Jersey Jack Update 2024

Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo·video·33m 51s·analyzed·Feb 7, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

JJP leadership defends premium pricing, celebrates Elton John success, and emphasizes game quality over rapid release cycles.

Summary

Jersey Jack Pinball leadership discusses the company's philosophy, recent success of Elton John pinball, and the critical role of designer Steve Ritchie. The speaker emphasizes JJP's commitment to producing complete, high-quality games at launch rather than releasing unfinished products, highlights strong location operator performance (Toy Story #1 for 4 months, Elton John debuting at #3), and addresses questions about AI's future in game design. The presentation includes live gameplay demonstrations with audience participation.

Key Claims

Toy Story has been the number one game on the Replay Magazine chart for the last four months
high confidence · Speaker states this as a documented industry achievement with explanation that it's remarkable given other games have been on location longer
Elton John pinball debuted at number three on the Replay Magazine chart this month (first time on the chart)
high confidence · Speaker presents this as current data from the industry's primary location operator tracking publication
An operator's Elton John machine made $2,300 in the first month at a tavern location
medium confidence · Speaker references receiving a screenshot from an operator but notes that strong performers typically go unreported while failures spread quickly
Elton John pinball machines sold at auction for $200,000 each at an AC Academy Awards watch party charity event
high confidence · Speaker states two machines were donated to Elton John's age charity and went to auction at this specific event
JJP's Elton John game includes 1,600 RGB LEDs compared to Wizard of Oz's 139
high confidence · Speaker directly compares the two games' technical specifications as illustration of advancement
Jersey Jack games ship code-complete without requiring months of post-release fixes (unlike competitors)
medium confidence · Speaker makes this claim implicitly by contrasting JJP's approach with unnamed competitors who release unfinished products
Steve Ritchie was initially not hired when JJP was founded but was brought on later
high confidence · Speaker states this directly: 'if I made a mistake starting Jersey Jack pinball it probably was not to hire him in a very beginning uh but you know I fixed the mistake and I hired him later'
The speaker attended approximately 20 Elton John concerts since 1976 and one in 2019 inspired the game design concept
high confidence · Speaker recounts personal attendance at 20 shows and specific 2019 concert where he conceived the game's design philosophy

Notable Quotes

“if I made a mistake starting Jersey Jack pinball it probably was not to hire him in a very beginning uh but you know I fixed the mistake and I hired him later and uh we're very fortunate that he joined our company and we've been reaping the benefits of that”
Jersey Jack Pinball leadership (unnamed) @ ~00:00-01:00 — Reveals that Steve Ritchie's hiring was a corrective decision rather than original plan; indicates his value to company turnaround
“we don't all junk we really don't we leave that for other people to do... it takes a lot of money and a lot of dedication and the right people and the right portions and time to make something really great and you know our games cost what they cost because they are what they are”
Jersey Jack Pinball leadership @ ~02:00-03:00 — Direct justification for premium pricing model; implicit criticism of competitors releasing unfinished products
“Toy Story has been the number one game on the chart for the last four months which is quite an accomplishment because other games have been out a lot longer”
Jersey Jack Pinball leadership @ ~05:00 — Claims market-leading location operator performance; demonstrates operator demand for JJP games despite higher cost
“when something makes a lot lot of money you don't tell people about it you shut your mouth right if the game was broken and didn't make money the whole world would know about it I could assure you that”
Jersey Jack Pinball leadership @ ~06:00 — Explains why operator earnings data is incomplete; suggests strong performance is being concealed rather than publicized
“this is why Jersey Jack pinball makes games it makes games to make people happy and this game makes people happy”
Jersey Jack Pinball leadership @ ~13:00 — Statement of company mission/philosophy during discussion of personal emotional connection to Elton John machine
“I'm a 2d guy I draw with AutoCAD it's fast I love that because I can throw together a game quickly but he's a 3D guy and he helped me build ramps and a lot of other things”
Steve Ritchie @ ~11:00 — Ritchie describes his design methodology and collaborative learning with Mark (presumed to be another designer)

Entities

Steve Ritchieperson Jersey Jack PinballcompanyElton John (pinball machine)gameToy Story (pinball machine)gameWizard of Oz (pinball machine)gameThe Hobbit (pinball machine)gameGuns N' Roses (pinball machine)game

Signals

?
business_signal: Location operator earnings data heavily suppressed in public discourse; operators hide successful game performance to avoid creating competitive pressure or attention
high · Speaker states: 'when something makes a lot lot of money you don't tell people about it you shut your mouth' and contrasts with broken games generating public complaints
?
event_signal: Live Elton John machine gameplay demonstrations at Pintastic Expo with audience participation, prizes, and performer commentary; strong attendance and engagement
high · Extended event segment shows five contestant selections, gameplay scores tracked, prizes (posters, pizza) awarded, and enthusiastic audience participation
~
sentiment_shift: Positive reception to Elton John machine among diverse audience segments; many players surprised by game quality; emotional connection to theme strengthens engagement
high · Speaker reports 'people come up to me... they said you know I like Elton John I really don't love Elton John... but they love this game once they play the game'; contestants express enthusiasm during live play
?
competitive_signal: JJP explicitly contrasts with unnamed competitors via ship-complete philosophy; games released without requiring months of post-launch fixes; implicit criticism of other manufacturers
medium · Speaker states 'we don't abandon anything uh we make a full featured game' and 'our games are complete when they ship' with implicit contrast to 'other people' releasing junk
?
design_philosophy: Jersey Jack Pinball deliberately positions as family-friendly and inclusive; avoids 'inappropriate graphics'; contrasts with competitors' design choices to capture broader demographic

Topics

Steve Ritchie's role and value at Jersey Jack PinballprimaryElton John pinball machine design philosophy and market successprimaryJersey Jack Pinball's premium pricing justification and manufacturing philosophyprimaryLocation operator game performance metrics (Replay Magazine rankings)primaryCollaborative game design process at Jersey Jack PinballsecondaryAI's potential future applications in pinball game design and programmingsecondaryFamily-friendly game design philosophy and audience targetingsecondaryTechnical evolution of pinball (RGB LEDs, display integration)mentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Speaker expresses pride in company accomplishments, celebrates team contributions, defends pricing against implicit criticism, and emphasizes positive market performance. Some implicit criticism of unnamed competitors releasing unfinished products. Overall tone is confident, celebratory, and defensive of company positioning. Live event section adds upbeat, friendly audience engagement tone.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

what can be said about Steve Ritchie that hasn't been said already really not much I think everything's been said about Steve All Good Things Steve's been a dear friend of mine for many years and uh you know since I'm among friends I probably just tell you this if I made a mistake starting Jersey Jack pinball it probably was not to hire him in a very beginning uh but you know I fixed the mistake and I hired him later and uh we're very fortunate that he joined our company and we've been reaping the benefits of that and that's the result of Steve doing what Steve knows how to do with a great team when you let him have the resources and the time to do it you get something great and it takes longer to make something great you know we don't all junk we really don't we leave that for other people to do I don't know who they are the guilty you'll admit it and say something like nice but not really not really it's all Pinball it's all good no not you not you no really I mean if you think about it when you put a lot into something it takes a lot of money and a lot of dedication and the right people and the right portions and time to make something really great and to make something great it believe it or not it cost more to make something great and you know our games cost what they cost because they are what they are our games are complete when they ship they're code complete they're a real game you don't have to wait months and months eventually with certain things we do come back and fix it like we're doing what with uh Guns and Roses balancing the score as Bill explained in his seminar we don't abandon anything uh we make a full featured game we include a Topper all the beautiful bling the radal that are unique to our company um all the sparkle Playfield I don't think I've been doing this a long time and I know I'm partial but I really can't find more beautiful game than Elon John either either version and I wouldn't be able to decide which art package I like better I mean the topper is amazing on this game but um we have actually had people uh they just can't figure out which model they want the PE is beautiful and the CE is beautiful and we're very fortunate we're selling them very well and we're building them right now and shipping them right now so uh you know it's really really cool um we we donated some games to Elton John for his age charity and you might have heard that two of these games at auction at the AC Academy Awards watch party went for $200,000 each bargain yeah can we can we go buy uh a Ferrari for 20 grand can we go buy Apple stock for $8 a share probably not we'd all like to get in that time machine and do what we didn't do but we can't do it you know and um why why did I do Wizard of Oz somebody asked me that today people still ask me about that and I said I I did Wizard of Oz and somebody pulled actually a video of me saying it um I did Wizard of Oz because I wanted the women and and young people to play Pinball I thought we could bring technology into pinball that hasn't been brought in there imagine pinball machines today with no RGB LEDs or no screening the backbox I mean it's so common but the first time we had RGB LEDs it was kind of an amazing thing to see all of these uh lights slide up and wizard of O had 139 RGB LEDs and this game has what 1,600 1,600 so think about it you know what I said with wizard ofas was uh we didn't put the kitchen sink in the game we put the whole plumbing department in there and that's certainly what we did with this game and really the DNA of the company is that we always try to outdo ourselves it started in the beginning when we made Wizard of Oz we said we're making the greatest pinball machine ever and then when we did The Hobbit we said we're making a better pinball machine than Wizard of Oz Wizard ofis is the worst pinball machine in the world but all our Games stand next to each other they're all unique they all have different Innovations different features and you could tell they're brother and sister to each other um um people people just love the games and as we do more and more the audience grows bigger you know now we have a lot of games on location uh in replay magazine the industry magazine uh Toy Story has been the number one game on the chart for the last four months which is quite an accomplishment because other games have been out a lot longer and uh Toy Story is a phenomenal game on location it earns a lot of money and just this month uh Elton John debuted at number three so that was the first time on the Trot too so operators of which I was one they always think well what is the game cost you know they're expensive but really what you need to think is what does a game make and U Elton John in a in a location we got a screenshot from a somebody that owns a uh a Tavern in the first month it did 2,300 bucks now here's what happens and I can say this as an operator when something makes a lot lot of money you don't tell people about it you shut your mouth right if the game was broken and didn't make money the whole world would know about it I could assure you that but because we don't hear about this doesn't mean that it's not happening I know it's happening and it's great because operators are coming more and more now buying buying our games so it's really good um what I like to do is I'd like to get some people involved in playing this game uh we're going to give some prizes but first i'm going to open the floor up for a few questions to the panel if anybody has a mean oh yeah how about a Guns and uh-huh next question but thank you yes Ryan of do you like you grown being in each other's company I know he gave you tool I mean other than that um Mark what's it been like working with Steve Steve what's it been like passing knowled to Mark I enjoyed being abusive towards him that is true that's a popular opinion um no Steve has helped refine my current game he if if something doesn't shoot right he tells me right away he's he's like no got you got to fix this so yeah so um he's been continuing to do that and now now that mostly the layout's set um he's been helping with the rules and me like this isn't Fun you need to fix this uh he plays my game pretty much daily now and um comes in the office and says I like this but I don't like this so like all right so like and we we work through it yeah do you feel more confident now that if you designed something from scratch You' be like I without even asking Steve I could design something I know he would like than than if I mean if it goes fast yeah he he'll love it my first answer was not true I I learned a lot from Mark plus Mark helped me a lot I'm I'm a 2d guy I don't know if you know what that means I draw with AutoCAD it's fast I love that because I can throw together a game quickly but he's a 3D guy and he helped me build ramps and a lot of other things and um I don't know it's been a great relationship in my opinion he might have a different one but you know we've got to be good friends and uh all the SIDS pretty much and uh I don't know it's been great glad to hear that okay yes what's your favorite part of the joh machine for all of you what something that you really enjoy in this game specifically that you haven't seen or that you want to see more of who you asking all of us okay we'll answer simultaneously I like the stars [Laughter] get all right um I really like the crocodile but um like the thing I like about it is um it's a game that um I don't think I'll ever see the end of but I feel like I can like get close and like that keeps me playing over and over and over I think that's what I really like about it I really like the piano display I I think it I like the integration of the piano and and the way it the way it draws you in from across the room I I just think it's a really neat feature I guess I like um I like how the shots feel and I like I like the effects speaking of that piano display there's one that just blew my mind a guy yeah wasn't it Taylor that that worked on the sparkly part you know the white I think so a new programmer we have there and I I asked him to expand it and I I love when you go up the ramp and that display and the lights Sparkle it's awesome it feels good uh for me it's really not one thing it's the whole experience um what I what I thought of in my mind I was at an Alton John concert in uh 2019 with my wife and I've been to about 20 shows with her uh since 1976 and it was a big picture on the screen behind him of him playing a piano and in his eyes his glasses was the reflection of the keys and I took a picture of that because it was just it just hit me and at that moment I said to myself this is a pinball machine really because Elton John to me and millions of people around the world he's a soundtrack of people's lives for you know many many many years a whole lifetime perhaps um he's uh an example of excess and he's an example of charity he's a great humanitarian he's a good person and uh he brought smiles to people's faces so who better than have Steve Ritchie design the game with the team because when I play the game I just smile it makes me happy you know I I make shots that I didn't know I could make especially with the right flipper I think that's one of the greatest right flippers on any game I think I can do anything with that flipper and the game just goes on and on and the songs uh we picked a lot of songs that were really maybe I wouldn't have put leave on in there my wife said you got to have leave on in again I'm like really it's not it's like I'm going to fall asleep but it but it works in the game and and Elton John's people and his husband who we work with closely every week really to prove everything uh loved all of that and when I got my game during the summer I got a Prototype game a PE game and uh after I set it up uh the first song I wanted to play was Pinball Wizard and I remember opening a Captain Fantastic in 1976 that was brand new and I remember how excited I was to open that game up to get it on location and when I went to Captain Fantastic and I pushed thought and it started playing the music and all the lights came on and everything like that and I shot the ball I had like a full circle experience like I never planned on starting the pinball company that was not not not something I was going to do that's got to be out of your mind to do that that's pretty hard but I played the game and I was just blown away all the orbit shots everything about the game just made me smile and I said this is why Jersey Jack pinball makes games it makes games to make people happy and this game makes people happy I've had people come up to me and all of us not just at this show but a lot of a lot of uh phone calls emails people said you know I like Elton John I really don't love Elton John I like his music you know but they love this game once they play the game right how many people were just genuinely surprised at how good this game is when you first played it yeah look at that I mean it's a Steve game just blown away yeah it's a it's a Steve game but Steve Steve is Steve and Steve's amazing but he had an amazing group of people on the team and everybody contributed something um and it was it was really good and and that so a long-winded professorial answer I don't have one thing that I like about the game I just love the whole game I mean the artwork when we did Rad Kels on uh the PE art package and then we did Rad Cals on the CEO package the way they looked we said you have to have rad Cals on both games when you get a license like Elton John it doesn't come along that often you really have to pay a lot of respect to it and even the video the promo video that we did the production quality and the content was so great Elton John shared it on his own on his own web pages and social media so we didn't just phone it in you know if you get a great theme sometimes maybe you could phone it in and say well it'll sell because of the theme but we don't do that we really go that's a garym philosophy isn't it who get what you could get you get what you could get so yeah anybody else yes the gentleman in the D jacket you think AI has any future invol personally I do I think AI is is going to revolutionize everything I mean it's it's it's bigger than when the internet happened to me I think so I think uh it'll create a lot of jobs I think it'll uh change people's lives I could see it in pinball for a lot of different things you know if I go to chat GPT right now and I say to chat GPT tell me a story about Mike D donor from automated Services he's a great guy and he sells pinball machines it's going to spit out a whole story about Mike Theona so you know I don't want to say it this way but maybe I could and I'm not looking to eliminate anybody's job but maybe I tell the computer hey these are the rules I want for the game I want this to happen this to happen this to happen and the other thing to happen and maybe it gets programmed in five minutes bill have a different job then he'll be running the factory again but I don't know you know we don't know the future you know what I was saying before about what I said in 2011 about having women and and young people come to shows it came true not because I was so smallart I such a Visionary but if you make a product that only appeals to one segment of of the population you're only going to appeal to one segment of population US Freaks and Geeks are the only people at the shows then you don't have fa families you don't have children you don't have wives you don't have women they're not welcome you know when you do games that have uh what I would call inappropriate graphics on them or things like that um you get different audience not that there's anything wrong with it people have their own opinions but we have an opinion too and uh that's what we want to promote so uh yeah somebody next anybody okay good so we'll move to the next part of the program which is getting some people to play this game and bill is going to actually do a playby playay and you're going to win a prize I am you are you're going to win a slice of pizza there's about eight pizzas out there you guys want to open this up so we can show them what they're going to win okay in about a half hour I'll show you what you're going to win why did I give that to you you couldn't do it any faster no you no freaking way no freaking way could you do it on you're right I'm not I'm not I'm not arguing you will you help them give me your voice give me your voice I'll do the next one what do you want give me your voice yeah what kind of voice yeah what do you want run home to Mother maggot that's nice nice David Hankin nice David Hankin get a piece of [Applause] pizza know aut okay so fix it I'm gonna pick thank you thank you D thank you his right his pants were wrinkled I'm GNA pick five people to start with okay and we're going to see what's going to happen all right who really wants one of these posters okay how many did you bring all right you yes [Applause] uh that gentleman there with the orange and black uh that guy uh that lady there with the red thing around her neck you yes how many is that so far the guy all the way in the back there with his hand up that guy you oh that guy yeah you all right one more one more Steve pick somebody oh jeez you mag all right that guy in the corner back there his name is Raphael I think Raphael got your name Raphael so five of you test this line up over here Bill what do you think we're going to do we're g to make it based on score we're going to make it based on just uh what are we going to do are they going to play one ball what do you want to set up for one ball yeah you want the portable mik this the portable mic um whatever you want to for one ball um let's see if you can get to 3 million points try that all right who's up [Applause] first how do we get six people by the way you can't count huh you can't count all right what song are you going to pick first place has to the game no I have another post I'm still [Music] standing are you going to tell us what she doing yeah I'll try little volume [Music] bill all right what are we doing here oh no one and a half 1 point5 million find out her name and where she's from come on find out these people who are they all right who is our first contestant here who's your daddy and what do he and I'm from Massachusetts thanks for playing all right just we have here so far just go to the back of the line and I'm from Ohio what was the score by the way the first score 1.5 million somebody write that down a score got a pen I got you you're a scorekeeper 1.5 million what was her name Julia Julia welcome to my world underl all right we going try Crocodile Rock opening made the side ramp for super skill good all right we're colting Stars here oh crocodile lock lit shoot for the crocodile First Lock we're up to 1.1 million trying for the hurry up where's the hurry up side drop targets time's running out last chance the drop targets o [Music] close you imagine that at work all week long getting close 2.3 million we're getting close get the second lock and start multiball 2.8 got I think that's a winner Jack that's a winner 3.9 million his name where's he from my name is Fred I'm from Nova Scotia Canada is this your first time here your first time at the show yeah Gab first time of the [Music] show all right go ahead friend welcome to my world great choice I think he always says that they're all good I think he's a little biased he likes all of them like it's kind of like me with my games I like them all all right setting up a skill shot here it's the drop Target skill shot colleting Stars got to spell Elton John Del light signature stage multi [Applause] ball saam it's the side very nice up to 1 million already C 3.1 [Music] nice one more lock to start Crocodile Rock [Music] [Applause] multiball 6.9 million ni nice nice shirt I don't know she's keeping count all right sorry I don't know you hello I'm Bri Reynolds and I'm from [Applause] Chicago like the cheese like the cheese like the cheese all right which song are you going to pick no PR nobody's pick pinb wizard it is Saturday Saturday but not in here go in somebody else's Booth ask somebody for a discount on the game that's should do drop targets no skill shot there you go too the guy with one leg is dancing the guy with one leg is here' be dancing thanks for playing yeah yeah yeah yeah he's not here 500,000 all right who do we have next I'm Eric from Brookline Massachusetts all right good luck Eric ask him about his topper on his game ask him what he did to the topper that guy chopped a sealing out to put his game his topper in his game he chopped the ceiling out of his house all right he's got Crocodile Rock First Lock lit Oh No 1 mil 700,000 wait wait sorry 1 million 1 million with phones 1 million million and who's our next contest my name is Gino from Rhode Island all right good luck where's he from rhod Island Rhode Island all right a Lo got the lock Li for crocodile St you're making a work for go oh Kickback saves the ball [Music] [Applause] game 2.4 million all right so uh uh who who's who who's the uh first person that got the highest score got 69 mil Fred move to the front of the line please Fred you're okay Fred for a first time person to the place it's not your first time playing pinball apparently no not even play okay who's number two number two Crystal with three Crystal are you in a lead you're not in the league maybe you should think about it okay all right who's number three Julia 1.5 very cool stand by the wall over there I'm gonna take mug shots after and who's four Gino Gino hey Gino casy almost and Eric I want you to know we're having a carpenter come over your house to uh fix your ceiling after this uh show is over okay by the way when you did that what did your wife say I'd like Matt to talk about of all what you're still living at you're still living you're still living at that house right I was almost staying in the Bas forgiveness not permission huh well good for you that's uh and I guess number six is a number six spot okay all right so here's what we're GNA do I have I have five I have I thought I had five posters but I have six so you get a poster and you get a poster and you get a poster and you get a poster and you get a you get a so uh when we done with this in a couple minutes just come up front we'll unwrap them we'll sign them and you can have them again thank you somebody take a picture of all the winners where's our photo journalists there you go how do I pay you for I don't even know who you are what's your go okay now uh we're auctioning off pizzas the next thing we're going to do we have some extra pizzas out no if you want a pizza just take it with you bring it up to your room you can they say Gabe those pizzas are good for 60 days [Laughter] right all right well I think we had enough fun for Theon night right never It's never enough well we want to on behalf of Jersey Jack pinball we want to thank everybody for doing what you do which is just um loving pinball promoting pinball being positive not being negative in a world where there's a lot of negativity and a lot of people pulling you down and everything like that I always say I can't be negative because my be my blood type is be positive which it actually is yeah see not it's pretty rare I found that out when I donated blood that my blood type was B positive I says how weird is [Music] that yeah really all right everybody well thank you again have a good night be safe God bless and please take some pizza please take some pizza