How to Build a Pinball Empire When Everyone Thinks You’re Crazy with Jack Guarnieri

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by high level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down how to build a pinball empire when everyone thinks you're crazy. To drop these value bombs, I brought Jack Guarnani into EO Fire Studios. Starting out as a pinball mechanic over 40 years ago, Jack, better known as Jersey Jack, is now the center of the pinball universe, bringing fun to millions of people. And we're talking about Jack's story today, Fire Nation. So buckle in because it's a doozy. As soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors.

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1:25Jack, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation? How we doing today? For me, it's if I can dream and I can do it. Fire Nation, if you can dream, you can do it. And Jack's had some dreams, by the way. Speaking of how to build a pinball empire when everyone thinks you're crazy, that's what we'll be talking about with Jack today. And I want to know, Jack, the specific moments when you fell in love with pinball. I was taking six months off after graduating high school, and I just took a temporary job as a pinball mechanic in college game rooms.

2:03And that's the moment you fell in love? Well, I guess when I saw the people playing the games and having fun, and my job was really cool, I got to meet a lot of people my own age and make friends with some of them at different schools in the New York metropolitan area. So it was pretty cool. Jack, I've had a prior conversation with you, and you've done some crazy things in your life, but I want to know the craziest thing that you've done in the name of pinball. You know, I would have to say it's starting Jersey Jack Pinball in January of 2011. So before crowdfunding was a thing, we announced that we were doing a Wizard of Oz pinball, and we took orders for 1 ,000 games, which was over$7 million.

2:45And people gave us money for a game they never saw from a factory that wasn't built yet and a company that just started. And they had faith and trust in me because I was selling games since about 2000 at pinballsales.com to the home consumer market. And I had thousands of customers all over the world. And there was a bank full of goodwill. And, yeah, that was it. It was pretty risky. Why did you choose The Wizard of Oz? I wanted a theme that wasn't only male testosterone-based pinball. I wanted something that would appeal to the smarter people in the world, the women, and young people, too. And in our industry, that license was never done on any game before.

3:28But since I brought it to my industry, it's been on amazing hit games of all kinds. What was the theme of the second one? The second one was The Hobbit, also a Warner Brothers title. Good timing. Which when I got the license, John, it was two movies. And in the middle of our production of the game, they made it three movies and they didn't give us the assets at the very end. So it was, it was, that game almost put me out of business. Brutal. So that's really interesting. What is it that makes a good pinball game? I mean, listen, I've come from the perspective of, I've been to a lot of arcades before.

4:05I played a lot of pinball games. Some of them just seem like they're awesome and they're fun. Some of them I never really seem to get into the flow with. And I don't really know why because I'm not a great pinball player, but I do enjoy the game. But to you, the professional, the guy that's lived and died pinball machines for decades, what makes specifically a good pinball game? The first thing is the theme. Our latest game is Harry Potter. And we just released that a couple of weeks ago. And you can't get a better theme than that. So you need to start with a story, a theme, then you build the rules around it.

4:39You build light shows, you build animation, movie clips, voiceover, amazing artwork. We really build playable artwork. It's sensory overload. We don't, some people say you put the kitchen sink in, we put the whole plumbing department in our games. The whole plumbing department, I love that. And that kind of makes sense to me that like there's a story around it. And I got to be honest with you, I never feel like I've played a pinball game where there was a story involved. So can you maybe kind of walk us through, like, what did that look like for The Wizard of Oz? Like, what was that story that people were living as they were playing?

5:15So The Wizard of Oz, you're playing the movie, basically. You got to get Dorothy home. So all the elements of the game, there's an upper play field with a spinning house that lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and our legs pop out of the house. There's an upper play field where the winged monkey comes down and grabs your ball. and locks you behind the door, and you have to get up to the witch's castle and break the door down to free the ball, which represents Dorothy. So you have all the elements of the game. You have the music. You have call-outs, which are from the original actors, and then we had voice actors that mimic the original actors for pinball language.

5:52So when you're playing the game, it says, shoot the ramp. Do this. Do that. It tells you different things to do, audio signals and call-outs to tell you how to play. Now that sounds like a game that I want to play. And Fire Nation, we have a lot more to talk about around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business. And they are also our featured partner, High Level. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack.

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7:45And thanks to Shopify's purple ShopPay button, you can. And Shopify doesn't just make it easy to buy. It makes it easy to start a business too, no matter your experience. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10 % of all e-commerce in the US, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. That's in part because it helps you tackle all those important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more. And did I mention that iconic purple Shop Pay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world? It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet.

8:21Your customers already love it. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash onfire. Go to shopify.com slash onfire. Shopify.com slash on fire. All right, Jack, we are back. And listen, there's a lot of people that are listening right now. They've never really looked into pinball. What would you say they're missing out on? Well, you're missing out on a real fun, a box of fun, I would call it. You know, as Walt Whitman said, and later Ted Lasso, be curious, not judgmental.

9:04I mean, the community is great. The games are great. It's not your grandfather's pinball machine. There's sensory overload. There's a lot of cool things to learn. It's a game of skill. So the better you play, the higher your score is going to be. There are many tournaments and places to go all over the United States, actually all over the world. I'm going to a pinball show this weekend. I'm going to London later today. So it's just a crazy community of wonderful people, and they're all having fun, smiling, playing pinball. Well, I guess that leads you to my next question. I mean, do you feel like pinball is actually more than a game?

9:40I mean, what does it represent to you personally? It's kind of a lifestyle. Like I just started saying, it's a community of people. You make friends for life, and it's just over a pinball machine. There's people from all walks of life. There's doctors, lawyers, just truck drivers, casual people that are just every walk of life playing pinball together. and it's a great community. And, you know, you can join a local league playing pinball once or twice a week and it becomes a part of your life. You have an immediate extended family with all the people in the league. If you buy a pinball machine for your home, people in the league will help you set it up or repair it and learn how to play better.

10:27I mean, it's got to feel good to know all the memories that you're giving to people. I mean, I'm sure people have stories about, you know meeting a significant other while they were playing the wizard of oz and they ended up getting married and bonding over that and kids have now resulted and i mean there's just like so many stories of bringing people together into community and providing them amazing experiences you know a lot of times you know i think singers probably have the same example they're like you know like man when i wrote stairway to heaven like how many high school couples you know have kissed their first kiss during that song.

11:00And like, you've brought that into the world of gaming with pinball, with the stories that you tell. And, you know, what would you say to somebody who's curious about pinball, but they feel intimidated or they feel like maybe it's a world that they don't really belong to yet? What would you say to them? You could start by going to pinballmap.com. And at that website, you'll find over 11 ,000 locations and more than 48 ,000 machines. Wow. So that would be the first place to go. And you can find out so much by searching that site because you'll find that nearby restaurants or different venues, different locations have a lot of games.

11:41It's amazing. You know, we primarily sell to the home market. Some of our home customers have 100 games. Some have 20. Some people live in Manhattan and they have them in their kitchen. Some people build another building. it's just a great thing to get involved with and a lot of people don't know that they still make pinball machines because our games are not like your grandfather's pinball machine they're just amazing pieces of playable artwork. I mean that's your tagline this is not your grandfather's pinball machine because frankly it's not and Jack take a step back you know we talked about a lot of things today when it comes to pinball and the community around it and the craziest moments and how you fell in love with pinball what is something that you want to share with our listeners right now that we haven't talked about yet around this world of pinball from where i sit doing this all these years and all the phases of my industry it's just it's just a very humbling and and thankful place to be to get to bring fun to the world and the world needs more fun that's for sure um it's got enough of other other issues And when people play pinball, they just forget everything.

12:58Nothing really matters at the moment. You know, keep the ball on the play field alive. And, you know, I get to travel the world promoting pinball, shaking hands and kissing babies, posing for pictures and signing autographs. And it's weird to say I'm a celebrity in that small world. When I come home, my wife has a bag of garbage for me to take out to keep me grounded. but you know it's it's it's just been really wonderful to me and it was kind of by accident you know i took a temporary job and it became my life well jersey jack if our listeners right now want to connect with you want to learn more what is a call to action you have for our listeners i mean i know you know pinball map is a place that they can go to learn more about local machines around them but what's another step they can take to connect with what you're doing our website is jerseyjackpinball.com and if anybody wants to get me they can just email jack at jerseyjackpinball.com it's pretty easy I never wanted to be called Jersey Jack because I'm from Brooklyn but I write for Replay Magazine and my editor 20 years ago said you're going to be Jersey Jack and I said I don't like that name I'm from Brooklyn he says well we could think of a worse name for you so all the customers named the company and it stuck and now I embrace it Well, if your name was Bob, you'd be Brooklyn Bob because people just love alliterations.

14:26They want to have the same letter. And that's just how people work. I've come to realize that over and over again. But Jack, thank you for taking time to speak with us today because I think a lot of people, you know, they need to be open to what you're talking about, to joy, to happiness, to fun. The world does need more fun. And Fire Nation, my audience knows that they're the average of the five people they spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with Jersey Jack and JLD today. So keep up the heat, Fire Nation. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com, type Jack in the search bar.

14:56The show notes page will pop right up. And Jack, I just want to say thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Jack for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, what can 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment. My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle that you've been dreaming about.

15:29This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs. You can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. You know that iconic purple ShopPay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world. It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash on fire. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies?

16:11Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.