Jersey Jack Pinball Factory

[Monkeybug]

Surfing the web and came across this older article. Very interesting, especially after seeing the Stern Factory. Just makes you appreciate the work that goes into making a modern pinball. I can't believe that JJP is breaking even on this game.

http://www.pinballnews.com/games/wizardofoz/index34.html

 

[DRANO]

Is this the space that's being rented off Pat Lawlor... or am I confusing that with another project?

Those are some nice beefy rotisserries. Wish I could get me one of those

 

[SquidVicious]

People on the JJP list have been asking about the rotisserries (Bryan Kelly offered his left nut). They may make some available for sale later down the line. JJP just held an open house for the WoZ list last Friday I think I read that 200ish people were there and that he is planning on doing a Summer picnic and tour of the factory. As well he is putting together an East Coast show (with the Muesum in Ashbury for tournaments) sometime this spring/summer. The factory is in a bulding being rented from Pat Lawlor as Drano noted. I don't think JJP is breaking even perse on this game with the startup costs included as we've seen the hobbit was bumped up a bit in cost (and it won't have the same start costs as WoZ did)

 

[Chris Bardon]

Some video of the JJP tour is up here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LchpXsUUlQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Looks like a cool setup-I really hope the game is great. I'm glad that it won't be hard to buy a full featured game once they're available and we can play it four ourselves and decide.

 

[SquidVicious]

Some video of the JJP tour is up here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LchpXsUUlQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Looks like a cool setup-I really hope the game is great. I'm glad that it won't be hard to buy a full featured game once they're available and we can play it four ourselves and decide.

Yep even the early talk on the Hobbit is that it won't have different play between the LE and the regular versions.

 

[frolic]

I'd love to see Jack's business plan to see what he sees. This outlay of cash and effort is incredible. How many pinballs does he think he can sell? and to whom?

I just can't imagine WOZ or Hobbit being big earners on location, because kids don't give a flying fuck about pinball. He obviously knows this, so what is his angle?

 

[Chris Bardon]

My guess on this is that he's trying to break even on WOZ, but at the end of it he's got the process, operating system, suppliers, hardware, and team in place to build new games much faster. Given that he managed to sell 1000 WOZ LEs before anyone had seen a picture, I think there's a market for this kind of thing, and now with the Hobbit I think he'll start to turn more of a profit. Will he manage to sell the thousands of games that he thinks he will? Who knows-I certainly don't see there being 10k of them out there, but I trust Jack knows what he's doing. I'm guessing he has other investors in this, which means there has to be a business plan for all of this.

I guess the real question is, we have WOZ in 2013, Hobbit in 2014-are they going to try for 1 game/year forever, or go to more than one? If that's the case, then how many 7-8k games will the average pinhead be able to afford per year? I'll bet that a lot of WOZ buyers are getting this as their first NIB. Will that continue through (and past) the Hobbit?

Exciting times ahead for sure!

 

[frolic]

I think having Jack around is good for us in pinball. I just can't make sense of his business. I'm hoping he's "crazy like a fox" and not just crazy.

Hobbit kind of sucked the wind a bit out of WOZ... that still hasn't been officially released yet, all the focus should be on it, but we're all looking ahead now at the next game. He's got to sell a bunch of WOZ's before Hobbit is done and ready. He's probably got to find 5000+ more WOZ buyers if he is going to make this work, can that happen?

I like the guy, I just wish I wasn't so concerned for him.

 

[SquidVicious]

I think having Jack around is good for us in pinball. I just can't make sense of his business. I'm hoping he's "crazy like a fox" and not just crazy.

Hobbit kind of sucked the wind a bit out of WOZ... that still hasn't been officially released yet, all the focus should be on it, but we're all looking ahead now at the next game. He's got to sell a bunch of WOZ's before Hobbit is done and ready. He's probably got to find 5000+ more WOZ buyers if he is going to make this work, can that happen?

I like the guy, I just wish I wasn't so concerned for him.

Game hasn't been released yet but I'd agree 5,000 would be a huge number (Stern hasn't done that in a run in how many years ??) .. I think for WoZ it would be more likely 1K of the LE's (already sold) and maybe 2K of the reg but that is a guess.

WoZ has done 70ish a day at play america with weak software (and the 70/day was the two week preiod prior to JJP announcing that the game was at Play America (Jack didn't want to influence the numbers with fanboys going to make the trip) .. the two sterns (older sterns) were making 10ish/day.

Latest news from the open house is that they are set on 15 pins/day (they can do more) choosen ensure QA.

With their relationship with Bay Area I'd always hoped they'd do a remake of a classic as a second pin/year (I'd say there are at least 10 pins that could be remade and sold in quanity, Jack has said he is not averse to the idea but I haven't heard of any progress either so as of now it looks like pretty much 1 pin / year

 

[frolic]

Stern doesn't sell 5k of a machine, but over an entire year they produce around that much. JJP has to ride WOZ for the next year & 1/2 because they have nothing else. Otherwise the factory goes dark. And I can't imagine investing millions just to sit idle.

Anyhow, I just have lots of questions about their business. Like I said, a lot of it does not make sense, and still doesn't. Time will tell.

What would be super cool, is if JJP allowed other small companies (skit-b, even jpop) to do their runs at his factory. Timing would have to work out obviously, whatever the amount of WOZs, it will definitely be busy for months ahead. That would be some smart synergy. but that is just me talking.

 

[RJW]

Nobody knows how many machines Stern produces in a year. Stern has never released production numbers.
Any numbers you see posted online or elsewhere is purely speculation based on serial numbers.

And I can't see JJ letting what is basically the competition use his facility to produce pins, that wouldn't make much sense imo.