Seeing the difficulty that JJP had with getting WOZ out the door, with the money he had and the team he put together, is when I started to get concerned.

Then you run into issues like light boards, jpop would not have the resources to handle a cluserfuck like that. To start fedexing out replacement boards. there is no money for that.

I don't see the road to victory. The fact that John ignores these concerns and questions just shows both a lack of respect for his customers and a delusion that everything will work itself out, all by itself.

His moment to "shock the world" was last month with the MG reveal, but that confirmed our worst fears, that he is in the weeds and doesn't know how to get out, or doesn't even realize it.

Or that he just can't at this point : (

Well... people are there for donuts. He takes their money for the donuts and tells them how good they will be when he's done with them.

I prefer the term "benefactor".

This game isn't an Oculus Rift VR Skyrim kind of thing. If buyers finally get their games, the negative experience this has already generated inside the mind will prevent them from enjoying what is, at the end of the day, just a simple game of pinball.

The only thing positive here is its rarity which might bring the value up to $35k, but like frolic said, from the lightboard issues of JJP and all the other problems that custom made parts will create for the owner, these things might become lemons, and their value can drop like a stone. Or they might get remade by the company that buys the rights when Zidware goes belly up.

So if you're doing this, it should be for the fun of playing, not as an investment,
which brings me back to what I stated in my first paragraph.

I've posted this a few times already, but the patent you're worried about is already non-finally rejected and IM (non-lawyer) O not very likely to get approved. The primary reason he was shot down was because of... his own patent on CV. And that patent is totally BS anyway as far as I can tell due to Flipper Football prior art. Just no one gave a shit to actually challenge it.

I am less certain people are paralyzed, than there is just no way out at this point. I remember discussing a lowball amount of say $1K to buy out a position; there is no way I would expect a "patron" at this point to sell at that price. I would probably just ride it out.

But the flip side is with ALL this negative news, and apparently NO positive news regarding these games actually getting done (please let me know if I missed it), even a $1K buyout at this point is probably optimistic.

Several people have stated they would sell spots lately, I haven't seen anybody claim to have a completed deal recently.

Yea optimistic on your part! No way anyone is selling a $6500 spot for $1000. I will walk away and forget my spot with the hope that someday something gets completed before i sell for a dumb ass offer like $1000

I agree; it would also be fiscally irresponsible for me to step in at $1K at this point.

Paralyzed; stuck; in for the long haul. An apt description of the unfortunate benefactors of this project. I am not trying to rub anybody's nose in it. I could even be (gasp!) wrong.

But for me this is how off the rails things seem to have gone...

Is that how the patent system works? For example the "pinball interacting with the screen" patent application, does someone need to come forward and tell them that P3 had a prototype demo before?

What happens if no one did that, even if that was the case? How much research can the patent office actually do for weird obscure things like pinball parts?

This gets so depressing... Month went by of the big reveal and all we saw was the play field art and cabinet art. No working playing game...

Does this give an idea of how much John has spent? We don't know how many patents he's filed, do we?

It's likely however, that six-figures have been spent on patent filings. Combined with the time and delay they've added to the project (cash burn). And for what?

Probably spent about $30k on patents. It's about $12k per patent filed over a few year period.

I followed up in support to ChrisVW's post on the blog. Why are other's telling him how cute his dog is?
I also asked him if we have been paying for his lawyers and patents.
Does anyone here know what day this month is the big RAZA reveal? I asked him that too.

Lol rasa reveal pushed back... Still waiting for my reveal

Don't see how raza can be shown if MG can't. So, really, we're in the same place we've been for years now... waiting for MG.

Cant someone 'lean' on him and get some answers? FFS harden up and demand satisfaction. What is he gonna do kick your head in!!!??!

The same lawyer who told him Robbie was ok to use? You get what you pay for .

Even if the legal was basically free, it takes time to write a patent... that all costs money.

There are more rare high demand games, and nothing approaches $35k, so there's no logical reason to assume this would reach that height unless the economies of the world go into hyperinflation, and even then it's not really today's $35k. Given the $17k MG loan for 5 years with a final value of $20k, that is a 3% rate of return on your investment.

Kingpin does.

There are going to be 2-5x as many MG's as Kingpins, and that value took many years to achieve. Is there a confirmed sale at $35k? Highest I've seen was closer to $30k.

Whats makes the Kingpin (I assume the Capcom version) Special?

I know a dude who spent like $60k on one. All it takes is one maniac.

I've sold one for way higher...

They only made 9 prototypes before Capcom closed it's doors, and it's what many regard as the best game capcom made (even more than Big bang bar)
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4000

There's more then one. It sold a second time after I sold it

There are non-patent literature sources, but I am not sure specifically for pinball what would be available. Doesn't Pinball 2000 interact with the ball? There are patents for that.

Cool, thanks for the information ya'll. Crazy stuff lol. I had no idea what I was getting into!!

Found this more appropriate "dog" photo.

jpop.jpg

I just caught up on the past 4 weeks of this thread, holy cow.

Looking forward to the evolution and renaming of this thread to .... Courtroom Chronicles of Zidware. Sadly, and in one way or another, this JPOP saga seems destined to become entangled by the US legal system, before the first pin sees the light of day from a Collector's gameroom. Sorry folks, but this situation is akin to Sysyphus pushing a large boulder uphill for eternity. Each transgression results in stopping the forward movement of the bolder and allows it to fall backwards and on top of its master. There is little recourse left to investors, and certainly no apparent good option to resolving.

Thumbs-up for elaborate Greek mythology reference!

The fact that it is a loose group of people with "only" 16K or so invested each makes him a lot more safe from lawsuits than if it was one big investor who had given him $2M.

Trying to get all the "owners" together for a class action would be like herding cats, since they don't all agree on what or how, and also own different games.

Kind of smart in an evil way.

And there are at least three supplier/vendor/contractors which fall into the creditor category alone. Not withstanding all the owner/buyers...

Would you guys agree that John is in Breach of contract?

His contract states:

The company will use it's reasonable and best efforts to complete this project in a reasonable amount of time. Any delays or extensions to the planned schedule will be communicated in a timely manner.

Last page has a timeline with delivery date estimated at 4th quarter of 2013.

I'm feeling quite breached.... With every passing day that requests for information are ignored.

It's amazing how clueless some people can be that providing a little information, even negative information, is better than providing no information.

Oh boy, that is a rich statement in light of all that has gone on.

Yep, I feel he is in breach of the contract. It wouldn't be such a big deal if we were kept in the loop on what's going on and had some idea of when these pins would be completed. Obviously he thinks it's OK to go into ostrich mode.
He's running out of time with me. He has time to post stupid dog pics (and why did every reply on the blog kiss his ass about the dog) but can't let his customers know what the hell is going on.
I can't see this having a good outcome anymore.

Will JPop even bother responding to emails anymore? Does he respond to anyone who sends him an email asking for a refund? If so, what does he say?

Well u will at least know if he's reading when u post leaked pics here!