A couple of dinner certificates and a couple savings bonds? A basket of pinball goodies??
They also should not have to lift a finger unloading or loading if they don't want to. supervise only.

A nice dinner certificate would be my suggestion. Typically goodie baskets, etc will be something most people don't need so they just end up putting stuff into a corner or giving it away. Gift card would also work and then they can buy what they want with it. But most importantly would be a personal THANK YOU.

That was one thing I missed this year at Pinfest. Last year Ivan walked around and thanked each of his vendors - this year I never even had a chance to say hello to Ivan at Pinfest. I know he was very busy and I know he had several issues to address but I still missed talking to him for a few minutes. I am not blaming Ivan just saying nothing is better than a thank you when someone is doing something that helps you.

If you bring 8 games, you can bring the 9th for free.

A pinball wizard t-shirt?

How many people are you talking about? You can get 10 or 12 custom t-shirt from custom ink or vista print for around $150. That's not too bad per person.

Seems a special t-shirt plus $100 gift certificate per "hero" should be a special way to thank them. One that they'll remember. An alternative idea would be to raffle off a donated pin. Bring six pins and get one entry form, eight pins earns two entries, while 12 or more equals three entries. Drawing should only have about 20 tickets in it, and could be held Sunday @1p (must be present to win. No-show would mean they chose another winner. Got to like those odds, and a good chance to win ... another pin

Parts & materials to help clean/shop the games that were there?

Maybe offer a free color Dmd to that person who brings 9-10 games...I would think money would be the enticing factor...10 games minimum brought gets that owner $300-500....and a free t shirt after all the sweating from moving 10 games lol..

Makes sense to me. In the end you can never compensate someone a fair monetary value for the hassle of bringing games to a show. Once you start putting a price on it, like a gift card, it makes one think "I did all this for $100?".

Specialized merch sounds like a great idea. And for the kind of money you were going to spend on gift cards, you can do some nice low run items.

Also remember that if someone is bringing 8 or more games they most certain brought someone along to help. I would offer the "assistant(s)" at least a hat. To help manage this have the owner register any assistants that will be assiting

Im thinking about getting this done all alone! Lol.

Not a clue lol

Probably as many as he's sold me since! :> (damn you Bushey!)

of course, under the original rules, bring eight games and you get $0 for it. Actually its kind of surprising they didn't charge you for the priviledge Hat and dinner certificate idea sounds great.

How about a nice custom-engraved plaque with the Pintastic logo, their name and some "In recognition of your generosity in supporting Pintastic 2016" writing underneath? Maybe have it pre-signed by all the guest speakers/designers who will be in attendance? I know I'd love something like that.

PlaqueMaker.com has custom 8x10 plaques for $49 a piece.

Find someone with a Direct To Garment printer and they can do small runs as long as you have the artwork ready to go. I have one,if you are interested PM me.

You pinheads really like your tees!

We want to encourage people to bring electromechanical games, too! And segment-display solid-state games, pre-flipper pinballs, pitch-and-bat baseball games, etc.

Personally, I consider seafood dinners an incentive.
.................David Marston