I was not in attendance this year so I'm not qualified to give any feedback.

But I did see some of the content on Pinball News. Thanks Ross for sending that stuff in by the way.

The one thing I can see agreeing on the above is the type of environment the games were set up in. I have fond memories of being in the other hotels with lower drop ceilings and carpeted exhibit halls which gives a warmer feeling for playing pins and meeting up with people. Going into a concrete box like a convention center I can understand being a shocker and less desirable for sound.

I agree, felt like a ripoff paying for half a day tournament was super cramped compared to last year.

I've never been, but I'm surprised how much I heard about it this year.

I could've sworn there was a big movement to make "the expo of all expos" Texas Pinball Festival starting a few years ago now and that most people switched a few years ago. Seems like Expo was a smash hit this year though after all. Just my views from afar

I guess the "turn TPF into Expo" hype train has slowed

Well Covid has changed things a little. Also game reveals are not being timed with shows. I can’t speak to expo as I have never been but TPF has grown tremendously….tons of games and the show is PACKED. Good time and a chance to catch up with tons of people. Appreciate all the people/work that put on all the shows. It helps grow pinball which is a good thing.

Yeah this was a disappointing one for sure.

I was in town on Thursday and was going to attend but the hours were silly. I watched a couple of the streams of the seminars online…come on, how hard is it to get 2 microphones (one for the person asking the questions and one for the presenters)

MGC did the same thing a few years ago, went from lowerer ceilings and carpet to a mortar box. There is something about carpet that makes a big difference.

Guess there are always things to complain about but I rather enjoyed it and appreciated all the effort that went into a show that was questionable at best for attendance with Covid. Especially appreciated all the people that brought games to enjoy. Stern did the right thing and made it clear for the safety of their employees there would not be a tour which was the smart thing to do. Even with a show like this there were still many to "cool" to wear a simple mask but thats to be sadly expected. I am sure when things in the world get better so will the show but it was still a really nice event and I am glad I was able to attend.

No comparison TPF is the best!
Better hotel prices and happy hour
fro 7-9 Complementary breakfast with omelette bar.Oh and Fast Pitch lingerie Friday Texas rocks!Oh and a crap ton of pins on free play

Ok so I'm completely new to this scene and traveled all the way from south Louisiana just to come to this show. First time in Chicago, too. Never been to any type of pinball show ever. Definitely disappointing. I just wanted to play a variety of machines so I can choose one to purchase as a second machine. There really was not that many machines. Quite a few machines that were not working good, or set up poorly. Majority had the volume turned all the way down and you could barely hear them. One of the Baywatch machines was cranked so loud, you couldn't hear any of the machines around. Alot of EM machines that were really not much fun (to me) to play. We noticed that a vast majority of the machines were owned by one particular individual, so we googled him and found he was the chairman of the Pinball Expo. So basically one guy carried the freeplay section of this whole expo.

There was quite a few people there, and it was impossible to play some games. Several machines had crowds around them the whole time we were there, like Wizard of Oz, and GnR. Never could get any playtime on some of the newer machines for the 7 hours we were there.

The vender side was cool, but no way we could get any playtime on any of the vender machines, just too many people.

I don't think I'll be doing this show again.

I thought the event was a lot of fun. I loved the fact that the convention was gigantic to spread the games out in a pandemic.
For its first year in a new location, it was fantastic.
I would’ve liked to see some more vendors because I love buying stuff at these shows for the discounts and meeting the owners of the companies.
Zach with Flipn Out was great to see. Eric and Mike with JJP was great to see.
More games by different collectors that are for sale would be great. I need to bring one myself next time.
The hotel was fantastic. Rooms were fantastic.
Overall a good start.
Where was Spooky? What’s up with that?

Huh. Bummer. What day did you go?
I went Thursday and today and I played all the new games except for CC. Ez peezy.

I went for the first time in years and I had a blast, but I wasn't worried about playing games, I wanted to see people and reconnect with people after a year plus of everything fun being shut down. I didn't even play in the tournament this time because I didn't want to be tied down so I could go where I wanted, when I wanted to.

Yes, the free play area was pretty sad and the hours of it were worse. Didn't open till 6pm on Thursday and 4pm on Friday? That was a miss. We went to Galloping Ghost instead and had a great time before things opened up. Yes, many vendors were not there, but a lot of that has to do with timing. Everyone is ramping up shows again. There was a show the week before Expo, then Expo, then MGC, then another show. Vendors can't do them all and even if they could and sold tons of stuff, they can't get the parts to produce it. To get on the new games, lines were mainly 2-3 people deep, but it wasn't like they were around the block, but you definitely had to wait. Legends of Valhallas were there, Hot Wheels, Cactus Canyon, GNRs, Wonkas and a lots of Sterns with the Insider Connected kits, but since they were in the vendor area, those all closed at 11pm. There were no Halloweens (for public play) or Ultramans or any Spooky Games at all, seems like a huge miss there by them. I liked the seminars overall and got something interesting out of all of them I attended. I thought the American Pinball one was well done and the home brew contest announcement at the end was a nice touch. The Cactus Canyon reveal was a mess. Started 20 minutes late, had more tech issues that resulted in the video being cut off and then only 5 minutes of talking from a single person and that was it. Pretty big fail there, but apparently there were still lingering potential license issues. The game looks great and the price was cheaper than most expected so that was a bonus. Walter Day's trading card ceremony was nice. Hearing stories from people about why they liked specific games and getting to be part of that was really special. The JJP seminar was sadly anti-climatic, but at least they had the whole team in there to tell stories and take questions.

We were there from Wed. to Friday and I wish we could have stayed to Saturday like was planned, but my friend had a family emergency and we had to leave early, still no regrets at all from me. I don't know, maybe I had low expectations since I was just happy to be back doing things like this again. Overall, I can see if you went to play games or buy parts primarily how you could have been disappointed. I went in not caring about that and just wanted to see people and talk to people again and I really was not disappointed in the least. I met tons of people new and got the opportunity to do and see lots of things that I didn't expect and will definitely never forget.

We went Fri night, from about 6pm until 1am. But the trip was not a total pinball bust! We found The Galloping Ghost on the Pinsider map. Went there tonight instead of going back to the Expo, and it was awesome! They have some great machines, both new and old in great playing condition. I thought it was cool how they had all three Pinbot games from the series, but at the Expo they had 2 of the same machine - Jackbot. Go figure. I was hoping the Expo would have had a lot more solid state machines. There were sooo many EMs with the little tiny flippers lol

I can understand the complaints about the no carpeting. Gets hard on the feet and knees. The trade off is that the games could be more spread out and it didn't get scorching hot while people played. The cramped little room at the westin would have me sweating before i even touch a pinball machine

As for complaints about the game section, yes Rob Berk basically carried the show. But that's not his fault. I blame inflated pinball prices. When your pinball costs $3200 you maybe don't mind so much bringing it out for a weekend and letting the public beat the crap out of it. However when your machine costs you $7200, you might be more circumspect against letting players bang on it, kids start 4 games before running away, and idiots resting their drinks on it or not reporting a stuck ball. Anyone who didn't like the collection there, blame all the collectors that couldn't be bothered to bring a machine. Maintenance wise, yeah, that's something that definitely needs work on, but I don't see a lot of people stepping up to volunteer.

As for me my complaints are meager. I thought the hotel could have brought more couches and tables out to the lobby area. More garbage cans would have been welcome too. The concession seating on the other hand was way bigger than it needed to be and could instead have been dedicated to a larger competition area which I've heard people complain about.

Everyone also needs to keep in mind that with the covid scare nobody could be sure of what attendance would be like. Some people are still scared to come out. Vendors are iffy. Collectors don't want dirty hands on their machines, etc.

Bottom line, were there things wrong with the show? Sure. But it's always a learning curve. Don't be so negative.

We had a blast there and it’s pretty shitty to say that about a guy who went through alot to get games there .Thank You Rob Berks

I agree - I haven't been out to an expo in years and have fond memories of the dark halls of the Westin. I would never bring a game to let the general public touch, the fact that there are people willing to is great so can't knock that.

I live 20 mins away from Schaumburg so for me it was a good way to kill a few hours and check out some of the newer Sterns, AP and Multimorphic - I couldn't care less about the free play area or other activities/seminars. If I had to travel a considerable distance for this show, I too would probably be left underwhelmed.

I think people have this expectation for a giant free play arcade with every pinball known to man being available. These people need to adjust their expectations and try to enjoy the reason why you go... Pinball... and it's supposed to be fun, not a catalyst for negativity and dwelling on the reality that is the current state of the hobby along with the ongoing pandemic.

Man if I was Rob knowing all the work he put into this, seeing this thread title would kill me

Never been to expo . Would like to mention if a persons personal collection not to your playing standard you should offer to help . Big collections hard to keep running properly . Worse if the sit long time between playing .

How well did the games you volunteered for free play hold up ?

Shane

My only complaint is the free play machines. Rob Berk's stuff is never up to par for playability. I also believe there are 2 more factors, the obvious being covid and the second of having to choose between Expo and MGC.

Next year, with this covid crap behind us, better spread of show dates, and I think this new location will turn out to be awesome. Otherwise, everything else was just trial and error for the setup, tournament location and everything else that goes with it.

I had a great time. All the complaints the op has are things that never occurred to me until reading this. Maybe I have a mind that doesn't always look for the few negative things and is just able to enjoy the abundance of positive.

Expo was great, tons of new games, everywhere you looked there was a GZ/GNR/VAl/CC neat to see/play the new games.
Crowded? I guess, but I think its awesome to see tons of young people getting the pinball bug!
The level of personal hygiene has improved dramatically
Rob Berk is the man, a lot of old games I haven’t seen in person or ever played, thanks Rob, it was good to see you.
A lot of vendors/artists with neat creative pinball stuff.
Aspects that need to be improved, sure I guess, but pinball is alive and well.I can only see future events getting bigger and better.
Disappointment, thread, ok fine… I was pissed that the beer was $9.

Why would it kill him, Does he not profit off of ticket sales?

I seriously doubt it

Nothing new, there's an Expo gripe thread every year. Only difference is Rob won't be here berating people like Mike used to.

LOL definitely a positive

Yeah but they could do little things like posting a freeplay area list of all the games and have techs on hand to keep the games up and running all weekend. And vet the games before bringing them. Maybe they did all that and just had bad luck once the show started. I’m not sure.

But when I went to expo I played about 10 or less games in the freeplay hall. This show is definitely more about tons of pinball people from all over coming together and hanging out. Probably the least amount of pinball I’ve ever played at a show.

Partner and I had a blast. Talked to Dennis Nordman, MXV, Todd Tuckey, Pat Lawlor, Jack Danger, Jerry Thompson, and a host of other pinball people. Everyone was beyond friendly and excited about the industry. Had lunch next to Gary Stern and bought him a rye Manhattan, and thanked him for his contributions to pinball. He was very gracious.

Love this hobby and the people involved.

It’s good to point out what we can do to improve the hobby, but if you only come here to whine and complain, maybe you need a break. Call out scammers, by all means, but do not reduce all the hard work put into expo this year to a ‘cash grab’. Times are strange.

Appreciate what happened and don’t cry about what didn’t.

Is it safe to assume the people complaining didn't bring any machines to share? The quality of games available is determined by those the choose to bring games...period. They are the ones that keep the shows going.

Just did a day pass for Friday this year, slept in and went to Pinball Olympics @bangerjay's on Saturday (awesome event). That was the right call. Didn't do the forums this year so cannot comment on them, but did play a Halloween in @gexchange's hospitality suite and of course Legend's of Valhalla, Godzilla, Cactus Canyon and others in the vendor hall. Lots of industry folks there.

Pluses: It was held and not virtual, venue was large, Vendor area, Rob brought a hundred machines, nice Expo Tee shirts, Tournament, lots of industry greats in attendance (and very accessible - name another industry where you have this kind of access about them, their product and life's work)

Minuses: The concrete floor (yes, not as nice as carpet by a mile), Lots of Rob machines were "tired" or no working and that is too bad because he has some good ones, vendor area not opened long enough (this was on the printed schedule but I for one did not realize pins were not going to be available), some missing vendors (Spooky - you are sold out but you can market your company for your next pin by bring some of your previous ones). Concessions were weak (bring some food trucks in next year ...)

Overall, 2019 was better IMO but this was a good reboot after 2020 - but hopefully Rob and the organizers will read these comments good and bad and take that into account for next year. Also, thanks to Stern, American, Chicago Gaming, Metamorphic, Jersey Jack and others for attending and bringing your great products!

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cactus (resized).jpg

You’re not wrong. They definitely advertise the free play area as part of the event. There is room for improvement in respect to their handling of the games there.

Typically those that complain don't and wont ever bring a game.

I brought 2, and believe me, they both had issues. Between the two, broken flipper bushing, broken flipper button, rogue plastic falling into the ball trough. Luckily, Mayfair and a few other vendors were there to save the day. Unfortunately, I had to wait several hours until the vendor area opened up to get the parts I needed.

I didn't like the cement floors at all. That was my biggest complaint.

yep, TPF is cream of the crop

You joined Pinside in May of 21, so I am going to assume you are either fairly new to the hobby or to festivals. What you don't understand is this has been the common theme with expo for years. All these same complaints have been expressed for years and they have not done anything to fix the problems especially on the free play room. It has always sucked or at least for the last 7-8 years.

Good luck with that.
My experience with ZapCon is that there are collectors out there that will bring their busted game to the convention just so a tech will look at it and fix it.
Some people are just too cheap to pay to have someone fix their game and/or don't have the skillset to fix it themselves.
Kind of pissed me off at first because we spend months dialing stuff in and getting all of our own machines ready to bring to the show.
I pretty well got over that and I'm just happy people bring stuff.
It's not as easy to get people to commit games as you might think as its a lot of work and some people tend to get burnt out on bringing them year after year.

I think that's too broad a generalization. American Pinball timed their reveal of Legends of Valhalla to the Rocky Mountain show. Chicago Gaming tied their first showing of Cactus Canyon to Pinball Expo.
.................David Marston

Did this show feel like expo 2019? No, of course not. How can it when we're still technically in a pandemic.

Do cement floors suck? Yes, but if you want that big room I don't see how you can affordably do carpeting (also every other show including MGC is doing cement, this seems to be the new standard)

Were there less games (and many non-working) in the freeplay area? Yea, which would suck for someone new to the hobby but for me I've played all the classics I want to play

It was odd for Marco to not have a booth, but I'm guessing they couldn't do 2 back to back shows in the same area (guessing they will be at MGC next weekend).

Did the food suck? Wouldn't know, I know the area well and knew I wanted Kuma's corner (awesome heavy metal burger joint just down the street). Could a food truck have helped? Most likely.

All I know is that I've been couped up for almost 2 years and it was a blast to play so many new games I haven't touched. About the only game I didn't see was stranger things. Also the homebrew section is always such a treat. Being able to play Sonic the hedgehog after watching so many streams was such a thrill to actually get to play it.

For those comparing this to TPF, let's see how well they run it this year. I'm guessing it will be sloppier than year's past too.

My son and I attended Saturday, and it was our first pinball convention. We had a blast! People were incredibly kind, we'd never seen so many new machines in one place, and it was fun to finally start meeting more people enthusiastic about pinball. Can't wait for more!

Seemed like a pretty good time to me. Played GNR, Woz Yellow, and a sweet quicksilver around 1 am last night with some friends before heading back to the tourney room to play whatever brand new Stern we wanted to play for another 2 hours, so can’t really complain about any show where that’s happening.

The real party was in the tournament room nice laid back crowd, nobody screaming or kicking things, everybody seemed to be having fun to me playing brand new Stern games.

Guess I was just enjoying myself too much to get caught up in any petty complaints. You been to one show you kind of been to them all, so it’s really about the quality of the people there (good), the hotel (good), and the ability to party without anybody bothering you (also good). Great to see friends, foes, and frenemies alike and I really can’t say anything bad about the event itself. Was much better than not being at a pinball show.

Even extended my stay here till Monday so as not to have to pack everything up before classics finals this morning. Maybe I’ll go downtown tonight for dinner / check out Logan or some such.

There’s so much stuff in life to whine about on a pretty much daily basis so I think I’ll just leave complaining about a pinball show where about a dozen brand new Godzilla premiums were available to play to other people. I’m enjoying it and it seemed like most other people around me were too so sign me up for something as awful and disappointing as this about once a month if possible please. Thanks!

Only real complaint I have is no spooky booth !!!
Had a great time and spent way too much money with venders
Can’t wait until next years show.

Worst expo ever, and been going 20 years. Tired of playing Rob Berks broken down crap, but glad he went to the trouble to call some movers to transfer a storage units worth to the show or else we woulda been playing cards all afternoon til the vendor hall opened. hate the move to convention center, same complaints as above about carpet and atmosphere. hate that MGC has gone the same direction, but it's grown so big they had to. And yes, I have dragged my own to games to every show I've ever attended at one time.or another.

Best thing about the whole show was the hotel restaurant, where we had every meal for 2 days because of the crappy weather and never had a bad one. And seeing old friends, of course.

If it weren't for the fact that I meet up with out of state companions and reunite for the weekend Id never attend another Expo. Easier to drop a couple bucks at a local arcade with no line.

It is what you make of it. I had a blast for 2 days playing all the new games and some old. Spent a lot of time chatting with friends. Next time bring some games so the show looks more like your vision of what it should be.

Sad to see anything like this posted on line...

Maybe email Rob directly with suggestions and he'd take care things in future that missed a mark vs a public bash thread. Nothing is perfect and the amount of work involved to pull any show off is enormous. But to shit in his Cheerios is just typical of people who do NOTHING in the hobby community but bitch at those that DO. Sorry but Rob is a tremendous asset to the community and a gentleman always and this is just poor form.

He deserves a big sloppy kiss on the lips not a Pinside bitch thread.

Anybody who thinks a show like this a “cash grab” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) has obviously never tried to put an event like this together.

Stern, JJP and API saved the show with relatively massive booths and numerous seminars/events.

Great that several vendors also had a number of readily accessible, new games.

Of you were there to play the latest machines from all the different manufacturers (except Spooky) then you were at the right place.

If you enjoy playing pinball on a cement floor with 25 foot ceilings and bright-as-fuck lighting overhead, you were also in the right place.

Adding carpeting to the venue - too expensive. OK.

Lower the venue's ceilings - pretty much impossible. OK.

Dimming the cafeteria style lighting - EASY. Not OK.
This small detail alone really killed the vibe/atmosphere.

As for the freeplay area, it has not been anything to brag about for at least a decade. The relationship between local hobbiests and the show organizers has long been an *us against them* affair. Mike Pazak is not even a local guy. He lives in Ohio. We all got sick of him blowing into town once a year, screaming at us for a week, and leaving. Yes, I know he is no longer involved, but he was for over 3 decades and a lot of permanent damage was done. Rob Berk has done little-to-nothing to repair this damage, IMHO.

Like the 30+ years proceeding this Expo, Rob expects people to bring machines and/or work and/or help organize the event for next to nothing. The Chicago Expo is not a charity event. It is a for profit event that should pay the going rate for the work that needs to be done before, during and after the event. The *almost-a-volunteer* approach this show has always taken continues to keep it from being properly staffed so that it runs smoothly.

I'm sure some will chime in and say this person gets paid well or that person gets paid well, but by-and-large this is not the case, and never has been. I personally know good people who are owed money from past years and are no longer offering their services to this event; quality people with real skills.

I also know many local collectors who used to bring machines but simply got worn down by the Expo owners over the years and have stopped doing so. As you can probably guess, I'm one of them.

This year was a special treat for those who brought machines. The wristband you received for bringing a machine didn't even allow you to attend the seminars!
WTF?

The Chicago Pinball Expo should be the premiere pinball event of the year, but too much bad blood over the decades has sadly eroded this show to its current state. It's a long way back to the top, and the competition is nothing but heating up (I'm looking at you, TPF).

I want my town to have the best show, and I, among others (I think), am willing to make a new start, if it indeed is an honest and true new start that is inclusive instead of abusive. I hold out little hope.

If you bring a game you should get full access to the full event. Its work to bring one, i had one in 2019. Theres bringing it and taking it back yes, but also youre always on call for if the machine goes down. Playing a game? Too bad fix it. Eating? Too bad fix it. Taking a crap…you get the idea, its stressful. And for that one should be able to access the seminars.

I'd like to see the people complaining do a better job of running an event this large.