Well, I was about to go to bed and all of a sudden I stumbled across a TON of cool pinball news. So I’ll stay up a little later to share with everyone.
First up we have Jersey Jack pinball. I just spoke with one of the most knowledgeable pinball people I know and according to what they told me Jersey Jack Pinball’s next game is indeed Harry Potter. It’s been rumored that JJP has the theme locked up for a long time now, ever since Joe Kaminkow spilled the beans many months ago. This confirmation that I just received jibes with what Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast has been saying this week as well.
In addition to the fact that the next JJP game is heavily rumored to be Harry Potter, I’ve also been hearing that the game is actually based on the films and not just the Wizarding World as many, including myself, had suspected.
Lastly, I also heard today that Eric Meunier may be the designer of JJP’s next game, not Mark Seiden. Mark’s game is still in the works for sure, but Meunier may be next in the release order.
As always I will add a disclaimer here that none of this is official news from JJP. It is based on rumors that I’ve heard from knowledgeable sources and years on my part of sifting through competitive intelligence. Nothing is 100% but my batting average here has been pretty good.
Whew, that’s a lot of stuff, but that’s not all. Why not lump all of today’s news into one post?
I just finished listening to the June episode of the Pinball News and Pinball Magazine Podcast (link below). In it, David Fix basically confirmed that He-Man Masters of the Universe is the game that the company is working on for after Cuphead. He also stated that renowned artist Christopher Franchi is doing art for He-Man. It’s hard for me to explain at midnight how I got that from his interview but trust me I’m 100% positive now.
David Fix also stated that the layout for Barry O’s Barbeque Challenge will be used as a White Label game for other themes, much like Stern Pinball has done with its Whoa Nelly and Home Edition layouts. He suggested that American Pinball is in discussions with potential licenses to use on the layout and mentioned rock bands and other prominent brands as possibilities.
In the subject of American Pinball’s next game, Fix said that it will be revealed this Fall. They are hoping to have it ready for Pinball Expo but they aren’t going to rush it if it isn’t yet fully cooked.
Alright, I really have to get some sleep now. We’ll talk about all of this stuff tomorrow!
Thanks for the info and always enjoy reading your posts.
Harry Potter may be one of the last two dream themes for me. Others were Scooby and Bond so other year was a good one for us. Hmmm….what would I need to sell to get one though (and is anyone buying). Simply no more room.
Oooh, this is a huge piece of news that Franchi is confirmed as artist for He-Man. There was a raging debate on Pinside whether the table would rely on the old 80s cartoons or the recent Netflix reboot with Mark Hamil (voicing Skeletor). Sounds like if Franchi is doing it maybe it's gonna be his own take on He-Man (which is uniquely and totally awesome) and the video assets will be limited to the style AP used for Valhalla using Franchi's images. Now we can argue over which series teh audio samples and callouts should come from! :D
Kind of silly IMO to white label a layout that nobody seems to actually like. There's a reason nobody puts spinners on a ramp.
I like the White Label game idea. I wish someone sold this as a generic working game with open source code so you could customize a game to whatever theme you want.
Sadly with JJP prices, I am out no matter what the theme is. I have no interest in Cuphead. It’s not an older nostalgia driven theme like John Wick for many people.
Generation X is generally the ones who are the majority of new pinball buyers and the theme doesn’t trigger and childhood memories.
Masters of the Universe is after my time, but definitely interested in seeing it. I remember my younger brother having all the toys. So that definitely sparks an interest for me even though I was a teenager at the time when it came out.
A generation 1 Transformers pin based on the cartoon would be cool with Optimus Prime call outs. Just right now the market…