I didn't count, but I'd be surprised if there were more than 50 games in the free play area. And several were down for repair most of the time.

Where is mgc held at? Ed

Just outside of Milwaukee, WI.

The website is down right now for a MAJOR reconstruction and we are also expecting to here of lots of positive changes to the event which will likely mean even more space to accommodate the ever expanding pinball hall.

I am not an affiliate of MGC, but I help out with the pinball hall as of last year and will do it again this year just because it is such a fun event put on by pinheads for pinheads (and other gamers as it is not just about pinball which makes it really cool).

What hotel do you recommend? The wife and I are going to go to it next year and want to plan it all out. Thanks, ed

In all fairness, MGC, while having a bunch of games on free play, is a hot mess. Crowded, stinky, etc...

A great show, indeed. I'm just saying.

I had a great time. Met Many Pinsiders, Spent more then 3 hours talking to the New Programmer at Stern (Starts Monday) Young guy with a HUGE passion for Pinball. I'm Looking forward to seeing Jack Benson's Name on many titles in the future,

The Meet and Greet was alot of fun for me. I of course bought a bunch of stuff from the Vendors and enjoyed taking my old Man around.

Now I'm going to sleep! I will catch up on Emails and PM's Tomorrow I promise

MGC last year was ultra-crowded with people & games. Like what was said, the games spilled over into the hallways for everyone to enjoy.

If I was running a convention, I would say overcrowding(and thus a ton of interest in classic gaming, pin or vid) is a darn good problem to have. If it was a ghost town, there would be no con next year.

I personally love the "GAMING" part of it. I really hope pinball doesn't end up ruining the roost at MGC. It's comparable to CalEx in keeping my interest throughout the show. This coming from a pinball guy, raised in the 80's. I love all the stuff brought out to Madison for the weekend.

Seriously, though, Expo is all about the seminars, tourney, and banquet.

Success overall with room for improvement.

As a first time visitor to Expo, I enjoyed seeing all the vendors wares, buying a game, seeing friends, talking to Tanio who's working on ST, and checking out the boutique pins. It was fun to get many games in on the new Star Trek as well. Bride of Pinbot w/DMD was awesome. Extremely polished and well done and very fun to play.

Disappointments included the number of free play games being small for the national expo. Also disappointing was the boutique games. I'd buy a Stern ST in a nano second compared to these games after seeing them.

My biggest disappointment was missing Expo for only the second time in 13 years due to kidney stone aftermath. Seriously, I miss just sitting down and talking pinball with people. I ended up on the phone with different friends late two nights of Expo and hung out with another on Saturday to sort of get that feeling... but it's nothing like it.

The successes for me is I have some amazing friends, so I was able to get my Pinball Life order picked up and a set of new Glo Balls. And ridiculously, when I almost found a machine to buy Wednesday night, I had someone offer to spot me the money and bring it back if I got in touch with the seller basically immediately. Thanks guys, as always, I owe you That's what the hobby is all about to me.

For those of you that know me from the MGC, I do thank you for the kind words but I always tell people that it's really hard to compare MGC to Expo because, well, everything about each event is different, unique, and worthwhile to people in different ways. I attend usually about four gaming events (of different types) each year, and some of them are very small - the smallest this year had about 30 people come to it - and others get to be pretty huge. All of them are worthwhile for different reasons, and I suggest people going and attending whatever they can that they are interested in and meeting the faces in each hobby. It's well worth it.

One other note...

I don't want to redirect this thread, so if you'd like start another thread and I can answer this a *bit* more (and a LOT more in a week or two), but we're undergoing a LOT of changes with the show this year, and the one thing that I do know is that both Gary and I are VERY protective about making sure the heart of the show does not change, don't worry about that.

75 games??? That's not a show... That's a large arcade. Even Pin a Go Go, considered a small show, had over 100 at its low point, and 250 last year. Plus around 15 vendors.

I love what you guys do there. I know a lot of th pin guys complain about the conditions, but I like that it drives me to explore other interests. Whomever had setup that classic console room the past two years is one of my favs of the show. It's a total oasis. That said, we'll save MGC talk for the future. I'm sure you're ramping up as we speak. Hope yr feeling better!

It was a weird show with lots of heart and passion for pinball.
I plan on returning next year.

here is list of games at PINBALL expo on friday most were working I count around 150?? between both rooms .there WILL be many many more next year at our 30th WAtch for future annoucements
Machine Name
(Qty 1 unless noted)
AC/DC - 2
A G Football
Aaron Spelling
Abraca Dabra
Addams Family
A-Go-Go
Alien Star
Americas Most Hunted
Arcade Classics
Attack from Mars
Avengers - 2
Bad Girls
Barracora
Batman Forever
Baywatch
Big Deal
Black Knight
Black Rose
Blackout
Bonanza
Bowling Queen
Bronco
Bugs Bunny Birthday Ball
Cactus Canyon
Capt. Fantastic
Champ
Champion Pub
Checkpoint Turboboost
Cheetah
Cleopatra
Corvette
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Demolition Man
Double Barrel
Driving Edge
Ead Pin
Elvira on the Party Monsters
F-14 Tomcat
Fast Track
Fastbreak
Fireball
Firepower
Firepower II
Flash
Flight 2000
Flintstones
Flipout
Fortune Teller
Four Million BC
Frontier
Funhouse
Funland
Getaway
Gladiators
Guns & Roses - 2
Harlem Globetrottters
Harley Davidson - 2
Hercules
Highhand
Hockey
Hollywood Heat
Holywood Driving Edge
Hook
Invaders
Jackbot
Jolly Park
Joust (table)
Jungle
Jurassic Park
Kugler Family Pinball
Laser Cue
Le King
Lightening
Lizard
Lord of the Rings
Lost World - Jurassic Park
Machine - Bride of Pinbot
Majorette
Matrix
Metallica - 9
Meteor - 3
Mideval Madness
Monster Bash
Mystic Marvel
No Fear
Phantom of the Opera
Pinball Magic
Pinbot - 2
Pirates of the Carribbean - 2+A117
Pistol Poker
Plyboy
Police Force
Prospecta
Rapid Fire
Road Show
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Rolling Stones
Royal Rumble
Sinbad
Six Million Dollar Man
Skywings
Slick Chick
Space Ship
Speak Easy
Spiderman - 4
Star Gazer
Star Jet
Star Light
Star Trek - Next Generation
Star Wars
Starship Troopers - Death from Above
Star Trek - 8
Street Fighter II
Terminator 2 - Judgment Day
Theater of Magic
Time Machine - 2
Trade Winds
Turtles
Twilight Zone - 2
Varcon
Verne's World
Viper Night Dreamin
Vulcan
Whirlwind
White Water
Who Dunnit
Wizard of Oz - 3
World Cup Soccer
Wrath of Olympus
Xenon - 2
Xmen

I was hoping to go to Expo at some point, but after reading some of these posts I'm not so sure it would be worth the major drive. I thought the Dallas show was awesome this year. Reading the above quote makes me wonder if TPF is now the biggest show in terms of playable machines. There were a lot of vendors at TPF as well, including Gene who is always fun to talk to.

Yes, I definitely have to agree, people certainly are what makes people special!

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

Had a great time, met some awesome Pinsiders, and the Pinball Life party was amazing. Easily the most fun of the weekend.

The expo itself was totally underwhelming. They need to bring it harder in the future if they expect me to put in the money it costs to go and stay the weekend.

I was the tall dude with black glasses that was with methos and son. It was nice meeting you, mrs calvin12

Forgot to say thanks to those who bring games! I love pinball, but would never invest the time/money some of you do to bring games. I'm only two hours away, too.

Agree. People who bring their games for us to beat on all weekend are the best. I would bring games to expos if I had better pin transportation, and my basement was easier to access.

Thanks guys and gals. Your machines are what make it possible.

This year's Expo was my first. I was expecting a much larger show, but I don't think I was ever bored. I really enjoyed WOZ and I was especially impressed with the Star Trek. I spent way too much money but I picked up a lot of nice things I don't think I would have bought if I had to order online. I wish there were larger vendors setup with more inventory. Was really disappointed Marco didn't setup a full size parts booth. I know it would be expensive but I would have bought more. Still got my WCS ball with free shipping so happy with that.

It was pretty cool talking to Gomez and Richie. They were both very friendly and took time to talk to everyone without acting rushed. Also glad to see my good friend Walter Day, who is supposed to be retired!

Calvin that was the nicest WW I've ever seen. It was fantastic! Great Job. I was also amazed by the WOF that was in the mirror blade booth. Amazing looking game fully modded with LEDs. Too bad not a great game from what I understand.

Overall I had a great time! Will be coming back in the future.

People comment about the number of games at expo but it's a lot easier to get on a game at expo than it is at Mgc. I go 8-12 pm on Friday, though. Don't know if it is more difficult at other times.

I wish they would expand into a larger room. Sometimes hard to walk around with so many people.

ex·po·si·tion
/ˌekspəˈziSHən/

noun
noun: exposition; plural noun: expositions

a large public exhibition of art or trade goods.

synonyms: exhibition, fair, trade fair, trade show, show, expo, display, presentation, demonstration, exhibit More
"the exposition will feature 200 exhibits"

I didn't realize that the Expo is defined by how many games are there on freeplay. I thought that was only a part of the overall experience. Were there not seminar, vendors, big announcements, pinball celebrity's, A tour, tournaments...... ect

We were selling shirts at the pinballshirts.com booth. It was our first show with our own booth, usually James from Pinball Inc. graciously gives us some space. It was interesting being a vendor on our own. The best part of Expo has always been the people and the access to people in the industry. I can't remember a year that I didn't meet someone new. I met a woman that worked at Game Plan and had the chance to spend some time talking to Bryan Kelly, Charlie, Jim Schelberg, Fred Young, Etc. Python is a good friend as well so time with him is always special.

Went out to dinner with Korn and She-Korn and had a great time with some others from Chicago and Cincinati.

And the regular crew of James, Leo, Brian, Phoebe, and Curly are always a blast.

I'd also like to thank Mike Pacak and Rob Berk for taking such good care of us in our new venture. It really meant a lot to us.

I was told that there will be more space next year for Expo 30 so I hope to see a bunch of you there!

You never know who you'll be going to dinner with or meeting for the first time. It's awesome.

Al

To be fair, though - many of the games in the vendor hall were not available for free play. For example all of the machines in the GAP booth, and Pincades were really only playable if you wanted to buy something.

Yep. A lot of what was in the vendor hall seemed unapproachable.

Posted this in the other thread...

Was there Saturday from 11am-3pm.

Free play gets smaller and smaller every year. I would say there were almost half as many machines as last year, and I was there on a Sunday last year.

I know, this isnt about going to play in the free play area. I always walk the floor first, then hit free play. I then make another few passes on the floor before leaving.

CT hooked me up with a kit I have been mulling over. Gave me a real nice deal, Mellisa is very nice.

Super pumped I got to play Varkon as well as all the Zaccaria pins that were there. That alvin G soccer machine was super fun, although very blinding at times.

Pretty much a joke if you want to play vendor machines. So many nice ones out, but they hide them behind their tables like they are only display. The only real area I felt comfortable walking up to was the Aaron Spelling pin area. Never have I been more uncomfortable playing a pin. Probably because it kept telling me it "loved me daddy", LOL.

As for the people, every one WAS super nice this year. Great bunch of people, every one was very accommodating. If you walked up on a pin at the same time, 3 player games commenced with out hesitation.

JJP should have a booth more like sterns. 3 WOZ? Wow, really? You guys should have had 10. Stern had less TVs hooked up to cameras this year too. Not sure why that was. Played ST for a bit, was alright. Nothing compared to STTNG though, which I also played with a color DMD, very cool.

All in all I was pleased. Still had fun, found a few items I was looking for, and played some pins I was looking to play. Was it worth $25? No. I dont really get the price increase, I am sure there are reasons I am ignorant to though.

Beautiful game! We had a lot of fun playing it. Thanks for bringing it! Did you install a lower powered coil in the Lost Mine kickout? It's usually very hard to control the ball coming out of there, but this was not the case on your game.

Blinding is an understatement. I think I may have done permanent damage to my retinas.

Mike - stop the fighting with PBL. The free play area sucked this year. Not coming back next year unless it gets better.

Not a bash on those that brought games - thank you! Enjoyed playing the ones that were there.

Talking with Mike late Saturday I learned that next year they're getting more space to use in the hotel (more of the convention space) and the freeplay room will be much larger. Here's to hoping there's more to fill it!

yes is the lowered power coil, plus the superbands made it, in my opinion too easy to catch out of the mine. Once I get the mine fixed I'll try to post vid of the differences.

Talking to Mike during load out on Sunday, he's got big plans for the 30th year. Big titles not seen at shows are possible. including maybe a total grail pin people drool over the thought of seeing.

That will help, but if he doesn't fix the fued with the chicago pinheads - there will be more empty space

How is this even possible? I don't think it is possible for Terry to have an issue with anyone. He is so amazingly chill, it is unbelievable.

Sounds like I didn't miss much of a show again (speaking only from free play and parts searches). I go on Thursday night to play a few pins and buy a few parts, but it sounds like that downwards trend continues. Kudos to those who bring games, that is what makes a show go.

I do hope so. However, up until Friday night when I had to leave (10-ish), they didn't have the freeplay space they had filled. Plus, about 40% of the games there at that time were not working/off. So, more space wouldn't have made a difference.

Thank you to everyone who brought games for the freeplay area. You guys rock!

Mike - it's misleading (if not completely dishonest) to include games behind vendor tables that are unplayable except to potential customers in your "games we had to play" list.

Jaz

There clearly needs to be something done in order to encourage more people to bring games. I believe I heard that MGC will pick up games from your house.

I only went for a few hours on Saturday, had to fit it in between work meetings and flying home, but I had a good time. I honestly didn't go for the free play area, I went to see the custom pins. Everything wasn't working, we all know about Predator etc, but it was still very cool to see them all in person.

CCC was so nice, I hadn't seen it since Pin-A-Go-Go when the color screen was still sitting on top of it. Having it integrated ColorDMD-style made the whole thing just shine. Got a chance to chat with epthegeek about it too, he should be super proud of what he's accomplished.

Same goes for Wrath of Olympus, got to flip it and chat with Scott, another person who should feel great about the work he's put into his game.

Got to meet Brett from X-Pin, he bailed me out on an order once so I got to shake his hand. Surprised no one is talking about his white LED DMD, people were clambering for that not too long ago. With the color gels you could make it into any color you wanted, and it looked sharp. Hard to photograph, the rich colors tended to wash out white.

Speaking of color, also got to talk with the other half of ColorDMD (I've already met Chris) and had a long talk with Randy. Love what they're doing, big fan, and it looks like they're just gonna continue their good work.

I guess I feel like I can find a place with normal pins without too much trouble, but seeing unique things was the reason to be there.

I agree that the free play area isn't necessarily the highlight of Expo, but the lack of functioning pins in the free play area really put a damper on the Expo Brawl tournament.

If I can get off work with out issue, I may try and bring a machine or 2. Its just such a hassle taking heads off to get them in and out of my basement.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I think one of the successes was the laxity of alcohol enforcement. It made it more of a party and gave me less to wanna complain about. Being able to walk around with a cold one in hand really put me at ease.

I was super bummed that the soda pop guy wasn't there this year. I was thirsty most of Expo because of this.

It seems every year there's less and less games available to play. I think they need to offer better incentives to get people to haul games over there to get beat on for 4 days. That and all the childish fighting needs to stop that has been going on for years.

It is unfortunate that Terry had issues with the expo guys in working things out. They both have some valid points, but there should be able to find common ground. Terry is a great guy. Based on the turn out at Terry's (I was not there, but heard and saw pictures), who is an hour drive from expo, I think it is Mike who needs to find a better balance with Terry. I think Saturday evening, when the exhibit hall is closed would be a good time that maybe they could find some agreement on. The banquet seems to be more about the industry then for the 'players and collectors' and then you have a huge group waiting for the hall to open up, and the banquet ran long. I doubt Terry hosting at that time would have a huge impact on the banquet, IMHO. If he ran his from 5 to 9, I think it would be a win-win. He would not be taking away form other vendors or taking away from seminars and dobout it would have much of an impact on the banquet. I was a little bummed his thing was happening when I was doing my seminar, both since I could not go and second since it thinned the attendance (that and the medieval madness announcement happening right before)

I've gone to expo every year, but typically just to go play games in the games room, after I get off from work. My fellow members of the Chicago Pinball Mafia bring a lot of games, but too be honest, could bring more if various things were done differently. I typically don't bring games since getting them out of my basement is a royal pain in the ass. I am sure some of the Mafia brought games out to Terry's place as well, but don't think that had a huge impact on how many were brought to expo.

This year since I was exhibiting my custom game and doing a seminar, so I was there pretty extensively. Some of the seminars were really interesting. I really enjoyed meeting so many people, especially the other guys in the P-ROC booth, who I only knew through the P-ROC forums. I think it is totally wrong that vendors who brings games, put tables in front of them off which discourages any play. I thought the rules were they needed to be open for play. I can understand if you sell a game that you no longer allow it to be played. It is not like the games are going to get abused with the vendor standing there, and the hours they are available is far less then the game room. My custom game got about 500 plays and it was available almost all of the time the exhibit hall was open, except on Saturday night, when I shut it down at 2:00 AM to go home and watch the Michigan football game I had recorded.

To be honest, and I am biased, I thought the P-ROC booth was great and it seemed to be very popular. The job the dutch pinball guys did on the BOP upgrade, with the DMD, was beyond amazing. I'm tempted to go find a BOP, just so I can buy their upgrade. Some of the best DMD graphics I've ever seen. Be cool if they decide to do a color version. The Matrix game was incredibly cool, too bad they won't be making more, no doubt if I had to choose between Keanu Reeves movies, I would take The Matrix trilogy over Johnny Mnemonic, which is what they re-themed to do it.

The Cactus Canyon Continued and the Demolition Man on Steroids were also a great play. I give a lot of credit to those guys for first re-creating the whole ruleset, before they could then extend it. I was really impressed with the other custom games besides mine. I know Matt who did Dead Pin is already hard at work on his next revision based on the feedback, and it was a pretty fun play already. The Wrath of Olympus team blew me away with the look and play of a game they did in about 9 months, even with the benefit of it being based on an existing visual pinball game. And I was really quite pleased with all the comments and feedback I got on my game, seemed like people were really enjoying it. I designed it to be a great playing game first and foremost and based on the feedback, I achieved that. If Gerry from Multimorphic (PROC) does a booth again next year, I would certainly bring my machine again.

Disappointment

For the reason that the show did not measure up to my expectations from previous years. My favorite part of the expo is the games, no disrespect to the wonderful people that are there and help make it a great time. It is a great place for me to play games I would not otherwise find on location, and get a sample of what I like and don't. Otherwise, it seems I have to buy games based on reputation. I really value that aspect of the expo, as well as game sales. Too few games, too many not accessible, not enough for sale at reasonable prices.

...and it is not a party without PBL. I have never been to their party, but saw photos this year, and saw tons of games I would have loved to play/sample. Someone make these parties kiss and make up, think "Parent Trap"...expo is so much better when everyone is there.

And thanks to everyone for all of their hard work. It was still a lot of fun, but not the best in recent years.

Im not gonna lie, and this may be me just being shy, but I didnt feel like I could play your game or Wrath of Olympus.

I think you guys need a "PLAY ME!" sign or something. I actually asked the girl at the Ben Heck booth if I could play their machine before I did.

Yours was super cool LOOKING though, and maybe I will play it again in the future.

Thanks for bringing that game! I really enjoyed playing it. I thought it flowed great and I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was.

Surprised you felt that way, the game was in almost constant play, and if it wasn't and someone would walk up and ask if they could, my response was always, "that is why it is here". Same when folks asked if they could take videos or photos, and I found it interesting how may folks would asked first before taking a photo (Steve Richie would not play it, since he did not want photos of him playing other peoples games, too bad since he would have liked it, it has some of his influence (e.g. speed)). A dozen or so folks asked to me to be in pictures with them in front of the game and the funny thing is, I never took a photo of the game in the booth. The WOOLY guys were not always around, since I think they were wanting to enjoy the show and also see some of Chicago. They also had a minor issue with the game late on Friday evening and decided they were not going to fix it until Saturday.

I didnt mean to make it seem like you were being unfriendly, I was just intimidated I think. No biggie, Im just a weirdo!

The Expo has a lot to offer with speeches, announcements, banquets......but if all you want to do is play pinball, Ohio show is only $15 and has a shit-ton more games:

http://ohiopinballshow.com/