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Ep 2 - Be Careful For What You Wish For

Jersey Jack Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·19m 53s·analyzed·Jun 19, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

JJP discusses factory relocation and working-from-home impacts while hinting at upcoming game announcements when ready.

Summary

Ken Cromwell hosts the second episode of the Jersey Jack Pinball podcast, reflecting on listener feedback about Brett Abbas's appearance and addressing the community's anticipation for new game announcements. The bulk of the episode features interviews with JJP team members (Joe Katz, Peter Dorn, Eric Minier) discussing their experiences working from home during COVID-19 lockdowns and returning to the newly relocated Elk Grove Village, Illinois factory. Cromwell emphasizes that future game reveals will only happen when products are ready to ship, not based on outside pressure or speculation.

Key Claims

  • Jersey Jack Pinball has completed relocation from New Jersey to Elk Grove Village, Illinois

    high confidence · Ken Cromwell states 'we just completed a relocation from New Jersey to Elk Grove Village, Illinois'

  • JJP will only announce games officially when they are ready to ship, not based on speculation or outside pressure

    high confidence · Cromwell: 'When you do hear something officially from Jersey Jack Pinball... it's because these games are ready to go, and not because we're dealing with outside pressures. It's because the games are ready to go.'

  • Factory tours will be offered to the community in the future

    high confidence · Cromwell: 'We will have chances for you guys to come in and take a look at this... If you're not able to get in for a tour... we're going to have a photo album, kind of a time lapse'

  • Eric Minier (Pirates of the Caribbean designer) learned SolidWorks during COVID lockdown to improve design capabilities

    high confidence · Minier: 'I wound up with the help from several of my co-workers teaching myself how to be functional in SolidWorks... Now with parts in 3D... I'm able to cut down on design time'

  • Joe Katz (lead software developer on Willy Wonka) prefers working in-office for team collaboration

    high confidence · Katz: 'I don't really like working from home... there's some missing collaboration between the team of programmers on a game that I missed quite a bit'

Notable Quotes

  • “When you do hear something officially from Jersey Jack Pinball, it's because these games are ready to go, and not because we're dealing with outside pressures.”

    Ken Cromwell @ ~13:45 — Establishes JJP's stated policy on game announcements and addresses community frustration with announcement-to-release delays

  • “You have to be careful for what you wish for because you may get it.”

    Ken Cromwell @ ~22:30 — Thematic statement reflecting on his own experience wanting to work outside home, then being forced back to home office during COVID

  • “There's something special about driving to work, reporting to a pinball company, getting into your cubicle, and then at any time walking out onto the factory floor to see and marvel at what's going on.”

    Ken Cromwell @ ~29:15 — Expresses enthusiasm about JJP's new factory environment and manufacturing visibility

  • “I felt like I was designing in the last century by keeping in 2D and now stepping it into SolidWorks is an extremely powerful program.”

    Eric Minier @ ~27:45 — Illustrates how COVID downtime led to skill expansion for JJP's designer, potentially improving future game design

  • “It's both a blessing and a curse. Blessing that you can get up and just go down and open up your computer and get some work done. No distractions from other people at work, but there's other distractions at home.”

    Peter Dorn @ ~21:00 — Balanced perspective on remote work challenges from veteran JJP team member

Entities

Ken CromwellpersonJersey Jack PinballcompanyBrett AbbaspersonJoe KatzpersonEric MinierpersonPeter DornpersonJack GuarneripersonWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factorygame

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: JJP signaling support for location operators and arcade venues reopening post-COVID; indicating upcoming assistance programs

    medium · Cromwell: 'We've got your back. We've got some exciting ways in which we're going to be able to help... We're here to support... the operators 100 percent'

  • ?

    business_signal: Jersey Jack Pinball completed major relocation from New Jersey to Elk Grove Village, Illinois facility with new manufacturing floor

    high · Cromwell: 'we just completed a relocation from New Jersey to Elk Grove Village, Illinois... factory setup... those conversations are going on internally. There absolutely is a rollout.'

  • ?

    community_signal: JJP planning factory tours and photo documentation/time-lapse of manufacturing progression for community sharing

    high · Cromwell: 'We will have chances for you guys to come in and take a look at this... we're going to have a photo album, kind of a time lapse'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community expressing strong anticipation for next game announcement; Cromwell receiving frequent 'when is next game' inquiries across all social media platforms

    high · Cromwell: 'that's probably one of the most popular questions that comes up in all the comment sections, whether it be on Facebook or Twitter... When is the next game? When is the next game?'

  • $

    market_signal: JJP promoting Willy Wonka topper with Father's Day discount ($50 off, bringing price to $250); emphasizing value and substantial construction quality

    high · Cromwell: 'at $250, the value is absolutely there... It's a very nice topper. So check that out. $50 off through Father's Day'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.060

0:00
flying through the airwaves and into your podcatcher it's the jersey jack pinball podcast hi what's going on pinball land welcome it's another episode of the jersey jack pinball podcast my name is ken cromwell and i'm your host so before we get into it for this week i wanted to take a moment to recognize last week's discussion with brett abbis uh polarizing discussion from a polarizing individual, Brett, an owner here at Jersey Jack Pinball. And I wanted to take just a few minutes and go through some feedback that we received. If you'd like to offer some feedback or ask some questions, you can reach us, by the way, at podcast at jerseyjackpinball.com. So the first email is from our listener, Steve. Steve says, great episode, Ken. Thank you, Steve. He goes on to say, I'm an enthusiast and I never heard of Brett Abbas until the podcast. It was a welcome insight behind the curtain at Jersey Jack Pinball. And I look forward to more the same. I own or I've owned a Willy Wonka LE, dialed in LE, Wizard of Oz, Ruby Red. All excellent games and looking forward to additional Jersey Jack pinballs in the lineup. Absolutely. Well, I'm glad to hear that because, again, Brett's been kind of behind the scenes as far as a public view goes for quite a long time. So it's nice and refreshing to kind of have him out there and his voice being heard. Another quick email in regards to Brett. It's from Jonathan. And he says, hey, great podcast. Thank you, Jonathan. He goes on to say, as an owner of a Pirates of the Caribbean future buyer of something. This interview was refreshing. Hearing about the business side of the company from an investor owner was great. Smart, eloquent perspective. And if I live anywhere close to Chicago, I'd be applying in a heartbeat to work for an owner like that. I look forward to more of these podcasts. Well, I have to say I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, not to be the guy that sounds like he's drinking the company Kool-Aid, but I couldn't be more thrilled to be working with Brett and Leonard and Jack here at Jersey Jack Pinball. So we will leave it at that. And then finally, another email from another Steve. Steve is a popular name that's trending up here on the Jersey Jack Pinball podcast. Says, hey, Ken, good first show. Love Jersey Jack Pinball. I own a Waz, a Hobbit, and a Dialed In. I can't wait to see what is in store soon. Signed, Steve. Thank you, Steve. So this is a topic that I'm sure is, you know, if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably thinking about when is the next release. Now, part of my job is to, you know, monitor and run social media for the company. And that's probably one of the most popular questions that comes up in all the comment sections, whether it be on Facebook or Twitter or or what have you. When is the next game? When is the next game? When is the next game? And believe me, I understand the anticipation of an announcement or a reveal of a game, because you have to remember, I came over from the pinball enthusiast side of things before I started working for the company. So in my opinion, you know, there's nothing more exciting other than maybe getting a new game. than seeing the release or the launch of a new game. So I get it. That being said, I think I just wanted to offer, we just completed a relocation from New Jersey to Elk Grove Village, Illinois. And that factory setup, as far as timelines for games and releases, it's not anything that I'm able to really discuss. But mind you, those conversations are going on internally. There absolutely is a rollout. But for right now, we're going to have to just kind of take it week by week until we can get you some more information, but I just want you to know your voices are being heard, your questions are being heard, and as soon as I'm given the go-ahead to share something with you, I'm going to be more than happy to do that. I can absolutely, without a doubt, tell you this much. When you do hear something officially from Jersey Jack Pinball, because there's a lot of rumors and speculation that is circulating, and that's always the case around a potential release time, so I get it, but when you do hear something official from us, it's because these games are ready to go, and not because we're dealing with outside pressures. It's because the games are ready to go. I mean, let's be honest. There's nothing more exciting than a game reveal, and there's nothing more disappointing than waiting an extended amount of time before you can get your hands on the game that was revealed quite some time ago. Nobody likes that. That's not fun. I've always had my personal beliefs on, you know, make sure that if you're going to show me a game that I can get my hands and buy that game or play that game somewhere within a relatively short amount of time. and I can speak from a little bit of from the inside saying that that will absolutely be the case this time. When this game is officially revealed from Jersey Jack Pinball, it's going to be because the game is ready to go to your home. It's ready to go to your local arcade. You will have hands on experience on the game. And in my personal opinion, if you sit back and look at it as like a broad kind of a view, it makes the most sense to do that. I am excited to be able to talk more when I get to go ahead. So as we are now in the factory and we are working at the factory in Elk Grove Village I wanted to get the perspective from some of you that have you know worked from home for extended periods of time And it's one of those situations for me where prior to me coming over here to Jersey Jack, I had worked out of my home for like 13 years with a home-based business. So for me, it was very motivating for me to have an opportunity to work outside of the house. and you know ironically when i was hired on it was at the beginning of april i was thinking okay this is going to be great i can not only do i have a dream job at a pinball company with jersey jack but i'm working outside of the house because you know how it is right like when you're working out of the house i mean you're really never not at work you wake up in the morning but you're already at work there's no you're there uh you're doing your work at work at your house and then when you get off of work guess what um you you stop working but you're still at work at any point you can just you know, be working because you're at your house. There's no there's no mental preparation to drive into a job that's outside of your home. I missed that a lot. There's no kind of, you know, having some office camaraderie and friendships and in that sort of thing, because you're working from home. And then, you know, the other thing I really missed was leaving a job, meaning like driving home, like just decompressing, leaving work at work, being able to decompress on the way home. And then when you're at home, feel like you've got a little escape from work. Now, that doesn't mean that that you're not going to do extra work. But at that point, it's not because you're already at work, if that makes any sense. So long story short, I get hired beginning of April and COVID hits. Right. So our state goes on lockdown. So I was thinking to myself, man, talk about your all time backfires. I've got a dream job at a pinball company. and I also, the added icing on the cake is that it's outside of the house. Well, no, that wasn't really quite the case. So for me, it was a little bit of a frustrating experience just because I was so close to work outside of the house and I wasn't able to do so. So I was wondering how some of the team members here at Jersey Jack Pinball had taken their home experience and if it was positive or if it was a negative. So as I was lurking around the office today, I snagged Joe Katz to ask his thoughts. Now, for those of you that aren't familiar with Joe, if you've played Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, lead software developer on Willy Wonka. The fact of the matter is I don't really like working from home. I don't really have any benefits from working at home, honestly. I actually think there's some missing collaboration between the team of programmers on a game that I missed quite a bit for the three months I was working at home. I am happy to be back at work for that very reason so that I can collaborate with the team and we can bounce ideas off each other.
Pirates of the Caribbean
game
Elk Grove Villageevent
  • ?

    personnel_signal: Eric Minier (Pirates of the Caribbean designer) expanded technical capabilities by learning 3D CAD (SolidWorks) during COVID downtime, improving design-to-engineering workflow

    high · Minier: 'I wound up... teaching myself how to be functional in SolidWorks... cut down on design time, cut down on the back and forth between myself and mechanical engineers'

  • ?

    announcement: JJP has unreleased games in development pipeline; official announcement timing contingent on production readiness, not market pressure

    high · Cromwell: 'When this game is officially revealed from Jersey Jack Pinball, it's going to be because the game is ready to go to your home. It's ready to go to your local arcade.'

  • ?

    industry_signal: JJP team demonstrates strong preference for in-office collaboration over remote work; returning to physical factory generates morale boost

    high · Katz: 'I don't really like working from home... missing collaboration'; Minier: 'being in the office, in the factory, is an incredible feeling. I'm so happy to be here'

    • 7:44
    So Joe likes to be at work around people working with people. Now, it's interesting because we've all kind of gotten used to. And when I say all, I think people that are now working remotely or have been forced to work remotely at some point during covid. And if you relied on any type of communication, it was a lot of Skype calls or Zoom is the big deal right now. Google Hangouts, and there's just kind of that you're looking at somebody on a screen or looking at 10 people on a screen, and it's just not that kind of face-to-face collaboration. And I found that pretty interesting that he prefers that. I think we all do. And you've got to be careful from the Zoom meetings because those Zoom meetings quickly start becoming happy hours, and that can be detrimental to what you're trying to get done. So as I continued my trek around the office, I ran into Peter Dorn. Now, Peter's one of my favorite guys that I've had the pleasure of meeting over at Jersey Jack Pinball. Great team member. And some of you might know Peter. He worked back in Midway, back in the video game heyday. But Peter had this to say about working from home. Working from home, boy, it's both a blessing and a curse. Blessing that you can get up and just go down and open up your computer and get some work done. No distractions from other people at work, but there's other distractions at home. household duties wife dogs kids mailman whatever's walking around bothering the dogs so getting back to work i enjoy being here in the office i get more done here i'm more productive here in the office household obligations wife kids dog uh i get it i get it it's um for a lot of people it's like you always have this dream where it's like man if i could only work from home But you have to be careful for what you wish for because you may get it. We checked in with Eric Minier to see what he had to say. Eric, obviously, designer on Pirates of the Caribbean. It's difficult to work at home for me and a couple other people in the company.
    9:41
    Not a lot of us have really young kids at home, but I do. I have two of them. So working from home proved really difficult, right, to try to turn it off. Daddy home Why can he come play with us into gotta take shifts my wife also works full time So we were doing she works in the mornings I work in the afternoons And then we both you know follow up what we need to in the evenings And generally after the kids go to bed, continue to work. So we had a couple months where, you know, we were working from home. And in that time, I tried to expand my horizons. and what I did is I wound up with the help from several of my co-workers teaching myself how to be functional in SolidWorks. I'm by no means an expert but I now have capabilities to draft and create mechanisms and draw pinball parts and components in SolidWorks. Previously I've been working in 2D and now I feel like I've expanded my capabilities and I'm able to cut down on design time, cut down on the back and forth between myself and mechanical engineers, right? When something's in 2D, without fully detailing a drawing, there can be things that can be left to interpretation. Now with parts in 3D using the same development software that they use, there aren't really any more questions. It's like, here's what I want to do. You guys refine it and let's make it work for the game. So that's helped a lot. It helped me feel better about designing. I felt like I was designing in the last century by keeping in 2D and now stepping it into SolidWorks is an extremely powerful program that really helps me convey my ideas. I then asked Eric if it felt good to be back at work. Absolutely. So sitting here in my new office, don't have any play fields up on the wall yet, but being in the office, in the factory, is an incredible feeling. I'm so happy to be here. So Eric goes ahead. He learns SolidWorks, you know, as if the guy wasn't dangerous enough in 2D. He's now designing in 3D. So I found that to be pretty exciting that he took advantage of that time off and he really harnessed a new skill. and it's only going to make him better as a designer. So I think in final thought here, just talking to a couple of the guys here at the office, it's absolutely preferential to be at work. And I will say that there's something special. I mean, I have a cubicle over at Jersey Jack Pinball. There's something special about driving to work, reporting to a pinball company, getting into your cubicle, and then at any time walking out onto the factory floor to see and marvel at what's going on from a manufacturing side. I almost equivalent to when I was a kid, I remember going to my first baseball game. I'm a huge baseball fan, right? So I love the ambience of a baseball park, of a stadium, even smaller parks, high school fields. And to a certain extent, some of the little league fields. There's something about it. I remember walking up, crawling up from out of the tunnel and coming up to the main course and getting a glimpse of the field for the first time, and you just kind of marvel at the green grass, the spaciousness, and the crowds. And it's just something that's awe-striking, right? That's what it is walking out on that manufacturing floor. It really, really is exciting. And I know what's also exciting is the fact is to be able to share these moments with you guys, right? So I've been asked quite a bit if we'll be offering tours, factory tours. And the answer is absolutely yes. We will have chances for you guys to come in and take a look at this. Because, listen, we want to share it, too. If you're not able to get in for a tour, and these tours aren't happening right now, obviously, but sooner than later. But if you're not able to do that, we're going to have a photo album, kind of a time lapse, so to speak, that shows this factory going from nothing to what it is today. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to share that. And when I really sit back and I think about things, I'm very fortunate to kind of come in at the time that I did. Because Jack Guarneri, he started, he founded this company back in 2011. And he had done this in New Jersey. And, you know, I visited other manufacturers. I think I've visited all the manufacturers that are local here. And I've seen their setups, and they're all impressive in their own ways. But to see one kind of be born and evolve to the point of, you know, getting games on the line has been a really remarkable experience. And I can't wait to kind of show you that progression as we release these picks that are coming up soon. So stay tuned for that.
    14:37
    So we've got Sunday is Father's Day. So happy Father's Day to all the fathers that are in the listening audience. I did want to say and remind everybody if you have a Willy Wonka if you got a standard or limited edition and you looking for a topper if you go to our web store you can go to jerseyjackpinball You click on store go into accessories You will notice a Willy Wonka topper there. It's got an animated waterfall feature and typically it's $300. That includes shipping to the continental United States. What we're doing for Father's Day for a promo is we're taking $50 off and still offering the free shipping to the continental United States. So you can get the Willy Wonka topper for $250, and there's a coupon code that you'll be reminded of when you get into the store. The coupon code is FD50, letter F, the letter D50. You enter that at checkout, and you get your $50 off. Listen, with the way that toppers are being priced these days, at $250, the value is absolutely there. It's an attractive topper. It's animated, and it's a thick topper. When you pick it up, it's got some weight, some substance to it. It's not a thin piece of Lexan that's thrown up on the top of a game. It's pretty substantial. So if you're looking to kind of decorate your game or give it a little bit of a different appearance, that topper, I absolutely would recommend that you check it out. I've got one on the Wonka that's here, and it's a very nice topper. So check that out. You can go to the store, $50 off through Father's Day. So depending on when you're listening to this, it may or may not be too late. But if you are listening to this and it's not yet Father's Day, jump in and get your toppers. $50 off, guys.
    16:16
    We've got some guests that are lined up to come on the show to just talk some pinball. Not interviews, but just talking some pinball. I'll announce more about that next week. For those of you that took part in the Behind the Back last promotion and to get you up to speed if this is your first time listening, I ask for any questions to be emailed to the show at podcast at jerseyjackpinball.com. and we would have a team member on to give some of the answers on some of these questions. Listen, overflowed with a ton of questions. So what I want to do is I'm going to go through those. We're going to select some that are the most pertinent. Now, listen, guys, obviously, I can appreciate the direct questions that I would assume you don't expect answers to. So, you know, where I don't mind you kind of pushing the envelope or getting a little creative on a question, a question like, what are your next three releases? Probably not going to be answered. You know, but maybe something else that you were curious about that's not going to reveal the whole company's plans over the next three years. We'd be happy to address for you. So send those in. And if you send a video message in, right, take your camera out, a little selfie question, maybe the Keith Johnson. We'll do a video recorded message back. We'll post it on our social media. So just know any questions that are coming in, we may use those for promotional purposes. Be aware of that. And, again, that's at podcast at jerseyjackpinball.com.
    17:36
    And finally, before we just kind of end this one, I want to thank everybody for the support, you know, support of Jersey Jack Pinball, support of pinball in general, owners and operators that are getting games back on locations and reopening these locations. You know, we've got your back. We've got some exciting ways in which we're going to be able to help. And I look forward to discussing those really, really soon. So, you know, if you're opening, if your location, OK, and you're opening, send me an email and let me know so that I can let everybody know that you're opening and go on there and play your games, play some pinball. We're here to support, you know, the operators 100 percent, the owners of these locations 100 percent. And look, I mean, the last three or four months on planet Earth have been some of the most complicated three or four months that I might be able to ever have remembered in my entire life. And a lot of these situations, the importance extends way beyond pinball. Like, I totally get that. But I also think it's important for people to realize, you know, at JJP. I mean, we do have this belief that regardless of your skin color or your gender or your orientation, I mean, every person's got to have an equal opportunity to live and thrive in the world. Right. Times like these. I don't know. I mean, we all have to come together. We've got to address the systemic issues. We've got to heal wounds. We've got to ensure equity and justice for all. So my hope is that we hey, let's just keep open dialogue here in the pinball community and make sure that we're taking care of one another as best as we can. Right. That's going to be important going forward. I do want to thank you for listening to the Jersey Jack Pinball podcast. You can catch us every single Friday, Friday afternoons or mornings. And that's where you're going to get the scoop here. Direct from the source, Jersey Jack Pinball. You don't have to worry about rumors or speculation. As soon as the news is ready, we're going to go ahead and give it to you direct. OK, I promise you that. I want to thank Joe Katz, Peter Dorn and Eric Minier for joining the podcast today. I really appreciate it, guys. We'll have some interesting guests answer some questions for you guys next week. Hopefully have another nugget or tidbit for you regarding Jersey Jack pinball. So for Jersey Jack pinball, I'm Ken Cromwell. Don't forget to take some time out of your day and play some pinball. So long, everybody.