First (I think) image of the new Homepin machine aimed "primarily" but "not only" at the Chinese market.

Unsure if the title is actually 中国僵尸 / Zhōngguó jiāngshī (English translation: Chinese Zombies) or if it's just a description (see symbols on backglass, dmd and twice on the front) as there appears to be another, more central, logo that has been blurred out.

中国僵尸

New images of the cabinet for "China Zombies". Still no view of the playfield yet which I'm told contains unique "mechanical toys" and a DMD display.

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Is it cultural appropriation if it's designed by, built by and sold to that very culture?

Wasn't the "crappy plastic ramp" replaced with a metal one fairly early on in the production? They sent out replacements to all owners and then new ones in the production process already came with it fitted https://www.homepin.com/kits/fit_new_ramp.pdf

Probably not the best time to be releasing a machine to the Chinese market called China Zombies in the midst of a viral epidemic

I know you were reluctant to post teaser images for fear of backlash so please don't take this the wrong way... but it does look rather like the sort of thing found in my nan's house with that veneer haha.

I was sure I saw on Facebook that the factory would be closed for a week longer than expected because of the virus but it appears to have been deleted so I cannot link to it. The Homepin factory is located in Shenzhen province not Hubei but clearly the outbreak is having a significant effect on wider China than just ground zero.

New photo direct from the homepin factory....

Sadly it's just a photo of a Chinese security officer preventing anyone from going in to work. All non-essential factories (such as the Homepin factory) cannot reopen until at least midnight on the 9th Feb.
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If it ends in a 0 or a 5 you win a bottle of water. Anything else you get coronavirus.

In all seriousness though this is pretty naff for Homepin. It's the law in China that they have to keep paying employees during this time even though they aren't able to go into work. Still rent to pay, still, bills to pay, but no income and no productivity.

This is a building local to me. It used to be a sheepskin factory in the 1800s

Now known as the Red Brick Building it's home to a bunch of community organisations and small startups. Looks fab on the inside now... but still looks like a derelict building on the outside haha.

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Statement from Homepin re factory production and coronavirus.

The Chinese authorities are allowing factories to return work from next Monday (10th) provided they follow the following:

(1) Fill out a 'return to work' application form and submit it 5 days in advance (bearing in mind that today is a Friday and therefor only 1 working day before Monday)
(2) The factory must provide two face masks per day for each employee (bearing in mind that facemasks are like gold dust at the moment https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/02/shameless-outrage-china-coronavirus-outbreak-mask)
(3) The factory must provide alcohol-based hand wash and ensure all employees use it daily.
(4) The temperature of each employee will be recorded as they arrive for work each day and the results will be submitted to the govt on a weekly basis.
(5) If any employee in the factory tests positive for the virus the factory will be forced to shut for an indefinite period.

Obviously this is pretty crappy for Homepin but these same restrictions are across most of China. If you do ANY business at all in China or rely on anything being produced there then you're going to find your supply chain affected pretty badly. Expect serious disruption for probably another month at least!

From what I can gather Mike ain't happy with the situation at all and is losing faith with manufacturing in China... could we see a move back to building in Aus? Or at least somewhere else like Taiwan, South Korea or India... or perhaps the Red Brick Building in Glastonbury, England like I posted above haha?

Regardless of peoples thoughts about Homepin, and Mike in particular, this interview is an interesting insight into the impacts of covid19 on manufacturing in China.

For those who can't be arsed or are unable to listen:
- The factory in China is potentially closed until early March at the earliest.
- Authorities prioritising factory inspections with >500 employees.
- No rent relief during the downtime.
- Salaries still have to be paid to staff even though they aren't working.
- Effectively manufacturing, or at least significant parts of the supply chain pretty much moving to Taiwan.

Just in the last half an hour, Mike has posted this photo of the new factory location in Taiwan.

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They remain on the payroll I guess until such time as the factory in china closes. At the moment during the virus outbreak staff are being paid to stay at home.

Not really. The EFCA reduces pretty much all the tariffs, fees and importing issues around goods between China and Taiwan. China is a big country I doubt it'll make a huge difference to shipping costs in the grand scheme of things, but it is a bit ironic that a pinball machine specifically aimed at the Chinese market, is no longer being manufactured there. But needs must I guess. Any additional issues arising from importing into China from Taiwan is probably offset by it being slightly easier to go from Taiwan to ROW because of closer proximity to ports.

Two weeks ago Mike said this regarding Ride The Wave (the Ice Cold Beer clone) in response to a query about UK distributors:

"As can be seen the machine is still in the design and refine phase. We don't have a fully finished and polished unit ready for final production and therefore don't have anyone at this stage in the UK for distribution. We do have several working prototypes but they are all being collated into the finished machine. Once final product is being built we will then seek out a suitable agent and advise people. The purpose of showing things here is so people can see in advance what we are working on."