Good. The dude abides

This is our concern dude. If the word placeholder would of been spoken anywhere I don't think we'd be talking too much about it. It wasn't, and the only hint towards completeness that was indicated was that 4 out of the 6 mode trees (the inserts along the bottom) were in the games out on the floor.

Anyways, I'm liking the discussion regardless

On the opposite.
If the've used that word, half the pinside mob would have gone nuts about still having placeholder modes while:

a) the game was delayed for so long and code still not finished?!
b) the game is now supposed to be shipping and code not finished?!

How can you finish codes without approval for clips and so on from Universal? You need to have that first so you can truely finalize your thoughts

Anyway, rest assure, it will become great and current rug modes are To be changed to

Code development is under full steam, stay tuned and be prepared to be amazed

Right, I'm just in the other half

This pin has plodded along for so long, I no longer give a $hi+

Yeah, I'd take a No New Sh*+ Newsletter at this point just to know they didn't forget my email. They were scheduled to have 20 production machines up by now. How can there be nothing to report?

Fingers crossed for tomorrow as Friday's seem to usually be the day. Toes are crossed that there is actually some meaningful information in the next one like some more details about the code progression. Ahem.. RUG MODES!

Today is probably not the best day to any company to officially communicate with their customers.

Except for Day One Pinball! Will they announce game 2 today?

This was the week for first customer shipments per TPF talk right? I'm guessing though they needed to needed to look at a couple things after TPF. I do hope things are close.

Got April Fools out of the way so next news should be what we've been waiting for.

So, as per the TPF seminar shouldn't the first couple of games have shipped now? And as per the factory tour email that was sent on the 3rd of Febraury , shouldn't the first 26 machines have been built by now?

I hope we're getting close, but I'm really feeling the lack of communication again - hoping for a NSNL this Friday, as it will have been eight weeks since the last.

Yep. So Hensbrooker should be showing up soon with unboxing. However, these statements were made before the games at TPF (and still during Ohio show) had some issues. As DP has said before, they are focusing on quality, not schedule.. So if something has to be reworked, I imagine it will be. Hopefully not a major issue like another board revision that costs a month.

But absolutely, lack of communication about it sucks.

I've always had Barry respond to an email and give me reassurances of progress. But, I hate bugging them too often as they are busy / crunch time. Easier to vent frustrations here, but if someone is really upset, prob best to contact them.

There's really no reason a NSNL needs to wait until Friday..

That's the thing - I'd much rather they take their time and produce a high quality machine. I honestly wouldn't mind if it was delayed another six months, although I'd obviously prefer that this wasn't the case. It's the lack of any type of communication that bothers me - we don't need a full NSNL, just a quick email re the current status!

I also don't want to hassle them at this point. It's just good to vent.

Think it was Koen or Barry who posted in the BoP 2.0 forum (their own) saying that a new BoP 2.0 update fixing several things and adding stuff would have to be delayed a week or so. It was intended to go out last week, but they were locked in the office working on TBL code instead.

I think it's more likely a case of when they want to release the first production machines from a code point of view, not HW revisions.

I expect they're hoping to have made enough progress with code in the next 1-2 weeks that the first games will then go out ... otherwise they'd have said the BoP 2.0 update would be delayed more.

Thanks for the heads up - I just checked the DP forum and in a post on the 30th of March Koen stated 'But this week we are in full TBL crunch mode with the creative team so it will be next week at the earliest.'

So that's something at least! I still can't wait to receive my game - since it was announced that Roger Sharpe had helped them resolve the issue with the clips from the movie my anticipation has returned - I just wish that the communication was as good now as it was prior to Phil's departure. At least it sounds like we're getting close now.

I need a pick me up today, my day at work is going to be non stop meetings. A NSNL to mull over on my phone would hit the spot.

The holdup is either because they are still waiting for some parts. Or (more likely) small fixes they need to tweak with the machine.

Definitely not the code causing the delay, but nice to hear that they are working on the code, of course

So, eight weeks since the last NSNL - anyone else hoping for one today?

Why don't you just email Barry or whomever is in charge and ask for a project update. Are games being built, or are they still modifying the hardware based on TPF. When does the first container go out, etc, etc.

Any company worth their salt will get back to you in 24 hours. There is simply NO excuse for non-communication.

I have emailed Barry previously - and while he does respond, the information isn't particularly useful, and the response feels generic. It's sad, but the most useful insights into how the project is progressing come from the newsletters, which used to be much more frequent.

The worst part is, if they'd maintained the level of communication from the first year of the project I would have pre-ordered their second machine without hesitating if it was a theme I like. It was exciting and made me feel involved with the development - which is exactly what was promised. Given how sporadic and frustrating it has become since Phil left the project, I can't see myself ever pre-ordering again. Lesson learnt I guess.

So engineering sample 5 is on location in the Netherlands....here's a screen shot of balls and games played on the machine.
I am sure we are close...but in the meantime, I take comfort in these numbers....

tbles5apr8_(resized).JPG

Hang in there. Pre-orders are tuff. I've got four right now, and it can be stressful. One day they will all be delivered , and life will be good. This is a dream theme for me, it's my favorite movie.

Delusion exemplified ^^^^^. Haven't you heard? JPOP and Kevin Kulek have thrown in the towel.

Maybe your right. But Dutch pinball appears to be a real company, as well as the others I have chosen to do business with. They seem to be on a much larger scale then jpop. My deposits to secure these games and help these company's is only 1/10 of the overall price. Where as any loss of money would suck, I only go with small deposits to try and protect myself, just in case life throws a curve ball. Until that kind of horrible news arrives, I'm going to stay positive and continue to dream about the day TBL is in my home. Thanks for the food for thought.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/report-of-dp-factory-visit-12th-feb-2016/page/5#post-3015648

for those who wanna brush up their Dutch language

Ouch, the numbers haven't changed since you posted 5 days ago. Wonder why?

Maybe "dispatcha says theres something wrong with dana coble?"

I hate crickets.

As an Early Achiever, I've grown accustomed to the sound.

Email from Barry earlier today suggests NSN being written now, for release tomorrow, with some welcome news. That's all I know and am hoping for the news we all want to hear - and I don't mean crickets

When will there be a "TBL post order" thread?

Crickets suck balls.

Maybe in Texas in which you either have very large crickets or ...!

I hope that you're right - could really use a NSNL today!

I have a good feeling about today... DP dudes please don't let us down!

I too had an email from Jaap after I emailed asking how ghings were going.

NSNL is in the next 24hrs or less

I get on a plane for around 9 hours at 1pm tomorrow - really hope it comes through before then, otherwise the flight will be torture!

NSNL just landed - Lebowski is now shipping!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-big-lebowski-now-shipping

Wow! First Hobbit, now this.

Close race between the two!!

Anyone in the first 40 doing the air drop?

Debating:

Pros:
- get it sooner; which is good.. I'm out of patience
- no middle man; I like cointaker just fine but still an extra stop

Cons:
- cost
- if the game showed up damaged to the point of having to refuse it.. I have no idea how that would work with international. I don't even know how it would work with cointaker, but in this case I might be able to get coin taker on the phone while the guy is still there
- every air drop delays getting to a full container; so as far as caring about my pre order brothers, it's a con.
- code maturity isn't looking great, so you get a game and still have to wait.

So with that, I'll likely do boat vs plane.

A slow boat is fine with me too.

Yeah - this is hardly a cheap game as is, and I've waited this long already (and some yet to come before mine is actually built) that the additional cost of air freight versus waiting a bit longer for sea freight just isn't worth the extra cost to me.

Besides, the software is going to be playing catch up so what's the rush at this point realistically?

Wasn't there mention at some time of Cointaker receiving the games and actually testing them or something of the sort prior to shipping? Or am I smoking too much? As much as I want that game tomorrow.................................

slow_(resized).jpeg

Yes, I recall that as well, but that was when there was a Dutch pinball USA (Phil). Cointaker I imagine will just relay them out.

The boxes have all the stress patches on them so you can tell if it was ham fisted at any point... Which will give us a hint on whether we need to open the box while the delivery guy is still standing there even if it looks ok. Stuff can still shake loose regardless (see also, any NIB unboxing thread).

Actually looking at it now, pretty sure you can't get the game out of the box without setting the tip indicators off? So unlikely cointaker is going to unpack just from that. Hopefully they would at least inspect those stickers though.. If they were set off during boat ride, maybe then it is work looking at

Heh, memories.....
I rolled my first VW Beetle in my younger days. I did repair it and drove it for two more years until it was stolen and stripped. To honor the rollover, I mounted one of those "Tip n Tell" detectors in the trunk, completely blue, showing that it "tipped". Atari used to put them on their sit down games. I got that one from a Pole Position.