Jersey Jack sent out an email update today that was pretty light in information but heavy in mystery.

In the release JJP announces their Open House and IFPA tournament on August 9th. What caught us off guard is the picture of Jack signing WOZ back boxes. That is not what is interesting about the picture though. What is interesting is the Midway style cabinet on the dolly behind Jack. 

Could this be a cabinet for the upcoming production run of Williams famed, Python Anghelo designed Pinball Circus? I will admit that I am not an expert in Vid art packages but to me the art is unfamiliar and looks to be very glossy which leads to the fact that it may have been freshly applied. 

Is this a hint at the upcoming Pinball Circus project that JJP is rumored to be producing? If so it is very exciting to see.

You may also notice another interesting image in the picture, a pinball machine shaped to look like a Chicago style hot dog cart! Hmmmm...... Could this be the prototype for Pat Lawlor's new game? Why would JJP have a hot dog cart in the warehouse? The mysteries continue to build! Perhaps the new prototype metal and umbrella cabinet are the real "Game Changers" that we have been waiting for in pinball. And you thought an High Def LCD panel was a big deal! I know that I would like a hot, snappy, juicy hot dog to shoot out at me when I get into the vault more than a silly token. Is there tasty, mustard laden pinball in our future? Only time will tell.

Post your comments below and let us know what you think or know ion the subject. 

Oh, by the way, here is the email that was sent out today in case you missed it.

Greetings Pinball Fans,  

This Saturday August 9th, Jersey Jack Pinball will host an Open House and what we hope will be the first place holder for the Jersey Shore Pinball and Gameroom Show.

There is an IFPA sponsored Pinball Tournament on Wizard of Oz that starts at 9 AM

We will have door prizes, a Pizza Party at 1 PM and an opportunity to see a pinball factory at the Jersey Shore. We will have vendors bringing Pinball machines and video games to play and sell. Games will be setup inside and in the parking lot for the swap meet.

We will have many collectible items to buy and we guarantee perfect weather 80 degrees, low humidity and no chance of rain.

Keith Johnson will be here too!

Please RSVP to Jen@JerseyJackPinball.com

Hope to see you here! 

Jersey Jack Pinball today announced some rather big news today as the company has hired legendary audio engineer or "pinball sound master" David Thiel to work on The Hobbit Pinball, the next Pat Lawlor game as well as future JJP games. Considering David's past work including the incredible sound on Tron Legacy pinball along with the groundbreaking sound system utilized by JJP, we can rest assured that the future of pinball will sound amazing.

In addition, JJP revealed new images of The Hobbit Pinball playfield art.

Read the press release and see the images after the break.

If you find yourself in or near Rochester Michigan this weekend you may want to take a trip over the the MPE 2014 and spend some time with the silver ball. With over 100 pinball machines, vendors and pinball tournament and guest speakers it is guaranteed to be a great time. Attendees will also have the chance to check out the latest and greatest pinball machines from Jersey Jack Pinball, Stern Pinball as well as custom pinball machines including Skit B Pinball based on the movie "Predator" as well as a custom home-brew game based off of the movie "The Matrix".

From the show organizer:

"This event is designed to be “FAMILY FRIENDLY” and we encourage everyone to come out and have a wonderful experience playing over 125+ machines at the Michigan Pinball Expo. All the pinball machines in the Expo room will be set on FREE PLAY. Those pinball machines will be available to the public to play for FREE* from the start of the Expo until the close of the Expo!!! 57 TOTAL HOURS!!!

Tournament machines will be located on the back wall where you can really test your pinball skills by paying low entry fees for a chance to win BIG MONEY and TROPHIES. We offer tournaments for every skill level. So whether you are a “Pinball Wizard” going for the title of “Michigan Pinball Champion” or a “Wizard in Training” competing at the kids level, we offer many divisions so you can compete among your peers.

It’s all about having FUN! We will also have many vendors along 3 walls of the Michigan Pinball Expo. Full size arcade pinball machines will be for sale from local collectors and businesses such as Prestige Pinball. We will also be announcing new additions to the show daily, so please check back often! With over 15,000 sq. ft. of pinball goodness going on, there is something for everyone at the Michigan Pinball Expo.

If you want to be appraised of the latest happenings, sign up for our Google Group mailing list, and join us on Facebook. Lots of great news is coming daily!

Thank you for your time and we hope to see you, your family, and all your friends at the Michigan Pinball Expo!!!"

–John Kosmal (Show Organizer)

Jack and team have been busy working on the new Hobbit pinball machine as well as completing orders for WOZ in order to get ready for the next release. Read the update after the break.

In the pinball world there are but a few designers that have truly revolutionized the game. Pat Lawlor is among the top of that very elite list of people. Let's put it this way, if Pat were a president hey might be George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson. Love his style or not, Pat has changed pinball forever with the groundbreaking introductions of the shaker motor, talking heads, a vertical playfield, you name it. If it was a crazy idea, it came from Pat. An innovators innovator always looking to push the limits of pinball. 

Having been outside of pinball since his stint at Stern pinball Pat has never stopped working on his pinball designs. As such it is with great privileg that JJP welcomes Pat to their team. Pat will rejoin working with long time friend and programmer Ted Estes to create his new game which will be, for the first time in many years, an original themed game from a major manufacturer and not a license which is great news for pinball fans who recall the era of Funhouse, Whirlwind and other games from Pat and team.

We look forward to seeing what this new team brings to pinball as it's rebirth is upon us here in 2014.  

Read the Press Release and video after the break.

LAKEWOOD, NJ -- Jersey Jack Pinball Inc. said it has entered into an equity partnership with an investment firm identified only as JDA. The up-and-coming pinball machine manufacturer said the partnership will provide means to fund multiple game platforms, allow it to expand into related technologies and markets, and attract "deeper management" resources. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Jersey Jack Pinball's announcement provided little detail about its new partner other than that "JDA has a proven track record of success and generated over $40 million for their shareholders in their last transaction," and that the firm's principals are pinball enthusiasts who own more than 40 machines, including Jersey Jack's The Wizard of Oz. "We are very excited to combine the strengths of these two dynamic organizations," said Jack Guarnieri, who founded the pinball company in 2011. "The expanded talent, experience and financial strength that this brings will enhance the future products we are able to build and add to the enjoyment of our player base." Reaction to the news from the pinball community has been mixed, but many fans see the deal as a necessity. (See comments at Pinside.com). At the end of 2009, Stern Pinball Inc. brought in a group of investors led by David J. Peterson, a founder and managing director of Hagerty Peterson & Co. LLC (Barrington, IL). 
Jersey Jack Pinball began shipping the Wizard of Oz flipper game, now in full production, in the second quarter of 2013. At the end of last year, the factory had shipped more than 700 games. Much of the funding for Wizard of Oz development was provided by down payments for preorders. Its next title, The Hobbit, is scheduled to ship at the end of this year. The Wizard of Oz line consists of various models, including the 75th Anniversary game, the Emerald City edition and a "standard" machine. The latter is targeted at coin machine operators, who represent the smallest number of buyers. The 1,000-unit production run of the Emerald City edition is expected to end soon. The 75th Anniversary model, which pays homage to MGM's 1939 Technicolor classic, recently entered production; about 1,500 units are planned. Once 3,000 WoZ pinball machines are sold, Jersey Jack Pinball can likely say it's a $20 million company.

See more at: http://www.vendingtimes.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=EB79A487112B48A296B38C81345C8C7F&nm=Vending+Features&&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=B6126CB1783844459FEB5E3C2DA854C5#sthash.V5ZljWwV.dpuf

For more than a decade, Stern Pinball was the only manufacturer of pinball machines. The Chicago-based company's last rival closed down in 1999.

But Stern's pinball monopoly may be drawing to an end. In 2011, the startup manufacturerJersey Jack Pinball opened for business, and it's working hard to grab a slice of the industry.

"You know, it would be a boring world, I guess, if there was only one company making shoes or handbags or anything," says Jack Guarnieri, the New Jersey company's owner. "So, I think more competition and more product in the marketplace raises the awareness of pinball."

Jersey Jack Pinball's debut game is based on The Wizard of Oz film. They plan to release a second game, The Hobbit, in the spring of 2014.

Breaking Stern's monopoly and squeezing into this industry will be a challenge, mainly because demand just isn't what it used to be. Between 1955 and 1970, the games made more money than the entire American movie industry. Thirty years ago, there were nearly a dozen pinball manufacturers in the U.S.

Now, it's a very different story.

"Back in the day, they used to sell 5- to 10,000 of each pinball machine — now they're lucky if they hit 1,000 to 1,500," says Tim Arnold, owner of the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. "So it's exactly like the movies — if you get a hit movie, everything is great. But if you have one or two dud movies in a row, you're in deep trouble financially."

Arnold says Jersey Jack needs to do two basic things to succeed: create an incredible product and bring it to the masses.

Jersey Jack seems to be on track with that first goal. Arnold compares The Wizard of Oz game to going from black-and-white to color television.

The game has a multicolor LED screen that plays animation and clips from the movie. Special flipper settings and lights transform the board according to each mode of play.

"If you're going for the Emerald City, all the lights turn green," says Arnold. "If you're battling flying monkeys, it all turns red. It's really a spectacular visual presentation."

There's only one problem: The Wizard of Oz is hard to find. Even two years after its initial release, the game is unlikely to be in your local arcade. Many of the units have gone to homes of private collectors.

Molly Atkinson, one of the few who has played it, had to go to a collector's home to do so. She's a collector herself and runs a public-access arcade called Pins and Needles in Los Angeles.

"It's a real fancy game, Wizard of Oz," she says. "It has a lot of neat features on it. And for some reason, it's really grown on me."

Atkinson doubts it will join her collection any time soon. The machine costs about $8,000. "No new games are affordable! When it was a public play thing, games never cost this much," Atkinson says.

She only charges 25 cents per play at her arcade, but even if she charged double, it would take 16,000 games for her to recoup that cost.

Atkinson had hoped that if the pinball monopoly was broken, the machines would become more affordable.

"We finally do have someone else who's entered the market," says Atkinson. "But their games are maybe even more expensive. So it's just very unattainable for someone like me to get one."

Still, Atkinson says the arrival of a new game-maker is a good thing. She hopes that competition between the two companies will breathe fresh life into the industry.

Jersey Jack owner Guarnieri, a veteran arcade executive, says that's the whole point. "That's really what you want to hear," he says. "That's success."

With Jersey Jack's second game due out in the spring, Guarnieri says a third machine, with an all-original design and story, is already in production.

Stern Pinball did not respond to press inquiries for this story. A banner on the company's website declares it it is "the only maker of REAL pinball games on the planet!!"

Guarnieri says they probably just haven't updated the site yet.

via http://www.npr.org/2013/12/22/256328172/in-the-world-of-pinball-an-underdog-takes-on-the-giant

In a very generous and very special act of kindness, Pinball STAR Amusements was able to donate a brand new Wizard of Oz pinball machine to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pa this week to the delight and surprise of many.

Joe Newhart and the staff at Pinball STAR  Amusements donated a portion of each machine sold towards the purchase of the machine as well as fundraising efforts from many members of the pinball community. 

The staff and children at the hospital were very excited to accept the generous gift and took right to enjoying the game. We applaud this special act of kindness which will no doubt bring years if not decades of pleasure to those in the facility.

Read the story from Joe Newhart here

The Verge has a beautiful Photo Essay about Modern Pinball in NYC and the resurgence of the game including interviews with Co-Owners Steve Epstein and  Steve Zahler.

Go check it out! http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/3/5171092/shoot-again-pinball-bounces-back-in-new-york-city

Today Jersey Jack Pinball announced another breakthrough for serious pinheads, who can now earn exclusive Game Modes on their new The Wizard of Oz (WOZ) and upcoming The Hobbit pinball machines only through a Dynamics ePlate® Visa® Card. New ePlate® reward game modes can be earned and downloaded by pinball fans after spending $4000 on their ePlate® cards with the Jersey Jack reward selected and will be introduced every six months by Jersey Jack Pinball.

Consumers can now also choose to show off their pinball fever by selecting a new special edition of the ePlate® card, designed to highlight their true gaming passion.

Continue reading after the break.