I can't believe it's been 3 years either, and seems there's still a LOT to do. NDA or not I can't say I'm happy about that. I'm still in and I have faith that the game will be astounding but from what I'm seeing I predict another year before anyone sees any games, maybe more, so I wish John would get moving. Problem is, you don't want to rush him and have the game come out rushed, but he seems in no rush at all, keeps designing new playfield trinkets and art, thought that would have all been done by now. John's young and healthy now so I'll chance it that he'll be around to finish, but if he was Gene's age I wouldn't be too happy about sending him all that money. I might be in for MG & RAZA but if he wants money up front for all his games I might have to rethink.....

Gotta disagree with you on the B.H statement. I never liked BH's name on it and it made it easier for me to stay in when that was announced. I have NO problem with BH, seems like a nice guy, just didn't want to own such an expensive game with a likeness that no one else would know about unless they read pinside, I can't imagine having to explain to everyone who came to look at it who BH was, maybe make a little placard like Tim Arnold does........

all for it as long as the price goes down and I get my machine faster.

I never heard anything like that, If he is I would assume he would tell the MG owners, I don't think he would do that, nor do I think he will make more than what he said, it's also in writing if that means anything. I just wish he would finalize the design and start building machines.

He's basically saying that if you need a part he can have the part made from a cad drawing, it might cost you but you can get the part. Now as far as common break items like plastics and ramps etc, I hope he makes and offers owners spare sets at a good price. Hopefully whatever PCB's he designs will be used on his other games too so there should be some spares and or support available for those. I would think things like cabinet decals and backglasses can be re-printed from a file if necessary, I'm sure he has the means to do that, same with spare playfields. This fear of spare parts supply can apply to any low run or boutique type game, something buyers need to think about.

There were originally 13 and for some reason went from 13 to 20, that's all I ever heard. I did hear a rumor though that the game is going to kill but I hope John stays healthy and I live long enough to see it......

Hold ON WTF, I have NEVER been notified the number of magic girls was increasing to 40, I've been waiting 3 years, I emailed John last week and asked you if this was true, you never replied, no problem I'll call you, but IF this is true, you have some nerve increasing the number now after 3 years, we had a contract, If you do this you are breaking the contract, how about some answers?

I must admit I'm not sure I understand why he's redesigning parts that can be bought off the shelf, or if it's just some unique parts and he's using off the shelf B/W flipper-pop bumper-etc assemblies ?

I was under the impression that the reason that MG was $7K more than RAZA was mainly due to it's rarity at 13 (13 when I bought in) and thought that was why it was $7K more. Humor me, but if the numbers were equal (100 RAZA's & 100 MG's), I hope it becomes obvious that MG was worth $7k more than RAZA and that's why it was $7k more and not because of it's exclusivity...otherwise you could buy RAZA and take the $7k and buy another nice machine. What I don't like is going back on your word and saying your building a certain amount of games and then 3 years later changing it.

AGREED as of right now John has not told me he's changing the amount of MG's so frankly it's a rumor started by Iceman who I don't even know. As an owner of MG and RAZA it would be nice to be better informed.

What I'm saying is pretty simple, as an owner he should keep me informed better. I haven't received any 'confirmation card' whatever that is, or have I read anywhere on his blog, or received an email or phone update that the number of MG's was increasing. I don't think I'm the only one. Personally I think it would be better to inform your customers directly rather than have it leaked out on pinside.

Taking notes, this is what I have so far.
Dear John,
1: How many are you making?
2: When can I come to your shop and play a finished game or proto?
3: Who is building it?
4: How many different versions of artwork are there and can you send me pictures of the actual finished versions you will be using of cabinet-playfield and backglass after 3 years? (I did sign your NDA)
5: Can you supply me in writing with an updated completion date and time schedule so I can calculate how much interest I am losing on my money and I can check statistics to see if I will live long enough.

I can understand why some of the boutique pinball makers are having a hard time with delays etc being it's their first attempt at doing something for the first time, but what's John's excuse? He should have known what the process was going to entail and planned ahead accordingly. When I initially spoke to John to get on board he gave me the impression that he already had much of the art and design work done and was chomping at the bit to build it, little did I know that he was starting from scratch and it appears he had little already planned. After all these years I'm still looking at pretty pictures and colors.

I sifted through so many pages I forgot what this thread was about

This thread is starting to remind me of the Predator thread, lots of posts but not much real information, hard to keep reading so many posts with nothing really being said, including this

I'm only guessing but maybe he has the home use only phrase in the contract so he doesn't have to get UL approval and other approvals.

I must have dropped some bad acid because the color pallete reminds me of the Incredible Hulk

incredible_hulk_pinball_1525_detail.jpg

I should disclose that I love the artwork of J.P and the color pallete on RAZA and MG. I'm not trying to ad fuel to the fire, I like the colors, but It does remind me slightly of the incredible hulk colors....

I like the colors, they remind me of the incredible hulk pallete

You can see the pedestals for the backbox inside the raza coin door and the backboxes behind them, I found it amusing to see the backglasses in those old fashioned gold leaf type frames.

There is one positive spin you could put on this, although I doubt it would happen, wouldn't it be nice if this caused any makers of small quantities of pinball machines (trying not to use the term 'boutique') to actually produce machines without asking for money up front. Build it and they will come. Say your going to build it and they will wait....

I like everything I see except that newton ball, looks like someone took out a stand-up target and just shoved a newton ball in there as an afterthought, I HOPE that changes....

If you read the post many pages back by Multiball1, he states clearly that he visited a few months ago and played a protoype MG and that it was in it's rough stages and was far from complete but was playable.

I'm sorry but I was under the impression that you were in on the game and were reading the blog. John stated in Oct 2014 that he is using a simpler version of the WPC95 system and Quetzal Pinball created the IO control board. The light system is 12v. All this has been in use and in testing for the last 12 months or more.

OK let the thumbs down rain but here's my 2 cents. I don't see anything at all being accomplished on this entire long winded thread other than a lot of people venting their frustrations. Problem is, a very very small percentage are owners and the rest have nothing to lose except adding fuel to the fire. Pretty much the same as the Predator thread, lots of hot air, nothing solved. I don't think Kevin or John or Rick or Jack or anyone else really cares any more about what is said here and pretty much ignore 99% of it. If the 'real' owners want to voice their frustrations and concerns they should contact JP immediately and tell him directly, not though email and certainly not through pinside.

Do I think people have the right to voice their opinion here, of course, do I think it's doing any good , no. I realize that posts have been made and ignored on the blog too, but only by a small vocal minority. The rest of the owners who are unhappy need to speak up and not sit back thinking that the small handful of people who are speaking up are enough.

Can you tell me if your a buyer of MG or RAZA ? How did he tell you this, by phone? I just looked on the MG & RAZA blog and can't find anything about this reveal date you mention?

Exactly why the owners need to call him and get up his ass, he needs to feel the pressure from the owners, not the pinside community. It can't be more obvious that he sees no sense of urgency or pressure.

OK found it, but I'll stick with this, if your an owner and your not happy, I think it would have more impact to call him periodically and demand answers and hold him to what he says.

Chrisvw posted that someone gave him JP's new contact phone number so I'm assuming he plans on calling. I absolutely think all the owners who are concerned should be calling him to address any concerns they may have. That's what I'm doing.

A few comments:
I think the owners need to vote and decide if this should turn into a legal matter, not you alone.

Being this post got no thumbs up, my initial impression would be they don't want it to.

I think most peoples experiences with lawyers lead them to believe that if they did get involved they would never see the machine or most of their money.

Anyone who is not an owner shouldn't have a say in this.

I spoke with JP the other night for an hour and 20 minutes and came away with most of the same thoughts ICE did. Bottom line is I think he knows he's failing big time at communication but feels if he continues to put his efforts into making the best pinball machine he ever designed that people will forgive him. I got the feeling he had tunnel vision and that if people were forming outside his home with torches and pitch-forks that he would be trying to finish a last few details before the house burnt down. I'm also convinced he's totally and completely irrational and paranoid when it comes to showing his master work with new designs and new innovations out of fear of 2 things. That people will steal his ideas, and that people will criticize his game in an unfinished state before they see the completed version.

Actually it's 3 1/2 but what's 1 1/2 years between friends. You might see why people would think your coming across as an instigator, but then again, you might not ..... hope your friends appreciate how passionately you feel about this..

I had the same problem and he told me it worked for everyone else so I thought I was the only one, guess I wasn't. I got a blank page when I clicked on the link he sent me....

The 'BLOG' looks the same as it always did, I'm not seeing anything new that I wasn't seeing yesterday, what changed? Just that it's open to public viewing?

What this thread needs is less redundancy, too many posts saying nothing. To save you the trouble, yes that includes this one

If his wife is partially funding his pipe-dream maybe someone should try speaking to her.

With all due respect I don't think you should be talking about how to get things done quickly, it has taken you many many years to get to the point of actually producing any playfields and your still having problems.

I also remember someone with the same name who was in on the JPOP games.

This has to be the most depressing thread on Pinside....

I think this thread needs more drama and speculation, especially from people who don't have any financial interest

That's really not a fair statement, all games at that time were being closed out including Safecracker, M.M, C.C etc....

I finally got a call back from him, he told me that MG is almost finished, we can all relax now

I'll see your 2 years and raise you a year

John's reputation among collectors is/was that the pinball community liked the games he designed (for the most part). John's reputation with people who worked with him or did business with him is/was that he is a flake. Right now as far as I'm concerned his reputation is ruined and I doubt anyone would do business with him unless there was money to be made, which is this case is probably not possible. So if John went into this thinking he was going to be bought out, he's more delusional and stupid than I can find words for. If the games ever do get produced I hope people don't forget what a jerk off he is and don't ever send him pre-order money ever again. In fact if anyone ever sends ANY pinball maker pre-order money again then they deserve what they get.

You may not be convinced but there are many people in this thread that clearly stated he would not accept their deposits on MG's. I don't get it either but that's what I read.

Where are the buyers who live near his shop??? If I lived closer I would be at his shop demanding answers, does he still show up at the shop every day? Did he hire a body guard? Is he using whatever money is left to buy Kevlar body armor? The colossal sized balls on this guy to ignore his customers emails and phone calls and tell them nothing.

Heard he's working on a new leg leveler as we speak that's going to blow the lid off the entire industry, said he couldn't send me a picture until the patent work was done....

"Pdxmonkey said:
2.) I dunno about your case but John calls me back within 24 hours everytime if he doesn't pick up when I call. Perhaps he didn't care for your tone of questions?"

This REALLY bothered me because John was returning my phone calls up to a few weeks ago. When I started asking him tough questions and demanding answers and interrupting him when he tried to change the subject, that's when he must have put me on his blacklist. In his book, I obviously went from fan-boy to disgruntled customer and was immediately put on his blocked callers list. Dear John, no matter how this thing winds up, whether these games ever game made, how you are perceived in the future of pinball history, I personally think your a fucking loser, a big time fucking loser.

I hate to agree with Chessiv but I do. I don't think John takes criticism well, he probably thinks Ice is a 'bad man'.

twilight-zone-billy-mumy-go.jpg

Not so sure about that, if you google by his name you really have to dig to find dirt, the fact that everyone is using the abbreviation JPOP is to his advantage. I suggest from now on people use his full name so it's easier for people to research his reputation in the future.

Make sure there aren't a lot of moving supplies and boxes stacked by the door and a U-haul truck parked in front.

Other than a few people who might think it will make a few pages of good drama on P.S, I don't think anyone believes that John is going to welcome a complete stranger into his shop with open arms and show you all his progress so you can report back to P.S, you have a better chance of getting a 1 on 1 with the president of the united states.....

Priceless, thanks for the laugh

Almost looks like there's a hole up the middle with some magnets at play to elevate the ball up to the top.

As soon as a good playfield picture was posted, the negative criticism started right away. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's based on an incomplete machine. The majority of the posts following the big playfield picture are negative, makes John get all sensitive and cry, we can't have any of that ......

I'm not defending John by any means but this point has been mentioned many times, has it been proven that John has taken a salary or is it just a conclusion some people have made based on their opinion of the situation?

Where are all the Pinside lawyer wannabees that usually offer useless legal advice when it's not needed? Instead of everyone giving their version of what a criminal John is, let's state the case, here and now. How can we compile evidence to prove in a court that what John did was indeed a criminal act. State your case lawyers.

Any owners who feel they can offer help and who want to figure out the best way to proceed, feel feel to PM me. I am not signing this contract and want to proceed to get John to pay for what he has done, whether it be by forcing bankruptcy, or having him put in jail for fraud. He must not get away with what he has done and must pay a heavy price for his deception and flagrant disregard for peoples hard earned money.

I would agree to the Pintasia agreement if:

John opens up whatever financial records he kept to show how much he received and how much he spent and how much he has left.

John is drained of any financial enrichment from this project and has to repay whatever salary he took.

John takes no salary from Pintasia for any future design work.

John has to finish his work on MG in a small dark room with no windows on live webcam wearing a dunce cap.

After finishing MG/RAZA and AIW he is demoted to cleaning the bathrooms at any U.S held pinball show and made to sweep the floors in a clown costume.

I think the general consensus here is that people are angry at John and want him punished for what he did, deservedly, and do not want him to get away with what he has done. But speaking from anger and emotions always clouds your judgment. We should keep an open mind about this new opportunity that wasn't available a week ago, if we have something constructive to ad that's fine but let's stop coming across like an angry lynch mob. Constructive ideas are one thing, adding fuel to the fire is another, let's do what's best for all involved and be aware that unfortunately some people on Pinside would get their jollies from watching this fail than succeed.

If that's the same person from Millionaire Matchmaker I watched that episode, he seemed pretty well off financially, didn't know he was a pinhead, so you have to ask, why would he do this if he didn't need the money, you think this is a huge money making opportunity for a wealthy hotel owner millionaire? Are we looking a gift-horse in the mouth and possibly scaring away the only person we have at the moment willing to step in? If you were the investor wouldn't you try to protect yourself from legal battles? I don't see anyone else waiting in line to save this deal. Will waiting a few more days or weeks to see what he comes up with cost us anything? I'm still keeping an open mind and keeping my options open, let's let him know what we think and see how all this pans out. Alternately we can keep bombarding the guy with hostility until he runs for the hills and get back to our regularly scheduled program of JPOP bashing.

P.S. Seems he has been friended by Jack from JJP on his F.B page, maybe they are in negotiations already to build the games, maybe not, but we waited this long, let's see how this pans out. Chicago gaming also has the ability to assemble these games, and If Stern can be contracted to build a Whoa Nellie they can be contracted to build MG's. I'm sure there are other options available to build these. So far he seems to be keeping his ears open, let's keep ours open.

Why would you think JPOP would appear at the show, I HIGHLY doubt it, I think it was suggested the MACHINE would be, not JPOP. He would piss down his leg at the first person who raised their voice at him.

He probably pulled up and saw someone taking pics and drove away. He might feel it's too risky to show up at the shop now and will probably have to use whatever money is left hiring security. I bet he doesn't leave the blinds open after today. He's probably at the locksmith right now.

locks.jpg

Of course no one is going to publicly condone violence, BUT I'm sure it's in peoples thoughts. Personally I would hope people would absolutely get in his face, and I mean IN HIS FACE and give him a reality check. This weasel needs to know very clearly that he is finished in the industry and is not welcome at any pinball show without getting publicly ridiculed. If he does show he either has bigger balls than I expected or is much more oblivious than I expected.

I hope someone is archiving all his webpages for evidence? Facebook, his pinball inventor page, the wordpress blogs?

This has been mentioned a few times throughout this thread, including me, it takes 1 minute and accomplishes a LOT, please do this Ice.

I personally don't know how to do it but can someone save these webpages as evidence/documentation? He seems to be closing everything down.

Any particular reason your not changing the title of this thread ?

I would just substitute John's name instead of JPOP for future searches.

Can someone start a new facebook page and put some/all of the info back to remind the general public what a piece of work JPOP is?

I think it's going to be difficult to get an honest opinion of the game after the NW show. You know there's going to people who are going to say the game sucks just because they have their agenda or sour grapes. Many will give the usual patent answers about it not being worth $10-16K, the layout sucks, no flow, weak flippers, unfinished code etc etc, when in fact they probably never even played it or went to the show. I hope Bill keeps that in mind. I think he should consider taking an informal anonymous poll from people after they play it. It should also be said that obviously the code will be incomplete.

F*ck the apologies, I want him dismissed, imprisoned, penalized, castigated, chastised, confined, defrocked, exiled, expelled, flogged, incarcerated, scolded, sentenced, spanked, whipped, assaulted, bashed, beaten, bruised, broken, clobbered, crippled, crushed, defaced, destroyed, disabled, disfigured, lacerated, mangled, pummeled, mutilated, pelted, pounded, ruined, shattered, smashed, thrashed, walloped, wrecked and raked over the coals, then torture him some more and repeat. Apologies????, HAH I say ......

I'm not getting the apology sentiment. Would it really help if he apologized for jerking us around for months/years when he knew for a LONG time he had no money or intention of actually building anything. Would it help if he apologized for continuing to take money from people only a few weeks ago when he knew they weren't going to get a machine? When he stopped paying people who worked on the project? When he stopped returning phone calls or answering questions? Could he not have apologized to people one at a time? Let's face it, he did what he wanted, he played art and crafts for a few years and took a good salary on our dime. He didn't give 2 shits about accountability for anyone's money enough to even keep decent records. He didn't include us in any of the buy-out talks. He didn't give refunds. He legally protected himself from any personal liability. He didn't abide by his contract. He didn't show buyers any pictures or videos like he promised. He didn't update his blogs as he promised. He misled and lied about completion dates and reveals. He blamed everyone and their mother for everything that went wrong.

In my opinion he had known for a long time that he was going to screw us and put on a charade because he was too spineless to be honest with us. He has no moral compass, integrity or character. He is a piece of sh*t and will remain unforgiven by me. I hope he goes broke and goes to jail, probably the only time he will have to think about what he did wrong.

Give me ONE example of how he showed any remorse for anything he has done so far? In my opinion he is a sociopath and a criminal.

He has already proven to us that one thing he IS really good at is hiding stuff.

The general consensus seems to be that the entire pinball/pinside community has as much right to voice their opinion in this thread as people with money at stake. I'm not going to argue that point but would like to state that SOME of them should be a little more considerate of how strongly they voice it. Consider the fact that your opinion could possibly negatively affect the situation even if you don’t mean it to or don’t have bad intentions. You can feel that you have just as much right to say what you want as someone who lost money and although that may be true you can also be a little more aware of how it may affect others.

The game was obviously designed for players 6' plus in height. I'm sure John came up with a nifty magic milk crate and magic wand flipper button extenders for the shorter players, he just needed a little more time

I would fill the cabinet with dead rats before I returned it to John.

Enough about the leg bolts already, he didn't invent these, they use them on motorcycles all the time, search for 1/4" spiked bolts or similar variations and you'll find them all over the place:
http://www.probolt-usa.com/stainless-steel-harley-unc/stainless-steel-bolts-harley-unc-spike-head.html

How many people think the responses so far were 100% predictable? Some of you are more like parrots than people.

The colors of the playfield look amazing to me in this video, many of the others did look a bit off and washed out but not on this video. I keep hearing people saying if it is or isn't a $16K game and that was when the quantity was 19, I think it's safe to say Bill will be pricing them more like JJP's games if they are to be sold in larger quantities.

Some people seem to be starting the game in novice mode which locks out some playfield modes, arcade mode is the mode with more features. Personally I will keep an open mind until I actually play a completed game with all the software modes in place and all the features 100% working. Some people don't seem to have the ability to understand the game is in a very rough prototype stage right now and can't seem to resist the urge to criticize it. What pisses me off is that this is all that's finished after all this time and the criticism for that should be directed at JPOP. As usual he's a pathological liar to the end, and recently claimed the machine was 95% finished which obviously it's not.

If JJP or Stern bought the rights and Bill Gates co signed with a blank check and hired Keith and Lyman to do the software and sent the contract to lowepg for final approval he would still find something to complain about. Unfortunately some people prefer to watch things fail so they can say I told you so, it makes their pitiful existence seem important. People like that won't stop being negative any more than they can stop breathing.

Did you ever think maybe some people think YOU'RE bad for the hobby and Pinside, you keep making the same speeches over and over, some people might be tired of reading Pinside because of people like you, THAT'S also bad for the hobby.......

It's not a personal attack, it's food for thought. You have made your point, OVER & OVER & OVER, take a minute to think about how people come on Pinside to read about the hobby and have to sift through your repetitious rantings OVER & OVER & OVER and how THAT might be bad for the hobby....

Plenty here to fulfill #2:
We have lawyers who aren't lawyers but know enough about the law to give legal advice.
We have pinball manufacturers who have never built a machine.
We have financial advisers who can tell you what you should have done with your money.
We have fortune tellers who know what the future holds.
We have pinball designers who never even shopped out a game.
We have business analysts who have never owned a business.

Should be plenty more for them to talk about for a while.......

Hey what's with the pointy leg bolts ?

I find it concerning the way some people are ejected for name calling yet many are given a pass.

Can I call him yucky?

John had him home phone number disconnected, I wish I lived in Chicago, I would be at his shop every day to look for him and park in front of his house every night.

If john needs more money for Zidware and is so confident, why not take a second mortgage on his house and use his personal assets? I can answer that, because he thinks of all the people who sent him money as suckers and not people and that he is entitled to the money because he is a creative genius pinball inventor. He thinks the money was a contribution or a gift, not an agreement to purchase something. I just want to stay healthy enough to outlive him so I can piss on his grave.

Much of what you say is true but what about responsibility and accountability. John went out of his way to lie to people while at the same time being completely irresponsible with their money. It's one thing to be a "artist flake" and it's another to be a chronic liar while your throwing people's money down the toilet and just saying "oh well, I tried". A drunk driver doesn't intend to kill someone when he gets behind the wheel drunk, but he is held responsible for the death regardless of his intentions. While I agree that he won't do jail time, I would love to see him punished in a big way. Personally I would love to see him do a little time.

Just curious how many times you're going to attempt the make the same point over and over?

Why is it OK for Ben to say whatever he wants about JPOP but Jack gets criticized when he says something? And he said it on the JJP forum not pinside. I'm not saying whether I agree with what he said, just pointing it out. Double standard or just the usual Pinside drama?

My guess is he's getting ready to announce game #4 soon

It has been mentioned quite a few times that someone from the local area should stop by his shop and see what's going on and give him a few things to think about. I am NOT saying it should be a violent confrontation, it should be a message to let him know what is going on in the real world outside of his bubble. I WISH I lived closer and had the ability to do that and am completely bewildered why no one has done this in larger numbers and reported back with conversation details and or iphone videos. There must be dozens of people from the Chicago area who live within driving distance. Are you guys from Chicago so placid and scared to confront John because of his intimidating size and obvious physical strength and tough personality , I don't get it ......

He should rename the machine Malice in Wonderland.

I don't understand why some of the people who got screwed are so willing to accept it. The thought of John continuing to go to work each day playing arts and crafts and learning how to build pinball machines out of foam makes me sick. He is doing it with our money, wake up people, he is laughing at how easy it was to screw us and so far, other than beginning a few lawsuits, we made it pretty easy for him. I think some suggestions made by some are valid, he should be paid multiple visits at his shop, without violence, just visiting him and giving him a hard time is worth the trip. We should make calls to the FBI, attorney general, his landlord. Put posters on the telephone polls in front of his house, put ads in the local paper, set up a JohnPopadiuk.com website and let google searchers know what he did, he MUST be held accountable. If you need to be reminded what a smug pug he is, think about how he is still fishing for money for new victims with AIW. He thinks he should be left alone to go on with his normal life and not be bothered by us "investor suckers". He was NOT an innocent bystander with a good heart, he knew what he was doing, he was screwing us LONG after he knew he couldn't produce anything. To sit back and do nothing and let him slide makes me wonder if some of you deserved to be screwed. Personally I'm not ready to let him off the hook. Even if jumping into a lawsuit doesn't get you any money, it might get you closure to know he was punished, legally and financially. We still have no idea if he is really broke or if he hid money. Remember all the ways he misled us and lied repeatedly and don't let him get away with this......

I would like to do this if anyone can provide any info on how it's done? I would like to get everyone who got screwed by JPOP to take more steps to get things filed,reported and get the proper authorities involved. The more info we provide here the easier it is for more people to jump in.

index.jpeg

http://www.johnpopadiuk.com

Just for the record, I'm not affiliated with that site, just posting the link I found on the Internet .

Agreed, the more activity it gets the sooner it comes up in Google searches, the better. Don't know how that stuff works but hopefully many of you do. Kudos to whoever started this page, seems long overdue!

http://www.johnpopadiuk.com