Magnolia, DE
Looking great! It's an honor for you to bring this to the potential first ever DE show! Hopefully the venue I'm meeting with on 1/20 works out.
(Topic ID: 199282)
2 months later
Looking for some input from anyone living in or around northern Delaware. I’m not having a lot of success trying to find a venue. I’m 0 for 5. Two places were out of the price range (over $5000 for the space). One VFW doesn’t have the date available. The other 2 places turned me away. So if you know of any places please post up and I’ll reach out. I would love to keep it in Delaware, but have not ruled out crossing state lines just yet.
I was talking to a co-worker today and he recently went to a wedding here:
http://www.millcreekfireco.org/page/hallrental
He thought it would be large enough to hold 80 to 100 game and a couple hundred people.
My company held an event at the Figure 8 Barn at Bellevue State Park which had a casino theme and slot machines/table games food, dj and sumo wrestling. this place is huge, but I'm not sure it was heated...if you are going for something past October..
http://www.destateparks.com/events/figure-8/media.asp
There has to be some more people from the area with suggestions.
Really need to know the 5 places that said no so far to offer suggestions.
Figure 8 barn is huge but not sure of their power set up. Also not sure if they waive park fees for special events but normal fees run until Nov1.
I would however pay good money to watch Chad Sumo Wrestle
Is this the Clarion North Wilmington? I ask because that place looks kinda bad and I would have guessed that they would be more accommodating based on their poor reviews. It is not a place I'd stay, but I'd go to a pinball show.
Quoted from chuckwurt:How big is this space?
Not sure of exact size, but the banquet room will hold 600 people.
It’s located right off RT13 in New Castle. Yes, not the best of hotels but the location would have been idea for a pinball show.
Quoted from MRudowsky:Probably cost prohibitive, but I've been to a train show at the Chase Center in Wilmington and thought it was pretty nice.
Yep, out of price range. The Chase center is nice.
3 weeks later
A small update for everyone that may have been following this thread. I haven't given up on the idea just yet. This week made a strong effort to reach out to about 20 additional venues in and around the Wilmington,Delaware area. If I can't find a reasonable venue at a reasonable price then the idea will get shelved for 2018 as I can't spend anymore time searching for a location.
I do have one possible location that I need to go look at next week. The Embassy Suites by Hilton in Newark. The room they have available is 35'x52' or 1825 sq ft. of space. With this being the first year for the show, this may work if we only end up getting like 50-60 pinball/arcades setup. If we somehow manage to get 100 machines, this will not work at all and that is what scares me. Being located in the Tri-State area there is potential for a decent amount of machines that could show up. As I mentioned above, I still have several places that need to get back to me on pricing and venue size and once I have everything I need I will provide one final update next week to let everyone know if the show will in fact happen or not.
Quoted from djreddog:With this being the first year for the show, this may work if we only end up getting like 50-60 pinball/arcades setup. If we somehow manage to get 100 machines, this will not work at all and that is what scares me
Just open it up for games until you get the max number of games then stop.
Quoted from chuckwurt:Just open it up for games until you get the max number of games then stop.
A pre-registration system/form does help to keep track of how many games may show up so you're not completely caught off guard.
Quoted from ForceFlow:A pre-registration system/form does help to keep track of how many games may show up so you're not completely caught off guard.
Yep. May have to turn down some people if you fill up, but that’s the breaks of a smaller show. If you only need 50 games I say reach out to all the local collectors and see if you can get them to commit. Would make it better for getting quality games there if everybody knows everyone and can help each other out.
Quoted from chuckwurt:Yep. May have to turn down some people if you fill up, but that’s the breaks of a smaller show. If you only need 50 games I say reach out to all the local collectors and see if you can get them to commit. Would make it better for getting quality games there if everybody knows everyone and can help each other out.
I've got quite a few (more than 10) people who have committed to bringing games. Most of them are willing to bring at least 2 games, myself included. So it appears that we should easily be able to hit 25 pins from just this group of people, obviously the date being the key factor. I really hope this space I look at next week, or this other potential hotel space has the right price because I really want to make this happen.
1 week later
We are getting super close to making this a reality. A few details and photos are below. I should have a definitive answer sometime next week.
* Sheraton Wilmington South would be the location
* Literally seconds off of I95
* Date would be 1/26/19
* Ballroom is 3400 sq ft (plenty of space for the first ever show)
* Time would be from 9am to 6pm
* Hotel has 2 onsite restaurant/bars
* Discount room blocks available for Friday night and Saturday night
B3EC675E-783A-4D4E-AEEC-9E565F94C298.jpeg
2318DF5C-717C-40E2-ADBB-1DDDE04EA30C.jpeg
another philly area show would be cool. dont really like the drive to york, this would be nice. hope you get it set up
So the big determining factor is going to be from the Pinsiders. Typically shows grant free access to the show to people who bring games, and I totally understand the concept. However, the only reason I'm putting this together is because Pinsiders requested it. I'm not in this to make money, and I'm also not in this to lose money. With that being said, this room isn't cheap and it's going to be a risk for me to host the event. I'm willing to take a small risk, but I can't gamble on the entire show being funded by walk-ins and by people who aren't bringing a game.
So the big question to all of the Pinsiders and local game owners, are you willing to help build this show by bringing a game or multiple games, and still pay for admission? If the overwhelming response is NO, then we will have to pass unless someone out there wants to donate a huge chunk of money to secure the room 
Quoted from bonzo71:I'll bring at least 2 games and will pay for admission. I think that is a perfect sized room for a first show.
Me too.
I am definately interesting in attending, maybe bringing a game. Why January? Weather could be a real issue. If we get a snow storm, the show will be toast. In any case thanks for your efforts and I look forward to it!
Quoted from Siderails:I am definately interesting in attending, maybe bringing a game. Why January? Weather could be a real issue. If we get a snow storm, the show will be toast. In any case thanks for your efforts and I look forward to it!
So many factors as to why January. Select dates available. Christmas parties in Dec take up most venues. October already has York. The weather is a risk but I really don’t have many other options. Hope to see you there and hopefully you can bring a game.
Bump...because I do not want this thread lost in the shuffle. There has to be a few more people who will commit to bringing a game and paying admission. If this is successful, it could turn lead to even better shows. Based on the Pinside map, the area from Baltimore/Washington and Philadelphia has the highest concentration of members in the world...and Delaware is right in the middle.
Chad, count me in to help in either bringing a machine or as sponsor in some way. I might suggest setting up a planning team so that this doesn't all fall on your shoulders in terms of the work involved.
Quoted from RudyHead:Id bring a game for sure. Maybe 2.
RudyHead - Thanks for the post. If you bring a game or 2, are you still ok with paying admission?
GGBGROUP - I will definitely need help. I also want to run a tournament that day to help draw attendees.
2 weeks later
2 weeks later
Chad, I’d still be down for attending and bringing a game, and paying admission if necessary.
As for the weather, it could be an issue. But I couldn’t think of a better place to be snowed in other than a big room with 70 pins in it. Well… maybe the Playboy mansion.
Here is the reality Pinsiders, as much as I want this to happen and usually anything I set out to do I make happen, this probably won't happen for late 2018 or early 2019. Running the Delaware Tour Championship, the State Championship series, shooting in a pool league, entertaining a wonderful girlfriend, going on poker runs, and attending the kids bowling and softball tournaments is eating up so much time.
My biggest hurdle is finding the location. I've been told no and turned away from so many places its demoralizing. The one hotel down the street can hold about 50 pins and had a reasonable price, but I have a strong feeling the room is going to be overcrowded and not work out. Just my initial thoughts.
Well, Id be the weirdo that just tells you to come get my games, and bring them back when your done. If I went to the show I'd pay my way in , no worries. Right now I have 3 machines (Comet, T2, and LW3) but I'm hoping to have 1 or 2 more by the end of the year. I even have a couple vids you could take if you needed to fill out the space.
Appreciate all the support and feedback so far. The pinball community is one of the best I’ve ever been involved with. Always willing to help out by any means necessary. These next 5 weeks are extremely hectic for me. Let me get by those and I’ll take one more stab at nailing down a location.
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
