Ask Jack Anything: Episode 2

Stern Pinball·video·10m 57s·analyzed·Oct 16, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Jack Danger addresses community Q&A on Stern design, internships, dev careers, and teases imminent home leaderboard feature.

Summary

Jack Danger answers community questions about Stern Pinball game design, internships, career paths in pinball development, and personal opinions on playfield protectors and competitive play. He teases an upcoming home leaderboard feature coming "sooner than you think" and discusses design philosophy around co-op modes, feature prioritization, and the craft of pinball programming.

Key Claims

Home leaderboards are coming 'a lot sooner than you think'
high confidence · Jack Danger, direct statement in response to Josh's question about home leaderboards. Teaser with intentional vagueness about timeline.
Stern does offer internships, primarily in software, marketing, and sales, but not in design
high confidence · Jack Danger stated he 'talked to a few people at Stern' and confirmed internship availability but noted design internships don't have formal structure.
Co-op inclusion is decided by individual game teams based on game vibe and available development time
high confidence · Jack Danger explaining design philosophy: 'that is completely contingent on what the game team wants. They decide whether or not a game needs co-op.'
Playfield protectors change ball physics significantly — ball slides instead of rolls, affecting interaction with ramps and mechs
high confidence · Jack Danger detailed technical opinion: 'the way the ball travels on wood that has been clear coated is the ball is gripping and rolling. How a ball travels on a playfield protector is the ball is sliding.'
Stern programmers work primarily in C++ and must program for unpredictable ball physics ('programming for chaos')
high confidence · Jack Danger advising aspiring pinball devs: 'Stern, we program in C++' and explaining the challenge of 'you have to program for every eventuality.'

Notable Quotes

“You have to program for every eventuality. You know, you want the ball to do, but the ball isn't probably going to do that. So, you have to program around the idea that you're trying to get it to do something, but it might do something else.”
Jack Danger @ ~8:30 — Explains the core challenge of pinball software design and why it's uniquely difficult compared to other game programming.
“Designing a pinball machine is a trade skill essentially. You have to learn from somebody that knows how to do it already. There's no manual for it. A lot of it is just feel and you got to know what you're trying to feel.”
Jack Danger @ ~5:00 — Core philosophy on pinball design as craft/apprenticeship rather than formal discipline; supports argument for design internships.
“I can't stand playfield protectors... the ball is sliding and that movement is very apparent and it is very different on how the ball interacts with mechs, ball guides, ramps.”
Jack Danger @ ~13:00 — Strong personal stance on a divisive collector/player practice with technical justification; likely to stir debate in community.
“Home leaderboards... it's coming, A, and it's coming a heck of a lot sooner than you think, B.”
Jack Danger @ ~14:30 — Official teaser of imminent feature; high confidence signal for upcoming Stern software release.
“I'm peanuts compared to those folks [Keith Elwin, Raymond Davidson, Joshua Henderson, Nick Lane].”
Jack Danger @ ~17:30 — Jack Danger publicly acknowledges top competitive players at Stern and positions himself below that tier despite being strong player.
“Punk rock is just being kind to one another, keeping an eye out for one another, sticking up for each other, and just being awesome.”
Jack Danger @ ~20:00 — Personal definition of 'punk rock' philosophy; reflects broader community values around collaboration and mutual support.

Entities

Jack DangerpersonStern PinballcompanyZach Sharpeperson Kyle Spiteriperson Keith Elwinperson Gary Sternperson Sethperson

Signals

?
product_strategy: Jack Danger confirms home leaderboard feature is coming 'sooner than you think,' indicating imminent Stern software release; deliberately vague timeline suggests weeks rather than months.
high · Direct statement: 'it's coming a heck of a lot sooner than you think... you don't have to wait too long.'
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community_signal: Home leaderboards are a frequently requested feature from community; Jack Danger indicates this is 'a message I get constantly,' suggesting sustained user demand across multiple touchpoints.
high · Jack states he gets the question constantly and acknowledges it's clearly a high-priority community ask.
?
personnel_signal: Stern actively cultivates relationships with independent pinball content creators; maintains internal awareness of creator output and deliberately invites select creators to product reveals and events.
high · Jack explains: 'We try to reach out to folks that we know are making content that we follow. A lot of us at Stern digest a lot of what the content creators are making.'
?
design_philosophy: Stern's design philosophy treats co-op as a discretionary feature with high implementation cost; not prioritized unless game team identifies it as core to game vibe; other features prioritized ahead of co-op.
high · Jack: 'there's other probably more important features to put in a machine before co-op is integrated. And it also requires a great amount of attention to detail.'
?
design_philosophy: Jack Danger strongly opposes playfield protectors from design authenticity standpoint; believes they materially change ball physics and player experience in negative way; views them as mod from intended design.

Transcript

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0:02

Hey internet, Jack Danger here with another Ask Jack followup. You sent a lot of questions about communitydriven stuff and I'm going to try to address everything. Also, shout out to everyone sending sending stickers. Uh I don't know why I lock this. It's it's a fun gimmick. Um I had to represent on here. Anyway, let's get to the questions, shall we? Um, I think one of these questions

0:33

I got to watch what I say. Anyway, Brandon asks, and I got this question a lot. I think I get it every time I do one of these. Uh, why do some games have co-op and others don't? Right? So, that is completely contingent on what the game team wants. They decide whether or not a game needs co-op. Um, and really it's just the the vibe of the game and the vibe of the team if they think that needs to be a thing. I know a lot of you want co-op for like every game. And while that would be awesome, we are also limited on time and there's other probably more important features to put in a machine before co-op is integrated. And it also requires a great amount of attention to detail on how to make sure uh because you're changing how the game plays, right? So, it's just extra work and uh if the team didn't want it off the rip, it's probably going to be put off to the wayside, if even put in at all. So, uh I know a lot of folks were like, I want co-op on FU. I want co-op on like just it it's up to the game team. So, that hopefully that answers your question. Nicholas asks, "How do you get invited to those creator events and product reveals?" Uh we try to reach out to folks that we know are making content that we follow. Uh a lot of us at Stern digest a lot of what the content creators are making. A content creator myself. I also follow as many people as I can. But if you're interested in being part of that, you just got to reach out to I believe Zack Sharp uh zack.sharpernpinball.com. Send him a message and let him know that you're interested in attending something like that in the future. And um if a list exists to get your name put on it, he would be the guy to do that for you. Well, get it. Sawyer asks, "Would you guys ever do internships or a summer camp thing for teenagers like me that want to get into designing pinball machines, maybe even for Stern?" So, I talked to a few people at Stern about this. We do internships. We absolutely do. Uh, primarily for software related things andor I believe marketing and sales. um specifically design. There is no internship structure. I think that would be an incredible thing to do because designing a pinball machine is a trade skill essentially. You have to learn from somebody that knows how to do it already. There's no manual for it. Um a lot of it is just feel and you got to know what you're trying to feel. So, um while that doesn't exist, I think that would be an incredible addition to the Stern Pinball roster of things that we offer. So, who knows what the future holds, but I think it's an incredible idea. Pete asks, "What's the best way to start learning to become a pinball?" Sorry, there's a weird bug. What's the best way to start learning to become a pinball dev? Um, more notably about software. So, Stern, we program in C++. So, if you know that language, you've got a leg up. But knowing how to program for pinball is uh its own basket to weave, right? Um you're programming for chaos. I still don't know how our software folks do it. It's bonkers. Shout out to anyone that programs for pinball machines because you have to program for every eventuality. You know, you want the ball to do, but the ball isn't probably going to do that. So, you have to program around the idea that you're trying to get it to do something, but it might do something else. Um, the the thing I would recommend you do is if you know C++ um or if you know any language really, just look at a game and record with your brain, diagnose, strip down like rules that you really love from pinball machines and try to replicate those. Um, if you have a friend building a homebrew, working with them to program it also goes a long way because that's real world experience. And if you're trying to get a job in pinball, real world experience goes a very, very long way. So, good luck to you. America guy, I'm sure that's your real legal name, asks, "Does Stern have a goal of having a pinball machine on every continent?" I don't know that it's a goal of Stern pinballs to have a game on every continent. Um, but I would also be flabbergasted if we didn't have a pinball machine on every continent. Um, is there anyone in Antarctica? uh that knows of a pinball machine nearby. Actually, I could just bust open just open the pinball map and then you'll see if like the the the North Pole has a a freaking Ripley's Believe It or Not. I I don't know. I I don't know, but I'm sure we have to. So, all right. Josh H says, "Perhaps a video on how to clean your pinball machine. I'm new to pinball and I'm intimidated by cleaning the playfield." I also, when I was brand new, was very afraid of getting under the glass. I thought I was gonna a break something or b completely hurt myself. And neither one of those things is really going to happen. So, a video about cleaning a playfield. I'm sure we can uh holler at our boy Kyle Spati, who's been doing our tech school stuff, um can do a little something on how to like take a little novice, too, and like clean off certain areas. Games get dirty just like your car, just like anything. Uh, and they need a little TLC. So, I think that's a wonderful idea. And if we don't already have a video about that, which I feel like we should, um, we could probably get on that pretty quick. So, good recommendation. All right, Caleb. Oh, this is controversial. Okay, just so you know, this is going to be controversial. Caleb says, "Do you like or recommend playfield protectors over the playfield? I'm getting my first new inbox game and I wanted to know from a professional their thoughts. Does it really play that different to you? So, I can't stand playfield protectors. And I I know some people like to put them down to keep their games fresh and clean and new, but here's why I don't like them, right? First off, you got to tear a bunch of stuff off the game, and you're you're you're you're modifying the game from how it was designed to play. Two, the way the ball travels on wood that has been clear coated is the ball is gripping and rolling. How a ball travels on a playfield protector is the ball is sliding and that movement is very apparent and it is very different on how the ball interacts with mechs, ball guides, ramps. Things are just sliding all over the place instead of actually rolling and spinning how they're typically supposed to move. and I can see it and I I really just don't enjoy playing a game with a playfield protector on it. But to each their own, you want to keep your games looking brand spanking new, you know, slap the thing down. But for me, it's all just put the ball on the wood. All right. Josh asks, oh, this is the one. Josh asks, "When are we getting home leaderboards?" That is a message I get constantly. And internet, I'm here to tell you that it is coming a lot sooner than you think. It's coming, A, and it's coming a heck of a lot sooner than you think, B. Um, I can't give any more specifics beyond that, but if you're seeing this video now, you don't have to wait too long. Okay, that's all I got to say uh to learn about it. I I don't know. You'll learn more soon. All right. Mason asks, "Did you really hurt your shoulder doing a death save?"