Deeproot Pinball

"No one's in charge. Nobody. Not one person is in charge, but there's a board, a board of people"

deeproot's Utah studio was completely disorganized with no management structure

"I never look at that dang screen. And right, especially me being a new player who's like, I, you know, laser focused on that ball"

deeproot was paying for Pixar-quality animations that nobody would look at on pinball machines

"They just start kind of saying how disappointed they are that I would go behind their backs on showing Robert something that he would like"

Board members confronted Steven for going directly to Robert with booth design ideas

"I think we should get them all together. I think we should stack them all on top of each other. And I think we should have a pay per view bonfire in which we light all of them on fire and donate the money we would raise to all the real victims of deeproot Pinball"

deeproot whitewoods should all be burned in a pay-per-view bonfire with proceeds going to defrauded investors

"I mean, yes, I would think so. If anybody could actually get it something to work and then give some of that money back to the investors who lost their money, then I would say at least that would be something good coming of it."

deeproot Pinball should be abandoned completely rather than trying to salvage the IP

"We have 20 plus games, Jeff. You're killing it. We have 20 plus games that we're ready to pop out in the world."

deeproot Pinball has ambitious plans with 20+ games ready

"A lot of solving problems that weren't really problems. I think that was one of the mistakes."

deeproot Pinball was trying to solve problems that weren't really problems with features like auto-levelers and playfield rotisseries

"I think if you bought anything from deeproot, like any of these games, I think it was a stupid move. I don't think they're ever gonna get working again."

Buying deeproot auction items was stupid because games will never work

"That company was a joke. There was no manufacturing that was ever going to take place. They had no idea what they were doing"

deeproot/J-Pop was always a joke with no real manufacturing capability and people who knew should have spoken up

"I asked them straight up, do any of these pinball machines work? And the nice woman over there said to me, Chris, they don't work. My team over here tried to get them to work and they told me there is no software in these games. And these games do not play. They do not function. So this is not even like buying a magic girl. This thing is a brick."

deeproot auction items are non-functional bricks that will never work properly

"I do think that there is a little bit of a dark stain on the pinball community that we allowed J-Pop another chance. That we weren't more vocal. That we weren't more upfront in shutting this thing down from the very beginning."

deeproot collapse shows pinball community failed to shut down obvious scam

"deeproot pinball is done. deeproot studios is done. The good news is in Robert's head, he's going to be okay. Even though he stole money from 300 investors, even though he tanked a studio and a pinball operation, even though everyone who pre-ordered the Raza machines is going to get nothing."

deeproot Pinball is completely finished after Robert Mueller's all-hands meeting

"it is time for Steve Bowden John Norris and Barry Oursler to call it... it's over I don't understand how they're still holding on to hope"

deeproot is done - time for remaining team to call it

"The math will never add up. It's never going to work. So even without seeing behind the doors, even without seeing pictures of production, I can tell you right now, there is no way this company can ever become financially viable."

deeproot Pinball will never be financially viable

"there's absolutely no information that points you in a positive direction for this company there's nothing there is no pictures of manufacturing there's no production happening there is nothing that they have shown anybody that would make anyone feel good that this company will be successful... this company only has two outs and the two outs are this the games come out or they go out of business there is no in between"

deeproot Pinball shows no evidence of successful manufacturing and will either deliver games or go out of business

"deeproot pinball is not a pinball company... It's just comedy this entire thing is comedy... deeproot pinball is a comedy club. They're not a pinball company"

deeproot Pinball is not a real pinball company - they're a comedy club

"last on my list and least effective pinball company in the last few years deeproot pinball... what deeproot is turned into and what the threat is turned into and what the topic has turned into it's all just become a place to go to see good comedy because it's funny"

deeproot Pinball is the least effective pinball company, become a joke

"My theory this spring was that they're going to just give up and they're just trying to do it as gracefully as possible... that reminds me of, well, it was a Broadway play in the movie, The Producers."

deeproot Pinball likely to fail, comparing to con artist scheme

"Oh, so let me get this straight. Deep Reep Pinball can't get one game out the door. Spooky Pinball can get two on the same exact date Halloween and Ultra Man."

deeproot Pinball can't get one game out the door while Spooky releases two on the same date

"how funny would it be if Kaneda's pinball podcast actually sold more subscriptions than raza games were sold and guess what we are close people we have a hundred and twelve active donators on patreon 112 so if we get eleven more we will have sold more subscriptions to Kaneda's pinball podcast then deeproot has sold of raza games"

Kaneda's Pinball Podcast might sell more subscriptions than deeproot sold Raza games

"we're going to change the name of this company... Robert I need you to take a back step you can't be the spokesperson for this company anymore"

deeproot should change their company name and remove Robert Mueller as the face of the company

"I look at deeproot right now with one word and the word is irrelevant. It's not relevant to anybody right now. It's not relevant to me to you. It's only relevant to a 122 people who have money in this company and expect a product"

deeproot Pinball is completely irrelevant with only 122 Raza orders after years of development

"I have to assume that if they make these 122 raza's after five years of the money pumped into deeproot, they are gonna lose more money on every single raza they make than any pinball machine in the history of pinball. This is like the Pluto Nash of pinball"

Raza will be the biggest money-loser per unit in pinball history

"I think deeproot's new goal is to get people their games by pinball Expo And I know that sounds like so far away but it's really not So that's my prediction Is that these Raza's will actually make their way into people's homes By pinball Expo."

Prediction: deeproot's Raza games will actually make their way into people's homes by Pinball Expo.

"these games will be worth way more than the $9,000 people spent on them simply because they will be an instant collectible for the collectible community... people who collect pinball machines, they will chase after things just because they are rare."

deeproot Pinball games will become valuable collectibles despite quality concerns

"You're all starting to look like weird cultists people right now if this is still making you stay in. Then something is wrong up in your heads"

deeproot Pinball customers should get refunds immediately and anyone staying in at this point has something wrong with them

"it is absolutely comical that Haggis pinball has now lapped deeproot pinball. They're now on to game number two. They've successfully shipped game number one in a box. They're making deeproot look funny"

Haggis Pinball has lapped deeproot Pinball in execution

"They said we thank you again for your patience. We plan to update customers again by the end of March. Now it is April 1st. It is April Fools day or is deeproot making fools of everybody who pre-ordered this game back in December."

deeproot Pinball failed to provide promised update on Raza by end of March

"Those of you who are talking smack to Ben Heck in that deeproot thread, you should be ashamed of yourselves bowed down to Mr. Ben Heck"

Defending Ben Heck against critics in deeproot thread

"It was meant as an internal goal and external expectation, not a promise of delivery... So basically what deeproot saying to us right now is don't hold them accountable to what they say at all unless they use the word promise"

deeproot Pinball's communication about delays is spin and excuse-making rather than honest accountability

"You should figure all of this out. You should figure all of these issues out. Your vendors how to get the lighted side art to work properly, how to get the pin bars in house, how to do all these things, all of these things, certification, shouldn't you do all of this before you take orders."

deeproot Pinball took orders before having manufacturing ready

"I feel like deeproot could have been successful if they just put a working Raza in a standard cabinet with beautiful artwork"

deeproot didn't need the pinbar technology and could have been successful without it

"So if you go into the deeproot threads and rag on everybody who put a deposit down, why are you doing that? Like why are you obsessed, you deeproot hater right now for dragging these guys over the coal?"

Criticizes people attacking deeproot pre-order customers in forums

"I could very easily see and see it taking longer. Honestly, and if you're gonna make anything more than like 10 or 20 games you might as well making a thousand games"

deeproot manufacturing challenges and timeline skepticism

"Let me tell everybody this, there's no trade secret to how you build a pinball machine. There's not. You're screwing stuff into wood... That's all it is. And that's what people want to see, that you have all the parts in the boxes, that you have people who you hired to stand in front of that wood playfield and screw stuff into it. It's not a trade secret."

Manufacturing is not a trade secret - it's just screwing stuff into wood, and any legitimate company should show this

"If you want everybody to experience the deeproot difference and you want them to see all of the hard work that went into your project... There is no way anybody can experience the deeproot difference before the order banks for Raza close"

deeproot's order timing strategy doesn't make sense - closing order banks before anyone can experience the game

"the marketer me may say why not just keep your order banks open for longer like you don't need to limit your sales... so if I could recommend something over a deeper maybe extend that"

deeproot's limited order window strategy is strange and they should extend it

"DLC content right downloadable content will not work in Pinball you are not going to spend these kinds of prices for an unfinished product"

deeproot Pinball's DLC subscription model will not work in pinball

"I don't think they're going to get it done by March I really don't... how many missed deadlines do you get how many missed opportunities do you get to actually make a game"

Skeptical that deeproot can meet their March 2021 manufacturing deadline

"They're doing everything in reverse order you do these kinds of casual streams well after you've excited people... this is not how you launch a pinball machine"

deeproot Pinball completely botched the marketing launch of Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland by doing everything in reverse order

"I heard they saw zero manufacturing I heard there was absolutely no manufacturing that they saw they went into a room and it was basically like an empty manufacturing room"

deeproot Pinball manufacturing situation looks bad with no visible assembly line

"What a wake up call this was to deeproot Pinball. Steve Bowden woke up today and shared another page from the Razakomak book. Ironically in which Ned is saying drumroll please. I mean, think about how delusional their marketing is right now."

Mocking deeproot Pinball's marketing during GnR launch

"I don't want to hear anything from you ever again unless it's a working machine... stop with the PowerPoint slides about what your intentions are. Intentions mean nothing execution means everything."

deeproot Pinball should stop showing PowerPoint slides and only show working machines

"Pinball's a manufacturing industry. It's not a design industry. They're called deeproot Studios. They're not called deeproot Manufacturing, but Stern's a Pinball manufacturer, so is Jersey Jack, so is American Pinball."

deeproot Pinball failed reveal shows pinball is about manufacturing, not design

"If you have goonies, why don't you just make it first? Come out of the gate with a strong license theme. Right now we are living in the ultimate nostalgia period like nostalgia cells, pinball cells."

deeproot should focus on Goonies instead of original IP themes

"I have never seen a company just release a laundry list of what titles are working on. Every single pinball company on the planet does not tell you what their next title is. They don't want you to wait."

Releasing a roadmap of future games violates basic pinball marketing principles

"A pinball machine is absolutely one of the most approachable toys of all time. The reason I love pinball is the same reason I hate my smartphone."

Pinball machines are already perfectly approachable and don't need smartphone-like features

"Once you nail manufacturing, which is 95% of the hard work in pinball, once you figure out how to do that, everything else, then you can get to the fun stuff. Designing is the fun stuff, artwork is the fun stuff... I feel like deeproot did all the fun stuff, but they didn't do the hard stuff that leads to the fun stuff"

deeproot's delayed reveal shows manufacturing is the foundation of pinball success, not the 'fun stuff' like design and marketing

"the most important thing is they need to see this company's ability to manufacture that is by far that is like 80% maybe 90% of what's most important to see is their ability to manufacture games and get games in boxes"

deeproot's manufacturing capability is 80-90% of what matters most in their reveal

"smack talking stern pinball, the company that is shipped more pinball machines in the last hour than deeproot has shipped in five to seven years. Oh my god, we're going to read what Robert Mueller said on Facebook"

Criticizes deeproot Pinball's smack talk against Stern Pinball