Show certainly didn't "suck" but was definitely a little different than last year.

I was able to go Fri/Sat last year & was there well before door opening both days. I could only go Sat this year, but Friend was there Friday texting me updates, so I got to hear about the line issues. I don't recall much of a line Friday last year & very very small one Saturday. This year, longer line Sat, but it moved pretty quick... One ticket taker, but 2 doing wristbands. I was about 75 yards back on Sat AM at about 8:50.... was in by 9:10.... & when I glanced back when entering doors, the end of line was about where I had started, so fairly consistent.

Show did seem busier, earlier this year on Sat. Last year it really didn't pick up till maybe 10:30-11... this year it was pretty strong crowd in main hall by 10. Swap meet area was mostly a ghost town Sat, you could tell a lot of stuff had sold Friday (which is great for vendors)

Seemed to be maybe hair more machines pulled out of Freeplay by Sat than there were last year, but that's hard to say just based on a "feel"

I've run into this same deal in Automotive swap meet/vendor world... I vend at a large 3 day swap meet once a year, for a very specific genre of vehicle.... It was a Thursday vendor setup deal, Fri/Sat/Sun Show.... & Friday would always be decent foot traffic, but Sat was THE day.... & Sunday would die off but still god enough to go. Well, everyone realized that if you wanted deals & wanted to have pick of the litter, you had to be there Friday.... so now Friday is by far the busiest day & we damn near sell out each year, so much so that our vendor space looks very empty by beginning of day Sat.... & we now leave Sat night & don't even stay fro Sunday because it is a ghost town. Foot traffic from 9AM-1PM Friday is as strong as it ever was on a Saturday at peak times & now Sat is about what Friday foot traffic used to be. Everyone complains about it, but it is what it is.... everyone is just gaming the system & getting there as early as they can to get the first shot at stuff.

Seemed to me as an innocent observer this year, that there were very few deals left by Sat AM. Majority of machines still for sale in FP etc were mostly overpriced etc. Walking around playing some & shaking my head at asking prices, made me feel better about the condition & supposed value of my games though! LOL

Always funny to watch the Sterns with no credits on Free Play Floor as well... I watched one guy try to add credits to Trident unsuccessfully. I'm not type of person to open coin door on a game that is not mine & do it, so I just sat back & watched..... This guy put game in test mode, couldn't figure out what was going on, so he closed coin door up & walked away while it was in display test.

My biggest take away from this year was, that no matter what I have to do next year, I have to make sure I can get off work on Friday to make the show.

I second this! Most people never think about how much A LOT of glass weighs.... it has to be a tremendous PITA to order/keep track of/take preorders & special requests/pick up/deliver what I would assume is at minimum over 1 ton of glass....probably closer to 3000+ lbs.... Several of us went together on a preorder for 8 sheets... $29 a sheet, simply can not be beat. I had three games in my collection left that I had not yet gotten around to ever replacing glass in & now all 17 of my machines have all new PF glass as of last weekend.

& I don't see how the show promoter has any control over what prices vendors put on parts.... So I'll never understand complaining about what vendors do or don't do. I appreciate vendors like Marco for making the trek from South Carolina all the way to PA for what is essentially a 2 day show for them.