Try to never spill any beer, since that is a serious waste. The coach is on his own schedule & my plan is very flexible. On my way to Velocity to see about steel fabrication. Like I have said my local guys have used then for stainless side rails in the past. https://www.velocitymachining.ca/services

Everything is still on schedule for Texas in March 2023. Finished off my Hot Genoa salami & 2 rolls for breakfast.

Phew, was worried for a second.

Does working on the project outside of the plan considered an accident?

I just wanted to make it perfectly clear that I hate Genoa Salami. Now a good slicing pepperoni....good shit.

This seems more appropriate:

(For the record, I like beer and am NOT passing judgement on anyone, just having some fun)

Screen Shot 2022-10-03 at 12.24.13 PM (resized).png

Just got back for my supper. Had 18 oz beer at lunch waiting for a bus & a flite of variety beer on tray small glasses (1 beer). Very convenient having micro brewery next to the bus stops near 2 metal fabricators. Had to find another vendor for smaller stuff. They will give me a quote, laser cut the holes for rivet work which I will be doing now. Got lots of sun walking around the industrial park today.
https://weldproltd.com/

Progress! Project is nearing 3% completion. Right on schedule!

How dare you? Hater! It's 4%

or not.

Completion is closer to zero. Do not expect much this month until the stainless guide rails are manufactured & most of the assemblies are here later this month. In the mean time I am working on pinball & arcade vids to free up space in my work area. Pop machine is still full of beer & a got another 48 bottles waiting to go in.

Meaning you will have only 4 months to create a brand new game?

Was it not John who said in August that there is no need to rush, work will start in September? Now it's "do not expect much this month" etc.

John really only needs 1 month to build this. No rush!

4 - 5 months is enough build time for likely only the single game or a pair. Not worried, everything is still going to the plan for March 2023 in Texas.

Every day John wastes not making a shooting whitewood is wasting the time of everyone else on the team who can't do much until a whitewood exists (like the programmer who will do the lionshare of the work to breathe life into the game)

Thank god for the plan though. Any other project manager would be pulling their hair out when John casually adds a month to the critical path of the project.

If it were me I'd get a cheap shear/brake/roll and hack up ball guides any way I could. Hell, I'd make them out of anything I could find to get a shooting whitewood going.

Great! Sounds like the beer plan is on target.

If the first two months of the plan didn't see anything completed, why do you think month 3 is going to be different? Is this just to get a working panelwood pf?

I really don't know if anyone else has the nerve to say this, but John, you are out of your fucking mind.

4 to 5 months? Not a chance in hell.

Coach, hope you do not mind the LONG delays because this IS what you signed up for. Texas 2024

Well, here it is. The only plan is having the machine done for March 2023. That's it! There is nothing else to the plan other than March 2023.

Or it dies

If it took approx 7 (yes seven) years for him to copy a playfield..... then 4 or 5 months should be no problem for an entire, custom machine...no propblem at all.

Wood glue and cardboard laminate would be the ultra low cost solution that could be done while getting drunk even. A win/win if you ask me…

Also glue gun John. Glue gun… JPop the shit out of that MDF panel!

Alas there is no way but John’s way.

A month ago it was implied his vendors were all lined up and ready to go. This month we find out he is trying to get it done as a walk in customer and has to switch fabricators because of it. This is the plan print revisited will repeat itself every step taken.

But let’s look at it this way: John is having fun living his dream. We are having fun being critical of it. Iceman is under no disillusion as to what he is getting, a truly unique original Norris design. Someday…

It’s all good. It’s a Greatwich.

It does kind of seem like every month starts out with,"not much will be getting done this month". There's only a handful of months left!

Very true.

No way this thing shows up in March as anything more than a cobbled together box of blinking lights. Is it me? Am I missing something? This just screams like the only code in the game will be "hit this and score 10 points" then "hit that and score 20 points". His programmer is not going to have any time to create any kind of basic rule set.

I'm sure lots of beers will be drank in celebration though.

I don’t mean to be ungrateful but where the heck is our weekly summary? The summaries have been quite entertaining thus far and I hope will continue. Which of our esteemed member here were responsible for it? Was it the op?

Cheers gents.

The big reveal!

pinball (resized).png

It’s the OP. The summary had become my favorite part of the thread also.

Perhaps the thing I find most interesting is that, per John, a) the plan is completely on schedule and b) basically nothing was accomplished in September or is expected to be accomplished in October.

For both to be true, it means there exists a six-month production plan where the goals for months one and two are to do nothing.

Not at all. The ONLY plan is there will be a finished machine by March. That is the goal, that is THE plan. So yeah, it's still according to plan until it's not.

John, you should motivate yourself to get this done. No beers until 10% completion. Then drink like a fish for the next 5%. Then no beers from 15%-25% and so on.

Or it dies

Plan:

1. a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.

2. an intention or decision about what one is going to do.

So the core problem here is that we all subscribe to definition #1, while John clearly subscribes to definition #2.

You can see why it is indeed “all going according to plan” in his parlance. Of course it is. How could it not be ?

---

There's no stress. 6 month build is 26 weeks - from September 1. Up to 10 games by TPF - that is only 20 weeks of assembly - it left 6 weeks total for the whitewood, artwork decisions, playfields get made, parts ordered. Wire harnesses, boards, rule set. Programmer should only take a week or so right?

But with only ONE game, he can EASILY get it done in time. So even tho he lost a month or 2 already, it's only ONE game so far, so lots more time. Or not. Maybe more games for friends ONLY, up to 10 by TFP, once the FOMO-cetacea friends see the first game. Some of these games might be Trailer Trash. Or not.

Plenty of time either way. The plan is moving along.

Why isn’t this getting built out of foam core first to test the shots? He’s literally going to final SS rails for the whitewood? There’s no adjusting those.

Train wreck is the only thing still on schedule.

And we have a winner. Can we please rename and retheme this pin Train Wreck ? I mean it’s hard to come up with a more on target theme.

I have ZERO concern Kojak!

I’ll help stock the beer fridge for John again.

He does his best work relaxed.

There is unfortunately little comprehension of the term “lead time”. A rational person would say “gee if it takes my fabricator a month to create rails that I didn’t anticipate, what might that mean for this part of the project.” Rationality plays no role here.

Just got home from the bar & had 9 beer. Just had my cheap ass supper at KFC after 9pm. The exterminator had been in to work on the bed bugs since we have poor people from Africa being government housed here. They are bringing in crap from the dumpster like furniture & clothing. The sheet metal shop did not like the file I provided, & I will try again. There is no panic going on here, everything is going along as planned, & the game(s) will be in Texas in March.

Part of the plan. As long as the game(s) are finished & playable for March. Most of my contractors were lined up except for the different contractor to do the steel ball guides. It is more labor intense, & the new contractor seems interested in the project. I reached out to the coach, & we might talk on Friday or later. Hurtles also come in play, use to it over 15 years+ of parts production. What people need to remember is the overhead is extremely low with myself doing the bulk of the build. Team members & contractors only get paid as services are required.

Fuck me dead. After 9 beers I wouldn't be panicking either.

OP - don't forget to add this tidbit to the summary.

Yes I never panic which is evident on playfield production. One of the hardest things to do. Add up how many of us have tried that the last 15 years. A very selective club! Drinking is a social thing in my area, along with a slower less stressfull lifestyle living on the east coast of Canada.
Yes bed bugs are nasty. Had blood stains on the pillows going into the trash & on my mattress.

I suspect the only way I would ever understand any of your reasoning is to first have 9 beers. Given that I’ve only ever managed 2 beers on a given day in my entire life I’m afraid we will live in different existences, never to meet on the same playing field.

As long as you enjoy your life it does not really matter. I play tournament pinball from non drinkers to heavy hitters, everyone has fun what ever their choice.

Noob question- it has been said over and over that the programmer isn’t going to have any time to code. But if the game is designed - this target is 50 pts when lit and all the lights blink when the target is hit etc., why can’t that all be coded while John finds & assembles the hardware?

Let's not rush things. You need to do some social drinking and quit panicking!

Id buy that for adollar!

Personally, I think Iceman has something up his sleeve. No way his legacy is throwing away "Only he knows the actual amount of $$$$" on this.