Would Dean run the four corners if he were down by 10 with 3 minutes left in the 2nd half?

I can't believe he also has been working on EM machines. All the art packages and no pinball. Geez. How can he spend the money meant to build the pre-oredered machines on all these vaporware projects?

This is the really telling statement. He won't or can't share the actual business numbers and reverts back to his old standard of trying to impress you with the shiny lights. Or as Aurich was so eloquent about it, infect you with his spores. Definitely has been effective in the past on some people.

Those numbers, or lack of them, is the REAL reason he's in this mess.

-He's gone super over budget
-He's gone super behind schedule
-He has no idea how these games will be completed and delivered to the customers who have already paid for them.
-There is no "numbers guy" keeping this on track

But heck, don't get distracted with those details, come look at this color separation and the power supply in this cabinet!

Yep, to force overtime.

The real question is are the owner's going to get a backdoor layup as the end result? John certainly will not be the one getting that layup. Only pain is in his future if his game plan is a failure as it looks like it will be.

How many games has he worked on besides the two he is supposed to be working on?

that wouldn't surprise me, and yet
I commend that John wants to revolutionize pinball, I really do.. but he can't get there if he can't finish it, and it's not fair to do so with other people's money. Once you start taking money and using that as salary and R&D, you're no longer doing it for the love of pinball, you're doing it to keep busy with something you love while making a living. At this point (since he's not taking salary for mysterious reasons we can all draw a conclusion to), he's just working to show face (don't get mad at me, I'm working hard).

I'll repost the video from adam savage about failure:
y outube.com/watch?v=1825zkmJVuE&feature=player_detailpage#t=877

So then:
MG
RAZA
KISS
AIW
Em
Em?
Holy crap.... If I were a MG buyer who paid I would be beyond livid at this point. RAZA even. Not trying to stir the pot just reading this thread feeling for my fellow pinheads.... I'm sorry to read this guys. Hoping for you.

John hates Stern, from what he says, his pins won't be cookie cutter, Photoshop art, he'd never plop two ramps down on PF and call it a pin, they stole 'his' magnet trick from Totan etc..

However all these fiascos put together including TH just makes it clear that Stern is one company that has its stuff together.

Spooky also, that's another thing Ben was able to make his pins in time and on budget, without having 40 years of experience like JPop has.

I don't know about that, but I know for a fact they stole the lamp spinner idea from TOTAN to put on transformers. I remember borg looking underneath the playfield at MGC one year. But then again, is that really stealing? Kordek invented the flippers. Do you think he got upset at every pinball manufacturer since 1949 stealing his idea? No, how could you? Every pinball patent is searchable, every mechanism has clear diagrams in every manual how it works. It's time for him to stop worrying about others stealing his ideas and just design pinball. Take a hint from Elon musk, every one of his designs is open source for anyone to copy as they please.
http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf

Such a shame.

It seems many have been profiting from J-pops previous work over the last few years but him. It is nice to see now he is being rewarded for that.

You mean like this:

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=11&picno=18538

That's all the TOTAN spinner is based on. Pretty much all of John's games have elements that were originally in classic EM games, but hadn't been used in modern games.

Oh I agree, John is very retro (and I was aware that a spinner like that existed on EM's), but Totan's spinner is perhaps designed more modern (and it was available at the show, not easy to find specific EM's with spinners like that)

True. I didn't think the Boom Balloon concept (from Cirqus Voltaire) had ever been done before until I saw a Sea Wolf.

And isn't John stealing Magna flippers from TZ? etc..

I searched for Zidware on Linked In and it shows the company has 4 employees. One of which has the title of Software Engineer from Melbourne Australia. Does anyone know who this is? I'm wondering if this is the old one who left after he wasn't paid or if there's a new guy.

I don't have a premium account so I can't see any more info than that.

Thanks, I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before but I knew CV wasn't the first. What is funny is if you read the flyer for Sea Wolf it claims that the disappearing pop bumper is, "The most fascinating new idea for a pin game in 25 years!" That was 1959, wonder if JPop was born yet.

The raza blog was full of posts early on of him looking at old EM games and getting ideas from them, and I always found that odd that he could "borrow" ideas from those games, but if someone borrowed his 20 year old idea from Totan, that was stealing and he was outraged.

Hey, jpop, what's behind you? It's your worst nightmare, mister. Mr. Big-Time Beatin'! [punctuates the following with hand/arm gestures] Wham! Bam! Slam! Throat punch! Down you go! Oh, but it continues! Bam, bam, bam! Wham! When's it ever gonna stop?! Survey says: Not very soon!

f5fNAPh.gif

Bingo, his accountability is to the buyers First and Only.
Moderating the levels of people's Feelz on the Internets isn't anyone's job or duty.

Skit-B and Zidware are not the same things...

Yes, the exact art and playfield and mechs, sure, lol, ok...

I think he meant tied in that they are equally depressing.

I disagree with him, Predator is a full fledged disaster (and Kevin at least appears to be a total thief right now), but JPop (previously one of the most beloved people in the hobby) is the bigger disappointment. The fact that he apparently doesn't know how to build a pin given his past accomplishments is truly shocking.

The point is that they are both depressing threads on pinside. I never said they are the same.

One big difference is Kevin was able to show off a coded, working prototype pin and dragged it to multiple shows.

Yeah the art was pretty poor and there was no licence and a million other (negative) things could be said about Kevin... but how bad is the JPOP disaster when JPOP is not even able to show off a flippable whitewood aat this point? YEARS into the project(s).

As Stan Lee would say: 'nuff said.

Kevin is a proven thief & a liar who mislead Pinsiders and appears to have stolen their money, his game was a lie from day one. JPOP is slow and stubborn and he is pissing his reputation down the toilet, but at this point has not sunken to the lows that Kevin has.

John you can still right this ship and turn this into a story of redemption, but understand if you keep heading down the path your on you won't be able to show your face in the pinball community ever again! Not only because you will be ridiculed, but also for your own safety as some won't take kindly to the fact that you took their hard earned money and gave them nothing.

Just in case John misses this, worth displaying again.

I used to find this fact shocking, as well. I think I took it for granted that a well-loved, former W/B designer would be able to build a complete pinball machine. Never stopping to think that not a single one of the former W/B rockstars have ever even attempted to build a production game on their own. Not Eddy, nor Trudeau, not Nordman, not even Lawlor or Steve Ritchie! And why? Probably because they have the wherewithal to know that being a great game designer, maybe even the best game designer ever, does not qualify them to build a game from the ground up. And, looking at this list, I would put nearly every one of them ahead of JPOP with regards to being able to do it (I know, I know, hindsight is always 20/20).

The fact of the matter is that it takes more than one person to build a pinball machine. It seems , at this point, JPOP, with his overbearing need to control everything, is the least likely person to ever bring a pinball machine to production.

"Currently still on track to show a fully built Zombie Adventureland game in February." - John Popadiuk, January 17, 2015

"As we continue to add more information, photos and videos to the reveal site for MG, we have the run of cabinets being made and will begin production setup on March 3." - John Popadiuk, January 14

It's like, what planet was he on when he made such statements? MG Production starting March 3??? From what we've learned these last few months, that is impossible and he doesn't even have prototypes anywhere close to WORKING, let alone going into production. He's resorted to showing early incomplete whitewoods just so he has SOMETHING to show.

Then the top quote regarding RAZA... same thing, complete bunk.

Hero or Zero, his choice.

For those who think this is almost Skit b territory, I got news for you, it's in the same territory. I'd be taking this to law enforcement or doing whatever you got to do to get your cash back. Including a visit to his shop.

One was a full on scam,
the other is a to be determined end of the road result.

Can't steal what does not exist.

He must have after Harry Mabs stole his idea in 1947.

The moderator said:

Problem is - Jpop doesn't ANSWER his customers! I don't advocate threatening visits either - but if you had thousands of dollars wrapped up in this project and the guy can't be bothered to respond, what would you do!? If I was local I probably would try to confront him in person...not in a violent way...but just in a "WTF, talk to me!" way.

Exactly - lack of communication is the death sentence to any business.

Agreed.

And on another note...what is going on with all the

Edit: deleted comments on certain things happening for fear of being banned.

th.jpeg

Lots of righteous indignation but not a lot of action.

At this point I'm more frustrated with you owners not taking a more active role in getting action than I am with Popaduik. Maybe the super-sekrit club house on Facebook should organize a get-together at Zidware and make some demands in person.

But I guess everyone is too busy? Or can't be bothered?

That's how Popaduik wins and continues to dick around with your million dollars without a care in the world.

Maybe you should talk about things you're fully informed on.

I thought John welcomed owners visiting his shop

How's that private group working out? Are you getting anywhere?

Doesn't sound like it from here.

Its call private for a reason.

You mean like this?

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2043

So you're saying you don't advocate threatening visits but you would if there's thousands of dollars on the line? But now you probably WILL visit him in a non-violent way?

wtf.

download.jpg
oxy.jpg
a.baa-OXYMORON.jpg

LOL! Didn't even noticed that it was mentioned on the Aces & Kings page! Rally Play was seriously one of the most inventive pinball companies out there.

Moderator - "There are proper ways to get restitution like JUST ASKING."

Mr. Mod..........you got some big brass ones to say that when there are people in this thread who have asked for their money back and got .....................wait for it.......

NOTHING

Frankly the only one asking for trouble here is John Popaduik. He can refund anyone who asks and the issue is over. But he won't.

Going to see someone who took your money, has given nothing back to you in return and will not communicate with you seems like a totally reasonable and logical course of action. I would hope that anyone who does so keeps a calm head and acts in a mature fashion.

All I know is that if I was close to John's workspace and I had given him cash, I'd be camped out on his doorstep every damn day until I received my money back.

10k by x-mas!