This morning the Loserkid Pinball Podcast released a new interview with the founder of Jersey Jack Pinball, Jack Guarnieri. Of course a great deal of the discussion involved promotion of JJP's new game, the Steve Ritchie-designed Elton John. Beyond that the show contained several other new pieces of information.
For me, the most interesting was the following quote from Jack when he was asked whether JJP would ever run older games like Pirates of the Caribbean again:
"I guess that's why the rearview mirror is small and the windshield is big. We're going forward and we really don't have time to go backwards and re-run things that we did in the past. I'm not looking at Vault games. I'm not looking at re-running things. I'm really not looking at that stuff. It's not in the plan of the Company to do that."
Well, that pretty definitively answers that question. It doesn't like the folks who want to see another run of JJP Pirates are going to get their wish.
The Loserkid folks also asked Jack about the whole incident back in May when the industry veteran Joe Kaminkow stated that Jersey Jack Pinball has the Harry Potter license. Jack responded by saying that he can neither confirm nor deny that JJP has the license.
Jack did say though that Jersey Jack currently has three new pinball machines in development, one game for each designer, Eric Meunier - designer of Pirates, Guns N Roses & Godfather, the company's new designer Mark Seiden and a second JJP game from Steve Ritchie.
No specific timetable was provided on when Elton John pins will begin to roll out of the Jersey Jack factory other than that there will be a little lag of "a few weeks" between when Elton John was revealed and when games start shipping. If I had to guess, I'd say that we'll start seeing games roll off the line in late November or early December but I have not heard anything specific on the subject.
Ep 122: The Jack is Back! With Jack Guarnieri
I would love to see somebody make a Tragically Hip game. That would be a lot of fun, probably not enough Canadians to sell a run of them out though.
Love me some JJP.
Jack doesn't commit or make any definitive pronouncement in that quote.
Here is a translation:
"Thank you Loserkid for asking me this question yet again. As you are undoubtedly aware, I get asked this question daily and I will never give a specific answer because it is a lose-lose for me and JJP to say anything definitive on this subject.
Here is an answer that will not make you happy but is fairly accurate:
Our mission is to make the most amazing pinball machines ever produced because we love pinball. In this industry our survival depends on us keeping what were going to produce and when were going to produce it a secret. When it make…
"...the rearview mirror is small..."
Must have been big enough for WoZ.