To be honest, having had to live though such crap myself and being handicapped due to things that happened in my childhood, I would not want to have something designed by a predator in my apartment.

Naturally he is formally innocent until proven otherwise. However given the nature of such investigations and the fact that pedophiles cannot be cured I have just moved this innocent until proven guilty individual to my blacklist. There are a lot of nice pins around, and I do not have to honor him by displaying his designs in my valuable personal space.

I bought his cookbook (before I knew who the hell he was).

I admit, sometimes I feel guilty when I make his recipes.

Its worse.....I wanted to do a pinball ad for business with a model showing tasteful, but nontheless
cleavage.
I polled the ad.....No issues mostly, except here in the south.....Cleavage was too much for pinheads, by majority
vote of other pinheads.
You guys never saw it. I was made to feel shame.

I don't know that I agree. There certainly is a lead on the machine but when you listen to a lot of interviews, there are a lot of people involved with a machine (except for maybe Steve's). I know that Dwight contributes a lot to designs. One person may be credited overall with the design layout, but there are rules and art and sound that come together to make the game great or a flop. If you won't buy or play a Game that JT worked on, why stop there. Why not ban all Sterns for employing him. I'm sure he has given input to Borg and Steve so he's tied to those games too. And Williams and Gottlieb games.
He is going to be punished. It's going to hurt a lot more people than just him as is already apparent from a lot of these comments. No matter the outcome he is done. If true it's inexcusable. But I'm going to rally around the other people who made these games like Dwight and David Thiel and Youssi and Zombie Yeti. Poor zombie can't catch a break. Messed over by JPOP and now tied to a GB game everyone is disgusted by. I think he was doing the art for the next JT game too. He's probably fed up with pinball. Sorry for rambling

Someone said there is a rule on Pinside against posting Facebook screenshots so I won't. You can pm me your email address if you really want to see it.

JT with the Night Mutilator, listen for clues:

I get why a lot of people on here are hoping for the best and using a lot of wishful thinking but you need to stop using the traci lords argument. That was thirty years ago, technology and the ability to track it has gotten much more sophisticated. Men weren't arrested for having the magazines and videos she made before she was eighteen, that's not an equivocal argument. This sounds like a sophisticated operation involving more than just him. While he is innocent until proven guilty I wouldn't hold my breath.

Agree with your point about Zombie Yeti's bad luck but not this statement, I am not disgusted by GB or any other machine credited to JT. I'm disgusted by John Trudeau.

Pinball is a small world, and as hobbyists we know who made these games, often personally. Stern sells the games by telling you what "famous" designer made it & includes designer's signatures on the LE's. These aren't just some sterile corporate product - many of us are a little more personally involved. We get excited when certain designers make a game. We go to see them at expos. We become friends in real life & on Facebook.

Pinball is very "personal" in that way, and I absolutely understand being skeeved out at owning Trudeau's games. Not everyone will care, but for those who do it's completely understandable. I was planning on selling my BOP 2.0 due to my feelings about Dutch, now it's a sure thing. I'm most likely gonna dump my Congo as well. Prob dump my Jpop games too - so many scoundrels in this business. I don't want to be reminded of them in my house.

I was going to do that one, but I figured that would be considered so inappropriate that I would incur the wrath of the moderators. Or @pezpunk.

No, I really don't think that's true. Maybe you feel like you're an average pinball hobbyist but I don;t think you are at all.

Of course what anyone feels the need to do with their property is totally up to them and more power to them.

EDIT: Didn't factor in the facebook angle I'm not an expert on...but I still feel that way.

The Dutch or Dutch pinball?

I'm sorry, but if you think in any way I'm going to tell my 7 year old *why* he can't play a game that's been on location for half a year at our league nights, that he's already been playing for months.... well, I'm not going to type it, because I'd get banned for it, so I guess I'll just say that I find your logic a big, fat FAILBOAT.

The difference is you have put the designer of a pinball on a pedestal while you have not for the car designers (because they haven't been marketed and you don't know them). The difference is your passion to follow pinball verse your passion to follow car design.

There's a difference between buying something designed by a person that you know is a pedophile, versus buying something designed by a pedophile before you know they're a pedophile.

You didn't actively support their lifestyle if you didn't know about it. And selling something you already bought when you find out after the fact doesn't make much sense to me. Especially since selling, not selling, or whatever doesn't further enrich the person in question.

Saying you will sell GB is akin, in my mind, to posting on Facebook that you support France after the Paris terror attack. Symbolic, but meaningless.

If you want to have an impact, there are real ways to do so. Selling a Pin he designed before this came out doesn't make much sense to me.

Let's all just settle down.

Let the man have his day in court.

If he's guilty, then we can all have some regional Pinside bonfires, like when the Beatles said they were bigger than God.

Then you missed the entire discussion. It wasn't about being caught..or the distribution . it was about the postulate that all underage porn was "rape" or somehow forced. The traci lords example was about underage people willingly participating- and that not everyone knows the content maybe underage.

Ok, for all of you black and while folks, I will give you one to ponder where technology was at the base of what happened, and the "victim" was a willing participant.

A few years ago, an Asst. State Attorney and deputy Director of the state Bureau of Investigation was convicted of exploitation of a child. This is a guy I had worked withy several times, and one that helped to lock away many bad guys including child pornographers, rapists, pedophiles, etc. He was well known in the cop world for being very aggressive against the bad guys, and was very well respected in the law enforcement community for many years. Then one day he decides to send out an email that cost him his career, marriage, kids, and just about everything else important to him. I don't know the reason he sent it, there is some speculation that he was having an affair, or wanted to have an affair with a bureau secretary, but his claim is that it was all a twisted joke to a friend. I will add to this that those of us in the law enforcement community are known for our twisted or "gallows" humor, it is how a lot of folks deal with the things they see every day. However, I will add that ANY humor incorporating child pornography is well over the line of decency, so I am NOT defending his actions here. At any rate, he went to a VERY public site and copied a picture of a naked girl....he attached some wording to that picture, and sent it to that secretary. I don't know what the wording was, but I was told the picture of the girl was considered to be "art" on the website it was taken from. The problem? The girl was under the age of 18....I believe she turned out to be 16 at the time the picture was taken, with what I was told was her full consent. You can guess the rest of the story, the secretary objected to the picture and notified her administrator, and all hell broke loose. I wasn't involved in investigating the case, but was told the picture sent was the only one found on any of his computers or in his house that would be considered to be illegal. Long story short, he is charged and eventually pleads guilty to sexual exploitation of a child. And before anyone says there is more to this story, there probably is....which is most likely a political one. He had made some powerful enemies along the way, and he paid the price. That email was undoubtedly one of the dumbest things I have ever seen anyone in the law enforcement community do. It destroyed his life at the push of a button......yes, he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew he should not have done it, and he has no one to blame but himself. He also tried to delete the evidence when he found out he had been turned in, which netted more charges that we dismissed as part of his deal to plead guilty. But with all of that said......does that warrant being convicted of sexual exploitation of a child, and having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life? I really don't know. Do we lump him in as the same as any other sexual predator if that is all he is guilty of? Admittedly, there could be some details of the story I don't know, but this was all that came out in court. The prosecutor argued that the "artistic" image became pornographic when he added the wording and sent it to a female co-worker with the intent to arouse....etc. Again, I am not defending him...just saying I don't know how I would vote on this one. Not everything is black and white, and we should not jump to conclusions based on a charge and a mugshot. I will be the first to say it doesn't look good, and if he is truly guilty he deserves everything he gets. But if he is somehow found not-guilty, will we REALLY accept him back with open arms? Or is he already tried and convicted in our eyes? I spent a lifetime enforcing the laws, which was hard when you knew a guy was guilty and he used the system to walk free. But just the same I learned to respect and love the system that we have, and it just made me be a better cop in the long run.

If you would have asked me before I heard this news, I would have said I considered John a friend. I met him thanks to the show I run and would interact with him regularly. I was friends with him on Facebook, and I guess never saw anything disturbing there, but I don't hang out on Facebook constantly either. I introduced my own kids to him last year, and while he obviously didn't do anything to them, having the thought of what else he could have been thinking is... Disturbing.

Ultimately, it saddens me. Both for the victims of the photos and what was done with them, but also for John. I can't imagine a sane person who gets off on anything like this. There is something seriously wrong with a brain that thinks this sort of thing is okay. And I think it's okay for me to find out that I had a friend whose brain is clearly diseased.

As for pinball, it's up to everyone to decide how this affects the hobby. If the charges hold (and I fully expect they will), then John should never be welcomed back in, and his accomplishments should not be celebrated. We should not have posts about how genius Trudeau was for anything he designed, displays at shows of all his games in a line up to show all his work, or whatever.

At the same time, it doesn't help to pretend getting rid of his games would help matters at all. They were made, we have experienced them, and those experiences should not be changed by what one person who helped design the games did. Erasing history doesn't really work either.

But, at least in one related group that I know of, there was a respected member of that community who had the same charges. For whatever reason, when that person got out of jail, that community has welcomed him back in with open arms and celebrates his accomplishments like nothing happened. I find this wholly inappropriate and quite disturbing.

The pinball community can't suddenly forget and be okay with this (if he is proven guilty, which again, I believe will happen). If we do, it's on all of us.

Pinball, of course.

Not quite accurate. John Lennon said they were more popular in their day than Jesus was in his.

LTG : )

More than one person has wished that this was some mistake and that the photos were quasi illegal and he didn't know. Maybe Traci Lords should not have been used in my example, but you know there have been plenty of people here hoping for the "she was 17 but he thought she was 18" argument

First off: (word removed by mod) John Trudeau, where there is smoke there is fire.
Second: Buying all half priced or lower JT games, pm me, kthxbye.

Assuming he is guilty, JT is a scumbag and deserves whatever is coming to him once due process takes its course. Stern definitely shouldn't mention this on their website or, heaven forbid, issue a press release. The worst thing that could possibly happen to our hobby is if he's tied to pinball in the media, and Stern would be inviting that by making a statement. The last thing we need is people protesting in front of Chuck E Cheese because they happen to have a poorly maintained Ghostbusters somewhere on the property.

Scrub the website of all mentions of Trudeau, mail him his last check, drop his personal effects off in a box on his porch, and never speak of him again. Damnatio memoriae.

If it turns out this was all a huge, and utterly regrettable misunderstanding, roll back the website changes, reinstate him with back pay and we all do our best to pretend this never happened.

I don't care what u do. How exactly would I prevent you from telling ur kid what he can and can't play? seems like ur having thoughts about this that have nothing to do with me, good luck on that, oh and "failboat"? lame

< , oh and "failboat"? lame

Yeah, I didn't get that....but I want to. Probably a good joke in there.

Ignorance of the law is never an excuse.
That is what every judge in America will tell you.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/when-john-lennons-jesus-controversy-turned-ugly-w431153

Should've stuck to milf porn John

Sorry vid1900. I heard a live interview years ago where he apparently changed his tune compared to this.

LTG : )

Pete Townsend changed his story in his book, too.

You know, just rewrite history; after you have time to make up something that sounds nice.....

Luckily the press didn't dig further into this story. Had they known he was a game designer, designing pinball 'toys' that children play.....now that's the kind of sensationalised crap the media feed on. Coverage like that would be terrible for pinball.

Yet.

LTG : )

60 minutes has a Brilliant story on Cook County Jail, and its new Treatment more as a Mental Issue, with Humanity.

A good watch in light of this.

If you google his name, the 2nd link is this thread. A reporter wouldn't have to search long to put two and two together.

Sidenote: I find it interesting he had 1029 friends a couple days ago on facebook, he's down to 977

He's a sick bastard and deserves to rot in hell...Glad I don't own one of his pins, I would sell it immediately.

I will wait & see the outcome, if this goes forward or not. Seems like a lynch mob mentality on this site. Computers can be hacked, & identity stolen. I'm a 53 old male, & love seeing women in media or on stage. When I was in junior high, I would read the mags where you had to be 18 to buy (Easy Rider or Playboy). Same with going to X rated adult movies in High school under age. Now we have no really X rated movies at the movies, because they are all owned by big corporations. Same with the big book stores here which are family friendly. When I was 19 I would go to our local strip clubs. We have 1 men's club left for a 400k population because land was bought for condo's. So much for free speech or thought. Canada is trying to legalise pot use, & the police are still laying charges.

I talked with John a few times, & appreciate what he has done for pinball. Everyone makes mistakes in life, & no one is perfect. I got called for jury duty in a incest case. Had over 100 people called, & I got called back the second day. Guess what, I don't think any males got on the jury. Just females, wifes, students, & teachers. You can probably figure that guy had a hard time in court.

My main concern with USA, & Canada courts is all sex offenders are dumped into one group. Even simple offenses will follow you the rest of your life (looking at pictures under age). If you don't know Customs in all countries are trolling through people's phones, & computer devices looking for easy charges. I destroy all mine when they fail, & would never sell a working one. How many of us have had problems on our computers, likely close to 100%.

Tell that to Larry Shinoda, Carroll Shelby, Don Yenko, John DeLorean, etc.

Been looking for a Judge Dredd for a long time, now I will not own one but two popped up for sale both pretty high price. I think people are trying to move them while they can.

I should clarify that I think people are moving them while they can at peak market value.

So am I getting down voted for saying I would no longer own his pins or for thinking his pins will lose value so people want to sell at the top? When was the last time anyone heard Gary Glitter being played, they used to play that at every sporting event.

Dude who gives a shit if men are on the jury, you think bro code covers incest and guys are going to give another guy a break. It's pretty obvious why they passed on you.

And everyone must know that dude that designed my toyota sienna

Yeah sure people are dumping there machines because of this lol.

The passed on all males. If I was on the jury, for any case I would be objective. Who wants to be on a incest case, or murder case? Just explaining how my experience was with a large jury pool of males, & females.

Oishi Kazihiro

Your post simply troubles me. Everybody makes mistakes in life? would you be saying that if it was your child in his collection the authorities seized?

This isnt a mistake its sick, deplaurable and disgraceful. No excuses and a prison sentence would be too good for the likes of this scumbag.

Wait and see if he's found guilty first in my opinion. Everyone is so quick to jump in with the hate but it reminds me of Chris Andersen (NBA player) when his house got raided (he was never charged though) for something similar I believe and it turned out someone had set him up but the media were tearing into him. On the surface this seems more straight forward but hey i'd rather wait and see what happens.

Yet... that is exactly what you propose. If the games were great or notable... that doesn't change... yet by trying to hide or deny that... you are trying to erase or change history.

Honestly none of that follows along with the discussions in here....

This is terrible, just terrible and disturbing. What a waste to toss your career and reputation down the drain on something not only wrong but disgusting.

I thought that John was one of Stern's best designers as he actually took risks with his layouts and features.

Ghostbusters will remain in my colllection and I still think its one of Stern's best modern games. John didn't make Ghostbusters, Stern Pinball did. Yes, he did the playfield design but dozens of others from ZombiYeti, Dwight, Jerry Thompson, Ernie Hudson, the engineers, animation artists, etc made the game possible and as a whole contributed far more to the game then John.

Someone already has...didnt even wait to see if he was guilty or not.