PINBALL HEAVEN OPEN HOUSE

A ‘display sample’ Harry Potter Collector’s Edition
(picture: Neil McEwan)

Had Harry Potter been revealed back in January, Jersey Jack Pinball founder, Jack Guarnieri, would have been in London at the EAG Expo show to present it. With the UK premiere now taking place at Pinball Heaven, Jack flew over to talk about the game’s creation and its many features with Open Day attendees.

The Harry Potter game was busy throughout the day and, as we shall see, through the night and into the early hours.

Everyone wanted to play the latest JJP game

Ian from Preston Pinball even set up a rig to live-stream some of the Harry Potter action, along with gameplay from some of the other titles.

You can watch the Harry Potter stream here:

 

Four more Jersey Jack Pinball titles were set up in the Pinball Heaven showroom – Avatar: The Battle for Pandora, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses and Toy Story 4 – along with another seven games – Roto Pool, The Shadow, Cactus Canyon Remake, Looney Tunes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Big Lebowski and Funhouse Remake.

While the Open Day was free, donations were accepted for the event’s nominated charity, Make-A-Wish. At the time of writing, nearly £3,000 (US$4,088) has been raised. Donations can still be made at the event’s dedicated Just Giving page.

Although Unit 8 is Pinball Heaven’s main base, Phil also owns several other units in the complex. Two of these were brought into use for the Open Day. One unit had two more rows of machines set up on free play (except for the Dungeons & Dragons Limited Edition which was display-only). All were Stern titles, and most were Pinball Heaven machines, although a few were brought in by friends and customers.

The machines available to play were, Whoa Nellie!, Jaws, Deadpool, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, James Bond, Dungeons & Dragons, The Uncanny X-Men, Spider-Man, Venom, John Wick, Foo Fighters, Star Wars and Elvira’s House of Horrors.

The second additional unit was split between a ‘car boot’ sales area at the front for assorted pinball parts, and another row of free play machines at the rear.

Pinball Heaven had one table covered with used parts, new mods and some reproduction parts.

Chris Brimacombe took the other table to sell his surplus parts.

At the back of the room, visitors could play Pinbot, Dr. Dude, Cactus Canyon Remake, Twilight Zone, The Addams Family and Attack from Mars Remake.

The weather in the run-up to the Open Day had been unseasonably sunny and hot (c. 30° Celsius). That hot spell was coming to an end during the event, producing a few brief rain showers. Fortunately, the rain was brief enough not to disrupt the arrival of Betsy’s Pizza at lunchtime.

Her food truck parked just outside Pinball Heaven’s entrance and kept visitors supplied with hot, tasty pizza, paid for by Phil. Naturally, the pizzas tended to be snapped up just as soon as they were served.

Cans of cold soft drinks were also available in ice buckets inside the extra units.

Play continued throughout the afternoon until the official closing time of 5pm.

That wasn’t the end of the fun, though.

Those who wished to come were invited to visit The Villa hotel and restaurant in Wrea Green, around a 30-minute drive from Pinball Heaven.

Open Day guests could stay at the hotel, join in the evening meal and socialise until the early hours of the morning. Guests were offered rooms for free by Phil in exchange for a donation to Make-A-Wish.

After dinner, a general knowledge quiz was held, with free drinks at the bar for the winning team.

Meanwhile, the Harry Potter game had been brought from Tarleton over and set up in The Pavilion. It continued to be played until shortly after 1am, with events finally wrapping up close to 2am.

After a hearty cooked breakfast on Sunday morning, those with a competitive edge could take part in a cash tournament held by Ian of Preston Pinball at ‘Level’ entertainment centre in Preston.

The tournament used a ‘six strikes’ format, with groups of four playing a single game per round where the winner received no strikes, the second- and third-placed players got one strike each, and the last placed player got two strikes. After each round the player groups were mixed up with those with similar numbers of strikes playing together.

We sadly had to make the four-hour drive home on Sunday morning, but twenty-four players did take part, playing on eight machines which were set up just for the tournament.

The machines were:

The Avengers: Infinity Quest Cactus Canyon Remake Foo Fighters John Wick	Pulp Fiction The Mandalorian Venom Whitewater

 

After ten rounds of matches, the winner was Andy Foster who made it through with only three strikes against him. Nick Marshall and Steven Kielty collected their sixth and seventh strikes respectively in round ten, to make Nick second and Steven third.

Here are the full results:

Position	Name	Strikes
1	Andy Foster	3
2	Nick Marshall	6
3	Steven Kielty	7
4	Tim Porter	6
5	Paul Owen	7
6	Garry Speight	6
6	Ian Walmsley	6
8	Glen Cockell	6
8	Neil McRae	6
10	Alan Jones	7
10	Andrew Ellis	7
10	Leo Marshall	7
13	Tim Knowles	6
13	Cheryl Ellis	6
13	Paul Garner	6
13	Don Gauld	6
13	Andrew Broom	6
13	Roy Smith	6
13	Bob Marlow	6
20	Dan Williams	7
21	Jim King	6
21	Luke Wells	6
21	Clare Johnson	6
24	Paul Barber	7

 

There’s no doubt everyone who attended Pinball Heaven’s first Open Day thoroughly enjoyed their visit. Having Jack Guarnieri in attendance to present his new Harry Potter Collector’s Edition game was perfect timing and made the whole event extra special.

While the release of the new game was certainly serendipitous for Phil’s selected dates and might prove difficult to pull-off again, he is considering making the Pinball Heaven Open Day an annual event. If he does, who knows who or what might make a special guest appearance in 2026?

PINBALL HEAVEN OPEN HOUSE – Welcome to Pinball News – First & Free