To celebrate Pinball Magazine’s first anniversary we’re publishing not one, not two, but three up to the minute interviews with Jersey Jack Pinball crew members. After talking to Jack Guarnieri, Pinball Magazine also spoke with  pinball designer Joe Balcer about his latest playfield design for The Hobbit,  of  which a blueprint  was revealed two weeks ago. Joe also talked about Wizard of Oz and how things have changed with The Hobbit. 

Programmer Keith Johnson (left) and pinball designer Joe Balcer

PM: Joe, two weeks ago the blueprint of the playfield for The Hobbit was  released. Have you had any comments about the playfield design?

JB: Yes, we have our WoZ newsgroup and there has been a lot of good feedback on it.

Obviously we’re not going to release it in its entirety, but the basic layout is there. The fun thing about doing that is that people try to figure out “what the heck are they doing here?” It’s interesting to get their feedback and see if that’s in the same direction we plan on going or not. It helps to move the product forward and it gives people an idea of the direction we’re going in.