We draw a significant amount of the general population. We've offered things in the hotel bar like bands last year for instance for them to do, and we've generally had less than 50 people take us up on it.

Anytime I've been there on Wed, no one's ever asked me or anyone I know for any tickets. Might be that the Ohio and CPM guys are known to Mike and his crew so they never bother. If someone was there and wanted in, all they'd need to do is help load or setup games anyway.

Well yea, people go to MCG to play games, not watch bands. If I were there without afterparty access, I'd be bored silly Sat night. 8pm is prime time... after diner, where to play games?? :/

The rest of the show is awesome. All kinds of games and pins.

Guess I am not the only one. Keep letting them know. My wife is super understanding she let me buy way more pins then I should. But leaving her high and dry at 8:30 out of town that really asking a lot.

I don't get what else you want from me. If you truly feel that, then I don't understand why you wouldn't just opt not to go.

I also don't see the same stuff in the thread. I see a lot of people talking about how much they enjoy the afterparty, but no one saying the rest of the show is worthless.

Regardless, I guess we'll find out when the show comes around. If no one other than the few game bringers show up, then that will be the end of the show, and you'll be absolutely right that we should have changed it.

Last year my buddy Matt was talking to some guy and he brought a ton of machines and was selling his extra tickets. So you gotta be in the know with someone.

I love this show and I love the way it is organized. I think this will be my 5th year in a row bringing pins from MN. The first 2 years I ever went I didn't bring machines and still had a lot of fun. So many things to do. And after being there from open to 8 close I was glad to get away. Now I make sure games ready Saturday morning and then see a few things and leave around 12. Come back around 4 or 5 and see more. Then get ready for after party.

It costs money and time to get them there but I enjoy the weekend a lot. It is the weekend every year I really look forward to.

There is so much to see on Saturday it is awesome. If you are purely a pinball guy it may not be show for you. But I am a gaming guy as well and this show has everything. My girlfriend has come with me every year as well. She has a great time chatting with people and walking around the show.

The after party is great. Everyone gets to wind down from a long day and have fun. Packing up on Sunday is always sad knowing I won't see a lot of people till the next show.

The lobby is open 24 hours for people to play games on, and we have a limited amount of games set up in the bar on coin play. Again, neither of these activities has a ton of people at it after the show closes. We've done other things to try to extend Saturday for people and we've never had people take us up on it. We're not going to extend the hours of the rooms for all the volunteers.

One thing that is VERY different about us than your usual show is that we try to attract a mostly local crowd. This probably aids with the lack of post-show stuff happening.

The majority of people who travel meet up with people at the show and then do stuff at night on that day with the people they have met up with at the show. While I understand that there are a lot of people who would love us to be open 24/7 like Expo or some other shows, we know that we would lose content by doing that.

If you failed would you not want to get back on your mission. Not just give up.

What a snarky comment. I just replied to why I said what I said. I stated I dont know for myself. The view came from people's own comments.

Your obviously doing just fine. The guy fest is working I hear that its crowded. But if like you said your true mission was to SHARE with others. Then you are not following that mission. Sure you have people it seems a certin kind of person. Single guys and people from wisconsin who live closer and can bring multiple games.

Throw a show in Minnesota Ill bring 3-4 games. otherwise make a policy that better supports long travel and families.

My suggestion offer a second ticket for wives or kids only. No selling to buddies, or others who could of brought pins. Let that ticket work till 9:30 so our wives and family can get a full night of fun and we can get freedom to party the night away.

I'm in the same boat with tickets. Don't have the capacity to do more than 1. Luckily, I have an arcade owner operator friend who does his own little after hours party. Its pizza and BYOB. I'm not trying to derail the focus of this thread, so please just PM me if you want more info.

Ended it privately. content edited

What's it cost to rent a trailer for a weekend? $60 or $70? It's possible to bring more that 1 if you really want to.

Pinballnut3 did you reach out to anyone bringing multiple games ? And ask them if you could get an after party pass for your wife in exchange for helping them unload or set up their games ? Or some kind of help ?

Well, it worked last year for about 8,200 people who never complained about it like this.

I'm not trying to be snarky and I'm sorry you took it that way. It's just like anything else, if it isn't working you need to change or it will be the end of what it is. That's all that I meant. If this year we have 50 games show up and 8000 people complaining that it was a horrible time, we'll look into changing it - or, we'll go belly up and I will have no one to blame but myself.

The way we look at it again is that we wanted the collector to also be able to share and meet other collectors. I know people throughout the state because of the after party and the show. Honestly, if it wasn't for the after party, I don't think I'd know them. And you're *absolutely* right that it doesn't work for everyone. But what I've also learned from a long time of doing stuff like this is that if you start changing the policy for one person here and there, it makes it nearly impossible to keep things going.

If I were to change the policy to be people that are further can get extra tickets, what is the "correct" distance away to make it so you get two tickets? 200 miles? Then, what if you're 198 miles away, that's ultra crappy, so why not change that?

Before I respond to this I did read through your last email. I know that one of the arcade guys was going to explain to you the policy and try to work something out in person at the show if that didn't work out, either from a 'stash' of tickets he knew of or whatever. We do try to help, really, when possible. Having said that, insulting the main show, calling it worthless, and just demanding that a change needs to be made without giving us anything else doesn't exactly endear me to making a change.

The MGC was actually shut down in 2005 for a year because the show was unmanageable, and we only had 1600 people the year before! What happened was so many people came up and started presenting ideas to us to help the show and so we decided to see what we could do to bring it back, and that's still how it functions. The show literally would not happen without about four hundred people that will it to happen. But the thing is that when suggestions are brought to us, they are done so reasonably (without, for instance, calling the rest of the show worthless) and directly, and then we can talk about how to make it happen.

Now, I'll tell you both that this is a reasonable idea and an interesting one, but one that we wouldn't do this year just because of timing no matter what. I'm willing to explore it. I agree with you that the show is more geared to more local people bringing stuff out - that *is* what the after party was sort of set up to do. I never expected that it would become such a thing. But, I also don't want to change up how it became a thing by making changes for a person.

If you would like to talk about this by sharing ideas like this, that's what the MGC is founded on. PM me and I'll be happy to do so. Heh, usually a lot of the best ideas come from people that start out by telling me that I'm doing it all wrong, so I'm sure you have a lot that could be great. But, I hope that you can also be reasonable and understanding that this is an endeavor that we do our best with, and just because I'm given a great idea doesn't always mean we can make it happen.

We don't silence anyone.

Having said that, and as long as you decide to just post derogatory things about the show, I'm not going to be replying any more, but I don't know what else to tell you. Sounds like those people heard the policy, didn't like it, and are voting by not coming. That's exactly what I've offered you, and like I said, if there is a lack of machines then the only people we have to blame is ourselves. And if that happens, we don't have a show, and I lose a ton in so many different ways.

In case you haven't heard, Gary and I don't walk home with giant paydays. Even a 10% drop in attendance would almost definitely be a fatal blow to the show, and the loss of tons of machines could cause that. There is really no better way for you to take down the show and this policy than by not coming and not bringing machines.

No snark.

Maybe we missed the part about going to madison the night before and that I don't own a truck I am borrowing it. So cost, uncomfortable driving situation is already in my future. Now asking the owner of the truck if they mind if I pull something and add more cost.

But true I could add that stress also. Again though this doesn't make it easier for my wife to grow in the hobby. Thats a big expectation for someone who sorta likes pinball does it more for me. This is my first time I dont even know what I am getting into. Bt love pinball with a passion so understand and want to help out.......doesn't seem the help is worth anything though. I would not go to the party without her.

I did not I know a few. The ones I do are from the twin cites and are bringing 1 game. So they need there tickets. I never thought I would be jealous of them having wives who could care less about pinball and let them go all weekend.

A future possibility could be if someone can only bring in one pin and there are two people coming, you could offer for purchase a second ticket to the event that would cover costs. If there is a small percentage that would do this it may not gum up the system too much.

Nut,

I think you previous statement was the best one. If it was in MN you would bring 3-4 games. Sounds like you need to start your own show in MN. That way you can make all the rules. You can line up the vendors and vendor space, you can encourage everyone to bring games and you can set the rules for your after party if you choose to have one.

Problem solved.

I'm driving to Pinball Circus on Sunday to hang and see some friends. 6 hours each way. Why? Because the show isn't in my backyard so I have to play by someone else's rules. I'm picking up a pin when I come on Monday so now I will have to pay to get into the show. Ok cool. That's how it works.

Nut. We get it. Your not happy about how it's set up.

Someone get out the dead horse..........

Dan you put on a great show. You will never please everyone but for some reason you seem to be pleasing 99% of the people.

I would suggest then contacting someone that you do not know . You would be surprised how many people are willing to help you , (even those you don't know) if you are willing to help also.

I understand both sides of this equation. I do think the system is a little flawed when guys are selling these tickets...

Which btw, if anyone is selling after party tickets, pm me

Heh, I actually don't discourage this at all, even though I get why some people think it's a flaw of the system. The thing is that those tickets NEVER get sold to just random people, because it's almost all done by people networking. And honestly, the majority don't sell them, they just give them away.

Before anyone takes my comment above as saying the secondary ticket thing will happen by the way, there are a lot of issues that it would have if we tried it. I'm open to exploring the possibility, but exploring the possibility doesn't necessarily mean that it will happen. If we did everything everyone brought to us, the show would have been over years ago. We try to do what makes the most sense fiscally while also getting the most 'bang for the buck' if you will.

I would strongly encourage anyone that isn't getting into the after party for whatever reason to try the VIG pre-party Friday. It's actually going to have more going on than the after party, you get in by buying tickets, and it's costing us so much that unless we basically sell out, we don't even break even. It's an experiment to see how it would work, and honestly - with it limited to 200 tickets and not yet sold out, it again makes me question just how much demand there is for night time activities at the show.

I know when I saw that the topic had 24-28 posts since I last read it I was all excited that people were popping off with adding machines..........

Helped me kill a 1/2 an hour....... "and for that we thank you"

Chris

You also did not respond to my email. No arcade guy contacted me about tickets. Stop lying. You asked me to join the conversation. So here I am. I am sorry you sense derogatory things. I am trying to communicate what I hear and see and plan my first trip to your show. The welcome and ease has been less then stellar.

I know nothing about it but what I do know is you don't listen or respond to ideas till I made them public. Then I post others feel this way and you battle that as derogatory, peoples feeling are not derogatory. They are hurt people. Its how people feel listen up.

Stop posting now I wil go to PM'ing with you.

But don't run my name through the dirt. This is a view and you did not respond to my private request to learn more or ever once offer to work with me as you have stated in these posts.

I get the "old boys club" vibe from the after party.

Ps if you bring a game to circus....You would get in free. If you brought your wife she would also. They understand wives take up little space, bad example.

I feel you but I am going to PM the goat privately. I have made my view known.

I dont know why everyone feels like we all have to agree or pinside is a court room. Its a world of creative people and views.

It honestly has little to do with me, and everything to do with what those people are willing to do for the show I set the guidelines that hopefully do the best to make it fair to everyone doing things, and so far it's been great. As I think most people know that are even tangentially involved with the show, Gary and I could have made WAY more money working a minimum wage job than putting on the show, but I continue to do it because of the wonderful people that get involved to make it as unique as it is.

Alvin G USA Football, as long as it survives the trip right Orbitor 1 will be coming, although it's currently loaned to a friend who will be bringing it. I'm also bringing an NBA Showtime on NBC arcade vid that we're going to be doing something really unique with, I hope / believe. I'll know for sure early next week.

Thank you

This will be the second year that I will be at MGC. I think that the show is outstanding and has a lot to offer. I am not into tournaments and I did not get the VIG tickets last year due to this. I did get VIG tickets this year due to all the things going on. I hope that this format will stay.

I get what you are saying man.... You just aren't able to actually get the vibe of the show because you haven't been. I bring between 1-4 games every year, and don't even go to the show, just the after party on Saturday night. It is super chill, and just a great way to play some pins without a huge crowd around you. The noise you are hearing online about drunken debauchery and "broseph" type behavior is just that- noise. Sure a few guys get a little hammered and head up to their room to pass out, but it is still very much a family type atmosphere. Now that the machines are in a much larger room, that extra noise from the few that had a few, becomes even more muffled.

If I had an extra afterparty ticket to give you, I would in a heartbeat, as I am confident you and the Mrs. would have a great time together. Post up that you are looking for a ticket to the afterparty, I guarantee you will find one. People at this show are willing to share...again, just a great positive vibe.

Yeah I guess I don't understand that.

More gas, maybe a trailer, more work to move them in and out of the show. More time prepping. The stress some have mentioned to pull all it together.

Seems like they should get something out of it. I mean we are talks about $10.00 right? That's covering a bit of gas. So they sell a second ticket? Great the guy gets to eat lunch at the mall and not have to pull money out of their pocket.

For real? Like you have been to the afterparty, and got that vibe, or that is your perception from reading about it on the interwebz?

I have been bringing games to the show for (6?) years now, and only go to the afterparty. I give my regular show tickets to whoever is going during the day (friends, family, etc.). I am not a fan of the "good ole boys" club vibe, and honestly have never gotten that from an MGC afterparty.

No, none of that, I just assumed the show closed at 11 or midnight like LAX and Ohio and CAXtreme and others. Expo is alone with the 24 hour schedule and I don't think other shows need to copy that. The 8pm closing isn't a big deal if you're local, but it'll be something for the out of towners to consider. If I can't bring enough stuff to get in sat night, I'd be inclined to skip the whole show despite the console awesomeness. Just not worth the drive if one of the two night ends at 8.

Goat to be clear I was not trying to smear your show just participate with my wife.

But these are the comments I am talking about if I had a half hour and wanted to search them out I could post twenty more. I was only trying to guarantee a fun experience based on all the comments like these.

Or were on the road I'm not trying to change their minds, they have a system that works, and LAX is close enough to satisfy my classic gaming bug. But, I'd definitely be more likely to come if they had normal (late) Sat hours. At this point, I don't even know if I can get out that weekend at all so not really pushing them to change anything, just commenting.

Don't have a wife so no benefit to me. Why wouldn't I want to support the hobby and the people that put on the show? I'm glad to pay the money at the door. Same reason I donate to this website, LTG's and the rest. Frankly, if I think about it I would be annoyed if wives all got a free pass. That's one more person in line keeping me from playing a machine.

I think people are voicing their opposition to your statements because so far most of your responses to this thread have been negative in nature. I'm glad everyone has an opinion and can express it here. I just think at times people derail threads and things devolve into something that is many steps away from the original intent of thread.

Chris

A lot of the change in policy for the afterparty was two-fold.... The room where the games were at was too small, and the number of people at the afterparty was way too large (the doors were pretty much open and unchecked). The have done a 180 on both of those things and it is 300x better than before. I think just the sheer amount of time running something like this takes up, it makes it tough to start making exceptions here and there (just a guess, I don't work/volunteer there). Again, post up looking for a ticket... The fact that you are bringing a game all the way from Minnesota already shows your heart is in the right place, someone will get you squared away.

Casey's Robowar was awesome and set a very high bar at LAX and Ohio. Would be nice to see one at MGC.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mgc-the-official-what-are-you-bringingselling-thread

Back to the topic at hand. Bring machines have fun. Post what your bringing so I can update the thread.

I played rotodave's. It's really an interesting machine and game play.

What if you switched the parties, and put the VIP thing Fri night and the VIG gig Sat night? More people are likely to be around from out of town Sat than Fri.

I don't ever try to grab context from the soulless internet...LOL I didn't think you were smearing anything. I get where you are coming from completely, I am happily married and have three kids.... If I were travelling with any of them, there should absolutely be something for them to do as well. (even if the reason for traveling was primarily for me).

I wouldn't want to travel a distance and plan for the event on chances either. Post up your desire to score an extra ticket for your wife. If you don't have a response by the end of next week, let me know and I will figure out arrangements to bring an extra game so that you can both attend. Seriously, people will help you out, this is about a chill as a show that comes around, it is super fun.