Video may have killed the radio star, but in the early 1980s, Pac-Man almost killed pinball. “In 1979, pinball manufacturers sold more than 200,00 machines in the United States,” writes Josh Levin for Slate. “Three years later, they sold 33,000.” (All links below.)
I was in high school in 1979, and almost every weekend, my friends and I would go to the arcade. I remember playing pinball — and when Pac-Man hit the scene, and then Asteroids.
While these new games grabbed people’s attention, I stuck with pinball. I loved learning how to manipulate the machine by jiggling it and slowing the ball down with a flipper before sending it racing back up the field.
I haven’t played pinball in years, so when my son sent me a text of a “Made in USA” sticker from a game he was playing at a Long Island arcade, my radar instantly pinged.
Did a quick search and found Jersey Jack Pinball — a U.S. manufacturer of these wonderful machines. I couldn’t confirm the company uses the “Made in USA” sticker my son sent me, but I did note this one on their Addams Family machine at the arcade.
Haha yes, I did some hands-on research before writing this piece. One thing that’s changed in the 40 years since I last played: You get three balls for $1.00 versus five balls for a quarter.
But one thing hasn’t changed: Pinball is still a lot of fun!
Note: Several U.S.-based companies manufacture pinball machines, one of which is Stern Pinball. However, I cannot confirm from their website that they make their machines in the U.S.
Jersey Jack Pinball, on the other hand, proudly states, “Designed and manufactured in the USA” in several places on its website. Hence, they’re topic of this post.
Creating a fully immersive experience
An industry veteran, Jack Guarnieri owned Pinball Sales, located in Lakewood, NJ and sold Stern Pinball machines around the world. However, sales were hit hard when Stern “changed their product to a sparser playfield design with simpler rules,” according to a 2011 Pinball News write up. (See links below)
With nothing left to sell, Guarnieri did what many entrepreneurs do: He decided to make his own pinball machines. And, that’s exactly what he did. According to Pinball News, he already had the manufacturing capacity in the U.S.; at the time, Guarnieri manufactured coin-op grabber, pusher, and novelty games.
His goal was to appeal to the customers that Stern Pinball was neglecting by creating more complex, fully-featured pinball games. In 2011, he founded Jersey Jack Pinball.
Jersey Jack’s first title, or machine, was the Wizard of Oz; Guarnieri invested over $2M in start-up costs and spared no expense. Released in 2013, it sold over 2,500 units — at a premium price of $7,000 per unit. It was the first U.S. game to include an LCD in the backbox, which played film clips in full color. It also included two fully built out upper playfields and lots of three dimensional items or toys.
It can take two and half years to design a game start-to-finish. The process includes licensing and then designing thousands of parts — up to 3,000 or more — plus sophisticated sub-assemblies and electronics.
An immersive playing experience, pinball also combines a mechanical action that requires skill. Hence, game designers first begin by creating the story and the rules of play — using storyboards and talking through each element — before designing the playfield.
In this video factory tour, look for the throwing apple trees being added to the playfield. When I played the game at the arcade, I was thrilled when they all lit up. Bing, bing, bing! I also loved the Ruby-red Slipper flippers. Even though it’s now considered a legacy game, playing Wizard of Oz was a lot of fun — and challenging!
Handcrafted and built in the United States
In 2020, the company relocated its manufacturing operation to Elk Grove Village, IL where its design team was already working — Illinois being the pinball capital of the world. In addition to Wizard of Oz, Jersey Jack Pinball has released an additional 10 games, including Guns-N-Roses, Avatar, and Toy Story 4.
The company released its new Harry Potter game in June 2025; it’s getting rave reviews.
Each game is handcrafted by artisans and craftspeople passionate about pinball. The intricate playfields are hand-drawn by some of the finest artists in the industry — with thousands of hours spent on artwork and interactive animations.
Today, the company employs 100 people and has machines in over 40 countries, along with countless man caves and residential game rooms. (Yes, you can order your own game from the company website.)
I’ve purposely kept this post short without a lot of manufacturing detail, because if you’re interested in pinball, you can find more than enough articles, news, and videos about it and Jersey Jack machines. I highly recommend watching the video factory tour. The company’s attention to detail is superb.
Until I did the research, I had no clue an entire community of pinball enthusiasts exists. People are quite passionate about the game; game designers and artists are well-known and considered industry rockstars.
But if you really want to understand why Jersey Jack machines are special, you have to go play one — or several.
In the Links section below, I added the Pinball Map. It’s a user updated database of arcades listed by state — along with the pinball machines you’ll find at each establishment (if any) and their condition.
(Because they’re mechanical, pinball machines tend to break down over time. Not all arcade owners maintain them properly for one simple reason: They’re not huge money makers.)
When you go, grab a like-minded friend or your kids / grandkids, and have some fun! If they’ve never played before, teach them how and get them hooked. Let them know they’re playing on machines made right here in the United States by craftspeople passionate about creating the very best in pinball playing experiences.
As for me, I had so much fun playing Wizard of Oz at the arcade, I made a resolution to take an afternoon off once a month in order to hone my pinball skills.
Those upper playfields were quite tricky! Each time the ball went underneath one, I’d lose sight of it — then it would come rolling back down right between the flippers. Argh!
It was quite challenging to track the ball and watch everything else happening on the playfield — while also listening to the sound track. It loved it and can’t wait to try again!
To learn more about the company, and its games, history, and more, visit Jersey Jack Pinball.
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Links
Pinball Map — An open source, crowdsourced map of public pinball machines, sorted by state.
New Pinball Manufacturer, Pinball News, 2011 — A write up of when Jack Guarnieri announced he was starting a new pinball manufacturing company.
Can This Man Save Pinball? by Josh Levin, Slate — Long read but really good. Highly recommend.
It’s not game over for pinball, by Erica Fry and Brett Krasnove, Fortune, 2013
Jersey Jack Pinball Relocates Manufacturing Operations — Corporate press release, 2020
The Arcade Classic that Tilted Digital, by Erin Winick Anthony, Engineering.com
Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball (documentary) — I purposely didn’t include the history of pinball in my write up, but I did watch this documentary, which is very good!
Pinball Wizard, live at Isle of Wright, 1970, The Who — Can’t have a write up about pinball without this classic song, haha!
Full Disclosure
I’m not paid nor asked to write about products or the companies that make them. All links in this piece are FREE — meaning, they’re not sponsored or paid for.
My mission is to keep manufacturing jobs stateside and this blog is my way of giving back. We like to think a “small” choice, such as purchasing something made in the US, won’t make a difference. It does.
