Information on Jersey Jack Pinball's Next Two Games and more from Pintastic New England

Knapp Arcade·article·analyzed·Apr 13, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

JJP announces Sonic the Hedgehog as next game; Mark Seiden new title in development.

Summary

At Pintastic New England 2026, Jersey Jack Pinball revealed major details about its next two games: Sonic the Hedgehog (described by Steve Ritchie as "maybe the fastest game I've ever made," featuring 6,000+ recorded speech calls, standard body, and satisfying spinners, with author's estimate of June 2026 release) and Mark Seiden untitled new game (music-themed, scrapped and restarted, expected sometime in 2026). The presentation also covered Harry Potter Arcade/Wizard Edition builds arriving in September, a broad AI patent filing, and Nintendo's apparent refusal to license pinball despite past Gottlieb deals.

Key Claims

Sonic the Hedgehog pinball is Jersey Jack's next game
high confidence · Jack Guarnieri and Steve Ritchie presentation at Pintastic New England 2026; author also corroborated through multiple conversations at show
Steve Ritchie described Sonic as 'maybe the fastest game I've ever made'
high confidence · Steve Ritchie statement during Pintastic presentation
Sonic has over 6,000 recorded speech calls
high confidence · Steve Ritchie stated during presentation; recording done in single session with no retakes per licensor requirement
Author estimates Sonic release in June 2026
medium confidence · Jason Knapp's personal assessment based on conversations at Pintastic; Steve Ritchie gave non-answer on timing
Mark Seiden scrapped his first game layout entirely and started over
high confidence · Mark Seiden statement during Pintastic presentation
Mark Seiden's new game will be music-themed
medium confidence · Jason Knapp reported hearing 'rumblings' at the show; not officially confirmed by Seiden
Nintendo refuses to license pinball; Gottlieb obtained two Nintendo licenses in 1980s
medium confidence · Jack Guarnieri statement; author notes uncertainty about Stern's Pokémon licensing source
Jack Guarnieri pursued Harry Potter license for about ten years before it became available
high confidence · Eric Meunier's 'Making of Harry Potter' seminar presentation
Harry Potter pinball has 938 unique parts and over 3,200 total parts
high confidence · Eric Meunier stated during seminar on making of Harry Potter
JJP filed patent covering AI for pinball and gaming broadly
high confidence · Jack Guarnieri confirmed during presentation

Notable Quotes

“maybe the fastest game I've ever made”
Steve Ritchie @ Pintastic New England 2026 presentation — Major claim about Sonic's design philosophy; Ritchie designed High Speed and F-14 Tomcat, making this a significant statement
“The game is a standard body, not a widebody. It 'might' have more than two flippers and it has 'satisfying spinners.'”
Steve Ritchie / Jersey Jack presentation @ Pintastic presentation — Details on Sonic's physical specifications and playfield layout direction
“the new one shoots amazing”
Mark Seiden @ Pintastic presentation — Seiden's assessment of his restarted game design; contrasts with scrapped version
“pinball is not a category they license”
Jack Guarnieri @ Pintastic presentation — Explains Nintendo licensing limitation; impacts future licensing possibilities
“one week before TPF 2023 (right after The Godfather launched) saying his flight was being rerouted to Burbank to pitch the game”
Eric Meunier (describing Jack Guarnieri's call) @ Eric Meunier's Making of Harry Potter seminar — Reveals compressed timeline for Harry Potter pitch and development
“He had one caffeine-fueled week to prepare a full concept — playfield layout, characters, assets, mechanisms, and required audio/video clips.”
Eric Meunier @ Making of Harry Potter seminar — Documents the intense preparation required for Harry Potter license pitch
“New Arcade Edition and Wizard Edition builds are scheduled for September.”
Jack Guarnieri @ Pintastic presentation — Official timeline for Harry Potter variant releases

Entities

Jersey Jack Pinballcompany Steve Ritchieperson Mark Seidenperson Jack Guarnieriperson Eric Meunierperson Jason Knappperson

Signals

?
announcement: Jersey Jack Pinball officially announces Sonic the Hedgehog as next major title with extensive design details from Steve Ritchie
high · Multiple sources at Pintastic presentation confirmed Sonic as next JJP game; Steve Ritchie provided specific design details including speed philosophy, speech call volume, and physical specifications
?
machine_intel: Mark Seiden's untitled new game in active development; scrapped initial whitewood and restarted; music-themed; expected sometime in 2026
medium · Mark Seiden confirmed working on new game at presentation; music theme from author's conversations at show (not official); timing confirmed as 'this year sometime' by Seiden; Jack Guarnieri approved layout
?
product_launch: Harry Potter Arcade Edition and Wizard Edition builds officially scheduled for September 2026 release
high · Jack Guarnieri stated during presentation that new builds scheduled for September; confirms production and distribution timeline
?
design_philosophy: Steve Ritchie designing Sonic as 'maybe the fastest game I've ever made' — significant statement from designer of High Speed and F-14 Tomcat; emphasis on satisfying spinners
high · Direct quote from Steve Ritchie during presentation; game design centered on fast-paced mechanics and spinner satisfaction
?
licensing_signal: Nintendo refuses to license pinball as a category; Jack Guarnieri reports annual rejection at License Expo; Gottlieb obtained two Nintendo licenses in 1980s but none since
medium · Jack Guarnieri statement about Nintendo licensing policy; speculation that 1980s experience may have been negative; impacts future licensing landscape

Transcript

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News Information on Jersey Jack Pinball's Next Two Games and more from Pintastic New England k knapparcade April 13, 2026 Hey everyone. I'm coming off a super busy pinball weekend, having spent all day Friday and Saturday at the awesome Pintastic New England show in Marlborough, Massachusetts and Sunday evening getting a sneak preview of a cool new pinball speakeasy in Red Bank, New Jersey called Under the Glass. I have been sharing pictures and video of both on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Threads & Bluesky) for the past several days and I have a bunch more. I hope to get articles out here about both as well, so keep an eye out for that. I have some great information from Pintastic to share with everyone, from both the excellent presentations at the show and from speaking with people. A lot of it has to do with Jersey Jack Pinball. JJP's current game has been so successful that we haven't had much new to say about them over the past couple of months. Well, that's about to change. At the show, Jack Guarnieri, designer Steve Ritchie and designer Mark Seiden gave a great presentation that had a ton of new information. First off, in my own words from having spoken with lots of people at Pintastic, Jersey Jack's next game is without a doubt based on Sonic the Hedgehog. During his presentation, Steve Ritchie said that the game is "maybe the fastest game I've ever made" — which is a huge statement coming from the designer of High Speed and F-14 Tomcat. He went on to add that the game has over 6,000 recorded speech calls, though they may not use them all. The licensor required all recording to be done at once with no retakes, so they used a "shotgun approach" of multiple takes. The game is a standard body, not a widebody. It "might" have more than two flippers and it has "satisfying spinners." During the presentation they said that the game not ready yet — Steve gave a non-answer on timing. However, after speaking with pinball at Pintastic, I personally believe that Sonic will be out sometime in June, which will be here before we know it. Mark Seiden was more guarded in terms of talking about his next game, but he did confirm that he is working on one. Jack said that he has played Mark's layout and "thought it was really great." Mark revealed that he scrapped his first whitewood entirely and started over, and is glad he did because "the new one shoots amazing." He compared his trashed first layout to his old game Stellar Wars. When asked about timing, he said "this year sometime" — which Jack noted is encouraging since it's still early in the year. I personally heard rumblings at the show that Mark's game will be a music theme. During the presentation we also received an update on Harry Potter. New Arcade Edition and Wizard Edition builds are scheduled for September. Some Collector Editions are still available but not many. Eric Meunier did a separate deep-dive seminar earlier at the show on "The Making of Harry Potter." Jack confirmed he filed a patent covering AI for pinball and gaming more broadly. He acknowledged that people (including me :) ) monitor trademark and patent filings and that the patent is written broadly, covering pinball, video games, and other game types. He also confirmed JJP is working on connectivity — "it's not a dead issue with us" — but is taking an Apple-like approach of letting others figure out the technology first rather than being an early adopter. !Advertisement Later on in the presentation, Jack talked about Under the Glass, which as I mentioned earlier is a new pinball parlor opening in Red Bank, New Jersey (about 2,500 square feet, themed, with memberships and parties). It was opened by longtime JJP customer Brian Klatsky and his partner Ed Haron. On the subject of licensing, Jack said he visits the Nintendo booth at License Expo every year and gets turned away — "pinball is not a category they license." He noted Gottlieb got two Nintendo licenses in the 1980s (Super Mario Bros. and presumably another) and speculated Nintendo may have had a bad experience. I'm not sure who Stern Pinball got the license for Pokémon from. Maybe it wasn't from Nintendo. If what Jack said about Nintendo is accurate, don't expect to see a Super Mario Brothers pinball machine any time soon as many people are hoping for. In Eric Meunier's earlier presentation about the making of Harry Potter, he told an interesting story about how Jersey Jack secured the license. Jack Guarnieri had been pursuing the Harry Potter license for about ten years before it finally opened up. The franchise wasn't available for pinball as a category until a new head of franchise licensing came aboard who happened to like pinball. The Warner Brothers franchise team visited Burbank and saw three pinball machines lined up — a Jersey Jack game (The Hobbit) and two from other manufacturers — and said they wanted "this kind of appreciation" turned into a Harry Potter pinball. Eric got a call from Jack one week before TPF 2023 (right after The Godfather launched) saying his flight was being rerouted to Burbank to pitch the game. He had one caffeine-fueled week to prepare a full concept — playfield layout, characters, assets, mechanisms, and required audio/video clips. His genuine lifelong passion for the franchise (he'd been a fan since picking up the first book at a Scholastic Book Fair in third grade and taught himself Hedwig's Theme on saxophone in high school) sold the licensing team. The game took just over two years from that pitch to release. Harry Potter the pin has 938 unique parts and over 3,200 total parts, all of which had to be drawn, sampled, inspected, and inventoried. Eric emphasized designing with manufacturability and serviceability in mind — the staircase top comes off with three accessible screws, and the only service issues have been occasional bad motors or loose set screws (five-minute repairs). So there you have it. We ended up getting a ton of new Jersey Jack info out of the show. Good stuff. I'm super excited to see Sonic. We won't have to wait much longer. New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement. Contact knapparcade@gmail.com today I have embedded the Jersey Jack seminars as well as a great presentation by my friend Brady Hearn on the music of Spooky Pinball's Beetlejuice and a gameplay stream of Turner Pinball's Yukon Yeti from the show below. Jersey Jack Pintastic 2026 - YouTube Tap to unmute Jersey Jack Pintastic 2026 Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo Pintastic 2025 - Jersey Jack Harry Potter - YouTube Tap to unmute Pintastic 2025 - Jersey Jack Harry Potter Creating the Sounds of the Afterlife Beetlejuice Pinball - YouTube Tap to unmute Yukon Yeti Gameplay - Pintastic 2026 Live - YouTube Tap to unmute Yukon Yeti Gameplay - Pintastic 2026 Live Posted 24 minutes ago k About knapparcade Site administrator Comments (0) Please sign in to join the conversation. No comments yet Be the first to share your thoughts on this post! Related Articles Information on Jersey Jack Pinball's Next Two Games and more from Pintastic New England 24 minutes ago Fish Tales: Ultimate Fishing Challenge 2.0 Pinball Kit Revealed at Pintastic New England 4 days ago 3 Musketeers Pinball Gameplay; Info on the Rumored Mountain Dew Pinball Machine; Deeproot Trial Update & More 4 days ago Subscribe to Updates Get the latest pinball news, blog posts, and event announcements delivered to your inbox Subscribe !Advertisement New sponsor slot Your sponsored ad here Be the first to claim this placement.