I don't see what an angel investor would do. There's no more money that's going to be paid for these games. Not a single JPOP game buyer would give another dime to anything involving him. And I seriously doubt anyone else would buy a game associated with JPOP. So how is the investor going to get his/her money back?

Even if somehow an investor did come along, are you going to trust that JPOP just won't blow it a second time? You'd need to bring in another game designer. In fact, then what do you need JPOP for at all? The art is by Zombie Yeti, you could have him do different art on a different game that isn't tainted by JPOP.

What would an investor be saving, anyways? Alice in Wonderland is not copyrighted, anyone can make an AIW title, or a zombie title, or an original magic theme. If these games were 95% done maybe you'd be saving the design. I'm so sorry for everyone who lost money with JPOP, but I think everyone is on the same page that it can't be saved because there's not enough to save.

This whole "millionaire" delusion blows my mind. Most millionaires don't invest in losing brands. There's nothing to invest in, anyways. The art is ZombieYeti's and the playfield layouts didn't flip well according to the prototype that was brought to that show.

If you are a millionaire, and want a pinball machine built, give Gary Stern or Jersey Jack a call and say "hey, would you build theme xyz for $1 million investment?" You would only invest with Jpop if you don't want to ever see your money or game again. He's proven he can't produce a game in quantity. Why would anyone double-down on that? There's no profitable way to do it. If you wanted to just 'bail out' the buyers, you could retrieve JPOP's list and just send them cash. Better use of the money than trusting someone who has proven they cannot perform.

It's easy to spend $100K if you need to get an injection mold made for a ramp. Tooling costs are hella expensive for something like that.

Also, just watched this. It doesn't look that bad at all!

FOMO; fear of missing out. People get greedy in some sense because they would hate to miss out on another game that ends up like BBB. also didn't the project bankrupt gene? I mean that should tell you a lot right there

I am not happy to see this game. Does it look good? Sure. It might even play awesome. But you know how you build 19 kickass machines? You con and rip off dozens of vendors and hundreds of collectors trying to get a different game. Nothing has been made right here. This is literally the first round of ponzi investors getting out early. In a bankruptcy these would be clawed back as preferential distributions. I hate that 19 people who are already rich enough to shell out 16k are gonna get a highly collectible game while the developer is getting stiffed on 11k plus a game. I'm a developer and I've been stiffed on contracts. It sucks and it costs > $11k to even retain a quality attorney for a long court case.

If you gave me millions of dollars and six years, plus the ability to stiff vendors and only have to deliver 19 games, I could probably build a pretty good game too.

No, I know plenty of rich people. Technically compared to most of the world I am rich. The problem is those receiving games could not have received them without other people getting screwed. The most expensive game is getting created in low volume. Everyone else gets screwed.

It's pretty clear the only reason JPOP created AIW and RAZA was to generate more money to get MG built.

If it really is a stinker, you'd want to sell it. So why put video up there devaluing the thing you want to sell.

My guess is they promised to build MG as a quid pro quo for the Houdini design. But after the legal issues that John likely didn't tell AP about, AP now has to redesign Houdini. It's possible AP signed a contract to build the games anyways, or had moved forward enough in construction that it was too late. At that point they are at least creating games and building a small amount of pinball goodwill, and also giving their assembly line a bit of a prototype/test run. So there's some benefit for AP. But they know John is toxic and going forward won't do business with him in the future.

I agree. Thematically the game is a mess, with owls from Harry Potter , Volta is clearly Tesla from "The Prestige", an Arabian or otherwise Magic Girl... oh and a mad rabbit from Alice in Wonderland on the LCD.

It's colorful. But where are lit inserts indicating where to shoot? It's more an art project than a pinball. The ramp is makeable so it shoots better than I thought. But still the layout isn't exactly for shooters.

It just goes to show you the Williams team were just that, a team. One pinball dictator calling the shots for everything results in a sub par game.

Unlikely. There are only 19 and a number of owners are not even unboxing them. Maybe one or two make it out. There are what, ~250 BBB 's and I only know of one on location.

There's a lot of pinball collectors, but very few of them have an extra slot in their gameroom for an un-fun game just for bragging rights. I know there are people like that, but most of us, say 95%, we have restrictions on space and we actually enjoy playing pinball.

Unlike MM or other games, no one has nostalgia for playing this title in the arcade. I'm sure they'll always be expensive but I don't expect them to be easy to sell. You have to hope one of the other ultra-wealthy collectors just *has* to have it at the time you're selling it.

I don't think it will sell at $20k

401Ks have been mostly judgement proof.

Also John's wife is not liable for his business debts. Only jointly owned property is.

His uncles and aunts are not liable either.

Well it's clear MG wouldn't have been built without RAZA/AIW funds. RAZA and AIW won't be built. If I were a RAZA buyer you bet your ass I'd be seeking a clawback. JPOP admitted insolvency over a year ago but instead of winding down the business and prioritizing creditors he conned American Pinball into making MGs. That con won't work twice.