Yep. It's really a shame that so many of these pre-order "boutique" companies are being run by incompetent people. Even if they had the best of intentions, they have done more harm to the hobby than good.

I hate to be so blunt, but I call 'em like I see 'em. Inexperience may be a major reason why they are incompetent, but they are incompetent nonetheless. The facts speak for themselves. When you take so much money from the community, it's about more than just bringing the game to fruition. You are responsible for money management, timelines, communication, etc ... If someone doesn't have the necessary skill set to run every aspect of the company, then they need to bring people on board who can.

No doubt. Some people seem to get off on other's misfortunes. It's really pathetic.

I would agree with that. It's easy to point the fingers at Pinside, but the attitudes on the site are just a reflection of the frustration that people are feeling these days for many legitimate reasons. When people have large sums of money on the line with complete uncertainty about whether or not they will ever get anything to show for it, you can't blame them for becoming cynical.

Agreed. One of my all time favorites.

Yep. The announcement is coming in 3 ..... 2 ....... 1 ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

You forgot about option number four:

Kevin abandons the project, apologizes profusely, gives everyone a full refund, and eats all the losses.

I have no idea what Kevin does or doesn't have. I was merely providing an alternative to the three options mentioned above.

That's what I'd be pushing for if I was his lawyer.

Man, this has to be the fastest moving thread we've ever seen. It's a full time job trying to keep up with it.

It was also a very different time in the hobby three years ago. People had never seen a project implode like this before, so they were completely unprepared for something like this to happen. It was a small hobby, and there was a feeling of comradery among us. Pinball was exploding in popularity, and everyone wanted to be a part of the renaissance. Looking back, it was truly a time of innocence.

How in any way, shape or form could Fox or Kevin go after someone simply because they chose to enlighten the community about what was really going on. They were under no obligation to stay silent, even if Fox asked them to.

Sure, there were many possible outcomes at that point, but one fact was indisputable ... Kevin built his company on a lie. Once this lie was exposed, I would argue that everyone who was in on the game had a right to know. Don't keep that information a secret. Share it with the community and let the chips fall where they may.

Let me set the record straight. Pinside was not privy to any information beyond what was in the emails that were circulating from the anonymous group. These were the same emails that were apparently sent to many people in the community, and I'm guessing were forwarded to countless others. We chose not post these emails on Pinside for the same reason that nobody else posted them on Pinside. At the time, there was simply no way to know if the claims were legit. To make it even more confusing, none of the emails were sent directly to us. They were all forwarded to us second hand, making it even more difficult to discern if anything had been altered. We attempted to ascertain whether or not the information in the emails was factual, but we were unable to do so. The emails were written by an anonymous source, so it's not as if we could call them up on the phone and ask them to corroborate the story. Naturally, we reached out to Kevin, but he would not respond to any of our inquiries.

The bottom line is that we were just as much in the dark about this as everyone else. Even within our small group, there was disagreement about what was really going on. Since we could not verify the information, our hands were essentially tied. It is our practice not to officially endorse anything on Pinside that isn’t backed by evidence. This applies to everything, not just this situation. It should also be pointed out that most of the allegations made in the anonymous emails made their way on to Pinside anyway. We did not delete these posts or in any way attempt to control the flow of information. We just couldn’t officially take a position without all the facts.

No doubt. It's definitely more drama than one would have ever even thought possible in the pinball universe.

The whole situation was not as cut and dry as you make it seem. Like mettalik said, hindsight is 20-20. Kevin had gone radio silent, and nobody knew why. A lot of people, including some of the mods, assumed it was because he was in the process of negotiating a last minute license deal with Fox. We weren't about to post anything that could potentially cause a panic and kill the project without facts to back it up.

As I stated before, the information was already out there on the forum. We just didn't feel it was appropriate for Pinside to officially endorse it. While we were attempting to verify the information in the anonymous emails, Kevin said that a big announcement was coming in two weeks. Upon hearing this, it solidified the fact that there was nothing to be gained by Pinside chiming in at that time. The reality is that two weeks wouldn't have made a difference. It's not like we sat on pertinent information for months.

If it was a scam to steal money from the start, then it was one of the worst executed scams I've ever heard of.

By "worst" scam, I didn't mean the largest in scope. I meant the most poorly executed.

How do we know he didn't? For all I know, he's sitting on an island somewhere right now sipping a piña colada from a coconut? Has anybody actually seen Kevin in person recently?

Do you guys honestly think Martin just took AG's word for it and ran with the story? I find that highly unlikely. He doesn't strike me as the kind of journalist would would risk his reputation by publishing a story without first verifying the facts.

Pinballhead.com was another news outlet, but it looks like the site hasn't been updated in a very long time:

http://pinballhead.com/

Why can't they bring a suit against him? He collected a shitload of money using their IP. Or are you just saying that the suit wouldn't be a "criminal" suit?

You should just forward that money right over to JPop. Now that the Predator refunds are starting to hit, Alice in Wonderland slots are filling up fast ...

I wouldn't think Fox cares at all about the pre-order victims. All they care about is protecting their IP. Period.