There's been a few Harry Potter threads over the years speculating about whether or not a Harry Potter pinball machine will ever come out. The Facebook post below, from This Week in Pinball (thank you for sharing!), shows Jody, Keith and George from Stern visiting the Harry Potter theme park in CA. Now sure it could be a vacation...but why would 3 unrelated dudes that work at Stern Pinball be traveling across the country to visit a Harry Potter theme park? lol

Harry Potter may be happening, maybe not, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

From the TWIP post.

https://thisweekinpinball.com/twip-tuesday-3/

"Jody Dankberg, Keith Elwin, and George Gomez visited Hogwarts. So does that mean that a Harry Potter machine is coming soon? Well, since they went to Hogwarts and shared it on social media, we’ll share what we know about a Harry Potter Pinball machine. Absolutely nothing. Lets make this happen pinball industry!!"

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Oh yeah, would be a huge seller. It makes me wonder if Beatles really is the next Stern title and it's Harry Potter instead that Ka-Pow was referencing in a recent interview. I could see the Beatles rumors of the game being a home only game (not setup for coin up) also applying to Harry Potter. It's possible that is how Stern got JK Rowling to agree to allow them to make it as that would ensure it wouldn't be used in bars. I can also see the Harry Potter theme, with license rights, costing $1 million or more as the Ka-Pow article mentioned.

Have to disagree. The way The Hobbit was made and coded is the reason why I would want JJP to do a Harry Potter pin that covers all 8 movies. The code for The Hobbit since the last two updates has changed immensely. The amount of work that went into the games code, animations, rules, music, and sounds is astounding. I wouldn't be surprised if more time and effort went into The Hobbits code then any other pin. JJP made excellent use of licensed assets across all 3 films including licensed audio, video and music. I think JJP is the only company that would put the time and effort into creating a deep and objective based ruleset that covers all 8 Harry Potter films.

If Stern does have Harry Potter I'm still pumped as they have made some deep objective based games over the years using licensed assets. I think Stern did a good with Star Wars as they used the license fairly well and obtained licensed assets for the entire original trilogy. Here's hoping someone is making Harry Potter.

There was a massive code update, 2.96, a couple months back. 2.97 is in beta adding more polish and 3.0 is coming soon. Really impressed as an owner with how far the game has come since release.

I think JJP or Stern could come up with a unique ruleset that covers all 8 Harry Potter films well. You could have X number of modes per school year (7), and a mini wizard mode for each. Maybe 3 modes per year (movie) and a mini wizard mode with each having licensed assets. That would be similar to what Stern did with Star Wars and the 3 mode / mini wizard mode per location idea. Have an option at the beginning of the game where you select your house and that affects scoring and grants other abilities.

A Pat Lawlor Harry Potter pin sounds amazing With Keith Elwin visiting the park it makes me wonder if he's designing Harry Potter? I suppose a Fantastical Beasts pin is also possible but I don't see that theme having as much of a draw as Harry Potter, not even remotely close. If they went to the park to get ideas it's odd they choose the one in Califorina versus the superior Orlando park. Stern could have been out in CA for something entirely different I suppose and just stopped at the park while out there.

Your opinion, many others including myself love the way it plays! Fun layout and many toys and features. Code has a big impact, probably the biggest impact, on how fun a game can become. It doesn't matter how cool a layout appears if the code support isn't there or the rules are like chopping wood. We've seen that many times over the years.

Glad you hate it, knew that already, lol. Do you think Stern would put the same time and effort into code for Harry Potter to do the theme justice?

Good point, didn't he do that a year or so before the game was announced? Helps build hype I suppose and keeps people talking about the game while it's being designed.

What's interesting is that there's been multiple Harry Potter video games, most have been terrible. There's also been a leak of a new Harry Potter RPG video game where you create your own character. Maybe things have changed with Harry Potter licensing and JK Rowling is more open to a pin being created. If the game doesn't allow coin-op it may sway her view as most of the games would be used in homes.

While I wish Stern Star Wars had more in it I'm very happy with my LE. I was debating on selling it for Pirates and decided to keep it due to the great ruleset, unique toys, and excellent use of licensed assets. Stern did a great job incorporating actor audio and video along with licensed music throughout the game. I much rather have those assets in the game then 1 more magnet and a bunch of generic points focused modes. The hyperspace space and Death Star on the premium / LE are two very substantial toys and are much more impressive when you see them in person versus on paper. If I have any complaints it's that more extras should have been included with the LE.

Then again maybe Stern purposely put less in the game to increase profits, lol. Steve Ritichie mentioned last year at a show, jokingly, that "Gary hates anything that costs money".

Wow, lol. Yeah, lots of toys / features, great build quality, excellent customer service, and industry leading code support are terrible things...

Quality over quantity. JJP doesn't need to make as many pins as Stern does to be deemed successful.

Yeah, Ferrari and Lamborghini are little car hobby shops too because they don't make as many vehicles as Ford, lol ridiculous. Company A must be better then company B because they offer more products for sale! By that analogy Sears must be one of todays most successful retail stores!

Here ya go, The Hobbit is a great pin Yes we know you hate it, lol. Too bad ya sold it before the last several updates as it truly is a new game. Code support can heavily change how enjoyable a game can become and JJP came through with Hobbit code support big time. After the recent round of updates I now enjoy playing Hobbit over my WOZ. Also, it doesn't matter either how cool a layout appears if the code support isn't there.

Seeing what JJP did with The Hobbit is why I want them over Stern to make Harry Potter as they will do the theme justice. However, at this point I just want someone makes the game. If Stern does end up getting the Harry Potter licence I hope they are able to obtain both actor audio and actor video licenses from the films.

Most early production games will have issues regardless of the manufacturer, the more mechs / parts in those games the more issues those early games may have. JJP has addressed the early Pirates QC issues, see Eric's post below from just over a week ago. Most of what the JJP POTC club discusses isn't QC issues. If you don't want any issues out of the box I would recommend waiting 6 months from when production begins before ordering a game from any company.

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That's unveiling, not production...