Congrats DeadFlip !!!

Congrats Jack!

Congrats.

It's about time a woman cracked that glass ceiling at Stern.

He well deserves that job! This also means there’s a good chance that we might get some unique game titles!

Congratulations on the new job! I know you will do an outstanding job and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Lol, well now I’d say the chances of a Tank Girl pinball machine rocket to the top!! Jack always said it would be a badass machine. Big props and congrats to him!

A well deserved congratulations to Jack

Great move for Stern. Congrats, Jack!

Wow. Congrats.

Apparently being a streamer or high level tournament player is now required CV material for these companies.

Weird flex, but it's their money. Stern cashing in on the cult of personality... congrats to Gary for recognizing the zeitgeist...

Atta boy! Love the move. Congrats @deadflip!

Major congrats Jack! You da man!

LMAO at the downvoting like this isn't a thing now. I didn't say anything one way or the other about it, just stated a fact.

What's wrong, you guys don't agree?

Stern - Keith Elwin, player
Jack Danger, streamer

Multimorphic - Bowen Kerins, player
Colin MacAlpine, player

Ex-Spooky - Scott Danesi, player (and lowkey genius)
- Bowen again

Spooky/Spooky Contractors - Ben Heck, streamer

American Pinball - Jeff Teolis, podcaster and player

Who else am I missing on this list? I'm sure there's one or two more.

But hey, fake news, amirite?

Conversely:

Pat Lawlor: As everyone knows, "so-so" Designer (lol), not a great player

Steve Ritchie: "above average designer with only a couple "hits" under his belt (lol)", decent player, but not great

John Borg: Never worked on any "big time" games before (lol), terrible player.

The list goes on...

I get where you are coming from, but being a decent player generally takes time, and with time, comes experience. As in most things in life, you can be a "books" type, or an "experience" type. Being both is golden. Just because someone doesn't have a formal education in design, mathematics, geometry, etc, doesn't mean they don't understand what makes pinball fun or challenging. People that are passionate about a particular thing generally drive themselves to be really good at it.

And congrats Jack Danger, the physically tallest designer in all of pinball history? (I was shocked when I met him at pinburgh a couple years ago, haha)

HWPO

Maybe they should hire some dude who comes on pinside and bitches about stuff instead....

Congrats Jack!

IDK... being a motivated, enthusiastic, high level charismatic player that understands what makes pinball fun seems like a pretty safe play for a pinball designer! In Jack's case he comes from a creative background as an animator and is certainly a people person with a positive attitude.

Hiring young talent with a passion seems like a no-brainer to me. Congrats Jack, looking forward to your designs!

You’ve got a good point Frax.
I think Jack Danger is very entertaining on his Deadflip streams and no question has an ability to market a product. To this day, I credit my purchase of Primus to watching his video. He’s also a solid player and is terrific at giving tips during gameplay.
There’s no question Jack has many skills and talent. His biggest, to me, is connecting with the consumer which is invaluable to any business.
Sounds like a win-win scenario. They were smart to snatch him up IMO.
I hope he kicks some ass and we get to see other skills he has because I’m sure he’ll deliver.
I wish him the best.

Congrats Jack!
Can't wait to see what you come up with

Congrats Jack!

I just hope now that he's corporate he doesn't become Jack Safety

I LOL'd.

Congrats Jack! Go kick some ass!

if you play the JP Home Pin, you'll realize how talented of a designer Jack is. What he was able to create with that BOM is amazing, and the flow of the machine and creativity of the shots given the $$ constraints is nothing short of outstanding.

Having met Jack, his passion for the hobby and effort he's put into being a full time pinball professional are 2nd to none.

Everyone who enjoys pinball should be celebrating this.

Anyone know what these jobs pay? Just curious as they seem to bounce around a bit. I'd imagine low 6 figure at the most and maybe some bonus for sales numbers?

Is there anything you won’t piss or moan about?

Jack has already designed a successful pinball machine. That’s not Enough of a CV for you?

Looking at what he did with so little on the Home JP - I think this is a home run for the pinball community. Looking forward to some original designs that will feel good to shoot. Congrats @deadflip. Keep the creativity coming and don't fall into the same old style that has plagued other designers.

Not nearly as much as you think.

Do you, and the others, or is this just more "Everything Frax says is always negative regardless of anything, screw having a rational conversation" typical Pinside BS, as usual?

Do you guys not find it interesting that the industry has moved away from taking guys from other adjacent and more directly involved parts of the "amusement complex" to do this stuff, to streamers and players? When you look at all the old guys, they came from other things within the arcade industry, and had little to no experience designing a pinball machine or otherwise having anything to do with pinball at all.

Now, all the new hires come in with EXTENSIVE knowledge of pinball, whether that be community, electronics, or design. The manufacturers aren't having to have these guys effectively apprentice for years to get to a level where they can fly solo in their position. Not only that, most would argue they're doing a superior job. I don't think anyone could say that pinball wasn't in desperate need of this new blood. It's just coming from unexpected places, and it's a pretty big "sea change" that landing these positions is no longer limited to industry insiders. If you can prove you have the skills on a solo project, you stand a decent chance of being hired. That's pretty vastly different than even 10 years ago, and it's interesting to me. In that regard, the total 180 on how they're finding people to fill these jobs *IS* a "weird flex" because traditionally, they'd be a lot more conservative with laying out the money to people that they're so critically dependent on. They're getting double duty of talent acquisition AND marketing by hiring these guys with big names, and I personally think Gary Stern saw this trend coming long before anyone else did.

Also, I totally forgot about the Sharpes on my list! Sorry guys!

Even though I don't agree with all of your post, as I really like most of Borg's games.. ***EXACTLY THIS** is the crux. All of these guys, even the ones I don't personally like, are these guys, and more. The value these companies are getting by hiring these guys is nuts.

I did watch Jack's stream of the JP home pin. While I don't agree with the pricing that was set for it, what was done with the game is great. I'd certainly like to play one at some point just to see how it compares build-quality wise from Stern's prior attempts. Maybe there will be one at TPF? Looking forward to seeing some mechanical innovation from Jack. The T-Rex was just the start. Let's see what he does with a full budget!

Awesome, living the dream this guy

Thats great news. I wonder if they can fit in a game from each designer every year at this point. Probably not. But JP the pin looks great and Im really excited to see what he brings. Congrats jack

Hopefully he gets enough scratch to buy a new jacket.

I'm confused. In your first post you said that Stern is cashing in on a cult of personality and then in your second post you kind of try to backtrack. So which one is it?

Congrats to Jack!!! His podcasts and IE Pinball are the only ones that I bother checking out. Well, Bowen\PAPA too.

Congratulations Jack. Can’t wait to see your first offering, I’m sure you’ll bring something fresh.

I'd imagine that pinball companies are open to designs from non pinball streamers, pro players, or personalities if someone gets recognized for having passion and the skills to design a game. It's just 2021, and where do you get recognized if you aren't putting yourself and your knowledge of the games out there on social media, or building games on your own dime and taking your games to shows? I imagine the route of getting your foot in the door and working your way up to designer is a way to do it, but it's not the only way anymore. Great for Jack. He seems like a good guy and obviously has put in a lot of his own time to understand the games and how they work to get to this point. It's not cult of personality. Highly successful people tend to be quite personable.

Congrats @deadflip, you deserve it!!!!

Here's hoping I can flip on a Power Rangers table that you design!!!!!!!!

Hopefully this will revitalize pinball, make it more mainstream, and save it from the brink of collapse!!!

Undoutedly hours streaming got his foot in the door at Stern, but at least with Stern, the key that both Elwin and Jack share is that they designed and built their own homebrew designs before being given the job. I believe Gomez has stated that designing a working machine is something that he looks for, or was waiting to see in potential hires.

No doubt if you can build a homebrew, even with a lot of community help, you have a great shot at having all the skills (and then some) needed to be a lead designer, which is a member of a team working on any given machine.

Kudos and congratulations to Jack. I'll be curious to see what happens to the Deadflip channel and streams. I assume that they'll at a minimum be pared back, which is sad, but still happy to see what I assume must be a dream come true work out for Jack.

Okay, I hear what you’re saying. It’s both good and bad. There guys made homebrews and understand pinball at a quantum level, however they also don’t come from the same vein as the guys like Richie and others who were game programmers first and basically got thrown into design.
Remember Richie did all the Atari pins (which are shitty mainly due to Atari’s poor execution and massive games) and to my knowledge he basically was just winging it with little to no experience behind him. This is why history is important. Nothing is really new, it may have a new coat of paint but it’s all the same essence.

Are we ALL FORGETTING LAWLOR? Pat literally made a game (Bonzai Run/Wreck’n Ball) in his shed and dragged it to a trade show to get a job. Pat along with the Black Hole guys are the ORIGINAL homebrews turned professional designers.

Where in the hell have you been?!? Pinball is more popular now than 15 years ago when Stern was on the brink of closing and literally every other manufacturer was closed. I’d say 2005-2008 was probably THE CLOSEST pinball ever was complete annihilation.

Steve Ritchie was just a technician on the Atari manufacturing line, originally in the video game section. He got a pinball design job because he, wait for it, built a homebrew in his free time and impressed his boss with it.

I wanna say Jon Norris also got his start with a EM retheme/homebrew/Frankenstein-monster.

Also congrats to Jack. I'm sure it's the dream job he never knew he wanted till a few years ago.

Congratulations Jack !
LTG : )

So awesome DeadFlip you've worked incredibly hard for pinball, nice to see it rewarded.

Congrats Jack! Excited to see what he does on a full cornerstone game.

This is great news! Jack is very talented. Wise decision by Stern to bring him on.

I just hope it's not the end of the streams. I enjoy grabbing an adult beverage and relaxing with a DeadFlip stream every now and then.

I don't see how you can do much better. He has an art background, loves pinball, good at playing, good at pr, already designed pins, enthusiastic, and well known in pinball community. Surprised Stern didn't bring him on sooner. Hope Stern gives him some decent themes to start out. Looking forward to some fresh designs.