Quoted from MrBally:Soybean playfields. Like Henry Ford.
We offer games in any color a customer wants as long as they want purple. - JPop
(Topic ID: 203700)
Linked Games
Alice in Wonderland
Zidware Pinball USA, 2013-
Celts
Haggis, 2021
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Magic Girl
Zidware Pinball USA, 2017
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Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland
Zidware Pinball USA, 2012
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Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (Arcade Edition)
Deeproot, 2020
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Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (Xtra Edition)
Deeproot, 2020
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Madison, WI
Fact: John had the Nemo pinball guy make a ripoff of PROC.
My conjecture: Gerry saw big pockets get behind this theft (DR) and took action in the hopes of revenge/recovery. Blobert countered with a GOTCHA patent with the PF LCDs that would fuck over most P3 games.
Like Bill said. John and Blobert. Peas In a pod.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:I'm starting to wonder if this Robert Mueller fellow might not be the great guy we all thought.
I heard he contacted Andy Heighway to have himself picked up with one of Andy's ferries to nowhere.
Quoted from benheck:Fact: John had the Nemo pinball guy make a ripoff of PROC.
My conjecture: Gerry saw big pockets get behind this theft (DR) and took action in the hopes of revenge/recovery. Blobert countered with a GOTCHA patent with the PF LCDs that would fuck over most P3 games.
Like Bill said. John and Blobert. Peas In a pod.
Gerry has his own patent on the screen.
But I guess the fight wouldnt be worth the court cost at the time.
Really John’s patent seems more like it would apply to the screen in a game like Stern Star Wars. If Robert was looking for a Hail Mary, it seems like he’d go after Stern’s pocket book. Maybe he did?
Quoted from benheck:Fact: John had the Nemo pinball guy make a ripoff of PROC.
My conjecture: Gerry saw big pockets get behind this theft (DR) and took action in the hopes of revenge/recovery. Blobert countered with a GOTCHA patent with the PF LCDs that would fuck over most P3 games.
Like Bill said. John and Blobert. Peas In a pod.
I thought I took more pictures under the playfield of the MG we had in the shop, but this was all I had on my phone.
E0141813-7129-4346-9EB3-7BA4028F342B (resized).jpeg
My favorite part about MG was how if you pressed the flipper button too quickly while a light show was happening the flipper hold coil would stay on. Rad.
Aaron
FAST Pinball
Quoted from Viggin900:The good thing is I'll be playing RAZA for free digitally on my VP pin
Masochist?
London
Quoted from MrBally:The zidwarepinball.com website is still up. It lists an email CONtact as well. I wonder if JPop is getting those emails?
As both Jpop and Zidware have declared bankruptcy, shouldn't the company and website now be dissolved?
Quoted from Pinballs:As both Jpop and Zidware have declared bankruptcy, shouldn't the company and website now be dissolved?
No. In the US, Bankruptcy is often used as a tool to restructure debt AKA get out of paying people everything owed, so businesses or individuals can continue on.
Quoted from Viggin900:The good thing is I'll be playing RAZA for free digitally on my VP pin in about 2 years. Long before anyone hopes to recieve the game.
The bad thing is it’s virtual pinball.
Quoted from pookycade:Correct. But you would agree just stuffing boards and flow soldering is not cost effective except at scale. And there are ALWAYS thru hole stuff you cant get around which is a PITA. The US house I use does the same for most major corporations including HP. Luckily my small runs get to piggy back on others high volumes to keep costs reasonable. Even when protoing boards it’s so easy to screw this up and then hours to figure out what component isn’t soldered down correctly or put in backwards that I just don’t bother anymore. And you know DR would have screwed it up and then blamed that for yet another delay.
Pinball is hard, Robert disagreed so he tried to make it harder. I wouldn't be surprised if John convinced him they didn't need pinball life, he could just 3d print all the star posts and redesign the flipper bat while he's at it.
Quoted from Palmer:The bad thing is it’s virtual pinball.
At least you’ll finally be able to make the ramp shot, the Ferris wheel animation has already been done in virtual Cyclone, and the retheming possibilities will be endless (and merciless)
I mean think of the possibilities, every time you ball bricks off whatever shot you try to make there is the Robert call out “What’s your problem, pinball is easy”
Quoted from toyotaboy:Pinball is hard, Robert disagreed so he tried to make it harder. I wouldn't be surprised if John convinced him they didn't need pinball life, he could just 3d print all the star posts and redesign the flipper bat while he's at it.
And it might have happened too. They had the 3D printer on site but couldn’t figure out where the on switch was. Robert sued them over that one too.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Legal Entertainment Round #1
(credit to Inside for acquiring these court records).
good lord, the sheer number of cases that have been discovered so far is stupefying. And the real "show" hasn't even started yet.
Quoted from TreyBo69:Gerry has his own patent on the screen.
But I guess the fight wouldnt be worth the court cost at the time.
Really John’s patent seems more like it would apply to the screen in a game like Stern Star Wars. If Robert was looking for a Hail Mary, it seems like he’d go after Stern’s pocket book. Maybe he did?
Few things most people don’t understand about patents:
1. In order to get a patent one usually has to be very specific in the base claim language about what is being patented and how it is being implemented. For instance “an pinball playfield display system comprising: 1) and lcd screen 2) wherein said lcd screen is positioned at an angle between x and y 3) further wherein said lcd screen is dimension no greater than a and b 4) wherein said pinball display system is configured to display …”.
2. In order to violate a patent you have to violate every single implementation clause in that base claim language.
3. You have to spend megabucks to defend against any infringement of said base claim. Stern could be a good target, given lots of dollars, but they would likely just try to invalidate the patent.
4. Patents serve mostly as shark repellent to allow your company to operate and less as a means of bludgeoning other companies to get licensing fees.
5. Patents also make investors happy that you have some actual collateral in your startup company to sell off in case it fails.
Quoted from TreyBo69:Speaking of dumb things… I don’t think it was mentioned yet but in Carys video the other day he said the technical issue that caused the machine to break during the deep six visit was while Robert was showing off the lift system, he ripped a HDMI cable apart because it was just a rats nest of the same colored wires hanging about.
Honestly it’s a wonder they even finished a prototype of RAZA.
I’m still curious about the boards in it. They gotta be a rip off of Multimorphic right? If you read the bottom of their color printed playfields, the switch PCB and coil PCBs are separate just like P3 (vs Fast, OPP, others). And Robert has been weirdly antagonist towards Gerry. Didn’t John rip him off in his Zidware days? (Well got someone else to rip it off because Starbucks)
I would say the electronic control system in a deeproot machine more closely resembles Stern than Multimorphic. But it is indeed unique. Building your own from scratch electronic control system for a pinball machine is not easy.
Source: I designed most of it.
Edit: I’ve been out of deeproot for quite a while now. We’ll have story time soon pinside I promise
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:We’ll have story time soon pinside I promise
Yay!!
Quoted from Palmer:The bad thing is it’s virtual pinball.
In 4K with nudge and animated backglass. Haven't heard anyone complain yet who plays in my league,they all left satisfied. I won't be surprised if you buy one in the next 5 years.
Quoted from Kkoss24:Don’t mess with yelobird .He’ll be back .Great dude and definitly not hiding from this .
Don’t worry. He’s been messed with enough.
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:I would say the electronic control system in a deeproot machine more closely resembles Stern than Multimorphic. But it is indeed unique. Building your own from scratch electronic control system for a pinball machine is not easy.
Source: I designed most of it.
Edit: I’ve been out of deeproot for quite a while now. We’ll have story time soon pinside I promise
Yay story time!
I hope the Robert memes kept spirits high while you all worked for a moron.
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:Edit: I’ve been out of deeproot for quite a while now. We’ll have story time soon pinside I promise
Great to hear and I very much look forward to reading all of it. Thanks in advance to you and any others that will come forward.
This is the most intriguing and entertaining thread on Pinside and probably of all time. The humor is great too and I appreciate all of its contributors.
This thread has got legs and some of you guys are blowing me away.
Wow…
There are a bunch of articles in various finance magazines pointing out the alleged fraud. I wonder if anyone could ghost write something up and send it to these magazines and article writers to better expose the pinball side of the alleged fraud? These almost all focus on the investment side of the alleged scam.
Some samples from this week:
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/08/20/sec-charges-san-antonio-advisor-in-58m-investment-scam/
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/san-antonio-advisor-defrauded-retirees-in-a--58m-scheme--sec-charged-63645.html
https://www.wealthmanagement.com/regulation-compliance/sec-charges-texas-advisor-defrauding-investors-retirees-58m
Some of these are very nicely written.
Quoted from Viggin900:In 4K with nudge and animated backglass. Haven't heard anyone complain yet who plays in my league,they all left satisfied. I won't be surprised if you buy one in the next 5 years.
They’re just being nice. I’d take that 5 year bet. If I want to play video games, I’ll fire up my Xbox.
Quoted from Palmer:They’re just being nice. I’d take that 5 year bet. If I want to play video games, I’ll fire up my Xbox.
Just played it last night. Tons of fun. Especially all the stuff in addition to pinball on it. It’s like any other virtual system. Some games are crummy, others are great. When there’s over 1,000 games on it, that’s okay that some aren’t great.
I guess it was a natural evolution that a 500 page thread about a fake pinball company would devolve into a discussion about fake pinball.
Quoted from Palmer:They’re just being nice. I’d take that 5 year bet. If I want to play video games, I’ll fire up my Xbox.
Virtual pinball 5 years ago.. sorta meh. 4k virtual pinball (has to be redone to take advantage of the higher resolution), beautiful. Watch this video and tell me that doesn't look good
Quoted from TreyBo69:Yay story time!
I hope the Robert memes kept spirits high while you all worked for a moron.
I can tell you a lot of the guys there kept up pretty closely to this thread over the years. You guys are seriously good detectives and have posted some very surprisingly accurate stuff over the years.
The other ex deeprooters will probably tell me to stay out of pinside but meh, Roberts got bigger issues right now. I will still be careful with what I post here. I never met scandell, and bless him for what he’s posted so far, but I would like to avoid C & Ds. The main reason I’ve been quiet is for the benefit of the few people I know still there but at this point that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
I will say it’s been incredibly difficult not to come here and give you guys real answers over the years. I even asked Robert if I could while I was still there and he basically said no. It was probably for the best after seeing what was really happening now. And for the most part, it was almost exactly as bad as pinside thought it was, if not more.
Quoted from toyotaboy:Virtual pinball 5 years ago.. sorta meh. 4k virtual pinball (has to be redone to take advantage of the higher resolution), beautiful. Watch this video and tell me that doesn't look good
It's still flat, and the ball still doesn't feel right. Doesn't matter how good it looks. Sorry not here to start a debate. Feel free to PM me if you want.
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:I can tell you a lot of the guys there kept up pretty closely to this thread over the years. You guys are seriously good detectives and have posted some very surprisingly accurate stuff over the years.
The other ex deeprooters will probably tell me to stay out of pinside but meh, Roberts got bigger issues right now. I will still be careful with what I post here. I never met scandell, and bless him for what he’s posted so far, but I would like to avoid C & Ds. The main reason I’ve been quiet is for the benefit of the few people I know still there but at this point that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
I will say it’s been incredibly difficult not to come here and give you guys real answers over the years. I even asked Robert if I could while I was still there and he basically said no. It was probably for the best after seeing what was really happening now. And for the most part, it was almost exactly as bad as pinside thought it was, if not more.
Sorry it was such a shit show.
You write about being quiet for the benefit of the few people still there. How many people are still there? Is anyone still getting paid? The furlough / layoff info is persistent and seems legit.
Quoted from Palmer:It's still flat, and the ball still doesn't feel right. Doesn't matter how good it looks. Sorry not here to start a debate. Feel free to PM me if you want.
It feels good enough to play the games and enjoy them. I’d never ever buy one, but I enjoyed playing it last night.
Quoted from toyotaboy:Virtual pinball 5 years ago.. sorta meh. 4k virtual pinball (has to be redone to take advantage of the higher resolution), beautiful. Watch this video and tell me that doesn't look good
What’s up at the end of the video? Virtual tables need mechs adjusted too?
Quoted from chuckwurt:It feels good enough to play the games and enjoy them. I’d never ever buy one, but I enjoyed playing it last night.
Quoted from chuckwurt:It feels good enough to play the games and enjoy them. I’d never ever buy one, but I enjoyed playing it last night.
cgc can remake totan and people would complain this virtual pin looks badass imho for what totans are fetching its good enough
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:I can tell you a lot of the guys there kept up pretty closely to this thread over the years. You guys are seriously good detectives and have posted some very surprisingly accurate stuff over the years.
The other ex deeprooters will probably tell me to stay out of pinside but meh, Roberts got bigger issues right now. I will still be careful with what I post here. I never met scandell, and bless him for what he’s posted so far, but I would like to avoid C & Ds. The main reason I’ve been quiet is for the benefit of the few people I know still there but at this point that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
I will say it’s been incredibly difficult not to come here and give you guys real answers over the years. I even asked Robert if I could while I was still there and he basically said no. It was probably for the best after seeing what was really happening now. And for the most part, it was almost exactly as bad as pinside thought it was, if not more.
Did you enjoy pinball before you got involved? How do you feel about it now?
There was always a lot of constructive criticism in the thread in between dank memes, drunk arguing, and internet sleuthing. Glad some of it made it back to you guys in one way or another even if Robert wouldn’t listen and it seems all for naught now.
Hope you all didn’t loose too much money in missed pay and can find new jobs soon.
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:And for the most part, it was almost exactly as bad as pinside thought it was, if not more.
Even if you are hesitant to state actual details, I appreciate you affirming that.
Copenhagen
Quoted from SantaEatsCheese:There are a bunch of articles in various finance magazines pointing out the alleged fraud.
I got notified today about the case by someone I know. This guy is in the finance sector, follow international news sites and stuff. But is not a pinball guy. I got a text from him "See this. I know you like pinball. Did you know?".
The story gets around. Amazing. Frightning. I wonder if this could do damage to pinball. Like, look at this shady coin-op. Used as laundering front. No wonder.
Quoted from IMI4tth3w:I can tell you a lot of the guys there kept up pretty closely to this thread over the years. You guys are seriously good detectives and have posted some very surprisingly accurate stuff over the years.
The other ex deeprooters will probably tell me to stay out of pinside but meh, Roberts got bigger issues right now. I will still be careful with what I post here. I never met scandell, and bless him for what he’s posted so far, but I would like to avoid C & Ds. The main reason I’ve been quiet is for the benefit of the few people I know still there but at this point that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
I will say it’s been incredibly difficult not to come here and give you guys real answers over the years. I even asked Robert if I could while I was still there and he basically said no. It was probably for the best after seeing what was really happening now. And for the most part, it was almost exactly as bad as pinside thought it was, if not more.
You can always ghost-write something, snail-mail it somewhere, and someone else can post it. So long as nothing is personally identifiable, it can't be proven where it came from.....lol
Quoted from Mr68:[quoted image]
Oh. I have stories about this fiasco-of-an-idea.
I literally laughed out loud when I read the thing that K posted today about the Raza catching fire when first turned on. In my mind, the actual powering on was conducted with great fanfare and excitement by all involved, and I can only imagine the ensuing panic and gnashing of teeth once the fire burst forth from the cabinet.... hahahaha
Quoted from TreyBo69:So what are the odds the RAZA they sent in for certification caught on fire during the testing?
Based off of what I have read in this thread... non zero.
Quoted from TreyBo69:So what are the odds the RAZA they sent in for certification caught on fire during the testing?
What are the odds they never sent a game for certification, and that story was all bullshit.
Quoted from Scandell:Oh. I have stories about this fiasco-of-a-idea.
You made it sound like it was already free wheeling do what you want, come and go as you please. I can't wait to hear what other sort of half baked projects were on the side.
We want to know about Farewell Dinosaur and Robot Dreams!
Quoted from benheck:He wanted to buy a pinball company and Pinball Life and then sue everyone who wasn't him. He called them "nuisance lawsuits", intending to "slow other companies down".
The guy is scum. Nobody said anything earlier because he threatens anyone who blinks with a lawsuit. It's why you won't hear much from employees until NDAs expire.
Enjoy prison asshole.
Robert buying Pinball Life would have hurt.
Was that an attempt at 'revenge' because Spooky and Gerry blew him off?
Quoted from TreyBo69:You made it sound like it was already free wheeling do what you want, come and go as you please. I can't wait to hear what other sort of half baked projects were on the side.
We want to know about Farewell Dinosaur and Robot Dreams!
Perhaps those were the inspired products of two deeproot days?
Is Blackface Barry really going around telling people "it's not over?"
That can't possibly be true can it?
Dude was a broke wash up on the street out of the industry for decades, one of the only pinball geezers that couldn't get himself hired by the 5 other functioning pinball companies. I was SHOCKED when people were using the fact that he was cashing Deep Root checks as some kind of evidence that his faith in the company somehow proved Deep Root was on the level; using that reasoning shows you how pathetically desperate people were to believe in this scam.
It's like saying "Shatner has agreed to be in the new Star Trek movie?! Well then you know it HAS TO BE GOOD!!!!"
Quoted from Haymaker:Goatseroot
[quoted image]
Juvenile, disgusting, and extremely lowbrow!!!!
(in other words LOL)
Quoted from Haymaker:Goatseroot
[quoted image]
Needs one of those big fake jewels in the middle...you know what I am talking about.
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