My bet is he doesn't call in or show up.
What could he possibly have to say or shill?

So my question is;
Where do you live, what is your address, and how can people with money owed find you?

I’d ask how he can sleep at night knowing he lies and steals from people.

Andrew loves numbers, so here's one: If you ever decide to show up at a future US pinball convention, how any seconds will pass before you're punched in the face by an angry disgruntled scammed Alien pre-order customer?

Bonus question: How many times do you think your Porsche will be keyed in the parking lot?

I couldn't give two shits what this deceitful egotistical muppet has to say. He's never said anything truthful to this community in the past, so why would he start now? I wouldn't even bother talking to this scumbag. Go crawl back under the rock or whatever dark musty hole you came out of. Good riddance. The hobby you love so much has justifiably & collectively shunned you. Karma is a bitch.

It would be poetic justice for him to physically show up for the interview and then be met with all of the backers that didn't receive a machine after the interview was over

is public flogging still allowed in the UK?

The flippers are so flat on Full Throttle. Is that because of the time at ReplayFX when, after playing the prototype, Ryan Wanger explained that most games don't just let you hold up the flipper and have it come to rest on a ball returning through the inlane because it makes the game too easy for good players?

(I've always wondered if it was my fault)

This. You'd be better off interviewing someone who gave a sh*t about the hobby and the people in it.

You can pass along that most of the people here would like to see him turn that giant boat of his sideways and stuff it.

Oh cool, I've been dying to know his favorite color.

You just seem so nonchalant about this. He fucked people over and stole their money and you want to take a trip down memory lane with him? What's wrong with you?…seriously. This kiss-ass interview isn't going to help anyone. Don't give him attention. Let him go away.

This interview is useless except if he could answer how he can refund all the stolen money (just need to sell the Porsche and other personal material goods, refund HP salary and benefit payed with preorders funds). Don’t know in UK, but as much error of management can be liable to prosecution in France.

I fear this interview will be the death of pinball news also.

How can you not ask offensive question to someone who has offended so many in the pinball community?

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, he already went and did EXACTLY what I advised him not to do this time last week. Please, please, for the love of god, just STOP DIGGING.

Why would it? Didn't they survive their Skit B post-meltdown interview?

Wow .....why would he do this ???

oGk8R (resized).png

Why bother? Don’t give him a platform to lie and spin. For him this will just be about ego.

The only question to be asked is: will all the people who paid for a product get refunds?

When the answer is “no”, all further questioning should stem from that. The story now is the people who’ve been ripped off. Andrew’s feelings are irrelevant.

where is david frost when you need him?

frostnixon02 (resized).jpg

Since I was in charge of arranging the playfield graphics, I was at least able to make sure you got some credit that way. It's not your fault, nor do I bear any ill-will, that Andrew played the two of us off against each other to get what he wanted in the game.

If you guys have lunch together, be sure and invite Michelle Wolf to say a toast.

If the word 'aspergers' comes up, and if it gets used as an excuse for any difficulties or disagreements, then I GUARANTEE this will not end well. And by 'well' I mean 'not even more appallingly worse'.

This is what journalists do, it's a record for history. Calling it kiss-ass before you've seen it is pretty silly. Obviously they're aware that people are angry and are trying to not see this thread full of questions like "how far up your ass does your head fit?" because that's not helpful to them.

Do I expect Andrew to come clean or something? No, of course not. But his answers will go into pieces of the puzzle in some fashion. It's not like anyone is going to suddenly think he's a swell guy if he doesn't cop to anything.

The anger is warranted. I'm kind of out of it, but only because I had so many months of being angry that I just burned out, I couldn't stay mad any longer, it was going to give me an ulcer. But we shouldn't let being mad make us attack people who are just trying to do the kind of work that makes our hobby better. You can't dig for the truth without asking the questions.

I do have a legitimate question (even though I really don't think this guy should be given a platform... or be trusted to tell the truth):

At one point last year, Andrew made a huge show on Heighway's Facebook page of boxing up a single game, loading it on a truck, announcing that more games would be shipping later that week... and then *crickets*. He simply stopped responding to the Facebook post and no other images of shipped/shipping games were made.

I'd love for him to explain that little dog and pony show. You don't just have games ready to roll and then mysteriously disappear. How can this singular moment be interpreted as anything other than outright deception of customers (and potential customers)? Why did he feel the need to lie about the readiness of orders and imminent shipping... and how could he feel good about that obviously deceptive Facebook post?

See, those are the types of questions he can dodge...

"Uhhhh... well as you know 'Pinball is hard', and after we sent that famous first machine, we realized a quality issue with the Xenomorph head and thought it would be best to rectify the issue vs. having customers doing it in the field, so we kept all future shipment from leaving our facility until.... yadda yadda yadda."

I want to see the accusations presented from the staff answered. Those are the ones that can't be dodged by blaming the woes of making a pinball machine.

Sure, interview a compulsive liar to get down to the truth. Makes perfect sense. Can't wait for this hard-hitting bit of journalism. Please, who are you kidding Aurich?

I'm happy to help with the interview Martin. I'm an epic Jeremy Paxman and I'd love to stick it to this cheesy faced thieving scumbag.

Neil.

How much market research was done for the unpopular cabinet design and swappable system?

How much time was lost developing a USP that simply wasn't needed?

What, and you think the guy isn't going to say "Uhhh... I'm not sure why that person would say that. It's simply not true."?

He could simply lie his way around (duck and dive) any question by simply blowing smoke.

Hello, can you ask Andy a question for me?
In March 2011 he took 7 machines from my house to bring to a show he was doing in Daventry Uk when he was living in Limerick Ireland.
At that time he was to sell 5 and bring remaining 2 and cash back after they were lent to his show for the few days.
My question is can I have my machines and cash now?
Machines were.STNNG,TZ,RED+TED,FG,WPT,IJ,CFTBL. I see is 1 still in Ireland.

I am linking a few fb chats we had but they were only a few of the 1000s on fb and skype we had

Regards A

andy heighway2 (resized).JPG

andy heighway (resized).JPG

Yup, a good lesson on what not to do would be listening to Nate's interview when he got JPop on Coast2Coast. Lost all respect for him and his show after that.

Stay in control and ask tough questions. There's lots of bonehead business decisions to focus on, and confronting him with those, would reveal what a failure he really was.

What salary did you pay yourself?

Why did you lease a large building when there was no demand to build Full Throttle in relevant numbers?

etc.

(edited)

Oh and could we get Neil Mcrae on the panel as he loves Andrew and lives near

+1
Definitively a good question to ask. Not sarcastic. Just facts.
Per month, and total.

Wow. That is stunning information to add to the pile. Makes one wonder what other things he's done we are unlikely to ever know about.
Very sorry to hear of your loss also.

I bet a good plaintiff's attorney would have lots of questions. Anyone know one?

Will you be starting a "How To Not" business school with JPop soon, and on a rational thought who and how will the handful of existing customers be supported with parts and issues.

You never went to a lawsuit?

Q1. How much did you sell your shares for to the investors when you sold out?
Q2. Can you prove this by publishing to us a copy of the "Share Sale and Purchase Agreement", or other documentary evidence?
Q3. What remuneration and benefits did you and your family receive from the company in each financial year it was operating?
Q4. Can you prove this by publishing to us copies of the company's management accounts and your personal tax returns for the relevant years?
Q5. If you say you are not willing or cannot publish any of the able, please explain why? Do you have something to hide? The company is now in liquidation, so you will not be breaching any enforceable agreements, so there is no good reason not to. It would help clear up the position.
Q6. Why did you leave the company and sell your remaining shares to the existing investors?
Q7. How much money in total did the investors put into the company up until the time you left?

Wow.

He moved to UK from Ireland and would have cost me more than I had to instigate proceedings over there and just gave up on the hobby.
Now that he is gone I am in a better position to restart as I really missed the hobby.
I went out on those machines and modded them to the last.but that left a sour taste and hurt me financially and mentally.
It has taken 7 years to get back to where I am now.

Dude - that is seriously messed up...

Since historically the words "British" and "Electrical System" haven't meshed well, why did you think you could make a pinball company of all things?

I’m sincerely sorry when I read a such story. However, i’m pretty sure (if the question will be asked) he won’t answer, and even if he will remember you. It is always the same with that kind of person.

This interview will just twist the knife further into the backs of those who lost money. You are kidding yourself if you think the Muppet will be forthright or honest about anything that happened. He will not self-incriminate himself. He will just use this as another opportunity to spread more lies, denie accusations, defend himself & deflect all blame.

PinballNews knows Andrew quite well & was already at the factory, with his inside reporting & game updates. I remember watching those videos from March 2017. What a bunch of bullshit watching them now. I got more honest “pinball news” from pinsider Rubberducks’ factory visit than this insider shill reporting. Those videos were 2 months before Andrew left. TWO MONTHS! You couldn’t see the train wreck behind the curtain? Please.

Sorry but I think it’s safe to assume this will not be a hard hitting interview. If it happens, take your blood pressure meds before reading.

Ask him why another interview. How does he think it would benefit others?

I'd also say to Pinball News, unless you set clear goals to accomplish something specific, then too what is the point, especially if that's isn't agreed to by both parties as an expected outcome.

Over and over again, we see in this hobby 'business' people try over and over to protect their credibility and claim as their company or project fails, that loss is its own reason and cause for shared impact. However, they never seem to let that line cross into personal culpability. Its certainly personal for those who spent money, but none of these pinball entrepreneurs have the honor or sense of morality that enables them to make personal sacrifices appropriate to make anyone whole beyond themselves.

Unless the guy's announcing an auction to sell his personal belongings to make things right, its probably not worth the time to interview.

Drawing a salary is one thing, but curious how big, was it just enough to cover his monthly expenses or was it more where he 'improved' his lifestyle that has been reported (e.g. what was your rent/mortgage when yo ustarted, what was it after your took in pre-order money).

How do you reconcile that with all of the reports of contractors and employees not being made?

Will you now admit that the photos published of games being built, with no parts or tool anywhere in site, were staged?

What about the video where you walked through the 'factory' and showed parts, but nothing more than beacons, light panels and unpopulated circuit boards, are you now willing to admit that you did not have anywhere near the necessary parts to create games in bulk?

Why did you think it was smart, as a start-up pinball company to try to do so much in house, vs buying from existing sources or farming things out and then bringing them in house after things were up and running? In hindsight, do you still think that was a the right way to go.

Are you willing to admit that the constant 'two weeks' were always bullshit, since you did not have the needed parts and/or approval to even remotely deliver on that?

I guess my real question is 'are you now willing to admit you were telling more lies than truths?', since the only other explanation is that he is was/is totally delusional and a sociopath.

Q: Does your attorney know you're sitting for this interview?

In all serious though, Martin you know your business and I'm sure the interview will go fine. Andrew is presumably looking to repeat the comments made in his recent Pinside post, deflecting all blame to the investors. I trust that you won't just provide Andrew with a platform to echo those statements unchallenged, but that instead you'll go in with a number of tough questions and planned follow-ups if his answers don't square with reality. Better to push him to justify and substantiate his statements and risk him refusing to answer (or terminating the interview) than to merely give him an open forum to say whatever he likes.

I got one, can you hookup Andrew to this machine before the interview starts?

Ohh nevermind, you probably won't hear sh#t because of the constant beeping of the lie detector.

“Mr. Heighway, Your Campaigns Seem To Have the Momentum of a Runaway Freight Train. Why Are You So Popular?”

What does that mean? Us Brits shouldn't attempt to make electrical items? Why is that exactly? Seems a rather strange thing to say.

It's a cargument joke. The electrical systems (Lucas) in British made cars don't have a good reputation.

I'm working on questions and it's funny that you ask as I'm actually ramping question production up as we speak.

Give me 2 weeks.

I disagree with the view that Andrew Heighway is not worth interviewing; he's maybe one of the most newsworthy people within pinball at the moment, and the demise of Heighway Pinball is a fascinating story. Yes, he may be dishonest and he may be delusional and he'll certainly be speaking from his perspective. Reporting the news involves getting as many perspectives as possible and asking fair (but tough) questions to try to get at the truth. News is the first draft of history, and if nothing else, HP's Alien debacle is pretty historic. We have to do a little thing called critical thinking when we read. Even if it causes a blood-pressure spike. I'd also love to hear from some of the distributors dealing w/ Heighway once all this stuff is over and they can be 100% open.

The documents / questions @b1gman brought up would be incredible if you could get them. If Heighway doesn't have them, I'd imagine a pissed employee or former employee might have access to many of these records.

I'd be interested to hear what he has to say about a couple of things.

What was the pinball game or experience that first got him into it? (you gotta lob one or two softballs)

In Andrew Heighway's understanding, where did it go wrong (in terms of finances, management, supply issues, sales, etc.)? What would he have done differently if he could start over?

What were some surprises and rude awakenings once the process of designing and manufacturing became a reality?

Did Alien preorders pay off debts accrued in the development and manufacture of Full Throttle? Or employee salaries? Or rent? Did the money disappear, or was the preorder price simply not enough to pay for the manufacture of the game?

When he sold Heighway to the investors, did he sincerely believe that Alien orders would be filled?

Would he have any advice for someone wanting to start a boutique pinball manufacturing company in today's market?

This. Stop worrying about "giving him a platform", even if he dodges every single question the interview is going to provide plenty of context. No one is going to stumble across it blindly and decide they can't wait to invest in his hydrofoil venture or something. His name is mud in pinball for eternity now, no one can doubt that.

I don't know that I can even stand to read his answers frankly, but I don't think we should be protesting him giving them. Let them join the record for this sad story.