I don't know if maybe you're thinking of somewhere else, but until about 3pm, the game hall was pretty packed. At 3pm because it was pouring, a couple big vendors talked with me and asked if I minded if they packed up early because their drive would be much longer and I said no, but we still had easily at least 2/3rd of the machines in the hall still up and running for at least another hour there. There is still a TON to do at the show on Sunday.

Random weird fact, Sunday's show attendance last year was higher than Saturday.

REALLY?!?

The crowds didn't seem as big. Maybe Saturday has more "all-dayers" and Sunday has more come and go?

Jaz

Last year was straight weird. Walkup sales doubled Saturday last year. Presales for Saturday were amazingly high for last year, which we almost never sold any single day tickets in advance before last year, but the doubling of walk ups made Sunday have about 200 more attendees than Saturday had.

I do think that a number of the two day ticket holders only hang out for part of the day, either they sleep in for a while for various reasons, or leave a bit early.

I had one of the worst hang overs that day and we did leave late.... I had to be in Iowa for work that night and didn't get to the twin cities until 11 or 12am. So maybe it was later than I thought? I guess late afternoon people were pulling out.

I gotta agree.

Going from the transition from two years ago to last year being in a much larger room for pins/vids, I was very impressed with the amount of games that were available for play. Major props to the crew and everyone who brought games. I never thought they would be able to fill it when I was there on Friday but the games just kept coming and coming.....

Very impressive show.

I think youre exagerating a bit the hall was 3/4 full at the end of the show if you want to see a stripped out Sunday gameroom goto Chicago pinball expo Saturday the game room will be full Sunday morning you'll be lucky if the gameroom has 1/4 the games.
I for one keep my games there till Sunday when they turn off the power, I suppose its either becouse I believe in leaving them there till the end or well Im hung over and not looking forward to breaking them down again lol.

Yeah Im a bit concerned about this Im sure the machine will get turned off alot becouse people wont figure out you need to use the right flipper button to shoot the ball lol.

I would just tape a small note on the glass near the right flipper or put a clear note on the apron card...

Jaz

You'de think the flashing use right flipper to shoot ball would be enough lol

I'm not familiar with this specific game... but yea, that should be...

I'd love to stay as long as I could, but a GF, work and a 7+ hour drive...makes that sort of difficult.

ya I think I felt it was earlier...I was moaning in the corner for a while from the hangover so I wasn't up on the "time". Have to ask pinheadpuck...I think we stayed until 4-5?

Is this the Northvibe tears of sorrow sub forum?

Should be. I think Ive whined a few too many times. soooo beer........

Parnell can't help it he's from MN. If they aren't whining about their sports teams they whine about life in MN. You can never win.

Chris

Thanks for explaining it Chris We do however have a very good WNBA team!

I like your style. I'm looking forward to catching up at PC or MGC.

See ya soon.

I can't wait! We are gonna be ridiculous!!!!!

It's eight days later and I STILL can't believe you used the qualifiers "on the web" and "sometimes"!

Sorry, the one spot in the vehicle is already claimed by something else that's much more rare.

nope

You could bring yours too. Then it'd seem abundant.

A machine not fully loaded with LEDs?

Ayup. Doesn't count as a repeat because last year it was a 1.0.

If he wasn't, I was. but he is, so I'm not. Mine looks like the slutty sister next to his, rode hard and hung up wet. Unless two were needed, which does not seem to be the case.

I was going to bring one but decided against it. They only offer 1 ticket and I am going with the wife.
Bad design. Bad for building trust, friends with our wives in this hobby.

I know, "have her bring a game"...Yeah you tell her that she is not sold on this hobby she dabbles. Adding roadblocks to inclusion she will never care about inclusion. Losing half supporting wives in this hobby will end the future of the new home arcade movement.

I'm assuming you're talking about tickets to the after-party. If so, then I'm sorry you feel that way. But, that is the policy and I don't expect it to change. Quite honestly, of the many people I talk to, the people like yourself who are unable (due to space) to bring 2 games (to get a 2nd ticket for a wife or a child) are small in number. If we changed the policy, there would be people (I know this for sure) who would only bring 1 game instead of 2 or more. There are others who bring quite a few games and have extra tickets. As I indicated to you, I suggest you see who has an extra ticket you might use. As Whysnow indicated, offer to help one of those guys out loading his games. As Dan indicated in the information I sent you, perhaps having you and/or your wife offer to volunteer would be an option. There a bunch of options...

The show is open from 10am-8pm on Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday. Tickets to the show are available for purchase. If that isn't enough exposure for her, then I've listed other options for the after-party above.

Jaz

I tried to market myself as an important vendor at the fair that brings in a lot of customers... but that doesn't warrant a pass to the after party. I only started going to mgc because of the vendor sales, but it sounds like the rules are pretty solid in terms of who gets into the after party. Either bring a machine or pay some guy $10 who has 25 passes

I looking to buy a Williams Champagne Fire pinball machine and a Flash Gordon. I hope someone brings one or both!

Hilton said that really well. Just like he said, the after party comes down to us maintaining the correct ratio of people to machines so it is special. I get that some people wish it was higher, and Whysnow gives you some great ideas on how to potentially get extras.

I also say this every year and it's true, Gary and I risk a LOT of money on the show and it's always a really close thing on if the show makes money or not. Increasing the after party costs greatly isn't really an option. Heck, as of right now, almost sold out, the Friday Night VIG is going to lose us a bunch of money. We need that to basically sell out to break even.

Hope you understand, and if you choose not to bring a machine I support your choice. But, I hope that those that do have a great time, and I'm working to make that happen as best as possible!

Oh, and since I'm posting, I would LOVE it if everyone went and liked us on Facebook and then used the "tell a friend" feature to send it to everyone in your friends lists. We're again spending way more money this year than last to put on the best show possible, and getting your friends to sign up and tell their friends would help us save a few advertising bucks

Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/MGCgaming

And here's a super cute baby in Mario ears from last year. My baby. I get to be a proud papa

IMAG2712-e1427292199744[1].jpg

Never offered. What was offered was to hope to find someone with extras.....drive all the way there on hope. I suggested options also and received no response.

Really that all I hear MGC's about. She would be going alone to the hotel in a place she knows nobody at 8:30 at night.

This is my first time coming to MGC the work alone to borrow someones truck to come is huge. Then gas. We have to visit family the night before in madison and staying at another hotel. So the truck needs a topper. That limits the amount of pins I can take.

As I said before this will be my first time going now probably my last. Everyone I talk to says saturday night is where its at. So sounds like its not really a family or wife show. Sounds like it wants to be a drunk penis fest. I getting a little old for that.

To the flurry of response and blind cheerleading by whysnow. This was the answer to the topic "why more games are not getting to MGC" if you don't like the answer don't pose the question.

Was not even offered that. That actually seems somewhat fair.

Yeah Because you offended a large group of people by the policy. Those people are not coming. You are missing a whole market. Its marketed to support dude fest. So you get dude fest.

Honestly, if you're so angry about it, just don't come to the show. It's been the policy forever. We can't change it without making things drastically different. And if the show is going to be worthless to you without Saturday night, something that *less than 3% of the overall show attendance went to last year*, then just don't bother.

We purposely don't try to run the show like other shows. If you want one with a later gameroom open, I *support* you in that decision. Pinball Expo's game room is open almost all of the time and there is no party that I know of to worry about.

A lot of people love the afterparty because of what it is. We're not actually hard up for games this year - we thought we were for like three days, and now we're back to making contingency plans about where to put the overflow, which is great.

I definitely encourage people to bring what they can, but what the show is actually about is sharing your love of gaming with others. If our policies are making it so that you can't do that, we have failed and I would be happy to refund your money tickets or anything purchased in advance. Feel free to contact me via PM if that is your decision with the email you used, and we can get it taken care of right away.

Thats exactly what my wife would do.

This is the reason the policy makes no sense. 8:30 is to early to end a night for most people. 9:30s about right.

I see MGC side. Food and party supplies have cost. Only so much room. Only so many pins.

Now my wife would eat little to nothing in a public food display (more of a hand food, guy thing). She plays pins randomly spends more time looking at every pin till she find the perfect one, plays one game and start the search again. She learning pinball, the adventure is more fun. Third note she is small and takes up little space.

There needs to be a better way to keep wives involved to a normal bed time. If I can get my wife to bed happy. Thats when I get to be like a little boy again. Drinking and playing pins till the late hour. As fellow pinheads who have wives we should understand this. When Wifes happy pin hobby continues. When the Wifes not happy no more pins. So really its about the future of pinball. Inclusion or exclusion. We need the numbers if this hobbies going to continue.

Nope, having a discussion about it. I don't agree thats what discussion forums are for. You yourself told me to join the conversation. Thats why I answered the question of the topic. "why more games are not coming". To discuss it.

If you dont like feedback change the policy.

If you still decide to come, you'll see that this is what the actual show time is all about. We have the most 'foot traffic' of any show because we are all about promoting to families to show their kids what these games of old were like, and the people who get turned on and included in pinball world is a huge part of that.

We close the halls at 8pm on Saturday night because the show is put on by hundreds of people (not just in the pinball side of it) that are fans and not earning anything for doing it other than the love of showing off their stuff. By closing at 8pm, we allow those people to have a 10 hour day, and not be totally burnt out. I can't imagine going longer, personally, and we've had a lot of vendors, exhibitors, and VIPs thank us for that policy. It's also why the show is only two days long. Our show is also only two days long for the same reason.

To help understand the policy, we also had a problem when we were growing, which is that a lot of people were disappointed that they would bring out their machine to try to meet and chat with other local collectors, and they wouldn't get the opportunity. The After Party was started as a way to specifically address that need / want / concern, while still addressing what our mission is - which is to share as much gaming with as many people as possible. We wanted to make a relaxed spot where you could hang out and talk with the people that brought the machines.

A huge part of that is ensuring that the after party is equal or less than one person per machine. The last year that the party was in the old hall (2013), and we had 50 machines out in the hall so it was packed in the room with more than one person per machine, the mix wasn't right. And that year, we were about one and a half people to one machine. If we go up to two people per machine, the party will be packed.

Whysnow and others have mentioned ideas about how you can go about doing stuff to get the extra tickets, but the reason that there is no guarantee is because there is no guarantee on them unless you can find someone to help out.

Again, I understand that you're angry and disappointed. It's just how this thing grew, and I think even if you didn't do anything at the after party you'd have fun at the show if you don't let it ruin it for you. I'm sorry that this is what it is.

People who bring stuff to Expo basically become part of the show... you get access to the hall and the entire 5 days becomes a party so to speak... BUT there is an actual 'bumper blast' setup party Wed night that is catered and open to anyone who happens to be there hauling stuff in. No tickets or headcounting required.

I don't mind the feedback at all.

Having said that, you said the rest of the show is worthless. I said we're not changing the policy, but I'd be happy to refund your money if you really feel that way. No problem, no questions asked. But, we're not going to change the after party policy that has worked for so long for the majority of the people without incident to create something that we feel is special. And I'm sorry if that disappoints you, I truly am.

Really? I did not know it closed that early. What do the regular show-attendees do the rest of the night; is there anything else going on in town? That seems pretty early for Sat.

Right, but you also get access to the hall at our show the whole time. Wednesday, last I was there, you do need a ticket. That was how I got in?