Reminds me of Steve Martin's bit.

"You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. "Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes? First.. get a million dollars."

I follow this thread some as it's become a hot topic. I had a little to do with getting the proto to the show. I also had no money down on any of the games. I only have ever posted in regards to my part i played with that proto.
It is bad people are loosing money and I feel for you. I also think that those that have not
Lost money in this adventure should stay out of it because it's just In bad taste.
Slandering people that tried to help with this project in a forum is not cool. They did nothing but try to help, they took nobody's money. Digging up someone's past isn't cool and has nothing to do with what they tried to do.
It's generally good practice to not mess with people that have more money than you do.

Technology Hasn't stopped people from throwing money at companies for games sight unseen (RZ, whatever Stern is next..). I mean, when people send money before they know anything about the game... I doubt what generation the technology is used is that much of a factor

Wait... so you quote me and talk to me.. and then act like I should not reply? uhh.. no

and who gives a f about up/down votes... even seeing them means going backwards to find them.. ego much?

Repeat myself? I didn't set the topic when you posted TO ME. Use the ignore... it matches your head in the sand t-shirt. People can't handle basic truths and would rather hide from them. Sucks to be you.

True that it's all water under the bridge at this point. I was just responding to Tigerlaw's post implying it was not a problem to begin with. That relationship would have been a boat anchor through the whole thing even if the reveal had gone better.

And as another pointed out, I think people are forgetting the initial ludicrous "new deal" with the non-litigation clause and "new math" of converting RAZA dollars to Magic Girl junk bonds.

Point being, thanks to Bill the game at least got seen but don't rush to elevate him to sainthood.

Quoted for absolute utter absurdity.

I like to illustrate absurdity by being absurd

In my experience, someone's past deeds are strongly indicative of their future actions.

Anybody going to court tomorrow to watch?
I would if I was closer

How did you verify it? Read something on the Internet?

I don't disagree with what some people say about this person but I don't convict people in the court of popular opinion either. Media is often flawed and self serving. We also live in an era of prosecutorial discretion where legal results are not always dispositive of the truth either.

Anyway, it is good you took the time to do what you viewed as satisfactory due diligence to formulate an opinion. In my view (just my personal opinion) 20 minutes of online research is not enough to base an opinion on someone by and there are always two sides to a story. Also, Bill stated this person would have had a limited role to play in the project so I'm not sure why her association would cloud Bill's good name and reputation in a future project.

Obviously I don't disagree that the original deal offered by Bill was not very good (in fact, it was terrible), but neither was the situation and it was all exploratory anyway...JPop lied to everyone (Bill included) and the entire thing was a total non-starter other than all of us got to see what a buffoon JPop really was and the myth of 95% completion was blasted to smithereens.

Bill,

John did not lie to you. You run a successful business and have to realize that 95% rule.

95% planning and 5 % implementation. John had just finished the planning phase.

I guess John just needs to find another investor to get this game a bit closer to being finished. If he finds 4-5 more investors, maybe the game gets finished. He may only need another $100k to get it done.

You can't say, "Here's my all star team who are gonna fix this mess. Go Voltron force!" and then turn around and say, "Well, you know, she didn't have much to do with it and wouldn't have affected the outcome anyway..."

She's the finance person. She handles the money. Look how Kevin and Jpop screwed the pooch on that. I would say her role would have been important. You need a BOM. You need to pay suppliers on time. You need to manage cash outflows so you don't jpop your way to the poor house. Oh, and a nice cherry on top is you have to resist that nagging urge to, you know, just outright STEAL the money the way every ponzi and HYIP scheme has done in the course of human history.

Yes, there are two sides to every story. And when one party goes quiet when it's their turn at story time, they just told you their side.

That's actually a very fair thing to say. Good point. Thumbs up.

I second that.

So - I have no desire to read 300+ pages to figure this out - can anyone please tell me in no more than 5 words per line and 5 lines total what this thread is about?

Thanks!

I could.

The other party is and was no longer involved and did not come to the NW show. That's the reason you hear nothing. Ask the suppliers if they were paid in full and on time and who paid them. there's some research that would have a real factual basis. There was no money ever asked from anyone at any time. The profits from an unlimited run of competitively priced Magic Girls was to go to help the people who got stung by Jpop. After that profits would be split between the manufacturer and Pintasia, simple as that. However when the machine was not even close to the estimated percentage of completion I decided there was no way it was getting done. My alternative would be just to wait for bankruptcy, which is inevitable, and buy it for a song leaving everyone who lost their money, including myself, out in the cold. I am not asking to be praised in fact it was stupid to believe what I was told when all the signs of "hiding" were there from jpop, but at least a few good things came of this and that's all we should be happy about. Zombie yetti will get a design on a machine one day soon and he was outed and given the respect and credit he deserves. Manufacturers were outed and now being asked to do things for existing companies. Also I met many amazing people who surrounded me and gave 110% out of their time and energy to at least get it flipping and too the show. I thank you all and yes I will one day get involved somewhere down the line in Pinball because it's my hobby and I love it. I don't blame anyone for being cautious after what came out, as I myself was, and asked the person to step down. I take full responsibility for that screw up.

First- Just about every bar you or I have ever been in is owned by someone who employs alcoholics, at least every good bar I have been to. There are over a few dozen in a mile radius of my house....Should I move?

I'm out of breath....(cracks a cold one

Jpop wouldn't get past the application part of the audition. It is 20 pages of info that he has no clue about nor could he answer. They do a thorough check on you and your business.

Nobody's really talked about the game itself. Besides very few mechs working, was the layout OK or would have it required drastic overhauls at which point you'd be basically making a new game?

I find this all fascinating, in a "oh my god I'm so glad I got off the Titanic before she left England" sort of way.

I would say it had to be tweaked although it was not far along enough to really understand what he was trying to do especially in the middle upper section.

I heard a story that one of the volunteers, during the marathon session to get the game playing, asked John what was supposed to happen when a ball went in a specific spot. John's answer was to shrug and say "Not sure, it's MAGIC!". Like, he actually said that.

I'd guess it plays like crap based on that.

If this is the Titanic and Skit-B was the SS Minnow, are you on the Love Boat or what?

And I got 'timeout' for calling him Popadick...

Could everyone please post your net worth so I know if I'm allowed to mess with you?

Someone should live-stream that shit! Periscope iPhone app XD

JARED! GET OVER THERE!

With the recent depreciation of the NZ dollar against the U.S. Dollar, my net worth has fallen to approximately $12.50 U.S.

Bummer.

rd.

I'm sure it's more than Jpops after this is all done.

Not sure what else to say but that seems like a smart move and a class act not to try to say more. It is nice to know that this issue was "handled" though. Have that as a ? honestly was a conundrum.

You're not allowed to mess with me every other Friday, in between the time my paycheck is deposited and my mortgage payment comes out. Otherwise I am fair game

Expect a bunch of thumbs down by those that didn't preorder lol

I think you'd be surprised by just how damn boring it would be. It's a procedural hearing, not a trial.

It is very unlikely that JPop himself will appear.

Prove it!

-$23,000.00

Of course not. He'll be busy in his shop making magic!

Who's Papa?? More important is he a good father to those ducks?

There once was a man near Chicago
Who tried to wish pinball with your dough
He fiddled, he farted,
He mostly defrauded...
Preorders are now a big no-no

Was his wife drawing a salary too? She is listed as a company officer.

I still do not understand why people are worrying about a civil case. What JPop did was clearly criminal. It'll take years for any civil justice, but a criminal investigation could motivate him to give money back to buyers or else face jail time.

With all due respect Bill, thanks for helping and trying, but even if the prototype was 100% done, there was never much of a chance the game would be manufactured. That still requires a huge amount of money that nobody in their right mind was going to cough up. The project was doomed from the start. It was great what you did, but it shouldn't have been a surprise that this project was DOA from the moment you looked at JPop's books.

If what Kevin did wasn't criminal, no way John's actions were.

The King Solomon reference about "splitting the prototype" isn't entirely appropriate. Unlike a baby, it could be auctioned off into cash, and those dollars divided by number of buyers.

Sly Old Devil already posted mine on the previous page

According to the 'crack' detective team they have in Midland...

Midland PD.jpg

Literally, made out to look like the chumps they are by a small-fry sociopath *allegedly*

Don't prepay for pinball.
Don't prepay for pinball.
Don't prepay for pinball.
Don't prepay for pinball.
Don't prepay for pinball.

Buy used.

One of the owners had the foresight to specifically purchase the prototype. He has a bill of sale for the prototype game and a receipt for payment in full.

In my opinion that game belongs to him and not John. I would like to see the game go to its rightful owner and not on the auction block or disappear into some collectors basement.

JustStopAlready.jpg

Doesn't that happen in divorce a lot? Judge orders the house sold and proceeds split, etc...

Yawn... Lots of bark and no bite happening here. John still lives free. Had I fallen prey to him, things would be very different for him. This thread is becoming boring and nauseating.