I am reporting on my experience with Barry and DP - leaving the interpretation of meaning to the forum at large:

Background: On January 13th I found out I might be traveling to Amsterdam and Essen, Germany which brought me tantalizingly close to DP HQ and MFG. I reached out to Barry (Full disclosure: I have high interest in TBL but do not have a deposit down) to see if it would be possible to drop in and, hopefully, flip a few balls. Much to my surprise, I received a very quick(20 minutes) and very positive reply- welcoming me to come by. I was clear with Barry that my hidden agenda was to get to play the game and that I would be happy to report on my visit to this forum. He was fine with that and suggested I do so after I visit.

As the time approached I lined up my very busy Dutch business associate to detour by DP on our way back from Essen to Amsterdam. All the while I kept up an active dialogue with a still very inviting Barry. He told me he was going to be at the MFG facility on the day of my visit(Thursday) and said to call when on the way. I emailed him to let him know I was headed to his facility; gave him my associates number in case he needed to call; and headed to DP.

Along the way we called Barry's cell 3-4x with no pick-up. We got to the address and found no signage. Luckily a few guys were coming out of the building. When asked about DP, one of them said to follow-him and he took us inside.

Inside, no one from DP was to be found. My associate, being the clever guy he is, texted Barry to say he was at the facility and wanted to buy a machine. He received an immediate return call.

My associate explained that he was with me; Barry said he was not there because to took ill(my associate said he sounded fine) but that someone else from DP should be there (that was not the case)

The facility was a large, modern steel sided building. They clearly were actively manufacturing something. I was not at liberty to walk around, but can say that there were no TBL's visible and nothing that looked like the parts to assemble one; nor anything that looked like an assembly line.

I would have, at the least, expected an apology email from Barry - but none received.

I am reporting this to the best of my recollection and leaving any interpretation or emotions out of it. As I agreed to do with Barry, this is my post visit report

just to clarify - I was there 4 hours ago

He knew the specific day I was coming and that it would be early afternoon. He said he'd be there all day and to just let him know I was coming. Any way you look at it - it was discourteous. Knowing that I am a member of forum, that I would probably post about my experience, and given all that is going on, it clearly shows poor judgement. That is about as kind as I can be.

I am really sorry to have had this experience. I will get over the personal inconvenience. It will be harder for me to forgive and forget for having needlessly inconvenienced someone else to pursue for my personal entertainment --- but more than anything, I really was expecting to be able to report something positive in the torrent of negativity about TBL rather then add another nail....

Hi all - I returned home and had a note from Barry with an apology. He asked what he could do to right things and I sent him my thoughts. My only interest at this point re: Pinside is to report the data and not to add emotion and/or fuel to the fire.

As I let Barry know beforehand, I was going to report on my visit as I think it is fair to investors(I mean pre-paid customers) to have transparency into what is going on.

I let Barry know that I will await his response before reporting more, but will do so in a timely manner.

Hopefully this situation is not F&*ked as I would really like to see TBL produced.

Harvey

UPDATE: As I indicated in my prior posts, perhaps not explicitly, my biggest concern was that I asked a new business associate to go way out of his way for naught. I did express this clearly to Barry.

Barry reached out to me a few times over the past few days via email and phone. We finally connected today he graciously offered to reach out to my associate to apologize personally which I expect to happen in the next day or two. For those who might have been expecting me to try and leverage the situation for more - this is all I really cared about.

I would also add that I received and accepted his explanation and apology to me. It came across as completely sincere.

We spoke for about 15 minutes and it left me with a much better feeling about the direction of the company and the fact that their primary focus is on getting the game produced. He clearly has a lot going on but seemed to have his head on straight.

There was no indication that he was fronting a company on the run - that's just my personal assessment and only time will tell.

Zucot - I did have the sense that information will be forthcoming. Having spent some time recently with some Dutch entrepreneurs, my assessment is that we are likely to hear when there is something tangible to say, as opposed to what might be or is in possibly in process. "That is just my opinion, man"