Gosh, what an amazingly weird week for pinball the past seven days have been. I've lost track of what all has happened and I stalk these forums like a psyco.

That is hysterical. I'm sure this is going to be explained shortly...

Rick, Jack and the others who take pre orders are not remotely happy about this situation. They can live with message board heat but undoubtedly do not like seeing overall confidence shaken in the pinball community at large.

This potentially hurts all manufacturers and all consumers.

Check out what happened in Austrilia with Bumper in 2013. Any time you have neither your money or your item you are exposed. The ability to get a refund is limited by the solvency of the entity that is holding your money...an entity that may have big over head like salaries...

Neither are practically applicable to smaller entities like boutique pinball manufacturers...especially ones owned and managed by foriegnors.

I certainly concede the point that you can challenge through your method of payment (credit card, paypal, etc.)...but some people still pay by check (those poor souls) and there are limits to what even your credit card company can (will) do when dealing with a fully insolvent small entity.

So far the only prepay games we've ever received is BBB and WOZ. Everything else on the pre pay model have yet to materialize. (Granted, MMr and TH are both immanent to release).

Have they confirmed playfield artwork changes? The pot leaf is now gone for sure?

This is why I always question the point when people say "I'll just challenge the payment and done, risk free". There is always risk even with paypal or American Express.

I love this post. Wish I could give you more than one thumbs up.

I'm going to take the next couple hours to sniff out the duplicate accounts...clearly a couple have popped up in this thread...

You were one I looked at...I'm sure you understand you appear to be a likely duplicate at first glance. You're clean though.

Not yet...

If I'm Barry or Jaap, at this point Id not be sure how to even communicate with Phil. They can't trust him with a written correspondence of any kind (no letter, text, or email) and I can't imagine they want to talk to him...

A lot of people have commented on Phil's level of professionalism in how he handled this matter, my question is more along the lines of how good is Barry's and Jaap's judgement in bringing him in to begin with. At some point, they not only selected him as a partner but gave him broad monetary controls and authority, he was (in fact) their mouth piece.

Did DP exercise good judgment in partnering with Phil? I'm not giving my opinion on that either way...but I certainly have one.

LOL, what a thread this one would be to return during . . .

The game will not be made in that scenario. I hate that it is that way, but it is the truth.

I'd feel better if they borrowed some money from a bank. That would mean at least the bank vetted them and thought they were a good bet (or more likely they had enough liquidity to where their personal guarantee was sufficient to get a loan...).

That said, banks are just not lending money to starts up much these days.

Has anyone heard anything further from Phil? Any more refunds hit?

The reason why this thread is so long is partially because no one knows.