Episode 1097: "Kaneda's Harry Potter Playfield Thoughts"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast (Patreon feed)·podcast_episode·23m 55s·analyzed·Jun 4, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Kaneda analyzes leaked Harry Potter playfield, predicts software-driven success but warns against muted clips.

Summary

Kaneda analyzes a leaked Harry Potter pinball playfield image ahead of the official reveal, criticizing the image quality and internal leak while assessing the game's design philosophy. He predicts the game will emphasize shot geometry and software integration (code, music, movie clips) over signature mechanical wow-factors, comparing it favorably to Avatar/Elton John but concerned about muted video clips and artwork execution. He believes the game will dominate the market and tank secondary values of other JJP titles if the integration is done right.

Key Claims

The Harry Potter playfield image was leaked internally from Jersey Jack, likely by Jack Danger himself sharing it with privileged buyers and friends.
medium confidence · Kaneda directly accuses Jack Danger of being 'the leak of all Jersey Jack future titles' with 'four letters: J-A-C-K'
The game features four flippers with an upper right flipper setup, a soft plunger, and a staircase mechanism on the left side.
high confidence · Kaneda describes 'four flipper game,' 'upper right flipper,' and visible staircase in the playfield image analysis
The Harry Potter game will emphasize speed, flow, and shot geometry inspired by Steve Ritchie rather than signature large mechanical wow-factors like previous JJP games.
high confidence · Kaneda states 'this is a Steve Ritchie inspired game,' 'this game is going to be all about speed,' and 'there is not a singular wow big how did they do that mechanism'
The CE version topper will be the Hogwarts Castle sculpture.
high confidence · Kaneda confirms 'the CE version of this game, the topper, is going to be Hogwarts Castle. So that is confirmed as well'
Jersey Jack sent a cease-and-desist letter to the homebrew Harry Potter game creator to prevent people from seeing the potential of a large castle sculpt.
medium confidence · Kaneda references 'Jersey Jack sent that gentleman a cease and desist letter' regarding the homebrew version
Eric Minier is the designer of Harry Potter, and Joe Katz is the primary coder, with possible additional help from Keith Johnson and influence from Steve Ritchie.
high confidence · Kaneda states 'Joe Katz is coding this, but yeah, I bet Keith Johnson also helped,' and 'Eric Minier really listened to Steve Ritchie'
The game will be 90% code complete when it ships and Jersey Jack threw significant resources at it, including the Abbott family money, Steve Ritchie, and the full team.
medium confidence · Kaneda speculates 'it's going to be 90% or more code complete' and 'Jersey Jack pinball through everything they had at this game'

Notable Quotes

“I love the way leaks work. Like somebody gets it. They never reveal where they got it. They send it to you and you know, you always say, I'm not going to share it out. And I did not share it out to the person who sent it to me.”
Kaneda @ early_discussion — Kaneda acknowledges the ethics of leaks while being critical of internal information sharing within Jersey Jack's network
“You don't want to see something early in a terrible form like this because right now everybody is formulating an opinion. They're deconstructing this game with the worst image imaginable.”
Kaneda @ mid_analysis — Core criticism of premature image leaks affecting public perception before proper reveal
“I think 30% of this game's conversation is going to be about the shots and the geometry. And I think 70% of this game is going to be about the code, about the theme song they got from John Williams, about David Thiel with his 50 songs.”
Kaneda @ assessment_section — Defines Kaneda's prediction about what will drive the game's success and reception
“The only thing that will kill this game for me is if it's eight movies of muted clips. If the clips are muted, I'm done with JJP. I mean that I'm done with them.”
Kaneda @ closing_concerns — Strongest criticism threshold—Kaneda makes video clip integration quality a dealbreaker for his assessment of Jersey Jack
“When you put a Jersey Jack game next to a stern it makes a stern look like a tinker toy it does and if this game is as stunning as i think it going to be in person... this game is going to crush... it's going to make a Godzilla Ellie look like a $5,000 pin.”
Kaneda @ market_prediction — Extremely bullish prediction about Harry Potter's market dominance and impact on competitor positioning
“I am admittedly not the biggest Harry Potter fan. But I think when this game gets turned on and you see this game tomorrow and you see the launch video tomorrow... this game is going to embarrass everything else that's come out this year.”
Kaneda @ closing_prediction — Kaneda's final take emphasizing software execution over personal IP fandom as the success driver

Entities

Kanedaperson Jack DangerpersonEric MinierpersonSteve Ritchieperson Joe Katzperson Keith Johnsonperson David Thielperson

Signals

?
leak_detection: Kaneda explicitly identifies Jack Danger (JJP owner) as the likely source of the playfield image leak, claiming he shares upcoming games with wealthy buyers and inner circle before official reveals
medium · Kaneda states: 'Four letters. The leak of all Jersey Jack images. The leak of all Jersey Jack future titles is J-A-C-K. It's Jack. Jack leaks everything. He's got his friends, his millionaires, his buddies, his buyers'
?
design_innovation: Harry Potter playfield emphasizes wide-open speed and upper-playfield action inspired by Steve Ritchie's shot geometry philosophy rather than signature large mechanical effects
high · Kaneda observes: 'this is a Steve Ritchie inspired game,' 'this game is going to be all about speed,' 'Everything is happening much further up the play field,' and notes the absence of large singular wow mechanics
?
product_strategy: Jersey Jack positioned CE variant for Harry Potter diehards with unique Hogwarts Castle topper, while Wizard Edition offers identical gameplay at lower tier, suggesting tiered market approach
high · Kaneda notes: 'the CE version of this game, the topper, is going to be Hogwarts Castle' and 'If you're a Harry Potter fan, that artwork excites you... go get the Wizard Edition because it's the same exact game'
~
sentiment_shift: Kaneda expresses concern that Eric Minier is not traditionally known for gameplay-first design; predicts success depends on software execution rather than mechanical innovation
high · Kaneda states: 'Eric's not known for gameplay,' references GNR (best seller) collapsing in value due to poor gameplay, and pivots to claiming success will be 70% software, 30% geometry
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Topics

Playfield Design & MechanicsprimaryVideo Clip Integration & Muted AudioprimaryLeaked Product Information & Internal DynamicsprimarySoftware Complexity & Code QualityprimarySecondary Market Value & Competitive ImpactprimaryArtwork & Aesthetic DesignsecondaryLimited Edition Pricing & Production VolumesecondaryCompetitor Game Performance (King Kong, Dune, Predator)secondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.65)— Kaneda is enthusiastic about Harry Potter's potential, particularly software and shot geometry, but critical of specific design choices (artwork, inserts, playfield text size) and concerned about video clip muting. Bullish on market impact but not personally impressed by aesthetics or mechanical features.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.072

It's the final countdown! The final countdown! La-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit, la-sit! Welcome everybody to Canadian Pinball Podcast! Here we go again! Before a game is officially revealed, we've got crappy, blurry images of the game. I knew this image was going to leak. Everybody I talked to yesterday was looking at it. Nobody wanted to share it. And then somebody shared it on Pinside. And now it's open season. I'm looking at this Harry Potter play field. What do we think? Is this the second coming of pinball? Is this the loaded return to Pirates, return to Wizard of Oz moment for this game? or is this game going to be more like Avatar? Is it going to be more about speed and about flow? I think the answer might be somewhere in the middle. It's hard to tell. At this top-down, bird's-eye view of the game, you don't get any sense of where the mechs really are. Where is the ball doing magical stuff? It looks like it's jumping over. some of those wire forms. I think we're going to see some balls flying through midair a la Wizards on broomsticks. The quidditch stuff in the upper left looks like a lot of fun and really fast. But I think this game, when I look at it right now, you can tell it's going to be all about speed. It's a basically like a wide open game. Everything is happening much further up the play field. If you look at the ramp on the left, I feel like in Guns N' Roses, that ramp entrance is a good like three inches south of where the entrance is here. It's pretty much looking like almost like a fan layout with an upper right flipper. When I saw this game for the first time, I was like, this is a Steve Ritchie inspired game. I think Steve Ritchie helped out. I think that's a good thing. I think Elton John is the most satisfying Jersey Jack game of all time to shoot. And so I think Eric Minier really listened to Steve Ritchie when it comes to shot geometry, because over the years, you're going to get a little tired of the code. You're going to get bored of the artwork, but you're never going to get bored of great gameplay. And nobody knows that more than Steve Ritchie. I mean, a man who's given you, he's given us great gameplay on some of the most atrocious looking games. Hello, artwork on Game of Thrones and Star Wars. This guy cares the most about gameplay more than anything. And I think his influence on Eric will be good because Eric's not known for gameplay. In fact, the best selling Jersey Jack game of all time, Guns and Roses continues to collapse in value because the gameplay sucks. You get used to the light show. You get used to the artwork. And the reason why you don't want to keep going back to Guns and Roses is the gameplay is pretty much atrocious when you jump on a game that has real flow and real gameplay. So here's the thing. I'm looking at this game right now and I think everyone is realizing, well, first and foremost, the leak of the game. You know who's leaking this game. Someone had to get this image. This image came internally from Jersey Jack. It wasn't from Warner Brothers. It's not Warner Brothers executives. Everybody knows who the leak is. Four letters. The leak of all Jersey Jack images. The leak of all Jersey Jack future titles is J-A-C-K. It's Jack. Jack leaks everything. He's got his friends, his millionaires, his buddies, his buyers, his like family, everybody who's in with Jack gets everything early. So somebody took, this is what sucks. Somebody took a high res image and blurred it out to share as if that was going to do anything to keep it away from them. I love the way leaks work. Like somebody gets it. They never reveal where they got it. They send it to you and you know, you always say, I'm not going to share it out. And I did not share it out to the person who sent it to me. You know who you are. You're listening right now. I told you I wasn't going to send it out. And you asked me not to share the play field. I did not until Pinside had the image. And once that happens, then yeah, I'm going with it. I'm going with it. It's no longer a mystery. It's up on a public site and Robin will never do the solid thing and take it down. And I don't even think he should, because in the end, it's Jack's fault that this gets out. And I feel bad for Eric and everybody who works on it because this is a minor form of sabotaging your own team. You don't do this. You don't want to see something early in a terrible form like this because right now everybody is formulating an opinion. They're deconstructing this game with the worst image imaginable. It's not even like it's blurry. It looks like it's like water colored a little bit. Like it just looks bad. It just looks awkward and weird to the point where some people think there's not even inlanes and there's not even slingshots. Yeah there are slingshots and there are inlanes in this game And so as I look at this game and I see the wire forms and I see the shot layout and I see the three wizard wands where the guns and roses drumsticks were. Here's what I feel about this game. Just looking at it. I think this is not going to be a return to the magical loaded mech driven games of Jersey Jack's past. I don't. I think there's going to be some fun stuff in this. I think the mechs are going to be more about like diverting the ball and maybe magnetizing the ball here and there. But in terms of like one large mech, that's going to be the speak of the game. Something like King Kong smashing a subway car, something like the Godzilla building, something like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. As I look at this game, I can tell you right now, there is not a singular wow, big, how did they do that mechanism in the game? I think it's going to be the sum of its parts. It's going to be more like Avatar and Elton John had a baby, maybe more like Avatar and I don't know what game has like some mechanisms, but not too many, but I don't even know, right? Because this is what Jersey Jack's been doing. They've been doing this now for five years. There were no major mechs in GNR. There were no major mechs in Toy Story. There were no major mechs in Godfather or in Elton John or in Avatar. In fact, the reason I kind of still like Elton John after all this time, at least it had that major piano mech that just stood out and screamed Elton John. And looking at this, I don't even know like what that thing is sort of like to on the right side of the game. It looks like some sort of like brass, I don't know, accordion looking thing. I don't know what that's going to do. It's like there's the staircase on the left. There's the Quidditch match on the upper left. There's a flying car. There's someone flying through the air. Everybody, we know that car is not going to move. It's not actually going to fly across the game. It's going to be on a wire. It's a cake topper. It's a matchbox car. Overall, I think this game is going to be fast. I think it's going to have more enjoyable mechs in it and more enjoyable mechanical features in it. That's where I think this game is going to shine because unlike Avatar, where none of the mechanical stuff was interesting or satisfying, I think Harry Potter is going to be very satisfying as a physical shooter, as a mechanical game that you experience. I do. I don't think it's going to have the big wow toy, but I do think that some of its parts are going to make it one of the most magical games of the year. I don't know. It's too early to tell if it's a masterpiece and all that stuff. But I can also tell you this. Let's look at the artwork. The artwork here is not amazing. It's just not. Like we all know if Franchi made this, it would look much better. This just feels like, I don't know, it's kind of pedestrian. It's kind of like very expected artwork. I'm also looking at the inserts and there's not a lot of some of those like tiny little LED inserts that Jersey Jack had put in games like Wonka and Guns N' Roses. And that's a little disappointing because looking at this game right now, I can tell you the light show is not going to be crazy cool because of the inserts. Now, one thing I don't know, and maybe there are little inserts and this blurry photo is making it hard to see this. And this could make the light show really awesome. I'm not sure if there are tiny LED lights in the windows of Hogwarts Castle that's in this game right above Harry in the middle of the playfield near the flippers. I don't think there's going to be LEDs because you can kind of see the artwork. You can see the yellow glow of the art itself and it's like colorized windows. So I am just a little bit like, oh, you know, here we go. It doesn't feel like it's going to have the biggest, wow-est light show, but it also feels like it's going to be like Elton John. And if you've ever stood over an Elton John, it's so bright, it's so inviting. But, right, there's a big but here. This isn't really the bright, colorful sort of purples and reds and maroons and greens. It feels like this game is struggling to figure out if it wants to be a bright game or more of a sort of darker Harry Potter in which Hogwarts Castle has more mystery and intrigue. And I'm just not feeling any of like the spookiness of this franchise. And I think they went for a much more colorful, inviting overall color palette, both on the play field and on the CE artwork of the game. And what's interesting, too, is like when you think about the CE cabinet artwork, it doesn't really sort of wash over onto this version of the game. So I'm curious to see if the CE play field is exactly the same as the LE play field. I bet it's not. I don't know. Because right now we're looking at the CE play field because we see the gold armor. By the way, how funny is it? It's clearly like leftover armor from Godfather. I mean that is clearly a business and cost decision Or maybe it a little bit different We shall find out But overall you know looking down at the artwork I don think the art going to blow people away but it fine right I don hate it I just don love it I don think it matters much You know what I'm saying? I feel like people will be fine with it. And I think in person, when we see the high def colors and we see everything going on in this game, it's gonna be just fine I don't like the size of the apron card magnets on the game they are ginormous the rule set on the left side of the game is idiotic it is huge it's clearly like maybe like all eight books or all eight things you're trying to do this is so stupid why would you put this on the game like this like do you need a magnifying glass I no one's gonna be able to walk up to a game and read all of that. And also Eric's signature on the right side is equally, that whole letter is enormous. And it just doesn't look good. I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry. It just looks a little weird. But yeah, it looks like we've got a four flipper game. It looks like that upper right flipper is going to be a lot of fun. It looks like we have a game that's not a soft plunge, which is good. And just so you guys know, the CE version of this game, the topper, is going to be Hogwarts Castle. So that is confirmed as well. Now, after looking down at this game, knowing that it's fast, knowing that it's going to be a great gameplay game, I don't think it has like the wow mech. Everyone was expecting a Hogwarts Castle sculpt under glass. that homebrew version of Harry Potter, really, really way more impressive, right? Way more impressive. And there's a reason why Jersey Jack sent that gentleman a cease and desist letter because they didn't want people to see the potential, right? Look at that game. Look at that game next to this game. I mean, yeah, this is cool, but this is no that. And I get it. Like that guy's not making a mass produced game. He can do whatever he wants. But man, that's what I think people wanted in Harry Potter was a little bit more, maybe a lot more of a big castle of a sculpt of the Quidditch being like the Star Wars flying around the entire game, not just a little upper left section of the play field. So people were saying to me yesterday, like they're like, Canada, you're looking at it and you're not blown away the way you were by other games. And I guess I'm just at the point now, gang, where like nothing's really blowing me away anymore. I'm also not trying to overly hype these things because in the end, I still need to see this game in action because to me, this game is going to be fast. This game is going to have a lot more shot geometry and satisfying flow. To me, this game is all going to be about what's in the software. I think 30% of this game's conversation is going to be about the shots and the geometry. And I think 70% of this game is going to be about the code, about the theme song they got from John Williams, about David Thiel with his 50 songs and his sound effects and all the atmospheric stuff he's going to do. It's going to be about the movie clips. Are they muted? Did they put everything into this? Did they get everything from those movies? Because I could see this game if it has the assets and it has them properly put into the game and you're playing through all these memorable moments and all these iconic scenes and it's brought to life perfectly in this game. And it's also satisfying to shoot. And it's the kind of game that just keeps you coming back for more, right? It's like Elton John gameplay wise wants you to keep coming back, but you don't want to keep going back and hearing the same damn Elton John songs. And you also don't care about collecting clothes in his wardrobe. You just don't care. And what's on the screen in Elton John is horrible. The way they integrate it is horrible. It's just a collage that's never ending. It's like a screensaver. So if this game feels like this epic journey through the eight Harry Potter movies where it's integrated right and it's fun and it's a storyline and there's multiple ways to get through that story and it's just rewarding and it's not multiball heavy, I think this is going to be a smash hit for Jersey Jack. Caveat coming. I also feel no need to buy one right away if the order window to get a CE is significant. If they're going to make thousands of these things over the next three years, I'm happy to still wait it out a little bit because the price will drop on every single model and it'll probably drop very significantly. I still am hoping that they limit these CEs to no more. I'm going to wish here no more than 1500. I think that's a pipe dream. Again, I think they're going to make thousands of them. And I think once this game gets put out in the world, there's so many rich people who love Harry Potter. There's so many rich people with kids who love Harry Potter. There's so many rich people with wives that love Harry Potter. And hey, there's so many non-rich people that love Harry Potter and might save up and pull the trigger on this There is no denying the fact when you put a Jersey Jack game next to a stern it makes a stern look like a tinker toy it does and if this game is as stunning as i think it going to be in person and if it shoots as good as i think it's going to shoot and it's going to have assets from one of the biggest ips in the world the way i think it's going to have it and it's going to sound the way david thiel is going to make it sound this game is going to crush you're going to put it next to Godzilla and it's going to make a Godzilla Ellie look like a $5,000 pin. I mean it. And when you see the Hogwarts castle is the CE topper, and that's going to come with the game, it's going to be 90% or more code complete. When this game drops Jersey Jack pinball through everything they had at this game. I mean, it's not just like Eric and like David, everything they had. They threw the Abbott's family money at the license. They threw Steve Ritchie into the ring to help with the geometry. All the people are helping on this game, right? It's like Joe Katz is coding this, but yeah, I bet Keith P. Johnson also helped. Hopefully he didn't put any multi balls in. And hopefully you're not selecting one of 35 characters before you start a game. But I'm just saying this company knew what this game meant. And for those of you out there that are like, well, if they threw everything on it, what about this CE cabinet artwork? I'm just imploring you. If you are a Harry Potter fan, that artwork excites you. If you're a Harry Potter movie fan, guess what? Then go get the Wizard Edition because it's the same exact game. And so I think the move by Jersey Jack to do it that way is great. Like they almost made the CE for the diehards. And that's why when I see these grown men on pin side, you know who they are. These people usually wear cargo shorts and have no taste. Like if you were to see the artwork in the houses of these gentlemen, I know people make fun of my artwork, but come on gang, face it. Like this isn't the most stylistic and fashionable group of people weighing in on that art package. I like it because I think it's different. And again, I think it's going to look stunning in person. And look, there's not one thing that blows me away in this game. I am admittedly not the biggest Harry Potter fan. But I think when this game gets turned on and you see this game tomorrow and you see the launch video tomorrow. And I think when you see the sum of all of its parts, this game is going to embarrass everything else that's come out this year. You're going to regret buying King Kong. You're probably going to regret buying an empty dune. You don't even care anymore about Predator. Those guys are silly. They so silly the way they tease the game. Cengiz is showing mostly everything and then they don't even show the game this week. It's over for those guys. And good luck if Arnold's not in the game. Talk about a case study in marketing idiocracy. Go look at the Pinball Brothers launch of Predator. Get everybody really excited. The weak Harry Potter's coming out. And then release nothing as Harry Potter absorbs millions of dollars of money from people. And those people are not going to go buy another game. Especially if they're not going to buy a Predator without Arnold in it. It's like buying Harry Potter without Harry Potter. in it. Wake up, guys. You should have released that game a month ago when you were supposed to. Yeah, we were waiting on this date. No, you were waiting for tariffs to get lifted or something. And now you're going to get clobbered in the marketplace. Gang, this game, I think, is going to raise the bar. I do. And I think also the other thing this game is going to do, get ready for it because I'm ready for it. This game is going to tank the value of almost every other Jersey Jack game. We haven't had a Jersey Jack game that's shot well, that's a theme that people love, and is integrated in the right way. The only thing, and I mean this, then I'm going to end this show. The only thing that will kill this game for me is if it's eight movies of muted clips. If the clips are muted, I'm done with JJP. I mean that I'm done with them. I'm tired of it. If you can't get it right, don't do it at all. So that's me hoping, hoping that the integration of these films looks more like Batman 66 and Jaws and Mandalorian and Star Wars, all these stern games based on big movies and I get Batman's a TV show, but you know what I'm saying? They know how to sync up the clips with the gameplay and the modes. If this is another repeat muted clip game like Avatar, like Toy Story 4, I'm done. That's what I'm going to bed at night dreaming that this is not going to all be canceled out by muted clips. Everybody have a great day. It's going to be exciting. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm also going to try to schedule it at noon. I got to see if I can do this so we could watch the reveal together. Let me see if I can pull it off. I'm going to look at my calendar right now. That's the tricky part is that my real job just doesn't always cooperate with what's going on in the pinball world. You know what? I'm looking at it right now, and I'm looking at a free window right there. Maybe a little bit because then I got to travel to a client's office, so we might be able to do it. Everybody have a great day. Kaneda out.