I'm going to try and get out there on Sunday to work on games. If anyone in SoCal has an interest in helping out you should post in this thread, and we'll make sure you get all the useful info.

If you bring a rubber chicken NimblePin will sign it!

Bump for the weekend, anyone going out to Banning to tune machines?

It's totally worth going to. This thread needs more pics! You can see a writeup I did about the show last year with a lot of photos here:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/01/a-virtual-day-with-750-pinball-and-arcade-games-no-quarters-needed/

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Last I heard the EM games were doing pretty well, but I honestly don't know, we didn't look at them while we were out there, our skill sets are much more solid state oriented.

There are a ton of them though.

I feel appreciated. I got the NimblePin star treatment! Well except for paying for my own dinner.

We focused on the DMD games when we were there fixing things. I love seeing the other games more, but the DMD games get the bulk of the public play.

The EM games are awesome. Very few people play them comparatively.

Someone should start a thread for a show close to people who live in LA!

Because it's too expensive I imagine. Why isn't there a pinball show in Chicago?

What does Chicagoland mean? Expo sure isn't in Chicago.

Ah, yes. In the suburbs. Where it's cheaper.

Banning isn't the only answer. But Los Angeles "proper" is probably too expensive.

Banning is a 1.5 hour drive for me. It's not a big deal, but it's a bit of a haul. It's far away enough that I can't just casually pop over to work on games for a couple hours, it's an all day commitment. Definitely won't stop me from going to Expo on Saturday, but I'm not going for multiple days, this time at least.

Sweet!

We're planning on going out next Sunday for a last push before the show, be great to get a posse there to help with everything for one last time.

(A week from tomorrow to be clear.)

I'm rolling out with Kyle next Sunday, and he's a DE pro, we can take a look.

Who wants to come out to Banning this Sunday for a last push to fix up games? Everyone who can do even basic pin stuff can help. I'll be there for sure, come on out!

Nimbles and Kyle and I will be there tomorrow, come out and party and fix games!

Right on man, see you tomorrow, it's been a while.

We're going together, so I'll be near him probably.

I'm heading out to pick up Kyle in 45 mins, then we'll swing by NimblePin's for leg two of the journey. One does not simply walk into Banning.

I need more upvotes for that.

None, but we of course don't pay entrance. None of us are doing it for money.

I'll be there tomorrow, looking forward to seeing everyone!

I'll be there around noon tomorrow. Friday crowd looks good!

I'm hearing from the floor that the crowd today felt bigger than Saturday last year, and it's only Friday. So tomorrow is hopefully big.

That's great!

Pupusas!

image_(resized).jpegimage_(resized).jpeg

At Tim's Getaway reveal party.

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Here's the details on it: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/getaway-hsii-restoration-and-customization

You should hear it in person too, he's got a PinSound in it, with custom callouts from a professional voice actor, Ferrari engine sounds, and lots of great humor. Everyone really enjoyed it at the party.

So some quick thoughts on the show:

First off, the crowds were great, felt really well attended. Don't know the numbers, but I hope that John is happy with it. He should be! The modern DMD area was pretty full, but not in a bad way, and there were plenty of open games as you went deeper in if you didn't feel like waiting.

Huge thanks to all the techs. I brought my keys with me and helped out a couple people with some issues, but the red shirts were working non stop.

I heard nothing but positive comments. On more than one occasion people told me they thought the show was now better than CA Extreme. I hope everyone returns, and spreads the word, and this can build into a better and better show. I know they'd love to have a flea market, it would be cool to see more vendors. The energy felt great, the future looks bright.

Lots of people put more time into fixing games than I did, I was only out helping for a couple weekends, and I'm far from an ace tech. I make a good helper for people who know more than I do, and I don't want to take credit for more than that. But I have to say, seeing everyone enjoying the games, saying positive things about how well things were working, and just having a great time really made the time I spent out there feel worth it. So huge thanks to everyone else who helped. Special shout out to NimblePin and Cosmokramer.

Also a big thank you to Keith and Randy Elwin for sharing Archer with us. They both spent a lot of time getting the game ready enough to bring, talking to everyone about it, and hanging out to fix issues and walk people through what to shoot for. The game is rad even in its rough state, was really impressed, and enjoyed talking with you both about it.

I've got too much work to go out again today, but I hope everyone who's there is having a great time, and I'm going to check in with the tournament stream at some point to root for my friends.

Looking forward to next year!

It's a drive. But compared to flying to shows, which I also do, it's pretty easy.

It's so much work to throw that show, and I just can't see big crowds coming out repeatedly right now, so I don't think it's a big deal that it's once or twice a year. I think they can do 4 events a year right now if they want to.

Damnit that staff photo is too washed out, you can't see where I wrote my name bigger and taller than anyone else!

John is bridging his fingers together and cackling right now, while saying "excellent ..." to himself.

Obviously every Arcade Expo we kill off a couple red shirts.

(Orange was general volunteer I think, red was tech, can't remember blue ones.)

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