No tournament for me unless it’s EM. Haven’t been to the show in a few years. Looking forward to it!

They have a Classics event each year, but how many of the games are EMs vs. SS depends on what the game providers bring and donate to the cause. Last year was 2 EMs and 5 SS.

I love this show since it’s local, but every year I wish there was more pinball parts vendors.

How many pins are there on freeplay? Doesn't sound like it's a strictly pin event.

Glad you started a thread… always wanted to visit Florida so booked a trip for this years show. Any good places for some food around the venue?

Orlando has some really awesome food options. Pretty much anything you can think of is available. You can get Ethiopian or Dominican, or some awesome bbq or sushi. I’m a big fan of hot pot, lots of that here and most include Korean bbq.

We also have White Castle and del taco lol

It really just depends what you’re into and how far you want to travel from the resort

I’d go for Beefy King on Bumby Ave.

We can leave out any fast food chains…

Sushi, kbbq, Seafood, Dominican, Cuban now we’re talking! Love to get something that Florida does great. Love to meet some local pinheads too.

There’s a Dominican spot near the resort. Lots of good hotpot/kbbq joints not far either. If you want to try some higher end seafood, the boat house at Disney springs has some very rare oysters and fresh fish available. They also have some legit bbq at the polite pig (get the brisket and thank me later)

If you explore the area a bit and head to downtown, check out King Boa for some awesome boa buns.

There are thousands of options in Orlando, we are lousy with great food options

Check out IAPPA, if it overlaps with your trip

I drive caters to Tourists, locals go to sand lake road, generally better food and service.

Unique is Boma. at animal kingdom, Favs and African food/Fusion in a buffet, A dozen foods, one might never have tried.
Amura Sushi, World of beer.....

https://www.orlandoescape.com/restaurant-row/

You have over 400 to pick from, within a few miles

POLITE PIG....Amazing Brisket and BEST Bourbon Bar around !!!

Yeah it’s seriously legit. And if you like bourbon, it’s not uncommon to find pappies there. Can’t recommend it enough

These will be there for all to play.

I'll be selling some nice screen printed shirts on theme with the homebrews with all proceeds going to galisanos children's hospital as well.

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Last year the folks from the Pinball Lounge brought pins from their nifty collection for the tournaments and they worked reliably. I think they are doing the same again this year.

It's a pretty good show with a (relatively) decent amount of pinball machines. I've always enjoyed it and I'm actually springing for a hotel room for Friday night. See you all there!

I’ll be there!

Polite Pig
Great recommendation, good food. Little busy location but totally worth it.

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I'm here. Brought Spanish Eyes and Dodge City.

EM represent!

Admittedly it has been a few too many years since I've been to Free Play Florida. Just walked the floor. The show seemed a little smaller than I remember in previous years, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Did this show undergo a change in organization or something? Normally shows are growing, not shrinking and such a prime time location and anchored against IAAPA, I expected more? Like.. where's the James Bond pin?
Or.. do more games come in after IAAPA closes down?

..not trying to be a jerk or belittle the amazing amount of effort that goes into these things I'm just wondering: What happened?

EDIT:

Rumors/Sounded like the show organizers and game-bringers might have temporarily lost a few of the usual contributors to competing work schedules, storm cleanup and illness. As the weekend has progressed, games have still been flowing in.

Little Shop of games has the main trove of stern games and it takes them a while to move them from IAAPA to free play Florida. They should be here late tonight and available for the rest of the weekend if history is any indicator.

Thanks! Still had a blast as always but LSOG will definitely make it even better.

LSOG should be there with a ton of newer Sterns today. Apparently they arrived last night at the loading dock and the hotel security would not let them open the door and load in because it was after hours... They are pretty strict here at the loading docks which is both good and bad.

You guys called it, it's sort of like Christmas morning down there now. Good stuff!

Sorry to miss the activities this year, Covid came calling last week and still no negative test.

Miss the weather already, had a lot of fun.
Met a bunch of cool folks and the tournament was really well ran. Good variety of games in the hall and small lines on even the new games. New Bond wait was usually one or two ppl lines. Hotel was awesome, best hotel for a show so far that I’ve been to.

Seemed like the show could be bigger with more games and marketing but idk if that’s what the organizers want.

Want to go back next year and spend extra time to go to parks and checkout some local collections and arcades.

Found a good Mexican joint about 15min away called Tenampa. Molcajete FTW.

Hope to see you guys and gals next year.

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For anyone that missed, this was a cool, very old collection.

Yeah the Prewar Playground is always a highlight of the show for me. Jeff loves to tell all about the games. Funny thing is the kids seem to really like it despite the lack of flashy lights and LCD screens!

I'm hoping to land a Fleet Junior soon!

These were at Expo and my friends and I spent some time there. Amazing how much engineering went into these.