I had a number with no money down ages ago before the cut off point and then DP said pay in full by this date or no game for you, so I said get stuffed dutchy!
The cut off point is long gone.
But was it passed to the left hand side? 
From experience it is not easy to keep a distributorship for such a small project running and supported when the games are made overseas by a small company. Supply to customers is not that hard, but you need the tech support behind the product and the spare parts to keep the warranty claims under control. With warranty support, as a distributor, you need to get paid for the work conducted. If the games are poor quality, or have no QA done at the factory, then the customers will blame the distributor.
Sounds like "mission impossible".
For a "start up" venture it is challenging. The biggest problem is that the will always be doubt with the viability of the manufacturer in the short term. Not many last, and the ones that have, have been bailed out by investors (Stern and JJP). So it is a huge risk. Not a risk for Stern, all others have the same issue. Given most boutique manufacturers want pre order $ and then bail - there's a huge financial risk becoming a distributor and then paying pre orders for a container.
For sure, but in saying that there are ways to minimise personal risk as a distributor to a new startup.
For example, doing due diligence prior to entering any type of business relationship with the manufacturer and asking the appropriate questions for yourself. What kind of other business arrangements did the manufacturer enter into, in say the last five years, how were they funded, who were they with and more importantly how did they turn out in terms of both product quality and delivery to the end consumer. Did they actually receive the goods they were originally promised or was it just an exercise in raising capital for a future venture using a less than scrupulous method (e.g. online crowdfunding).
Also as a distributor I would be leaning heavily towards non refundable deposits from my customer base before I handed over one single dollar of my own money to a new boutique manufacturer for a prepaid container of goods instead of relying on faith that customers will actually follow through. For starters, you don't know the actual demand for a new product and using the online community as a benchmark for demand would be business suicide.
There's no doubt that TBL is a very well presented game. Looking at the work behind the scenes, it appears to conduct business professionally. From experience, and I've already learnt the valuable lesson, you need any agreement in writing, so that both parties understand all the minute details.
The only distributorship APR / RTBB are interested in are established and secure business'. Asking for deposits up front creates issues for prospective distributors. Genuine business' fund the projects until the very end, so that the problem of the project failing, is an internal issue that will never affect the pre order customers. We are looking at a distributorship that will not even be announced to the public, until a prototype or early production machine is physically in the showroom.
I do think TBL will sell well overseas, but it is difficult to sell here based moreso on geography.
