When will Barry's next update be?

Doubt he will announce bankruptcy.

I'm hesitant to even whisper optimism at this point, but investors or a company might take a second look after 40 machines just sold at 12.5K in a single day.

Especially since the R&D work is done at this point. It's a turnkey manufacturing play ready to go, for a company good with manufacturing.

I think those games sold so quickly is because most buyers are thinking this is there only chance to own this game. I hope this game does get picked up by legit investors and built but honestly
The more time that goes by the harder it will be.

I wonder if or when the license expired and how hard it would be to renew after all this?

License renewal isn't that hard. Sometimes, it is quite easy.

And many of those machines will be flipped in the $20K range giving potential investors even more food for thought. Also, I believe that Barry wants to make things right with the EA's and after losing in court, he probably wishes he had made that deal with ARA. If given a second chance with a new company or investor, he might not hold such a hard line in negotiating a deal.

I know a lot of people like to accuse Barry of bad intentions but my instincts tell me otherwise. I believe he's trying to save his company and salvage his reputation which is exactly what I'd be doing. The biggest unknown is, will he be successful. I hope so.

Barry will supposedly be doing an upcoming podcast interview with Jonathan Joosten (Pinball Magazine) & Martin Ayub (Pinball News).

The podcast release date is unknown at this point.

...let me guess ... in two weeks. Should reach a broad audience once it drops.

Spoiler alert:
"Sorry.
Now fuck off."

I feel bad for all that invested money in TBL pin . But very curious where the game’s end up

same here...but if you can get one from cointaker is there a reason to turn it down?

They are long gone.

I think there are probably hundreds+ more people still willing to pay $12.5k for a TBL pin. I'm one of them.

I think Barry will really want to make things right, have tbl in production, and have a future in designing and producing pinball. Will he succeed? I sure hope so, but I really wouldn't know.

Absolutely, but I think it is his pattern of little to no communication and transparency that is rightfully causing the ill-will towards him.

I will say it again:
The way the ARA hostage games were suddenly released and sold off by way of this thread was insulting to the EAs and in poor taste.

Lets see 40 games shipped and delivered to customers before we even consider what would happen next.
Just getting the 40 games out of the Netherlands without drama will be a great feat.
This is supposed to happen 1st week of August?

Anybody understand the process and timing? I don’t have a stake in this but can’t turn away. How will it end?

Key Timeline:

Perform open crate inspection - when and by whom?

Testing and approval of each game - when and by whom?

Transfer of x games to shipper - when?

Payment for x games - when and to whom?

Delivery of games?

They only sold for that because of the situation tho.

Just like how people went nuts for the repro BBB games after they missed out. TBL is the new BBB.

If TBL became available again I don’t think dudes would be lining up to drop $12k on them.

i wonder if all this could fall apart during the inspection.. what if ARA didn't store the games climate controlled for the last 3 years as they were pissed and just moved them to where was convient/didnt cost them even more money. so, its very good they are getting inspected.. but also we'll see i guess too

DP is inspecting them, right? And DP gets out of the ARA lawsuit by selling these machines, not by determining that they are unsalable.

No I wouldn’t turn it down.

Some will pay $12.5 (that’s already proven), but I doubt hundreds will.
Make it $12,499 and they’ll be knocking down the doors!

The market may not be there for $12,500, ad infinitum, but I am sure people will be slinging money as fast as they can, if they find a way to bring TBL back out for $9-10k

At $12,500 and it doesn’t get made again
The game down the road will be 20K
Personally I’d like to own one because I live n breath pinball and love the movie I
Wouldn’t buy any pinball to make money
Or hoping it goes up in value.

I’m guessing 40 pass inspection and maybe more?
41C169CD-DE79-4F6A-ADAC-C582BB06FB0E.gif

I’ve taken NIB games out of storage for 20 yrs or more and never a problem ?with the exception of battery issues
I doubt a company would hold $500,000
Dollars and let them get F-uped
Then they would get nothing ?

This is the kind of deal CoinTaker needs to do in person. They should be allowed to view, inspect and test each pin. And only then should the games be recrated, delivered to shipper and paid for. How else will CT or the buyer know what’s in the box and whether it works? That is a basic assumption you have when making a regular size purchase. But these guys are a little shady to deal with and you want an honest broker to ensure the international transaction goes down fairly. I’d never take the risk of buying one of this batch without it. Alternatively, once the bulk of these games were delivered without issue, I’d consider buying one of these nib’s without the inspection. Glad I don’t have this decision to make.

Worst case scenario, person was into TBL for $1k sends in the additional $11.5k and arriving game is 1) not 100% complete 2) not a real game 3) something else. If you have an honest broker who is allowed to inspect the merch and verify on their rep that all is good, only then would you get my money. Especially since payment must be electronic transfer and cannot be charged back like with a cc. The game already comes with no warranty, but now you want a compromised agent to verify things are okey-dokey?

Solution - CT should purchase,the entire lot of games and import them to US. Then inspect and test each one and ONLY THEN sell the games to their depositors. They would be taking on the risk of what could be in those boxes since they can’t be bothered to take a flight over to do the job where needed and before the sale. Then you would also have honest broker eyeballs on each game as it is accepted by shipper.

If you’ve seen an episode of the Black List or CSI Miami or watched a John Wick film you’ll know shit can and will go down here. There are still a lot of ins and outs and what have you’s to be worked out. If you’ve never paid attention to the plot of TBL, a simple tip is you don’t want to be that stranger in the alps.

The non EA price before the shit hit the fan was 10k from memory (included chrome armor and rug) + $500 shipping (the Euro was much stronger then so not sure how that effects) so best case if DP can Find someone else to build these games is 10.5k shipped.

And I think...I'm ok with that price, assuming it isn't cash up front The game is awesome, I'm just hoping against hope, that we see production again.

Loving your optimism. If wishes and fingers crossed and hope could build games, they would have. Turns out you need lots of money too.

I'm sure it'll be a hard hitting interview like when they interviewed Kulek...

The inspection is going to go like this. Opens box. Is there a pinball machine in there? Seals up box.

I am sure DP, ARA, CT have or will make it clear these are AS-IS, with no warranty implied or expressed.

This is a half a million dollar deal
Coin taker is a legit business, there not gonna crate up 40 Munster pros !!!
This isn’t there first BBQ

Anyone that wants to see this game be made again or loves pinball hopes that everything goes well .Having this go bad doesn’t benefit anyone. After going to court I’m guessing a court system is overlooking this with a fine tooth comb

Think about it ? You actually think he’s shooting from the hip with 500K

As someone who spoke with cointaker, none of you have any details about how this is working or what the insurances are to the people buying the games. It’s almost comical. I get you are all pissed but seriously, none of you have it right. It isn’t my place to tell you either so don’t bother asking me. Those that did get a game and spoke with CT about the finer points will know what I’m talking about and the steps CT is taking to protect customers. Y’all need to chill. Melissa is one of if not the best person in the pinball industry in my eyes and she always looks after others best interests.

Couldn’t have said it better !!!

Thank you

My understanding is that DP and ARA are planning to unbox them together, set up, and test each machine in a few days, before putting them back in the boxes and shipping them. ARA is a legitimate company in the Netherlands, not some scam in Nigeria...

Its not cointaker on the hook, its Barry. He needs this to happen in the worst way and I cant imagine he will be unboxing each game, play testing etc. Maybe and hopefully I am wrong. Id love to play one some day!

So you are saying there is a warranty, parts replacement and a full inspection before they ship, or after they hit the US? Doesnt seem like there is much in between what I said earlier, and that. Sorta all or nothing.

Do you know if the codes finished?

Oops ! This isn’t a Stern forum

I know some EA's that could argue against you on that one.

It certainly would have been an appropriate way forwards to at least give the EAs first dibs at the 40games... if DP does go bust then at least SOME EAs would have the game and possibly even have a game worth the $21k they ended up paying. The way things have turned out, however, is that people with no firm commitment have the chance to not only break even, but profit from the EAs losses... that doesn't seem right to me! Maybe doing it the way they have was just the simplest and quickest way forwards... if Barry is confident the EAs will eventually get their games at the price they paid, then this could be his thinking... but if DP do go bust, it would certainly suck as an EA to have not had the chance to buy the game.

Games stored in climate controlled environment- few games already opened and like new

Good news !!!

Sounds good... how do you know this by the way?

EA’s invested in a company with the promise of a game. They didn’t purchase a game directly. The investment proved to be a poor one and they got robbed by DP. These games being sold are owned by ARA and not DP. I don’t know how many times that needs to be said for EA’s to get it.

EA’s had the same shot as anyone else to get one of the 40. They had to call cointaker when the news broke and say. I have 12.5k for a game. I’ll take one.

Right. Which is precisely what people are complaining about. I get Cointaker starting by offering games to people whose deposits they were holding. But it should have been possible to offer any remaining games to the EAs first (at $12.5k with no credit for money they’d previously paid to DP, of course). Then if EAs didn’t want them, open to the general public.

Just out of curiosity, how would CT have done that? Just logistically speaking. Are they supposed to have some kind of list? Why would they? If you didn't order through them what would they know about it?

It's not like there were enough machines to satisfy all the EA people. No matter what a lot were going to be left in the cold with hurt feelings. I just don't see a winning move here. CT got offered this deal, apparently with almost no publicity they sold out practically instantly, and they're moving forward.

I get the desire to do something for the EA, but the fact is DP screwed all of them, and there's no magic band aid for it. Being mad at CT seems misplaced, be mad at DP.