Ep 11 - Jack Guarnieri: The Pinball Wizard of Customer Service

Disclaimer: [: 00:00:00

A copy of Fusion's current written disclosure brochure discussing our advisory [00:00:15] services and fees is available upon request or at www.fusionfamilywealth.com.

're just starting out or are [: 00:00:30

And more to share fresh perspectives on making sound decisions that maximize your wealth. And now here's your host.[00:01:00]

f, uh, of pinball machines a [: 00:01:15

So, Jack Garri, uh, welcome to the podcast. Crazy Wealthy. Good to have you.

ow you all these years. It's [: 00:01:30

Jonathan Blau: Likewise, likewise. Um, my wife doesn't share that same sentiment, but that's a whole different story. Uh, so Jack, uh, you know, you and I met through a, a, a friend, [00:01:45] uh, of mine who, who, when he, um.

Bought his new house in Long Island. He, he built, uh, Dave and Buster's basically in his basement. And, uh, he made double wide,

Jack Guarnieri: he made double wide doors so we could get games in there.

ember, I remember the story. [: 00:02:00

But, um, I, I, you know, my means were a little more modest than his back then, but I was still impressed by. By looking at all these games and, and, uh, so I, uh, he [00:02:15] put me in touch with you when and when you were pinball sales.com, and then, um, and I had only good experiences. So we, we, we got, uh, I mean, I, our basement wasn't any slouch.

a ski ball. A couple of papa [: 00:02:30

But, um, talk to me about how you got started. I know you were recently in town and country. I was reading, uh, that, you know, 1970 or so, you, you were fixing pinball machines. How did, how did you learn to fix pinball machines and how [00:03:00] did that happen and lead, lead to everything else?

Jack Guarnieri: You know, when I was, when I was younger, let's say about 14, 15 years old, I was on CB radio and I met a lot of friends on cb and everybody was, for those

Jonathan Blau: who don't know that citizens band, I mean, I remember those days.

That was [: 00:03:15

Jack Guarnieri: internet. That was the internet of the 1970s. So, uh, right, so that was social media in 1975. So as a kid I was, uh, curious about electronics and all my friends that I met on cb, they would be tinkering with electronics. [00:03:30] And, um, you know, it went, it got more of a, of a, uh, a hold on me that I loved electronics and in school, in high school it was an electronics lab.

tayed in the electronics lab [: 00:03:45

And, um, I, I said, you know what, lemme take a [00:04:00] break for six months. I'll go get a job before I go to college. Uh, 'cause I didn't register anywhere. I was thinking about going to Hofstra for electronics or something like that. And, um, I, I answered an in the newspaper for a pinball mechanic. One of my friends was fixing [00:04:15] pinball machines at a operator in, in Brooklyn, uh, where I was.

[: 00:04:30

Jonathan Blau: yeah, I learned and, and so. One of the things that mentioned in the article is that, uh, in the seventies when you [00:04:45] started fixing pinball machines and you were, you were buying them and placing them in pizzerias and in stores and, and on a revenue share basis, right.

revenue with you. Right. And [: 00:05:00

How, how, what, what led you to that revelation?

Jack Guarnieri: Well, [: 00:05:15

I had a customer in FAO Schwarz, the uh, famous toy store.

Jonathan Blau: Oh yeah.

them up significantly. There [: 00:05:45

And, um, they were all going to people's homes. They were rich people or movie stars and actors. [00:06:00] Uh, football players and basketball players, but I, I said to myself, you know, everybody wants these games and if they have a credit card, they could buy them. And, um, in, in, uh, September of 1999, pinball sales.com was [00:06:15] born and the idea was to sell commercial arcade, pinball machines and video games to home to the consumer market.

for Stern Yeah. Pinball for [: 00:06:30

Jack Guarnieri: Yeah. They were the only company making pinball machines, so it was kind of easy. Um, it was not easy becoming a distributor because the people at Stern pinball didn't believe that I'd be in business for long because who [00:06:45] wants a pinball machine in their house?

And I thought that once they [: 00:07:00

And that's basically what's happening right now.

ball sales.com and I, I got. [: 00:07:15

Jack Guarnieri: we sold, we sold driving games for $30,000 we sold. Right?

Jonathan Blau: Not to me you didn't, but virtual,

Jack Guarnieri: virtual golf games, we sold world to jukeboxes.

We, you know, [: 00:07:30

Jonathan Blau: Right? So from that, you then became, um, uh, in 2011, you went into the pinball manufacturing business for lack of a better. A description. Yeah. And, and you became Jersey Jack pinball, first of all, [00:07:45] um, and competed, I guess with Stern. But t talk to me about, uh, how, what the origin of the name Jersey Jack Pinball, and then we'll talk about, uh Yeah.

The evolution of the company.

uarnieri: Okay. In October of: 2004

And, um, you know, the column, I needed a name and Eddie Adla, the, the, uh, owner of, uh, the magazine called me up and he said, Hey, you are Jersey Jack. And I said, who's Jersey Jack? [00:08:30] You are Jersey Jack. That's the name you're gonna write under. And I said, I'm from Brooklyn. I, I'm, you know. He says, well, you're from Jersey now and you're a jersey jack and you're gonna like it.

ow what I was gonna call the [: 00:08:45

Jonathan Blau: um,

Jack Guarnieri: Jersey

Jonathan Blau: Jack.

I actually [: 00:09:00

Jack Guarnieri: Oh yeah.

. You were born in Brooklyn. [: 00:09:15

Everybody needs some kind of plan so that they don't run out of money in their lifetime or so that [00:09:30] they make sure their money, that their, their goals are met financially and so forth. So everybody needs it right at every level. But you have, you have a tagline that you use for your business. What's the tagline?

I

eds, but um, it's everything [: 00:09:45

Jonathan Blau: So, so, but in, in, what's interesting is, you know, you distributed games basically, uh, for, for the majority of your career. And my feeling is getting to know you over all these years. Almost 25 years, I think.

Um, [: 00:10:00

I mean, and so to me, what make, what, what I always, uh, what I always. Um, took pride in is I, I always wanted, even when I was an accountant at Arthur Anderson, I always wanted to do the best work so that my [00:10:30] clients would come back and say, thank you and you really helped me. And then there was always a sense of satisfaction.

nd I always notice with you, [: 00:10:45

Um, and you've never changed. You know, if I have an issue and I call Jack, I get, Jack, you were relaying a story to me that you [00:11:00] still have an old number that, that, you know, press one if this press, and then three is if you, you know, Jack, and then you answer the phone and someone says the why, why'd you answer the phone?

I think, thank you. You know [: 00:11:15

Jonathan, I'm gonna send, you just sent me. [00:11:30] Basketball's to replace 'em. My machine is, I didn't ask you to send them to me. I wanted to get, but you sent them to me and, 'cause I told you I, I, my basketballs are going bad. But, but you worry, you're not worried about, okay, now how am I gonna make up for the $80 or whatever it costs me.

You never [: 00:11:45

Uh, it's the end customer, the client investing in money with me. It's, it's the, uh, it's their accountant and their lawyer who need my help. The service. It's every, so when you recognize that, but I don't know how you [00:12:15] teach that. You and I were talking on the phone yesterday and I, I said something. You said you think that you were thinking exactly the same thing.

loyees available, just their [: 00:12:30

Jack Guarnieri: not everybody, but they get paint brushed, you know, with the same brush. Yeah. You know, as a

Jonathan Blau: general thing, you know, I,

Jack Guarnieri: I always wanted to treat people like I wanted to be treated.

And when I [: 00:12:45

Um, you know, when, when a, when a situation becomes elevated to a point. Where the customer is frustrated, [00:13:15] we don't wanna have that. So, um, they'll break the glass under fire extinguisher and I'll get a call or an email and I'll call the customer. And the most irate customer. The amazing thing, it's just so funny to me and humbling when I call the customer, the customer's like, oh, [00:13:30] I didn't wanna bother you.

w can we solve your problem? [: 00:13:45

Uh, yeah.

the phones, if it, if in the [: 00:14:00

So that there's no one, there's no phone line. It, it bounces to my cell phone. That's just the way it works. And I'll answer the phone. So I didn't mean to call you like, well, that's okay. I'm happy. I'm happy to, I'm happy to get a chance to catch up with you and I'm happy [00:14:15] to, to, to, to help you, uh, direct the call if I can't help you but you, um.

depending upon which machine [: 00:14:30

150 to say

Jack Guarnieri: machines, to break even

Jonathan Blau: a thousand.

Jack Guarnieri: Yeah.

that's what people sometimes [: 00:14:45

Jack Guarnieri: couch and it's a thousand dollars for the couch, the furniture still probably paid $250 for it.

rkup. Uh, and a lot of other [: 00:15:00

And, uh, it's, it's what I do.

Jonathan Blau: And I also read in the article that, uh, the guy, I never watched a show, I'm embarrassed to say my wife loves the show, Ted Lasso. She keeps telling me to watch it, but it says that, uh, he's, he, he's bought several of your machines. Uh, Jason Su

Jack Guarnieri: is a friend. [: 00:15:30

And, um. He's bought games, uh, on Ted Lasso. In some of the episodes, you see the Wizard of Oz game in the pub and he plays it and other characters play it and everything. So it's, it's part of the [00:15:45] set and they're, they're back filming in London right now, and I could tell you there's a Wizard of Oz game in the pub again for season four.

hood in that my dad was, had [: 00:16:00

The same things some other kids I grew up with had [00:16:15] where I, I was, I was, uh, challenged that way and we didn't have money and that kind of thing. So I never had a lot of cool stuff growing up. Um, and I, I don't, no regrets. It's just what it was. But I attribute that. To why [00:16:30] I overdid it with my kids a little bit, and that was a mistake.

riend's basement. And I feel [: 00:16:45

Yeah, the kids did it, but I went probably down more than they did for the first five years. Um, but I want you to talk about what you see in your [00:17:00] clients. Like why, why the, uh, why, why the demand, uh, from adults for these kind of things that nobody needs that are expensive. Well,

Jack Guarnieri: some of it is what you touched on.

youth, uh, sharing what they [: 00:17:15

And then my, my granddaughter, Olivia, she's already a champion pinball player along with Gary, little Gary. 'cause she's nine and he's seven. So they're bigger. They could see it. You know, there's a step stool that they could [00:17:45] climb on when they were smaller to get to see it. Um, you know, it's a feel good product.

ople that buy it and own it. [: 00:18:00

Um, [00:18:15] but it's gonna be a challenge. And what we revealed with Harry Potter, our latest game, which is behind me, which took you, by the way, how long to, uh, to, to, to get to production. Oh my goodness. About 10 years to get the license. It was well worth eight years, right? Oh, with Harry [00:18:30] Potter, we have, uh, these QR codes that are on the screen, but we also give you a key fob.

lay easy, uh, medium or hard [: 00:18:45

Jonathan Blau: Uh, that's, that's, [00:19:00] that's interesting. Yeah. By the way, I'm enjoying, we're enjoying, we'd recently bought the, uh. Elton John game, as you know. And uh, we bought that for our house in Montauk 'cause we have a small basement there, so we only have a couple of games. But, um, but we enjoyed it. And we actually got [00:19:15] a, an artist at the local Montauk show who, uh, had an Elton John painting an original.

You know, with all the, you know, with, with the, uh, Crocodo from cro

Jack Guarnieri: Yeah. You sent your picture. It was beautiful. I saw

said to him, how much would [: 00:19:30

There's $350. I said, great, well that was fucking three years. So he said, but the only thing is when we deliver it to you, you know, I forget where he was, he wasn't in Florida, but somewhere outta town. It's [00:19:45] like, shipping's expensive now. Probably 300 to ship. I said, no problem. Let's do it. So he, he created the original was great, and then he calls me the day before it's shipping, says, listen, I have some bad news.

l it. I said, you know what, [: 00:20:00

Jack Guarnieri: good.

I thought. I thought the picture was a lot more than that.

Fair. I mean, he did a great [: 00:20:15

Jack Guarnieri: Interesting. Uh, what was most, what was most satisfying or surprising, uh, was I guess the change in technology, because when I started doing this. [00:20:45] There were electromechanical pinball machines with, with score wheels that went around. And we got out of that. We got into electronic games with a digital score, and then I brought the whole industry into the 21st century with the big [00:21:00] HD flat screen, uh, monitor in the game.

Yeah. Uh, different type of sound system, RGB LEDs, which are LEDs that change thousands of colors.

han Blau: I have that on the [: 00:21:15

Jack Guarnieri: back in the day you had a white light bulb go through, uh, an insert, which was, uh, blue or red or green. It was always gonna be blue or red or green, you know, and that Then we're gonna change color.

Now we [: 00:21:30

We design it with passion. Yeah. But I think the, the leaps of technology in games, uh, especially pinball, has been, [00:22:00] uh, uh, meteoric, I mean, really in, in, you know, the last 50 years. And you'd expect that because, uh. Who knows what they'll be in another 50 years. I don't know. I probably, yeah, with

Jonathan Blau: ai, who knows where, what's gonna happen.

Yeah. So a and, and, and on [: 00:22:15

Jack Guarnieri: Um, you know, I wouldn't say disappointed. I wish the world would know that there's still pinball machines and that's what we're trying to do. Yeah. [00:22:30] Um. We have vendors.

it's pinball. What is that? [: 00:22:45

Jonathan Blau: It's

Jack Guarnieri: like, oh, they still make those things. You know, like we, we get that often, you know, we're in our little world.

community. We're in our own [: 00:23:00

Jonathan Blau: I would imagine some of what you're describing, the awareness part is probably 'cause like when I grew up, I went to the pizza place, there's a pinball machine. I went to the shopping center, there was a, there was a place with arcade games.

Right. They don't have that anymore. Right. So not

Jack Guarnieri: really, [: 00:23:15

Jonathan Blau: That's what I'm saying. But, but people who aren't going to other people's homes, where's their awareness coming from? That's what it is. I'm gonna help you figure that one out.

The big chains.

rs and Chuck E. Cheese. They [: 00:23:30

Jonathan Blau: So, Jack, one last question I have for you that I'm curious about. For, for the clients who bought, who are your customers? Like me, longtime customers, [00:24:00] how on average do, do you find that they're buying often, like once a year buying a new thing or replacing something or, or is it just um, periodically and unpredictable?

ble for the most part. Yeah. [: 00:24:15

Um, you, you wanna have fun, you wanna have variety. All of our games are different. They all [00:24:45] play different than each other, but they all look like brother and sister. Yeah, they're in the same family with all the same energy and effort put into the development and design of them.

Jonathan Blau: Well, I, I love all the games I've always gotten from you.

ndship we developed over the [: 00:25:00

Jack Guarnieri: They could go to jersey jack pinball.com, J-E-R-S-E-Y, jack pinball.com.

[: 00:25:15

Pretty much everywhere around the world. Well, I'm

body else I would wanna, um, [: 00:25:45

Available. You're knowledgeable. Uh, anything that goes wrong, we figure [00:26:00] it out. It's never, it's, and it's not just me.

Jack Guarnieri: There's a whole, there's a whole company of really great people supporting you. Well, it's

Jonathan Blau: your culture though. It's like my company, the culture drips from the top. That's true.

Jack Guarnieri: That's true.

You know, and, uh, the culture drips

Jonathan Blau: from the top.

it is very humbling, really. [: 00:26:15

So you have an extended family?

Jonathan Blau: Yeah. We recently this year just discovered our mutual love for Jackie Mason. That was great. We must have spent an hour on the phone. You should know.

g they could have bought for [: 00:26:45

Jonathan Blau: Yeah. Right

Jack Guarnieri: by it. Now. Now it's too late now. Now late. It's too late.

It's too late now.

really enjoyed the, uh, the [: 00:27:00

Jack Guarnieri: You too.

Jonathan Blau: Thank you.

Jack Guarnieri: Alright,

Jonathan Blau: thanks. Thanks for listening to this episode of Crazy Wealthy Podcast.

dcast.com, all your favorite [: 00:27:15

Amy Blau: hon. Hello, honey. I just want you to know that I just got my high [00:27:30] score on the Elton John pinball machine. I still haven't beaten your high score, but it's my own personal high.

Well,

Jonathan Blau: congratulations. That means you're, uh, not spending enough time in the kitchen.

kay. You should say, I'm not [: 00:27:45

Jonathan Blau: Yeah, Jack Garner. I call him the pinball wizard. He, [00:28:00] um, he's one of the leading people in the industry in, in, uh, games for the home. All kinds of arcade games, not just pinball, but uh, video games and, uh, foosball, all, all those kinds of games, high end, uh, to medium end. [00:28:15] And he's been in the business for, uh, many decades now.

He's an industry leader and a, and a great guy.

Amy Blau: Did he tell you all about how he got started with it?

eeks ago, he was, um, he was [: 00:28:30

But basically he discovered when he was 14, 15 and he was on CB Radio. Those things. We had the [00:28:45] antennas on the back of the car and he had, uh, developed a group of friends all into electronics and so he discovered his love for electronics and uh, then when he was in high school, he spent, he said half his time in the electronics lab and, uh, [00:29:00] to the detriment of everything else that he wasn't doing well in.

break and he took a job with [: 00:29:15

Amy Blau: Wow, isn't that interesting?

Sometimes you don't need to go to college for things that you're really good at.

e. It's true. But he, so, so [: 00:29:30

Uh, where, where he would kind of put the pinball machines in the pizza place and he would share in the revenues from every quarter that someone put in the machine to play. He had the idea that, uh, wealthy people, and [00:30:00] not even that wealthy, anyone who had a credit card, right, they could buy these things for their home.

ed his own pinball company in: 2011

And they kinda laughed it off. He really, um, helped [00:30:30] pioneer the home game industry. And in 2011, he started his own pinball company that competes with Stern called Jersey Jack. And what he, he calls it, um, he calls it, uh, really playable [00:30:45] artwork, right? So he, so like the pinball machine we have in Montauk. We recently bought the Elton John.

h. So that was, that was his [: 00:31:00

And so it, it, it went from that. [00:31:15] Uh, to electronic. And then he pioneered the whole, um, HD screen, uh, concept now where you see all the cool color shows and everything else. So he really, um, he, he really, uh, took the industry, um, almost [00:31:30] single-handedly to, to another level.

Amy Blau: And actually, now that you're talking about that, he really did a pivot probably before he even knew he had to.

e a pinball machine anymore. [: 00:31:45

Jonathan Blau: Right. Well, one of the things he said to that point is when I said to him one of the things that the most surprising on the positive side for you, and he talked about the advancement of technology in the, in the gaming industry.

n the, on the opposite side? [: 00:32:00

Amy Blau: Well, it's funny you say that because over, I think it was over Father's Day weekend, we had the whole family out and I was playing pinball with the kids. And they were beating me, you know, left and right and I said to them, guys, this isn't fair. Like when [00:32:30] I grew up, I'd go to the pizza place every day at lunch and I play pinball.

in our houses where pinball [: 00:32:45

So it is,

ying is they said Yeah, they [: 00:33:00

Amy Blau: And most of their friends really don't know pinball, so it, it kind of is a, a dying art almost.

he's really doing well with [: 00:33:15

And, um, what's, what's interesting is, is just to talk about Jack for a second outside, what made him successful in my view is, is kind of like I was, something I relate to. I tried to become a master in my craft of, of behavioral [00:33:30] counseling and everything. And I'm always trying to enhance what I know and learn more to help my clients.

we got the few games for the [: 00:33:45

But before that it was, it [00:34:00] was pinball machines.com, outta New Jersey, big, um, just overall video game distributor along with pinball. And he's just always, always available. So he said he has a leftover number, one of those numbers where you dial in and it says, press one if you want this, press two if you want [00:34:15] that.

By four. It says press four to, to, to reach Jack Gar. So he said, so someone called recently and he answered the phone. I guess when they press four and they're like, Jack, what are you doing answering the phone? He goes, well, you called me.

nny. That's that's very much [: 00:34:30

The dying hard of customer service. And even just this weekend, uh, one of our machines, I know you said needed service. You called him and he said he'd have someone out, you know, to take care of things.

, that's what's wonderful. I [: 00:34:45

His customers are his friends and, and we really relate to each other that way. That's why he's kind of become a good friend over the years. And, and we also recently discovered a [00:35:00] mutual love for Jackie Mason, so that was another bonding experience we had.

Amy Blau: Oh, okay. Another dying art. But I'm just curious.

pinball machines. These are [: 00:35:15

Jonathan Blau: The Jersey Jack pinball machines, like the collectors, like the Elton [00:35:30] John machines, are they, they're expensive. So I think that those, those are people who really want the, um, the, the art type of experience. But there are less expensive machines that, as Jack said, you know, anyone with a credit card could really buy them.

Blau: So the other stuff is [: 00:35:45

Jonathan Blau: Well, I had [00:36:00] confirmation that, you know, whatever field somebody's in, you don't become successful because you're chasing success in the form of material success.

ause you're passionate about [: 00:36:15

And when you have all of those [00:36:30] ingredients, the, the, the, the, the passion, the the, the wanting to share it with people and, and when that's what's leading then, then those are the people who really achieve the highest levels of success. And this is just, was one other confirmation of that. [00:36:45]

Amy Blau: Well, that, that definitely summarizes you in a nutshell because I know you live, breathe, and sleep what you do, and I'm assuming he does the same.

are gonna really believe in [: 00:37:00

Jonathan Blau: Alright, go have fun and, [00:37:15] uh, until next time, uh, love you again.

Love you too. Have fun. See you soon. Bye bye.

Podcast. For more insights, [: 00:37:30

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uld be construed as legal or [: 00:38:15

To provide investment advisory services, a copy of Fusion's current written disclosure brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at www.fusionfamilywealth.com.