Reebok etc. all wear out way too quickly. I've personally switched to Columbia walking shoes. The soles last for years of daily use. As for cargo shorts, I prefer Union Bay...

What? That’s the whole point of going to Vegas!

I spent about 2 hours at the show yesterday and that was enough. Machine prices were stupid, but admittedly if I were going through the trouble of dragging out a machine and setting it up there, with all of those eyeballs on it, I’d shoot for the sky as well.

Played probably less than 10 games - so many of them in free play weren’t even in players’ condition and I have no interest in standing in line for something like that.

Highlights for me - got to meet rkahr
and his (self-described) weird uncle, got to ironically “thank” Joe PinballSTAR for hanging in there with me as a first-day GNR orderer, and grabbed a leg bolt “soft socket” from Mayfair.

THE highlight tough, other than taking some cash from Wind Creek, was Social Still in Bethlehem on Thursday night. Great dinner and drinks, and brought home a bottle of their vanilla maple “Sasquatch” bourbon. This a must-visit every time I hit Wind Creek or Allentown now; terrific place.

Flew in last minute and currently at show got a very nice donor cab for a ebd project and picked up a new em at a decent price. Food is amazing, cargo shorts = 2 spare beers, Good fun, good friends, good times. Will be back next year with my trailer. Miss the Canadians this year those guys were fun and brought the dragons!!!
Regards
Al

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Oof, hope it goes easy for ya, man. Had it back in Dec./Jan. and got off pretty easy aside from it totally screwing up my taste and smell. Smell started to come back about 2 months ago, but my taste buds are still jacked. Things are just WRONG. I can eat durian flavored stuff now without retching, and before just the smell of it would instantly make me gag.

I'll fight anyone that wants to dog on New Balance shoes. It's almost impossible to find a 4E shoe that fits me....except from them.

Ooh Merrells. Nice!!

Nothing wrong with cargo shorts as long as they are grey or black.

New Balance or Sketchers for me.

While prices are up and free play machines/attendance are down we still had a great time. Ultraman was fun. Mando pro was just ok.
We always run into nice random people from all over the US or world that love pinball. People in line behind us were from NC. I overheard someone else say central Florida.
I counted about 150 machines in the free play rows. Not nearly as many as past years but at least Ivan pulled things together.
I almost forgot there was a nice breeze blowing thru the main room so no crop dusting odors and I didn’t see a single attendee who looked/smelled like they hadn’t showered in a week.

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Was there both days, Brought my Space Station in Satuday morning, was sold within. 45 minutes,
Gary in the pic was the buyer. He left it in freeplay all day, way to go. And it got played non stop, looks like one happy camper

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No offence to the owner, but thought this was just to funny. Cardboard box with a freeplay button wired in
Hey what ever it takes

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Just got home from the show! A GREAT show! Fun talking to folks and seeing a real face from the Pinside forum
Thank you everyone for bringing your personal pins and setting them up for FREE PLAY! Greatly appreciated!

Are you sure you were at a pinball show?

I seriously have never understood the hate for cargo shorts lol. Of course, I'm biased, but a friend of mine who always talked trash recently got some and he's all like "i see why you like these, they are comfortable as hell'. Well yeah...and functional. lol. We're men, there aren't any shorts that 'look good' on us, no matter what kind you are wearing.

Vibe was good until the whole building popped a breaker!

Cargo shorts, white socks, and nikes FOR-EVA !
: )

(I blame Jon Ehrlich for this uproar)

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For us, the vibe was great and can’t thank Ivan and his crew enough for making this show happen. Was it different from years past, yes. But having been cooped up for over a year because of the pandemic, it was really nice to be at a show again and have some normalcy. Nothing to complain about.

We really enjoyed being a vendor again and doing what we could to support the show. Nice seeing friends we hadn’t seen in a while, new and old customers, great seeing our other vendor friends, including cointaker, pinnovators, tilt graphics and pinball Star (and others, who all deserve credit for helping making the show a success). Thanks to Stefan for lending us his Iron Maiden for our booth. It was played almost constantly without a single hiccup.

The number of games (new and old) was clearly lower, but it didn’t matter. What was there was nice to play. Got to see (but not play) ultraman, looked very nice. Played hot wheels and liked it a lot. Thanks to spooky and Joe for bringing those games. Prices for games were on the high side, but let’s face it, prices have been rising for a while now and were not much different than you see on pinside. Everything was negotiable and I know a few games that sold for $1000 less than the ask. There was a real nice earthshaker in the booth next to me, surprised it didn’t sell and price was negotiable.

We are exhausted and now have to work very hard to fill all the show orders. Thanks to those who continue to support us.

Only downside for us was that We stayed at the airport days inn, note to self, avoid that hotel in the future.

Hope everyone else had as good a time as we did.

I was walking behind a crop duster.
Not sure who it was.....

I thought prices were high. I think a project em for 900 is high.
Non working SS for 1k is a lot.
Free play games were tough overall.
But there were some fabulous games to play from all time periods. Some super restorations. Some players games that were dialed in. I went back to those over and over.

No matter what, it was a pinball show and i was happy to be there.

Man, that sucks.

Pretty clear we’re all going to get it eventually, vaccine or not. Hopefully the vaccine stops serious illness though.

Someone needs to do a virtual Pinfest. You can rock your VR goggles and avatar with cargo shorts and Nike’s.

One of our big music festivals here, Splendor In The Grass, just did a virtual thing. Really sucked. Hope it never ever becomes a thing.

My Son and I had a good time. It was his first Pinfest, and it had been 10+ years since I had been. Some of the EM's and early SS games were not set up well at all. Having the ball stop at the top of the playfield because the table is completely flat, was annoying. Harlem Globetrotters in the back corner, had all the displays on the fritz, making it really boring to play. I got to play the Led Zep pin, but couldn't hear the music very well. Lots of good pins to make up for those - POTC, Whirlwind, HS2, Old Chicago, etc...

Stayed until close the first night, and this morning, noticed a bunch of new arrivals, so that was really good.
I had hoped to pickup a Taxi, but they were out of my price range. I did pick up a nice Rollergames after another buyer backed out. Super happy with it ! (Thanks Brian!)

Marco had a really nice Eight Ball for sale. I picked up some hints for mine on colored rubbers. It looked really sharp.

Thanks to all who put this on and brought pins and parts !

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That was a great Space Station! Well done! Played really well!

I went Friday primarily for EM parts and found everything I was looking for and more. Here are some items I purchased:

Gottlieb EM mech board = $20
24 new Chrome balls $25
backglass channel and side trim $4
set of 31" legs $40
leg levelers $1.25 each
a box of Chicago Coin and Williams score reels/steppers (around 20) $10
Williams shooter assembly $15

There were some decent project deals. I saw a Strike Zone pin for $450 with nice backglass and playfield...there were others too. Yes there were also sky high projects, but it was Friday and these vendors have to cover costs. Friday was busy, but not over crowed. Everyone I saw seemed to be having a good time.

IMO, it is the best bowling themed EM. It has 4 sling shots and animated backglass...great flow. Maybe I'll upgrade mine if it's there next year..lol

Definitely missed the 500 Canadians that usually come down. First time as a vendor there, and I had a good time. I think I successfully turned on several people to Gold Wings after they actually gave it a play. Mousin' had a lot of action as well. I wasn't really interested in selling any of my games, so I stuck high prices on them. I am sure I am not the only one. I kind of wanted to take the WoF home, but decided against it.

Also for those looking for new pins in the vendor booths...they just don't have them. The NIB shortage is real.

It was really great meeting some pinsiders in the flesh, as well as the whole Marco crew!

"Hello Central, this is Officer Rodriguez, I'm reporting a stuck ball on a Data East 'Checkpoint.' Request assistance!"

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Same here Frax!
(BTW, from 2012 til 2020, I ended-up with a Rollergames that had passed through your hands years before. I just wanted to say 'Thanks!' for maintaining such a great game! It was a pleasure to have it in the house).

My first pinball show so I dont know how to compare but it was nice. Was great to see and play Ultraman meet the Spooky folks. The two games I really wanted to play were Rick and Morty and Elvira HoH. Elvira wasnt there and the line for rick and morty was always really long but got to watch a bit. Bought some mods from the lermods folks, some art from Brian allen, along with some other stuff.

Would really like to go to TPF next year if its on

8D5314B7-AA6C-4FBF-A8DA-4EBD1D02CF3E.jpegGot home around 9pm, my first Allentown was great!! I enjoyed it a lot and from what everyone is saying it’s only gonna get better from here!

I enjoyed meeting so many new people, putting faces to names, hounding everyone to support my new show and handing out tons of flyers!

I had a Caveman in the car from LBJ that we had agreed in back in 2018 and just FINALLY got it! I should have brought it to Freeplay because it only took me an hour to get it playing complete games. Of course it has no rubbers or anything but I could have gotten them at the show with the money saved from admission!

I also was able to pick up a Target Alpha head that switched hands a couple times!

Very happy to have 2 new games running at the end of the show! How fantastic. Ivan (and Gabe) were really great, I appreciate them giving me advice for the show. Ivan was very down to earth and approachable. He did a great job despite the enormous challenges Pinfest faced this year!

The games weren’t too bad, I played many uncommon games that I never had a chance to try. Time Fantasy wasn’t in freeplay but I played the hell out of it. Sterling was awesome for bringing it! Also @sataneatscheese’s RAM was awesome. That “LIONMAN er... something” callout killed me! Shoutout to alexmogil for bringing those sweet ass LIONMAN tokens his secret Santa had given him. Been jonesing for one since I first laid eyes on them!

All in all, very fun and enjoyable, great first show and everyone was fantastic! So many people said hello! Many apologies if I didn’t recognize you or forgot your name, I only slept 3 hours before driving here! My brain was totally fried for most of it. Still got some great finds, next year I’m gunning for the Fleamarket first!

Thank you all for making Pinfest awesome! Hope to see some familiar faces at Saratoga Silverball in 2 weeks!

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I had a good time and it was definitely worth the trip. Agree with some other posters that the games could have played better but this is more of a marketplace oriented show so can't complain too much.

I did track down quite a few parts for two projects I am working on (Stern Nugent and Bally Skateball).

My friend who tagged along wanted to purchase a Williams Contact but we took my WRX hatchback and there was no way it was going to fit in there (Early Ballys/Sterns fit just fine though). May be time to invest in a truck!

My first year in the flea market was good fun. I met a lot of great people and a few people took advantage of my freebies, like the LIONMAN tokens, the transistors, the rubber and free microfiber cloths. I loved doing that.

And I was so happy how many people enjoyed my Whiffle. People really got close to it and I had a good competition between a father and his young son. People were so respectful with that antique.

I also picked up that very pretty Simpsons Pinball Party!

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i so pale

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I put a price of a billion dollars on it after I bought it.

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That FRIGGIN' BAGEL SHOP!!!

Now that's a bagel!
-Mike

Olive green cargo pants, fancy compression socks and arriving in a beat-up salvage mini-van, I was hoping to win the fashion competition, but left Allentown without a sash.

What I did enjoy was my first Pinfest, with all the fun new and old games, the volume of arcane stuff and the people. A charming 8.5 month pregnant young mother epitomized those of us who are caught up in love of these games.

Thanks to everyone who make this event possible. Spreading the joy of pinball, one tilt at a time.

While at the Allentown show the art of “Bryan Allen” was impressive! Have any pinball companies ever used this artist for their games ?!

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Scores for the trip.

Finally got enough wallhangers to finish decking out the arcade! Good ones too! Even took down the want ad. Was astonished El Dorado went home with me at 2017 prices. Gotta local guy picking it up now. Traded Black Knight for a clear coated amazing Sorcerer. 519 plays on Rick and Morty. Needs 3 new rubber posts but otherwise you couldn't tell it was at the show. Just gotta wait for the ground to dry out to get it back in the basement.

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I saw that sign on the TSPP -- very funny! I'm glad my game has a good new home! Steve

I agree. I was SUPER excited when I saw it, then super sad when it said SOLD

I've been looking for a nice Space Station for a while, and that was it! Congrats to the buyer!

Chris

I was there Thursday to Saturday. Great to see all my pinball family! Ivan and team did a great job as usual. People seemed to enjoy my Avitar in the Pinnovators booth. Hope to see all of you in New England in November.

Glad it got played all day. Just got it finished Thursday night, as soon as I set it up people were hovering lol and a good full day of play really tested its reliability

Thank you for bringing Rick and Morty and putting it in the free play area. We have wanted to play one for quite some time.

Wow dude. I should've never sold that Diamondplate Rollergames! I shipped it out of state to the buyer and regretted it, as we do with so many games. Thank you so much for the kind words and posting this. I love hearing that games that I worked on are still out and about and doing well. I completely took apart the backboard diverter mech on that one, that was "fun"! It was one of the first games where I took the playfield out of the cabinet entirely to work on it.

Thanks for the smooth transaction. Very honest and quick response. Sorry you ended up renting transport that day.

I had an excellent visit to my first Pinball show. I got to play a variety of new and old games, that I had never seen before. I bought parts from various vendors and wish I had brought more cash. Most interesting person on saturday was the punk rock chick with the spikey hair. Not much in the outside flea market.

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I put a lot of plays on your Simpsons Pinball Party. It was one of my favorite games of the day.
I also enjoyed Taxi and Dr.Dude,and would love to pick up any one of these three games!
I knew I should have bought a bagel at the Farmers Market. I love bagels with extra cream cheese!

Geez buddy.... hope you get well soon.

The show was great... I sold every gane I brought but one, and I bought a nice F14 at a decent price. Crowd seemed lighter (covid, summer), but still Wall to wall people.

Jax and I did get nervous for sure with the show approaching, and the delta numbers increasing. She was great about masking up. I was not as great, but it’s tough to do when talking to people in a crowded event and trying to breathe after moving 300 pound monsters. Will be interesting to see where the world is in two weeks.... I feel like if the show went off mid-august that it might have fallen victim to regulations, so we were fortunate to get it in.

Prices were pretty much nuts. I think (hope) people are starting to realize that only top tier games should bring top dollar. No, your judge dredd with three legs and dead dmd is not worth 4K. Sorry. I also think the usual summertime market contributed to less sales.... but nice games and priced right games didn’t have a problem moving, IMO. I don’t think cointaker had any new in box games for immediate sale... perhaps just taking orders on future runs? Big shortage out there of new stuff.

Be well,
Mike F