TPB + GWJ = TPGW (Trailer Park Greatwich) I could sell that series to network executives during shark week. In the opening scene, GWJ is sitting in a jail cell, muttering about pinball, deeproot, RM, the Big Whale that got away, Canadian artists, and estimating the buckets of piss, consumed over a lifetime. (Hint - number is greater than ten toes and ten fingers).

Why limit your search to the world? You’d land bigger Cetacea by expanding search to planets in the milky way. Just be sure to request payment in loonies.

Martians often trade in humans and Federation doesn’t use currency at all. Non-federation has gold latinum bars. Of all the places to look, the last place is usually where it can be found. For you, that probably means Uranus. Leave no hair uncoiffed or boil unpopped. Go deep into Uranus and pluck the ripe berries. You will certainly find a whale in there. Good hunting! - Capt Ahab
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That is brilliant idea and would be as effective a way to catch and land a whale. How about adding to T-shirt front a bubble with a big red arrow pointing at it with words your design goes here!

You’re pretty good at creating memes, why not mock up a design for our entertainment?

He collects underpants, duh
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To use a football analogy …

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GWJ is going about things wrong. Print and sell t-shirts advertising the hunt for a whale. Also change theme from trailer park boys to shark week. You’d easily find your whale while offering up sharks.

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I’ve got $99k burning a hole in my pockets. Looking for a project to fund that is $99k or less. Any leads are appreciated.

Hold the presses. I found a whale with $100k who wants to invest in this worthwhile venture. Recognizing shear genius when I hear it. Willing to pay too dollar for what the game is worth. Let’s switch theme to sharks and go!

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Pooky hit on the points of a difficult to produce product and how personal limitations will impact this project. These sum up many large roadblocks this plan already faces. He also praises GWJ’s persistence and ablility to deliver various products. Final mention of the criticism GWJ is receivingfor his plan A - to find a whale.

I point out that GWJ is lucky to be receiving criticism of his approach and plan. If GWJ can listen to feedback and if he can adjust his strategy, he may find one that will work. Nobody thinks it is possible for GWJ to find a whale with $100k who will then pay GWJ to produce a one off game with no rights to design (period). GWJ to accept that plan’s A, B and C are fatally flawed.
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GWJ should not not give up on his dream to build a game. Rather it is time to come up with a better plan. When you come up with a good plan, people will be willing to help and criticism will be less fatal. When your plan can’t be critiqued as flawed from the start then it might be possible. All you need to do is come up with a plan that makes sense and then proceed on it.

Is it better for GWJ to build one custom pinball for a whale at a cost of $100k or to build ten versions of same custom pinball for ten mini-whales at $10k each? I am going to think out loud.

If GWJ requires $90k profit, he would pursue plan A. If GWJ requires $0 profit, he would build ten games @$10k. Nobody wants to give GWJ $90k charity on an undefined and non-designed game. Do ten people believe GWJ could build and deliver a custom game with theme of his choosing? No they do not, as John doesn’t have the necessary experience.

So maybe the goals are wrongly defined. I see GWJ going everyday to the pub or drinking at home. I will estimate he enjoys drinking 12 beers a day and put the cost at $10. GWJ will be busy for 12 months trying to fulfill his pinball obligation so I estimate he will drink $3,650 of piss/beer. So wouldn’t it be easier to start a gofundme for drinking money and ask for donations of $50 or less to reach a goal of $3,650? That one could possibly attract some money and it would be realistic. In the end you wouldn’t have made any games but you also wouldn’t have taken and wasted $100k.

Of the many problems foreseen by all on this thread, the funniest flub is plan B (or C). In it you will build multiple copies of one game, right? Now if someone ponies up $10k for a theme, they 100% want and expect to pick the theme. They probably want a dream theme and there is no telling what it may be. So whether you have 10 mini-whales or 3 micro-whales, how do you get everybody to select the same theme?

Can’t let people suggest their dreams and then disappoint either 9 or 2 of the customers by ignoring their wants. Now if you decided on the theme first and then advertised, you’d encounter the right people for an audience. However, your idea of TPB is a good start but I don’t think there is a big enough fan base to find 10 investors. Shark week would, but that is not your plan. Going to grab some popcorn and take a power nap.

Well, 3 custom designed games is nowhere near as productive as deeproot’s promise to deliver 12 - 15 - 20 games. But it does match JPOP’s sale of three pins. Most of the mini-whales “investors” were getting a limited run of an interesting theme from a renounced designer and all paid between $10k to $15k and received nothing. It was a complete cluster f*#k. People were robbed of a custom game by a flacid hukster and he was sued. And he was made fun of and he didn’t have any reasonable business sense. The more I recall from that disaster the more it’s sounding like your plan. Have we not learned anything?

PS - Aside from legal issues of not having a license, lack of a basic business plan and no experience designing and building a game, you are seeking payment in full for 10, 5, 3 or 1 games that will satisfy those customers.

When someone promises to deliver 10 then 5 then 3 pins, as if the number had no meaning, there is none and history says the person won’t be able to deliver one pin.

So the one pin would be developed with a higher BOM than if the 10 games were built, right? You have set a deadline in 9 mo and a price of $100k or $10k. The design will be done differently and with subcontractor support and a higher BOM for the whale. Any whale with a brain is going to ask you to build him 10 mini-whale games, so plan on building 10 games. That would automatically mean you won’t be using higher BOM or Subcontractors. Do I think GWJ can buy a license for TPB, design and code a FUN game, build ten copies of game, fix bugs and polish code and have them ready in 9 months? 100% sure he can’t. It doesn’t count if GWJ were to produce a steaming pos just to get credit for producing them. No, the point is why design a game if it won’t be the best it can be nor as fun as a Stern premium? GWJ’s better plan is to suck down $3,650 of beer over the next twelve months, while designing and building a home-brew TPB on his own dime. Bring it to TPF and get feedback. Only then do you know what the game is going to be like and THEN open up order banks and collect deposits for 10 games. You should be able to build and sell between 0 and 10 games, depending on how you did.

I see your point and it is valid. You’ll have six months from Sep 1. You’ve also reminded me that you don’t need to build all ten games, you could easily build 2-3 if that was your number of orders on Sep 1.

That reminds me of something. So if the timeframe to build 1-10 games is the same, you must be building all games at the same time, right? You’ll have 10 (whatever number) cabinets and same number of playfields etc. All ten games would be finished at the same time. Otherwise, I can’t see how 10 could be built sequentially, in nine months.

Although condemning prank calling … this thread could get real interesting if you keep posting some of the calls received or your responses. The above is funny as hell already.

BTW, did we see you at Pintastic in the JJP video? Name given was John Greatwich. If so you didn’t appear crazy at all to me. Maybe even a nice guy. But I didn’t hear a Canadian accent, nor see any beers around you, nor hear the term whale once. So probably not, right?

^^^ haha

I had an uncle with duel gambling and vodka problems. He enjoyed playing poker, but I don’t know if he was any good. I found out my dad paid his entry into a Las Vegas poker event about 30 years ago. He finished about 65th and out of the money. He lost the entry fee which I think was about $10k. My dad made a lot of money and a made a lot of bad investments.

With all that being said, if you are pretty good at gambling, maybe some of us should sponsor your next visit to casinos. I can’t afford to throw away $10k, so could never be a mini-whale. I might wager between $100 and $1k on your gambling. That makes me a perky, porpoise who likes to splash and have fun. I feel there is a chance to lose it all or make a little. With the casinos, at least I feel there is a chance to make money. The find-a-whale campaign is a bust for the get-go. Guaranteed loss and then you might get 1) a hot mess of a Frankensteine’d game. 2) promises to finish soon for the next 5 years. 3) partially completed cabinet sitting on four raised blocks in my front yard, surrounded by tall grass, and before you get to the bathtub or toilet.

PM when you have a plan. I’d probably like a small stake. We can discuss it then.

GWJ needs to develop a breakdown of budget before beginning, to show all assumptions and a detailed plan. Whether you share here, is probably unwise. But do it to have a baseline to compare with. In your case some of the stuff might be getting done for free, some you plan to do and other parts are subcontracted out. So for instance you might have a line item for programming with a budget of $5k??? (or whatever the number). That way you can work backwards and that translates into 100 hours. You ask yourself, can I find someone to program my game, debug it, enhance it and finish with 1.0 code for 100 hours?

You obviously need a budget for licensing too. Maybe you are thinking it will be no cost and you’d list it for $0 with assumption the license will be granted for free. So when the word comes back it will cost $25k, you’ll realize you’ve exceeded the budget by $25k.

There are so many holes, obstacles and delusions to GWJ’s plan, but if you believed programming might actually take 1k hours, then at $50k, the budget is blown by a factor of 9x. Hopefully at that point you’d realize it was time to pull the offer and refund any money.

GWJ is hopeful a whale will be secured within a week. Why would someone pay you $100k to design and build a pinball machine from scratch? You have no experience designing a top 25 game. Why would a mini-whale pay you $10k?

They could buy a proven homerun machine designed by Keith Elwin, Brian Eddy, Eric Menieur, Joe Balcer, Dennis Nordman, George Gomez, Steve Ritchie, Scott Danesi or Dave Sanders. Where it would be built by Stern, American Pinball, CGC, JJP, Spooky or Pinball Bros. Or they could pay you to design a game without a chance of seeing it or maybe even receive a flaming bag of sh*t. Budget $20k for legal services as I can foresee many entanglements.

Realistic plan D -
Buy a Hot Wheels. Retheme it and change artwork and toys and modify the code. Basically what Mrs Hardy does in creating custom games. I think one of those may cost $30k to do it right, but she has a rep for creating high caliper designs. I’d pay her to make a game for me and so would your whale. I don’t see your background creating art or having a strong aesthetic for art direction. Pick her to redo a HW into something a whale would be proud to own, keep $10k for your fees and refund $60k of unused money. Everybody wins, when no one loses.

GWJ you’re 8 years late to the party. Excitement was running high in 2014.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/trailer-park-boys-pinball-machine

Aside from all stated problems, I am getting a sense that John’s “plan” does not require producing any design drawings. Rather I envision him dumping a box of parts onto a table and starting the build. Once something is created for a whitewood, the next step is hunt for art, sound and a/v assets to “borrow” that will really tie the project together in a bow. Afraid to ask, but does the above description capture the plan?

Been thinking about potential legal problems this project might encounter and I hope there is a fat line item budgeted for legal services. You will probably have multiple significant issues arise and if you try to act as your own lawyer, we know the outcome. Maybe Ice could trade his services for a game? He could be categorized as a hostile counselor/investor.

You forgot to list beer, the most important step, so that must be what ????? is for. Now that we have completed the steps, it is time to solve the puzzle. Mention David Fix’s name 3 times, email Jessica often, continuously drink beers and collect money. Simple. The journey ends and a doomsday clock begins counting down from March 1, 2023.

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Be sure to take a harpoon with you, but leave it in the car until needed. If any mini-whales abound, don’t forget to collect the checks for $10k. I have a good feeling about today’s hunt.

Minimum buy-in is $100, enough to buy 12 beers for John and 24 for his wife. Now you can see why the mini-whales cost so much.

I don’t understand how there are 2 or more mini-whales, well John, how many do you have? I understand you said the full $10k is not due yet, rather incremental deposits are made. So you must have required an initial deposit of $1k or $2k at least? that must mean you have drafted a contract spelling out specifics and have gotten them signed by the mini-whales, right? Otherwise, you don’t have Jack.

Ears perk up, a trailer park girls is green lighted at my house. The more traileresk the better. Where do I sign up as a min-whaler? Capt’n Ahab is standing by for a chance to throw his lance.

which is why he doesn’t really have any investors. Until they pay something, they are interested parties only. Until they sign a contract to pay on milestones, it is strictly voluntary. Damn it GWJ, collect some $ and get these investors invested. Until then it is all pie in the sky and doesn’t exist.

I’d go with trailer park girls, mud wrestling girls or Hoes from NYC. Make my dreams come true.

hahaha. GWJ wants to license Ben Heck & the Trailer Park Boys (BH&TPB). It all makes sense now. He’s following the JPOP arc and getting Ben in your game front and center without discussing it with Ben is par for the course. I can’t wait to play the pin, now. A Ben Heck pin is going to rock.

And meatloaf Bat Out of Hell is on vol 11 in the background. I will do anything for love, but I won’t do that.

OMG. Are you preselling or taking preorders on a license you don’t have and game doesn’t exist? This has got to be an all time low for pinball.

Teams are standing by. Master harpoonist races to the boat’s bow and is in position. Orders received, fire when ready!! That she blows, Matey. What did we catch today? Maybe the same thing as we caught 4 days ago which was the same as 11 and 19 days ago and was …. nothing to report. Not a whale in sight.

It’s got to have a Wilkins coffee mode. Those commercials were great and I’d hate to admit I don’t drink it.

Correct but John’s beer tabs across the local pubs would be paid in full.

Biggest Unknown. What does the known game designer get out of this? Is it a passion project for them or maybe they want “exposure”? Possibly helping out a friend? But what is their motivation?

Ok GWJ actually made one improvement on his plan since initial announcement. As I understand it …

Aug 31 is deadline for being a mini-whale with buy-in @ $11k. Interest after that date is too late, they missed it. Currently there is 1 mini-whale interested. If any more are found they join before Aug 31. Then that is the number of games being made. So 1 mini-whale is 1 game. There won’t be a gofundme and the public option discussed is dead.

Earlier GWJ had 3 mini-whales interested if theme was TPB’s. He collected zero dollars and these people fled. Now he has one party interested party in TT with Jon Norris as the designer and he’ll be building one game. I hope $2k is required at time of signing up. No money paid means no real investors. Payment would indicate you have one mini-whale. In addition to collecting some money up front from a mini-whale, you need a contract signed spelling out your intent, deadline, promises, milestones etc.

There is no need to talk about building up to 9 games. No, one investor equals one game. As to who owns the one game I am less sure. I think a John owns it and will auction it. I don’t think investor gets it (please correct me if wrong). Stating again - 1 investor means 1 game made. And that one investor will be the only one receiving updates.

Now we can think about the plan … one investor means $11k coming in if completed. That will need to pay all bills, including paying for game designer Jon Norris. You will probably need to get an artist to get a bang up job. There should be some legal fees required and should be budgeted. The deadline remains TPF 2023.

GWJ can do that part. No sense paying a qualified programmer $100k, when he can read - Building an A-level Stern Pro Pinball Machine for Dummies. See he has already saved money and managed his $11k budget wisely. He has to have enough to pay Jon Norris for design. Guess GWJ will need to handle electrical also so he could have his game UL certified. I’m pretty sure it is illegal to make and sell an electronic device in public without it and some big legal disclaimers.

When the house burns down from having the device turned on, they have to call the fire dept. That might not concern Jon Norris though, as the deeproot game once burst into fire and had to be contained. Fortunately for public safety the game with known electrical problems was never put into production.

There is no reality to this plan. it is a certainty that John will lose money from this venture as he unfortunately has on every one to date. It am pretty sure that by the end, he will have a hostile relationship with everybody who comes on board. Once was willing to throw in $300 but I am out for good. Final thought is John should pull the plug and go dark and just drink beer and build his home-brew. Stay away from Pinside and all other media. Do whatever you you want just don’t go spilling your brains on a public forum.

Crowd chanting kill it, kill it!

Seems like a lot of bad beer brands coming out of Milwaukee. The city should reverse flow and pump it out of the water pipes. Once Milwaukee does it other will follow. Free beer coming out of everyone’s tap.

Blatz, Schlitz and Pabst. All cause shitty blasts. Hopefully the micro beers are good.

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Every time GWJ says he is going to build 1-10 games, I cringe. WTF are you talking about? You were going to build 1 game per mini-whale slot and then sell the game at charity. You have 0 or 1 mini whales in the pod. So you’d build 1 game. Not 1-10 games. 1 game. How many games are you building? One game, very good.

All we know is GWJ is going to build 1-10 of them by TPF. We don’t even know the final theme. So far Trailer Trash is the top contender, while everyone prefers Redneck Trailer Trash. Is this another mistake by a pinball manufacturer in two months, to pick the wrong variation of a theme? Redneck Trailer Trash!! - OR IT DIES.

^^ that’s how my wife looks when she is not pleased with me. Captured in print - priceless.

Now that’s a theme I could get behind. Mutha Truckers 2 - Trucking Harder. License the title and build 1 pinball machine. To be auctioned with expenses being repaid (first $35k) and overage going to a charity. Probably impossible to come up with $25k for a license but it’s a path forward that allows you to be in the pinball making game.

Otherwise skip the public side show and build the game on your own dime. Then you don’t have to license anything nor incur licensing costs. Just do what it takes you to get the game created by TPF. Show it to the world then open the channels for people to provide feedback on your great home brew. If it reaches Stern pro levels then it is your audition to get hired somewhere.

Well, it’s not a problem. But everyone he yells at gets a similar, ridiculous pm. So Blueberry is not that special. In fact that’s one of the worst ones because it didn’t really say much. Usually expect a paragraph or two. I thought he sent blubbery some already during the deeproot days. So he shouldn’t be surprised.

I was offended by one of the above post where Ice wrote … the blueberry boys …. instead of obvious … the blueberries.

Someday, some how, Someone will build this pin ^^^

there has to a mode named The Plan in which GWJ’s plan can be navigated through it’s many twists and turns. Of course playing this mode always passes through the Ice spinner multiple times. Sometimes, the Ice spinner just spins itself - flippy floppy spinnnny weeeeee.

I am awaiting two things. #1 - GWJ to fill us in on what happened today. Do we have a theme? Do we have a designer on board? Are you ready to start Sep 1? You are planning to build one game only, right? #2 Doug will be awake and will have his brunch with unlimited bloody Mary’s and other Texas shit. Expect incoming barrage of insults directed at the clouds.

I am already four sheets in on Sun, pissing away from the wind and feeling things may be stirring up. Oh boy, wish some of you could go back and read some of the chronicles of TBL’s being delivered. We were getting multiple posts a day from the captains log. Real life accounts from the captain as reported by narrator. Real time accounts as the pins were moving into harbor and then inbound. Glorious stuff I tell ya.

no you need to own more pins, first. Then you’ll be in. One or maybe two is all you need. It is within reach.

I can’t wait to see this pin. GWJ is going to do it! Follow the plan and guaranteed success. With or without Ice, GWJ is going to pass the finish line.

What does this thread need?

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The right outlane magnet is the goalpost. Hit the right button and it moves the goalposts and keeps ball in play. Hit the left button and it changes funding sources and keeps ball in play. In the center is a dongle button, in that you use your dongle and trigger the button. Then return to square one.

and why aren’t you proceeding on single copy of trailer trash pin?

So you’ve got one min-whale and he was here the entire time. You and Coach will create some great things. (whatever you do, DO NOT TAKE any legal advice from said coach/ real estate lawyer/ pinball guru. Free legal advice is worth shit and ends up costing an arm and leg.

Think about it for a minute.

GWJ says he wants’s a whale with $100k and no brains. Then “he” has the idea of 10 mini-whales @$10k each. At that point Ice contacts GWJ and tells him that he himself will be an investor if no one else will. Just follow his plan and research getting the license.and keep looking for investors.

GWJ hears back in record time to go foff on getting the license. Deadlines pass and there are no investors, so normally all dreams would be crushed and project would be in a giant ball of fire. Except Ice steps forward to charity invest and keep the project on life support. I’m sure there won’t be any financial misunderstandings between parties, whom are both good buddies.

Agree it will all be out in the open and it will be entertaining.

The reason GWJ is enabled to move forward is because of pledged support from ICE. The reason it hasn’t become a problem is because no money has been collected from mini-whales and GWJ is reluctant to ask Ice to pay. These two will be holding hands by TPF overlooking the sunset by the end of journey as they won’t shut up about it. They literally can’t shut up. Impossible.

Solution to a problem that isn’t an issue now but could become one and it could be avoided with small steps now.

GWJ forgot to build in milestone #1 into collection table - collect $2k towards the $10k (or $11k) from all mini-whales. Until then, the Coaches advice is bush league. Tell us after he pays in $2k because that’s when he wears two hats Coach/Mini-Whale. Also since Ice is such a stand up guy, I’ll bet he suggested depositing the full amount into a joint-account now with instructions on paying each milestone. After Ice deposits $10k USD (or $11k) into lock-box and distributes $2k to GWJ for reaching 1st milestone of securing funding source. This project will earn its first element of reality.

ok figured it all out. Ice is Lucy holding the football and the enabler. GWJ is Charlie Brown who’s trying to kick the field goal. This time will be different and she’ll hold the football. Go ahead Charlie Brown, kick us a field goal. Meantime, GWJ keeps waking up seeing stars on the ceiling of his local pub.

Many of us think it will be $10k on top the $10k pledge. Would I rather buy GZ prem + DP prem and have them sitting in my dining room now. Or pay GWJ $20k to build me gouls know what? Imagine the body of two mini-whales and the brains from the Big Whale. Put a white cap on Ice that says Moby dick and hand him a fishing rod and tackle box to carry around.

Was trying to play bingo but threw card away cause it was rigged. Couldn’t find: Jon Norris, Coach’s in timeout, Timeout (again), Stern pro, No CAD needed, Will program himself. Might as well print one sticker - By turning on device, User assumes all risks of shock, fire or electrocution, in case we lose a pinball tech or UL tester.

What this thread needs is …. more gifs. John will probably learn the computer once and for all.

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What’s so hard about Redneck Turds?

Another problem with title of thread is it features Jon Norris? He’s the main character? His images and sounds are in the game? It’s a story about his life? I don’t think he is featured. He is contributing design services so you may wish to highlight him as a team member. Featuring Jon Norris, not so much.

Order lines are still open. Act fast, only 9 mini-whale spots remain. We’ll tell you the theme once you give us an email address that checks out ok. Unless you have a good idea and then we’ll switch the main theme to be it. You’ll find out soon enough that I am very flexible. I’ve been practicing yoga for years.

That’s funny you brought up CAD drawings because John already received one cad letter for the TPB license. At least the legal system has his address correctly and when Ice asks GWJ to theme his copy after WNBJM, cad letters will be zooming across the ethos.

I’ll start. Texas?

All is fine today and it’s been 2 days since our last fire incident (using that day as a baseline start, not because of any incident but because why not get the clock started?). You have 10 + 183 days remaining to be accident free, fire free, in great spirits and looking up at the ceiling.

The good news is you won’t be losing your own money, just Doug will be out and he doesn’t count. Carry forth and tilt every windmill you encounter. Spend as much as your mini-whale has. I’m hoping he invests (pays) $20k for his custom TT game. That is a lot less than the million(s) of dollars it takes Stern. Those inefficient bastards could probably learn a few tricks from Greatwich’s finest whale hunter / international pinball company.

How about?
Whale Hunter Pinball International
“Sailing the Atlantic Seas Since July 2022”

This is the ultimate documentary in the making about a whale hunter from the North who is on his final and greatest hunt. The prey is a mini-whale and keeping him alive while he guts him for $10k-$25k is the goal. I’ve got to admit it talks a lot about pinball stuff, but really it is a whale of a tale.

Hell, I thought we were required to be shitfaced to open/post in this thread.

7+ for me (and I drink cocktails. The + can mean up to ten more). Let’s go. Let’s talk the latest GWJ plans. But wait, Coach has one more day timeout in the penalty box. I expect a flurry of activity tomorrow late morning and then when dust settles, we’ll see if penalty box is empty.

Time to set expectations, before Sep 1 go-live. At first we heard Stern pro level and that sounded too good to be true, and it was. So stop and think about what level of game could one expect.

Let’s first look at current AP games. Valhalla and Hot Wheels. Well Valhalla was done with more than 3000 hours of programming and it broke through some technology barriers to work. Hot wheels has a very nice layout paired with superb rules by Josh Kugler and tv animation series. That will be hard to top too.

Let’s look at JJP with GNR and TS4. Don’t kid yourselves, this won’t be up to GNR standards. How about TS4? No way layout is that good and we know GWJ has no video assets to use. Well that saves $100k of programming, which a Stern pro requires.

How about Spooky with HW and UM? I don’t think your layout will shoot as smoothly as these 2 games. I know your programming will be inadequate and so don’t see you producing a physical game as good as Spooky either.

If I moved to home brew category, I’d expect at least a dozen home brews to be better. So why did Ice pledge to be a mini whale? Who cares, he’s been harpooned. You have found each other. Keep a diary each day and write your memories. At the end of this peoject you may personally be down as much as $20k, but don’t sweat it.

Whip out your diary and memories and write a screen play. Might be able to pull in $15k. If story gets picked up maybe earn another $75k-$100k Following the breadcrumbs, I discovered Parts A and B are complete and part C is expected to climax soon. Then as long as part D is complete by Sep 1, the project will be set into perpetual motion with guaranteed success.

Slow down, you’ve almost caught up to Haggis.

Nobody else is going to join. You have the one and only person stupid enough to invest, so don’t let him go. Focus on building 1 game. Not 1-2, not up to 10, 1 pin for one mini-whale. Keep it simple.

Weren’t there two other mini-whales looking to spend money? What were there names? I wrote them down in case GWJ needed them I found it here it is. I wrote down …. Santa Claus and Easter Bunny. Do any of those names mean anything to you? A relative or next door neighbor maybe?

Where’s Coach? Everybody’s here waiting.
Meanwhile GWJ realized he has 12 more days to screw around before starting, so maybe he will be going on vacation for a week in the woods, with fresh air and no cell service. Clear his head and come back ready to start thinking about this project, once and for all.

It sounds like the company was downsizing in 2000 right? So Jon was on the block to go next and then he raises health concerns. Well, he was on the way out with a pink slip and now the requests could be used as excuse. It was ridiculous every rejection the company made to reasonable requests. The cards were against him and nothing he did or said could change that. So the company conspired against him by using that as reason for dismissal instead of layoff from downsizing. That may be how Jon sees this project but he doesn’t need to.

I am getting the impression the brains of the operation are Jon Norris, funding is mini-whale Ice (whom I will call mini-ice) and the conductor is more of a mouthpiece as 1) sober, unreasonable GWJ or 2) juiced GWJ that says whatever is in his head at the moment. This project is gearing up ahead of Sep 1 to get their ducks in a row. Jon Norris may be doing 75% of the lifting for this stage of the project. Jon also has close relationships with other artists, a few of whom are needed to provide key functions. With funding lines secure and the revelation Jon is going to be driving this bus, the outlook for the project at TPF2023 has risen from 0% to 8% probability. Good job GWJ Team!

New Flash —- Orbital Albert was volunteering to create rules and programming pro bono if theme was TPB’s, but he is out with TT. Oh boy that would have been interesting. I think Jon Norris is going to need to work full time for six months for free. That’s probably worth $100k for six months design and project management.

Thought Bubbles closed in 2010? What’s going on in Halifax. Are the boys hanging out and drinking or is everybody still dropping acid? And where is Coach? Did he forget about us already?

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I like the idea to retheme TT into Coach. Then you’d get a bunch of people pulling for you to succeed and maybe, interested parties for further games at TPF2023. Don’t bother licensing it now. Just build your one game themed as Coach and deliver it at TPF2023.

Where the heck is Coach / mini-ice? Did he lose his Pinside pw or something? Probably wrote it down somewhere, right?

Hey, that makes sense. Denied because GWJ won’t deviate from his flawed plan. Besides things are working perfectly. I’m beginning to think pinball is easy. I already know how to drink and can dial it down if needed, but is it really needed? I am off the sauce for 24 hours.

except it’s not TPB’s anymore. Currently the passion is all about making a TT pin with the amount of misogyny being dialed up. Theme is subject to change all the way through end of Sep. So all this effort and love and enthusiasm about TPB. And now GWJ is passionate about building a pinball machine about TT or other? Get out of town. I thought this was a TPB fan build. If it rains today, imagine the drops are Bubble’s tears.

I am positive Ben is not designing TPB’s. Not a strong enough theme to sell 1k units. It is one thing to design and build one game you are proud of and happy with. It is another thing to build one that appeals to others and which is licensed to be built and sold commercially for profit.

Oh he has plenty of time. Is he hitting every bar in Benton like the designers like to do? He’s probably hasn’t even finalized the theme so he can just rest and party thru 2022. <— (insert) new emoji is needed in library of a yellow dot drinking a mug of beer.

GWJ I have a challenge for you. Many have expressed concerns about impacts of heavy drinking that I think you would fall into that category. But on Sep 1, you are embarking on a six month journey to do the impossible, right? Will you consider going alcohol free until the build is complete? It is really not my business, but stop and take a look at your life and consider making a change. Maybe a change is not desired or needed but at least consider it. It couldn’t hurt, right? Plus it would save a ton of money. I realize this would alter the current plan, but maybe this one time for a better outcome.

I’ve been hanging out in an American hospital for 16 days and can confirm no signs of free beer. I wish there were, but repeat no free beer here.

If i were to fan obsess about a tv show and it’s cast enough to build a pin, it would never be themed as TPB nor TT. I’d probably pick Charlie’s Angels or Bay Watch or Sheena the Princess Warrior a Buffy the Vampire Slayer or even Kill Bill. In other words … less trailer park boys and more girls, girls, girls.

OMG! The discovery of the hot dog straw on this thread coincides with a worldwide mustard shortage. As every non-weirdo knows … it’s mustard on hot dogs and ketchup on burgers. Paris has no mustard. Dijon region is dry too. Few more months and the world will be on its knees.

Other catastrophe happening is heat in China above 104 shuts city factories down to have enough power to cool its people. They aren’t doing this from kindness of their hearts but it is written into laws to protect public health. 70 days streak over 100 degrees. No factories means no chips. Oh boy.

I’ll take a wag and guess Andrew Harper for programmer. No idea who he is but that’s where the beer bottles ended.

I want to see anything > $20k spent and would consider that a success. But I hope it is closer to $25k-$30k. Shit happens. Scope creep happens. Ideas change. Theme may still change. People haven’t quit project yet, since it hasn’t really started.

for some reason Ice has through end of Sep to request rules and lock down theme. I repeat, to lock down theme.

that episode of tpf could also interview GWJ and find out what The Plan is and whether GWJ is really on track, as claimed. Also how does the plan sound? That show would get a bunch of listens and call-ins too.

Imagining Ice and GWJ each on dueling couches in therapy over zoom with their Guide and Doctor, Zach. Dennis K is an online Confidant who keeps things real and serves up tough love and biting criticism when needed. Have you lost your minds, gentlemen?

artists will be slaughtering one another in the streets for the sweet exposure coming their way from this project.

I am sure a lot of things will change over the course of this phantom project, sans realistic - timeline, budget nor plan. Why up to a day ago, nobody knew the programmer. The programmer wished to do it and he was #1 person on earth to learn about it. I was the #2 person on earth to learn it, after following the beer bottle trail and making a wag. That chapter of the story was breaking in front of your eyes. And it was reported HERE first. We scooped Kaneda, Knapp’s Arcade, TWIP and Craig Bobbie. Snooze you lose, fellas.

The story continues … GWJ was the #3 person on earth to learn of the programmer. That’s right, he sobered up one day and said he’d be using the crazy bastard for programming, after all. So what will the prolog to this feel good story bring? I got nothing.

Who even knows what it means? It’s day old news and subject to change. We learn earlier AH was a triple-fister with beer. As for applicable experience and programming skills? :yawn I’m sure there are many other local programming resources willing to work for free exposure.

beer count is way too low today. John, it is 12:06 and one beer for lunch? Did you finish the last half of lunch dry? This is preposterous! Sep 1 can’t get here fast enough.

John, Do you think your game will be anywhere as good as Punny Factory? If not, why not buy one from Pinball Adventures and help them ship it to Ice. That will be the best $10k ($11.2k CAD) he ever spent.

I’m confused by the PA website. On one hand it shows detailed progress of 7 SE and 3 LE ongoing orders and that is super cool. Really good idea and well executed. So let’s say I was interested in buying a game. Can’t figure out where to go or how much? Is there some announcement coming soon? Also time for an updated gameplay video.

GWJ
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Ice
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Pinside
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In scheduling lingo. If GWJ were to create a detailed plan and allocate time to each step and sequence the steps to somehow end up a mere six months later, almost every activity would be on the critical path and there would be multiple critical paths. Total float on the project is already starting at zero. There can be no delays to almost any tasks and still end up at TPF2023. John is setting himself up for failure with a faulty plan. However many believe he has no detailed plan but for a few scribbles on a beer stained, cocktail napkin. Chances for project succeeding are low. I put it at 8% chance they develop a decent game. The theme is at a critical juncture. It should either be changed back to TPB as intended for a passion project or to a decent theme. Almost any theme is better than trailer trash red neck girls.

This might be an excellent time to inumerate on the sport of monster trucking. Is it a sport? Are drivers athletes? I’d say yea to it being a sport and no to being an athlete. That puts it in the good company with competitive pinball.

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The Canadian Border Beer Index is trending up but is nowhere near it’s 50-year highs.

Very good post. Calm. Rationale. Reflective. Non-boastful. No insults. Offers good advice to Coach to take it easy and let the thread continue. This is your best post to date GWJ. Great job. I take note the post was made without any alcoholic chasers in play.

The way I remember eight years ago … Ben embarked on an adventure with JPOP. Things soured from the onset and Ben went on to find Charlie @ Spooky and together they sold and built 150 AMH’s, which can still be played today. His programming skills and understanding of what it takes to build a pin almost single-handedly launched the boutique pinball industry as others raced to build a complete and successful game.