Huh? I thought he just joined American pinball in Feb of this year?

Jim is a great guy and will do a fantastic job! I wish him much success. JJP is hiring seasoned pinball professionals.

Jack did loose Butch, so this is a good move.

That's interesting. Great news for JJP !

LTG : )

Surprised JJP is filling this role at such a late stage in starting up their new factory. You'd usually bring on a new COO early in the transition process to be the architect of the plan and own its success. He's an amazing designer, but does he have any experience running a manufacturing operation which is a very different job?

Gomez made a similar jump; he's turned out pretty good...

He's the chief creative guy not business operations. Pat Lawlor is the Gomez for JJP. Always exceptions, but very rare for a career product development person to successfully transition to operations/manufacturing. Like saying someone who spent their career running manufacturing operations can lead the design department. But I have no idea how Patla spent his whole career, so fingers crossed he's the right guy to make JJP a first class manufacturer.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/JimPatla

"After Bally was purchased by Williams Electronics, Patla was promoted to Director of Product Development at Williams; he remained in that position until Williams left pinball in 1999,"

Looks good to me.

LTG : )

Only time will tell. The entrepreneurs, sales and creative types usually grossly underestimate the challenges of manufacturing. Downfall of many companies as they grow. Don't want to sound negative - just a surprising move on the eve of starting up a factory for a business that has had more than its share of manufacturing challenges.

From today's Pinball Magazine email:

As reported earlier, former pinball designer Jim Patla (KISS, Silverball Mania, Mata Hari, Playboy, Centaur, and many other games), came out of retirement last year to start working at American Pinball. While Jim was initially hired on a part-time basis, that pretty soon became a full-time job. However, Jim sent out an email on June 4th, which said:
“I will no longer be associated with American Pinball or their parent company Aimtron. When API asked me to come out of retirement to help with G3 I didn't realize how much I missed being apart of the pinball community. I definitely enjoyed working with the design team and everyone who supported the project. Everyone's hard work has made Hot Wheels™ an amazing game.”
G3, in the email from Jim, indicates Game 3, which is Hot Wheels.

Before recording the latest Pinball Magazine & Pinball News podcast, I reached out to Jim, wondering whether he would go back to being retired or be interested in working for another company. Off the record, I was informed on Jim's plans, and I've just been given the green light to break the following news: Jersey Jack Pinball has hired Jim Patla as their new Chief Operations Officer. Congratulations to Jim and JJP! Jim already started this week in his new position.

If you wish to read more about Jim Patla's career in pinball, make sure to read Pinball Magazine No. 3, which includes an in-depth interview with Jim on the games he designed at Bally and much more.

http://www.pinball-magazine.com/

Happy for all involved.
Jim helping push Hot Wheels on to the track.
AND JJP putting him in a Great Position to work over the next several years and get games onto the stage, and into infinity and beyond!