Episode 373: Steve Ritchie & Jersey Jack Guarnieri
Sitting down at Pintastic, Steve Ritchie & Jack Guarnieri talk about the latest happenings at Jersey Jack Pinball. Hear Steve's excitement about his upcoming machine, his freedom he has at JJP, plus...
Highlights
- Steve Ritchie's new game at Jersey Jack shoots amazingly, is very fast, and will make people say 'Steve Ritchie is back'
- Ritchie's game is complete with no features removed, unlike his Led Zeppelin game where major elements were cut
- Godfather pinball has brought new audiences into pinball who had never bought a machine before
- Toy Story is the number one game on location according to operators
- Jersey Jack's software team (Keith Johnson, Joe Katz, and others) is the best Ritchie has ever worked with
- Jersey Jack recently strengthened its mechanical engineering department
- Tom Capera was recently hired at Jersey Jack as an industry veteran
- Godfather is Ritchie's favorite Jersey Jack game to date
- Ritchie has been at Jersey Jack for almost a couple of years
- Two World Poker Tour sold only 1,700 units and was a letdown
Notable quotes
“They don't take things out of my game. My game is complete. It's all there. That makes me very happy.”
“It's like having a vegan chef in a steakhouse. He's probably not going to cook meals that are too good. So you've got to get him to like, and the whole team has to be involved with what the theme of the game is.”
“The best software team I ever worked with... What's so cool about them is they're constantly communicating. There's no ego thing. It's just we have to make this great game.”
“He made a really great game. And I think a lot of people will say Steve Ritchie is back, really.”
“It's like the biggest heartbreaker and the stupidest move is to remove Stairway to Heaven. How can you have a Zeppelin game without Stairway to Heaven?”
“I know that sounds silly, but I personally don't believe in bringing in people from outside the industry, veteran people from other industries to try to bolster what we do. We need people that already know what they're doing.”
“We look to support all the causes that expands pinball and helps bring more people through the game. And anything we can do to do that, that's what we're about.”
“You don't find these games... They're still going for really good money... Those games won't fall apart, I tell you that.”
Entities
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Pintastic· event
- Black Knight· game
- Guns N' Roses· game
- Led Zeppelin· game
- Pirates of the Caribbean· game
- The Godfather· game
- Toy Story· game
- Two World Poker Tour· game
- Willy Wonka· game
- Wizard of Oz· game
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Jersey Jack Guarnieri· person
- Joe Katz· person
- Keith Johnson· person
- Mark Tremonti· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Tom Capera· person
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