellent excellent jack how is the uh last you said you've not been getting much sleep that's clear since our text exchange earlier was was must have been very early in the morning for you um busy few weeks mate i live for it this is what we do um it's uh we don't run we don't run a marathon we don't run a sprint we run a marathon you know that's what we do and now is just the starting line because now is sales of the game building the game shipping the game supporting the game promoting the game taking the game all over the world letting everybody see what we did for the last couple of years and uh it's a lot of fun you know that's a lot of fun and most people don't think i sleep but i do sleep Yeah, it can't be much. Maybe not enough, but I sleep. Definitely not. So last time we spoke on camera, I asked you if you knew what your next game was, and you said to me, I know what my next three games are. Right. How long have you had this in the bag then, Harry Potter?
2:14
Since about May of 23. Yeah. yeah as in that and and how how do you feel the response has been i don't know three four days into the the release and the announcement well we've sold hundreds of games um people are searching for something bad to say about the game um they haven't seen it or got their hands on it played it heard it but they form opinions and i respect that people do that in the world today I'm thrilled I don't think it could have gone better the way the rollout went every time you launch a game it's different however you plan it something's going to go right and something's going to go different I don't think any publicity could be wrong but you know people have advice and we listen to everybody but But, you know, I had to do all the talking for the game until now. Now I can shut up and let the game do all the talking now. Yeah. Well, I think it's been really, really well received. Yeah, you're right. There will always be, you know, advice and criticism. But I think with this release, less so than the most games that I can remember being released in recent times. I also want to say congratulations and a big thank you from certainly from us over here in the UK. because we feel, I think, to a certain extent, because it's so big in the US, and I've got to say this now, Jack is flying over here next week. We're going to see Jack. We're going to sit down with Jack. We're going to have dinner, and we feel like it's so dominated by the US. In many respects in Europe, you can feel a little bit like second-class citizens. I'm sure Enzo's going to say the same over in Australia there.

  • Joe Katz (rules designer) worked without a day off for approximately a year and a half on Harry Potter

    high confidence · Jack stated 'Joe A. Raymond Katz didn't have a day off in like a year and a half i think this past weekend he took a day off'

  • JJP has three games in development: one by Steve Richie, one by Mark Seidman, and one by Eric Mounier (next after Harry Potter)

    high confidence · Jack confirmed: 'Well, Steve's working on a game, that's one. Mark's working on a game and I have Eric's next game there you go. See, you're three, you're three ahead.'

  • Harry Potter sales were essentially zero before 12:05 PM on release day, then 'all the world got turned upside down' with massive orders

    medium confidence · Jack used colorful language: 'at 11.59 last Thursday, pinball sales was Papa Duke glum. But Barnyard 12.05 the same day, all the world got turned upside down. People couldn't answer their phone because they were taking so many orders.'

    • @ 22:44

  • “They're market makers, not share takers. They don't take, they make their own market”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 28:15 — JJP's perspective on how major IP licenses expand pinball market rather than cannibalizing other sales

  • “I looked at it and thought, that's not a pinball machine, that's an event, that's an occasion”

    Host (paraphrasing response to Harry Potter)@ 24:07 — Captures emotional/experiential quality of game; suggests transcendence of typical pinball design

  • “Steve's game might be in there or similar interjection three years when we're done building Harry Potter”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 26:56 — Indicates Harry Potter production will dominate factory capacity for extended period; timeline uncertainty for future releases

  • “We don't make any deadlines and we don't make any budgets...It's just like playing a game. It's the same thing running a company”

    Jack Guarnieri@ 27:23 — Explains JJP's approach to scheduling constraints and supply chain unpredictability

    • Warner Brothers
    company
    Harry Potter Pinballgame
    The Hobbit Pinballgame
    James Cameron's Avatargame
    The Wizard of Ozgame
    Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factorygame
    Pirates of the Caribbeangame
    Elton John Pinballgame
    Dialed In!game
    Gonzo's Pinball Flipperamaorganization
    Texas Pinball Expoevent
    Pinball at the Beachevent
    Pinsideorganization
    Goblet of Firegame

    high · Jack: 'at 11.59 last Thursday...glum. But 12.05 the same day...people couldn't answer their phone because they were taking so many orders'

  • $

    market_signal: Jack's public statement at Texas Pinball Expo that next game is Harry Potter was intentional marketing strategy despite concerns it would cannibalize other JJP game sales (it did not)

    high · Jack: 'when I said it just like that...people thought I lost my mind...it was all on purpose i didn't have a game at the show...i want to be talked about so i want to be part of the conversation'

  • ?

    community_signal: Mark Seidman (Avatar designer) described as developing 'thicker skin' as game designer; Jack expresses confidence in his next project

    medium · Jack: 'Mark's got a lot thicker skin since he became a game designer...Mark is really a great part of the team. I love him'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jean-Paul DeWin (animator/art director on Harry Potter) transitioning to Dutch Pinball for Back to the Future project post-Harry Potter (context from KB, not explicitly in this content)

    high · Not directly stated in this content; verified via KB context of known entity

  • ?

    announcement: Harry Potter Pinball officially announced and shipping with 5 editions (Arcade/Wizard/LE/Premium/CE); hundreds sold within 3-4 days of announcement

    high · Jack: 'we've sold hundreds of games um people are searching for something bad to say about the game'; multiple edition tiers discussed with identical playfield mechanics

  • ?

    product_strategy: JJP intentionally designed Harry Potter with identical playfield mechanics across 5 price tiers but different cosmetics (CE has sparkle, LE/Premium have enhanced features); strategic choice to maximize accessibility

    high · Jack: 'I didn't want anybody that wanted a harry potter game not to be able to get one...change the bling and leave the play field and all the toys and the rules alone'

  • ?

    product_strategy: JJP has three confirmed games in active development post-Harry Potter by Steve Richie, Mark Seidman, and Eric Mounier; themes unannounced

    high · Jack confirmed: 'Well, Steve's working on a game, that's one. Mark's working on a game and I have Eric's next game there you go'

  • ?

    technology_signal: QR code/camera difficulty selection represents new accessibility technology for pinball; backward compatibility being explored for Avatar and Hobbit via camera kit retrofit

    high · Jack: 'I think we can i think yeah yeah i mean we have to actually for The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit we'd have to put a camera kit together with a new back glass'

    • 4:05
    And often when games get released, we see them weeks later. so i've got to say a big thank you because ours is already here now i'm going to go and play it tomorrow i'll be reporting back on this channel of course and is is that really a massive concerted effort for you to think do you know what we're just going to get games around we're going to get them out globally and we're going to get them out all at the same time because i think it's a massive success a massively important to the rest of us that are not in the us it is every market is important to us every person that plays our games is important to us uh christophe there was a show last weekend this past weekend in france i made sure he had a game there um so he was very happy he was the first one with a game somebody's got to be first then i had other distributors uh say how come he got a game because you didn't pick up yours that's why it's here it's here take it you know so uh we we support all our distributors and we try to support them all equally even the little guys that sell less we try to give them incentives um so that they become bigger you know from from tiny acorns grow the mighty oaks you got to start somewhere you know so it's true it's true this one yeah treat everybody the same you know the golden rule well when you release again this is it seems this way this is my perception at least you released the game so we get we got teaser trailer um or little teasers where it was popping up on the screen of other games your main trailer your featurette and then gameplay that at least that's the order that i remember it being in i think what's great is you have the games ready to go is again is that a concerted effort because it's not like you release the trailer and then we're waiting a month or two months for the game it's a case of this is your next game and and you As you say, go and pick them up now. You know, we're a real company. When we were trying to stand up the company, we did the best we could then, but now we're at a different level. And it is important to keep the momentum going, you know, and this is the first time we built CE games first. I wanted to build them first because I wanted to show off the CE. I wanted all our distributors to get a CE. And the other part of it was, you know, if you buy a first-class airline ticket, you don't get on the plane last you get on the plane first so i wanted to pay a little bit more respect to the ce buyer not that the arcade or the wizard buyer is not important but i wanted to change things up i like we like to do some different things now and then as you know i mean that is a really really important thing because yes your top level machine are the machines obviously not just going out to customers first but that's what i'm playing tomorrow that's all of the initial machines that have gone out to people as i know i know they're not test machines as such but those initial machines have gone out hands-on they're all ce so people's first impression of the game is going to be you know the the top model which i think is magnificent so before enzo comes in as i know he's got a ton of questions um can you just talk us through please jack so again i think it's another really good thing arcade wizard or a limited edition and then your ce which is your collector's edition all the play fields are the same all the mechanisms are the same um we did ask eric this but i'm going to ask you anyway what was the thinking behind that process um i didn't want anybody that wanted a harry potter game not to be able to get one it was pretty much that simple and I didn't feel that, you know, even when we did Wizard of Oz, my philosophy was change the bling and leave the play field and all the toys and the rules alone. Leave all that stuff alone. Don't take an upper play field. Don't take a toy. Don't take targets.
    7:57
    Not the same game. Plus, you've got to program it differently. Plus, in the factory, when you're building it, you've got this play field for this, this play field for this, this play field for this. This way, really, there's only two play fields. there's one play field for the wizard and the arcade and there's one play field for the ce because it's got sparkle on it that's the difference so it makes manufacturing either easy it makes ordering parts easier controlling the parts um so all around you try to hit everything where you get a win-win on it and the whole circle of things
    8:28
    it's i've got some we've got some we've got some background music there um is that you enzo no No, I don't know. It might have been.
    8:36
    One of my laptops just decided to start up. Well, I think it's a really, really excellent thing. So I hadn't even considered manufacturing, actually. Yes, you're about programming each model. Yeah, that's got to make things streamlined as well. But I think it would have been – it's great to see everything have the staircase and just – Oh, you couldn't take that out of the game.
    8:59
    Well, you could, but you didn't. And I think that's the important thing. Enzo, two or three days in since we spoke to Eric, what additional things have you noticed about the game? Because you were crafty. You spotted that captive ball on the upper playfield, on the Quidditch playfield. There's so much to kind of experience and find. And actually, Eric and myself tomorrow, well, he's tomorrow night and my tomorrow morning, we're going to go deep dive on the playfield. We're going to have a chat together and go through the playfield because there are so many ball paths. and so many things that this game does that I'm sure a lot of people haven't gone through it all. I wanted to ask Jack, start right at the beginning. How long have you been trying to get this license? And was it because Eric came to you because it's his dream theme, or did you already go to Eric and you guys had the same kind of idea? Where did it all begin? I'd like to say that, but no, not really. I wanted the license back in pretty much when I started the company, 2011, 2012.
    10:10
    And you know it like wanting to fly to Mars and you don have even an idea how to build a spaceship You know I dreaming things that are not going to come true for a long time And you have to have a lot of patience and a lot of energy not to get really sidetracked from your goal And Warner Brothers, basically, they're a great partner. We started the company with them, and we're continuing with them. We'll do more themes with them. Um, so when I asked for it, I was told it's not available in our category. All these different, um, IP holders have different categories like Halloween costumes and lunch boxes and t-shirts and different things like that. They have different price structure, fee structure for royalties. So they weren't licensing anything for amusement games, not our category.
    11:11
    Try next year. I try next year. I was told you know don't ask again by certain people there and then I made a phone call to my person at Warner Brothers in like February of 23 and she said you know you're in luck there are people here today the IP holders are here they're on a trip and they actually played the Hobbit machine.
    11:44
    And I think they're interested in doing a pinball machine with you. They actually said, if you could get the company that did this game to do Harry Potter, we're in. And I just luckily called that day. I know Eric said they called me. I wish the fish would jump in the bucket, but that's not the case.
    12:04
    I just happened to, you know, it was like meant to be. It was one of those things that meant to be. And really, how I win licenses, it's because of the product we make.
    12:17
    The licensed people, they're not all about money. They're about who's going to represent their IP, because this is a big breathing, living thing. You know, when we did the Elton John game, Elton John said they captured my DNA in that game. we really got it because we immersed ourselves in everything involved with the theme and it's really important and they were a great partner the whole way through, everybody no complaints about anything it was a really good experience I think it's sorry, sorry, Enzo you were going to say something? No, no, it's just I was saying because obviously with Harry Potter it's all about magic and And it's, you know, you must have, you've obviously created Magic because it's been an overwhelming response. And I'm hearing it's doing some record numbers. At what point, like in the development, where obviously you see the game, the white wood and the design, but at what point do you think it was at that time when you kind of felt, yeah, we've got something really special here? Regardless of IP, you already knew that because you were doing Harry Potter. Right, right. You know, a couple months ago, first of all, Eric had some different ideas for the game that didn't make it to the game because there was no time to test them.
    13:44
    So the game went through a couple of different, a couple, many iterations, as games do. And he's got to get the geometry right, get the flow right. when he started the game i said i want it to be three things fun fast flow those three things okay and he did those things he made the fastest best flowing game that he's made so far um you know steve richie is known as the king of flow i i don't know that steve uh told eric what to do. I don't think so because they're friends and they compete, but we're one company and we want to make the company do great things. And, you know, I think I knew, for sure I knew when the first 10 pre-production games were built and we were going through them and I was playing them and I just said to Eric, I said, you have a great game here. You have a really great game here. and he was like not feeling it because he's in the middle of everything he puts a lot of pressure on himself other people put pressure on him too uh guys working a million hours just like i mean joe katz didn't have a day off in like a year and a half i think this past weekend he took a day off uh these people it's not about the money it's about the pride they have in making a great product and sharing the fun with everybody else. And they come through. I mean, the team, the people in the company are amazing because, you know, Eric doesn't do it by himself. I don't do it by myself. But, you know, it's a team effort, really. Well, that comes across particularly in the featurette. You mentioned you run out of time or Eric ran out of time.
    15:35
    What is that? Is that a case of a manufacturing deadline or you have a certain amount of time with the license to do it? Well, you have both of those, but that's not really what I meant. You know, if you have a feature in the game, it needs to add more than just technology. It needs to add fun. That's the fit into the game. So sometimes you have an idea for something and you try it and you try it and you try it. You want to love it. Steve Ritchie has a saying, if three people say something's no good, it's no good. it. You might think the baby is beautiful because you thought of it, but other people look at it and see the baby is not that beautiful. Maybe we should take that out of the game. So there's always those things in pinball, but other companies do that and they do it for cost. We do it for fun. We don't build games with a calculator. We build games with passion. I think there's an element there because obviously, I say this even in my line of work, what we do, we create for, well, we create an experience, right? And if those elements... I was just going to say that. That's exactly right. They're not creating an experience. They can't be in the game, you know? But there's an element of the thing with an IP like this and even Elton John and, you know, things like Taylor Swift and all these other IPs where there's an element that these IPs can bring a whole new community to pinball. Because to this day, I still meet people that go, do they still make those pinball machines? And there's obviously this wizarding world and a massive fan base of Harry Potter fanatics that now will find out that there's a pinball machine. That must add like an immense amount of pressure to get that kind of creative and emotional process right. Not just to please pinball players, but also this new demographic of wizard fanatics. that there's that must be that must be a lot for you guys to take in it's it's a lot of fun to do that i try to when we do these things i'm very mindful of people that are outside of pinball bringing them in i think the godfather brought people in that never bought pinball machines elton john certainly did um the wizard of oz in the beginning brought women and girls and young people because of the screen and what it was every one of our games expands the player base by something. And when you get big IP, and let's face it, Toy Story is not little, and Pirates of the Caribbean is not little, and Willy Wonka, all the titles we've done, Avatar, they're all big IP.
    18:19
    You want to hit the biggest market you can. And there's millions and millions and millions of Harry Potter fans. And a lot of them are buying the game.
    18:31
    And, you know, So we could get into it, but that's one of the reasons why having a feature like the Jersey Jack Pinball Game Changer, right? It really feeds into new players because what that is is the key fobs or the QR codes on the screen. You can take a picture of the QR code and hold it up to the camera and the game plays easy, normal or wizard. and those are the words joe katz picked and uh he and duncan brown made another one of my dreams come true i wanted to do that 15 years ago and we couldn't do it you know we didn't we could barely build games we're lucky so it was one of those things like i had the idea for a camera in a game many many years ago and we were able to do it with dialed in um you know it's it's it's truly a game changer because if you're really great maybe i play easy maybe you play normal or somebody plays somebody plays wizard gives you a lot of options and it lasts for one player on one game and then you got to do it again you know so pretty cool something that that only we could do right i think it's impressive and i i learned a lot just speaking to eric about it uh and it was there was actually a question because i mean i think possibly you even answered it there you couldn't presumably you couldn't do it before because of the technology even though you had the idea 15 years ago does that mean you won't be able to make it backwards compatible on older games i think we can i think yeah yeah i mean we have to actually for wizard of oz and hobbit we'd have to put a camera kit together with a new back glass but pretty much anything's possible it just depends on what we dedicate uh resources to and um when those teasers came out and when the trailer came out we push them out to thousands of games that we have that are connected to us online so people came home and they looked and they they saw in their on their avatar game they saw harry potter what the heck that was a neat whose idea was that jack uh eric eric i think yeah neat i really neat um quite and you know i guess it gives the teaser trailer the initial teaser to your existing customers well you played the data east uh rocky and bollinkle or something lost or uh or data east uh jurassic park and had an advertisement for rocky and bollinkle on the screen it's kind of been done before but not to this level yeah i thought it was very very very very very impressive actually just a different way a different way of doing things and i think your i did i did speak to eric about this
    21:18
    your your initial video is it purpose are you doing it on purpose that you don't focus the camera too much on one on one thing are you trying to keep people wanting more that's on purpose right Yes. Yeah. Just like when I was in Texas and Stefan asked me, what's your next game? And I said, well, everybody knows the next game's Harry Potter. And I just said it just like that. And people thought I lost my mind or I'm getting too old or I didn't mean to say that or, you know, walk Jack away to the old age home. And when I said, well, you know, if I were you, I wouldn't spend any money on anything until you see Harry Potter.
    22:03
    It's like a Wizard of Oz experience. Something there to that fact. And people on podcasts in different places said, oh, my God, he just killed all the sales for his game. Poor Mark Seidner sitting next to him and his avatar is not going to sell. Avatar sells very well. the people that want avatar by avatar they buy they buy all kinds of games you know we didn't kill anything um it was all on purpose i didn't have a game at the show and unfortunately i want to be talked about so i want to be part of the conversation so i was certainly part of the conversation and i i really think from talking to a lot of distributors and customers and and And the people in the industry, at 11.59 last Thursday, pinball sales was pretty glum. But by 12.05 the same day, all the world got turned upside down. People couldn't answer their phone because they were taking so many orders. And I don't say, you know, I'm like being smug about it or anything. I'm very humble about it. I appreciate it. We're thankful. We're very blessed.
    23:12
    But, you know, we worked very hard. So we're happy that everybody likes it. Just about everybody likes it. Well, yeah, you'll never please everybody. But as I say, having done this for a little while now, I've seen plenty of games get released and they all get praise and they all get criticism. And it's just varying degrees of what's praise and what's criticism. By and large, and I totally understand Eric doesn't want to go on forums and on Pinside and read comments. you couldn't because you can get swamped by that stuff but I would say 90-95 percent of you know of the feedback on this has been really really positive and I don't want to say too much about it because I'm going to play it tomorrow and I'm one of those guys talking about it and I haven't played it but what I would say is it looks like an occasion I said it and I think I said it to Eric I looked at it and thought, that's not a pinball machine, that's an event, that's an occasion. And I was very lucky, the first time I ever played Hobbit, it was on video. My first ever game on Hobbit, I'd never seen Hobbit before. And I just thought it was incredible. I actually felt in the world, put it that way, it really drew me in. And when Schmalg came across, and it was the Schmalg multiball, and I had a big grin on my face. And I do think you've got that with your machines. you are it's not i don't think world under glass is is the right term but i think it is an event and it is an occasion so yeah i just got to congratulate you on that enzo sorry i've been hogging um thank you i i uh i wanted to touch on that uh your little thing at texas because it was funny where like you're right i was gonna say everyone thought you lost your mind right and i was like well no at the end of the day they didn't have a game there and they asked a question and And, you know, there is always this element of secrecy in the pinball. But obviously things eventually people find out. And like you said, everyone knew. So we might as well just say it is that game. And, you know, it was a good publicity stunt. And I think it worked. And we had everyone talking. And I did feel sorry for Mark at that point a little bit, just because I really like Mark. Me and him get along really well. We talk all the time. And I think Avatar, I haven't played Harry Potter yet, but Avatar is my favourite JJP game. And I think a lot of people didn't get to play Avatar because obviously it was only really at Expo and then Pinball at the Beach. And I think that game probably just suffered a little bit of bad timing and the IP's not for everyone. But I genuinely think Mark Seidman's a genius when it comes to what he's created there and I'm really looking forward to what he's doing next. Mark's skin got a lot thicker since he became a professional game designer.
    25:53
    Mark is really a great part of the team. I love him and he's very diligent and he knows what a good game is. And, you know, when you go back to Texas, because you mentioned that looking in hindsight, I wasn't so crazy, I guess. No, no. And you know what you're doing with marketing. Clearly, JJP is a very, very successful company. So, yeah, you're going to do what you're going to do. And, you know, you're making really, really good pinball machines. I actually had a question for you in regards to Mark and regards to Steve. so when we spoke last when on on an interview you knew your next three games since then we've got avatar and we've got harry potter do you still know your next three games well steve's working on a game that's one mark's working on a game and i have eric's next game there you go see your three you're three ahead so is it steve next then mark then eric if you're playing yeah okay and well you know steve's game might be in three years when we're done building harry potter who knows yeah i did hear actually somebody said you're not in you're not in a rush you're not in a rush to get your next game we're never in a rush because we don't make any deadlines and we don't make any budgets so unfortunately uh the company rolls how it rolls and a lot of things are out of our hands delays happen parts don't come in or parts don't come in right or this happens that happens it's it's pinball that's what it is it's just like playing a game it's the same thing running a company uh things happen and you got to anticipate some of them and you can't prepare for some of them you can't prepare for some of them at all um and i i think for us it was a happy delay when we announced our game because there was nothing really against us. The economy improved. The stock market improved. People's attitudes improved.
    27:55
    Back in April, around April 8th, 9th, it was not a good world. It wasn't a good world, and it wasn't a good time to try to sell something. So things work out.
    28:06
    I always say it's never a bad time to introduce a great game. our games our games make their own market they're they're really market makers not share takers they don't take they make their own market right it's going to look like we're editing this to edit things out we're really not we've got a few technical difficulties that's all that's happening so i was just asking jack if steve if mark and eric know the next themes they're working on yes you want to know what they are you're not going to tell me no i'm not going No, I'm not going to tell you, but you want to know what they are, right? Of course I want to know, but you're not going to tell me. It's nice to want, so you'll find out.
    28:46
    Thank you. It's interesting, though, Jack, that I used to be more involved in the video game scene. And with video games, we know for many years what video games are. There's no secrecy like there is in pinball, and it's so interesting to see the other side. And I think the Hogwarts video game probably played an element. The success of that open world video game must have played an element, obviously, as well, to the Warner Brothers going, we should maybe work on more video game and arcades and pinball machines. Well, you know, in the commercial side of the industry, nobody ever did Toy Story. Nobody did Willy Wonka.
    29:27
    Nobody did Harry Potter. I don't think anybody did The Hobbit and Wizard of Oz that was the first one so now the industry has a bunch of Wizard of Oz games different type of games, redemption games but those kind of licenses they're difficult to navigate for a lot of people for us we just take it in stride and we do what we do ok Jack so we've got the CEs now when are the others going into production because people are going to want to know if they're ordering an arcade or they're ordering a wizard and a limited edition when can those be looking at going into production in the next couple weeks so we're going to switch around between three models we have certainly have plenty of orders for all three models and the good thing is it's not up to me to decide what goes where so uh you know who decides well the people in the factory decide because it depends on parts it depends on people and it depends on um what you need for uh european orders australian orders things like that what's going to be built for who
    30:41
    it's it's a dance and jen my daughter jen is certainly in the middle of the whole thing because she's dealing with all the customers and everybody wants their game tomorrow and it's kind of like, this is kind of like the Wizard of Oz all over again. Really? Everybody wanted yeah yeah yeah Is that your feeling You feeling the same amount of hype and interest going back to that are you Yeah I think the distributor reaction has been amazing And somebody would have thought a month ago that there's no money in the market to buy a pinball machine. Because if you ask the average person that don't know about a pinball machine, they might think the game's $500 each or something like that. But maybe you were buying three pinball machines a couple of years ago, a year, and then you were buying two, and maybe this year you're only buying one. And the one you want to buy is Harry Potter.
    31:41
    And that's what we're seeing. We're seeing distributors saying a lot of trade-ins are coming in on the Wizard and the Arcade Edition. The Collector Edition, people are just – people that have Collector Editions want to keep their collections going, hence Collector Edition. They want to stay with it. they want to keep the same game number and everything they have sentimental value to that so we're uh we couldn't we couldn't be more happy really yeah well i should probably that's a really good time to point out a channel sponsor pinball heaven they also do accept trade-ins finance all that stuff so go and give them a call link is in the description below um on that one i totally agree with what you say about maybe it's just that one game that people are getting now and I do think it's a must-have game. I did see somebody had a full line of JJPs. It was before this had been released.
    32:31
    And then they were saying they were getting a CE. And all your games all lined up together do look highly, highly, highly impressive. And everybody knows the story that Wizard of Oz was a game changer and the way you sort of, I think you dragged pinball forward in terms of the screen. And I just think it's absolutely magnificent. I can't wait to play it, Jack. um really can't uh before we go before we wrap this up because i'll be sitting down with jack we've had a few technical difficulties today i'll be seeing jack next week or in eight nine days we'll sit down with jack we will talk with jack in and around the machine so we'll be back with some more stuff i'll be doing another video on just on the game myself hopefully hopefully tomorrow if if not at least a day later because i've got to edit it and whatnot people will ask about the code. The code seems really developed already. Really, really good. That's something that's going to carry on being updated and working on as quickly as possible. We're not finished. Joe and the team are working diligently on it.
    33:34
    It's not a box of lights, that's for sure. It's a full game right now. David Thiel did his presentation. He did the sound. I think he said it was like doing three Hobbit games. I mean he wrote 120 songs for this game so you can't get a better sound guy than David everything we did I mean Mark Silk with all the voice characterizations I mean we didn't cheap out on anything no you can see that I think there's an interesting to touch on what you were saying before as well Chris is that there's an element and I've said this I think a video we did maybe a year ago I touched on nostalgia is probably one of the most powerful things in pinball, where I think if you made a fifth element pinball machine, a matrix pinball machine, a Top Gun pinball machine and a Rocky pinball machine that you would sell out like Harry Potter would sell out possibly. Because those elements of IP are emotionally driven at a time where we as humans lived in the 80s and 90s where life was simpler. everything was a bit more impactful and we cherish those memories and it was a different world back then and i think the strength of the strength of nostalgia aligned with a with a really special ip is what i feel company should focus on um you're right that's always been my opinion but you're right and the other piece of that is you need to make a great game to back it up because you You could have great IP with a game that's not great, or sometimes you get a great game with no IP or almost no IP, and they're fun to play. I mean, the fun factor is the thing that wins out. That's the first thing. It's got to be fun and challenging enough to have people come back and want to play it again. Yeah. No, I- Not frustrating, not frustrating, but challenging. Yeah. you've got it you've got to give you've got to give something but it was actually what was really interesting how eric was describing how if you are struggling with the game i think you've covered this from two angles so you've got the game changer which is obviously the um scanning it but also he said if you're struggling with the game it will get incrementally easier it will get used to you playing so it will bring the wizard mode closer to you that just a really smart thing to do with modern technology i think if you didn't get up to the quidditch the upper playfield it'll put you there. Really? Yep. The house will turn, the staircase will turn and it'll put you there.
    36:15
    I like that. I think I'm looking forward to that bit the most, the Quidditch bit. I don't know why, I'm just looking forward to that. It looks addictive. Yeah, it does. It does. It does. I love my game. It's great. I play it a lot. I was looking for problems and uh i can't find any problems right now you know a few weeks ago a few months ago yeah there was some issues here and there but uh they're all taken care of eric eric and the team took care of everything and to be fair to you jack when i saw you as well because it's maybe you know something that people won't necessarily see when i saw you you were playing a lot of pinball machines not just your own other people's pinball machines and you were playing all of them and you were very kind and very generous to everybody else's pinball machines as well because you understand what it takes to make one um if you're gonna do this uh i give my hats off to you because it's not easy to do this we know that right i mean there's been a lot of companies littered in the rubble of trying to go down the road but i think everybody doing it they have a passion for pinball and they want to make something great and they have their own dreams. And I respect that. I respect that a lot. And that's what, that's what makes it a great, that's what makes it a great segment of the industry hobby.
    37:43
    Because I have a life on the commercial side of the industry and I have a life on the consumer side of the industry and they have different, different things they're interested in. The commercial guys, the operator in me just wants the bill acceptor and a cash box to fill up and they want something to make that happen and the home customers want something to entertain them and amuse them and they want the experience so uh that's what we tried to provide something for everybody that's why there's three models now well i cannot i cannot wait to play well the ce but i do have a feeling that even if i was playing the arcade i'm getting the same experience but i i've got to play it first to see that but i i really admire what you've done there by not stripping well even you've just stripped some bling out basically and that the game inherently is the same um and all the playfield stuff there i think so congratulations jack on behalf of the company i say thank you well no thank you on the behalf of the pinball world thank you for um producing another game it's it's competition is good and this is a really really great ip and and there's a lot of people i will say something actually so i was going to finish then um my friend paul um who goes by the name of on on the online forum of silver paulo he is a huge a huge um harry potter fan and he was saying to me he's because you know the rumors go on for months in advance that you've got harry potter and some of the some of the the ips that enzo mentioned about five minutes ago people will will say that you've got one of one of those is to be your next game as well but when sorry that end zone i know um i didn't really think about that but hey okay well yeah i i thought about it so everybody else watching the video but um paul was saying as a potter fan he was so pleased he had these low these tick boxes that he had is the game going to feature this is the game going to feature this and he said he everything that he wanted to be in there was in there and and that's coming from a pot of ant and he said that to me privately on the phone yesterday and and another friend of mine very very good player craig um a very good player here in the uk he is absolutely stoked for this game and he was a reader of the books before the films and he loved the art package on on the ce and again he had some concerns about this game and he said after listening to eric speak so many of his concerns sort of faded away and sort of melted away so it's just two really you know good pinball people that i've spoken to are just so excited about this game so um i'm going to play it tomorrow jack and i'll be i'll be seeing you next week sir great that's great have fun um i know you're gonna love it but i'm not gonna ruin anything for you just i would say have somebody take video of you as you play your first game because you're going to get some funny reactions i've got four cameras here don't worry i've got all right the tripods here i'm i'm getting everything ready i'm packing up and i'm all right great in the morning thanks so much jack enzo get to bed um he doesn't he doesn't feel very well enzo um get to bed i'll speak to you soon um as for everybody else don't forget to like and subscribe the video subscribe um press the bell as well if you're not subscribe press that bell ding that bell you get a notification when we upload which can be really important because tomorrow I'm going to be uploading a video of me playing Harry Potter pinball