(Topic ID: 216001)

California Extreme 2018

By PismoArcade

5 years ago


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  • 98 posts
  • 28 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by cistearns
  • Topic is favorited by 8 Pinsiders

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    There are 98 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.
    #51 5 years ago
    Quoted from jbovenzi:

    Hey! Be careful with that Mad World!
    You break it, you bought it!

    Ya, be careful. I want to play that.

    #52 5 years ago

    Relax Boiz! How do you think that Mad World got upstairs in the first place? I've done this a few times...
    See y'all soon.

    #53 5 years ago

    Leaving LA at 2pm today, dreading traffic coming up to you guys. I'm going to need to find a beer and some pinball when I get up there

    #54 5 years ago
    Quoted from Time:

    I'm going to need to find a beer and some pinball when I get up there

    Look for Cowboy Mario. He'll be holding.

    #55 5 years ago

    my inlaws are in pasadena..sadly that is a long drive..

    #56 5 years ago

    I'll be there Sat & Sun. Is the tourney at CAX fun? I see it's a big time commitment. Kind of on the fence between participating vs hanging out with no restrictions.

    #57 5 years ago
    Quoted from fireball2:

    Relax Boiz! How do you think that Mad World got upstairs in the first place? I've done this a few times...
    See y'all soon.

    Just sending you some "spam"! You have done wonderful work and the rest of the Northern California is looking forward to playing the machine!

    #58 5 years ago
    Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

    I'll be there Sat & Sun. Is the tourney at CAX fun? I see it's a big time commitment. Kind of on the fence between participating vs hanging out with no restrictions.

    The tourney has it's pros and cons. You get to play on really nice machines setup super hard in a competitive environment. It's less crowded and noisy than the main halls. You can win some decent cash prizes and ranking points if you play well. You'll meet some of the nicest most dedicated pinheads around...

    For cons you have to pay $50 extra on top of your Cal Extreme ticket, you have to commit to a full evening on either Friday or Saturday to qualify, you might get pissed off and ruin your day/night if you play shitty...

    I think the pros outweigh the cons. The tourney organizers are great people and have been putting massive amounts of time and energy into making it a fun event worth your time and money.

    #59 5 years ago
    Quoted from Time:

    Leaving LA at 2pm today, dreading traffic coming up to you guys.

    Exactly...
    That’s why I leave at 4:30AM.
    Get here at 10AM, check in, have a bit of early lunch, take a 2 hour nap and then head over to Great America rested and refreshed for the remainder of the day/evening before the chaos hits tomorrow.

    Also,
    The local weatherman said it was going to be “hot” today here.

    And Railblazer is f@<king awesome!

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    #60 5 years ago

    having not been before, are there usually a number of machines for sale at ca ext?

    railblazer does look sweet

    #61 5 years ago
    Quoted from topkat:

    having not been before, are there usually a number of machines for sale at ca ext?
    railblazer does look sweet

    There are always machines for sale. And many you wish were for sale.

    #62 5 years ago

    do they tend to be reasonable at these events?
    I am hard pressed to not see a machine I wish I had...
    thanks

    #63 5 years ago
    Quoted from topkat:

    having not been before, are there usually a number of machines for sale at ca ext?
    railblazer does look sweet

    Some for sale, but not a not. Pricing varies seller by seller.

    #64 5 years ago
    Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

    I'll be there Sat &amp; Sun. Is the tourney at CAX fun? I see it's a big time commitment. Kind of on the fence between participating vs hanging out with no restrictions.

    Last night was a lot of fun! Well, from the TD side anyway, ha! Though I think it was a good time for everyone.

    We had an MFP start, which means we kicked off at 6:15p, we took a half hour break, and we were done by 10:30p. I can’t say it’ll be exactly the same today, but we’ll definitely be done by 11p.

    Come check out the tourney space from 4-6, I’ll see ya there!

    #65 5 years ago

    Re: Tourney ... I am pretty sure there was a four player Hobbit match that took less than 10 minutes to finish.... Long playing game my ass!

    #66 5 years ago

    On side. Note it’s end of Silicon Valley beer week. If you search it there are some
    Spots in area that have good beers..not there are bad ones
    Willy’s in Los Altos has new Belgium tonight

    #67 5 years ago
    Quoted from FlippyD:

    Re: Tourney ... I am pretty sure there was a four player Hobbit match that took less than 10 minutes to finish.... Long playing game my ass!

    ‘This ain’t your grandma’s Hobbit’

    #68 5 years ago

    WOO HOO! Just bought this Batman 66....C'mon by, play it and beat my score!

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    #69 5 years ago

    Congrats Tony!!!

    #70 5 years ago
    Quoted from mrgone:

    Congrats Tony!!!

    Thank you, my friend...Super stoked!

    #71 5 years ago

    Party at Tony's soon?

    #72 5 years ago

    How crowded is at this point?

    #73 5 years ago
    Quoted from topkat:

    How crowded is at this point?

    Very...pretty much on par with past years.

    #74 5 years ago

    Gooooood Morning, Cal Extremers!

    The Bayburgh Qualifiers are complete! Today is the big day. 24 Players are moving onto the Quarterfinals. Check in for Qualifiers is between 11:30-noon, the big dance starts just about noon.

    Come on up to Bayburgh and watch the action!

    #76 5 years ago

    wow ! what a great show.. Very nice selection of games to play..had to add even more onto the wishlist. I certainly will be going back for years to come. Thanks to anyone and everyone that helped out with. You did well

    #77 5 years ago

    Spent about 4 hrs at the Sunday show.
    Not really into video games but they certainly had a lot of unique and rare ones as well as the classics.
    My rough count of pinball action was only about 195-200 pins (that included the 20 pins used in the tourney).
    Almost missed the separate room of newer pins and video games around the corner from registration.
    Venue is good, carpet is nice on the feet, but still way too noisy in the show halls;
    Not a real fan of the maze layout of pins and vids, but have to say there was plenty of room
    and did not feel too crowded. Most games were occuppied (even the few EMs there)
    but one normally only had to wait for 5-10 minutes to get on any game in question.
    A fair showing of vendors, Jack Gordean had a bunch of cool stuff.
    Marco had about 16 brand new pins set up for play (including Iron Maiden, Batman 66 and AC/DC and Metallica).
    Most of the pins were from mid 80s to present, with about 50-60 early S/S classics and about 20 EMs.
    Also saw a couple Houdini and TNA pins.
    Sad to say that one of my perennial CAEX favs was not there this year (No 50s BankABall woodrail),
    but another fav Doodle Bug was there; as well as Balls A Poppin.
    Rarest unique pin was probably BALL 6P Six Sticks (near mint condition and played very good,
    but still a beast of a game with those side drains.
    Mad World was there also, but needed some more tweaking to play up to full expectations,
    but glad to see&play it anyways.
    Only Wayne Neyens pin that was there to play on his 100th BDay, was Paul Bunyan,
    said to say there was a lack of a lot of classic GTB and WMS EMs.
    Met few pinball acquaintances and chatted them up a bit,
    had fine time overall, but I think I may be getting a bit jaded overall with all pinball shows;
    hard to impress me now.
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    #78 5 years ago
    Quoted from NimblePin:

    Exactly...
    That’s why I leave at 4:30AM.
    Get here at 10AM, check in, have a bit of early lunch, take a 2 hour nap and then head over to Great America rested and refreshed for the remainder of the day/evening before the chaos hits tomorrow.
    Also,
    The local weatherman said it was going to be “hot” today here.
    And Railblazer is f@&lt;king awesome![quoted image][quoted image]

    Yep, went to Great America Fri night and Railblazer was indeed awesome. Here is a night pic...

    And the ATM at the Hyatt Regency was Imamaculate...if not a little incovienet.

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    #79 5 years ago

    dup, sorry

    #80 5 years ago

    Thanks to Patrick C from the setup crew; and to jbovenzi for the tear down and load out of an unplanned purchase. Next year I promise to not be in denial about buying games...

    #81 5 years ago

    Another great time this year! Very well run with both rooms evenly spaced between pins and vids. The PONG (see vid above) was a surprise and a hit with the fam.
    Never felt too crowded this year, the tourney room after hours was chill with some classics in top form. Of course the row of 80s Gottliebs in the main hall are always a treat.
    Nice to meet a few Pinsiders including Ericpinballfan as well as the AP team who discussed Houdini. Two were on the floor so more time on it than GSPF, and it just keeps getting better!
    Thanks to the organizers and all the effort by those who bring games - Until next time!

    #82 5 years ago

    Had a great time here with my son. I'm curious, how did the pin count compare to previous years? I feel like some of my weirder favorites weren't around.

    #83 5 years ago

    Sitting at SFO waiting for flight back to Chicago. Really impressed with CAX. I had really been looking forward to the show and it did not disappoint. Reallybis a great show and not sure why it does not get more press, but maybe you guys are trying to keep it under the radar so it does not get too crowded.

    Really well run show, excellent selection of pins that were in great shape, clearly not crappy games used to get free admission. So many great titles, not many shows have a Big Bang bar and kingpin. Loved seeing so many of the really old arcade games many I had not seen in years. Brought back a lot of memories.

    Venue was quite nice other than having only expensive food choices, but I guess that’ is the price you pay for a nice facility. At least plenty of places to sit.

    The best pubic address system of any show I have been to (and I have been to over a half dozen in the last year). Loud and clear Great for attendees to not miss seminars or other events when losing track of time (which is good since although I never saw a published schedule for seminars, just a list of what seminars would be happening). And you have to love a loud reminder to attendees about showering (although despite how loud and clear it was not sure a few guys heard it)

    The set up of games in odd “shapes” was different, but did not seem to have a negative impact on flow, but does make me wonder if I missed anything.

    Really enjoyed meeting so many new people. Wish I could remember names (would like to see name badges be a lot bigger). I appreciate that so many of you came to our presentation.

    Want to thank Don, from Don’s Custom Service for being my host and having two Houdini’s. There was a line to play them from open to close, so seems there was a lot of interest in Houdini’s first appearance at CAX.

    I also want to thank he great CAX staff, both before and during the show they did everything they could to make me feel welcome and supported.

    Great show!

    #84 5 years ago

    Cheers to the CAX organizers! Another great show. Seemed like less stinkers this year and less game hogs, too. Walked through a few fart clouds though.

    Real-life Pong was a pleasant surprise for me. That game rocks. Tron LE, BM66 and Gilligan were the pins I enjoyed most. Ended up making a deal on the Gilligan.

    And Warlords cocktail arcade is fantastic. Even on 1 player very fun. Now I know why it is so sought after.

    #85 5 years ago
    Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

    And Warlords cocktail arcade is fantastic.

    Warlords is indeed fantastic but, STARlords was truly imamaculate!

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    Tied for 1st with Starlords was Cosmotrons.
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    Both VERY addicting to play and I’d love to own both if I had the extra $$$.

    Pong definitely played better this time than the earlier proto at TPF.
    Still needs some added friction for the oversized knob, as well as a dedicated stopping point (for said knob) for left and right.
    Also kinda laggy, but I was overall impressed seeing all the innards (doing their thing) while playing the “peep show” model.
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    The Atari seats were sold separately @ $150 each so I guess $3300 all in you’d have one sweet new-retro coffee table.

    Speaking of Atari...
    My favorite pin of the show went to the Atari prototype.

    Card and inserts said “Alienspace” but BG was a beautifully mirrored Atari Pinball.
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    #86 5 years ago
    Quoted from jsa:

    I'm curious, how did the pin count compare to previous years?

    There were just under 200 pins this year, (including pins in the tourney room)
    my gut was that there were fewer this year maybe by about 10-15% fewer.
    Possibly in part because the PPM did not bring any games this year (no Lucky JuJu trailer etc)
    Most games were up and running,
    but as i walked thru the venue about 10-12 pins were turned off.
    My #1 complaint (and there is not much that can be done about it)
    is the noise (way too loud).

    #87 5 years ago

    Thanks to whoever brought the AFMr LE. I couldn’t stop playing the thing despite the ultra tight tilt.

    My first real exposure to this machine and was thinking all weekend about picking one up. But I’ll wait for the MBr to come out and see what the buzz is about.

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    #88 5 years ago
    Quoted from jfesler:

    Thanks to Patrick C from the setup crew; and to jbovenzi for the tear down and load out of an unplanned purchase. Next year I promise to not be in denial about buying games...

    Loadout? TWO Loadouts! TNA and the PacMan Cocktail.

    (Not that I'm counting... )

    You will enjoy both and I will trade my Karma Points for the usual "play all my games" nights.

    Very happy to help everyone last night and contribute to a great local show!

    #89 5 years ago

    Another amazing CAX.

    Highlights: Buying the BM66, playing that amazing Pong table (I wish I had room for one), seeing friends like PracticalSteve, Fireball2 and making new friends. I parked my car on Friday afternoon and drove it once the entire weekend. I love that fun is an elevator ride away.

    Lowlights: Really, nothing. I've been to more than a half dozen of these and it's always well run. Awesome hotel, too.

    #90 5 years ago

    What I don't understand is how I have missed this great event the past 20 years. At first I thought it was just me, so I asked my mother who has lived here since 67' and she thought it was a new event this year. Just to further my curiosity, I asked different people at work if they had been or knew of it. No one had been, and one had read about it. I guess there was an article in the one of the local paper, sounds strange to say that any more, that talked about it, but I don't think one can grasp the magnitude and excitement without going. I definitely could not have. Once you have been you can get a visual, but for the average enthusiast maybe not? I made sure to ask people if they liked pinball or arcade games as well, so I knew these people have had some interest in it through their life.
    Just seems strange to me that such a cool event is still so unknown..but then again the place was pretty full regardless

    #91 5 years ago

    Think I beat your score.

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    #92 5 years ago
    Quoted from PismoArcade:

    Highlights: Buying the BM66,

    Played BM66 at CAX and really loved it. Shots felt great and I liked the flow a lot.

    #93 5 years ago

    Another beauty show! There were fewer pinball machines this year, but there were fewer people too. Peak crowded times were much shorter. Late night Saturday was great; you could walk up to almost anything you wanted to play.

    I played more video this year. That 4 player Cosmotron was killer, so was the 6player Starlord, which was like a cross between Breakout and Dodgeball.

    Loved playing Balls a Poppin' with my pinbrother Steve, and JimmyB's Mad World was a champ! I finally jumpered it for free play Sunday morning, but it took close to 350 plays Saturday alone. Very popular. Great to see mof and play some Cosmotron.

    Stoked for PismoArcade and his new BM66 . I got to haul it home for him and set it up. Such a groovy game, and we finally got to HEAR it!

    I was also stoked to win one of the two prizes they raffle off for the exhibitors! Got me a Fluke multimeter. Sweet!

    Still don't know why this show doesn't get the buzz around here like other shows, but obviously they don't need it. This was year 22.

    Great to see everybody. See y'all at GSPF.

    #94 5 years ago

    I missed CAX this year but wanted to add; this is a kick ass show. It is great if your significant other is not into pinball or arcade like you are. There are many other things around the hotel including a major amusement park.

    The people who run it and volunteer are amazing. I am very fortunate to live about 8 hours comfortable drive.

    I will be back next year and many more if I am lucky.

    #95 5 years ago
    Quoted from fireball2:

    Another beauty show! There were fewer pinball machines this year, but there were fewer people too. Peak crowded times were much shorter. Late night Saturday was great; you could walk up to almost anything you wanted to play.
    I played more video this year. That 4 player Cosmotron was killer, so was the 6player Starlord, which was like a cross between Breakout and Dodgeball.
    Loved playing Balls a Poppin' with my pinbrother Steve, and JimmyB's Mad World was a champ! I finally jumpered it for free play Sunday morning, but it took close to 350 plays Saturday alone. Very popular. Great to see mof and play some Cosmotron.
    Stoked for pismoarcade and his new BM66 . I got to haul it home for him and set it up. Such a groovy game, and we finally got to HEAR it!
    I was also stoked to win one of the two prizes they raffle off for the exhibitors! Got me a Fluke multimeter. Sweet!
    Still don't know why this show doesn't get the buzz around here like other shows, but obviously they don't need it. This was year 22.
    Great to see everybody. See y'all at GSPF.

    Thats funny.. I saw you win that multimeter, in that overstuffed room. Not as cool as the Iron Maiden machine though.. I was hoping no one was gonna say they won that PS2 game so they would have burned through more tickets before the Iron Maiden game..

    #96 5 years ago

    I'm hearing that some people didn't even know about the second hall. What a shame. That room had some of the best stuff. Maybe more signage needed.

    #97 5 years ago
    Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

    I'm hearing that some people didn't even know about the second hall. What a shame. That room had some of the best stuff. Maybe more signage needed.

    FWIW, I spent a lot of time thinking about this. The key to finding the second hall would be putting some booths and games in the hallway between them (and art, and lights) and moving the sign in/registration stuff to the large space outside the second hall. Just my two cents, having spent an absurd amount of time attending conferences over the past 25 years.

    #98 5 years ago

    In general I think signage is one of the weak points of the show. Information, etiquette guide etc, it exists but not in enough places. They did announce over the PA several times about the second room.

    I know it is asking a lot, but I think it would be cool if there was a setup to project some of the tournament play to alternate locations like the bar.

    This is one of my favorite events of the year, and look forward to continuing to use it as my staycation.

    There are 98 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.

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