# AMERICAN PINBALL GOES PUBLIC

**Source:** Pinball News Website  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2016-09-25  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballnews.com/site/2016/09/25/american-pinball-goes-public

---

## Analysis

American Pinball, a new boutique pinball manufacturer founded by Dhaval Vasani in Streamwood, Illinois, announced its public launch on September 25, 2016, with its first game Houdini: Master Mystery at G2E Las Vegas. The company was established partly to salvage John Popadiuk's failed Zidware projects (Magic Girl, RAZA, Alice in Wonderland), promising to deliver 25 near-complete Magic Girl machines to aggrieved buyers by end of 2016, though significant community backlash and skepticism persist due to Popadiuk's $1M+ track record of unfulfilled preorders.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] American Pinball is based in Streamwood, Illinois (west of Chicago) with a 15,000 square foot facility that began operations at the end of 2015. — _Direct article statement with confirmed location and timeline._
- [MEDIUM] Houdini: Master Mystery is a re-themed (and possibly cost-reduced) version of Popadiuk's Magic Girl game. — _Article states 'enough corroborating evidence to suggest this' but no explicit confirmation from American Pinball or Popadiuk._
- [HIGH] 25 near-complete Magic Girl machines were sitting in American Pinball's warehouse and would be delivered to Zidware litigants by end of 2016. — _American Pinball's official Facebook announcement quoted in article._
- [HIGH] Dhaval Vasani founded American Pinball and comes from the contract manufacturing business. — _Direct article statement with biographical confirmation._
- [HIGH] The Vasani family runs Aimtron (contract manufacturing) with PCB plant in China, surface-mount plant in India, and US headquarters in Streamwood. — _Article provides detailed corporate structure of related Vasani family company._
- [HIGH] Houdini: Master Mystery was expected to retail at around $6,995. — _Direct article statement about pricing._
- [MEDIUM] John Popadiuk's Zidware projects involved approximately $1M in buyer funds that remain unfulfilled. — _Inferred from community comments and article references to 'large sum of money' and litigation; specific $1M figure appears in Facebook comments quoted in article._

### Notable Quotes

> "Houdini's escapes, illusions and handcuff challenges are world renowned even today, and formulate the basis of our inventive new pinball machine. Our Houdini – Master Mystery pinball machine will bring the man back to life with supremely detailed hand-drawn game artwork, inventive ball tricks, brilliantly illuminated play surfaces and spirit devices."
> — **Dhaval Vasani, President of American Pinball**, September 26, 2016 announcement
> _Official vision statement for flagship product and company direction._

> "The greatest pinball magician: John Popadiuk! He makes people's money disappear!!!"
> — **Facebook commenter (Zidware buyer/sympathizer)**, September 2016
> _Illustrates severe community backlash and public distrust of Popadiuk collaboration._

> "JPop is an extremely skilled pinball professional. He is also a loving father & husband. We believe everyone deserves a 2nd chance and therefore we are supporting John to fulfill his prior commitments related to Magic Girl."
> — **American Pinball official statement**, September 2016
> _Company's direct defense of Popadiuk partnership and redemption narrative._

> "By the end of 2016, Magic Girl machines will be delivered to their rightful owners."
> — **American Pinball official announcement**, September 2016
> _Key public commitment to salvage Zidware project and resolve buyer litigation._

> "What was really needed was for someone to take charge of the projects and have enough control to see them through to production. Even then it was hard to see how this person would be able to get the games to their buyers without losing a large sum of money in the process."
> — **Article commentary (Pinball News analysis)**, September 2016
> _Sets context for American Pinball's challenge in salvaging Zidware projects profitably._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| American Pinball | company | New boutique pinball manufacturer founded by Dhaval Vasani, based in Streamwood, Illinois; announced September 2016 with first title Houdini: Master Mystery; mission to create limited edition American-made pinball machines. |
| Dhaval Vasani | person | Founder and President of American Pinball; comes from contract manufacturing background; family runs Aimtron contract manufacturing company. |
| John Popadiuk | person | Pinball designer behind Zidware's failed projects (Magic Girl, RAZA, Alice in Wonderland); partnered with American Pinball to fulfill prior commitments; subject of significant community backlash over $1M+ unfulfilled preorders. |
| Zidware | company | Failed boutique pinball company associated with John Popadiuk; had three major undelivered projects (Magic Girl, RAZA, Alice in Wonderland); facility in Streamwood, Illinois same estate as American Pinball. |
| Houdini: Master Mystery | game | American Pinball's first announced title, unveiled September 26, 2016 at G2E Las Vegas; themed around Harry Houdini the escape artist/magician; features LCD color screen, patented cabinet design; retail price ~$6,995; believed to be re-themed Magic Girl. |
| Magic Girl | game | Zidware project by John Popadiuk; 25 near-complete machines in American Pinball warehouse; promised delivery to original buyers by end of 2016; appears to have been re-themed as Houdini: Master Mystery. |
| Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (RAZA) | game | One of three failed Zidware projects with unfulfilled preorders; fate uncertain; article speculates American Pinball's second game may address RAZA buyers. |
| Alice in Wonderland | game | One of three failed Zidware projects with unfulfilled preorders; fate uncertain; article speculates American Pinball's third game may address Alice buyers. |
| Aimtron | company | Contract manufacturing company run by Vasani family; has PCB plant in China, surface-mount plant in India, US headquarters in Streamwood; provides manufacturing support to American Pinball. |
| Gigabyte Technology | company | Award-winning technology company providing motherboards/game controllers for Houdini: Master Mystery. |
| Global Gaming Expo (G2E) | event | Major industry trade show held in Las Vegas; American Pinball unveiled Houdini on September 26, 2016, on eve of G2E at Venetian hotel. |
| Streamwood, Illinois | location | Chicago-area location (west of Chicago) housing both American Pinball's 15,000 sq ft facility and Aimtron headquarters; same industrial estate as former Zidware studio. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Zidware project salvage and redemption narrative, Community backlash and buyer skepticism toward Popadiuk partnership, American Pinball company launch and first game announcement
- **Secondary:** Manufacturing capabilities and supply chain integration, Boutique pinball market dynamics and new manufacturer entry, Litigation and buyer compensation strategy
- **Mentioned:** Game re-theming and intellectual property transition

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Article is factually neutral but documents significant community negativity. American Pinball's launch is presented as potentially promising (manufacturing expertise, salvage commitment) but severely undercut by Popadiuk collaboration and community's deep distrust. Tone is cautious optimism tempered by 'steep uphill climb' warning.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Significant financial risk in American Pinball's salvage strategy: absorbing costs of Magic Girl delivery could result in 'losing a large sum of money in the process' even with Houdini standard edition sales. (confidence: medium) — Article commentary: 'Even then it was hard to see how this person would be able to get the games to their buyers without losing a large sum of money in the process.'
- **[business_signal]** American Pinball's launch represents new competitive entrant in boutique pinball market with contract manufacturing capabilities, vertical integration through Aimtron, and explicit mission to address boutique market demand. (confidence: high) — Dhaval Vasani founded company with 15,000 sq ft facility, contract manufacturing business background, and Aimtron integration for PCB/surface-mount production.
- **[community_signal]** Severe backlash within pinball community regarding American Pinball's partnership with John Popadiuk due to $1M+ unfulfilled Zidware preorders; community perception of scam or fraud. (confidence: high) — Multiple Facebook comments with accusations of theft, scam, misrepresentation; article notes 'less-than-flattering comments' not deleted by American Pinball.
- **[leak_detection]** Article reveals existence and location of 25 near-complete Magic Girl machines in American Pinball warehouse prior to official public announcement, suggesting information controlled and selectively released. (confidence: high) — Article states 'We have known for a couple of months how 25 near-complete Magic Girl games had been built and were sitting in the American Pinball warehouse' but withheld reporting to protect deal negotiations.
- **[market_signal]** Houdini: Master Mystery retail price of ~$6,995 positions American Pinball at lower price point than other boutique manufacturers (Stern, JJP), potentially targeting broader market or cost-reduction strategy. (confidence: medium) — Announced retail price of $6,995 compared to typical $7,000-$15,000+ range for boutique titles.
- **[community_signal]** John Popadiuk partnership with American Pinball represents attempt at industry redemption after Zidware failure; company framing as 'second chance' for both Popadiuk and buyer community. (confidence: high) — American Pinball official statement: 'JPop is an extremely skilled pinball professional... We believe everyone deserves a 2nd chance and therefore we are supporting John to fulfill his prior commitments.'
- **[product_strategy]** Magic Girl project experienced significant delays and near-total failure before American Pinball intervention; salvage operation suggests systemic project management issues at Zidware. (confidence: high) — Attempt to salvage Magic Girl in early 2015 'collapsed amid claims of misrepresentation about how much work still remained'; legal action initiated against Popadiuk/Zidware.
- **[business_signal]** American Pinball's pricing and production strategy appears designed to use Houdini standard edition profitability to subsidize Magic Girl delivery to original buyers at no additional cost (LE variant strategy). (confidence: medium) — Article states profits from standard Houdini edition could 'pay for the LEs to be made and delivered to the original purchasers at no further cost to them.'

---

## Transcript

Date: 25th September, 2016 A new pinball design and manufacturing company has announced its presence. American Pinball is based in Streamwood, Illinois to the west of Chicago. The company began work on their 15,000 square feet design and assembly facility at the end of last year and Pinball News has been following their progress since early this year. ![The American Pinball logo](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball4.jpg) The American Pinball logo The end of 2015 was not a happy time for many in the boutique pinball business, and especially everyone involved in Zidware’s Magic Girl, Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland and Alice in Wonderland projects. The attempt to salvage the Magic Girl game – the most developed of the three – earlier in the year had collapsed amid claims of misrepresentation about how much work still remained, and the pre-prototype game had been shipped back to Zidware’s facility. ![The Zidware studio](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball2.jpg) The Zidware studio ![Magic Girl games in the Zidware studio](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball1.jpg) Magic Girl games in the Zidware studio A legal action against Zidware, John Popadiuk and his wife on behalf of a group of buyers to recover their payments was working its way through the courts, with the very real prospect John would have to file for bankruptcy if the action was successful. John himself said publicly that the only way any of the games could be saved would be if a millionaire investor came along. Many said, however, that someone who was just an investor wouldn’t help the situation, and what was really needed was for someone to take charge of the projects and have enough control to see them through to production. Even then it was hard to see how this person would be able to get the games to their buyers without losing a large sum of money in the process. Enter American Pinball. American Pinball was set up by Dhaval Vasani to design and manufacture high-end pinball machines as well as other amusement games. Vasani comes from the contract manufacturing business, so American Pinball is expected to offer manufacturing of games for other companies in addition to their own designs. To, literally, get the ball rolling they needed some initial designs to build, and that’s where their collaboration with John Popadiuk began. The Zidware studio was in an estate of office and light-industrial units in Sangra Ct in Streamwood, Illinois. American Pinball’s facility is in the same estate, albeit in a much larger unit. That unit is still not large enough to support full machine manufacturing, so assemblies, cabinets and playfields are expected to be made off-site, with their design, assembly and testing taking place at Streamwood. If American Pinball is looking for places to make key components for their games, it shouldn’t have to look too far. The Vasani family runs the Aimtron contract manufacturing company which has a PCB making plant in China and an expanding surface-mount plant in India. It’s headquarters, though, are at it’s US manufacturing facility which is in… Streamwood, IL. Which brings us back to Magic Girl and the other Zidware titles, and the opprobrium associated with Popadiuk from his failure to deliver the purchased games. How could those buyers be appeased so that John, his future designs and American Pinball be free from the failure and the fallout from those previous projects? We have known for a couple of months how 25 near-complete Magic Girl games had been built and were sitting in the American Pinball warehouse. These, it was suggested to us, were to go to the litigants in the legal action, although on what terms they would be offered was not clear. Not all those who signed up to the action paid the same amount (some may have only part paid, while others had purchased two or three games in full), and not all had even purchased the Magic Girl title. We did not report this at the time in case it scuppered any potential deal to get machines to the buyers. It was initially thought production of these 25 games could only make financial sense if they were followed by a bigger run of Magic Girl machines for sale to the general public. In order to keep the exclusivity and the accompanying high price, the original 25 machines would need to be a Limited Edition or other exclusive variant, but profits from the standard edition could then pay for the LEs to be made and delivered to the original purchasers at no further cost to them. On Friday American Pinball made the joint announcement firstly of their existence, and also details of their first title, Houdini: Master Mystery, which will be unveiled ahead of the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas on Monday 26th September, 2016. The game is expected to retail at around $6,995. ![Houdini: Master Mystery](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball7.jpg) Houdini: Master Mystery | | | --- | | American-Pinball™ to Launch its First Pinball Machine at September 26th Chicago, IL – September 26, 2016 – American-Pinball, manufacturer of arcade games and amusements, is excited to announce the world-wide release of Houdini – Master Mystery™ pinball machine for the home, arcades, gaming centers and magic collectors. The unveiling will take place September 26th at the Venetian Las Vegas hotel on the eve of G2E, The Global Gaming Expo. Based in the mecca of the pinball universe just outside Chicago, Illinois, American Pinball features a team with decades of industry experience and is launching its first pinball machine under the name Houdini for several reasons. Known as a masterful magician and Harry Houdini is considered the greatest magician, conjurer and escape artist that there ever was. Captivating audiences worldwide with his legendary escapes and shows was his specialty, the Houdini™ pinball will carry on that magical tradition as a beautiful crafted pinball machine featuring a one-of-a-kind pinball theater experience with an LCD color screen and patented cabinet. “Houdini’s escapes, illusions and handcuff challenges are world renowned even today, and formulate the basis of our inventive new pinball machine,” said president of American-Pinball, Dhaval Vasani. “Our Houdini – Master Mystery pinball machine will bring the man back to life with supremely detailed hand-drawn game artwork, inventive ball tricks, brilliantly illuminated play surfaces and spirit devices while featuring all the classic pinball features like: action jet bumpers, multi level ball stages, sculpted magic toys, secret escapes and much more.” American-Pinball has also added a performance of new Houdini™ features to amaze players including: The Floating Ball, Water Torture Cell, Levitating Bumper, The Bullet Catch, Hindu Needle Trick, Spirit Box, Buried Alive Sarcophagus, Lock Chambers, Magic Beasts, The Séance, Milk Can Escape and Jennie the Vanishing Elephant! “Houdini – Master Mystery pinball transforms under the hood as well with the newest game motherboards created by award winning Gigabyte Technology to drive all of Houdini’s pinball effects, full color graphics, sounds, gameplay and music,” explained Vasani. | Although no mention is made of John Popadiuk’s name, there is enough corroborating evidence to suggest this is a re-themed (and possibly cost-reduced) version of his Magic Girl game. ![Part of the Houdini: Mastery Mystery](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball6.jpg) Part of the Houdini: Mastery Mystery Not unsurprisingly, the announcement of a new John Popadiuk game did not go down well with buyers of Magic Girl, Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland or Alice in Wonderland, or those who sympathise with their plight. To their credit, American Pinball has not deleted the less-than-flattering comments on their Facebook page ahead of the unveiling in Las Vegas. | | | --- | | Is JPOP going? Is he returning the $1M he stole from the pinball community? This is going to end badly. The greatest pinball magician: John Popadiuk! He makes people’s money disappear!!!! This is a joke, right? “And for the next magic trick, we are going to make the worst decision possible and use JPop as a designer.” Learn everything you need here: http://www.johnpopadiuk.com/ DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM!! See http://www.johnpopadiuk.com/ for details on how he scammed over $1,000,000 from other pinball collectors. I also suspect this ‘Houdini’ machine will bear striking resemblance to the failed ‘Magic Girl’. RUN AWAY!! If you want to become a serious Pinball Company, you should distance yourselves from JPOOP. Say you were scammed by him because he had a great line of BS. Fire him and give everyone he stole from a discount on the Houdini machine. Build some good will. John Popadiuk needs to immediately refund the 1 million dollars he took from a lot of honest hard working people. John left a trail of lies and broken promises he should be ashamed of himself and if American pinball is connected to John they should also be ashamed of themselves! | …and so on. Then American Pinball revealed the existence of the 25 Magic Girl machines through another Facebook posting. ![Magic Girl cabinets](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball8.jpg) Magic Girl cabinets ![Magic Girl cabinets](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball5.jpg) Magic Girl cabinets They also posted how “by the end of 2016, Magic Girl machines will be delivered to their rightful owners“. Here’s the American Pinball announcement in full. | | | --- | | There is a great deal of speculation in the industry as it relates to our relationship with John Popadiuk. To be clear, American-Pinball is a NEW pinball company and our mission is to create limited edition high-end American-made pinball machines, with our first one being “Houdini-Master Mystery”. With decades of experience in the industry, we can all agree that “JPop” is an extremely skilled pinball professional. He is also a loving father & husband. We believe everyone deserves a 2nd chance and therefore we are supporting John to fulfill his prior commitments related to Magic Girl. That said, we have some GREAT NEWS! These pictures are meant to show you what we’ve been up to, the progress that has gone on and the efforts that are underway. We American-Pinball empathize with the Zidware customers and therefore we are excited to share the following news with all of you. By the end of 2016, Magic Girl machines will be delivered to their rightful owners. We know you all have many questions about other efforts and will continue to update you as additional details are confirmed. | The announced intention to get the Magic Girl games to the remaining buyers may have placated some of the more vociferous critics, but big questions still remain concerning the fate of the Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland and Alice in Wonderland buyers. ![Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland cabinets at the Zidware studio](https://www.pinballnews.com/site/wp-content/uploads/news/american-pinball-goes-public/americanpinball3.jpg) Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland cabinets at the Zidware studio Will game two from American Pinball be a zombie-themed game, with special full-featured versions delivered to Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland buyers? Will game three have an Alice in Wonderland theme? For now we can only say that American Pinball has made a dramatic entrance onto the pinball scene. How the company handles the buyers of Zidware’s three undelivered titles and the suppliers who are still owed money will define the welcome they receive from the wider pinball community. The initial signs are promising, but there’s a steep uphill climb ahead before the stigma from the presumed failure of those three titles can be quashed.

_(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: bacdf9a3-bdb8-418c-9cb5-f6541f4b1588*