What the heck i'll chime in. My 13 year old son and I made the 9 hour drive from KY to Allentown for our first pin show. I picked him up from school and we loaded DH and headed out. We got to Allentown at about 330 AM Saturday, in bed by 4.

With every intention to wake up early and set up DH before the doors opened, it didnt happen. We woke up at 9 or 10, I cant even remember. Knowing we wanted to take the opportunity to play as much as possible we contemplated taking DH in for freeplay at all. The plan was to sell DH and find something new. Not knowing if it would sell I decided to take it in, basically to have the experience of setting it up with Jake for no other reason than to let others enjoy it. With his budding interest in the hobby I felt this aspect was as important as any other. Well, that didnt happen it sold as we walked it in the door before we could even register it! I sold it for a fair price to a nice guy from Canada. I actually overheard his enthusiasm later in the day as he told a few friends about his "new" DH. We resisted looking in hindsight and thinking we sold too cheap, as it clearly went to an enthusiastic player who was happy to have found a DH.

Karma was on our side as it gave us an entire day to play 30 or 40 titles and get Jake tons of exposure to some games he would have never had a chance to play (MM, AFM, CCC, WOZ, BIBLE, AVLE Blue etc). Out of every game we played in our price range, Jake LOVED Stargate. He would play it, play a few other titles then put another game on Stargate, repeat. Neither of us had seen the movie, Jake was sold on the gameplay and I knew the game was worth the asking price based on condition alone.

Stargate was out of our available budget (our DH money) to the point that I did not want to insult the owner with an offer. Jake wasnt having that. As we planned out the end of our day and what games we would play before we left he would run back and see if the price was lowered. One time he came running back "dad he lowered it $200!". I explained to him the dynamic of when a price gets lowered it gets firmer. Again he checked, "Dad it says obo now!" I didnt want to bust his bubble but I just didnt feel we would be able to score the SG, so I told him I had a lead on another one. He wasnt having it. We waited until later in the show to make the offer. I wanted to give ScottC every chance to field any offers he might get before unintentionally lowballing him. After a text and a phone call we came to a price that was doable (after I ran to my car to get every dollar I had!).

It seems as though the PinKarma we earned with our DH sale was redeemed with a more than fair deal on Stargate. After a 9 hour drive home today it was decided I would pick Jake up from school tomorrow so he could set up "his" Stargate. This my friends is what the hobby is all about for me. Thanks to Ivan, ScottC, Marco, JJP, Skit-B, cny and Eric with CCC, and a cast of many others that made this a 3 day, 1200 mile trip that we will both remember for years to come.

Jason

How does York compare to Allentown?

To all that are reading these replies please don't let it discourage you from bringing a game or supporting the show if your thinking about it. Can't wait for next year and I will bring a game again.

After the experience we had, I will always try to bring a game for freeplay. THere are a couple of ways to look at it. If a buyer has a game for sale and it does not play perfectly, I don't see a problem with that. The item is for sale as-is, where is. A dead flipper is not going to kill the deal at a pinball show IMO, especially if the buyer has experience with the gameplay. Its the seller who is limiting the potential market for the pin and thats the sellers prerogative.

If a game is brought for freeplay and is NOT for sale, the flippers should be able to make the ramps at a minimum I agree with that.

Jason

+1 on Rollergames, I had definitely judged a book by its cover with that one. It was fun. My biggest surprises were Fire! and Radical I had a blast on those 2.

Jason