Quoted from Jean-Luc-Picard:I encountered one guy playing 4 player. I just kicked him in the face and the game was free. I find if you just get real close and breathe on the back of their neck they leave real quick "J/k"
Lol. Yeah, I'm thinking we have to bring back putting quarters or coins on the lockbar so these folks can remind themselves that there are other people there.
Quoted from MrBellMan:Just got back. Had a great time and we got to see the world famous French Model!
Don't believe me??? Ask FatTrain...
Quoted from Kevin_LHeureux:He's my new squeeze!
I didn't know you were dating a French model. Congrats!
Quoted from fattrain:I didn't know you were dating a French model. Congrats!
They can't put anything on the Internet that's not true.
Cannot believe I am missing this again. I actually knew about it the first year and never managed to make it. Was supposed to go today and then someone got sick and I had to cover a shift.
Thought for sure this was the year I would go down and score a Disc of Tron arcade for a reasonable price, guess I will keep dreaming about that.
Can anyone fill me on that modular "Nuclear Shaker Motor" thing that the dudes at the SkillShot booth had? The guy we were talking to unfortunately couldn't answer my questions as it was his buddy's invention and he wasn't around at that time.
I can't remember what it's exactly called, or if it's in production, but I would love to find more info about it.
I guess I could write to the SkillShot people.
The wife and I were only there for Saturday but had a blast. Definitely more crowded than Pin-A-Go-Go and the Pacific Pinball Exhibition but fun.
And, yeah, $19 for breakfast. Fun on a bun.
I was soooo tempted to buy Gary Stern a drink after his lecture. Courtney and I found ourselves a couple seats away from him at the bar afterwards. 
Oh, and we met Al Alcorn after noticing his "Ask Me About Pong" t-shirt. He gave us one of his cards from the Syzygy days.
Coooooool.
Quoted from Rcade:VERY enraging when I'm waiting behind someone and they finish a game and don't even have the thought to look back to see if someone's waiting to play, they just go about their insular way and start another game. I almost went apoplectic when I was waiting in line to play Avengers for the first time and had to wait about 30mins because it was set on 5 ball, and some guy decided to start a 2 player game AND PLAY AS BOTH PLAYERS!!!! So 10 balls, plus 3 or 4 extra balls. Didn't ask anyone if they wanted to play on of the players or whatever, just played em' all out.
So last night, I'm standing in line to play METLE. A woman is playing 4 player all by herself. I sigh and decide to just wait it out. She finally finishes the last ball on the fourth player, turns around to look at me and pushes the credit button 4 more times.
At this point, I say " Excuse me, I'm standing in line to play too." She then waves me off and says " No, I'm playing!".... I look at the Marco guy and he just shrugs.
Having a blast, but noticing a different vibe here than at PPE and PAGG.
Quoted from PismoArcade:So last night, I'm standing in line to play METLE. A woman is playing 4 player all by herself. I sigh and decide to just wait it out. She finally finishes the last ball on the fourth player, turns around to look at me and pushes the credit button 4 more times.
At this point, I say " Excuse me, I'm standing in line to play too." She then waves me off and says " No, I'm playing!".... I look at the Marco guy and he just shrugs.
Having a blast, but noticing a different vibe here than at PPE and PAGG.
You should have shut the game down on her and told her she was done.
Let her raise hell then have a volunteer show her the door.
Quoted from PismoArcade:So last night, I'm standing in line to play METLE. A woman is playing 4 player all by herself. I sigh and decide to just wait it out. She finally finishes the last ball on the fourth player, turns around to look at me and pushes the credit button 4 more times.
At this point, I say " Excuse me, I'm standing in line to play too." She then waves me off and says " No, I'm playing!".... I look at the Marco guy and he just shrugs.
Having a blast, but noticing a different vibe here than at PPE and PAGG.
Yeah, PAGG had a much more friendly vibe. Less "me, me, me!" than here. Still had fun though! Missed out on the big MET pro raffle, but I DID win the Sten shirt in the raffle, so I got something! I'll take it!
Quoted from Kevin_LHeureux:He's my new squeeze!
That's fantastic! A little disappointed there's not fanny pack, but the sweatshirt tied around the waist is a nice consolation
We got there at 11am, beat some of the crowds, but in our first half-hour we were 0 for 6 in trying to start pinball games. (not set on free play or otherwise not available--not counting powered down). I'd say about 25-33% of the machines were off at any given time, but some machines would come back to life while others went dark -- the mix changed throughout the day.
Ultimately I got to play about one-third of the machines that I really wanted to play, either due to long lines or being offline. We still had a good time, but there were too many rude people. Found many "schizophrenic" people playing 4 player games by themselves .... yah...I'm looking at you "Mr ankle socks and fingerless gloves" (Star Wars) and "Mr orange shirt" (Safecracker)
Had one guy finish his game on Star Trek NG, turn around and ask me if I was waiting to play. I said "yes" and then he proceeds to turn back around and press start and play again! WTF?
Maybe people should be required to sign a form stating they've read the basic etiquette guidelines before they are allowed in (heck, make them recite it, like a password!). "One game per person, three balls, no buy-ins, look behind you after each game" ... "you may enter...next" -- at least they can't pretend they didn't know and if they insist on being rude, then you are free to reach around and shut off their machine mid-game.
What's the feeling on people leaving games half-played? I think it's a bit rude -- one should leave the machine in a state ready for the next player to start fresh. Not as rude as playing 4 players by yourself, but still....
My only real gripe is that it cost $160 for a family of four to attend. Not to mention the lines/wait to play the games and it seemed really crowded and was hard to move around. At least the AC was working and the place never got too warm.
Wish there were more vendors as well...
Quoted from tracelifter:You should have shut the game down on her and told her she was done.
Let her raise hell then have a volunteer show her the door.
Unless it was a volunteer hogging the machine (I came across it more than once...)
Quoted from selmo:Unless it was a volunteer hogging the machine (I came across it more than once...)
Especially if it is a volunteer they should know better.
Went yesterday, machine layout very poor, many inside corners which greatly limit space to play and if more than one playing forget it. They located KP, BBB in a cul-de-sac plus a few more cul-de-sac's which make it very crowded when playing together. Really hid "Whoa Nellie" also. Still haven't figured the reasoning for the entry process. I must say this was my first time going to the show and possibly my last as not really impressed by it. PAGG had a better variety of games to play. Courtesy was pretty much out the window and really did not notice any floor walkers to help remind people of it.
Got to chill with a bunch of great pinsiders this weekend including ZDoor, Hemi, TwinMice, Dude Abides, Xscrapiron, MrBellMan, DrBond and many more! Thanks for the great times guys!
oh babies.......... why do you have to be born the day before CAX! hahahaha man I wanted to go, but having another child and future pinball player is incredible next year I wont miss it. So any Star Trek news? how was the Gary Stern talk?
I had a great time catching up with Pismoarcade, and I got to meet spybryon which was awesome, too bad it was not until 15 minutes before I had to leave.
I think I played rollergames more than any other machine. I was not into it at PAGG but I really liked it this time. Moved back up near the top of my wishlist.
Got to play some great EM's. My favorite was Night Rider which I played a bunch, I really want one now. Pat Hand was great too. Wizard always fun of course. I wish Eight Ball was not in the tourney, looked like some other great EM's in the tourney area as well.
I also enjoyed superman, what a great widebody.
I too was disappointed that many games were down for the count. WCS94, HH, The getaway was not working properly and multi ball was impossible to start.
I think if you go to CAX with the idea of only playing pinball you are missing out on half of the point, its not just a pinball show, its also a video game show. I got to play some great ones 720, Paperboy, Tapper, tons of classics and rare ones.
While I don't think CAX is perfect by any means now that PPE is gone for now (or forever) we need to be thankful, support, and have fun at whatever local shows we can get. I was trying to think about how crazy it would be to get all of these games in one place, setting up must be insane. Thank you to those that out it on, and those that volunteer so that we can all play some pinball.
Quoted from mummite:how was the Gary Stern talk?
Nothing too eventful. Went over the history of the company, pumped up MET big time, Broke down the demographics they're marketing and making pins for, etc. Typical stuff. No news whatsoever on the new title(s), he specifically said he wouldn't answer any questions pertaining to future releases. Althought there were a couple little things:
-made hints that the new title is giving them difficulties. Can't remember the exact wording of what he said, but it was thrown in at some point during him answering a question. Whatever he said gave me the inclination that the title they're currently working on is taking longer or needing more attention than they anticipated, and we're working double to make it happen. As I said, can't remember exactly what was said, I just remember having the feeling of that sentiment.
-Softly confirmed that Stern will be using more hand drawn custom art packages on future title(s) in development.
Was asked directly about whether or not Jack, Pop or any of the other guys making pins have motivated Stern to step their game up, to which Gary sidestepped and said they Stern is not in competition with other pinball makers, as they consider amusements in general to be their competition....which made sense to me. They don't have to make their games to be more desirable than a WOZ or PRED or BHZA, they have to make them more desirable than all the crap we see at Dave and Busters and the like. They step their game up because ticket games and video games are what make pinball sales diminish to the general operator/casual, so they gotta compete with that, not JJ or Spooky. I dunno, made total sense to me....whether or not it was a calculated smoke screen answer to a question they no doubt get at just about every seminar.
Well I never had any problems. Never saw anyone playing 4 player games or starting again without looking.
Played lots of games, tried classics, watched the finals.
Missed the whoa nelly though, passed on wozzzz, played a lot of kp, had a really great time for my first cax, no complaints here.
Didn't meet any pinsiders but then I didn't ask anyone either.
Here's my photos from saturday. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellboarder/sets/72157634647721234/
Quoted from extraballingtmc:Well I never had any problems. Never saw anyone playing 4 player games or starting again without looking.
Played lots of games, tried classics, watched the finals.
Missed the whoa nelly though, passed on wozzzz, played a lot of kp, had a really great time for my first cax, no complaints here.
Didn't meet any pinsiders but then I didn't ask anyone either.
Sweet! I was with my wife and kid, so I couldn't sit and watch the tourney like I would have liked to. Who won it all? Keith?
Quoted from PismoArcade:So last night, I'm standing in line to play METLE. A woman is playing 4 player all by herself. I sigh and decide to just wait it out. She finally finishes the last ball on the fourth player, turns around to look at me and pushes the credit button 4 more times.
At this point, I say " Excuse me, I'm standing in line to play too." She then waves me off and says " No, I'm playing!".... I look at the Marco guy and he just shrugs.
Having a blast, but noticing a different vibe here than at PPE and PAGG.
At which point I would have said "No, you're not. Beat it!", with an extra mean look. What a biatch!
Quoted from Rcade:Sweet! I was with my wife and kid, so I couldn't sit and watch the tourney like I would have liked to. Who won it all? Keith?
Jim Belsito won. Keith 2nd
Quoted from smassa:Jim Belsito won. Keith 2nd
Nice! Thanks for the results
Much thanks to everyone who put on the show!! It was my first time and I quickly learned that coming for a 1/2 day wasn't nearly enough time. Was able to patronize Nifty LED and Starship Fantasy.
I still don't have the nerve to lend my own pins, but hopefully I will someday as I'd like to do my part.
Quoted from selmo:Here's my photos from saturday. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellboarder/sets/72157634647721234/
Huge props on the great photos from the show. Great composition.
CAX was awesome!
Got to run into my good buddies jonnyo and fattrain. Zucot didn't show up till sunday. Probably good since I hogged all the Sterns, and probably destroyed his high score on Metallica Premium. Also got to meet pinsiders I had never met, including endofline and daniel from niftyLED. I really wanted to meet up with Hemi, and personally thank him for being one of the first to do mods to our favorite new pins, AC/DC.
Seeing Mummite play someone else's Avengers LE would have been cool (the guys from Pinball Refinery's brought a pimped out Hulk LE...and possibly the sickest/prettiest/outrageous example of an Iron Man ever seen), but was understandably absent with his growing family. Grats on the baby btw, Mummite!
NiftyLED were a good bunch of dudes btw. They ran a raffle with procedes going to pinside, but also had LED'd games on free play (some vendors only have them for show); allowing people to get a chance to play Metallica Pro, Batman Dark Knight, Fish Tales, and Medieval Madness with relatively short lines. Any vendor that opens up more machines for attendee play, rocks in my book!
Huge thanks to the organizers, venders, volunteers, and those that brought games for others enjoyment. A ton of work goes into this type of event by a large group of people. The East Bay Pinball crew broght a lot of pins for the event just as they did for PAGG. Marco had a great display of Metallica Premiums and a Pro with huge monitors and serious speakers. So cool of them to bring so many examples of a new pin to give more pinheads a chance to play it for the first time. Nifty Led brought some great pins and nice display of the LEDs they offer.
It was great to see some familiar faces and meet some of you all for the first time. Got to meet Gio & Steve the Pinball Refinery crew. Very nice guys that put in some serious effort to share their work with the community. I love the things they continue to come up with for us modding addicts out here. Of course I had to pick up their painted XM figures which look even better in person. They brought some beautifully modded pins Metallica Premium, Hulk, IM, & AC/DC Premium.
I had an absolute blast and found myself a bit sad there will be no PPE this year. Thanks again to everyone that helped pull this event off it was awesome.
Man, sorry to hear about the rude people. PAGG was almost entirely free of that kind of nonsense, I guess it attracted a more hardcore pin crowd.
Quoted from bklossner:I was soooo tempted to buy Gary Stern a drink after his lecture. Courtney and I found ourselves a couple seats away from him at the bar afterwards.
Just do it! Why not?
Quoted from PismoArcade:So last night, I'm standing in line to play METLE. A woman is playing 4 player all by herself. I sigh and decide to just wait it out. She finally finishes the last ball on the fourth player, turns around to look at me and pushes the credit button 4 more times.
At this point, I say " Excuse me, I'm standing in line to play too." She then waves me off and says " No, I'm playing!".... I look at the Marco guy and he just shrugs.
WOW usually at that point id be like, "which player am I on this game"? Or "add me in"! Pinball is supposed to be social not something you do by yourself locked alone in a room.
I'd just like to point out one thing if you see people playing multi player games themselves. I always look back to see if people are waiting of course.
However sometimes I came across abanondoned 2-4 player games which I had to finish off. I didn't feel like power cycling. So keep it in mind before assuming someone did intentionally. Also I started up 2 player games by accident sometimes.
I only met one pinsider this weekend, Practicalsteve. I had my pinside badge on the whole weekend starting Friday. I am pretty sure I also saw mof, but forgot his real name and only remembered who it was later. 
Quoted from dsuperbee:Had a wedding to attend, so couldn't make it. Oh well. Always next year! Bummed about PPE, so no more California shows til next May, which is way too long.
This really bums me out as well. I have started thinking I may need to go out of town for one of the big ones in the fall. If I was going to do this, anyone have any advice which is the one to go to?
I only met one pinsider this weekend, Practicalsteve. I had my pinside badge on the whole weekend starting Friday. I am pretty sure I also saw mof, but forgot his real name and only remembered who it was later.
Wish I could have hung out longer, let me know if you buy any pins you don't have space for, lots of room in my gameroom!
Quoted from Kevin_LHeureux:Huge props on the great photos from the show. Great composition.
Thanks! It was challenging conditions (low & bright light mixed, glare, people, etc.).
We had a great time. Thanks to all the Pinsiders who stopped by and said hi and played the games. It was great to put faces with the names
It's nice reading all the comments from the people who attended. Unfortunately had to keep the wife happy and take the family on vacation to Southern California. Definitely going to make it next year. Hopefully there will be more curious people there. Probably need to get Pinsider t-shirts for us to wear to events like this so we can get to know each other better.
Quoted from tracelifter:You should have shut the game down on her and told her she was done.
Let her raise hell then have a volunteer show her the door.
I so wanted to but; (1) I hate confrontation and (2) I would have probably been 86ed for turning the machine off. I took the path of least resistance and walked away.
Quoted from Rcade:Yeah, PAGG had a much more friendly vibe. Less "me, me, me!" than here. Still had fun though! Missed out on the big MET pro raffle, but I DID win the Sten shirt in the raffle, so I got something! I'll take it!
That shirt was bad ass! My tickets numbers were super close to the Metallica winner. You might have heard my muffled "F#@!" when the last two numbers were read.
Quoted from selmo:We got there at 11am, beat some of the crowds, but in our first half-hour we were 0 for 6 in trying to start pinball games. (not set on free play or otherwise not available--not counting powered down). I'd say about 25-33% of the machines were off at any given time, but some machines would come back to life while others went dark -- the mix changed throughout the day.
Ultimately I got to play about one-third of the machines that I really wanted to play, either due to long lines or being offline. We still had a good time, but there were too many rude people. Found many "schizophrenic" people playing 4 player games by themselves .... yah...I'm looking at you "Mr ankle socks and fingerless gloves" (Star Wars) and "Mr orange shirt" (Safecracker)
Had one guy finish his game on Star Trek NG, turn around and ask me if I was waiting to play. I said "yes" and then he proceeds to turn back around and press start and play again! WTF
Yeah, I was kind of taken back with the sense of entitlement displayed by a handful of people. You're right on the machines;...also, many of them were not set on free play, although it got better on Sunday. The Simpson's video game took up a bunch of real estate and was off the entire weekend.
Quoted from practicalsteve:I had a great time catching up with Pismoarcade, and I got to meet spybryon which was awesome, too bad it was not until 15 minutes before I had to leave.
While I don't think CAX is perfect by any means now that PPE is gone for now (or forever) we need to be thankful, support, and have fun at whatever local shows we can get. I was trying to think about how crazy it would be to get all of these games in one place, setting up must be insane. Thank you to those that out it on, and those that volunteer so that we can all play some pinball.
....but this is the reason it was worth attending; hanging out with Pinsider's PracticalSteve, Fireball2, Reefkpr, Mark & Maryanne and a couple of others who's names escape me. Not only is Steve a great asset to Pinside, but he's also a super nice guy that's passionate about pinball.
The Nifty LED guy and the Pinball Arcade guy were very cool. After Gary Stern's seminar, I got a Metallica poster signed by GS and Dirty Donny!
Thanks to everyone responsible for putting CalEx on this year. Despite my whining, I'll be back next year.
Quoted from selmo:Thanks! It was challenging conditions (low & bright light mixed, glare, people, etc.).
I didn't manage to meet anyone from here, but it was fun meeting a few new people and seeing friends from past shows. I payed quite a few games, but kept going back to the Pinball Refinery booth. Those games were absolutely incredible! It will take some time to save up, but I see AC/DC and Metallica PR versions coming to my garage one of these days. Giovanni and Steve were great to talk to, and obviously love modding these pins. Their dedication shows...brightly.
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Patterson, CA
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