I believe a few things:

1) it's not impossible to build a pinball game (witness Skit-B) and, I believe Jpop will also be using P-Roc system so making a pinball is not impossible
2) Jpop knows more about building/designing Pinball machines than 99.99999% of the people in the world, not to put Kevin from Skit-B down, but he's a babe in the woods next to Jpop.
3) If John can pull these games off, they will be works of art and will have features not seen on any machines
4) if John pulls these off and if the games turn out to play well and is complete such as even TOM or CV (I can see that being very possible), than I think these pins will be very collectible and looking at a $8K Woz or $7600 STLE next to those pins the $10K Jpop pin will be a great bargain from both the art and rarity perspective.

5) hopefully John is able to actually build the machines and at the very least they play on par with TOTAN or TOM or CV (hopefully better). My question is not with John's ability or his creativity or artistic ability or his pinball know how. It's just if some unforeseen complication occurs. I don't even want to give an example, but something could occur that could derail these pins. This is why there is a risk. I don't mind the time factor or the cost. But there is a risk that something could happen that is unexpected and therein lies the risk of paying in advance.

If John were to read this, I think the better course of action would be have a refundable deposit of lets say $2K but don't ask for the balance until the machines are in transit or near (such as Stern), meaning the deposit is a serious commitment of money but not a major calamity if something unforeseen happens.

My doubt is not in John, but in the unforeseen, and the reluctance to pre-pay in full, feeling that he should have enough money to get the ball rolling with deposits.

I am also on order of RAZA so i have seen the blog of what he's working on, i have no knowledge what state complete it might be that has not been revealed. Also, more or less what is shown is art or design innovations, if the actual game is as good as whats being shown, it would be like every other pin is a Honda or Toyota whatever the case may be, Jpop pin would be like a Rolls Royce.

In no way do I think John is trying to pull a scam on us, I mean I don't think this is a rogue operation or a sting or a Ponzi scheme. I believe Jpop is working to build machines and I believe these will be works of art. I know Stern makes pins like clockwork, you can set your clock by Stern, but then mostly Stern will be off the shelf parts with a few unique elements due to whatever the theme happens to be that month. John does not work like that.

Right now Jpop games are just theory, but IMO if you put one of the most creative designers to build a pinball and he's not looking to cut corners he's not looking to make just an ordinary pin. Then the results could be fantastic, not without risk, but with a very high upside, big reward if the pins turn out great.

There are a few possible outcomes.

1) no game (worse case scenario)
2) game is produced and is so-so (highly unlikely I think)
3) game is produced and its fantastic

Well let's suppose it takes 4 years to build start to finish, it doesn't seem as if John has a very high overhead like jjp the money should last. I do not think John is trying to scam us or is living fat off the deposit money. I think it just takes longer than people guessed, we are thinking of Stern or BW who seem to make a pin in one year ish but looking at new start up companies including jjp jpop it is clearly more of a 3-5 year job.

I have a ton of faith in John.