I agree with the WOZ comments and I have a very important target date to meet and that cannot be past 2015 - reasons will become obvious shortly.
I will ask for deposits on game one and a substantial discount will apply if paid before a certain date (same as WOZ).
I WILL NOT be asking for deposits for game two BEFORE game one is coming off the assembly line - I may well announce game two, but I won't take deposits for it before people have received game one.
Any kit would have the electronics fully assembled and tested including wiring harness and all mechanical assemblies built.
All holes would be factory drilled/machined and assembly would be nothing more than a screwdriver/spanners and probably some minor soldering.
My concept for the mains is ALL mains will be inside a metal box. It will be factory assembled and tested - much like a computer power supply but purpose built. Sockets or cables will come from this box with the lower secondary voltages. There would be NO reason for anybody to play inside this box except perhaps to change the line voltage or fault find after a power surge/lighting strike etc. Homepin pinball will be the safest pinball made in the world to date (this line is actually used in my advertising blurb to be posted here soon
).
A kit will very likely cost me as much, or even a little more, to supply BUT having a kit available is a key part of Homepin heritage. The assembly manual is likely to take a very long time to get together.
All points are subject to change of course but what I have written above is pretty well how I see things working.
Mike, some observations about the Woz journey
The payment plan was a good idea, spacing the payments over a year made Woz more accessible.
The wait. JJP customers were content up to the 18 moth mark, then they started to get agitated.
By the time 2 years arrived, many had lost their confidence in Jack. Many people were posting blunt messages about the progress of the game. This was not helped by Jack announcing his next game and expecting people to start paying for game #2 before Woz had shipped
About kit games;
As a non expert, I am happy to screw, bolt, glue, plug and clamp.
What I do not want to do is drill holes.
And thinking about it now, I am not sure I want to install mains voltage electrical stuff
I am surprised that there is that much savings to be had by offering a kit game
Just my 20c
