I have to agree with this. It's especially hard for for those of us that aren't local. I'd bring 2 games if that meant we'd get 2 weekend passes. But for my wife and I to get in "free" we would need to bring 4. When we went to TPF this year we brought 2 games and received 2 weekend passes, 2 goodie bags that included a poster, custom challenge coin, TPF branded cup, and a few more things I'm probably forgetting. The drive to Dallas is longer but the incentives make the trip worth it.

yeah, it is completely nuts to try and give out only the current incentives for bringing TWO games. That should be the incentive for bringing ONE game in order to be comparable to other shows.

1 game = 1 weekend pass, 1 after party pass at minimum. Ideall some bonus perks on top of that if the game stays the whole weekend.

top it all off that this show has a super high entry fee of $85 for a weekend gen admission pass.

I contemplated driving out the 14hrs this year but looking at the incentives and it is not worth it.

I know a lot of pinheads that own an suv, have never towed a trailer, and therefore can’t bring two games. Why bring one game if you don’t get anything at all, especially compared to other shows that give you one at minimum one free weekend pass for bringing that one game?

I think the bring a game perks are pretty good. I have brought many games over the years and appreciate the perks. Also The show has a party for people that bring games to the show at another time during the year. The show provides food and drinks for not only the folks that bring games, but the families of us crazy pinball people. Dan and Holly are great people and do this for the pinball community.

Here are the current perks for bringing games. From the Pinball Showdown Webage...

We encourage you to share your love of pinball and classic arcade by bringing your games for the free play floor. Bring your games and receive over $300 in value for every two machines:
One complimentary 3-day general admission for yourself;
Exclusive Bring-a-Game Hours Fri. 11 pm - 1 am entrance for you and one guest (who must have a Fri. or 3-day general admission ticket);
Exclusive Bonus Play Hours on both Sat. and Sun. 9 am - 10 am entrance for you and one guest (who must have a corresponding Sat., Sun., or 3-day general admission ticket);
Private Special Guest Meet and Greet Fri. and Sat. 5 pm entrance for you and one guest (who must have a corresponding Fri., Sat. or 3-day general admission ticket);
Exclusive Bring-a-Game Party -- catered lunch, drinks and free pinball games -- invitation for you and one guest;
One customized festival badge (for printed name, must purchase by 5/15);
One collectible enamel festival pin;
One For Sale sign if you are seeking to sell one game;
Unlimited appreciation and admiration from the Colorado pinball and gamer community -- priceless.
Bring one game machine and receive one half-price 3-day general admission (you pay $40 for a $220 value), one entrance per event above, one For Sale sign, one festival badge, and one pin.

I agree that the current incentives aren’t worth it. If you are trying to have the show grow you have to have games there to do it. Give people a reason to want to bring games. It really bums me out that if I bring 2 games, my dad or myself still have to pay for a weekend pass for the event. Where is the incentive in that? I think we can all agree that it’s no easy job moving games around. Breaking down, moving, hauling, and driving 2 hours with 4 games isn’t exactly easy work for 2 passes. We had more incentives driving 12 hours with 2 games going to TPF like mentioned above. You can’t have an event unless people bring games. I’ve almost contemplated skipping the showdown and just fly out to the Tacoma show or something instead if I’m going to spend the same amount of money.

You want to have a big show, give people a reason to help you IMHO.

I could load 1 game in the back of my Jeep, but to bring two is much more difficult so I don’t bother at all.

WTF? I bought it from a homeowner, it's been in my collection for 2 years, where would you even come up with something like this?

I've been saying this for years. I'm local, and I want to bring a game, but the logistics for me hurt. I have to take a day off work, break down and load a game from my basement, people are usually around to help setup. It's a lot of effort, then on top of that, I have to pay 1/2 price to get into the show because you don't get a pass unless you bring two. Way too much effort for a $35 discount.

I don't get the thinking here. I understand it is a big undertaking to drag games out of your basement or game room to bring to the show. Its really not about the money to me. I do it to share my games and give back to the pinball community. Its like having a classic car that just sits in your garage, only you appreciate it. I truly enjoy sharing my efforts of bringing a game back from the dead and watching others enjoy it. I'm sure all of you Pinsiders will agree, there is nothing like going to a show and seeing that one game you never see, and its tuned great and you get to spend the weekend playing it! The person that brought that game most likely did it out of passion for Pinball, not because they got in free. That's what this should be about.

The Denver show is in line with many other shows around the country for bring games incentives. Tacoma is 1-2 games for one pass as well. have to bring 3-4 for two passes, same as Golden State.

If your griping about money and you own multiple games, you probably should find another hobby. Aint nothin cheep about pinball... Shouldn't a hobby be about passion? Any hobby you need to put effort into to truly have it become rewarding. If your in it for the money, its not a hobby!

Too many people want to bitch about every little detail they don't like. BE HAPPY pinball and these shows exist! Support your local shows, Help them to succeed. None of these shows owners are killing it on running these shows. They do it for pinball! Try running one of these events your self and see how many hours you put into it, then put up with the people that just want to complain. We are truly lucky these people have thick skins and continue to have a passion for Pinball and continue year after year to make these shows as great as they are able to. Put your self in these peoples shoes!

Sorry to hi-jack this thread... Sorry for venting, Ill get of my soap box now.

Pinside is way to toxic these days, its sad.

The reality is that the CO show is not in line with the incentives of other good shows (MGC, TPF, etc...) At those 1 game = 1 pass/party
You need to also understand while this is a passion for most of us and we do it for the love, many times the show organizers are doing this for a business and these shows can make big money. Some make upwards of 60k for a single show. Those profits only come if there are the games to run the shows.

I would love to support the CO show and bring a game, but the incentives just dont add up for the effort. I would love to make a trip out to see my brother and bring 2 games and hang out for a weekend, but 2 games = 1 pass/party just does not work and instead of 2 more games the show will end up with zero games. Sucks because I would love to help out (I always do) and despite the negative things I have heard about the organizer from many, I am fine with him making a hefty profit for his efforts of putting the show on, but the incentives need to match up for the collectors also.

This is esp true when there are so many great shows to support and be part of. Always great to support your local show, but lets be honest that after the game is loaded the extra effort to support a show that takes care of collectors/game bringers even if it means a little more travel is not hard to overcome.

Demographics, Some areas are just more expensive to run shows at. Overhead is higher. Look at property values around each of these shows we are talking about. Each show does what they can to make things work. Yes they all make money for their time. Who can blame them for that. But is this their only source of income? Don't think so. And i would venture to say a good part of the money made goes back into the show for the next year.

I hope the lack of incentives doesn't keep you from visiting your brother and coming to the show to at least hang out and give your support. If you come out, look me up, lets play some games. Ill be at the show all weekend helping with whatever I can.

Lem

I guess this is why my dumbass hauled 7 games 9 hours (one way) last year to the show mostly by myself. No wait, it was for the goodie bag!

These shows don’t exist without people bringing games. It all goes hand in hand

Hey look at it this way. Pinball shows could be ran like car shows where you have to pay to bring your cars....

A pinball show is no where near the same as a car show. Plus most car show registrations are not more than $20 and usually you get a decent goodie bag.

does it cost to try and sell a game at the show?

I don't believe so. But ask the show. I've never sold anything there.

I wouldn't put this show in that category. I think its meant to be smaller otherwise it wouldn't be scheduled against NWPS which is of that caliber. I think it's own thing, smaller and meant to draw in those who can't make it to those big shows.

I don't see this as much of a financial venture, and would guess the direction serves two masters, they can't do without the funds and probably can't manage more games than they are getting now.

I don't like it, I'd like a bigger show as a local, but the effort and risk to managing that doesn't seem to have much buy-in from the community, but do agree with it as a wise choice to make it sustainable and reliable as an annual event.

its just weird that if one of the perks is getting a for sale sign, if like you can just put on a piece of paper saying for sale on the back glass, not sure how thats a perk lol.

Ya but nobody gets to touch your car let alone put 700 miles on it.

So toxic here. All I can say is support your local shows.

I still think its worth just bringing one game to get access to the extra hours and just spend $40 if you dont want to bring two. Honestly if someone offered me $85 dollars to move 2 pinball machines to a storage unit across town for the weekend i would have no interest, so its really not about the financial incentives. Its about showing off your cool stuff that lives in your dark basement the rest of the year where none of your friends come to challenge your scores because they are all lame and dont like you that much. Or maybe they are just not pinheads. So why not bring the games to a place full of pinheads once a year instead? It sounds fun to me.

It is though. If you bring a game, you have to pay $42.50 just to have access to it for tuning and fixing for all three days.

appreciate the offer

What is the last thing you spent $42.50 on? It was probably stupid, just like your haircut. And you were not going to tune it anyways. JK about the haircut, I’m sure it looks great. You should bring a game though (thumbs up)

Bring any 1 game and get ALL the stuff for free--you'd have 300+ games easy.

How many pin-nerds are there as a % of attendees anyway? I can't imagine it'd be that much of a hit...I could be way off and probably am(as usual). I agree, support the show, community---all that feel good stuff. BUT, as has been said, for the avg Joe to bring even 1 game is actually a pretty big commitment...speaking as someone that gets 1 year older every year, these things aren't getting any lighter and most people have an SUV at best.

Maybe solicit a moving company sponsorship and recruit volunteers to make a run to pick up games from decrepit and/or lazy people?

Dude relax, I was just making a joke, don't get your panties in a bunch. I thought it was the same game that has been cycling through other pinsiders collections recently. How many HUO Bay Watch's do you come across in Denver? Anyway good luck with your sale, it is a great deal for someone.

I do agree with others that Dan should change the requirements for bringing a game. One game gets one day pass-period. I personally do not care about after hour parties, etc. I usually go Friday afternoon for couple hours or maybe a couple hours on Sunday morning. I have completely given up on attending on Saturday because I do not like waiting to play pinball and some of the lines are ridiculous and take 20 minutes or longer just to get to play a game like TNA. I think there are enough non-pinheads to make a profit off of, and people who bring a game should get in free. To me it is not about the money-but about the principle.

Im ready to part with my HUO TWD LE. I bought it NIB and dont play very much. There's probably only a couple of hundred plays on it. Has a few various mods and a color dmd. Asking 8k. Pics coming to the CL listing or PM me your cell and I can text photos.

I agree with you that the after hours can get a bit late, but bring a game people also get to play both saturday and sunday from 9AM to 10AM where as the general hours start at 10am both days. That fits the schedules of morning people like myself much better.

I have met Dan and he seems like a genuine pinhead. He puts up almost 100k of his own money for the expo each year, and an expo that flops could seriously hurt him financially. He generally does not break even until Sunday, so it is a very stressful weekend for him. I am sure that he has put sufficient thought into the best incentives to provide to keep everyone happy while still giving him some peace of mind that he hopefully wont be financial hurt over it. The expo has been quite successfully the past few years but there have been hard years too and he has stuck with it for 15 years. So props to Dan! I don't think we should try to tell him how to run the expo, im just glad that he does it and happy to bring games to it.

big ups to Game Exchange bringing 39 pins and KMac is lined up for 21, over 40% of the 138 pins listed to show up!

Quick question, is RMPS on this list the show organizer?

If so, it appears he is only bringing 1 game himself... Appears that bringing 2 games is not worth the incentive to him either.
https://www.pinballshowdown.com/game-list.html

No he isn't.

That is a different Dan. Looks like Dan N, who runs the show is bringing one under RMPS, an Evel Knievel

Thanks for the confirmation.

It's not about $42.50. It is my opinion that we shouldn't have to pay anything to bring a game to the show.

Its still cheaper to bring a game than to not, so you are not really paying money to bring the game, assuming you would have gone anyways. And if you were not planning on going otherwise, then im not sure why you care enough to even post about it.

Not exactly. When I bring a game I go all three days, if for no other reason than to just check on the game. Last year I didn't bring a game and just went on Saturday. Your logic doesn't hold up.

A one day pass is $33 so you paid $6 to get access to the other days and extra hours by bringing one game. I personally think its worth $6 to go the extra 2 days to see all the different speakers.

Not directly related to FS/FT but thought I'd let other Coloradoans know that my MMr is now on Main St downtown in Grand Junction. It is at The Lonely Toy Store aka Apex Piercing, 655 Main across from the Avalon.

At the risk of re-igniting the debate...I'd pay $40 per pin all day long if someone wants to move games of mine between locations in Boulder. PM me if you're interested.

Yeah I’d have no problems bringing 20 games but it’s just not worth it and too much work.

Yea i agree that 20 sounds like it would be hard, props to Blizzard Mountain Pinball and Game Exchange! I am bringing 4, probably all I've got in me to manage.

Lowered the price of my really nice Judge Dredd on CL. Has a great playfield, Color DMD and power coating. $3,200 cash to anyone here. A heavy wide body that I don't want to move into the basement, hence the final price drop. If I get no bites at this price, will keep it.

After all your the Keeper!

No Kidding! Just talking to him about the show at memory lane makes me think he is one in a million for what he does to put that show on every year. From what I have heard around the country at what can happen to these shows once the people that put them on decide they are done, we need to be really thankful for Dan and what he does. This show would most likely be dead if he were to decide he is done....

denver.craigslist.org link

Vintage Star Trek Pinball Table $500

Posted a couple games today. I am planning on heading up to RMPS and could possibly bring 1-2 if someone is interested. Thanks.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/64015 - Pinbot

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/64012 - Devil Riders

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/64011 - Lot of 3 games - Shangri La, Surfers, Hawaii

Looking for an embryon for sale or trade. Thanks