Actually, we had a micro-show, or call it a big pinball showcase, at CT GamerCon in March. Watch our website and Facebook page for pop-up events like that.
.................David Marston

Great idea! A fun project for open source, IMHO. We need to go back to the push chute days, because that seems to be the most baffling: that you could push the chute in without a coin.
.................David Marston

There were a lot for sale in the free play room, but many in a sort of stealth mode. When the bringers initially registered their games, they had the opportunity to specify whether or not each game is for sale, and an asking price for those that are. There was also a way for the bringer to change that status online, though there may be obstacles to some people using their online accounts. What surprised me was how many bringers changed status from Not For Sale (NFS) to For Sale when they arrived with their games. I just counted 18 game cards that were pre-printed with Not For Sale, hand-altered to For Sale, and the game sold at the show, and I may not have all of the ones in that situation. I think there are more pre-printed NFS cards that sold than pre-printed For Sale that sold! Of course, we have to make NFS the default when you register the games on-line, but I think the option to change sale status was reasonably visible.

Sellers should take note that by choosing (or defaulting to) NFS at registration time, they missed out on the opportunity to have the game showing as For Sale in our online list at our website, which some people used in planning if and when to attend the show.
.................David Marston

Replying briefly to a few items at once.
Game-bringer doesn't want their game played for 50 hours: bringing it Friday morning is a possibility, though not what we prefer. You could hold the exposure to 28 hours over 2 days if you left it from Friday morning to Saturday just after the prize awards.

Big Bang Bar on coin play: yes, that was for charity. The Worcester County Food Bank was one of our beneficiaries in the past. The game is from the Spring Lake Arcade in Burrillville, RI.

"...the hotel staff seemed friendlier...": We have several supportive people on the hotel staff, some of whom got their friends and family to attend the show. Being a major event for them helps, too.

"....I thought Dave and or Gabe said last year that they were going to have an event calendar on a tv somewhere....": That was probably me. We have several ideas for kiosks, but not enough time to implement everything. There are ideas for IT-type projects that would help the show in many ways. PM me if you have skills and want to help.
.................David Marston

Our Repair Team was very busy, which means they don't patrol looking for notes posted on the glass. We had lots of signs around telling people about the online system, but we should have left more of the old paper repair tickets in the Repair Station for those who don't want to go online. Even so, the repair ticket (half of it) should go back to the Repair Station to get into the queue for Repair Team attention. The Repair Station is that tall red assembly in the Southwest corner of the main Free Play room.
.................David Marston

ForceFlow writes:
"The repair station didn't look welcoming for people trying to report a problem--there were no obvious directions visible from 10 feet away that you could leave a note there about a game, and there wasn't usually anyone near by when I checked. Maybe post a big sign that says "report game problems here"? It didn't seem obvious enough to casual players that it was a customer service area, and not a staff-only area.

Maybe add stands at the ends of rows with repair sheets people can fill out? Or tablet kiosks?"

I think we'll do both. We had paper forms last year. Andy does kiosks for some of his clients, so he's confident we can create something along the lines you're thinking. Then we take photos of the main Repair Station and the satellite kiosks and make up some signage to spread around.

I think we won't put the contact info for the game bringer out in public on Not-For-Sale games. We would prefer to have our Tech Team intervene first, and we would prefer to go through the ticket system so that redundant reports are automatically compressed into one problem report. This allows the bringers to be undisturbed except for repair issues where owner intervention is required. The paper handout for game-bringers spells this out. I would like our game-bringers to be able to enjoy a seminar in full and not have smartphones making various noises in the Seminar Room. Or they can play in the tournaments, haggle in the Vendor Hall, swim in the pool, etc., etc. All we ask is that they check to see if there is an "owner call" out for them every 1-2 hours. Bringers who don't have smartphones can check the monitor on the Repair Station. See: we actually have given this a lot of thought, and we have a wish-list of new features.

I plan to review all the game cards to see what annotations the bringers put on there. Sometime before the next show, I'll review all the repair tickets, too. Game bringers can PM me with their suggestions and preferences for how they would like to interact with the software (and the Free Play Registration desk) during the show.
.................David Marston

ForceFlow: "Maybe have pre-printed "out of order" signs available and make it a bit more consistent/obvious for when a game is down?"

Taxman: "This sounds good. If you have a stack of signs that say - "Issue reported, please leave game off" - to put over the flipper area...."

Paper forms are already part of the system, but probably not understood that well. The form is overdue for design improvements anyway, and I agree that we should put that "please leave game off" wording more prominently on the half that stays on the game.
.................David Marston

@RonSS: we were thinking more along the lines of a kiosk you can walk up to, rather than a hotline. That seems to cover more bases than texting a hotline, because it serves the people without phones. It also allows us to put instructions on the screen and guide the interaction when necessary. How about that approach?
.................David Marston

I think many people did not take advantage of the games in the SNHPC Club Room either. Some of us on the staff think it's just a matter of signage.
.................David Marston

Who went to the auction? What did you win, or miss out on? Was everything clearly explained?
.................David Marston

We had those tall black stand-up signs with the Code of Conduct. We tried to position them to maximize the chances that people would scan them. I have an idea for another kind of sign to supplement that. Experienced pinball people should feel empowered to call newbies' attention to the signs, especially the part about taking turns.
.................David Marston

One important consideration here: on early SS games, setting a very low replay score is a method of ensuring that there are always credits. Winning a replay on those games is not a true accomplishment.
.................David Marston

I tried to double-check this with the people involved. I think the actual numbers are 10% and 15%, respectively. I wasn't there at the time of this announcement, so I'm relying on people who were there. I know our web page and advance materials said 10% buyer's premium.

I've started discussions with the Auction Team about next year. We want to be clear and consistent on the fees and other terms.
.................David Marston