I loved the Ringer in the VIP lounge. Biggest thing you could do to improve it for next year IMO is to add a water cooler and/or coffee machine. Water fountains are crazy scarce in the convention center, and lines are long at the stands if they even are open (they all closed long before the show did on Saturday night).
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Raising the ticket prices / selling some at a premium isn't to "keep people out," it's to help pay the bills. None of us are privy to the financials but it's incredibly expensive to put on an event like this, and of course you have people like me clamoring for more money to be spent on production. I personally think that spending more on the production and adding significant pizazz to the pinball side of the event would do more to "draw people to pinball" than keeping prices low.
Others want to see higher prize pools for all divisions. Others want some of the jankier EMs replaced with good ones, or more games added so the number of participants can rise even higher.
All of this stuff takes money, so they'd be wise to consider all options.
If raising the prices is needed to make the event better I'm fine with that. But it sounded to me like some people were wanting the prices raised to make tickets more available (i.e. price out some people so they are more likely to get a ticket). I would just like to keep it a little more affordable to people. If you're auctioning off tickets or doubling the price I'm sure it will start pricing people out.
Quoted from DRDAVE:I heard a few complain about the tilt on Hot Tip over on FB. Do the techs replace the 40+ year old cap across that switch with new?
An old cap across the tilt mech could cause random tilts. Every old school SS game should have it's tilt cap replaced with new to alleviate this known issue.
Eric Stone and Ray Davidson got hosed big time because of this. People witnessed what happened to them was no fault of these players.
The judge who didn't see it happen, just called it a regular tilt instead of a malfunction and hosed these 2 players at the very least when it counted most in qualifying and game selection for the victims of this game malfunction.
There's no reason to accuse me of this, Dave. When I checked the tilt bob after Eric's tilt, it was still swinging. [Raymond did not even play Hot Tip. And it was an EM machine, not a SS.] No other players suffered from what you perceive to be a very specific malfunction that happened to your friend. Your version of "a few" is one person.
We're plenty aware of how to maintain these machines, and I am 100% confident that the right call was made. Would you mind including links or screenshots for the other players discussing the tilt on Hot Tip on Facebook?
Quoted from westofrome:Water fountains are crazy scarce in the convention center
Protip: There are water coolers on the third floor.
Quoted from DRDAVE:I heard a few complain about the tilt on Hot Tip over on FB. Do the techs replace the 40+ year old cap across that switch with new?
An old cap across the tilt mech could cause random tilts. Every old school SS game should have it's tilt cap replaced with new to alleviate this known issue.
Eric Stone and Ray Davidson got hosed big time because of this.
A LOT Of things can cause a "random tilt," up to and including actually tilting the game. One Facebook vent thread is pretty slim evidence to declare that Pinburgh games are tilting due to the oddly specific issue of a defective cap.
Also EM games don't have this issue, and I'm pretty sure Williams SS games don't either. That's a Bally thing. Also a defective cap is gonna cause random switch closures all the time, not just when two people are playing the game.
I love your "friend," he's a great player and a distinct personality. But he's also an incredibly aggressive player, and he also hates losing more than anybody hates anything on the face of the planet. It may have colored his recollections of this particular tilt.
Quoted from desertT1:I saw a player that had a yellow lanyard and the Pinburgh badge was different. Was this a VIP badge?
Yes. I had mine in my pocket most of the time, and would only bring it out to get into the VIP area. The area was a nice perk, but I only did VIP to get me an extra shot at buying a ticket.
Quoted from ryanwanger:Yes. I had mine in my pocket most of the time, and would only bring it out to get into the VIP area. The area was a nice perk, but I only did VIP to get me an extra shot at buying a ticket.
Generally the elite wisely kept these passes out of view, lest they incite an uprising from the peasants!!!
At one point I was rattling the gates of VIP, threatening the frightened bourgeois inside with a coming revolution, before being promptly removed by their massive gatekeeper.
YOU CAN'T KEEP US OUT FOREVER!
Quoted from ryanwanger:Yes. I had mine in my pocket most of the time, and would only bring it out to get into the VIP area. The area was a nice perk, but I only did VIP to get me an extra shot at buying a ticket.
Got it. I didn't notice it until in pictures after the fact. 50 gone in an instant, had to go somewhere. I forgot about them, or I would have gotten up earlier (on vacation in Pacific time, so up for 8:30?) and given it a shot.
Click faster Levi.
Not sure if anyone got a pic, but for a time the Sharpe brothers were hanging out, separated by that wall. People on both sides were entertained.
I thought it was going to be too weird sitting in there, but it was off to the side and there wasn't really any foot traffic nearby...so I didn't feel like the 1%.
Quoted from ryanwanger:Not sure if anyone got a pic, but for a time the Sharpe brothers were hanging out, separated by that wall. People on both sides were entertained.
I thought it was going to be too weird sitting in there, but it was off to the side and there wasn't really any foot traffic nearby...so I didn't feel like the 1%.
until you won the intergalactic!
then you tell all the peasants to bow in your glory!!!! 
How did you get the trophy home?
and lets see it all lit up!
Quoted from ryanwanger:Not sure if anyone got a pic, but for a time the Sharpe brothers were hanging out, separated by that wall. People on both sides were entertained.
I got you!
78097B78-F8E4-4F46-99EF-CE637EB7BD20 (resized).jpegA0E6DCE7-DB92-4B70-A2DF-0B23C3BDEA98 (resized).jpegQuoted from djreddog:Quick question/observation on the start of new rounds. Was this being announced over the speakers? Each time a new round “officially” started did they announce it? I don’t recall hearing anything but instead, everyone at the tables were constantly refreshing their phones waiting for the next round to be published.
Some kind of push notification system would have been nice, like the options that MatchPlay gives you (slack, text, etc.).
Quoted from Whysnow:until you won the intergalactic!
then you tell all the peasants to bow in your glory!!!!
How did you get the trophy home?
and lets see it all lit up!
That puts me in the 0.17%, but who's counting?!?
I asked if they could hang onto it and ship it to me later, and the answer was something like: "we've done it enough for Keith, so I'm sure we can figure something out".
At least it's good to know there is room for my reputation to grow.
Quoted from calsheimer:Some kind of push notification system would have been nice, like the options that MatchPlay gives you (slack, text, etc.).
They have start times, and don't start rounds before that. If you look on the main page while a round is still ongoing, it said "X of 250 matches completed". If a round went beyond the next round's start time they started the round right after that round was recorded.
Pro tip: If you don't want to keep refreshing on your phone, watch the crowd. When everyone gets up, it's time to refresh your phone.
Quoted from desertT1:They have start times, and don't start rounds before that. If you look on the main page while a round is still ongoing, it said "X of 250 matches completed". If a round went beyond the next round's start time they started the round right after that round was recorded.
Pro tip: If you don't want to keep refreshing on your phone, watch the crowd. When everyone gets up, it's time to refresh your phone.
Some rounds did seem to be running behind occasionally, so wasn't always sure how much time I had.
I did like the mass of people headed to the banks when rounds started though. Great visual!
Quoted from Rondogg:I shouldn't have to kick around to find out when events were going to be streamed.
We will keep this in mind for next year. In the meantime if you subscribe to our twitch and Youtube channels you can get notifications whenever we go live.
Quoted from NeilMcRae:But I would suggest getting a list of folks and properly auditioning them and training/scripting them and training and testing them on the games on the stage (which one would suppose are known well before the show?) so they knew all the games (both this year and last year at the WIPT esp this had room for improvement)
Contact me at [email protected]. We can always use the help and any advice.
I have a list of games I'd 'like' to use ahead of time, but how they hold up during Thursday and Friday REALLY determines what games were on the stage, in all finals banks, and used for WIPT. We have a tech app where we can log all rulings, stuck balls, malfunctions... etc to be able to track machine reliability. I do not give this list out, as most people who would be doing commentary are also potential announcers.
Quoted from Whysnow:I honestly think you could charge 2x as much for the pinburgh ticket so long as the extra goes to improvements and NOT just more prize money for KME. (I mean the event is great, but I would rather see you guys just leave the already huge prize funds where they are and spend any extra on things to make the experience even better for the masses)
This year, the extra cash we generated went towards more games, parts to fix the games, and more techs mostly. The adding and prepping for 1k players was a strain.
Quoted from calsheimer:Some rounds did seem to be running behind occasionally, so wasn't always sure how much time I had.
I did like the mass of people headed to the banks when rounds started though. Great visual!
I'd be curious to know if there was a pattern of banks running that long. Last year there was a World Poker Tour that still had post rubber in it and that was fixed later on.
I actually went to the window area and rested for 45 minutes after one of my rounds. Was really nice. I can't imagine being in a group that went the full time more than once.
Quoted from kguenther6:I would like to go to a couple big pinball events a year but this is expensive.
We are very aware of the costs involved when setting ticket prices or charging for anything. That said, Pinburgh is the most expensive tournament to run, ever.
Quoted from DRDAVE:An old cap across the tilt mech could cause random tilts. Every old school SS game should have it's tilt cap replaced with new to alleviate this known issue.
Our Hot Tip is an EM machine and not the SS version.
When called over for a 'phantom' tilt, The TDs investigate as much as they can in the live game and then maybe even play a few balls when the game is over. If no issue is detected, it’s play on.
I specifically had a player report a phantom tilt this year, watched all the way through to his next turn and then watched him shake the game repeatedly until it tilted again. He then turned towards me and said ‘I barley touched it’, when in fact that was not the case at all.
You also can’t rely 100% on other players opinions of a tilt because some may feel social pressure to say ‘yeah, man you got robbed’ because they don’t want to be the bad guy.
I'm not saying tilts are 100% perfect, but I know that every time I was called to a game because of that issue this weekend, the bob was still swinging when I got there minutes after it happened.
Quoted from ninjadoug:Our Hot Tip is an EM machine and not the SS version.
WHY DON'T YOU PUT NEW CAPS ON YOUR EM TILT SWITCHES?!?!?!
It's a known issue by god!
Quoted from ninjadoug:You also can’t rely 100% on other players opinions of a tilt because some may feel social pressure to say ‘yeah, man you got robbed’ because they don’t want to be the bad guy.
.
100 percent of the time when someone turns to me and says "I didn't even touch it!" I nod in agreement and say "yeah that blows." What else am I supposed to say?
Quoted from Tilt:sure that some of the top players in the world have a back door to tickets before they are released to common folk.
Nope. There are a few tickets set aside for people who help the event but none set aside because someone is a top player.
Quoted from Tilt:Can you picture Trent sponsoring the already planned VIP room, and not get a ticket to the tourney?
Trent wasn't even a sponsor to the VIP area until the Wednesday before the event.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Raising the ticket prices / selling some at a premium isn't to "keep people out," it's to help pay the bills. None of us are privy to the financials but it's incredibly expensive to put on an event like this, and of course you have people like me clamoring for more money to be spent on production. I personally think that spending more on the production and adding significant pizazz to the pinball side of the event would do more to "draw people to pinball" than keeping prices low.
^ This.
Quoted from epthegeek:Wacky thought: Make the VIP sit-down-lounge a fenced in area out in the hallway accessible by the front section doors, so that it'd be quieter. Not sure the facility would allow that though, and you'd have to police another door (shrug).
Not so wacky!
Quoted from westofrome:water cooler and/or coffee machine.
Right now this is a no-go due to convention center rules.
Quoted from desertT1:I'd be curious to know if there was a pattern of banks running that long. Last year there was a World Poker Tour that still had post rubber in it and that was fixed later on.
I actually went to the window area and rested for 45 minutes after one of my rounds. Was really nice. I can't imagine being in a group that went the full time more than once.
TONS of play testing is done to get the bank timings down right. We only adjusted one bank all weekend.
Quoted from ninjadoug:TONS of play testing is done to get the bank timings down right. We only adjusted one bank all weekend.
Just wanted to say thank you, it takes a lot, and even more to come here and answer/reply to everyone, kudos Doug
Quoted from ninjadoug:TONS of play testing is done to get the bank timings down right. We only adjusted one bank all weekend.
I'm not saying anyone is at fault for long rounds this year. I was just pointing out a funny story from last year. I'm just curious if the same bank(s) were running long more than one round. I know that there are time sessions through the year to try to get everything balanced, and I imagine there are a lot of new bank combinations this year. I think all of that work showed and the event was great.
Quoted from ninjadoug:Nope. There are a few tickets set aside for people who help the event but none set aside because someone is a top player.
I was wondering about how this worked and think there should be more transparency about this. Before I go any further, I want to let you know that I have never played in any tournaments before and currently have no stake in this at all.
I believe that the top players should definitely receive an automatic entry in the tournament. I find it crazy that it is possible the defending champ Keith Elwin wouldn't be able to play next year because he didn't refresh his browser quick enough to get tickets.
For example, I think almost everybody would be happy with a system where the top 40 players in the A division automatically qualify to purchase tickets for the following year.
I am assuming players like the Sharpe brothers, Keith Elwin, etc. might fall under the "helping the event" category, but obviously am not privy to this type of information, which I have no problem with. The top players and influential pinball people have done more than I will ever be able to do for the pinball community.
My wife and I had a great time and am thankful for all the work done by the organizers of this event.
Quoted from Sleepy:I was wondering about how this worked and think there should be more transparency about this. Before I go any further, I want to let you know that I have never played in any tournaments before and currently have no stake in this at all.
I believe that the top players should definitely receive an automatic entry in the tournament. I find it crazy that it is possible the defending champ Keith Elwin wouldn't be able to play next year because he didn't refresh his browser quick enough to get tickets.
For example, I think almost everybody would be happy with a system where the top 40 players in the A division automatically qualify to purchase tickets for the following year.
I am assuming players like the Sharpe brothers, Keith Elwin, etc. might fall under the "helping the event" category, but obviously am not privy to this type of information, which I have no problem with. The top players and influential pinball people have done more than I will ever be able to do for the pinball community.
My wife and I had a great time and am thankful for all the work done by the organizers of this event.
At the very least the top 8 A finalists and the top four finalists in the other divisions should be guaranteed the right to get a ticket to the following years tournament.
Quoted from desertT1:I'm not saying anyone is at fault for long rounds this year.
We started late due to a registration snafu. I think after we got that delay worked out all the rounds started on time.
Quoted from Sleepy:For example, I think almost everybody would be happy with a system where the top 40 players in the A division automatically qualify to purchase tickets for the following year.
I would not be happy with that system.
Quoted from Sleepy:I am assuming players like the Sharpe brothers, Keith Elwin, etc. might fall under the "helping the event" category, but obviously am not privy to this type of information, which I have no problem with. The top players and influential pinball people have done more than I will ever be able to do for the pinball community.
I personally have never given a ticket to anyone for being an 'influencer'. A player lent us 30+ games this year to use... that got them a ticket because without that, there wouldn't have been 1k players. Folks that help tremendously all year long with Replay can qualify as well. You must actually PHYSICALLY help the event to a tremendous degree, not just be a pinball ambassador or volunteer for the weekend. I think we gave out 5 tickets this way for the 2019 field.
Quoted from desertT1:I imagine there are a lot of new bank combinations this year.
All of the banks were new this year.
For the most part the banks that ran longer this year were ones that had mechanical issues.
Quoted from SAFBrian:I got you![quoted image][quoted image]
I walked over and said, “(pointed at Zach) so you got a vip ticket, (pointed at Josh) and you were too cheap to buy a VIP ticket?”
Josh says “Yea ok, I had 800 computers trying to get me a VIP ticket.”
Quoted from NIQ:I walked over and said, “(pointed at Zach) so you got a vip ticket, (pointed at Josh) and you were too cheap to buy a VIP ticket?”
Josh says “Yea ok, I had 800 computers trying to get me a VIP ticket.”
Does the 800 computers thing really work? Aren't you in effect competing against yourself?
Quoted from ninjadoug:All of the banks were new this year.
For the most part the banks that ran longer this year were ones that had mechanical issues.
i gotta say, banks were really good this year!
Everyone I looked at had something good, something i did not want to play, something interesting, etc...
I heard lots of the same from others.
I did laugh at the Big Hurt bank that was called the big turd bank. I dont remember all the games but remember everyone that got it groaned, lol.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Does the 800 computers thing really work?
I assume Josh was joking, but yeah, the math works out. Let's say there are a thousand people trying to buy VIP tickets. Would you rather be 1 of 1,000 or 800 of 1,800?
Quoted from ninjadoug:All of the banks were new this year.
For the most part the banks that ran longer this year were ones that had mechanical issues.
Player 4, ball 3, game sh!ts the bed. Ah! Off to the backups to basically play a 5th full game. With as many groups/rounds played I can certainly see that being the case. Not much you can do at that point. You all have always been very fast to assign backups and keep things rolling. Many kudos to you and the crew.
Quoted from bladerunner:Doug, are you going to upload pics of the event somewhere? Ty
I don't have any pictures, I've seen some on facebook and our photographers will be posting some at replayfx.org, just not sure when.
Quoted from Whysnow:I did laugh at the Big Hurt bank that was called the big turd bank. I dont remember all the games but remember everyone that got it groaned, lol.
That would've been: Big Hurt, Zig Zag, City Slicker, and Buck Rogers!
We heard nothing but great things about the event coming from patrons and visitors at helicon. One complaint amongst the entire tournament field of 1000 participants is an absolute victory. Now someone has to figure out how to beat Keith. Maybe take some of the money and put a bounty on him. Haha
Quoted from Sleepy:I was wondering about how this worked and think there should be more transparency about this. Before I go any further, I want to let you know that I have never played in any tournaments before and currently have no stake in this at all.
I believe that the top players should definitely receive an automatic entry in the tournament. I find it crazy that it is possible the defending champ Keith Elwin wouldn't be able to play next year because he didn't refresh his browser quick enough to get tickets.
So you are promoting there should be a change in the format... not that 'there should be more transparency about this'.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Does the 800 computers thing really work? Aren't you in effect competing against yourself?
Not if there are 2000 other computers that aren't yours to start with... You're going from a 1:2000 shot, to a 2:7 shot (800:2800)
I would like to see earplugs installed on all the Pinburgh machines to limit the time of delay when someone tilts and to have the reassurance that the tilt bulb has indeed stopped before play. By installing the earplugs this considerably reduces the stop time of the tilt bulb and find that it makes the tilts more consistent player to player. The Replay Group did another tremendous job kudos to all those involved I hope to back next year if I can press that button fast enough to get registered. Thanks for all you do!!!!
Quoted from pins4life33:I would like to see earplugs installed on all the Pinburgh machines to limit the time of delay when someone tilts and to have the reassurance that the tilt bulb has indeed stopped before play. By installing the earplugs this considerably reduces the stop time of the tilt bulb and find that it makes the tilts more consistent player to player. The Replay Group did another tremendous job kudos to all those involved I hope to back next year if I can press that button fast enough to get registered. Thanks for all you do!!!!
I was told by a TD you have 60 seconds to play in finals after a tilt.
Really enjoyed my first Pinburgh... Not enjoying the worst case of jet lag in history on returning to the UK
ninjadoug and everyone involved, thank you so much! Loved you opened the banks up on the Saturday, hard a lot of fun playing so many new machines I've never encountered before
Already booked my hotel for next year, roll on ticket day 
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